The stages of the development of the Torah:

Historians confirm that the Torah remained intact in the hands of the Jews, who had not altered a single letter in it till the time of the Babylonian Captivity when the Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar,[1] fought against them in around 588 B.C. He damaged the walls of Jerusalem and burned the city and the Temple after taking away the Ark from it. He pursued the Aaronites and all the other priests and killed them in one massacre. He then took all the Jews as captives tied with chains leaving in the city none but a small group of destitute people.[2] That event resulted in the damage of the Torah and all the Books of the Old Testament that were written. The People of the Scripture, both Jews and Christians, acknowledge this fact.[3] Thus all the Aaronites that memorized the Torah were killed. The Torah was not memorized by the Children of Israel; therefore, it was lost and became extinct as their nation became extinct and dispersed between the Tigris and the Euphrates and the region around them. They mingled with the other nations and worshipped their gods. Their exile continued till 583 B.C. Then a lot of them returned to Palestine to reconstruct the City and the Temple. In 458 B.C. Ezra returned to Jerusalem along with a group of Levitical scribes. Ezra and the priests accompanying him went on teaching the Jews the Law.[4]