A Kingdom of Priests and its Earthen Altars in Exodus 19-24
In: Vetus TestamentumSearch for other papers by Simeon Chavel in
Current site
Google Scholar
This study analyzes the altar law in Exodus 20, the statement that frames it in Exodus 19, and its application in Exodus 24 as a single narrative that denies the professional configuration of sacrifice as essential to religion and divine blessing. It puts the gift-blessing exchange into the hands of every family, and reverses the basic trope of hosting-visiting and the social poetics that govern hierarchical religion: rather than host at his palace through mediating attendants, Yahweh visits wherever he is invited. The study argues that the narrative attacks an Israelian and Judean ideology in which royal success defines territorial extent, shapes the polity, enshrines divine power in temples, and controls divine blessing. It reconfigures the elements such that territory and nationhood are defined by the divine king, who roams freely throughout the land to bless each of his subjects, so long as they invite him to receive a gift.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
Freedman David N. The Anchor Bible Dictionary 1992 New York Doubleday 6 vols
-
Abusch Tzvi Paul S.M. et al. “Blood in Israel and Mesopotamia” Emanuel—Studies in Hebrew Bible, Septuagint and Dead Sea Scrolls in Honor of Emanuel Tov 2003 Leiden and Boston Brill 675 684
-
Aḥituv Shmuel Rainey A.F. Echoes from the Distant Past: Hebrew and Cognate Inscriptions from the Biblical Period 2008 Jerusalem Carta
-
Ahlström Gosta W. Royal Administration and National Religion in Ancient Palestine 1982 Leiden Brill Studies in the History of the Ancient Near East 1.
-
Albertz Rainer Bowden J. A History of Israelite Religion in the Old Testament Period 1994 Louisville, Kentucky Westminster/John Knox Press 2 vols The Old Testament Library (Orig. pub. 1992 [German].)
-
Alpert Nakhai Beth Archaeology and the Religions of Canaan and Israel 2001 Boston, Massachusetts American Schools of Oriental Research
-
Avigad Nahman Hebrew Bullae from the Time of Jeremiah: Remnants of a Burnt Archive 1986 Jerusalem Israel Exploration Society
-
Avigad Nahman & Sass Benjamin Corpus of West Semitic Stamp Seals 1997 Jerusalem The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities; The Israel Exploration Society; The Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
-
Baden Joel S. The Composition of the Pentateuch: Renewing the Documentary Hypothesis 2012 New Haven and London Yale University Press
-
Baden Joel S. J, E, and the Redaction of the Pentateuch 2009 Tübingen Mohr Siebeck Forschungen zum Alten Testament 68
-
Ben Yehuda Eliezer Ben Yehuda H. , Segal M.Z. & Tur-Sinai N.H. A Complete Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Hebrew 1948-1959 Tel Aviv La’am Publishing House 16 vols [Hebrew]
-
Ben-Dov Jonathan Roitman A.D. et al. “The Elohistic Psalter and the Writing of Divine Names at Qumran” The Dead Sea Scrolls and Contemporary Culture: Proceedings of the International Conference Held at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (July 6-8, 2008) 2011 Leiden Brill 79 104
-
Bertholet Alfred Deuteronomium 1899 Freiburg Mohr Siebeck
-
Blum Erhard Studien zur Komposition des Pentateuch 1990 Berlin de Gruyter Beiheft zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 189
-
Böhl F.M. Th. Exodus 1928 Groningen J.B. Wolters
-
Cassuto Umberto A Commentary on the Book of Exodus 1959 3rd ed. Jerusalem Magnes Press (Orig. pub. 1942) [Hebrew]
-
Caubet Annie Sasson Jack M. “Art and Architecture of Canaan and Ancient Israel” Civilizations of the Ancient Near East 2000 Vol. 4 of 4 Peabody, Massachusetts Hendrickson 2671 2691 (Orig. pub. 1995)
-
Chavel Simeon Talshir Zipora “Biblical Law” The Literature of the Hebrew Bible: Introductions and Studies 2011 Vol. 1 of 2 Jerusalem Yad Ben-Zvi Press 227 272 [Hebrew]
-
Chavel Simeon Dozeman T. , Schmid K. & Schwartz B.J. “The Literary Development of Deuteronomy 12: Between Religious Ideal and Social Reality” The Pentateuch: International Perspectives on Current Research 2011 Tübingen Mohr Siebeck 303 326 Forschungen zum Alten Testament 78
-
Chavel Simeon Oracular Law and Priestly Historiography in the Torah 2014 Tübingen Mohr Siebeck Forschungen zum Alten Testament ii 71
-
Chavel Simeon “The Second Passover, Pilgrimage and the Centralized Cult” Harvard Theological Review 2009 102 1 24
-
Childs Brevard S. The Book of Exodus: A Critical, Theological Commentary 1974 Philadelphia The Westminster Press The Old Testament Library
-
Cohen Ohad Aronsky A. The Verbal Tense System in Late Biblical Hebrew Prose 2013 Winona Lake, Indiana Eisenbrauns Harvard Semitic Studies 63
-
Cross Frank M. Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel 1973 Cambridge, Massachusetts Harvard University Press
-
Darby Erin “Living in a Material World: Iconography, Idolatry, and Materiality in the Hebrew Bible” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting November 19-22, 2011 San Francisco
-
Dillmann August Ryssel V. Die Bücher Exodus und Leviticus 1897 3rd ed Leipzig Hirzel
-
Dobbs-Allsopp F.W. et al. Hebrew Inscriptions: Texts from the Biblical Period of the Monarchy with Concordance 2005 New Haven and London Yale University Press
-
Dotan Aron Biblia Hebraica Leningradensia 2001 Peabody, Massachusetts Hendrickson
-
Driver Samuel R. The Book of Exodus 1911 Cambridge Cambridge University Press Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Repr. 1953.
-
Ehrlich Arnold B. Mikra Kifshuto 1899-1901 Berlin M. Poppelauer 3 vols [Hebrew]
-
Ehrlich Arnold B. Randglossen zur hebräischen Bibel: textkritisches, sprachliches und sachliches 1908-1913 Leipzig J.C. Hinrichs 7 volumes Repr. Hildesheim: Olms, 1968
-
Feder Yitzhak “The Aniconic Tradition, Deuteronomy 4, and the Politics of Israelite Identity” Journal of Biblical Literature 2013 132 251 274
-
Fishbane Michael Biblical Interpretation in Ancient Israel 1986 3rd ed Oxford Clarendon Repr. 1989
-
Fleming Daniel Democracy’s Ancient Ancestors: Mari and Early Collective Governance 2004 Cambridge Cambridge University Press
-
Fowler Jeaneane D. Theophoric Personal Names in Ancient Hebrew: A Comparative Study 1988 jsotSup 49 Sheffield JSOT Press
-
Fox Michael V. “The Sign of the Covenant: Circumcision in the Light of Priestly ʾôt Etiologies” Revue Biblique 1974 81 557 596
-
Gaifman Milette Aniconism in Greek Antiquity 2012 Oxford and New York Oxford University Press Oxford Studies in Ancient Culture and Representation
-
Ganzel Tova & Holtz Shalom E. “Ezekiel’s Temple in Babylonian Context” Vetus Testamentum 2014 64 211 226
-
Ginsberg H. Louis The Israelian Heritage of Judaism 1982 New York The Jewish Theological Seminary of America
-
Goldstein Ronnie “Bet ween Gods and Idols: Changes in the Attitude Towards Idol Worship in Biblical Literature, and the Revision of Isa 2:18-22” Beer Sheva 2005 18 113 153 [Hebrew]
-
Goldstein Ronnie “A Suggestion Regarding the Meaning of 2 Kings 17:9 and the Composition of 2 Kings 17:7-23” Vetus Testamentum 2013 63 393 407
-
Green Douglas J. “I Undertook Great Works”: The Ideology of Domestic Achievements in West Semitic Royal Inscriptions 2010 Tübingen Mohr Siebeck Forschungen zum Alten Testament ii 41
-
Greenberg Moshe “Hebrew segullā: Akkadian sikiltu” Journal of the American Oriental Society 1951 71 172 174
-
Grosby Steve Biblical Ideas of Nationality—Ancient and Modern 2002 Winona Lake, Indiana Eisenbrauns
-
Haran Menahem The Biblical Collection—Its Consolidation to the End of Second Temple Times and Changes of Form to the End of the Middle Ages 1996-2008 Jerusalem Bialik and Magnes 3 vols [Hebrew]
-
Haran Menahem Temples and Temple-Service in Ancient Israel: An Inquiry into Biblical Cult Phenomena and the Historical Setting of the Priestly School 1985 2nd ed Winona Lake, Indiana Eisenbrauns
-
Hendel Ronald S. “The Social Origins of the Aniconic Tradition in Early Israel” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 1988 50 365 382
-
Herrnstein Smith Barbara On the Margins of Discourse: The Relation of Literature to Language 1978 Chicago and London The University of Chicago Press
-
Holzinger Heinrich Exodus 1900 Tübingen Mohr (Siebeck) Kurzer Hand-Commentar zum Alten Testament 2
-
Houtman Cornelis Exodus 1993-2002 Kampen Kok 4 vols Historical Commentary on the Old Testament
-
Huizinga Johan Klibansky R. & Paton H.J. “A Definition of the Concept of History” Philosophy & History 1936 Oxford Clarendon 1 10
-
Katznelbogen M.L. Torat Chaim Chumash 1993 Jerusalem Mossad Harav Kook 7 vols Repr. 2005. [Hebrew]
-
Joffe Laura “The Elohistic Psalter: What, How and Why?” Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament 2001 15 142 169
-
Joosten Jan The Verbal System of Biblical Hebrew: A New Synthesis on the Basis of Classical Prose 2012 Jerusalem Simor Jerusalem Biblical Studies 10
-
Kamlah Jens Temple Building and Temple Cult. Architecture and Cultic Paraphernalia of Temples in the Levant (2.-1. Mill. b.c.e.) 2012 Proceedings of a Conference on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Institute of Biblical Archaeology at the University of Tübingen 28-30 May 2010 Wiesbaden Harrassowitz Abhandlungen des Deutschen Palästina-Verneins 41
-
Keel Othmar Kamlah “Paraphernalia of Jerusalem Sanctuaries and Their Relation to Deities Worshiped Therein during the Iron Age iia–C” Temple Building 317 342 [see entry]
-
Knoppers Gary N. Jews and Samaritans: The Origins and History of Their Early Relations 2013 Oxford and New York Oxford University Press
-
Kogut Simcha Syntax and Exegesis: Studies in Biblical Syntax as Reflected in Traditional Jewish Exegesis 2002 Jerusalem Magnes [Hebrew]
-
Koller Aaron J “לבוא and להיכנס: Synchronic and Diachronic Perspectives on the Semantics of לבוא in Ancient Hebrew” Leshonenu 2103 75 149 164 [Hebrew]
-
Koller Aaron J The Semantic Field of Cutting Tools in Biblical Hebrew: The Interface of Philological, Semantic, and Archaeological Evidence 2012 Washington D.C. The Catholic Biblical Association of America The Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series 49
-
Kratz Reinhard G. Bowden J. The Composition of the Narrative Books of the Old Testament 2005 London and New York T & T Clark (Orig. pub. 2000 [German].)
-
Levinson Bernard M Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation 1997 Oxford Oxford University Press
-
Levinson Bernard M Day John “Is the Covenant Code an Exilic Composition?” In Search of Pre-exilic Israel: Proceedings of the Oxford Old Testament Seminar 2004 London and New York T & T Clark 272 325
-
Lewis Theodore J. Wright J. et al. “Covenant and Blood Rituals: Understanding Exodus 24:3-8 in Its Ancient Near Eastern Context” Confronting the Past: Archaeological and Historical Essays on Ancient Israel in Honor of William G. Dever 2006 Winona Lake, Indiana Eisenbrauns 341 350
-
Brooke Alan E. & McLean Norman The Old Testament in Greek 1906-1940 Cambridge Cambridge University Press 3 vols. in 9 pts Repr. in 4 vols., 2009
-
Machinist Peter Pongretz-Leisten B. “How Gods Die, Biblically and Otherwise: A Problem of Cosmic Restructuring” Reconsidering the Concept of Revolutionary Monotheism 2011 Winona Lake, Ind. Eisenbrauns 189 240
-
Manning J.G. & Morris Ian The Ancient Economy: Evidence and Models 2005 Stanford, California Stanford University Press
-
Maori Yeshayahu The Peshitta Version of the Pentateuch and Early Jewish Exegesis 1995 Jerusalem Magnes [Hebrew]
-
Master Daniel M Lemaire A. & Halpern B. “Institutions of Trade in 1 and 2 Kings” The Book of Kings: Sources, Composition, Historiography and Reception 2010 VTSup 129 Leiden Brill 501 516
-
Horovitz H.S. & Rabin I.A. Mechilta d’Rabbi Ismael 1960 2nd ed Jerusalem Bamberger and Wahrman [Hebrew]
-
Mettinger Tryggve N.D. No Graven Image? Israelite Ancionsim in Its Ancient Near Eastern Context 1995 Stockholm Almqvist & Wiksell Coniectanea Biblica Old Testament Series 42
-
Meyer Jørgen Christian Bang Peter F. et al. “Trade in Bronze Age and Iron Age Empires, A Comparison” Ancient Economies / Modern Methodologies: Archaeology, Comparative History, Models and Institutions 2006 Bari Edipuglia 89 106
-
Mierse William E. Temples and Sanctuaries from the Early Iron Age Levant—Recovery After Collapse 2012 Winona lake, Indiana Eisenbrauns History, Archaeology, and Culture of the Levant 4
-
see Dotan, bhl
-
Nelson Richard D. Deuteronomy: A Commentary 2002 Louisville and London Westminster John Knox The Old Testament Library
-
Nihan Christophe From Priestly Torah to Pentateuch: A Study in the Composition of the Book of Leviticus 2007 Tübingen Mohr Siebeck Forschungen zum Alten Testament ii 25
-
Nihan Christophe Knoppers Gary N. & Levinson Bernard M. “The Torah between Samaria and Judah: Shechem and Gerizim in Deuteronomy and Joshua” The Pentateuch as Torah: New Models for Understanding Its Promulgation and Acceptance 2007 Winona Lake, Indiana Eisenbrauns 187 223
-
Patrick Dale “The Covenant Code Source” Vetus Testamentum 1977 27 145 157
-
Paul Shalom M. Studies in the Book of the Covenant in the Light of Cuneiform Sources 1970 VTSup 18 Leiden Brill Repr. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock, 2005
-
Katznelbogen M.L. Torat Chaim Chumash 1993 Jerusalem Mossad Harav Kook 7 vols Repr. 2005. [Hebrew]
-
Katznelbogen M.L. Torat Chaim Chumash 1993 Jerusalem Mossad Harav Kook 7 vols Repr. 2005. [Hebrew]
-
Katznelbogen M.L. Torat Chaim Chumash 1993 Jerusalem Mossad Harav Kook 7 vols Repr. 2005. [Hebrew]
-
Rimmon-Kenan Shlomith Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics 1983 New York, New York Methuen New Accents Repr., London: Routledge, 1989
-
Rofé Alexander Avishur Yitschak & Blau Joshua “The Blessing of Moses, the Temple of Nebo, and the Question of Levite Origins” Studies in Bible and the Ancient Near East—Presented to Samuel E. Loewenstamm on His Seventieth Birthday 1978 Jerusalem E. Rubinstein 409 425 [Hebrew]
-
Rofé Alexander Garrone D. & Israel F. “Ephraimite Versus Deuteronomistic History” Storia e tradizioni di Israele: scritti in onore di J. Alberto Soggin 1991 Brescia Paideia 221 235
-
Rofé Alexander “The Strata of the Law about the Centralization of Worship in Deuteronomy and the History of the Deuteronomic Movement” idem, Deuteronomy: Issues and Interpretation 2002 Edinburgh T & T Clark 97 101 (Orig. pub. 1972 [Hebrew])
-
Sarna Nahum M. Exodus 1991 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The Jewish Publication Society of America The jps Torah Commentary
-
Schaper Joachim Knoppers Gary N. & Levinson Bernard M. “The ‘Publication’ of Legal Texts in Ancient Judah” The Pentateuch as Torah: New Models for Understanding Its Promulgation and Aacceptance 2007 Winona Lake, Indiana Eisenbrauns 225 236
-
Schmidt Ludwig “Israel und das Gesetz: Ex 19,3b-8 und 24,3-8 als literarischer und theologischer Rahmen für das Bundesbuch” Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 2001 113 167 185
-
Schwienhorst-Schönberger Ludger Das Bundesbuch (Ex 20,22-23,33): Studien zu seiner Entstehung und Theologie 1990 Berlin and New York Walter de Gruyter Beiheft zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 188
-
Segal Michael “The Text of the Hebrew Bible in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls” Materia Guidaica 2007 12 5 20
-
Katznelbogen M.L. Torat Chaim Chumash 1993 Jerusalem Mossad Harav Kook 7 vols Repr. 2005. [Hebrew]
-
Sherratt Susan and Andrew “The Growth of the Mediterranean Economy in the Early First Millennium bc” World Archaeology 1993 24 361 378
-
Simon-Shoshan Moshe Stories of the Law: Narrative Discourse and the Construction of Authority in the Mishnah 2012 Oxford and New York, New York Oxford University Press
-
Smith Mark S. The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel 2002 2nd ed Grand Rapids, Michigan and Cambridge, U.K. Eerdmans Dearborn, Michigan: Dove Booksellers
-
Sommer Benjamin D. Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel 2009 Cambridge, UK and New York Cambridge University Press
-
Tal Abraham & Florentin Moshe The Pentateuch—The Samaritan Version and the Masoretic Version 2010 Tel Aviv Tel Aviv University Press [Hebrew]
-
Speiser E.A. “ ‘People’ and ‘Nation’ of Israel” Journal of Biblical Literature 1960 79 157 163
-
Stackert Jeffrey A Prophet Like Moses: Prophecy, Law, and Israelite Religion 2014 Oxford and New York Oxford University Press
-
Stackert Jeffrey Rewriting the Torah: Literary Revision in Deuteronomy and the Holiness Legislation 2007 Tübingen Mohr Siebeck Forschungen zum Alten Testament 52
-
Steiner Margreet L. & Killebrew Ann E. The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant c. 8000-332 bce 2014 Oxford Oxford University Press
-
Stockton Eugene D. Australian Journal of Biblical Archaeology 1974 2 1 27
-
Stockton Eugene D “Sacred Pillars in the Bible” Australian Biblical Review 1972 20 16 32
-
Stockton Eugene D “Stones at Worship” Australian Journal of Biblical Archaeology 1970 1 58 81
-
Strauss Leo Persecution and the Art of Writing 1988 Chicago University of Chicago Press (Orig. pub. 1952)
-
Talmon Shemaryahu “The ‘Desert Motif’ in the Bible and in Qumran Literature” idem, Literary Studies in the Hebrew Bible—Form and Content: Collected Studies 1993 Jerusalem Magnes 216 254 Leiden: Brill (Orig. pub. 1966)
-
Talmon Shemaryahu “The Presentation of Synchroneity and Simultaneity in Biblical Narrative” idem, Literary Studies in the Hebrew Bible—Form and Content: Collected Studies 1993 Jerusalem Magnes 112 133 Leiden: Brill (Orig. pub. 1978)
-
Botterweck G. Johannes et al. Willis John T. Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament 1975-2006 Grand Rapids, Michigan Eerdmans 15 vols
-
Klein Michael L. The Fragment-Targums of the Pentateuch According to Their Extant Sources 1980 Rome Biblical Institute Press Analecta Biblica 76. 2 vols
-
Díez Macho Alejandro Neophyti 1 1968-1979 Madrid and Barcelona Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas 6 vols. Textos y Estudios del Seminario Filológico Cardenal Cisneros 7
-
Sperber Alexander The Bible in Aramaic 1959 Vol. 1 The Pentateuch According to Targum Onkelos Leiden Brill
-
Rieder David Pseudo-Jonathan: Targum Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch 1974 Jerusalem Salomon
-
Tal Abraham The Samaritan Targum of the Pentateuch: A Critical Edition 1980-1983 Tel-Aviv Tel-Aviv University 3 vols
-
Tigay Jeffrey H. Tigay Jeffrey H. “Conflation as a Redactional Technique” Empirical Models for Biblical Criticism 1985 Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press 53 95 Repr. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2005
-
Tigay Jeffrey H. Deuteronomy 1996 Philadelphia and Jerusalem The Jewish Publication Society of America The jps Torah Commentary
-
Tigay Jeffrey H. Cohen C. , Hurvitz A. & Paul S.M. “The Presence of God and the Coherence of Exodus 20:22-26” Sefer Moshe: The Moshe Weinfeld Jubilee Volume—Studies in the Bible and the Ancient Near East, Qumran, and Post-Biblical Judaism 2004 Winona Lake, Indiana Eisenbrauns 195 211
-
Tigay Jeffrey T. You Shall Have No Other Gods: Israelite Religion in the Light of Hebrew Inscriptions 1986 Atlanta Scholars Press Harvard Semitic Studies 31
-
Tov Emanuel “Rewritten Bible Compositions and Biblical Manuscripts, with Special Attention to the Samaritan Pentateuch” Dead Sea Discoveries 1998 5 334 354
-
Tov Emanuel The Text-Critical Use of the Septuagint in Biblical Research 1997 2nd ed. Jerusalem Simor revised and enlarged. Jerusalem Biblical Studies 8
-
Tov Emanuel Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible 2012 3rd ed Minneapolis Fortress Press
-
Ulrich Eugene The Biblical Qumran Scrolls: Transcriptions and Textual Variants 2010 VTSup 134 Leiden Brill
-
Weinfeld Moshe “The Awakening of National Consciousness in Israel in the Seventh Century bce” Oz Le-David: Studies in the Bible Presented to David Ben Gurion on His Seventieth Birthday 1964 Jerusalem Israel Bible Society 396 420 [Hebrew]
-
Weinfeld Moshe Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School 1972 Oxford Oxford University Press Repr. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1992
-
Wellhausen Julius Black J. Sutherland & Menzies A. Prolegomena to the History of Ancient Israel 1885 Edinburgh Adam & Charles Black Repr. Cleveland and New York: World Publishing, 1957, 1965. (Orig. pub. 1883 [German])
-
White Hayden “The Value of Narrativity in the Representation of Reality” Critical Inquiry 1980 7 5 27
-
Wilson Robert R. Prophecy and Society in Ancient Israel 1980 Philadelphia Fortress Repr. 1984
-
Wright David P. Inventing God’s Law: How the Covenant Code of the Bible Used and Revised the Laws of Hammurabi 2009 Oxford and New York Oxford University Press
-
Zevit Ziony Fox M.J. et al. “The Earthen Altar Laws of Exodus 20:24-26 and Related Sacrificial Restrictions in Their Cultural Context” Texts, Temples, and Traditions: A Tribute to Menahem Haran 1996 Winona Lake, Indiana Eisenbrauns 53 62
-
Zevit Ziony The Religions of Ancient Israel: A Synthesis of Parallactic Approaches 2001 London and New York Continuum
-
6
See the excellent analysis by Blum, Studien, 45-53, 91-99, 169-172; also Schwienhorst-Schönberger, Das Bundesbuch, 284-299, 406-414; Kratz, The Composition of the Narrative Books, 133-140; Schmidt, “Israel und das Gesetz.”
-
7
See Baden, J, E, and the Redaction of the Pentateuch, 153-161; idem, The Composition of the Pentateuch, 116-118; Stackert, A Prophet Like Moses, 75-77. Compare also Patrick, “The Covenant Code,” 145-151. At the same time, this study diverges from just about all analyses and hypotheses by warranting the inference that the (“Elohistic”) historical work that contained all three of the passages now in Exodus 19, 20, and 24 did not originally include Yahweh presenting his extensive set of laws, in 21:1-23:19 (or Moses transmitting them, in the relevant direct-object clause in 24:3); see below, n. 85. Note also my view that 20:1-13 too appears secondary (below, n. 57). Both additions seem to me essentially uninflected by Deuteronomic texts and concepts, and, as many have shown (e.g. Levinson, Deuteronomy; Baden, J, E, and the Redaction of the Pentateuch, 153-172), both appear to have made up a part of the Elohistic history by the time Deuteronomic authors engaged it.
-
12
So Cassuto, Exodus,178; Tigay, “The Presence of God,” 195 n. 3.
-
16
Contra Levinson, “Is the Covenant Code,” 300-315. The three manuscript traditions of mt, sp, and lxx can agree yet still contain a secondary reading: Num 15:39 mt לְצִיצִת; sp לציציות; lxx ἐν τοῖς κρασπέδοις should undoubtedly read לאות (Fox, “The Sign of the Covenant,” 569, 578-580). See Tov’s critical review of principles and practices in the evaluation of readings, which he wryly boils down to “common sense” and an “art,” and in conjectured emendations, regarding which he notes the randomness of preservation and rediscovery (Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 265-281, 327-340, esp. 270, 280-281, 329). For confusion between the letters ת and א in the old Hebrew script as a factor in the change of Exod 20:20, see Tigay, “The Presence of God,” 204 n. 29 (for this problem in general, Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 228); the presence of the first-person formulation in sp, which has been copied continuously in the old Hebrew script, makes it nearly certain that the interchange took place in a copy in old Hebrew script. As an alternative, Tigay raises deliberate harmonization or assimilation (“The Presence of God,” 204 n. 29). However, the recurrence of divine self-declaration throughout so much of the Torah—in all its sources—could easily predispose a copyist to expect the first-person form and to find it there, so to speak, when faced with graphic ambiguity; namely, the process need not have involved conscious exegesis as much as instinct. For the mentally complex nature of the production of some variants, see Tov, The Text-Critical Use of the Septuagint, 162-171 (on translators).
-
18
So Tigay, ibid., 203; he only refers to worshippers, but also includes parallels in cognate languages from the regions around Israel and Judea.
-
23
See Ginsberg, The Israelian Heritage, 58-60; Levinson, Deuteronomy; Chavel, “The Second Passover,” 14-17, 21-22.
-
28
Alpert Nakhai, Archaeology and the Religions of Canaan and Israel, 49. At the same time, others correlate it with the altar at Arad (Mierse, Temples and Sanctuaries, 126), although enough typological analogues occur throughout the Levant to make any particularistic claim for Judea (and Israel) problematic.
-
43
E.g. Sforno; Ehrlich, Mikra Kifshuto, 1:170; Holzinger, Exodus, 67; Randglossen, 1:337; Cassuto, Exodus, 156, Paul, Studies in the Book of the Covenant, 29-31; Childs, Exodus, 367; Houtman, Exodus, 2:445-446.
-
44
See Blum, Studien, 51-52. The prophecy in Isa 61:1-9, in the context of a series of prophecies recognizing the single temple of Jerusalem, seems directly to engage and adapt the ideas of Exod 19:3-6. It does not appear to predict literally that all Judeans will serve in the Jerusalem temple, but it does not shift the emphasis to the abstract notion of Israel’s intermediation on behalf of the other nations either. To be precise, the prophecy envisions the thoroughgoing blessedness of the complete nation leading foreigners to consider them all an entire nation of priests, namely, enjoying divine proximity, service, and rewards. Compare Blum, ibid., 170-172.
-
48
So Holzinger, Exodus, 79; Levinson, “Is the Covenant Code,” 280.
-
49
Cassuto, Exodus, 176. Tigay considers this understanding “forced,” but does not explain why (“The Presence of God,” 199). Ibn Ezra, who from a traditional perspective addresses the seeming contradiction with 19:20, resolves the matter by having recourse to the deity’s representation as of great size: a manifestation like his feet is perceptibly lower on the mountain while a manifestation like his head, from which he speaks, is up in the sky (the so-called long commentary, at 20:18; see too Ramban; Sforno).
-
67
Contra Schmidt, “Israel und das Gesetz,” 169-170, 181-183. It may be due to the pragmatics of Moses’ single-handed management of the covenant and its rituals that the author has him build only one altar, rather than have every family build its own. This will be matched by Aaron building a single altar and a golden sculpture in Exod 32:1-8. Cassuto analyzes the complete configuration of the altar and the twelve stones as representing the two parties to the covenant, Yahweh and the tribes of Israel respectively (Exodus, 217). Accordingly, he suggests that just as Moses tosses part of the blood on the altar, he tosses the other part representatively on the twelve stones, not directly on the people (218; so too Stockton, “Stones at Worship,” 59). Abusch emphasizes blood’s ability to effect relations between god and human and exemplifies with this passage (“Blood in Israel and Mesopotamia,” 677-678). Lewis draws on a variety of ancient Near Eastern and modern critical sources to argue that the use of blood in this text has multiple meanings, but he overlooks the artifice and argument of the text as narrative historiography (“Covenant and Blood Rituals”).
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 461 | 62 | 12 |
| Full Text Views | 316 | 22 | 2 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 149 | 49 | 2 |
A Kingdom of Priests and its Earthen Altars in Exodus 19-24
In: Vetus TestamentumSearch for other papers by Simeon Chavel in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
This study analyzes the altar law in Exodus 20, the statement that frames it in Exodus 19, and its application in Exodus 24 as a single narrative that denies the professional configuration of sacrifice as essential to religion and divine blessing. It puts the gift-blessing exchange into the hands of every family, and reverses the basic trope of hosting-visiting and the social poetics that govern hierarchical religion: rather than host at his palace through mediating attendants, Yahweh visits wherever he is invited. The study argues that the narrative attacks an Israelian and Judean ideology in which royal success defines territorial extent, shapes the polity, enshrines divine power in temples, and controls divine blessing. It reconfigures the elements such that territory and nationhood are defined by the divine king, who roams freely throughout the land to bless each of his subjects, so long as they invite him to receive a gift.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 461 | 62 | 12 |
| Full Text Views | 316 | 22 | 2 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 149 | 49 | 2 |