Rewriting the Torah: Literary Revision in Deuteronomy and the Holiness Legislation (Forschungen zum Alten Testament Book 52)

Jeffrey Stackert Explores Literary Correspondences Among The Pentateuchal Legal Corpora And Especially The Relationships Between Similar Laws In Deuteronomy And The Holiness Legislation (lev 17-26, The So-called Holiness Code, As Well As Significant Parts Of The Priestly Source Elsewhere In The Pentateuch). Resemblances Between These Law Collections Range From Broad Structure To Fine Detail And Include Treatments Of Similar Legal Topics, Correlations With Regard To Sequence Of Laws, And Precise Grammatical And Lexical Correspondences. Yet The Nature And Basis Of These Resemblances Persist As Debated Points Among Biblical Scholars. Through An Analysis Of The Pentateuchal Laws On Asylum, Seventh-year Release, Manumission, And Tithes, The Author Argues That The Holiness Legislation Depends Upon Both The Covenant Collection And Deuteronomy. He Also Elucidates The Compositional Logic Of The Holiness Legislators, Showing That These Authors Do Not Simply Replicate Pre-existing Legal Content. Rather, They Employ A Method Of Literary Revision In Which They Reconceptualize Source Material According To Their Own Ideological Biases. In The End, The Holiness Legislation Proves To Be A Super Law That Collects And Distills The Priestly And Non-priestly Laws That Precede It. By Accommodating, Reformulating, And Incorporating Various Viewpoints From These Sources, The Holiness Authors Create A Work That Is Intended To Supersede Them All. -- ‡c From Publisher's Description. The Biblical Legal Corpora And Their Correspondences: Accounting For Similarities And Differences -- The Urbanization Of Asylum: Reconceptualizations Of Refuge In Deuteronomy And The Holiness Legislation -- Revision In The Pentateuchal Seventh-year And Slavery Laws: Šĕmiţţâ, Šabbāţôn And Y{629}obēl -- A Tithe From The Tithe: Revision Of The Deuteronomic Tithe In The Holiness Legislation -- Literary Dependence And Compositional Logic: Understanding The Motivation For Biblical Legal Revision. Jeffrey Stackert. Doctoral Brandeis University, Waltham (massachusetts) 2007 Includes Bibliographical References (p. [227]-246) And Indexes. Cover Acknowledgments Abstract Table of Contents Chapter One: The Biblical Legal Corpora and their Correspondences: Accounting for Similarities and Differences Introduction The History of Pentateuchal Legal Scholarship and the Current State of the Question Previous Studies of Pentateuchal Legislation The Limitations of Previous Studies of Deuteronomy and the Holiness Legislation The Existence, Scope, and Dating of the Holiness Writings Leviticus 17–26 and the Question of an Expanded Holiness Corpus Dating the Holiness Legislation Methodological Approach Historical and Literary Issues The Comparative Method and Literary Dependence Inner-biblical Exegesis Chapter Two: The Urbanization of Asylum: Reconceptualizations of Refuge in Deuteronomy and the Holiness Legislation Asylum in Exodus 21:12–14 and Deuteronomy 19:1–13 Exodus 21:12–14 and the Question of Altar Asylum Exodus 21:12–14, Deuteronomy 19:1–13, and the Origin of City Asylum The Reconceptualization of םךקמ in Deuteronomy 19:1–13 Asylum in Numbers 35:9–34 and its Relation to Other Pentateuchal Asylum Laws Previous Scholarship on the Relationship between the Deuteronomic and Priestly Asylum Laws Analysis of Numbers 35:9–34 and its Relation to Exodus 21:12–14 and Deuteronomy 19:1–13 Redactional Analysis of Numbers 35:9–34 The Literary Relationship between Deuteronomy 19:1–13 and Numbers 35:9–34 Asylum in Joshua 20 and its Relation to Pentateuchal Asylum Legislation Conclusions Chapter Three: Revision in the Pentateuchal Seventh-Year and Slavery Laws: Šěmittâ, Šabbātôn, and Yôbēl Revision in the Holiness Collection’s Seventh-Year Law Literary Parallels and Direction of Dependence in Leviticus 25:2–7 Can H Serve as a Source for D and/or CC? Conclusions Concerning Revision in the Holiness Collection’s Seventh-Year Laws Excursus 1: Is Exodus 23:10–11 a Fallow Law? Lexical and Grammatical Ambiguity in Exodus 23:10–11 Exodus 23:10–11 in the Septuagint Exodus 23:10–11 and its Reformulation in Leviticus 25:2–7 Exodus 23:10–11 and its Reformulation in Deuteronomy Revision in the Holiness Collection’s Slavery Laws The Deuteronomic and Holiness Slavery and Manumission Laws Literary Parallels and Direction of Dependence in Leviticus 25:39–43 Can Leviticus 25:39–43 Serve as a Source for Deuteronomy 15:12–15, 18? Legal Revision in Leviticus 25:44–46: Modifying and Integrating Sources Narrative Influence in the Composition of Biblical Law: Evidence from D and H Revision of Narrative Address in the Holiness Slavery Laws Can H Serve as a Source for D? Conclusions Concerning Revision in the Holiness Collection’s Slavery Laws Chapter Four: “A Tithe from the Tithe”: Revision of the Deuteronomic Tithe in the Holiness Legislation Tithes, Levites, and the Question of Historical Custom The Revision of Deuteronomy 14:22–29 in Numbers 18:20–32 Correspondences Between Deuteronomy 14:22–29 and Numbers 18:20–32 The Analogies for the Tithe in Numbers 18:27 and 30 Excursus 2: Source Ascription in Leviticus 27:30–33 and Numbers 16–18 Excursus 3: The Levites in the Torah and Ezekiel Conclusions General Conclusions Concerning the Deuteronomic and Holiness Tithes Centralization and Levitical Holiness Status Chapter Five: Literary Dependence and Compositional Logic: Understanding the Motivation for Biblical Legal Revision Biblical Legal Revision: Replacement or Supplementation? Competing and Complementary Modes of Textual Authority: Canon and Revelation Pre-Canonical Legal Revision and a New Empirical Model Conclusions Bibliography Hebrew Index Source Index Subject and Authors Index Hauptbeschreibung Jeffrey Stackert explores literary correspondences among the pentateuchal legal corpora and especially the relationships between similar laws in Deuteronomy and the Holiness Legislation (Lev 17-26, the so-called ""Holiness Code, "" as well as significant parts of the Priestly source elsewhere in the Pentateuch). Resemblances between these law collections range from broad structure to fine detail and include treatments of similar legal topics, correlations with regard to sequence of laws, and precise grammatical and lexical correspondences. Yet the nature and basis