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History of Israelite Religion: The Holiness School’s Reinterpretation of the Covenant Code and Deuteronomy

NEJS 211b Brandeis University

Spring 2017 T&F 11:00–12:20

Lown 302 David P. Wright

PURPOSE: The course seeks to make a contribution to the history of Israelite/biblical religious ideas as well as to the history of the pentateuchal text by studying how the Holiness School scribes revised aspects of earlier law texts, the Covenant Code and Deuteronomy. WORK FOR THE COURSE: 1. Attendance, preparation, and participation (40%). 2. Research paper (total 60%). Students will give oral presentations of their papers during the last two weeks of the semester (15%). A final full version is due the last day of the exam period (45%). SCHEDULE: We will spend course time on reading and discussing texts and problems that arise from reading them. See Readings, below. First day of class is Jan 17 and last day is May 2 (last day of classes for the University is May 3). Exam week is May 5–12. Vacation periods are Feb 20–24 and Apr 10–18. (Apr 19 is a “Monday,” but that does not affect this course.) READINGS: 1. For background: •Blasphemy and talion Primary texts: Leviticus 24:10–23; Exod 21:22–25; 22:27; 23:13; Deut 17:2–7; 19:15–21. Secondary readings: Nihan, Christophe. “Murder, Blasphemy and Sacral Law: Another Look at Lev 24,10–

24.” ZABR 17 (2011), 211–240. Wright, D. P. “Source Dependence and the Development of the Pentateuch: The Case of

Leviticus 24.” Pp. 651–682 in The Formation of the Pentateuch: Bridging the

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Academic Cultures of Europe, Israel, and North America. Ed. J. Gertz, B. M. Levinson, D. Rom-Shiloni, and K. Schmid. Tübingen. Mohr Siebeck. 2016.

•Seventh year Primary texts: Lev 25:2–7 // Exod 23:10–11; Deut 15:1–11. Secondary reading: Milgrom, Jacob. Leviticus 23–27. AB 3b. New York: Doubleday, 2001. [Pp. 2145–2271.] Stackert, Jeffrey. Rewriting the Torah: Literary Revision in Deuteronomy and the

Holiness Legislation. FAT 52. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007. Pp. 113–164. •Debt-slavery Primary texts: Lev 25:39–46 (8–55) // Exod 21:2–11; Deut 15:12–18 with a look at Jer 34:10–22 Secondary readings: Leuchter, Mark. “The Manumission Laws in Leviticus and Deuteronomy: The Jeremiah

Connection,” JBL 127 (2008): 635–53. Levinson, Bernard M. “The Manumission of Hermeneutics: The Slave Laws of the

Pentateuch as a Challenge to Contemporary Pentateuchal Theory.” Pp. 281–324 in Congress Volume Leiden 2004. Ed. André Lemaire. VTSup 109. Leiden: Brill, 2006.

Milgrom, Jacob. Leviticus 23–27. AB 3b. New York: Doubleday, 2001. [Pp. 2145–2271.] Stackert, Jeffrey. Rewriting the Torah: Literary Revision in Deuteronomy and the

Holiness Legislation. FAT 52. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007. Pp. 113–164. Wright, D. P. “‘She Shall Not Go Free as Male Slaves Do’: Developing Views About

Slavery and Gender in the Laws of the Hebrew Bible.” Pp. 125–142 in Beyond Slavery: Overcoming Its Religious and Sexual Legacy. Ed. Bernadette J. Brooten, et al. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

2. Main topics and texts for study: •Place of sacrificial slaughter:

Primary texts: in general: Lev 17 // Deut 12 the immigrant and carrion: Lev 17:15–16 // Deut 14:21; cf. Exod 22:30 Secondary readings: Elliger, Karl. Leviticus. Handbuch zum Alten Testament. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1966.

[Pp. 218–229.]

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Gerstenberger, Erhard S. Das 3. Buch Mose: Leviticus. Das Alte Testament Deutsch. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1993. [Pp. 214–223.]

Milgrom, Jacob. Leviticus 17–22. AB 3a. New York: Doubleday, 2000. [Pp. 1447–1514.] Levine, Baruch. Leviticus. JPS Torah Commentary, 1989. [Pp. 110–117.] •H’s miscellany of cultic and ethical laws in Lev 19 Primary texts: Lev 19 (examine structure, in connection with Lev 18, 20) Idolatry (Lev 19:4 // Exod 20:23; cf. 34:17) Harvest (Lev 19:9–10 // Deut 24:19–22; Exod 23:10–12) Extorting the poor (19:13 // Deut 24:12–15; cf. Exod 22:25–26) Proper justice (Lev 19:15–17 // Exod 23:1–8) Mixed kinds (Lev 19:19 // Deut 22:10–12) Loving the immigrant (Lev 19:34 // Deut 10:17–19)

Secondary readings: Elliger, Karl. Leviticus. Handbuch zum Alten Testament. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1966. Gerstenberger, Erhard S. Das 3. Buch Mose: Leviticus. Das Alte Testament Deutsch.

Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1993. Milgrom, Jacob. Leviticus 17–22. AB 3a. New York: Doubleday, 2000. Levine, Baruch. Leviticus. JPS Torah Commentary, 1989. •National holiness Primary texts: in the diet: Lev 20:25–26; 11:43–45 // Deut 14:21; Exod 22:30 broader national holiness: Lev 19:2; 20:7–8, 26 and other passages (see Wright articles on holiness); Deut 7:6; 14:2, 21; 26:19; 28:9 // Exod 22:30; 23:19; cf. Exod 19:5–6 Secondary readings: Schwartz, Baruch J. “Israel’s Holiness: The Torah Traditions.” Pp. 47–59 in Purity and

Holiness: The Heritage of Leviticus. Ed. M. J. H. M. Poorthuis et al. Jewish and Christian Perspectives Series 2. Leiden: Brill, 2000.

Wright, David P. “Holiness in Leviticus and Beyond.” Interpretation 53/4 (1999): 351–364.

Wright, David P. “Holiness, OT.” ABD 3 (1992): 237–249. Wright, D. P. Inventing God’s Law. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. [Pp. 486–

487 n. 15.] Wright, David P. “The Spectrum of Priestly Impurity.” Pp. 150–181 in Priesthood and

Cult in Ancient Israel. Ed. G. A. Anderson and S. M. Olyan. JSOTSup 125. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1991.

•The immigrant Primary texts:

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In PH: Gen 23:4; Exod 12:19, 48–49; Lev 16:29; 17:8, 10, 12–13, 15; 18:26; 19:10, 33–34; 20:2; 21:14; 22:13, 18; 23:22; 24:16, 22; 25:23, 35, 47; Num 9:14; 15:14–16, 26, 29–30; 19:10; 30:10; 35:15

In D: Deut 1:16; 5:14; 10:18–19; 14:21, 29; 16:11, 14; 23:8; 24:14, 17, 19–21; 26:11–13; 27:19; 28:43; 29:10; 31:12

In CC and E: Gen 15:13; Exod 18:3; 20:10; 22:20–21, 23; 23:9, 12

Secondary readings: Milgrom, J. “Religious Conversion and the Revolt Model for the Formation of Israel.”

JBL 101 (1982): 169–176. Nihan, “Resident Aliens and Natives in the Holiness Legislation.” Pp. 111–134 in The

Foreigner and the Law: Perspectives from the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East. Ed. Reinhard Achenbach, Rainer Albertz, and Jakob Wöhrle. BZAR Beihefte 16. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2011.

Ramírez Kidd, J. E. Alterity and Identity in Israel: The ֵּגר in the Old Testament. BZAW 283. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1999.

Rendtorff, R. “The Ger in the Priestly Laws of the Pentateuch.” Pp. 77–87 in Ethnicity and the Bible. Ed. M. G. Brett). Biblical Interpretation Series 19. Leiden Brill, 1996.

APPENDICES: Summary list of H’s likely or possible use of CC and/or D (in process of fuller

formulation):

profane slaughter and sanctuary (Lev 17 // Deut 12) the immigrant and carrion (Lev 17:15–16 // Deut 14:21; cf. Exod 22:30) idolatry (Lev 19:4 // Exod 20:23; cf. 34:17) harvest (Lev 19:9–10 // Deut 24:19–22; Exod 23:10–12) extorting the poor (19:13 // Deut 24:12–15; cf. Exod 22:25–26) proper justice (Lev 19:15–17 // Exod 23:1–8) mixed kinds (Lev 19:19 // Deut 22:10–12) loving the immigrant (Lev 19:34 // Deut 10:17–19; see *, below) national holiness and diet (Lev 20:25–26; 11:43–45 // Deut 14:21; Exod 22:30;

H’s broader development of the theme of national holiness appears to build on that theme in D and CC: Deut 7:6; 14:2, 21; 26:19; 28:9 // Exod 22:30; 23:19; cf. Exod 19:5–6)

priestly and animal blemishes (Lev 21:16–23; 22:17–25 // Deut 15:21; 17:1; 23:2–3)

offspring of sacrificial animals (Lev 22:27–28 // Exod 22:30; 23:18) festivals especially Passover and Unleavened Bread (Lev 23 // Deut 16:1–17; cf.

Exod 23:14–17) seventh year (Lev 25:7 // Exod 23:10–11; Deut 15:1–11)

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debt-slavery (Lev 25:39–46 // Exod 21:2–11; Deut 15:12–18; Lev 25 as a whole reconfigures the issues of debt-relief and debt-slavery from D and CC)

divine presence in the camp (Num 5:1–4 // Deut 23:10–15) homicide asylum (Num 35:9–34 // Deut 19:1–13; Exod 21:12–14) *H’s various laws on the immigrant appear to grow of the concern for this

individual in D and CC (Lev 17:8, 10, 12, 13, 15–16; 19:10, 33–34; 24:22–23; 25:23; Num 15:14–16, etc.; compare Deut 10:18–19; 14:21; 24:17–21; Exod 22:20–22, 30; 23:9)

(For lists of correlations between H and D, see Stackert, Rewriting, 7–8 and n. 18; Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 17–22, 1357–1361. For correlations between H and CC, see Milgrom, Leviticus 17–22, 1355–1356; Wright, Inventing, 507 n. 22.) D’s use of CC:

D is mainly concerned laws in CC that deal with cultic practice, mainly in the apodictic laws, and how these are to be put into practice in D’s cult with a single national sanctuary (Deut 12:1–12, 13–41 // Exod 20:23–24; Deut 15:19–22 // Exod 22:28–29; Deut 16:1–17 // Exod 23:14–19; Deut 19:1–13 // Exod 21:12–14). In connection with this topic, D developed other emphases based on CC, including laws on the poor (Deut 15:1–11 // Exod 23:10–11; Deut 15:12–18 // Exod 21:2–11; Deut 24:17–22 // Exod 22:20–23; 23:9, 10–11; Deut 24:6, 10–15 // Exod 22:25–26; Deut 23:20–21 // Exod 22:24–26; Deut 22:1–4 // Exod 23:4–5; cf. 22:8, 25) and on court procedure (Deut 16:18–20 // Exod 23:1–8; Deut 17:8–13 // Exod 22:7–8, 10; Deut 19:15–21 // Exod 21:22–25; 22:7–8, 10; 23:1–8).

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES Students will •improve abilities in reading classical Hebrew •develop skills in Hebrew linguistic analysis •augment understanding of modern academic approaches to studying the Hebrew Bible •add to their understanding of western and modern intellectual history •gain a greater proficiency in critical thinking and analysis in general •develop aptitude in the close and critical reading of texts •increase capacities in the evaluation of evidence •sharpen abilities in constructing logical arguments •learn to write more clearly and persuasively •learn to communicate ideas orally POLICIES: Attendance: This is required as part of class work and participation. Late work and incompletes: Late work will be penalized 1% of total grade per day late. Incompletes will not be given for the course except in cases of extreme difficulties.

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Changes in syllabus: The instructor reserves the right to reduce the work load outlined in the syllabus. The instructor also reserves the right to replace any assignment with another of equal weight, provided there is enough time in the schedule to make this feasible. Homework time: Success in this 4 credit hour course is based on the expectation you will spend a minimum of 9 hours of study time per week in preparation for class (readings, papers, discussion sections, preparation for exams, etc.). Electronics: Computers may be used in class to take notes, access course readings, and even do searches on relevant topics for class discussion. Accessing email, visiting irrelevant websites, texting, and the like are not allowed. Academic honesty: You must complete all assignments alone (unless otherwise allowed by the instructor). In your writing, you must follow rules of attribution, meaning that you must cite all sources consulted in preparing your papers. As stated in the Student Handbook, “Every member of the University community is expected to maintain the highest standards of academic honesty. A student shall not receive credit for work that is not the product of the student’s own effort.” Examples of penalties for a student found responsible for an infringement of academic honesty are no credit for the work in question, failure in the course, and the traditional range of conduct sanctions from disciplinary warning through permanent dismissal from the University. Disabilities: If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me immediately.