Exodus 20-40 1573128201, 9781573128209

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Exodus 20–40

Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary: Exodus 20–40 Publication Staff Publisher & Executive Vice President Keith Gammons Book Editor Leslie Andres Graphic Designers Daniel Emerson Dave Jones Assistant Editors Katie Brookins Kelley F. Land

Smyth & Helwys Publishing, Inc. 6316 Peake Road Macon, Georgia 31210-3960 1-800-747-3016 © 2014 by Smyth & Helwys Publishing All rights reserved. ISBN 978-1-57312-820-9

SMYTH & HELWYS BIBLE COMMENTARY

Exodus 20–40 William Johnstone

PROJECT EDITOR R. SCOTT NASH Mercer University Macon, Georgia

OLD TESTAMENT GENERAL EDITOR SAMUEL E. BALENTINE Union Presbyterian Seminary Richmond, Virginia AREA OLD TESTAMENT EDITORS MARK E. BIDDLE Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, Virginia KANDY QUEEN-SUTHERLAND Stetson University Deland, Florida PAUL REDDITT Georgetown College Georgetown, Kentucky Baptist Seminary of Kentucky Lexington, Kentucky

NEW TESTAMENT GENERAL EDITOR R. ALAN CULPEPPER McAfee School of Theology Mercer University Atlanta, Georgia AREA NEW TESTAMENT EDITORS R. SCOTT NASH Mercer University Macon, Georgia RICHARD B. VINSON Salem College Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Contents xvii

AUTHOR’S PREFACE

xix

SERIES PREFACE

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HOW TO USE THIS COMMENTARY

1

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 20–40

21

PART II: EXODUS 20–40

1

The Decalogue (“The Ten Commandments”)

Exodus 20:1-21

23

2

The Book of the Covenant (“B”)

Exodus 20:22–23:33

49

B’s Theological Framework, Opening Section: Serving Only YHWH

Exodus 20:22-26

57

4

Release from Slavery

Exodus 21:1-11

73

5

The Neighbor’s Rights to Life and Freedom; the Parents’ Rights to Protection and Care

Exodus 21:12-17

89

6

The Care of the Neighbor’s Person and Property

Exodus 21:18–22:17

99

7

Prohibition of Sorcery, Bestiality, and Idolatry

Exodus 22:18-20

133

8

The Protection of the Vulnerable

Exodus 22:21–23:9

143

9

B’s Theological Framework, Closing Section: Sabbath, Festivals, and the Name of YHWH

Exodus 23:10-19

173

YHWH’S Concluding Address to Israel

Exodus 23:20-33

191

3

10 11

Israel’s Response to Revelation

Exodus 24:1-11

209

12

Revelation on the Mountain

Exodus 24:12-18

227

13

The Sanctuary in the Wilderness: Its Specifications

Exodus 25–31:17

237

14

The Furnishings of the Sanctuary: Ark, Table, and Lampstand

Exodus 25

245

15

The Structure of the Sanctuary

Exodus 26

269

16

The Altar and the Courtyard; the Oil for the Lamps

Exodus 27

279

17

The High Priest’s Vestments and Insignia

Exodus 28

287

18

Instructions on the Consecration of Aaron and His Sons to the Priesthood

Exodus 29

301

The Incense Altar, the Census of the People, the Basin and Stand, the Anointing Oil, and the Incense

Exodus 30

321

The Appointment of the Artisans; Resting on the Sabbath

Exodus 31:1-17

335

19 20

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Contents

21

Israel Breaks Its Covenant with YHWH; YHWH’s Response

Exodus 31:18–34:35

347

22

Israel Worships a Golden Calf; YHWH Responds with Punishment

Exodus 31:18–32:35

349

How YHWH Will Accompany Israel on the Journey through the Wilderness

Exodus 33

379

YHWH’s Reaffirmation of Relationship with Israel

Exodus 34

397

Exodus 35–40

435

23 24 25

The Sanctuary in the Wilderness: Its Construction

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

457

INDEX OF MODERN AUTHORS

483

INDEX OF SCRIPTURES

485

INDEX OF SIDEBARS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

497

INDEX OF TOPICS

503

Dedication

For Megan, Isla, and Ethan ynb ynb



ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS COMMENTARY Books of the Old Testament, Apocrypha, and New Testament are generally abbreviated in the Sidebars, parenthetical references, and notes according to the following system. The Old Testament Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Ruth 1–2 Samuel 1–2 Kings 1–2 Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah Esther Job Psalm (Psalms) Proverbs Ecclesiastes or Qoheleth Song of Solomon or Song of Songs or Canticles Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah

Gen Exod Lev Num Deut Josh Judg Ruth 1–2 Sam 1–2 Kgs 1–2 Chr Ezra Neh Esth Job Ps (Pss) Prov Eccl Qoh Song Song Cant Isa Jer Lam Ezek Dan Hos Joel Amos Obad Jonah Mic

x

Abbreviations Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi

Nah Hab Zeph Hag Zech Mal

The Apocrypha 1–2 Esdras Tobit Judith Additions to Esther Wisdom of Solomon Ecclesiasticus or the Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach Baruch Epistle (or Letter) of Jeremiah Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Daniel and Susanna Daniel, Bel, and the Dragon Prayer of Manasseh 1–4 Maccabees

1–2 Esdr Tob Jdt Add Esth Wis Sir Bar Ep Jer Pr Azar Sus Bel Pr Man 1–4 Macc

The New Testament Matthew Mark Luke John Acts Romans 1–2 Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians 1–2 Thessalonians 1–2 Timothy Titus Philemon Hebrews James 1–2 Peter 1–2–3 John Jude Revelation

Matt Mark Luke John Acts Rom 1–2 Cor Gal Eph Phil Col 1–2 Thess 1–2 Tim Titus Phlm Heb Jas 1–2 Pet 1–2–3 John Jude Rev

Abbreviations Other commonly used abbreviations include: AD

BC

C. c. cf. ch. chs. d. ed. eds. e.g. et al. f./ff. gen. ed. Gk. Heb. ibid. i.e. LCL lit. masc. n. n.d. pl. rev. and exp. ed. sc. sg. s.v. trans. vol(s). v. vv.

Anno Domini (in the year of the Lord) (also commonly referred to as CE = the Common Era) Before Christ (also commonly referred to as BCE = Before the Common Era) century circa (around “that time”) confer (compare) chapter chapters died edition or edited by or editor editors exempli gratia (for example) et alii (and others) and the following one(s) general editor Greek Hebrew ibidem (in the same place) id est (that is) Loeb Classical Library literally masculine note no date plural revised and expanded edition scilicet (that is to say) singular sub voce (in dictionary references, meaning “under the entry”) translated by or translator(s) volume(s) verse verses

Selected additional written works cited by abbreviations include the following. A complete listing of abbreviations can be referenced in The SBL Handbook of Style (Peabody MA: Hendrickson, 1999): AB ABD ACCS

Anchor Bible Anchor Bible Dictionary Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture

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Abbreviations AnBib ANET

ANF Ant ANTC AOAT ASTI B BA BAR BASOR BBC BBET BDB

BETL BH BHK BHS BJS BK BN Book List BT BWANT BZAR BZAW CahRB CBOTS

Analecta biblica Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, ed. James B. Pritchard (2d ed., Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1955) Ante-Nicene Fathers Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, trans. William Whiston (Edinburgh: Peter Brown, 1837) Abingdon New Testament Commentaries Alter Orient und Altes Testament Annual of the Swedish Theological Institute The “Book of the Covenant” (Exod 20:22–23:33) The Biblical Archaeologist Biblical Archaeology Review Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research Blackwell Bible Commentaries Beiträge zur biblischen Exegese und Theologie Francis Brown, Samuel R. Driver, Charles A. Briggs, eds., A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906) Bibliotheca ephemeridum theologicarum lovaniensium Biblical Hebrew Biblia Hebraica, ed. Rudolf Kittel (Stuttgart: Privilegierte Württembergische Bibelanstalt, 1937) Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1968-76) Brown Judaic Studies Biblischer Kommentar Biblische Notizen Society for Old Testament Study, Book List The Bible Translator Beiträge zur Wissenschaft vom Alten und Neuen Testament Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für Altorientalische und Biblische Rechtsgeschichte Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft Cahiers de la Revue biblique Coniectanea biblica (Old Testament Series)

Abbreviations CBQ CBQMS CML CTA

CVMA DCH

DDD DtrH DtrJer(emiah) D-version Eben Shoshan EncJud EvQ EvT EVV FAT FIOTL FOTL FRLANT GKC

HB HCOT HDB HSM

Catholic Biblical Quarterly Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series John C.L. Gibson, Canaanite Myths and Legends (2d ed., Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1978) Corpus des tablettes en cunéiformes alphabétiques découvertes à Ras ShamraUgarit de 1929 à 1939, ed. Andrée Herdner, Mission de Ras Shamra 10 (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale: P. Geuthner, 1963) Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, ed. David J.A. Clines, 8 vols. (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press/Sheffield Phoenix Press, 1993–2011) Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, ed. Karel van der Toorn et al. (2d ed., Leiden: Brill, 1999) The Deuteronomistic History (conventionally, Joshua–2 Kings) The assumed Deuteronomistic edition of Jeremiah (especially its sections in prose) The exilic version attested by the reminiscence in Deuteronomy and other texts in the Deuteronomistic corpus Abraham Even Shoshan, Millon Hadash [New Dictionary], 5 vols. (Jerusalem: Kiryat Sepher, 1964) Encyclopaedia Judaica Evangelical Quarterly Evangelische Theologie English Versions Forschungen zum Alten Testament Formation and Interpretation of Old Testament Literature Forms of Old Testament Literature Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar, as edited and enlarged by the late E. Kautzsch, rev. A. E. Cowley (2d ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1910) The Hebrew Bible Historical Commentary on the Old Testament Dictionary of the Bible, ed. James Hastings et al., 5 vols. (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1898–1904) Harvard Semitic Monographs

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Abbreviations HTR HUCA ICC IDB Jastrow

JBL JNES JQR JSJ JSJSup JSNT JSNTSup JSOT JSOTSup KAI

KBL KBL3

KJV Lane LCC LHBOTS LSJ

LXX MDB Mandelkern

Harvard Theological Review Hebrew Union College Annual International Critical Commentary The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible Marcus Jastrow, Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (New York: Pardes Publishing House, 1950) Journal of Biblical Literature Journal of Near Eastern Studies Jewish Quarterly Review Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Periods Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Periods: Supplement Series Journal for the Study of the New Testament Journal for the Study of the New Testament: Supplement Series Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Journal for the Study of the Old Testament: Supplement Series Kanaanäische und aramäische Inschriften, H. Donner and W. Röllig (2d ed., Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz, 1966– 1969) Ludwig Koehler, Walter Baumgartner, Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros (2d ed., Leiden: Brill, 1958) Ludwig Köhler, Walter Baumgartner, Hebräisches und aramäisches Lexikon zum Alten Testament, 5 vols. (3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, 1967–1990) King James Version (1611) Edward William Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon, 8 parts (London: 1893; repr., Beirut: Librairie du Liban, 1980) Library of Christian Classics Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies A Greek-English Lexicon, compiled by Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott, rev. Henry Stuart Jones (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940) Septuagint = Greek Translation of Hebrew Bible Mercer Dictionary of the Bible Solomon Mandelkern, Veteris Testamenti Concordantiae (5th ed., Tel-Aviv: Schocken, repr. 1962)

Abbreviations MT NASB NCB NEB NICNT NIDB NIV NJPSV

NovT NRSV NT NTS OBO OED OGIS OTG OTL PAAJR par. P-edition PEQ PRSt RevExp RB RSV RV SBLABS SBLDS SBLSP SBLWAW SBS SBT ScrHier

The traditional (“Masoretic”) Text of the Hebrew Bible New American Standard Bible New Century Bible New English Bible (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970) New International Commentary on the New Testament New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible New International Version (Grand Rapids MI: Zondervan, 1978) The New Jewish Publication Society Version, Study Edition, ed. Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004) Novum Testamentum New Revised Standard Version (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989) New Testament New Testament Studies Orbis biblicus et orientalis Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, ed. C.T. Onions (3rd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press, ed. 1944) Orientis graeci inscriptiones selectae Old Testament Guides Old Testament Library Proceedings of the American Academy of Jewish Research parallel the post-exilic edition of the Pentateuch that priestly circles produced Palestine Exploration Quarterly Perspectives in Religious Studies Review and Expositor Revue Biblique Revised Standard Version of the Bible (New York: Collins, 1952) Revised Version of the Bible (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1885) Society of Biblical Literature Archaeology and Biblical Studies Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers Society of Biblical Literature Writings from the Ancient World Stuttgarter Bibelstudien Studies in Biblical Theology Scripta hierosolymitana

xv

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Abbreviations SHR SJLA SJOT SJT SP StudBib TB TDNT TEV TSAJ UBS

USQR VC VT VTSup WBC Wehr WMANT WTJ ZAR ZAW // * #

Studies in the History of Religions (supplement to Numen) Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament Scottish Journal of Theology Sacra pagina Studia Biblica Tyndale Bulletin Theological Dictionary of the New Testament Today’s English Version Texte und Studien zum antiken Judentum United Bible Societies, The Greek New Testament, ed. Kurt Aland et al. (27th rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2007) Union Seminary Quarterly Review Vigiliae christianae Vetus Testamentum Supplements to Vetus Testamentum Word Biblical Commentary Hans Wehr, A Dictionary of Modern Literary Arabic, ed. J. Milton Cowan (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1961) Wissenschaftliche Monographien zum Alten und Neuen Testament Westminster Theological Journal Zeitschrift für Altorientalische und Biblische Rechtsgeschichte Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft Parallels (sometimes not specified, especially in the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew–Luke) A composite text (e.g., a close combination of the D-version and the P-edition) Number

Author’s Preface I have very many people to thank for help in the production of this commentary. First of all, I am most grateful to Professor Ronald E. Clements for proposing my name to the editors of this series and to them for accepting his suggestion. I can only express my admiration and gratitude to my editors for their patience, perceptiveness, sympathy, and skill in reading and preparing the manuscript for publication. Further, I owe a great debt of gratitude to Dr. Philip G. Ziegler, then Head of the School of Divinity, History and Philosophy, and to administrators in the Library and Human Resources in the University of Aberdeen for enabling my online access to e-journals and e-books. That access has, in turn, enabled me to enjoy the facilities of Edinburgh University Libraries through the auspices of the Society of College, National and University Libraries. I have especially appreciated the peerless collections and study facilities of the Scottish National Library in Edinburgh and the British Library in London. Many individuals deserve to be thanked by name for help and support, but I learned long ago (when, straying into a frontier zone, I sought learned opinion, and was given it but on condition of anonymity, on an article I was writing, “Cursive Phoenician and the Archaic Greek Alphabet,” that the editor of the journal concerned [Kadmos: Zeitschrift für vor- und frühgriechische Epigraphik 17 (1978): 152–66] described as making “a whole series of revolutionary proposals”) that it can be unfair to implicate others in one’s own explorations and particular conclusions. These individuals know who they are: Patrick and Ruth for a helpful invitation to read a paper, David and Angela for fetching and carrying, Costanza for marvelous materials from Venice, Nancy for arresting modern German sculpture, Nance and Julie for reading the first draft of the Introduction, Ken for technical assistance, John Knight for the photograph of The Hub, and many others, not least in the Edinburgh University Biblical Seminar, for sustained kindly interest and encouragement. Above all, I have to thank Elizabeth, my wife of fifty years, herself a graduate in Biblical Studies and Post-biblical Hebrew, who has long since complemented her biblical studies with work as tutor in Arts in the Open University. She enthusiastically joined in the Moses hunt in stained glass across France, Germany, Austria, and Italy and, in turn, led me

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into many an art gallery, theatre, and even opera house. In her, I have found my utterly ideal, understanding, and stimulating companion. None of these are to be blamed for my not having made better use of their suggestions and my opportunities. William Johnstone Edinburgh Easter 2014

SERIES PREFACE The Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary is a visually stimulating and user-friendly series that is as close to multimedia in print as possible. Written by accomplished scholars with all students of Scripture in mind, the primary goal of the Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary is to make available serious, credible biblical scholarship in an accessible and less intimidating format. Far too many Bible commentaries fall short of bridging the gap between the insights of biblical scholars and the needs of students of God’s written word. In an unprecedented way, the Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary brings insightful commentary to bear on the lives of contemporary Christians. Using a multimedia format, the volumes employ a stunning array of art, photographs, maps, and drawings to illustrate the truths of the Bible for a visual generation of believers. The Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary is built upon the idea that meaningful Bible study can occur when the insights of contemporary biblical scholars blend with sensitivity to the needs of lifelong students of Scripture. Some persons within local faith communities, however, struggle with potentially informative biblical scholarship for several reasons. Oftentimes, such scholarship is cast in technical language easily grasped by other scholars, but not by the general reader. For example, lengthy, technical discussions on every detail of a particular scriptural text can hinder the quest for a clear grasp of the whole. Also, the format for presenting scholarly insights has often been confusing to the general reader, rendering the work less than helpful. Unfortunately, responses to the hurdles of reading extensive commentaries have led some publishers to produce works for a general readership that merely skim the surface of the rich resources of biblical scholarship. This commentary series incorporates works of fine art in an accurate and scholarly manner, yet the format remains “userfriendly.” An important facet is the presentation and explanation of images of art, which interpret the biblical material or illustrate how the biblical material has been understood and interpreted in the past. A visual generation of believers deserves a commentary series that contains not only the all-important textual commentary on Scripture, but images, photographs, maps, works of fine art, and drawings that bring the text to life.

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The Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary makes serious, credible biblical scholarship more accessible to a wider audience. Writers and editors alike present information in ways that encourage readers to gain a better understanding of the Bible. The editorial board has worked to develop a format that is useful and usable, informative and pleasing to the eye. Our writers are reputable scholars who participate in the community of faith and sense a calling to communicate the results of their scholarship to their faith community. The Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary addresses Christians and the larger church. While both respect for and sensitivity to the needs and contributions of other faith communities are reflected in the work of the series authors, the authors speak primarily to Christians. Thus the reader can note a confessional tone throughout the volumes. No particular “confession of faith” guides the authors, and diverse perspectives are observed in the various volumes. Each writer, though, brings to the biblical text the best scholarly tools available and expresses the results of their studies in commentary and visuals that assist readers seeking a word from the Lord for the church. To accomplish this goal, writers in this series have drawn from numerous streams in the rich tradition of biblical interpretation. The basic focus is the biblical text itself, and considerable attention is given to the wording and structure of texts. Each particular text, however, is also considered in the light of the entire canon of Christian Scriptures. Beyond this, attention is given to the cultural context of the biblical writings. Information from archaeology, ancient history, geography, comparative literature, history of religions, politics, sociology, and even economics is used to illuminate the culture of the people who produced the Bible. In addition, the writers have drawn from the history of interpretation, not only as it is found in traditional commentary on the Bible but also in literature, theater, church history, and the visual arts. Finally, the Commentary on Scripture is joined with Connections to the world of the contemporary church. Here again, the writers draw on scholarship in many fields as well as relevant issues in the popular culture. This wealth of information might easily overwhelm a reader if not presented in a “user-friendly” format. Thus the heavier discussions of detail and the treatments of other helpful topics are presented in special-interest boxes, or Sidebars, clearly connected to the passages under discussion so as not to interrupt the flow of the basic interpretation. The result is a commentary on Scripture that focuses on the theological significance of a text while also offering

Series Preface

the reader a rich array of additional information related to the text and its interpretation. An accompanying CD-ROM offers powerful searching and research tools. The commentary text, Sidebars, and visuals are all reproduced on a CD that is fully indexed and searchable. Pairing a text version with a digital resource is a distinctive feature of the Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary. Combining credible biblical scholarship, user-friendly study features, and sensitivity to the needs of a visually oriented generation of believers creates a unique and unprecedented type of commentary series. With insight from many of today’s finest biblical scholars and a stunning visual format, it is our hope that the Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary will be a welcome addition to the personal libraries of all students of Scripture. The Editors

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HOW TO USE THIS COMMENTARY The Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary is written by accomplished biblical scholars with a wide array of readers in mind. Whether engaged in the study of Scripture in a church setting or in a college or seminary classroom, all students of the Bible will find a number of useful features throughout the commentary that are helpful for interpreting the Bible. Basic Design of the Volumes

Each volume features an Introduction to a particular book of the Bible, providing a brief guide to information that is necessary for reading and interpreting the text: the historical setting, literary design, and theological significance. Each Introduction also includes a comprehensive outline of the particular book under study. Each chapter of the commentary investigates the text according to logical divisions in a particular book of the Bible. Sometimes these divisions follow the traditional chapter segmentation, while at other times the textual units consist of sections of chapters or portions of more than one chapter. The divisions reflect the literary structure of a book and offer a guide for selecting passages that are useful in preaching and teaching. An accompanying CD-ROM offers powerful searching and research tools. The commentary text, Sidebars, and visuals are all reproduced on a CD that is fully indexed and searchable. Pairing a text version with a digital resource also allows unprecedented flexibility and freedom for the reader. Carry the text version to locations you most enjoy doing research while knowing that the CD offers a portable alternative for travel from the office, church, classroom, and your home. Commentary and Connections

As each chapter explores a textual unit, the discussion centers around two basic sections: Commentary and Connections. The analysis of a passage, including the details of its language, the history reflected in the text, and the literary forms found in the text, are the main focus

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of the Commentary section. The primary concern of the Commentary section is to explore the theological issues presented by the Scripture passage. Connections presents potential applications of the insights provided in the Commentary section. The Connections portion of each chapter considers what issues are relevant for teaching and suggests useful methods and resources. Connections also identifies themes suitable for sermon planning and suggests helpful approaches for preaching on the Scripture text. Sidebars

The Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary provides a unique hyperlink format that quickly guides the reader to additional insights. Since other more technical or supplementary information is vital for understanding a text and its implications, the volumes feature distinctive Sidebars, or special-interest boxes, that provide a wealth of information on such matters as: • Historical information (such as chronological charts, lists of kings or rulers, maps, descriptions of monetary systems, descriptions of special groups, descriptions of archaeological sites or geographical settings). • Graphic outlines of literary structure (including such items as poetry, chiasm, repetition, epistolary form). • Definition or brief discussions of technical or theological terms and issues. • Insightful quotations that are not integrated into the running text but are relevant to the passage under discussion. • Notes on the history of interpretation (Augustine on the Good Samaritan, Luther on James, Stendahl on Romans, etc.). • Line drawings, photographs, and other illustrations relevant for understanding the historical context or interpretive significance of the text. • Presentation and discussion of works of fine art that have interpreted a Scripture passage.

How to Use This Commentary

Each Sidebar is printed in color and is referenced at the appropriate place in the Commentary or Connections section with a color-coded title that directs the reader to the relevant Sidebar. In addition, helpful icons appear in the Sidebars, which provide the reader with visual cues to the type of material that is explained in each Sidebar. Throughout the commentary, these four distinct hyperlinks provide useful links in an easily recognizable design.

Alpha & Omega Language

This icon identifies the information as a language-based tool that offers further exploration of the Scripture selection. This could include syntactical information, word studies, popular or additional uses of the word(s) in question, additional contexts in which the term appears, and the history of the term’s translation. All nonEnglish terms are transliterated into the appropriate English characters.

Culture/Context

This icon introduces further comment on contextual or cultural details that shed light on the Scripture selection. Describing the place and time to which a Scripture passage refers is often vital to the task of biblical interpretation. Sidebar items introduced with this icon could include geographical, historical, political, social, topographical, or economic information. Here, the reader may find an excerpt of an ancient text or inscription that sheds light on the text. Or one may find a description of some element of ancient religion such as Baalism in Canaan or the Hero cult in the Mystery Religions of the Greco-Roman world.

Interpretation

Sidebars that appear under this icon serve a general interpretive function in terms of both historical and contemporary renderings. Under this heading, the reader might find a selection from classic or contemporary literature that illuminates the Scripture text or a significant quotation from a famous sermon that addresses the passage. Insights are drawn from various sources, including literature, worship, theater, church history, and sociology.

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Additional Resources Study

Here, the reader finds a convenient list of useful resources for further investigation of the selected Scripture text, including books, journals, websites, special collections, organizations, and societies. Specialized discussions of works not often associated with biblical studies may also appear here. Additional Features

Each volume also includes a basic Bibliography on the biblical book under study. Other bibliographies on selected issues are often included that point the reader to other helpful resources. Notes at the end of each chapter provide full documentation of sources used and contain additional discussions of related matters. Abbreviations used in each volume are explained in a list of abbreviations found after the Table of Contents. Readers of the Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary can regularly visit the Internet support site for news, information, updates, and enhancements to the series at www.helwys.com/commentary. Several thorough indexes enable the reader to locate information quickly. These indexes include: • An Index of Sidebars groups content from the special-interest boxes by category (maps, fine art, photographs, drawings, etc.). • An Index of Scriptures lists citations to particular biblical texts. • An Index of Topics lists alphabetically the major subjects, names, topics, and locations referenced or discussed in the volume. • An Index of Modern Authors organizes contemporary authors whose works are cited in the volume.

Introduction to Exodus 20–401 The “Ten Commandments” as Starting Point

The “Ten Commandments” (better: the “Ten Words” or “Decalogue”) are probably the best-known part of the book of Exodus, if not of the whole Bible. Their affirmation of the values of family and community life—the care of the elderly, the sanctity of marriage, and the right of the neighbor to security of person and property and to justice at law— gives them universal appeal. For the faith community, the affirmation of the first four “Words,” that the prior action of God and the continuing acknowledgment of that action laid the foundation of individual and corporate human life, gives the Decalogue supreme authority. The New Testament too endorses the Ten Words in the summary, “Love God, and love your neighbor as yourself.” For reading and understanding the book of Exodus as a whole, these Words also provide a good starting point. They stand in Exodus 20 in virtually central place in the book and divide it into two roughly equal parts. Their “Prologue” looks back at the story of the first nineteen chapters, God’s great act of deliverance of Israel from crushing slavery in Egypt (see Exodus 1–19). The remaining chapters state the response that God expects from Israel as the redeemed community (the topic of Exodus 20–40). Two Voices in Exodus

The Decalogue also offers a good introduction to the many questions that arise about the composition and interpretation of the book of Exodus. The Bible presents the Ten Words as uniquely authoritative. They provide the pivotal statement about God and about the terms of God’s relationship with Israel (Deut 4:13). They were the only laws that, according to Exodus, God wrote in person, inscribing them “with the finger of God” on two stone tablets (31:18). Moses, God’s appointed mediator, stored these tablets in a special deed box, “the ark of the covenant/testimony,” and placed them in the safety of the innermost shrine of the sanctuary (40:20-21). Such Words that God has revealed, recorded, and preserved in this way are surely

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Introduction to Exodus 20–40

immutable. It may, then, come as a surprise to the reader that the Bible contains two versions of the Decalogue, one in Exodus 20:2-17 and the other in Deuteronomy 5:6-21. There is substantial agreement between these two versions, but, if one counts carefully, there are about thirty variations between them. Some of these variations concern minor matters of spelling and punctuation, yet even these are unexpected in a document engraved on stone. But there is one major difference: the reason for keeping the Sabbath. Exodus 20:11 relates the observance of Sabbath to creation: “For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth . . . but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it” (NRSV).2 Deuteronomy 5:15, however, provides an alternative reason for Sabbath observance that relates it to the exodus: “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there . . . ; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.” What is the reader to make of this surprising divergence in the accounts of the content of this uniquely authoritative document? Deuteronomy 5:12 claims to be remembering the wording of the Sabbath commandment as God originally promulgated it in Exodus 20 by explicitly adding the phrase, “as the LORD your God commanded you.” The same phrase recurs in Deuteronomy 5:16 in connection with the parents’ commandment: “Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you.” The simplest interpretation of these cross-references in Deuteronomy 5 to Exodus 20 is that they are, from Deuteronomy’s point of view, accurate. The wording of the Sabbath commandment in Exodus was once, like the wording of the parents’ commandment, exactly as Deuteronomy records. That is, Exodus originally justified Sabbath observance by reference to Israel’s exodus from Egypt (a hardly surprising justification in light of the opening words of the Decalogue in Exod 20:3). For some reason, a later editor of Exodus—and he must be an editor subsequent to the Exodus version that Deuteronomy reminisces—has decided to provide Sabbath observance with an alternative justification. This alternative justification relates Sabbath observance to the story of creation in Genesis 1:1–2:4a that culminates in God as creator observing rest on the seventh day (Gen 2:2-3). The justification for Sabbath observance is, then, not just “covenantal,” the commemoration of God’s deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt (as in Deuteronomy and the original version that it attests in Exodus), but, rather, “cosmic”: Sabbath belongs to the very rhythms of creation itself (as in Gen 2:2-3).

Introduction to Exodus 20–40

This commentary will conclude that Exodus and Deuteronomy offer two complementary views about the content of the Decalogue—and about much more besides. It will argue that Deuteronomy, which presents itself as, substantially, reminiscences, attests the original wording that once stood in Exodus, a “covenantal” version not just of the Decalogue but also of many other passages dealing with fundamental events, institutions, and concepts. A later, “cosmic” edition in Exodus as it now stands has overlaid the original version that Deuteronomy attests. Because the reminiscences in Deuteronomy (“D”) provide the instrument for the recovery of that original version in Exodus, this commentary will call that recovered version the “D-version.” The later edition it will call the “P-edition”: “P,” because, as interpreters have long observed, the final stage in the production of Exodus—and of the Pentateuch as a whole—reflects characteristically “priestly” interests.3 For convenience, I shall, on occasion, personalize “D” and “P” as individuals, whatever the precise identity of those responsible for the production of these works may have been. The variation in the Sabbath commandment goes beyond the divergence about the motive for keeping the Sabbath and extends even to its first word: “Remember” in Exodus 20:8; “Observe” in Deuteronomy 5:12. On that divergence, Rashi, the medieval Jewish commentator (1040–1105 CE), makes an ingenious comment: both “Remember” and “Observe” “were said simultaneously. . . . As it says in Psalm 62:12 [11], ‘One thing God has spoken; two things have I heard.’”4 Rashi’s comment goes to the heart of the problem of theology (“God-talk”): how can humans speak about God? To express who God is in the mystery of the divine being transcends the power of human speech. God is by definition beyond definition. Whatever God “says,” humans “hear” in different ways, no one of which exhausts the divine “speech.” Human words can offer only approximations about God and about the relation between the divine and the human. The interpreter is not to gloss over or to harmonize variations in theological expressions such as in the Decalogue or to show preference for one over the other. Scripture, it seems, is not a monolithic structure, monochrome, or flatly two-dimensional. It contains a rich dialogue, even debate, between two competing viewpoints. Faithful interpretation of Scripture requires that justice be done to that debate. [Debate as Inescapable in Biblical Interpretation] Both motives for keeping the Sabbath, in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, are “correct”; in the interplay of their contrasting formulations, they allude to more than a single harmonized expression can say. Theology has the unending,

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Introduction to Exodus 20–40

Debate as Inescapable in Biblical Interpretation Debate has been an essential part in the unfolding of the meaning of Torah and its application since earliest times. This is suggested by the tradition of the “pairs” who were responsible for handing on of Torah, of which the most famous are Hillel and Shammai (m. Aboth 1:1-15). It is continued in the instruction to students of Torah to get themselves a companion (˙åb∑r) a sparring partner, in the rabbinic school for teasing out meaning from the traditional text (m. Aboth 1:6; cf. Prov 27:17: “Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens the wits of another”). The Compilation of the Talmud by Rowlandson suggests a decorous academic discussion. Max Weber’s The Talmudists suggests a much more animated debate (see the gesticulating figure in the background). Note the pairing of the scholars in intense discussion.

Image Not Available due to lack of digital rights. Please view the published commentary or perform an Internet search using the credit below.

Image Not Available due to lack of digital rights. Please view the published commentary or perform an Internet search using the credit below.

George Derville Rowlandson (1861–1930). Compilation of the Talmud. c. 1920. Lithograph. (Credit: Private Collection/The Bridgeman Art Library)

Max Weber (1881–1961). The Talmudists. 1934. Oil on canvas. (Credit: Photo by John Parnell. The Jewish Museum, New York/Art Resource, NY)

creative task of relating afresh the elusive presence of the one unchanging but ultimately unknowable God to ever-changing human conditions. [Theology as Creative Hearing and Speaking about God] This variation in expression is not a regrettable necessity; it is inescapable. The vigor of debate between two correct accounts lends vitality and color to the task of speaking about God. That observation provides the baseline for this commentary. This variation between two voices continues far beyond the Decalogue. Time and again, the underlying version that Deuteronomy attests breaks through the surface of the present form of the book of Exodus (and Numbers). The same crossreference formula, “as the LORD your God commanded you” (or similar), is found frequently and explicitly in these reminiscences (e.g., Deut 1:19; 2:1; 10:5). But the reminiscences extend much more widely than the explicit use of such formulae (just as the formula is missing in the other “commandments” of the

Introduction to Exodus 20–40

Decalogue, apart from those concerning Sabbath and parents, that Deuteronomy accurately recalls). As in the case of the Sabbath, the variations between the version of Exodus that the reminiscences in Deuteronomy attest and the present edition of the book concern not peripheral issues but matters of fundamental importance. A preliminary list of such substantive issues includes

Theology as Creative Hearing and Speaking about God Many writers have cautioned that, while God has searched us out and found us, there is— there can be—no easy and direct route into understanding the mind and being of God. Here are a couple of examples: [T]he truth of faith can only be represented fully in antinomies [paradoxes]. Divine reality is so full of life that not only a rational but even a paradoxical judgement cannot exhaust it. A religious truth, even a truth revealed by the Spirit, is per se a one-sided truth, and therefore a misrepresentation of the truth if it is reported rationally. When considered only by itself it is, therefore, an untruth. (T. C. Vriezen)

• the history of covenant: according to P, God established the covenant already with the ancestors (Exod 2:24; cf. Gen 17); what happens at Sinai (P’s name for the mountain Juliana Claassens writes on the “unfinalizable” diaof God) is the revelation of the Law/Torah. logical character of Scripture and of scriptural According to D, what happens at Horeb interpretation: (D’s name for the mountain) is the making [C]hanged conditions actualize the potential already of the covenant between God and Israel embedded in the image . . . “[N]ewcomers” to the the(Exod 24:3-8). ological debate such as women [and] liberation theologians . . . ask new questions concerning how God • the number of plagues of Egypt: seven should be imagined. These “outsiders” ask questions acts to compel Pharaoh to release Israel (D); that have not been asked before and thus serve the ten signs to demonstrate God’s universal function of re-accentuating the traditional imagery power (P) (see commentary on Exod 11). found in the biblical texts. • the chronology of events: contrast the “three days” of Exodus 3:18 (D) and the Theodoor C. Vriezen, An Outline of Old Testament Theology, trans. S. Neuijen (Oxford: Blackwell, 1962) 76–77; L. Juliana M. Claassens, “third month” of Exodus 19:1 (P) for arrival “Biblical Theology as Dialogue: Continuing the Conversation on Mikhail Bakhtin and Biblical Theology,” JBL 122 (2003): 132, 136. On the at the mountain of God. general topic, see Karl Allen Kuhn, Having Words with God: The Bible • the festivals that commemorate these as Conversation (Philadelphia: Fortress, 2008). events: a seven-day Passover, according to D; a one-night Passover and fiftieth-day Pentecost/Weeks, according to P (see on Exod 12:1). • Israel’s journey through the wilderness: a pilgrimage of grace pre-Sinai (P); a succession of post-Horeb punishments (D) (see commentary on Exod 12:37). • the sanctuary in the wilderness: the place of meeting with God, according to D; God’s dwelling, according to P (see on Exod 25:1).5 The identification of D and P materials in Exodus is relatively clear in broad terms (but complicated in detail). The later, P-edition of Exodus contributes a variety of materials:

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Introduction to Exodus 20–40

• large, self-contained blocks of mostly independent material, especially on the Levites in Exodus 6:2–7:13, the Passover in Exodus 12, and the Tabernacle in Exodus 25–31; 35–40; • blocks of material developed from the D-version in Numbers, especially on the route through the wilderness in Exodus 15:22b–19:2a; • a host of adjustments in the detail of the D-version in the remaining parts of the book. For the D-version of Exodus, the Decalogue in the form that Deuteronomy attests provides the essential statement of the terms of the covenant between God and Israel. The Book of the Covenant in Exodus 20:22–23:33 (“B”) expounds the Decalogue at length. The Decalogue and B also constitute the terms of the covenant that God reaffirms after the apostasy of the golden calf incident in Exodus 32–34. Matching the Decalogue, both D and P accounts look backwards and forwards. They are ideological works that provide a story of origins from the point of view of the loss of the land and a program for the recovery of ideal origins when Israel will realize its vocation to be “a priestly kingdom and a holy nation” (Exod 19:6). For the question [Are D and P Based on Earlier, Pre-Exilic Documents?], see Exodus 1–19. The Kind of Literature in Exodus

Many scholars have attempted to relate Exodus and its account of the exodus from Egypt to what is known of ancient Egyptian history.6 Without doubt, the Exodus narrative reflects the general outline of events in ancient Near Eastern history. All Israel’s forebears were once slaves to Egypt at least in the sense that Egypt in the N ew Kingdom period from the sixteenth to the twelfth centuries BCE was the dominant power in the ancient Near East with an empire reaching out from the Nile valley at times as far as the borders of the Hittite empire in north Syria. The onslaught of the Sea Peoples, including the Philistines, from the Aegean and across the eastern Mediterranean around the twelfth century was a significant factor in weakening that Egyptian empire in the Levant and in creating the conditions for the liberation of subject peoples and the eventual emergence of small independent kingdoms like Israel in the region. Undoubtedly, the archaeology of the ancient Near East, not least its epigraphical discoveries, has made an enormous contribution to elucidating obscure details.7

Introduction to Exodus 20–40

7

This commentary maintains that the attempt, however well intentioned, to elucidate the present text by reconstructing the original events to which it refers can run counter to the biblical narrative. The book of Exodus combines two theological narratives of a suitably complex nature that tolerate diverging views on factual matters. The truths of these two accounts jostle with one another in creative debate. In the eagerness to propose credible historical circumstances, there may be occasions when a reconstruction of origins or original sense that seems plausible to a modern interpreter flies in the face of the biblical purpose. For instance, commentators regularly substitute the etymologically accurate “Reed Sea” or papyrus marsh for the embarrassingly expansive “Red Sea” that the Israelites escaped across in one night. The latter is, however, the D-version’s probable intention (see Exod 13:18). Strikingly, the book of Exodus pays little or no attention to specific features of ancient Egyptian history and to reconstructing, as a modern historian might, the past for its own sake on its own terms (see [The Pharaohs of Exodus] in Exodus 1–19). The biblical account is at once less than historical and more than historical. It generalizes the specific past exclusively from Israel’s point of The Limits of Historical Interpretation view. Persecution by unnamed pharaohs in Benjamin Sommer makes pungent comments Moses’ time becomes emblematic of the on the limits of certain historical-critical reconlong history of persecution that threatened structions: Israel’s existence many times in its past, Even when we can date a text with some confidence, including recurrently at the hands of the there is no reason to limit our interpretation of that text Egyptians, and of its survival despite such by seeing it exclusively or primarily as a response to persecution. The historical approach by social, economic, or political factors. Literature that relating this body of literature as a specific endures for millennia does so precisely because it transcends its setting . . . . The tendency among biblical response to a particular set of historical cirscholars to focus first on setting and then to find a cumstances is in danger of relativizing its reading that fits the setting draws these scholars away significance. By contrast, Exodus imagines from what is most abiding in the texts, often moving them toward what Jon Levenson rightly terms “a trivialthe past as model. It places the Israelites izing antiquarianism.” This tendency encourages once again in the primal time of their scholars to belittle religiously significant or humanistimythic origins in the wilderness. There, God cally interesting interpretations so that they can reveals the Torah as they set out on their concentrate instead on the pettiest possible reading. generation-long trek through the typological Benjamin D. Sommer, “Dating Pentateuchal Texts and the Perils of wilderness towards the promised land, the Pseudo-Historicism,” in The Pentateuch: International Perspectives on ideal possession of which they will attain Current Research, ed. Thomas B. Dozeman et al., FAT 78 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011) 106–107. only in the end-time. [The Limits of Historical Interpretation]

The probable date of composition of the two accounts removes the biblical narrative still further from the attempt to elucidate by origins. The close link between the D-version and the great history

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that ends in 2 Kings suggests that the D-version was written in the exilic period (see the connection between the golden calf in Exod 32:4, 8 and the “sin of Jeroboam” in 1 Kgs 12:28 that provides the explanation for the exile of Israel and of Judah in 2 Kgs 17). If P represents an edition of the D-version, then its date is later still, sometime in the post-exilic period. The exilic and post-exilic dates of these accounts provide the circumstances for the composition of an epic of national origins that are a positive advantage for theological statement. By the time of the composition of the book of Exodus, the events surrounding the exodus from Egypt had taken place in the remote past, perhaps a thousand years earlier. The narrative thus places the action of God too in primal time. After the destruction of the first temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE, the physical becomes available for metaphysical application. The institutions have long ceased to exist; they become the currency of metaphor and of religious and theological symbolism. Couched in the knowingly naïve terms of anthropomorphism (e.g., in Gen 3:8, God walks in the garden, in Gen 8:21 appreciatively smells the savor of sacrifice, and, in Exodus, hears, speaks, and writes),8 the past is open to transcendence. Beyond the limitations of actual historical reality and verifiability, and the acids of historical falsifiability, the biblical narrative can now speak in physical terms figuratively of the significance of Israel’s ancient religious institutions now long gone. It recalls the memorial of the exodus stored up in the holy of holies of that first temple now destroyed, the deed box of the covenant with its tablets miraculously written by the finger of God that no doubt perished in that destruction. The miracles of Exodus—the plagues unparalleled before or since, the crossing through the Red Sea on dry land, the hearing of the voice of God at the mountain, and the inscribing of these tablets—are not to be decoded and relativized as mundane events explicable in physical terms. (This was the sort of reaction of biblical scholars from the eighteenth century onwards to philosophers’ objections to miracle, sometimes focused precisely on Exodus.9) These unparalleled, once-for-all miracles provide the literary context for the once-for-all revelation of the uniquely authoritative Torah, “the desirable instrument through which the world was created” (m. Aboth 3:18). Safely located in Israel’s desert sanctuary long before the destruction of even the first temple and the depredations of the exilic age, the Decalogue stands in primal time as the unassailable founding document of Israel’s relation with its God.

Introduction to Exodus 20–40

Appropriately, the holy of holies of the post-exilic second temple was empty.10 P’s account of the tabernacle (Exod 25:10-22; 26) imaginatively furnishes that empty space. Vision replaces sight. The power of the idea lies beyond the capacity of the physical structure to contain it. Herein lies the Bible’s implacable opposition to material relics: they fix and so reduce the locus of God’s action; they may degenerate to become objects of idolatry.11 Hence, Jeremiah looks to the future beyond the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple, and its contents in 586 BCE: “[I]n those days, says the LORD, they shall no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ It shall not come to mind, or be remembered, or missed; nor shall another one be made” (Jer 3:16). This distance between portrayal in theological narrative and the reconstruction of actual historical events with their uncertainties and ambiguities is paralleled in the interpretation of other parts of the Bible, not least in the New Testament. The conventional distinction between the “Jesus of history” and the “Christ of faith,” the first essential for the second, yet the second not limited by the first, well captures that distance. As has often been observed, the biblical narratives could only belong to a pre-photographic age.12 A photograph, even a running newsreel, could only present a limited, one-sided picture frozen in time, distorting by its fixity. Exodus as Christian Scripture

For the Christian reader, the fulfillment that the Old Testament receives in the New Testament provides the most important initial connection. The Christian church has received the Hebrew Bible as Scripture from the hands of Jesus, the risen Christ (e.g., Luke 24:25-27). He has welcomed in the Gentiles, summoned them to become joint inheritors of Israel’s tradition.13 In reading the Hebrew Bible as Old Testament, the chief adjustment that the interpreter must make is that the truths conveyed through the particulars of Israel’s past are transposed in universal terms into the present age. The treasured possession of a privileged group limited in time and space has become the common property of all peoples in any time and place. Everything that God was for Israel, God in Christ must be for the world. Everything that God required of Israel in response must, suitably transposed, serve as a model of response for all. To trace the connections between Exodus and the N ew Testament, a convenient place to start is the explicit citations of Exodus that appear in the New Testament. The UBS Greek New

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Testament identifies more than 280 allusions to, or quotations from, Exodus.14 These occur in almost every book of the New Testament, with particular concentrations in the Gospels and Acts, Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Hebrews, and (perhaps unexpectedly), most of all, Revelation.15 Almost every chapter in Exodus is represented.16 The density of these references is hardly surprising. The Old Testament story of deliverance in Exodus supplies the New Testament with the most essential resources of vocabulary and concept for understanding the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the redeemer. The New Testament understands itself as the fulfillment of the Old in a number of ways. It stands in continuity with Israel’s history and marks its climax. The affirmation in Ephesians 1:10 that all things are “summed [N RSV: gathered] up” in Christ includes the sense that Christ as fulfillment recapitulates the whole history of ancient Israel and brings every element within that history to its full potential of meaning. In Christ, all the promises to Israel come to completion; all Israel’s expectations receive their realization. The New Testament understands “fulfillment” also in the sense of intensification, the “filling full” of implications of the Old; see, for example, the series of statements on the Law in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:17-48). The New Testament recognizes that the Law is holy, just, and good; but from a human point of view, its prohibitions only succeed in awakening the consciousness of sin and shortcoming. Radicalized by Jesus’ exposition, its demands are impossible to achieve. Christ personifies the Law of God; it finds its fulfillment through his perfect obedience. God in Christ satisfies the demands of God’s own Law. Only by union with Christ, by inspiration with the Spirit whom the resurrected Christ imparts, who animates the Law and motivates its observance, can his followers participate in his victory and find acceptance by God (e.g., Rom 6–8; 2 Cor 3:6-14). The faith of Abraham, “the ancestor of a multitude of nations” (Gen 17:5), who set out on a journey in trust in God’s promises long before the revelation of the Law of Moses (Gal 3:17; cf. Exod 12:40), provides the prior basis for the new international community, and the prior model of human response (e.g., Rom 4). Jesus, the divine-human mediator who combines all the attributes of sanctuary, priest, and victim (Heb 7–10), brings to realization the hope of securing oneness with God that the Law of Moses expressed through the apparatus of the sanctuary, its priesthood, and its sacrificial rites (see Exod 25–31).

Introduction to Exodus 20–40

Finality in Christ has been present by implication throughout the Old Testament. The Old Testament is but the “shadow,” “sketch,” “pattern,” “type,” or “symbol”; the New Testament reveals the true “substance,” “content,” and “reality.” What was true for Israel is true for the church: the New Testament repeatedly applies to the new community (e.g., 1 Pet 2:5, 9; Rev 1:6) the affirmation of Exodus 19:5-6 that Israel is God’s “special possession, chosen, kingdom of priests, holy nation.” Israel’s passing through the waters of the Red Sea (Exod 14) becomes a model for baptism; God’s gift of manna (Exod 16) a model for the Eucharist (1 Cor 10). These sacraments provide for Christ’s followers “means of grace,” the physical vehicle and expression of their union with him and incorporation in him. The Christian festivals of Easter and Whit, patterned on ancient Israel’s festivals of Passover and Weeks/Pentecost (Exod 12–24), enable, year by year, the reliving of these once-for-all events. The book of Revelation uses the resources of language and ideas in Exodus for the portrayal of the end-time. It predicates the course of history upon the eternity of God, “He who is,” of Exodus 3:14.17 It depicts the drastic apocalyptic events that usher in the end in terms of the Exodus plague cycle, specifically plagues I, II, VI, VII, VIII, and IX.18 Revelation exploits the imagery of Mount Sinai quaking and smoking in Exodus 19:16-19.19 The names of the twelve tribes are inscribed on the gates and foundations of the new Jerusalem (Rev 21:12-13; cf. Exod 28:21). Explicit allusion to Exodus in the New Testament, however, such as the UBS Greek New Testament identifies, is sporadic and partial and hardly does justice to the influences and connections that run deeper and wider at the theological level (cf. the inadequacy of the “proof text” method of biblical interpretation). Thus, for example, the first direct citation of Exodus that UBS New Testament recognizes is in Matthew 2:20, “for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead,” where it identifies a reference to Exodus 4:19, the possibility for Moses’ safe return to Egypt (a loose connection indeed, for the geographical movement is in the opposite direction). Yet it is surely impossible to read the early chapters of Matthew without finding other parallels with the early life of Moses: conspicuously, Herod’s massacre of the innocents (Matt 2:16) and Pharaoh’s drowning of the boys in the Nile (Exod 1:22). Thereafter, in broad sweep, as the UBS New Testament notes, the two narratives run in parallel. Jesus’ forty days and nights in the wilderness echo of Moses’ forty days and nights on Sinai (Matt 4:2 echoes Exod 34:28), his forty years in Midian, and Israel’s

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subsequent forty years in the wilderness (Matt 4: 4, 7, 10 cite Deut 8:3; 6:16; 6:13). The Sermon on the Mount with its deliberate antitheses, “You have heard that it was said to those of old times . . . But I say to you” (Matt 5:22, 27, 31, 33, 38, 43), presupposes the Torah received on the Mountain of God.20 Scholars have proposed similar connections between the early chapters of John’s Gospel and incidents in Moses’ life.21 It would not be difficult, either, to propose connections between individual passages beyond those identified by UBS: e.g., Peter’s request for the washing of his head and hands as well as his feet in John 13:10 could be taken to reflect the washing and anointing of Aaron and his sons as priests (Exod 29:4, 7; 30:21). For further proposals, see the connections at Exodus 24:1-11; 29; 31:10-17; 35. The New Testament itself recognizes that fulfillment does not imply supersession or abrogation. The Old Testament retains validity in its own right. Thus the New Testament may quote the Old Testament directly as source of authority; perhaps most famously, Jesus, Paul, and James endorse “you shall love your neighbor as yourself ” as the epitome of ethics (Lev 19:18, which Lev 19:34 itself radicalizes by including the alien). There are large swathes of Exodus of which the New Testament makes no direct use; one can hardly regard these materials as theologically mute. Even where the N ew Testament happens to make use of the Old Testament, it may not always provide the sole, or even the necessary, Christian interpretation of a particular passage. Paul’s application of Exodus 34:29-35, “the veil on Moses’ face,” in 2 Corinthians 3:13-18, for instance, turns a perfectly acceptable theological statement about the blinding light of revelation that only the mediator can sustain into an attack on the veiled minds of Paul’s opponents. The issue of accurate interpretation of individual passages becomes still more acute when the interpreter links passage to passage for the construction of dogmatic statements. Does Genesis 2–3 really teach the fall as a historical event perpetuated genetically by the biological transmission of original sin (Ps 51:5) that only a subsequent historical event can reverse?22 Is the prophetic sign of the birth of a son to a virgin in Isaiah 7:14 a long-term forecast of the virgin birth? Is it not, rather, about the speedy coming of salvation for Jerusalem in the eighth century BCE within the time frame of a pregnancy and the subsequent weaning of a child? The Old Testament retains intrinsic value as an independent witness in its own right to issues of theological importance, perhaps even as a

Introduction to Exodus 20–40

corrective to doctrinal excesses. Exodus poses searching questions to standard Christian doctrines in at least three areas: 1. The role of Law: see, e.g., Exod 15:22–19:2, where Israel from the start of its wilderness wanderings even before Sinai is, as Paul might say, “under the Law.” But the Law in these chapters is not an instrument of punishment but the source and way of life. 2. The relationship of justification and sanctification, the characteristic complementary emphases of the D-version and the P-edition. 3. In contrast to the expectation of an interventionist God, Exodus affirms a once-for-all event and revelation of Torah that has its counterpart in the once-for-all passion of Christ in, for example, Romans 6:10; Hebrews 7:27 (see commentary on Exod 1). For its own credibility and defense, Christianity would be well advised to stick closely to its Hebrew parent. These comments on the continuing validity of the Hebrew Bible in its own right raise questions about the appropriate method of its interpretation. There are two broad approaches to the integration of the Hebrew Bible into the Christian Scriptures. The first approach is essentially “deductive”: it looks back at the Hebrew Bible from the point of view of the New Testament and later Christian theology. With the general system of Christian theology in mind, it proceeds to the particulars of the biblical text in order to uncover the biblical sources of the doctrine that the church has historically affirmed, to illuminate and to fructify that doctrine. It looks across the Bible as a whole to find unity and consistency throughout as witness to the one God who is also the Father of Jesus Christ. This “canonical” approach to the interpretation of the Hebrew Bible has been associated in recent decades above all with the work of Brevard S. Childs.23 But, in view of the variety of literatures and viewpoints that the Scriptures happen to contain (not to mention the variety of canons endorsed by different branches of the church), does “canon” provide a principle of interpretation? Hence, Childs adds the history of interpretation in the church as further set of criteria,24 a program that seeks to identify a “family resemblance” that represents the Christian view of Scripture.25 This first approach figures prominently in the illustrations that this commentary uses (see, e.g., the Verduner Altar, below). The second approach is “inductive”: it gathers the evidence text by text, seeking to approach the Hebrew Bible receptively without prejudging what it may say on any point at any level.26 It

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acknowledges that the Hebrew Bible is theologically articulate in its own right, on its own terms. It is not to be suffocated by a presupposed or supersessionist system that rules out certain conclusions about unity and variety in advance. The individuality of its texts is not to be flattened or distorted by being forced to fit into a dogmatic pattern that is read back into it. The contribution of the Hebrew Bible read forwards in relation to Christian theology may be to pose searching questions about the distillation of individual texts into doctrinal propositions and to help to reconstruct theology from the foundations. A commentary is by its nature episodic and has to proceed inductively, passage by passage. This approach too will be much in evidence in the discussion below. The two approaches need not be polarized.27 In the mind of the reader, both processes may be going on: expectations arising from prior belief along with unexpected challenges from intractable texts. Cultural Applications of Exodus

The influence of Exodus ideas is widespread and has struck deep chords in universal human experience: the instinct for liberation from oppression; the hope for personal freedom against seemingly invincible tyrants; and the vision of an ideal future. Its patterns, metaphors, and symbols have provided resources to portray and to make sense of human existence, to claim rights and to sustain confidence: the crossing of perilous waters; encounter at a mountain; the long journey through desolate regions towards the realization of dreams beyond attainment by the current generation. See [Historic Appeals to Exodus] and [Allusions to Exodus] in Exodus 1–19. Exodus provides materials for almost endless applications, but its elevation of Torah lays down a stiff criterion for its appropriate use. Exodus is about not only freedom from oppression but also freedom for the service of God. In Christian terms, God is not only freeing us from sin and death (which is not in doubt) but also freeing us for a world of possibility (which demands constant creativity). The topics that Exodus raises touch on almost every pressing issue that continues to perplex the modern world and thus remain of the highest significance, from the financial crisis in Western economies caused by debt to the relations between the modern state of Israel and its Arab neighbors. The making of connections between the ancient and the modern world cannot be done in any trite or facile manner. Readers will, I hope, be constantly irked by the non-mention of what seems to them obvious

Introduction to Exodus 20–40

and pressing connections. It cannot be otherwise. (I write, for instance, in the context of the “Arab spring” of 2011 where the issues of freedom are urgent; but today’s topical example soon becomes wearisomely dated.) It is impossible to do justice to all the details in the text, and totally impossible to exhaust the possible connections that fan out in a myriad of directions; the text pulsates with theological significance. Points of connection may well strike the user randomly and unexpectedly throughout. A verse at the heart of Exodus could almost have been designed for the reading process: “those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed” (16:18). There is profit at every level of engagement with the text. “As Seeing the Invisible”:28 The Use of Art to Illustrate Theology

The point made above about the unsuitability of the fixed image to convey the rich texture of the biblical narrative in itself, not to mention its limitless interconnections inside the Bible and beyond, raises acutely the question that is part of the mission of this commentary series: How can one express the message of the Bible visually through works of art to a visually oriented age? Not least in connection with Exodus, the question arises of the compatibility in principle of representational art with the apparent prohibition of the “Second Commandment” (Exod 20:4) that has had an inhibiting and disabling effect on the development of religious art in Judaism and also in Protestantism in the Reformation period and after. Can one surmount the mismatch between the definiteness of the image and the never completely definitive nature of theological discourse? Masterpieces of European art, particularly from the medieval period, successfully go beyond realistic portrayal of the individual biblical scene, do justice to the multilayered interconnections of the individual text within the wider sweep of the biblical narrative, and challenge relationship to shared human experience. As a preliminary example, I offer the massive Verduner Altar in the monastery at Klosterneuburg, Austria.29 (For a more detailed discussion of the Verduner Altar, see Exodus 1–19.) Specialists agree that the Verduner Altar provides one of the most complete expressions in art of the subtly elaborated program of biblical interpretation broadly called “typology.”30

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Introduction to Exodus 20–40

The Verduner Altar

Image Not Available due to lack of digital rights. Please view the published commentary or perform an Internet search using the credit below.

Image Not Available due to lack of digital rights. Please view the published commentary or perform an Internet search using the credit below.

The central column of the Verduner Altar illustrates its general theological scheme. The Offering of Isaac (Gen 22:1-19) (above) and the Spies bearing Grapes from the Valley of Eshcol (Num 13:23-24) (below) are types of the Crucifixion of Christ (Matt 27//) (center). The motto around the top panel, “The father prepares at the altar to sacrifice the precious child,” gives a factual summary of the narrative in Gen 22. The viewer is left to make the connection between the distraught father torn between duty and love, his preparedness to sacrifice his beloved only son of promise, and the anguish of God the Father at the crucifixion of Jesus. Isaac bearing the wood for the sacrifice (Gen 22:6) is seen as a prefiguration of Jesus bearing his cross. The ram caught in a thicket is a type of the innocent Lamb of God (see John 1:29; Rev 5:6-13). The inscription around the bottom panel of the spies bearing the grapes from Eshcol is overtly typological: “In the pole, read the wood of the cross; in the grapes, the sign of Christ.” The grapes hanging from the pole symbolize Christ hanging from the cross; the grapes themselves represent the wine of the Eucharist. The two bearers are the Old Testament and the New Testament, the synagogue and the church. The leading bearer is the Old Testament, coming before Christ, turning his head toward the grapes. The central panel, the crucifixion, “the passion of the Lord,” bears the motto, “The victim is slaughtered by whom our ruin is removed.” The inscription on the cross reads “Jesus, the Nazarene.” Mary and John stand on either side. The moon on the right of the cross, representing the Old Testament, is in partial eclipse by the sun, the New Covenant, on the left. The squares behind the cross have cosmic significance. Above left is Daniel with a scroll bearing the Messianic text: “After [the sixty-two weeks of years] an anointed one shall be cut off [and no-one will help him]” (Dan 9:26).

Image Not Available due to lack of digital rights. Please view the published commentary or perform an Internet search using the credit below.

Nicholas of Verdun (c. 1150–1205). Sacrifice of Isaac (top); Crucifixion (center); The spies return from the valley of Eshcol, carrying a giant grape cluster (bottom). From the Verdun Altar, 12th C. CE. Enamel on gilded copper. Sammlungen des Stiftes, Klosterneuburg, Austria. (Credit: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY)

Following the lead of the N ew Testament, the church has traditionally pursued a Christ-centered “typological” approach to the interpretation of the Old Testament. Reading it literally or figuratively, it has found witness to Christ in every part. The Old Testament provides “prototypes”; the New Testament, appropriate correspondences, “antitypes.” For [Examples of Typological Interpretation in the Early Church], see Exodus 1–19. Henri de Lubac, in his massive account of this tradition of interpretation in medieval times, summarizes its general viewpoint: “Everything in [Scripture] is related to [Christ]. In the end he is its sole object. Consequently, he is, so

Introduction to Exodus 20–40

to speak, its whole exegesis.”31 Typology is thus a highly “deductive” approach to Old Testament interpretation, in which the New Testament exerts the controlling influence. Even if one cannot subscribe exclusively to the theory, that inability should not deter one from appreciating the richly suggestive network of correspondences and interconnections between the biblical texts that it proposes. For comments on [Non-polarization of Modes of Access to Truth] and [Modern Screen Images], see Exodus 1–19.

Notes 1. A shortened and modified version of the introduction to Exodus 1–19. 2. NRSV is the English version that this commentary—like others in the series— primarily refers to. I have written the commentary, however, on the basis of the Hebrew text of Exodus in BHS that underlies that English version; occasionally, I propose modification of the English rendering in NRSV. Where verse numbering varies between the English and the Hebrew versions, the commentary follows NRSV. 3. The term “D-version,” which recognizes the priority of the positive contribution that Deuteronomy makes, seems preferable to this writer to the negative-sounding “Non-P,” now widely current in contemporary scholarly literature. The usage “Non-P” has arisen especially in German-speaking scholarship, where, in the view of many, “P” provides the earliest continuous narrative that binds Genesis to the following books, Exodus through Numbers. See Konrad Schmid, Erzväter und Exodus: Untersuchungen zur doppelten Begründung der Ursprünge Israels innerhalb der Geschichtsbücher des Alten Testaments, WMANT 81 (Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1999); trans. James Nogalski, Genesis and the Moses Story: Israel’s Dual Origins in the Hebrew Bible, Siphrut: Literature and Theology of the Hebrew Scriptures 3 (Winona Lake IN: Eisenbrauns, 2010). See also Thomas B. Dozeman, Exodus, Eerdmans Critical Commentary (Grand Rapids MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009) 31–43. 4. Michael Carasik, The Commentators’ Bible: The JPS Miqra’ot Gedolot, Exodus (Philadelphia PA: Jewish Publication Society, 2005) 160. 5. Traditionally in biblical study, scholars have identified different “sources” in the text (e.g., D and P) on the basis of distinctive vocabulary. Such distinctive vocabulary is indeed to be noted in Exodus (e.g., in verbs for the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, kbd in D, ˙zq in P; “I” [the first-person singular pronoun] in D is , Gen 31:36; cf. Exod 22:9) with regard to Laban’s goods (31:37; cf. Exod 22:7); specifically, with regard to the care of his flocks by day or by night (31:39; cf. Exod 22:2-3); or that he has slaughtered them (31:38; cf. Exod 22:1). He has borne the cost of those torn by wild beasts (†∂r∑pâ, 31:39; cf. Exod 22:13). He requests arbitration (31:37; cf. Exod 22:9). As for payment of the bride-price, Jacob has acted with the utmost honor (implied in, e.g., Gen 31:41; contrast Exod 22:16-17). The figure of the angel is prominent in both stories (e.g., Gen 31:11; Exod 3:1). The polemical purpose seems clear: Laban’s way of conducting master-slave relations is inadmissible in Israel; he is guilty of gross infringements of a Hebrew’s rights.

bodily conditions of offender and victim; (c) the remedy is mandatory: you have to apply it.43

Jackson provides extended discussion. Regarding (a), he notes that the only narrative in HB about exact retaliation is in Judges 1:6-7 in response to a deliberate atrocity. Regarding (b), he examines what happens if a strict application leaves the perpetrator worse off

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Exodus 21:18–22:17

Mercy and the Requirements of the Law In The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare plays off the vengeful Shylock, who has made his bargain with Antonio for a pound of flesh if he defaults on a loan (Act I, scene 3), against pleas for clemency. In Act III, Shylock is unrepentant: “if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?” (scene 1); “Tell me not of mercy . . . I’ll have my bond” (scene 3). Toward the denouement, in Act IV, scene 1, the Duke appeals to Shylock, “How shalt thou hope for mercy, rend’ring none?” And in answer to Shylock’s defiant “I stand here for law,” Portia responds with the paean in praise of mercy: The quality of mercy is not strain’d; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: it is twice bless’d; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes… It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God’s When mercy seasons justice. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (London: Collins, n.d.) 243.

Image Not Available

Lizzie Caswell Smith. Gertrude Elliott (1874–1950) and Johnston Forbes-Robertson (1853–1937) in The Merchant of Venice, early 20th C. Elliott and Robertson are playing the parts of Portia and Shylock respectively. (Credit: HIP/Art Resource, NY)

due to lack of digital rights. Please view the published commentary or perform an Internet search using the credit below.

than the victim (b. B. Qam 84a). Suppose the perpetrator was already one-eyed or one-limbed. “If we cannot modify the range of the principle, we must then seek an alternative meaning for the penalty, one where the blind, crippled or lame offender will suffer no more than the able-bodied Martin Luther King, Jr., on Nonviolence offender. Ayin tachat ayin [“eye for eye”] must therefore mean compensation rather than retaliation” Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and under the principle of “one immoral. It is impracticable because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everyone manner of law” (Lev 24:22: “You blind. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather shall have one law for the alien than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to and for the citizen”).44 Jackson convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than appositely cites Proverbs 24:29, love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends by “Do not say, ‘I will do to others as defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the they have done to me; I will pay destroyers. them back for what they have done.’”45 Desmond Tutu, Archbishop of Cape Town, cited with approval The point in the Sermon on the King’s use of “an eye for an eye” in a sermon preached at Sebokeng in the Vaal Triangle in 1990 during the last bloody days of the Mount is not the abrogation of apartheid regime in South Africa. He prefaced the citation with the the Law but its extension and appeal, “let us show that we are the children of God by not being application even to impulse and filled with hatred. Let us not be filled with a desire for revenge.” intention. Jesus’ ethics are the creative ethics of the kingdom of Martin Luther King, Jr., The Words of Martin Luther King, sel. Coretta Scott King (London: Robson, 1984) 73. God: “overcome evil with good” Desmond Tutu, The Rainbow People of God: South Africa’s Victory over Apartheid (Rom 12:21). Evil is not merely to (Toronto: Bantam Books, 1995) 208.

Exodus 21:18–22:17

be contained; it is to be neutralized by the reception, even by the innocent, of injustice and suffering. Jesus himself is the pattern and vindication of unmerited suffering undergone to anticipate and to inaugurate God’s reign of peace (1 Pet 2:19-25). In practical terms, it is no easy matter to judge how far, and by whom, in this unjust world as it is, the saintly choice of magnanimity and forgiveness of the transgressor can transcend the necessary instruments of justice, the exaction of deserved punishment, and commensurate reparation. At the very least, mercy has to temper justice. Exodus 21:22-25 and the Abortion Debate

If Exodus 21:22 is about miscarriage and the concern is harm to the mother, then it is unlikely that this passage has a contribution to make to the modern pro-life debate about the rights of the unborn child.46 Weingreen, while arguing that the “harm” in vv. 22-23 refers to the fetus not to the woman, acknowledges that in so doing he is running against the interpretation of the medieval rabbis Rashi and Ibn Ezra.47 He notes that in the Talmud, b. Hullin 58a, the fetus is regarded as part of the woman until it is separated at birth.48 The strongest argument that the passage may refer to the fetus is the use of the plural y∂lådîm, “children,” in the phrase “if the child[ren] come[s] forth.” Schwienhorst-Schönberger suggests that the plural denotes “the fruit of the womb” at any stage in pregnancy.49 Even before natural birth, he claims, the fetus is regarded as a yeled (the singular of y∂lådîm), a “child.” “Thus any differentiation of the stage of maturity of the fruit of the womb which might have let the one who caused the miscarriage off without penalty is excluded by our ‘lawmaker.’” He seeks support in the Old Greek Version. It has a novel understanding of the meaning of the rare Hebrew word q] of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress [l˙ß; in MT both verb and noun] them.”

Exod 22:21-23—The Vocabulary of Obligation You shall not wrong or oppress [l˙ß] a resident alien . . . You shall not abuse [>nh] any widow or orphan. If you do abuse [>nh] them, when they cry out [ß>q] to me, I will surely hear [¡m>; NRSV: heed] their cry [ß>q].

wrath will burn [see 4:14], and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children orphans.” The “sword” may here be literal, referring to the army of an invading tyrant (contrast 5:3). Lending to the Needy Neighbor; Taking Pledges (22:25-27)

The Hebrew again marks out the new topic—giving loans—by the inversion of object and verb: “If silver you lend to my people” (v. 25). The topic of loans, with the danger that they may lead the borrower into unpayable debt and eventually into debt-slavery, links into the central theme of Exodus (see 21:1-11). The verb “to lend” has a certain negative overtone in Hebrew. As the causative stem of the verb “to borrow [lwh],” it is as though the lender causes the borrower to borrow and actively implicates him in debt. By the act of lending, the lender becomes a creditor and the borrower a debtor. This prohibition thus places restraint on the lender: “you shall not deal with them as a creditor [nø¡eh],” immediately defined as one that would “exact interest.” The borrower must pay back the capital sum, but the lender is not to demand additional payment. The outright creditor, the nø¡eh who presumably did charge interest, would be feared and despised as a social pariah (cf. 2 Kgs 4:1; Jer 15:10, where the related verb n¡h occurs; Neh 5:7-11). Leviticus 25:36-37 distinguishes two types of interest and forbids both: the ne¡ek, the word occurring here, literally “a bite,” perhaps taken in advance (also in Deut 23:19-20); and the tarbît, “increment,” on maturity of the loan (for the practice of both in the exilic period, see Ezek 18:8). A striking apposition in the Hebrew leads into the theological heart of the matter. The broad term, “my people,” receives immediate definition, “namely, the poor among you” (v. 25). The word

Exodus 22:21–23:9

“poor [>ånî],” from the same root as >innâ, “to afflict,” makes the link with v. 22 and thus with the wider context of Exodus, especially 3:7, 9 (see again [Comparison of the Vocabulary of Deliverance and Obligation]; for other words for “poor” in this final section of B, see [The Poor]). YHWH insists that this is “my people.” You were once all poor. Since YHWH has created you as a people out of affliction in Egypt, none is to be the target for further affliction by any of your own number, for all have shared that common experience. This applies even to those whose need compels them to borrow from their prospering neighbor. The verse reminds the lender about community solidarity: the borrower remains “your neighbor,” who lives “among you” (v. 26; for the significance of the “neighbor” in B, see 21:12-17). The prohibition against taking interest on a loan, “you shall not deal with them as a creditor,” might easily have used the third person “ordinance” form (21:2): “When people lend silver, they shall not add interest.” The casting of the prohibition in intimate second person singular terms as a “Word” emphasizes the “I–You” covenantal aspects.6 The lender is entitled, nonetheless, to receive some security on his loan (v. 26), here the borrower’s “cloak.” Other passages cite this article of clothing as the appropriate pledge (Prov 20:16; 27:13; Job 22:6). A text from about 630 BCE found at Metsad Hashavyahu provides a vivid, historical instance (see [B and the History of Law in Ancient Israel]). [A Text from Metsad Hashavyahu] [The Garments of the Poor] Humanitarian considerations must mitigate the holding of deposits. The creditor must return the deposited garment by sunset so that the borrower can wrap up for the night against the cold (v. 27; cf. the privations of the victimized poor in Job 24:2-11). Other texts deem taking other items as pledges for debt as oppressive and forbid it outright: the hand-mill and the upper millstone, which the debtor needs to sustain himself and his family, Deuteronomy 24:6; a widow’s garment, Deuteronomy 24:17; even her ox, Job 24:3. The prophets condemn rapacity and heartlessness on the part of the lender. Amos 2:8 denounces those who at feasts dedicated to community solidarity deny that solidarity by ostentation or self-interest (see also Ezek 18:7, 12, 16; cf. the “failure to discern the Lord’s body” in 1 Cor 11:29). The details of the system are tantalizingly sketchy. How many days’ grace does the creditor allow the day-laborer to pay off his debt before he takes him into the debt-slavery of 21:1-11? The reason for sympathetic treatment of the indigent neighbor is not only humanitarian or communitarian. The graciousness of the

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A Text from Metsad Hashavyahu The document was discovered in 1960 near Yabneh-yam on the coast of Israel south of Tel Aviv. It “preserves an appeal from a farm worker to the governor of the district against a sentence imposed by a minor official”: . . . After your servant had measured his (quota of) grain and put it in store for the days agreed, along came Hashabiah son of Shobai, and appropriated your servant’s garment . . . . But all my comrades can testify on my behalf . . . who were reaping beside me in the heat (of the sun) . . . that . . . I am not guilty of any (crime. So please return) my garment, that I may be given satisfaction. It is the commandant’s place to return (his servant’s garment, and to show) mercy to him. John C. L. Gibson, Textbook of Syrian Semitic Inscriptions: Volume 1 Hebrew and Moabite Inscriptions (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971) 27–29 (round brackets supplied by Gibson).

Replica of the Mesad Hashavyahu Ostracon. (Credit: GU-theolog / Wikimedia Commons, PD-self)

lender also has as its basis, and is a reflection of, the graciousness of YHWH: “if your neighbor cries out to me, I will listen [the same verbs as in v. 23], for I am compassionate.” The divine epithet “compassionate” recurs in the key theological passage (34:6-7), which recites the “thirteen attributes” of YHWH (see [“The Thirteen Attributes” of God]). It will be argued in context that that passage belongs to the D-version, though, in fact, “compassionate” is the sole attribute there that cannot be paralleled elsewhere in that version (the phrase in which it occurs is missing in the apparent citation in Num 14:18). The adjective is used mostly of God in HB (see Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2; Pss 86:15; 103:8; 111:4; 112:4; 116:5; 145:8; Neh 9:17, 31; 2 Chr 30:9). These occurrences in mostly late texts and the use of the shorter form of the first person singular The Garments of the Poor NRSV’s translation, “cloak,” for the garment taken in pledge, simlâ, may be too grand in this context. It is, after all, the poor man’s “only clothing to use as cover” (v. 27). The Hebrew runs literally, “his only covering; it is his garment for his skin,” and thus seems to imply undergarment, or sole garment. In Gen 9:23, simlâ covers nakedness; in Gen 37:34 it (admittedly in the plural) is replaced by a loincloth of sackcloth (cf. Isa 20:2). The borrower is forced to toil all day clad (presumably) only in a loincloth (îl, “cloak,” cf. Exod 28:4; middîm, “tunic”; ˙≠gôr, now in the sense, “belt”; Mic 2:8 for a possible contrast between “tunic” and “cloak” (more commonly, ∑dâ for the “congregation” of Israel; and [Testimony] in Exodus 1–19 for the possible popular association with >∑dût, “testimony.” The sanctuary is, above all, the place where YHWH meets with Israel. In P’s view, this meeting can take place only if Aaron and his sons have made the appropriate arrangements. “Dwelling place [mi¡kån]” returns in the account of the completion of the sanctuary as a structure in 35:11, 15, 18; 36:8, 13, 31, 32; 38:21, 31. “The tent of meeting” occurs in the section 35:1–39:31 only in 35:21, where it explicitly mentions priestly rites and garments. The final section (39:32–40:38) combines the two terms, mi¡kån and ∑d: “the dwelling place of the tent of meeting” (39:32; 40:2, 6, 29; with slight change of wording, 39:33, 40). The use of “dwelling place” alone in 40:9, 17, 18, 19, 21, 24, 34, 35, 36, 38, and of “tent of meeting” alone in 40:26 simply confirms the ultimate interchangeability of the terms. They stand in parallel in successive phrases in 40:22, 24, 34, 35. P’s use of the word “tent” alone, without “of meeting,” in 26:7, 9, 11-14, 36; 36:14, 18-19; and 40:19 facilitates the integration of the “tent of meeting” and the “dwelling place.” There it refers narrowly to the goats’-hair curtain, the second of the four layers draped over the wooden framework of the sanctuary, “a tent over the dwelling place” (26:7). Num 4:25 calls that covering “the tent of meeting.” P completes the assimilation and transformation of D’s ∑d in Num 9:15: “the dwelling place of the tent of the testimony [∑dût]” (cf. Num 17:22, 23; 18:2). The Greek Version continues the process of assimilation by translating both ∑d and ∑dût by “the tent of witness [h∑ sk∑n∑ tou martouriou]”; cf. Acts 7:44; Rev 15:5.

Exodus 25–31:17

rites on the solemn fast of the year, the Day of Atonement (Lev 16). Altogether, P’s contribution to these chapters amounts to more than one-third of the total content of Exodus. So great are the similarities between the specification of the tabernacle in Exodus 25–31 and its construction in accordance with these specifications in Exodus 35–40 that it would make good sense to consider these sections together for mutual elucidation (and the commentary below will make many cross-references between the two blocks).2 But the present arrangement of the text, with the crisis of the golden calf incident intervening in Exodus 32–34*, makes a vital statement in both accounts. The D-version affirms that despite Israel’s apostasy, YHWH reconfirms the covenant in identical terms (Exod 34 repeats in a double “merism” the beginning of the D-Decalogue in Exod 20 and the ending of the Book of the Covenant in Exod 23). The point of P’s apparently pedantic repetition of the details of the construction of the tabernacle in 35–40 is to demonstrate that Moses has indeed precisely reproduced the heavenly blueprint revealed in 25–31. The tabernacle is the earthly counterpart of the heavenly prototype. Only through this sacramental correspondence can Y HWH reside among the people of Israel. Preliminary Review of P’s Material on the Tabernacle

These chapters contain no fewer than eleven lists of materials required for the tabernacle and of the procedures that the artisans must follow in its construction. The discussion may conveniently confine itself at this point essentially to the specification section in 25–31 and to the three lists in these chapters. [Lists of Materials and of Items for Construction (1)] These lists follow two distinct patterns. On the one hand, list 1, specifying the materials required, and list 2, describing their application in the construction of the tabernacle, follow a theological sequence. They itemize the most holy materials and objects first—the gold-plated ark, the gold-plated table of the Presence, and the bronze altar of burnt offering. Then they list the physical location of these objects in the sanctuary in matching descending degrees of holiness, in the most holy place, the holy place, and the courtyard. Finally, reversing the direction of movement back into the sanctuary from the courtyard, they specify the hierarchy of personnel, the high priest, priests, and the areas of the tabernacle that they may enter. On the other hand, list 3, dealing with the execution of the work in accordance with these

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specifications, follows the logic of construction. The artisans first erect the physical structures. Then they make the sacred furnishings for these structures and the vestments for the priests who will serve there. 2. List of items to be made or prepared (25:10–30:38): The huge central list 2 (26:10–30:38) ark, table, lamp, tabernacle, altar of burnt offerings, and helps the reader to grasp the scale and sigcourtyard, including their attendant furnishings (25:10– 27:19; these correspond to the items in 25:3b-5 in list 1); nificance of the undertaking. It specifies oil, priestly garments, incense altar, basin, anointing oil, the items the artisans are to make with the and incense (27:20–30:38; these correspond to 25:6-7 in materials of list 1. The degrees of holiness list 1). of the objects and areas listed match the descending and ascending value of the 3. List 2 to be given to the chief artisan Bezalel and his materials in list 1. The list itemizes first the assistant Oholiab (31:1-11). furnishings and then the related structures For lists 4-11 (35:5–40:33), see [Lists of Materials and that house these furnishings. (1) The ark, of Items for Construction (2)]. the physical focus of Israel’s religion, stands alone in the inner, most holy place. In the outer holy place, on the north side, stands (2) the table of “the bread of the Presence,” with its twelve loaves symbolizing the twelve tribes of Israel. Illuminating it from the south side stands (3) the seven-branched candelabrum. To house these holy objects, (4) the tabernacle is constructed. Approach to the tabernacle is by (5) the bronze altar of burnt offerings. To house the altar, (6) the courtyard is constructed. The priesthood serves this sanctuary. The direction of movement now reverses. The necessary rites for the ordination of the priests, including (7) their unique vestments, follow. By their sacrificial rites at the bronze altar, they may enter the holy place to offer incense at (8) the golden altar of incense. (9) Washing and (10) anointing purify them for that ministry; only after purification may they burn (11) incense. Within the factual lists of furnishings and dimensions, YHWH interjects explanations that provide valuable theological material (these explanations are omitted in the matching account of the carrying out of these instructions in list 7, 36:8–39:31). For example, the ark must have its carrying poles attached so that it is in a constant state of readiness for transportation (25:14). YHWH will be present for guidance and protection among the Israelites on their onward journey through the wilderness. The ark contains the “testimony,” the attestation of YHWH’s will (25:15-16; see [Testimony] in Exodus 1–19). The lid on the ark is where YHWH will meet with Moses to impart instruction for Israel (25:21-22). The lid, literally “covering,” hints at its role in the rites of the Day of Lists of Materials and of Items for Construction (1) 1. List of materials that the people will bring as offerings (25:3b-7): gold, silver, bronze, fabrics, skins, and wood (vv. 3b-5); olive oil, spices, and precious stones (vv. 6-7).

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Articles of the Biblical Tabernacle and Temple Atonement (Lev 16). The purpose of the table is to bear the bread of the Presence (25:30). Exodus 30:11-16 explains that the silver is a compulsory contribution, a capitation tax offered in “prospective atonement.” The basin is to enable Aaron and his sons to wash their hands and feet when they enter the tent of meeting or approach the altar (30:18-21), hence its location “between the tent of meeting and the altar” (30:18b). The olive oil for the lamp stands at the hinge point (27:20-21) in the specifications for the tabernacle in list 2. Oil does not figure in the lists of items requiring manufacture by Bezalel and his team of skilled specialists in 31; 36:9–39:31. Although still needing human labor to process, it is a pure natural product Articles of the Biblical Tabernacle and Temple. Illustration from the 1890 Holman Bible. demanded of the Israelites as a (Credit: Bill Dauster, Wikimedia Commons PD-US) whole. The lighting of the lamp is One may have differences of opinion on some of the details as one of the functions of the priestimaginatively portrayed in this illustration, e.g., the pitched roof of the Tabernacle. hood. Attention thus switches in 27:20-21 to the personnel, the priesthood of Aaron and his sons, and their tasks within the completed structure—with the matching switch in its name from “tabernacle” to “tent of meeting”—that dominate the presentation to the end of Exodus 30. In list 3 (31:7-11), the sequence of the instructions to Bezalel the artisan and his team follows the logic of construction. A similar reversal of sequence can be seen in the listing of the priestly garments: from most sacred to least in their specification in 28:4; the reverse sequence in putting them on in 29:5-6. First, Bezalel will make the major structure, the tent (4) (retaining the numbering in specification list 2 to show the contrast), perhaps including by implication the courtyard (6), which is otherwise unspecified (cf. 38:9-20). Then follows the furnishing of each part in descending order of sanctity: in the most holy place, the ark (1); in the holy place, the table (2), the lamp (3), and the incense altar (8);

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in the courtyard, the altar of burnt offerings (5) and the basin (9). Only then are the personnel considered: their priestly garments (7), their anointing oil (10), and the incense (11) that they will burn. Observance of the Sabbath (31:12-17; see Exod 16) marks the culmination of the specification section (it then stands in emphatic mirror position as the first item in the execution section, 35:1-3). For the connection between the specification for the construction of the tabernacle in Exodus 25:1–31:17 and the creation narrative in Genesis 1:1–2:4a, both of which climax in Sabbath, see [The Cosmic Significance of the Tabernacle]. Historicity

Once again, historical questions are beside the point and demeaning to the biblical material. Scholars have sought archaeological and anthropological analogies Comparative Material for the Tabernacle for the tabernacle in tented shrines of The sanctuary at Timna. nomadic societies, but the best available are rudimentary in comparison with the biblical.3 Nagging questions about practicability remain unanswerable. For example, how could the Israelites have acquired the large quantities of disparate materials required for the construction? How could they have developed the skills in metal casting, carpentry, weaving, and gem cutting, and have applied them in a six-month period in the desert? How At Timna Park, 20 miles (32 km) north of Eilat in the Arabah, a life-size replica of the biblical tabernacle has been constructed. While no original materials (e.g., gold, silver, could they have physically transported bronze) have been used, the model is accurate in every other way based upon the bibthis huge, heavy shrine with all its lical description. (Credit: Bibleplaces.com) equipment, repeatedly dismantling and reconstructing it, through the desert for thirty-nine years, despite marauding enemies? Even the practicability of some of the instructions must be questioned, not least those concerning the wooden altar of burnt offering (27:1), even if it was filled with soil and stones. How could its framework not have been burned to a cinder on first use? How could it be Tabernacle with bronze laver. (Credit: Bibleplaces.com) transported on four wagons on a

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Early Questions about Historicity regular basis (e.g., Num 4:5-16), and still be Questions about historicity have arisen not available for the daily morning and evening only in modern times. Ibn Ezra (1089–1164) sacrifices (29:38)? How could its vast tariff of commented on 29:42: “Where, in the ‘empty, howling offerings ([Outline of the Sacrificial System in Leviticus– waste’ (Deut. 32:10) where they spent 38 years, did Numbers]) be serviced? [Early Questions about they find half a hin of olive oil and of wine every day? Did they bring 14,000 hins of olive oil and wine with Historicity] The discussion below will not them? Where did they get two yearling lambs a day, belabor historical impossibilities and implaunot to mention the extras for Sabbaths and festivals?” sibilities. The tabernacle is an idealistic In Michael Carasik, The Commentators’ Bible: The JPS Miqra’ot construction, but no less eloquent for that Gedolot, Exodus (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2005) 263. reason (cf. the multiple imaginary figures, the cherubim, that adorn the interior of the tabernacle [25:18], and on a much larger scale, the visionary temple in Ezek 40–48). The need for a sacred space, real or imagined—but no less real if imagined—remains at the heart of the life of every individual or community as they wander The Enduring Significance of P’s Detailed Specification through the wilderness (in fact or Michael Carasik appositely quotes Abarbanel (1437–1508): in figure) of this world. The metaDo not think that the commandments about the Tabernacle, which do physical power of the symbolism not apply to us here in the exile, or the laws that are valid only in the of the Israelite tabernacle tranland of Israel, or the laws of priestly purity, have no value for us today. scends the possibilities of physical The torah is a book of elevated wisdom and divine teaching. What we reality but provides materials to understand of these matters today, in terms of their allusions to higher things, is of as much value as when they were in practice. The same is fuel that imaginative construction. true of all Torah matters. The Torah is a tool to prepare the way for us to In truth, only the imagined, with become “like God, knowing good” (Gen. 3:5), to keep us alive in every reservation of many of the details, place and at all times. (215) is appropriate as the “dwelling Michael Carasik, The Commentators’ Bible: The JPS Miqra’ot Gedolot, Exodus place” of One who is beyond con(Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2005). 4 ception. [The Enduring Significance of P’s Detailed Specification]

Notes 1. See Philip P. Jenson, Graded Holiness: A Key to the Priestly Conception of the World, JSOTSup 106 (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1992). 2. The issues become even more complex when the interpreter brings the Old Greek Version, especially of Exod 35–40, into play. See David W. Gooding, The Account of the Tabernacle: Translation and Textual Problems of the Greek Exodus (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959); John W. Wevers, Notes on the Greek Text of Exodus (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990); Emanuel Tov, The Text-Critical Use of the Septuagint in Biblical Research (Jerusalem: Simor, 2d ed., 1997) 256–57; Kay F. Gauld, “The Technique of the LXX Translator of the Tabernacle Accounts in the Book of Exodus” (Ph.D. diss., University of Aberdeen, 1998). 3. Frank M. Cross, “The Tabernacle,” Biblical Archaeologist 10 (1947): 45–68; Beno Rothenberg, Timna: Valley of the Biblical Copper Mines (London: Thames &

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Exodus 25–31:17 Hudson, 1972). Thomas B. Dozeman, Exodus, Eerdmans Critical Commentary (Grand Rapids MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009) 594 provides an informative review. 4. Cf. Dozeman, Exodus, 627: “The P History is presenting a utopian picture of divine holiness in the midst of the Israelites, not a historical account of a lost sanctuary.” He contrasts the historically-orientated work of Moshe Levine, The Tabernacle: Its Structure and Utensils (London: Soncino, 1969).

The Furnishings of the Sanctuary: Ark, Table, and Lampstand Exodus 25 Exodus 25 opens the long section that continues to 31:17, in which YHWH gives to Moses the specifications for the sanctuary. [The Structure of Exodus 25:1–31:17] In Exodus 35–40, Moses mediates these instructions to the Israelites, who carry them out to the letter.

COMMENTARY The Materials Required for the Construction and Service of the Sanctuary (25:1-9)

The peremptory verb “speak [dbr]” stands at the beginning of both vv. 1 and 2 (concealed by NRSV’s renderings): “The LORD said [dbr] . . . : Tell [dbr] the Israelites.” The verb is related to the noun “word [dåbår],” as in the ten “Words” of the Decalogue, and marks the extension in P of the reveThe Structure of Exodus 25:1–31:17 lation to Moses on Mount Exod 25:1–31:11 comprises six speeches of YHWH. The Sinai (so 35:1b; see 24:12). speeches include three of the lists of materials and proFor P, that revelation contains cedures for the construction of the tabernacle (see [Lists of not only the Decalogue Materials and of Items for Construction (1)]). (20:1-17) and the Book of Speech of YHWH List of materials and procedures the Covenant (20:22–23:33), I 25:1–30:10 (1) 25:2-7; (2) 25:10–30:38 as in the D-version, but also II 30:11-16 III 30:17-21 now the specifications for the IV 30:22-33 tabernacle. Besides its cultic V 30:34-38 functions, the tabernacle will VI 31:1-11 (3) 31:1-11 be the locus for further reveYHWH’s seventh speech, VII 31:12-17, on the Sabbath, lation of Torah (25:22; see rounds off the whole specification section. Lev 1:1). MT provides a much more detailed paragraphing, breaking The sequence of thought in down YHWH’s first speech into individual topics. E.g., in Exod 25: vv. 1-9 is notable. Without vv. 1-9, materials; vv. 10-22, the ark; vv. 23-30, the table of the Presence; vv. 31-40, the lampstand. The discussion below prior explanation of purpose, follows, in the main, the paragraphing of MT.

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YHWH’s speech begins with absolute demands: “Tell the Israelites to take for me an offering” (v. 2a). The specification of the demand heightens the tension: a list now follows of the most costly materials conceivable, from gold to precious stones (vv. 3b-7; list 1). YHWH’s demand that the offering is “for me,” repeated at the end of v. 2b (and v. 8), provides an equally uncompromising motive. It is as exclusive as the demand for the observance of Sabbath “to the LORD” in 20:10 and of festivals “for me” in 23:14, the demand for the sole acknowledgment of YHWH as Israel’s God. Only in v. 8 does YHWH finally reveal the purpose of the offering: “have [the people] make for me a sanctuary.” YHWH demands not only trusting but also willing contributors: “from all whose hearts prompt them to give you shall receive the offering for me” (v. 2b). YHWH requires response from the people, yet the scale of that response is, it seems, a matter of free choice on their part. There is, however, some tension between these two expressions. The first, “all whose hearts prompt them to give,” sounds permissive. The verb “to prompt [ndb]” comes from the same root as the noun “freewill offering [n∂dåbâ],” explicitly used of the people’s offerings in 35:29 (list 6). The people are apparently to “take” from their own possessions (not “bring” as though YHWH were stipulating the amount of the offering) as their means and generosity move them. In the event, their response is so overwhelming that Moses has to tell them to stop contributing (36:5-7). The second expression, “offering [t∂rûmâ],” however, implies obligation. It occurs elsewhere of, e.g., the stated “levy” that the priest receives from communion sacrifices (see 29:28; the translation “levy” tries to catch the meaning of the related verb, rûm, which in the causative stem means “to raise”).1 As 30:11-16 makes clear, t∂rûmâ in this context refers specifically to the silver that every adult male from the age of twenty upwards is obliged to pay when he enrolls in YHWH’s service. This required silver, and it alone, supplies the silver for the construction of the tabernacle, as the quantities listed in Exodus 38:25-28 make clear. [The Offering of Silver for the Tabernacle] Appropriately, that silver, representing the dedication of the adult males, provides the hundred bases on which the whole edifice of the tabernacle stands. It also provides the most visually arresting parts of the tabernacle’s surrounding courtyard: the gleaming tops of the posts, with their silver hooks, bands, and overlay. Like Egyptian obelisks with tops sheathed in gold to capture the rays of the sun, are they conductors conveying transcendental power to earth? The specification of materials for the tabernacle implies the full participation of the women. They have essential contributions to

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bring and roles to fulfill. Theirs are, in part, The Offering of Silver for the Tabernacle the freewill offerings of gold and bronze. In Exod 38:25-28, the number of males enrolled is 603,550. A capitation tax, levied at the flat With their men folk, they dedicate their rate of half a shekel of silver per head (30:13), would gold jewelry (35:22) for the furnishings and realize the sum of 301,775 shekels of silver. The silver decoration of the holy and most holy places hooks, overlay, and ties on the heads of the fifty-six in the interior of the tabernacle. They sur- posts surrounding the courtyard of the tabernacle and render their mirrors of polished bronze to the four posts supporting the screen at its entrance make the bronze basin and its stand (38:8), (27:10, 11, 17; 38:17; 38:19) use up 1,775 shekels of where the washing of priests and victims this amount (38:28). The casting of the one hundred takes place. Women skilled as spinners will silver bases, two for each of the forty-eight wall-frames supply the yarns of sheep’s wool, flax, and of the sanctuary for the side and rear frames (26:19, 21, 25) and one for each of the four pillars for the curtain goats’ hair for the weaving of the curtains, dividing the most holy from the holy place in the taberhangings, and screens of the tabernacle and nacle (26:32), uses up the remaining 300,000 shekels. its courtyard (35:25-26). Each of these bases weighs a talent (38:27; thus, a The outcome in 35:22, 29, where the talent = 3,000 shekels). NJPSV (2105) gives modern men and the women respond together, jus- equivalents for the weight of a talent at over seventytifies the inclusive rendering of NRSV: “all five-and-a-half pounds, or 34.3 kilos. The census of Num 1 confirms these calculations. The fact that the whose hearts prompt them” (25:2; the numbers have not changed in Num 1:46, although that Hebrew uses the singular masculine to census takes place a year later than the census in Exod emphasize individual responsibility: “each 38 (see Num 1:1), confirms the ideological character of whose heart prompts”). In 25:2b, 3a, “you the statistics. shall receive” is plural. The address is not to Moses personally but foreshadows the volunteers appointed for the work (35:10). Verses 3b-5 list the materials required for the structure of the tabernacle and its furnishings: metals, fabrics, skins, and wood. The descending value of the metals, gold, silver, and bronze (iron does not merit inclusion) foreshadows the descending degrees of holiness of the spaces, from the most holy place of the tabernacle’s inner shrine out into its courtyard, that these materials will construct and adorn.2 A preliminary sketch of the tabernacle helps to understand the references. [The Tabernacle] The sanctuary itself, thirty cubits3 long, ten cubits wide, and ten cubits high, opens to the east. A wooden framework overlaid with gold makes up its sides on the north and the south and its rear to the west. Four curtains hang over this framework (ch. 26). A screen stands at its east end (26:36). A curtain divides it internally, separating the inner shrine, the “most holy place,” from the outer, the “holy place.” The sanctuary stands within a courtyard, one hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and five cubits high. The courtyard too opens to the east with a screen at its entrance (27:9-19). All the structures and objects within the sanctuary are overlaid with gold or are of solid gold (except for the silver bases of its

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The Tabernacle Archibald R. S. Kennedy, in HDB, IV, 653–68, attempts a reconstruction of the tabernacle. Frank M. Cross, “The Tabernacle,” Biblical Archaeologist 10 (1947): 45–68 (63 n. 24), endorses it as the “best recent attempt” (sic; HDB dates from 1902). Kennedy fully acknowledges the idealistic character of the structure (HDB, IV, 666–68). This diagram, adapting Kennedy, is not a feasible historical reconstruction but an aid to the visualization of the data.

wooden side-frames and posts, just noted). Even the immediate layer of curtains draped over the wooden framework, the internal dividing curtain, and the clothing of Aaron, the high priest who has exclusive access to the most holy place, contain gold thread. The theological point must be that only the most precious metal can worthily express the sanctity of the place of closest encounter with God and the dedication required of those who would approach God. Bronze provides the bases of the pillars in the courtyard, the great basin for washing, the overlay of the altar of burnt offerings, and the instruments associated with basin and altar. Theologically interpreted, the use of the least valuable metal, bronze, out in the courtyard and at the entrance to the holy place must express humble approach (cf. the tentativeness of the initial rites at the bronze altar [29:12]). Strikingly, the posts within the sanctuary and outside in its courtyard, with one exception, rest on bases of metal one degree less precious than their tops. Thus, the posts within the sanctuary stand on silver bases and culminate in gold-overlaid tops; those within the courtyard stand on bronze bases and culminate in silver-overlaid tops. The exception is the curtain at the entrance of the holy place where at the point of transition from the courtyard there is a double increment in value. The posts rest on bronze bases and culminate in gold (26:37). That upward ascent in value is a further expression of “graded holiness,”

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of aspiration toward holiness. [The Metals for the Construction and Furnishings of the Sanctuary]

Yarns for weaving now follow: “blue, purple, and crimson yarns,4 fine linen, goats’ hair” (25:4). The first three items are, properly

The Metals for the Construction and Furnishings of the Sanctuary A consolidated inventory of the metals vividly conveys the colossal scale of the conception. Gold • The ark of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, inside and out, surrounded by a gold molding; two gold rings on each side; two carrying poles of overlaid acacia wood; a gold lid, with two gold cherubim (25:10-14, 17-18) • The table of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, surrounded by a gold molding, and a rim of gold and its molding; a gold ring on each of its four legs; two overlaid carrying poles; its utensils (25:23-30) • The lamp; its utensils (25:31-39) • The incense altar of acacia wood, its top, sides, and horns overlaid with gold, surrounded by a gold molding; two gold rings on each side; two overlaid carrying poles (30:1-5) • Fifty clasps joining the two sets of curtains of the immediate covering of the sanctuary (26:6) • Forty-eight frames of acacia wood overlaid with gold for three sides of the sanctuary; five horizontal bars, linking the frames, of overlaid acacia wood; rings holding the five crossbars (26:15-29), and at the top of the northwest and southwest corners (26:24) • The cherubim on the curtain dividing the most holy and the holy place; four posts, supporting this curtain, of overlaid acacia wood; their hooks of gold (26:31-32) • Five posts supporting the curtain at the entrance to the holy place, of overlaid acacia wood; their hooks of gold (26:37; only their heads overlaid, with gold bands, 36:38) • Items of Aaron’s vestments: the “ephod,” with threads cut from beaten-out gold leaf (39:3); so for its girdle (28:8) and the “breastpiece of judgment” (28:15); the settings for the two precious stones on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod (28:11); the chains suspended from them (28:12-13), to attach the breastpiece; the settings of the four rows of precious stones on the breastpiece (28:20); six rings of gold to attach the breastpiece to the ephod (28:23, 26, 27); golden bells, on the hem of the robe (traditionally, seventy-two; see 28:33-35); the rosette on the turban (28:36-37) Silver See [The Offering of Silver for the Tabernacle]. Bronze (for abbreviated summary, see 38:30) • Fifty clasps joining the two sets of goats’ hair curtains, the second covering of the sanctuary (26:11) • Five bases for the screen at the entrance of the holy place (26:37) • The overlay of the altar of burnt offerings; its utensils; its grating, with four rings, one at each corner; the overlay of the wooden carrying-poles; the rings for the poles (27:3-7) • Bases for the posts around the courtyard and at its entrance (27:10-11, 17-18) • Tent pegs for the tabernacle and the courtyard (27:19) • The basin between the altar and the tabernacle, and its stand (30:18) The summary list in 38:24-31 gives the total weights: • gold: 29 talents, 730 shekels; • silver: 100 talents, 1,775 shekels; • bronze: 70 talents, 2400 shekels. If 1 talent = 75.558 pounds (NJPSV, 2105), then these weights equate to 2,209.568 pounds of gold, 7,600.5 of silver, and 5,349.52 of bronze. The gold and the bronze together make up slightly less than the silver.

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Dyes Dalman provides a helpful discussion of the materials and processing of these materials. He combines valuable firsthand anthropological observations of life and practice in the area from the beginning of the 20th century CE, the time before the full onset of modern technology, with a thorough examination of the biblical and post-biblical written sources (although quite what equates to what across these three sources of information is not always certain). “Blue” is associated with the island of Cyprus (Ezek 27:7) and the coastlands of Tyre (2 Chr 2:6). It is the color of choice merchandise (Ezek 27:24) and of kings’ and patricians’ clothing (Ezek 23:6; Esth 8:15). “Purple” is also associated with Tyre (Ezek 27:7, 16). It is the color of royal garments (Judg 8:26) and was prized in the ancient world, e.g., by the Roman emperors. Both blue and purple are derived from shellfish (murex). Dalman (79) explains the costliness of the material: 12,000 shellfish produce only 1.5 grams of dye. “Crimson” consistently occurs in Exodus in the phrase “worm of crimson,” indicating that it is an animal dye (for “worm,” cf. 16:20). The worm in question is an oak parasite (Dalman, 84). “Crimson” frequently occurs elsewhere alone of material colored with this dye (e.g., Gen 38:28; Josh 2:10; 2 Chr 2:13; 3:14 uses a synonym for “crimson”).

speaking, colors of animal dyes. [Dyes] “Yarns” is a correct interpretative addition. The yarn in question is from sheep’s wool (by elimination: the text mentions explicitly linen and goats’ hair, the latter in any case black).5 The textiles also seem to imply a descending order of value: gorgeous multicolored fabrics in wool, followed by plain fabrics first in fine linen and then in rough goats’ hair. The uses made of the various fabrics confirm such a descending order. Where gold thread is included, it usually comes first in the list, as the most valuable element. Then follow “blue, purple, and crimson” in that fixed sequence: so for the first drape over the framework of the tabernacle (26:1), for the internal curtain that screens off the most holy place (26:31), and for Aaron’s most significant garments, the ephod and its attachments (ch. 28; see [The Metals for the Construction and Furnishings of the

under “gold”). Blue, purple, and crimson yarns (without gold) provide the fabrics for the screen at the entrance of the tabernacle (26:36), for the screen at the entrance to the courtyard in which the tabernacle stands (27:16), for the pomegranates Gustaf Dalman, Arbeit und Sitte in Palästina, Vol. 5: Webstoff, embroidered on the hem of Aaron’s robe Spinnen, Weben, Kleidung (Gütersloh: Bertelsmann, 1937). See also (28:33), and for the sashes on the priests’ Claudia Bender, Die Sprache des Textilen: Untersuchungen zu Kleidung und Textilien im Alten Testament, BWANT 9, Folge 17 tunics (28:39, more fully explained in 39:29). (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2008). There is thus again a correspondence between the areas of the tabernacle and the vestments of those permitted access to these areas. Blue yarn alone supplies the loops for the golden clasps that link together the two sets of the curtains immediately draped over the framework (26:4). Blue is the color of the cord attaching the breastpiece of justice by gold rings to the ephod (28:28), of the cord suspending the golden rosette from Aaron’s turban (28:37), and of Aaron’s monochrome robe (28:31).6 The inclusion of a cord of priestly blue in the fringes of the ordinary Israelites’ garments (Num 15:38) is, then, highly significant. This is P’s statement of the people’s attainment, by this tabernacle system, of their priestly status promised in Exodus 19:5-6. Linen is the basic material of the priestly turban, tunic, and undergarments (28:39, 42; 39:27-28). It is the sole material for the Sanctuary]

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hangings around the courtyard of the tabernacle (27:9). The immediate drape over the framework of the tabernacle provides an exception to the usual sequence of the fabrics. There, linen appears in first position, although the embroidering of cherubim may imply the use of gold thread (26:1; 36:8). Likewise, linen also appears in first place for the sashes on the priests’ tunics (28:39). Linen provides the basic fabric into which the weavers work the other more valuable threads of gold, and of blue, purple, and crimson yarn. Goats’ hair, the basic fabric for a migratory Bedouin’s tent, makes up the second drape over the tabernacle, the only occurrence of goats’ hair in Exodus. [The Production of the Textiles] The “tanned rams’ skins” and “fine leather” (v. 5) provide the third and fourth levels of coverings over the framework of the tabernacle (26:14). [“Fine Leather”] One can only infer the reason for such heavy drapes over the sanctuary. No doubt, they fulfilled practical The Production of the Textiles The first process in the production of textiles that Exodus refers to is spinning. The women bring yarns of wool dyed blue, purple, and scarlet, of linen, and of goats’ hair that they have spun (35:34-35). Exodus does not mention the processes presupposed: shearing, carding (Isa 19:9), and dyeing. Josh 2:6 implies soaking and drying to separate the fibers of flax (Dalman, 24.) A hierarchy of weaving skills processes the spun yarn. For the use of the horizontal loom for large pieces of cloth and the upright loom, see Dalman, 94–129. Lev 13:48 refers to the warp, the longitudinal threads, and the woof, the cross threads, both of which enable the combination of different colors. A series of similarly formulated phrases identifies the hierarchy of weavers: • “the work of an îm in post-biblical Hebrew is Bands (˙≠¡¥qîm) “sails”). Such a scenario raises questions about The word recurs in HB only in relation to the the precise significance of the “bands tabernacle, in 36:38; 38:10-12, 17, 19. [˙≠¡¥qîm]” of silver (vv. 10, 11). [Bands Mandelkern cites two views: that the “bands” were for tying the hooks on the top of the posts or that (˙≠¡¥qîm)] Are these bands merely ornamental they were purely ornamental. Does “their” refer to the finials, or do they have some structural signifpillars or to the hooks? The participle of the intensive icance such as crossbeams or curtain rails (the passive stem occurs in v. 17, where NRSV translates older view that BDB cites)? The disadvantage “banded” (of the pillars, but it could relate to the of that scenario is, however, that there would hooks); the intensive active stem occurs in 38:28 be no corner posts for the structure. How (NRSV: “made bands”). The meaning of the simple stem of the related verb is “to be attached to,” in the such a flimsy structure, slung from single metaphorical sense, “to love,” e.g., Deut 7:7. A posts standing on single bronze bases (sunk in related noun in 1 Kgs 7:33 refers to the spokes of a the ground?), could withstand a wind of any wheel. force is hard to imagine. Hardly surprisingly, Very oddly, NRSV renders ˙≠¡¥qîm in 36:38 v. 19 mentions tent pegs for the first time “bases,” perhaps because a different word for “tops (35:18 and 39:40 add guy ropes). [NRSV: capitals]” immediately precedes, or is it a misprint for “bands”? Once again, it seems largely futile to speculate how such an imagined structure could actually be erected. Some details make important theological points. The height of the sides of the courtyard is half that of the tabernacle itself, which would thus tower prominently above its courtyard. The position of the tabernacle within the courtyard is not defined. Does it stand centrally? The matching entrance to the east and the matching proportions of 2:1 length and breadth might

Exodus 27

suggest this. A disposition that commentators favor (see [The Tabernacle]; N JPSV) is to divide the courtyard into two equal squares. The ark, in the most holy place, stands exactly at the center of the western square at the point where the diagonals meet; the altar, in the open courtyard, stands where the diagonals in the eastern square meet. The resulting neat geometry undoubtedly relates congenially to the regular proportions of both tabernacle and courtyard. The plain linen of the side walls of the courtyard contrasts with the gorgeous variegated fabric that adorns the “tabernacle.” Only the screen at the eastern entrance to the courtyard (also five cubits high, as the additional information in 38:18 notes) is woven also with the three dyed sheep’s-wool yarns (see [Dyes]). It will be the work of a røq∑m (see [The Production of the Textiles]). Plain linen cloth borne on posts with bronze bases fittingly surrounds the courtyard itself. The courtyard possesses the lowest degree of holiness; it is the place of preparation for access to the tabernacle; to it the laity enjoy right of access (see above on the bronze altar, vv. 1-8). Verse 19a, “All the utensils of the tabernacle for every use . . . shall be of bronze,” seems to refer to the implements used in the cultic rites at the bronze altar in the courtyard of the tabernacle (as in v. 3; 38:3;7 contrast the golden vessels in the holy place, 25:29, 38). Nonetheless, the hooks supporting the curtains, and the finials (or curtain rails?) are of gleaming silver, a visual reminder to, and on behalf of, Israel of their dedication (see [The Offering of Silver for the Tabernacle]). The Priesthood of Aaron and his Sons (27:20-21)

At 27:20, a crucial switch in YHWH’s instructions takes place. How does the “dwelling place,” the term that Exodus 25–27 has hitherto used, now become the “meeting tent” (see [P’s Terminology for the Sanctuary])? The opening emphatic personal pronoun (NRSV: “You . . . further”) marking the switch, occurs here for the first time in Exodus 25–31. It recurs immediately in 28:1, 3, and in 30:23; 31:13, again emphasizing Moses’ authority as mediator in connection with the appointment of personnel and the establishment of fundamental institutions: commissioning the priesthood and the skilled artisans, preparing the anointing oil, and requiring Sabbath observance. MT unerringly notes the switch by marking 27:20 as the opening not just of a new paragraph but also of new seder and parashah portions in synagogue lectionaries (see [Divisions of the Text in MT] in Exodus 1–19). For the dwelling place of God to become the

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meeting place between God and Israel, the ministry of Aaron and his sons is indispensable. As the offerings of the people prepare for the building of the tabernacle in 25:1-9, so now in 27:20 their offerings are essential for the continuing encounter with God in that tabernacle. As a “perpetual statute [NRSV: ordinance]” (see [A Perpetual Statute] in Exodus 1–19), the people must bring the olive oil (as already in 25:6) not merely once for the first task of Aaron and his sons, the lighting of the lamps in the tabernacle, but thereafter on a continuing basis. For the lampstand, the lighting of the lamps in the evening, and the cosmic associations of the word “light,” see on 25:31-40. The task of lighting the lamps leads directly to the need for the priests’ consecration (Exod 28–29); for that consecration too, the people will have to supply the anointing oil (30:22-33). Verse 21a piles up heavily freighted theological terms: “In the tent of meeting, outside the curtain that is before the testimony [NRSV n.] . . . before the LORD.” The ark (25:10-22) behind the curtain (26:31-34) contains the tablets of the “testimony” (25:16), i.e., the Decalogue, that imparts significance to the whole structure. The reference in 30:6 to the ark and its covering, that Aaron alone accesses once per year on the Day of Atonement (see [The Covering of the Ark (kappøret)]), heightens the significance of the location. The light that Israel supplies and Aaron and his sons tend in the holy place of the tabernacle illuminates especially the table of the bread of the Presence, with its twelve loaves symbolizing Israel. By their continuing offerings of oil, the Israelites express their continuing dedication to YHWH.

CONNECTIONS From Edifice to Edification

In Exodus 27:20-21, with the introduction of oil for the lamp and the first mention in Exodus 25–27 of Aaron who will tend that lamp, the interest switches from the material structure of the sanctuary to the significance of the rites that take place therein, from edifice to edification. The ministry of Aaron enables the physical “dwelling place” to become the “tent of meeting,” the place of encounter with God. The first priestly act, the lighting of the lamp, reflects the first command of God as Creator on the first day of creation: “Let there

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be light” (Gen 1:3). This reference begins the parallels between the construction of the tabernacle and the creation of the cosmos that come to their climax with the observance of Sabbath on the seventh day in YHWH’s seventh speech in 31:12-17. The rites of the tabernacle are instrumental in upholding the universe. In the New Testament, the term “edification [oikodom∑]” and its related verb “to build [oikodomein]” similarly cover both the physical structure of the church and the building up of the Christian community: e.g., “You are Peter and upon this rock I shall build [oikodom∑sø] my church” (Matt 16:18; cf. Matt 7:24 for the physical act of building); “All things are lawful but not all things are beneficial [oikodomei]” (1 Cor 10:23). First Corinthians 14, where the term occurs seven times, supplies a convenient concentration of typical uses in the N ew Testament, for which the tabernacle imagery of Exodus may provide a rich vein of analogy. Paul in 1 Corinthians 14 is concerned with order in worship in both its outward arrangements and its inner substance. The ordered symmetry of the tabernacle laid out in Exodus 25–27, its dimensions, its careful grading of materials and matching degrees of holiness of furnishings and personnel, provides a suggestive parallel to Paul’s appeal: “Let all things be done for building up [oikodom∑]”; “all things should be done decently and in order” (1 Cor 14:16, 40). The intelligible prophetic word supplies the inner reality; it alone edifies (oikodomei) both speaker and hearer (1 Cor 14:3, 5). Speaking in tongues, by contrast, however ardently it may address God, benefits only the speaker, not the listener (1 Cor 14:4, 17). Ill-considered chatter is out of the question (1 Cor 14:34-35). Ephesians 2:21 combines the ideas. In Christ Jesus “the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.” (For comprehensive development in 1 Pet 2:4-10, see Connections in Exod 35–40.)

Notes 1. Contrast Cornelis Houtman, Exodus, HCOT, 4 vols. (Kampen: Kok Publishing House, 1993-2002) 3:463: “27:20, 21 is apparently an addition.” 2. Ibid., 3:446. 3. NJPSV, 170. 4. The word occurs only here and in the execution section in 38:4 in BH and is of uncertain meaning.

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Exodus 27 5. The confident sketch of the tabernacle in Thomas B. Dozeman, Exodus, Eerdmans Critical Commentary (Grand Rapids MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009) 608, ignores these problems. It shows 57 posts, against 56 in Exodus, and omits the structure of the entrance at the east side of the courtyard. 6. Cf. Menahem Haran, Temples and Temple-Service in Ancient Israel: An Inquiry into Biblical Cult Phenomena and the Historical Setting of the Priestly School (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977) 154–55 n. 11. I had suggested this independently in my article, “Biblical Hebrew wåwîm in the Light of new Phoenician Evidence,” PEQ 109 (1977): 95–102. 7. Houtman, Exodus, 3:453, takes in the sense of “implements . . . needed for all sorts of work on the Dwelling” (to avoid the use of the term “dwelling” for the courtyard of the dwelling?). The word in question may indeed refer to any kind of equipment or furnishing (e.g., 3:22; 22:7; 25:9, 39); “work” is equally ambiguous, covering both the servitude of hard labor (for the key word, see, e.g., 1:14) as well as cultic practice (e.g., 12:25). In connection with the tabernacle, “work” may also refer to the labor of dismantling and transportation (e.g., Num 3:26). But it seems out of context to find a reference to technology in this verse.

The High Priest’s Vestments and Insignia Exodus 28 Preparations for the consecration of Aaron and his sons as priests begin. Exodus 28 deals with the vestments and insignia that Aaron as high priest (and, more incidentally, his sons as ordinary priests) will wear. Aaron’s clothing is ancillary to his fundamental task: to bear the names of the twelve tribes of Israel into the presence of God and to enable the dedication of Israel.

COMMENTARY The High Priest’s Vestments (28:1-5)

The first step in the consecration of Aaron as priest is the making of the garments appropriate to the duties that he will have to discharge on behalf of the community. Verse 4 lists these garments: “breastpiece, ephod, robe, tunic, turban and sash.” Only later in the chapter does the function of these garments become clear. The mysterious first two listed, the breastpiece and the ephod, along with the turban, turn out to be the most significant. The breastpiece and ephod belong to traditional means of inquiring of God for rulings on matters of fundamental importance in the life of the people. On these instruments through which God may decree life and death, Israel’s artisans are to set precious stones on which they have engraved the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. When Aaron enters the sanctuary, he wears this ephod and breastpiece and thus bears “on his shoulders” and “on his heart” the names of the Israelites as a memorandum for good on his people’s behalf before God. Likewise, Aaron’s turban bears a rosette with an inscription, “Holy to the LORD”; he bears on his head the ultimate expression of the dedication of the whole community to God. YHWH’s command to Moses in v. 1, “bring near [qrb] to you your brother Aaron, and his sons,” has overtones of sacrificial offering (as in, e.g., 29:3). One of the primary tasks of Aaron and his sons is to dedicate the offerings of the Israelites. Chosen “from among the

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Israelites,” offered and offering on their behalf, they must themselves first be dedicated. Then they will have right of access to the altar. The climactic verb ng¡, “come near” (see 24:2), recurs in 28:43. Only if Moses has duly consecrated them will they be able to officiate on behalf of their people and avoid invalidating their offerings through any negligence of their part. The use of the conjunction “and” in the list of Aaron and his family in v. 1 is significant: “Aaron; Nadab and Abihu; Eleazar and Ithamar” (the explanatory “Aaron’s sons” comes at the end of the verse in MT, against NRSV). The list separates out three categories: first, Aaron the high priest alone; then, his two oldest sons who should inherit the chief responsibilities but whom God will kill for infringement in the cult (Lev 10:1-3; see Exod 24:1-2); finally, his two younger sons who will replace them (for the genealogy, see 6:14-28; Ithamar recurs in Exodus in 38:21).1 The fate of the two eldest sons already makes clear the demands for consecration in those who would approach God. The holy place requires that those who enter it wear holy garments (v. 2; for “holy,” see [The Holy] in Exodus 1–19). They will be for Aaron’s “glorious adornment” (v. 40 uses the same phrase of Aaron’s sons). NJPSV’s more literal rendering, “for dignity and adornment,” more clearly reflects the fact that the key term kåbôd, the word for the divine “glory” ([The Glory of the LORD] in Exodus 1–19), occurs here; any splendor that Aaron enjoys is referred, a reflection of that divine glory. A noun related to “adornment” occurs in the elaboration of the priests’ clothing in 39:28 for the priests’ fine headdress (there NRSV ignores the elaboration [NJPSV: “decorated turbans”]; a related verb occurs in 8:9 of Pharaoh’s self-aggrandizement). The materials used for the garments of the priests who will officiate in the sanctuary as dwelling place for God closely correspond to the materials used for the construction of that sanctuary: gold; blue, purple, and crimson yarns; fine linen (cf. 26:1; but now there is no mention of “cherubim”). Those whom God has specially inspired with “wisdom,” not only theoretical knowledge but also practical skill, make both (v. 3; see the repeated emphasis in 31:3, 6; 35:10, 25, 26, 31, 35; 36:1, 2, 8). The list of garments for the high priest in v. 4 begins with his most sacred outer garments. His inner garments are like those of the other priests (v. 40). This sequence is similar to that in the account of the tabernacle, which begins in Exodus 25 with the most sacred objects (ark, table, and lampstand) and their function and only then considers in Exodus 26 the necessary physical struc-

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ture within which they stand. When it comes to the practicalities of Aaron’s investiture in 29:5-6, the list is reversed, with the inner garments mentioned first (so Lev 8:7-8; cf. the construction of the tabernacle, beginning in 36:8, where physical structure comes before sacred furnishings).

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The “Ephod” (28:6-14)

The garments exclusively worn by the high priest, and thus most distinctive of his office, are “the breastpiece of judgment” and the “ephod.” The “ephod” is the harness that the high priest wears over his robe. On it hangs the “breastpiece of judgment.” The specification of the ephod comes first (vv. 6-12; so in the execution section, 39:2-7), although it Witsius (1636–1708). “Priestly Garments.” Miscellaneorum derives its significance from the breastpiece, Herman sacrorum libri IV: quibus de prophetis & prophetia. Apud C. Meyerum, as the sequence in v. 4 indicates. The descrip- 1736. (Courtesy of the Pitts Theology Library, Candler School of tion of the ephod in vv. 6-7 suggests that it Theology, Emory University) was like a tabard: a sleeveless tunic, open at the sides, slung over the shoulders by straps. A “band” of the same workmanship attaches it to the robe (v. 8; cf. 29:5). [The Ephod] The materials of the ephod (v. 6) are, again, twisted linen, the three dyed yarns of sheep’s wool, and gold thread. They are thus the handiwork of the ˙ø¡∑b, the skilled designer, goldsmith, and weaver (see [The Production of the Textiles]). They correspond to the materials of the curtains of the tabernacle (26:1, 31), within which the high priest performs his sacred duties. Strikingly, the law codes, both D and P (Deut 22:11; Lev 19:19), expressly forbid such a combination of different yarns in the weaving of garments. The point is not that these sacred cloths are in breach of the Law. Rather, the law restricts the combination to sacred use alone (cf. the prohibition on the profane use of the anointing oil and of incense in 30:33, 37-38). The only deviation from this prohibition is the blue cord attached to the fringes on the corners of the garments of the laity (N um 15:38), a vestigial recognition in the P-edition of the Israelites’ status as a “kingdom of priests.”2

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The Ephod “Ephod” in the English versions is simply a transliteration of the underlying Hebrew word åwôn]” has already occurred in Exod 20:5; 28:38, 43. The lexica cite two possible cognate verbs in Arabic: “to stray,” hence “error”; or “to bend, twist,” hence “inequity.” The noun and its related verb both imply deviation from the standard ß∂dåqâ, “righteousness” (cf. Lev 19:36 for the practical application of the latter in just weights and measures), whether from the straight or from the level. • “Transgression [pe¡a>]” has occurred in Exod 22:9; 23:21. It and its related verb express “breach of trust, of the terms of an agreement, treaty, or covenant.” Hence in political parlance in international relations (e.g., Amos 1:3–2:3), it expresses rebelliousness, outright revolt. It is thus the opposite of “steadfast love [˙esed].” • “Sin [˙a††å