The Realignment of the Priestly Literature

The Priestly Narrative in Genesis and Its Relation to Priestly Legislation and the Holiness School

King

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2009
• eBook ISBN: 9781498270892
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Discussions of the Pentateuch still progress in the shadow of Wellhausen's classic source theory known as the Documentary Hypothesis. The theory continues to stimulate a lively and informative exchange in pentateuchal circles, even in the face of significant adjustments to the hypothesis and its alleged abandonment by some. In the midst of this discussion, the priestly literature holds a unique position as the most identifiable of the sources of the Pentateuch. Nevertheless, clarity regarding the character of the Priestly source has been obscured by the disjunction between the P narratives in Genesis and the predominantly legal material assigned to P in the rest of the Pentateuch. This book addresses that disjunction by recognizing the priestly narrative in the book of Genesis as a unique document, which has been incorporated into the larger Priestly source. This discovery also serves to bring further clarity to the redactional relationship between P and H. As a result, this study enriches our understanding of the priestly writings in the Pentateuch.

part one

P — A Priestly Legal Manual

1

The Composition of P

The Character of Priestly Writings

To a great extent, the discussion of the composition of P has focused on narrative material, to the exclusion of the legislation in P. Scholars often begin their work by pointing to the two types of material in P (narrative and legal). Then, they make a brief statement regarding the antiquity of the legal material, label the legal material as later additions to P, and ultimately proceed to discuss the significance of P based on investigation of the narrative material alone.1

Noth’s reasoning for this procedure is that the legal sections are additions to P, which originally had no direct relation to the narrative in P. The legal material was inserted into what he considers an originally independent P source. For example, the instructions on sacrifice found in Lev 1–7 were inserted appropriately before the narrative about the first sacrifices. This insertion interrupts the continuity of the narrative between Exod 25–31; 35–40; and Lev 8–9. The same can be said of the laws in Lev 11–15, the Holiness Code (H), and Num 5–6. These sections of Law may have been added to P, or even to the already assembled Pentateuch. Accordingly, Noth contends that it is misleading to label the legal material as P or Ps (supplements, additions to P). Noth concludes that this material should rather be given a neutral sign as simply additional legal material which should be disregarded in the consideration of P narrative.2

P narrative is normally identified with certain passages in Genesis, Exodus, a small portion of Leviticus, Numbers, and a small portion of Deuteronomy. The characteristic style of P is defined predominantly by these narratives, and mostly those in Genesis (i.e., much is based on the investigation of the creation account, genealogies in Genesis, the flood account, Abrahamic covenant, the purchase of the cave, etc.). The narratives are seen as the definitive portion of P, while the legal material is pushed aside as mere additions and supplements. In contrast to this approach, Milgrom’s work characterizes P almost exclusively in terms of the legal material. These diverse approaches reflect an impasse among scholars in regard to the primary identification of the priestly literature. The resolution to this dilemma calls for a re-evaluation of the divisions and relationships evident within the composition of the priestly writings.

P as an Independent Document

Recognizing the independent character of the priestly literature is foundational to understanding its own composition as well as its association with other sources of the Pentateuch. Arguments defending P as an independent document are based on isolating P in the midst of other pentateuchal sources, and identifying unique characteristics within the priestly material.

Noth’s work provides a simple illustration of tracing P within the Pentateuch. He saw P as the work of one person who integrated received materials and fixed texts into his own work. The resultant P narrative was then used as the foundation for the entire Pentateuch.3 Campbell and O’Brien help to clarify this view of P through the analogy of a necklace. The thread of the P narrative consists of genealogies, itineraries, and a terse story line; while the pearls on this necklace consist of major stories placed at strategic points on the thread. These major stories include: creation, flood, Abrahamic covenant, burial of Sarah, promise to Jacob at Bethel, revelation of God to Moses, the plagues, Passover, deliverance at sea, the manna, the spy story, and the Sinai story.4 This complete necklace was then used as a framework for the Pentateuch. P has few major stories in comparison to JE which emphasizes dramatic storytelling. As a result, “P could be enriched by stories from JE, with only a minimum of adjustment required.”5

Accordingly, the norm for compiling the sources of the Pentateuch was to choose one source as a base and enrich it with any unique or important material from another source.6 In some instances, however, two complete stories from different sources may be preserved side by side, such as the two creation accounts (Gen 1 and 2). Such passages provide the best opportunity for distinguishing the separate sources.

Another departure from the norm for the compilation of sources is evident when two complete accounts are interwoven. An example of this occurs with the flood story, in which the J and P accounts both appear to be preserved intact and interwoven together.7 Campbell and O’Brien explain why the flood account was compiled in this exceptional way. First, the two accounts are not narrated back to back because the flood story cannot be told twice. This is because both the J and P accounts end with a statement of God’s determination never to destroy the earth again. “Were these versions juxtaposed, as the creation accounts are, the first would end with a guarantee never again to destroy the world only to be followed immediately by the second version of divine destruction. The two stories would subvert each other.”8 Secondly, the dual composition of the story serves to reinforce the decisions of God. The decision to flood the world and the promise never to destroy it again are both narrated twice, once in heaven (Gen 6:7; 8:21) and once on earth (Gen 6:13; 9:11). Thus, “confronted with the massive theological and human significance of these decisions, any inconvenient duality in the remaining texts pales into insignificance.”9

In conjunction with the work of isolating P from the midst of other pentateuchal sources, its status as an independent document is verified by identifying characteristics unique to P. Seán McEvenue provides three major characteristics of the priestly style: various forms of symmetry and repetition, the repeated structure of command and fulfillment, and an emphasis on fine distinctions with a love of detail. An example of the first characteristic can be seen in the carefully constructed panels of Gen 5. These panels repeat the following pattern for each member of the descendants of Adam indicated.

Z שׁנה ויולד את־Y X ויחי שׁנה ויולד בנים ובנותW Z אחרי הולידו את־X ויחי שׁנה וימתV X ויהיו כל־ימי “And X lived Y years and became the father of Z; And X lived, after becoming the father of Z, W years, and became the father of (other) sons and daughters; And all the days of X were V years and he died.”

The command-fulfillment structure is simply illustrated in Gen 1. In this creation account, the imperatives spoken by God, which summon various elements of the creation into existence, are followed by the phrase ויהי־כן (“and it was so”), indicating the fulfillment of each of God’s commands (see vv. 6–7, 9, 11, 14–15, 24). The third characteristic is illustrated by the fine distinctions and detail evident in such texts as the Abrahamic covenant in Gen 17.10

McEvenue further elaborates specific characteristics of P through the examination of two composite accounts. In relation to the flood story, he concludes that the hand of P is evident in that “he changed a free-running narrative into...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Abbreviations and Sigla
• Introduction
• Part One: P — A Priestly Legal Manual
• Chapter 1: The Composition of P
• Chapter 2: The Provenience and Intent of P
• Part Two: Pn — A Northern Priestly Component
• Chapter 3: The Composition of PN
• Chapter 4: The Provenience and Intent of PN
• Part Three: The H Redaction of the Priestly Literature
• Chapter 5: The Composition of H
• Chapter 6: The Provenience and Intent of H
• Bibliography