Abstract
This article examines the relationship between disease, pollution and sin in the Priestly writings, focusing on the rites for the purification of ṣara'at in Leviticus 14. In particular, it evaluates the contested question of whether this text is implicitly polemical in light of extra-biblical texts dealing with similar subject matter, especially a ritual for the treatment of skin disease from Emar. These comparisons enable a more precise characterization of the Priestly agenda reflected in Lev 14 and suggest that the traditional notion of pollution in Israel may have been deliberately reinterpreted.
Highlights
Regarding the cause of disease, does the absence of explicit statements relating disease to sin like those found elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible presuppose that this relationship is taken for granted, or that it is rejected? Regarding the effects of disease, why are skin diseases (Lev 13–14) and genital disorders (15:2–15, 25–30) treated as sources of pollution with no mention of illness or healing? Were defilement and disease understood as being synonymous, or was defilement a secondary effect of disease?
None of these questions has a simple answer which can be derived from explicit statements in the text
The medieval Jewish legal codifier and philosopher Maimonides offered an apologetic approach to the biblical sacrificial system, suggesting that scripture sought to gradually wean the Israelites off of their need to sacrifice, arguing that “it is not possible to move suddenly from one extreme to another”.90. Though such a view is inadequate to explain the centrality of sacrifice in the Hebrew Bible, it does seem to fit the treatment of apotropaic ritual traditions in the Priestly writings.[91]
Summary
Articles in JHS are being indexed in the ATLA Religion Database, RAMBI, and BiBIL. Their abstracts appear in Religious and Theological. The journal is archived by Library and Archives Canada and is accessible for consultation and research at the Electronic Collection site maintained by Library and Archives Canada.
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