Reuse and Innovation in Ezekiel 20 and Exodus 31: 12–17

Abstract

Ezekiel 20 has long been recognized as dependent on numerous Torah texts and traditions, in spite of the apparent contradictions. This study examines how the relationship is in fact reversed in the case of Exodus 31.12-17*, the development of which has been influenced by the innovative understanding of Sabbath in Ezekiel 20. We will first briefly explore the compositional history of Exodus 31.12-17, concluding, with the majority of contemporary mainstream scholarship, that the received text is secondary to its context, and the product of more than one compositional layer. Upon turning to the shared locutions and contextual overlap between Exodus 31.12-17 and Ezekiel 20, it becomes evident that the later layer of Exodus 31.12-17 is dependent on the description of Sabbath in Ezekiel 20.12-13, 16, 20-21, 24, leading us to argue that Exodus 31.12-17* was developed in light of this text. The final part of the study is devoted to investigating how and why the author of Ezekiel 20 used the language of the Holiness Code to further develop this particular concept of Sabbath, particularly as a sign related to sanctification of a people, which was later developed in Exodus 31.