The Pentateuch: Genesis

Abstract

The PentateuchGenesis Christopher T. Begg, Richard A. Taylor, and Fred W. Guyette 447. [Levites as Prophets and Scribes and Their Role in the Transmission of the Torah] Oliver Dyma, "Levites as Prophets and Scribes and Their Role in the Transmission of the Torah," TORAH, 115-29 [see #926]. In this essay, D. analyzes the role of Levites as scribes and the socio-historical setting of the production, collection, and curation of authoritative texts. For D., the scribal [End Page 149] activity of the Levites, the intellectual elite of the Persian and Hellenistic periods in Yehud, may be seen as the unifying factor that ultimately led to the canon. However, D. also challenges the indiscriminate ascription of a vast body of texts to the Levites, a practice which obscures the many and diverse currents and interests as well as the existence of other relevant educated groups in Yehud with their own political and/or religious interests. [Adapted from volume's introduction, p. 5—C.T.B.] 448. [The Samaritan Contribution to the Pentateuch] Innocent Himbaza, "What is the Contribution of the Samaritans to the Pentateuch?" Social Groups behind the Pentateuch, 289-312 [see #913]. H. provides an overview of the discussion of the possible role of the leaders of the Samaritan community in the promulgation of the Pentateuch. Modifying Benedikt Hensel's view on the matter, he argues that the "schism" between Jerusalem and Gerizim began only in the 2nd cent. b.c.e., when the two groups rejected each other. H. further argues that the project of assembling the Pentateuch may have begun before the emergence of tensions between the two Yahwistic communities and that the Persian authorities of the provinces of Yehud and Samaria may have been behind the compromise document they thereby produced. According to H., Jews and Samaritans may have read the same Pentateuch until the 2nd cent. b.c.e., the moment at which a literary schism concerning the place of worship took place. Nonetheless, it was not the Samaritans who were responsible for the harmonizations found in the SP, as various DSS manuscripts attest. Rather, the Samaritans may have chosen an already harmonized pentateuchal text in order to have available a "perfect" Torah without textual and literary deficiencies. Generally, H. assigns the texts of Genesis to Joshua that refer positively to the region around Shechem, including the Joseph story (Genesis 37–50) and certain passages in Deuteronomy 11 and 27 to the literary activity of the Samaritan community in the 5th cent. b.c.e. In the course of his essay he also deals with the relationship between the Pentateuch and the Hexateuch. In the current form of the Hexateuch, the major worship site would be Ebal and Gerizim. If the Book of Joshua is separated from the Pentateuch and read as an independent document that is followed by the prophetic books, Jerusalem becomes the ultimately chosen site of worship from the Book of Judges onward, Shechem is portrayed negatively as a place of division, apostasy, and crime (see Judges 9; 1 Kings 12; Jer 41:4-7; and Hosea 6–9). For H., the eventual rejection of the Hexateuch reflects the end of the peaceful period and the beginning of difficulties in the relationship among the worshipers of Yhwh. Especially in the Former Prophets, he argues, the Northern Kingdom is portrayed negatively on the whole because the Samaritans were already rejected and thereby were excluded from participating in the (final) redaction of the Prophets and the Writings. [Adapted from editor's introduction, pp. 20-21—C.T.B.] 449. [The Elders Redaction in the Pentateuch] Jaeyoung Jeon, "The Elders Redaction (ER) in the Pentateuch: Scribal Contributions of an Elders Group in the Formation of the Pentateuch," Social Groups behind the Pentateuch, 73-98 [see #913]. In his essay, J. endeavors to detect the scribal contribution from a lay leadership group in the Yahwistic community of Yehud in the Persian period. His study suggests that a series of texts in Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy is marked by a particular notion of the prophetic Tent of Meeting, different from the Priestly Tabernacle. These texts elevate the status of the...