10

...

9

have sacrificed unto it, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. [. ] And Yahweh said (J) unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: "now therefore let me alone, 10 that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. And Moses besought Yahweh his God, II and said, Yahweh, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians 12 speak, saying, For evil did he bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. (Rd) 18 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom 13 thou 14swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I (J) give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it forever. And Yah- 14 weh repented of the evil which he said he would do unto his people. [. . . ]*

22;

12

10333, 5; 34:9.

Ex. 224; 6: 5.

11Nu. 14 11-24. 14Gen. 22: 16.

12Vs. 14; Gen. 6: 6f. 13Gen. 8:1;9: 15f; 19:29; 30:

It is not imposvv. 24-29 in J's

*Vv. 7-14 constitute an interruption of the story of vv. 1-6, 15ff.; cf. vv. 17 ff. and Analysis. Moreover the atonement secured in vv. 12-14 is still to be obtained in vv. 30 ff.; and vs. 13 at least is from Rje or Rd, for it quotes Gen. xxii. 16, (Rje) and is late in style and language. Yet the substance of the passage is certainly primitive and not redactional, for it is impossible to attribute such resemblances as that of vv. 9-12 with Num. xiv. 11-25 (J) to imitation, and vv. 7 and 14 show the language of J (see refs.) Just how far the redaction has gone in vs. 8 (cf. vs. 4) cannot be determined. sible that the story of mutiny in the camp, presupposed by narrative, may have included a golden bull story similar to E's, and this idea is favored by the fact that Rje combines it with E's. In that case it is highly improbable that the offense was attributed to Aaron, the representative head of the Jerusalem priesthood, who in J is charged with the priesthood even in Egypt (iv. 15), and whose office is treated with such respect (xix. 22). One might imagine something like the following as a possibility. Vs. 35 which has the style of J, but is scarcely compatible with vs. 14, and whose final clause is suspiciously awkward, may have read originally "And Yahweh smote Nadab

15

(P) And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, with the two tables of the testimony in his hand, 1tables that were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they 16 (E) written. 16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. 17 [. . . ] And when "Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of 18 war in the camp. And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that 18sing do 19 I hear. And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw 18the calf and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, 20 and brake them 19beneath the mount. And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the 20water, and made the 21 children of Israel drink of it. And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast "brought a 22 great sin upon them? And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are 23 [set] on evil. For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what 24 is become of him. And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off; so they gave it me: and I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf. [ 15Cf. 34: 29. 1624 12. 172413. 18Vv. 1-6. 1924 4. 2017: 6. 21Gen. 20 9. 22Vv. 1-6. and Abihu because they (made the calf ?)." apparently introduced as priests in xxiv. I, but this point on. J must have traced the line of Aaronic descent as E does (Dt. x. 6; Jos. xxiv. 33) through Eleazar, or as P does, through Eleazar and IthaNow Prelates (Lev. x. Iff.) a story of how Nadab and Abihu were smitten by Yahweh for offering with strange fire. It is practically certain that P derived this story from JE, and as E seems to know but one son of Aaron, Eleazar (Dt. x. 6; Jos. xxiv. 33), P took it from J. Now if J had a story corresponding in some degree to that of Ex. xxxii. 1-6, and of which xxxii. 35 is the conclusion, the ill-starred "Nadab and Abihu" are the characters for it. In vs. 35. however, Rp would be forced, in spite of vs. 14, to alter this to "people," on account of Lev. x. Iff.

mar.

...

.]

These two sons of Aaron are disappear entirely from J from

(J) And when Moses saw that the people were 25 (Rje) broken loose; for Aaron had let them loose for a derision (J) among their enemies: * then Moses stood in the gate of 26 the camp, and said, "Whoso is on Yahweh's side, [let him come] unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said 27 unto them, Thus saith Yahweh, the God of Israel, 25Put ye every man his sword upon his thigh, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and 26slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. And the 28 sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. And Moses said, "Consecrate yourselves 29 to-day to Yahweh, yea, every man against his son, and against his brother; that he may bestow upon (E) you a blessing this day. And it came to pass on 30 26 Nu. 25: 5. 27 Dt. 339 Jud.

2354. 24 Jud. 7: 18; 9: 44. 25 Jud. 3:16; 1 Sam. 25: 13. 17:10-12. 28 Jud. 1: 15.

* In vs. 25b Rje attempts to make the "breaking loose" of the people refer to the story of idolatry in vv. 1-6, but apparently, from Moses' procedure in vv. 26ff. and other allusions, it referred originally to something more of the nature of a rebellion. Probably the interpolator of vs. 25b took 25a in the sense understood by the A. V., translating "naked." It is difficult otherwise to understand the "whispering " or " derision" of Israel's enemies, which neither idolatry (practised by themselves), nor rebellion, could give occasion to.

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† In vs. 29 appears the aetiological significance of the story. (See R. V. margin: "Heb. fill your hand.") The Hebrew idiom for consecrate is "fill the hand." From Jud. xvii. 10-12 we might infer that the expression referred originally to payment for services. Better, provide with offerings. In the story before us the “consecration" of the beni-Levi to the priesthood is explained aetiologically by their having "filled their hand" with the blood of their brethren. The "blessing" bestowed upon them was therefore the priesthood, in association with Aaron (in place of Nadab and Abihu?) We may perhaps even trace, in this subsequent elevation of the Levites to equality with the original priests of iv. 14; xix. 22; xxiv. 1, the germ of that distinction between priest and Levite which acquired increasing importance in the later codes (See Genesis of Genesis pp. 54, 58f). Dt. xxxiii. 8f. contains an apparent allusion to this narrative, and if, as we contend, this poem is from the pen of J, the authorship of vv. 25-29 would be established, and at the same time

the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto Yahweh; perad31 venture I shall make atonement for your sin. And Moses returned unto Yahweh, and said, "Oh, this people have sin32 ned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin-; and if not, blot me, I pray 33 thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And Yahweh said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, 34 him will I blot out of my book. And now go, lead the people unto [the place] of which I have spoken unto thee : behold, mine angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.*

34

35 (J) And Yahweh smote the people because they made the calf, which Aaron made.†

29 Gen. 50: 17. S020:23. 31Cf. 33: 1-3. 3223: 20; Cf. 33: 2f. 33 Jos. 24: 19f.; ch. 23:21; ct. 34 6f.; Nu. 14: 19f. 3412: 29; Nu. 11: 33.

light would be thrown upon the priestly interest of this document; for Dt. xxxiii. may be assigned with considerable probability to one of the Jerusalem (Aaronic) priesthood. Dt. x. 1-11 contains also an unmistakable reference, including some material now missing, when the interpolated verses 6 and 7 are removed and shows that this institution of a Levitical priesthood was preliminary to the account of the construction of the Tent, Ark, etc. Num. xxv. 6-13 affords a priestly parallel. There are, however, no decisive linguistic criteria to place the authorship of Ex. xxxii. 25-29 beyond dispute. But it is clear, that if this passage be assigned to E it would be almost necessary to attribute vv. 19-24 and 30ff. to J, which is quite impossible; and moreover xxiv. 3-8 would have to retreat from its proper place at the conclusion of the Horeb stories to a place before ch. xxxii.; since in xxiv. 5 there are still no priests. *The LXX. supply the missing word in vs. 34. The place" is not specifically named in what remains to us of E, but xiii. 17ff. shows that Canaan is distinctly in mind from the outset. Intercession with confession of sin are characteristic features of E's narrative. Cf. Gen. xx. 7; 1. 17; 1 Sam. ch. xii., etc., and see references. Of course the intercession of Moses and relenting of Yahweh imply that the punishment has not been already inflicted, as related in vv. 25-29, nor can it have been inflicted immediately after, as in vs. 35.

† See note on vs. 14. Unless some other reading than "people" be adopted the present verse will be difficult to harmonize with both vs. 14 and vv. 30ff An explanation without emendation may be found, by supposing vv. 9-14 to have been displaced by Rje from after vs. 35. We should then miss only the statement of Moses' ascent of Sinai to intercede. Something perhaps could be made out from a careful study of Dt. ix. f.; but the problem of these two

3 Chh. xxxiii. f. RENEWAL OF THE COVENANT AND DEPARTURE FROM SINAI.

ANALYSIS.

Moses receives command to depart without Yahweh, to the people's great distress; xxxiii. 1-6. Practise of Moses in regard to the Tent of Meeting;" vv. 7-11. Moses expostulates with Yahweh against dismissal without the divine Presence, and obtains a mitigation of the sentence; vv. 12-16. He obtains the further promise of a revelation of Yahweh's glory; vv. 17-23. Yahweh directs Moses to prepare stone tables and again ascend the mount with the former precautions. Here he receives the promised revelation and entreats the forgiveness of Israel's sin; xxxiv. 1–9. Yahweh proposes to make a covenant, giving Moses ten commandments for the people, which he is to write upon the tables of stone. Moses remains on Sinai 40 days without sustenance; vv. 10-28. The most singularly and obviously inappropriate element in chh. xxxiii. f. is xxxiii. 7-11, describing the practise of Moses and Joshua in regard to the "Tent of Meeting" (ohel moed). It is quite apparent that this was the place of worship, not only because: "Every one which sought Yahweh, went out unto the Tent of Meeting, which was without the camp," vs. 7, but because the Pillar of Cloud occupies it, and [God] "speaks with Moses there. Yet this cannot be the Tabernacle of the Testimony (mishkan ha-eduth), though in P2 this also bears the same name, primarily because we have yet to hear (chh. xxxv. ff.) of the erection of the Tabernacle and its occupation by the Cloud; further because the access of all the people to Yahweh is here perfectly simple (vs. 7), and instead of the elaborate institutions and ritual of the priestly law, with its inner cordon of Aaronic priests and outer circle of Levites (Num. iii. 10, 38; xviii. 7), all is here simplicity itself. The Ephraimite Joshua appears as sole custodian of the shrine; Aaron has disappeared; Moses pitches the Tent alone, and enters it freely to speak with Yahweh, and the Tent is equally accessible to "everyone." Moreover the directions in regard to pitching the " Tabernacle in the centre of the camp (Num. ii. 17; Ex. xxv. 8) are as explicit as the statement here that Moses was accustomed to pitch "the Tent' 'without the camp." It has been maintained * that this "Tent of Meeting" was

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chapters is extremely intricate. The latter part of vs. 35 is too awkward to be original. The redactional element may therefore include all of the verse except, "And Yahweh smote."

* So W. H. Green "The Pentateuchal Question," Hebraica viii. (Jan. 1892) 'The tense of the verbs in vv. 7-11 denotes habitual action; but it

p. 60.