Holy Fathers?: Holiness in the Era of the Patriarchs (original) (raw)

Abstract

At Sinai Yahweh announced that Israel had the potential or privilege of becoming “a holy nation” (Exod 19:6). Holiness was a theme of the Sinaitic/Mosaic covenant and its levitical legislation. This is evident in Yahweh’s directive to Israel: “You should become holy, for I, Yahweh your God, am holy” (Lev 19:2; cf. 11:44, 45; 20:7, 26). Prior to the Book of Exodus the qdv word group is found only once in the patriarchal narratives. Indeed, it is found only in Genesis 2:3 (“Then God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy”). Interestingly, the first employment of the noun (q)d#v) appears in a post-patriarchal context containing a direct reference to the patriarchs: Then He said, “Do not draw near here. Take your sandals off your feet, because the place upon which you are standing is holy ground.” Moreover He said, “I am your father’s God—Abraham’s God, Isaac’s God, and Jacob’s God.” So Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. (Exod 3:5-6) Much later, in the NT, Zacharias referred to the Abrahamic covenant as a “holy covenant” (Luke 1:72-73; cf. Ps 105:42) and Peter classified Sarah as one of the “holy women” of old (1 Pet 3:5). Are these merely the summations of later eras steeped in the vocabulary of the Law, or do they reflect an understanding possessed by the patriarchs themselves? Since the xdq word group is employed in the patriarchal narratives (cf. Gen 6:9; 7:1; 15:6; 18:19, 23-28; 20:4; 30:33), could it have been the patriarchal equivalent of qdv? Do the semantic ranges of “holiness” and “righteousness” overlap? Is it theologically accurate to say that “the notion of holiness … is entirely lacking in the patriarchal traditions” (R. W. L. Moberly, The Old Testament of the Old Testament, OBT [Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 1992], 99)? A side issue raised by this study involves implications regarding the composition and/or editing of Genesis 1:1 2:3. Does the use of qdv in Genesis 2:3 support a Priestly or Holiness documentary source? Does its employment with reference to the sabbath confirm the influence of sabbatarian theology in the final editing of Genesis?

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References (14)

  1. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995), 142-80.
  2. Cf. Isa 2:3; 30:29; 66:20; Mic 4:2; Zech 8:3.
  3. The traditional translation, it shall be provided (cf. NKJV), appears to be a confusion with the possible use of hwr with the meaning provide (refreshment). Cf. a related Old South Arabic root with the meaning provide water - "hwr,"The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, rev. by Walter Baumgartner and Johann Jakob Stamm, trans. and ed. by M. E. J. Richardson (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1996), 3:1195.
  4. However, Pagolu comments, "We have no way of knowing exactly what the stone would have meant to Jacob, but what the author thought it meant is reasonably clear." Ibid., 163.
  5. Cf. S. R. Driver, The Book of Genesis, 15th ed. (London: Methuen, 1948), 266; J. Pedersen, Israel: Its Life and Culture (London: Oxford University Press, 1940), 4:209; G. von Rad, Genesis: A Commentary, OTL (London: SCM Press, 1965 reprint of 1949 ed.), 280-81; Derek Kidner, Genesis, TOTC (London: Tyndale Press, 1967), 159.
  6. Pagolu, Religion of the Patriarchs, 170. 45 Ibid., 164.
  7. R. W. L. Moberly, "Abraham's Righteousness (Genesis XV 6)," in Studies in the Pentateuch, ed. by J. A. Emerton, Supplements to Vetus Testamentum, vol. XLI (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1990), 129.
  8. Wenham, "The Religion of the Patriarchs," 161-95.
  9. Ibid., 174. 55 Ibid., 237-38.
  10. P. Jenson, Graded Holiness: A Key to the Priestly Conceptions of the World, JSOTTS 106 (Sheffield, England: JSOT Press, 1992), 139?.
  11. Cf. Gordon J. Wenham, The Book of Leviticus, NICOT (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979), 18-25.
  12. Pagolu, The Religion of the Patriarchs, 242.
  13. Ibid., 115; Gen 32:10-13.
  14. New American Standard Bible (La Habra, Calif.: The Lockman Foundation, 1977). The Greek text is: oÀ tan ga\ r eà qnh ta\ mh\ no/ mon eà xonta fu/ sei ta\ tou= no/ mou poiw½ sin, ou toi no/ mon mh\ eà xontej e( autoiÍ j ei¹ sin no/ moj: oià tinej e) ndei¿ knuntai to\ eà rgon tou= no/ mou grapto\ n e) n taiÍ j kardi¿ aij au) tw½ n, summartur ou/ shj au) tw½ n th= j suneidh/ sewj kaiì metacu\ a) llh/ lwn tw½ n logismw½ n kathgorou/ ntwn hÄ kaiì a) pologo