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

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?