Priesthood and Cult

in Ancient Israel

Edited by

Gary A. Anderson

and

Saul M. Olyan

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

Supplement Series 125

Copyright © 1991 Sheffield Academic Press

Published by JSOT Press

JSOT Press is an imprint of

Sheffield Academic Press Ltd

The University of Sheffield

343 Fulwood Road

Sheffield S10 3BP

England

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Priesthood and cult in ancient Israel.—

(Journal for the study of the Old Testament.

Supplement series. ISSN 0309-0787; 125)

I. Anderson, Gary A. II. Olyan, Saul M. III. Series 933

ISBN 1-85075-322-9

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

List of Contributors

Gary A. Anderson

The Praise of God as a Cultic Event

Baruch J. Schwartz

The Prohibitions Concerning the ‘Eating’ of Blood in Leviticus 17

James C. VanderKam

Jewish High Priests of the Persian Period: Is the List Complete?

Susan Ackerman

The Deception of Isaac, Jacob’s Dream at Bethel, and Incubation on an Animal Skin

Saul M. Olyan

The Oaths of Amos 8:14

David P. Wright

The Spectrum of Priestly Impurity

Jacob Milgrom

The Composition of Leviticus, Chapter 11

Israel Knohl

The Sin Offering Law in the ‘Holiness School’ (Numbers 15:22–31)

Index of References

Index of Authors

Preface

The study of the cult and priesthood of ancient Israel is still very much in its infancy. This is surprising in light of how the field of biblical studies has grown over the last century and the myriads of publications it has spawned. It is even more startling that the origin of much of the theoretical foundation of recent biblical scholarship can be traced to works which had the concerns of cult and priesthood very much at center stage. The oft cited works of W. Robertson Smith and Julius Wellhausen come immediately to mind.

W. Robertson Smith is often regarded as not only a leading figure in the origins of modern biblical scholarship but also as a pioneer in the field of the History of Religions. His work on the religion of ancient Israel not only attempted to interpret the nature of biblical sacrifice in light of its ancient Near Eastern background but also as a phenomenon of religious practice more generally. It is an odd fact that Robertson Smith continues to be read by scholars of religion but no longer by those who work in the field of biblical studies. In part this ignorance can be justified: Robertson Smith worked with paradigms that no longer hold, yet his intuition that students of Israelite religion should be attentive to the findings of those working on the study of religious phenomena more generally still seems sound. J. Wellhausen, on the other hand, was not as concerned with understanding religious practices more generally. Rather he was occupied with writing a detailed social and political history of ancient Israel’s religious institutions. He is, of course, widely recognized and cited as the figure who brought together in a most coherent fashion the theory of the four-fold nature of Pentateuchal authorship. But it is not often ...