An analysis of the (unnarrated) death of Isaac in the non-priestly tradition.

An analysis of the evidence from the book of Deuteronomy for the documentary model of pentateuchal composition.

The purpose of this paper is to explore afresh the use of the weyiqtol form in Biblical Hebrew. The particular concern of this paper is to delineate the precise meaning of the form in both volitive and indicative contexts. It is argued that this form always carries the connotation of purpose or result, regardless of its context. The paper…[Read more]

The well-established semantic overlap between the niphal and hithpael in Biblical Hebrew is explained by the morphological similarities between the two stems in the imperfect form in the consonantal text. This claim is supported by a statistical analysis indicating that the first root consonant of some verb classes has assimilated rather than…[Read more]

Since the rise of modern literary criticism of the Hebrew Bible in the 1970s, its proponents have sought to use the results of this method to argue for the compositional unity of the biblical text, particularly in regard to the Pentateuch. They
have held up the literary structures they find in the text—alliteration, repetition, and other forms o…[Read more]

Methodological reflections on identifying the original stratum of the priestly source.

Of all the eccentricities and diversities of human embodiment, no physical abnormality seems to have captured the imagination of biblical authors so much as sara’at ( צרעת ), “skin disease,” which is accorded detailed treatment in both Priestly legislation and non-Priestly narratives. Scholarly treatments of the condition have tended to view th…[Read more]

Reflections on the overlap between the redaction of the Pentateuch and the production of interpretive meaning.

The idea of stratification in the Pentateuch has come to be considered an essential element of non-Documentary Hypothesis theories regarding the composition of the canonical text. After all, stratification seems to imply the very opposite
of compilation: not independent pieces that have been combined at one go, but rather layers – layers of c…[Read more]

Numbers 15 has long been seen in scholarship as a vaguely haphazard collection of disparate legal elements, with few obvious connections between them. Although some attempts have been made to find a thematic thread linking the various parts of the chapter, there has been little consensus on how best to understand the rationale behind the location…[Read more]

Analysis of the function of the Decalogue in its two pentateuchal instantiations.

The general function of the ritual described in Leviticus 16 is well known: it removes the impurities and the sins – unintentional and intentional – of the Israelites. A number of factors, however, contribute to obscure both some of the details about how the ritual operates and how it is conceived within the broader priestly ideology. This pap…[Read more]

Analysis of the traditions associating Levites with violence in the Pentateuch.

The narrative portions of the Pentateuch (and the Deuteronomistic History) betray a consistent pattern in which commands are fulfilled by the same verb, in the same binyan, in the waw-consecutive, with virtually no intervening text. Because this pattern is uniform across all book and sources, it is shown that when the pattern does not function as…[Read more]

Reflections on the nature of the material preservation of the pentateuchal E source in light of comparative data.

Reflections on the purpose of literary-historical analysis of the Pentateuch.

To begin with my thesis, or with a restatement of the title of this essay: there is no transition between Gen 50 and Exod 1. That is: the transition between Gen 50 and Exod 1 is no more distinctive from a compositional standpoint than the transition between any two chapters of the Pentateuch. That is: the transition between the narrative recounted…[Read more]

The question of the continuity of the non-priestly narrative from the patriarchs to the exodus has been the center of much debate in recent pentateuchal scholarship. This paper presents as fully as possible, in the space allowed, one side of the argument, namely, that the non-priestly narrative is indeed continuous from Genesis through Exodus.…[Read more]

A study of the morpho-syntax of Genesis 12:1-3 with reflections on its translation and interpretation.

Rather than understanding the creation of woman in Gen 2:21-22 as an etiology of some physiological feature, this brief article suggests that the removal of part of Adam’s body to create Eve can instead be seen as parallel to a horticultural process, namely, the taking of cuttings.