Ancient Hebrew Questions and Answers

Q: which document was authored first between P and D?

A: clearly P and D are distinct documents. Upon critical analysis, one notices differences in language as well as theology. D emphasizes centrality of worship and talks about the "levite priests". D is not concerned with exact dates and numbers or the details of priests and sacrifices like P is. It is almost impossible to believe that they are contemporary documents.

Take, for example the festival of "shavuoth". According to P we must count seven weeks from the morrow of the Sabbath and then bring a new grain offering to God. According to D we count seven weeks from the time that the sickle is first applied to the standing grain. These two counting systems are not compatible and it is therefore very unlikely that both documents
existed simultaneously.

Thus, the only question remains which one was authored first and in what generation they did apply. After extensive research and careful deliberation, I have come to the conclusion that the traditional belief that D was a product of the Josiah days is correct. But I have also found that P is a product of the post-exilic period. As said earlier, it could not have been authored in the waning days of the first temple because that was the D period. It doesn't seem to have been authored during the exile because it is too much concerned with practices that were not executable during the exile. I understand that the exiled people of Judaea undoubtedly had a great concern for preserving their laws traditions and the P document could theoretically be part of that effort. But I see in P more than mere preservation of tradition. The P author was very creative; he attempted to create new formulas of worship and clarify ritual ambiguities. Such an effort seems to be related to actual worship, not just to preserve the memories of bygone days. The laws of the Leviticus are nowhere to be found in the D document, and so P would not be inventing these laws unless it could be applied in real life and that is post-exilic.
What remains a bit more difficult to prove is that P is not a product of the pre-Josiah days, perhaps the days of his grand-grandfather Hezekiah who is also known to have been a yawhist. Against this possibility, you should take note of the following:

* P is an extremely extensive code. It covers virtually everything contained in the ancient JE documents, most of the material covered by D and a host of new priestly material not found in any other document. If these codes already existed in the Deutoronomistic days, they should have been at least partially incorporated in D. For example, the different ways of performing the sacrificial rites for the "Olah", "Shelamim" and "Asham" are elaborated in detail in Leviticus but not mentioned at all in deuteronomy.

* Before Hezekiah's days the yahweh cult barely existed. Sacrifices in the temple were not practiced routinely or regulated. People typically brought their sacrifices to "high places" located in the countryside and dedicated to other gods. In Hezekiah's days, all the high places were abolished and only yahweh was to be worshipped but those revolutionary changes never took root for his son manasseh reversed all of his father's reforms. Thus, it is questionable whether the yahweh priests in Hezekiah's days had enough popular support to produce the kind of work contained in P.

* P mentions the holiday of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashana, not mentioned in D and not mentioned anywhere else in the bible. There is no evidence that these holidays were ever practiced during the first temple. In fact even the holiday of Pesach and Sukkoth were only practiced during the reign of yahwist kings such as Hezekiah and Josiah.

* The language and mood of P is that of a later stage in the religious development of the ancient Judaeans. The terms of Qahal (congregation), Qodesh vs chalal (holy vs profane), ghedah (assembly/testament), zakar and neqebah (male and female), are all widespread in P but not commonly present in any other documents.

* The book recording the works of the priest Ezekial who lived during the exile shares many common characteristics with the P document. Thus it is believed that he belonged to the school that authored the P document. BTW, Jeremiah, on the other hand, contains many similarities to the D document, thus confirming that D was authored in his days.

Is the tabernacle (mishkan) of the exodus myth or fact?

The way it is described in P is -no doubt- fiction. For one, since the details of the exodus tabernacle or even its very existence is not present in any other document, how could the P author possibly know so many details about it seven centuries later (or more)? Secondly, in P the tabernacle and the tent of meeting (Ohel Moed) are the same but there is no hint in E that the tent of meeting was anything other than a simple tent where Moses convened with god. There is no mention that the ark of the covenant was housed there or that there was any sort of altar located within it (the incense altar) or about it (the olah altar). These are very important details and could not have been accidentally missed by the E author. In this case, I must conclude that E's silence about the function of the tent of meeting as a place of worship as described in P, is evidence that the tent of meeting did not serve that function according to E.

Regardless, the details of the Tabernacle such as that it was made of logs of cedarwood inserted vertically into bases (aden) and covered by multiple textile covers, are fictitious. These details were made up by the P author in an attempt to vivify and idealize the tabernacle. Just like the third temple envisioned by Ezekial never came to pass and all its details were meant to idealize a future perfect temple, so is P's depiction of the Exodus tabernacle an attempt to envision an ideal tabernacle of the past. Note that it was essential for P to depict the orthodox yahweh lifestyle as having originated in the days of Moses. P could not claim that there was a temple in the wilderness, for a temple is a permanent dwelling built in stone and that could not have existed in Moses' days. Instead, P took the Shiloh tabernacle, idealized it and placed it in the wilderness with Moses, merging it with the tent of meeting. Another example where we can see P making up a story in order to legitimize its new program is the story of the Yom Kippur sacrifice in the wilderness as told in Leviticus 16. It is designed to pin the origin of this newly invented holiday to Moses and thus establish its legitimacy.

In my opinion, there definitely is a possibility that the ancient Israelites roamed the wilderness with some sort of mobile shrine. We have no reason to doubt that the Shiloh tabernacle existed in the days of Eli and Samuel 150 years after the exodus and so it is very possible that some sort of tabernacle existed before the Israelites settled in Canaan. However, the role of this proto-tabernacle is what needs to be questioned. According to P, it was a central and vital part of Israelite life in the wilderness. In reality, if it existed it was little more than a haphazardly constructed site where people can sacrifice to some ancient Semitic god (yahweh is a late judaean god that did not exist in the formative years of the Israelite tribes) in times of stress to ensure deliverance and victory in war.

What's up with the three annual festivals?

The three annual festivals are mentioned in both ancient documents of J and E and so it is likely that even before Josiah's days, those who worshipped the god of the Jerusalem temple (whatever name he went by), made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem three times a year at each turning point in the agricultural season. These festivals were named after their respective seasons. The first one was the festival of "abib" (abib literally is a young, green seed-bearing ear of grain). This holiday is celebrated during the flax harvest, in the month of Nisan (Nisan being the Babylonian name of the month adopted by the Jews after the exile). The reason it was called the Abib month in Hebrew is that the stalks of wheat start growing in this month. It is therefore the moth of "tender, green ears of wheat".

The next holiday is celebrated in the month of sivan (the Hebrew name of the month is unknown) and is called the festival of "qatsir" (harvest). This is the month during which the wheat is finally harvested. The next holiday is celebrated in the month of Ethanim (Tishri in Babylonian) and is called the festival of "asiph" (gathering) for in this month people gather their wine and oil from the winepress and oilpress which were situated in the open field. During the summer, farmers were engaged in the process of working the winepress and the oilpress to produce wine and oil. Now that the raining season is about to kick in, the precious juices must be gathered in to the house to protect themt from the winter rain. Wheat may also have remained in the field throughout the summer and must now be brought in to the house. Thus it is called "festival of the gathering".

To summarize, we have the following:

Festival celebrated in the month of tender ears of grain (Abib), Nisan in Babylonian.
Festival celebrated in the month of wheat harvest (qatsir), Sivan in Babylonian.
Festival celebrated in the month of gathering (asiph) or ploughing (charish), Elul or Tishri in Babylonian.

Other names of these festivals, adopted in later days and mentioned in the later documents of D and P are:

festival of Pesach or festival of Matsoth for Abib
festival of shebaghoth or day of bikkurim
festival of Sukkoth or festival of the ploughing season "charish"

Some of these names seem to be mentioned in the ancient J and E documents but if you analyze these instances carefully you realize that those were not the identifying names of the festivals. For example, in the J document Exodus 34:22 its says "you shall make a septuple (consisting of seven) festival in the harvest season of the firstfruits of wheat". The Hebrew word for septuple "Shebeath" was taken to designate the name of the festival, so called because it is celebrated seven weeks after the Abib season. This is how both P and D construed the meaning of septuple, although the precise point in time from which the seven weeks ought to be counted is disputed between P and D; in P it's seven weeks from the morrow of Sabbath and in D it is seven weeks from the time when the sickle is first applied to the grain.

However, I believe that this represents an error on the part of later generations in interpreting the ancient JE documents. It is important to understand that the ancient JE documents were not widely known when they were first authored and finalized in the period of the divided kingdom (eighth century BCE). Furthermore, those documents were authored by the proponents of yahwism and advocated the worship of yahweh only, but in the eighth century BCE the yahweh cult (including the three annual festivals held in Jerusalem) was marginal even in Judah. This is why in 2kings 23:22 it says that "there was not held such a Passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah" in description of the pesach held in the time of Josiah circa 630 BCE. If this is indeed the case, then we have the deuteronomistic reformers and --later-- the priestly revivalists trying to reconstruct a dormant religion. They would be reading an ancient text that says something about a septuple festival and interpret that to mean a one day holiday held after seven weeks when in reality the text is talking about a seven day holiday tied to a specific season --that of wheat harvest-- and to nothing else.

What prompted the deuteronomists to invent this utterly erroneous interpretation of "septuple"?

This is debatable. One possibility is that they wanted to make it easier to observe yahwism by only requiring pilgrims to spend one day in Jerusalem during the busy qatsir season (recall, that in the priestly days seven day festivals were literally seven days long, unlike the J definition of a seven-day festival in which work is permitted during the first six days). Another possibility is that they sought to better define the timing of the holiday. Finally, it may have been an earnest mistake. Whatever the background for this misinterpretation of "septuple", I am convinced that the deuteronomist, and later the priestly author following his lead, made a major deviation from the real meaning of septuple.

How do I know that septuple in JE really refers to seven days and not seven weeks?

There are several clues:

* In the J document Exodus 34, it mentions the abib festival first and admonishes worshippers to bring along their firstborn animals to sacrifice to yahweh during the festival: "not to see the face of yahweh emptyhanded". Then it describes the actual festival as containing seven days, the first six days of which are work days, that is, one is not required to be in the temple but may work his field and the seventh day is the rest day. Then a new paragraph begins saying "you shall rest in the ploughing season and in the harvest season" and it goes on describing those two additional festivals saying "you shall make a septuple (consisting of seven) festival in the harvest season of the firstfruits of wheat and the (septuple) festival of the gathering season at the rounding of the year. In other words, it is saying that the same seven day holiday of abib just
described in verse 21 shall also be observed in the harvest season and in the gathering/ploughing season.

* the Hebrew letter he preceding a noun is called the "he hayediah" (he of the known) and designates a specific, known noun, a noun that has already been mentioned previously or is otherwise already known to the listener or reader. In the J document, there is a he in the mention of "festival of the Matsoth" and in the mention of "festival of the Asiph" but there is no he in the mention of "a septuple festival". This is because there is no single septuple festival; rather, all three festivals are septuple festivals. The verse is just saying that the same septuple festival observed in the Abib season should also be observed in the harvest and gathering season. In fact, in the corresponding E document (Exodus 23), there is no mention of the term septuple altogether. The second holiday, which the deuteronomist called "festival of weeks" (Deuteronomy 16:9) and the priestly writer called "day of the firstfruits" (Numbers 28:26), is called "festival of the harvest" in the E document (Exodus 23:16), a term which is mentioned by the J document as well in describing the timing of the festival (bikkurei qatsir chittim), although without the he hayediah. Thus, according to the JE tradition the second festival is a harvest festival, not a septuple festival (as distinguished from other festivals), not a weeks festival and not a firstfruits festival.

* Nowhere in J or E is there any indication that the qatsir festival might be a one-day only celebration. According to our interpretation of the J document, it is saying outright that qatsir is a septuple festival, that is, consisting of seven days. But even if we take the deuteronomist interpretation that it's talking about seven weeks, it still doesn't say that it's a one day only festival. We should therefore logically assume that qatsir is the same kind of festival as abib and
asiph, a seven day festival as described in Exodus 34:21 "six days you may work but on the seventh day you shall rest".

* The Hebrew term "shibeghath" in the J document is spelled using the four hebrew letter shin, beth, ayin, thaw. In accordance with our belief that no cholem vowel should be applied in Hebrew unless a waw is present, the correct pronunciation of this word is shibeghath (or "shibeath" if you choose to pronounce the ayin as an aleph) and not shibeghoth as the masoretes would have it. If the masoretes were right then the word would have had a waw after the ayin indicating the plural and it would therefore mean "weeks" (shebagh or shabuagh being the singular). Without the waw in the word, it simply means an entity of seven or a count of seven, not a week.

How was the ancient festival of Pesach (Abib) observed according to the JE tradition?

As soon as the new moon appeared in the season of abib, the "matsoth festival" commenced. Noone was allowed to eat leavened bread for seven days. However, there was no requirement to refrain from work and be at the temple until the seventh day; during the first six days one may work his field (Exodus 34:21). All male firstborn cattle and sheep (born after the last
annual festival) were dedicated to yahweh, the cattle may not be used to work the field and the wool of the sheep may not be shorn. Those animals constituted the pesach sacrifice and were taken along by the worshipper on his pilgrimage to the temple on the seventh day. Technically, firstborn male humans had to be dedicated to yahweh as well. This is openly stated in the E document (Exodus 13:2) and the priestly author went to great lengths explaining how the ancient Israelites redeemed their firstborn humans by substitution with Levites (Numbers 3:11-51). However, this concept did not have a realistic application since the practice of sacrificing humans to God was not commonly practiced even among the ancient Israelites. Only in very severe circumstances would a person offer up a child as a sacrifice like yiphtach did (Judges 11:30).

Once at the temple, the firstborn animals were slaughtered by the priests as the "Pesach" sacrifice. The blood and fats were given to yahweh (sprinkled or burned on the altar) and the meat and hide were shared between the priest and the worshipper. It is not known precisely how they divided the animal but we do know that both the priest and the worshipper had certain rights to it. In deuteronomy 18:3 it says that priests were entitled to the arm, the cheeks and the belly of all sacrifices brought to the temple. It does not differentiate between the Pesach and other voluntary peace offerings (neder or nedabah). There was probably a similar scheme in place during the J period (eighth century BCE).

While feasting on the Pesach, leavened bread (chamets) may not be eaten; this is the meaning of "you shall not slaughter the blood of my sacrifice with unleavened bread" (exodus 34:25). It means "you shall not eat the meat of my sacrifice along with unleavened bread". Note that Maror, a kind of bitter herb, is not mentioned in the JE documents. The requirement to eat Maror with the Pesach is an addition by P and it is not clear whether this is an unusual requirement or perhaps it's the usual or ritual way of eating sacrificial meat.

The meat of the Pesach had to be consumed on the evening of the seventh day and whatever was left over until the morning had to be burnt (the burning requirement is a priestly addition Leviticus 7:17 and elsewhere). The reasoning behind this bizarre law is not clear. We know, for example, that in the priestly days multiple households "enrolled" on a single Pesach animal so that no meat went to waste (Exodus 12:4) but this practice of sharing the Pesach among several households is the effect of the ancient law requiring that no meat be left over until the morning and not the cause. Perhaps this law was designed to encourage feasting like there's no tomorrow and to discourage frugality. Meat was a precious luxury in ancient Israelite days. Meat was not eaten on a daily basis or even on a weekly basis. When one wanted to eat meat in the Judah of the divided kingdom, he was expected to make a pilgrimage to the temple and share the animal with yahweh and the priests. If worshippers had any desire to salt some of the meat and preserve it for consumption back home, this law was designed to prevent such practice and encourage unbridled consumption of the Pesach meat on the festival day.

It is also possible, that the law was designed to force people to sacrifice at the temple and share the meat with the priests. If they could salt the meat and take it with them back home, then they would not be inclined to share the meat with the priests. Furthermore, the frequency of pilgrimages would decline since people would still have some meat left over at home from their previous sacrifice.

Finally, there is one more point that I should make about the J description of the Pesach. In exodus 34:23 it says "Three times in the year shall all your males see the face of the lord yahweh, the God of Israel". This has traditionally been construed to refer to male humans and "seeing the face of god" was understood simply to be synonymous with worshipping god. I strongly disagree with this, however. This would mean that all male servants and toddlers are required to make the pilgrimage, which is quite burdensome, costly and unreasonable. Rather, it means that all male animals must see the face of God in the form of being sacrificed to God. It is a recapitulation of the required dedication of firstborn animals to yahweh mentioned in verses 19-20 and the intention here is all male "firstborn" animals, not literally all male animals.

"all your males" might also include human firsborns insofar as they could be dedicated to yahweh, but --as mentioned earlier-- since the practice of sacrificing humans to god was not considered appropriate when J was authored and levite priests had already been firmly established in the temple (so that there was no need to to devote firstborn humans to God as priests), the dedication of humans to yahweh was not really practicable. This clause "all your males" might be a leftover from an extremely ancient Semitic religion in which human sacrifice was considered acceptable.

How was Pesach observed according to D and P?

You have probably noticed my description of Pesach being observed on the seventh day and not the first day of the seven day festival. This is unequivocally stated in both J and E. The deuteronomist is the one who changed the sacrificial day of Pesach from the last day to the first day and the priestly writer followed faithfully in his footsteps (somewhat similar to the way the qatsir festival was altered by both D and P). J says openly that on the first six days of the Pesach festival one may work the field and only on the seventh day one is required to rest, that is, make the pilgrimage to the temple and offer up the Pesach sacrifice. How can one possibly work on the first day while simultaneously make a pilgrimage to the temple to sacrifice the Pesach? It is therefore abundantly clear that J is designating the seventh day as the sacrificial day. The first six days are merely counting days towards the seventh day during which chamets may not be eaten.

In E this practice is even more pronounced. It says (Exodus 13:4) "sanctify every newborn human and animal among the children of Israel to me... Today you are emerging (from Egypt) on the new moon of Abib and so once yahweh brings you to the canaanite land... You shall perform those acts of worship (ban against chamets and sanctification of the newborn) on this new moon, thus: six days you shall eat unleavened bread and the seventh day shall be a festival to yahweh... and you shall tell your son on that day (=the seventh day) saying: because of this (act of worship), yahweh did (all those miracles) for me when I emerged from Egypt". The masoretic text reads seven days in Exodus 13:6 but the Septuagint, which represents an older and more reliable Hebrew text, reads six days, just like it is in the J text. Regardless, E says openly that the festival is held on the seventh day and there's no mention of any additional first-day festival like the the priestly writer would have it (Leviticus 23:7-8).

This switch from the seventh day to the first day was not initiated by the priestly author, however. The deuteronomist is the one who started it. In deuteronomy 16:1 "guard the new moon of abib and make a Pesach to yahweh your god (on that day)... and there shall not be left over until the morning from the meat that you sacrifice on the evening of the first day". Thus, the deuteronomist makes the first day celebration of Pesach as clear as JE makes the seventh day.

Ironically, all three sources agree that the seven days are counted from the new moon of abib but the priestly writer changed even that. According to the P document, the festival actually consists of eight days. First comes the day on which the Pesach is offered, in the afternoon
of the fourteenth day of the first month (Exodus 12:6 and Leviticus 23:5). Then comes a seven day holiday from the fifteenth until the twenty-first of the month (Exodus 12:18). The term "first day" which designates the first of the seven days of the Pesach festival in the P document, refers to the fifteenth day of Nisan, not the fourteenth - the day the Pesach is sacrificed. The deuteronomist, on the other hand, does not suggest such a scheme. The deuteronomist insists that the seven days are counted from the new year as mentioned earlier and he also insists that the Pesach is sacrificed on the "first day" of the seven days (Deuteronomy 16:4) and not the day before the first day as specified by P.

How were the JE festivals of Qatsir and Asiph observed?

As pointed out earlier both Qatsir and Asiph are seven-day festivals tied to an agricultural season in the solar year just like Pesach (abib) is tied to the appearance of the tender, green stalks of grain. What is not clear is whether those festivals are tied to lunar months as well. The term Chadash (Chodesh) in ancient Hebrew always means a new moon. It does not refer to a solar month, which is an artificial division of the solar year into twelve parts. We know that Pesach is tied to the solar abib season AND to the lunar new moon that appears in that season, for the text says openly "chodesh ha'abib" (the new moon that falls in the abib season). Are Qatsir and Asiph tied to a new moon in their respective solar seasons as well? in the JE document there is no such suggestion but JE only briefly mentions these festivals and so it is possible that their connection to the new moon within the appropriate agricultural season is taken for granted.

It seems logical to assume that the qatsir and asiph festivals had the same model as the Abib festival, namely, start counting seven days from the new moon day that falls in the appropriate agricultural season and designate the seventh day as the pilgrimage day.

But what about the Pesach offering and the matzah requirement? Did these practices apply to the Qatsir and Asiph festivals as well? Again, the JE document does not clarify this matter and since these traditions were not commonly practiced during the JE period (eighth century BCE or earlier) it is extremely hard to try to reconstruct the precise meaning of these ancient documents.

If we look at Exodus 34:25 "Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning" we see a parallelism between the first part and second part of this verse. According to this poetic expression, "my sacrifice" and "sacrifice of the feast of passover" are one and the same. Instead of referring to an object by the same name twice, the correct poetic way is to name it slightly differently when referring to it again in the same verse just like we say in English "John excelled in math but he was not proficient in Science"; we don't use the verb "excel" twice. Thus, all sacrifices offered to yahweh on any of the three annual festivals (and possibly all other sacrifices as well) are called Pesach sacrifices and the two cardinal Pesach rules essentially apply to all sacrifices: no leavened bread may be eaten with the meat and no meat may be left over until the following morning.

So we have established that the Pesach animal sacrifice applied to all three JE festivals. Now what about the seven-day matzah requirement? Was there a prohibition against eating chamets for seven days during the Qatsir and Asiph festivals?

According to our understanding that during the first six days of the festival, one was allowed to work their field at home and not be present at the temple, the only defining practice during those days was the abstention from chamets. Thus, the abstention from chamets for six days prior to the actual feast day is integral to any seven day festival, including Qatsir and Asiph.

However, there is a problem with this. We know that only the abib festival was called a "matsoth festival"; this is quite clear in the E document (Exodus 23:15-16) which names the festivals: festival of the unleavened bread, festival of the harvest and festival of the gathering. The question is, why isn't it called "festival of the abib", consistent with the other two festivals that are named after their respective agricultural seasons. It seems that the seven-day matzah rule was somehow unique to the abib festival and it alone was therefore called the matzah festival whereas the other festivals did not have this rule and could therefore not be called so and were therefore named after their agricultural season.

Notwithstanding the ambiguity in the way J expresses himself, I still insist that J really meant for all three festivals to contain a preceding six day ban against chamets. Here's how the document should be interpreted:

"Guard the the festival of matsoth, you shall eat matsoth for seven days, as I have (already) commanded you" - this is a preface. What he's saying here is that whenever a festival to God is celebrated, there should be a seven day ban against chamets. Now he goes on describing the three seasons during which festivals should be held. First comes "the season in the month of abib for in the month of abib you emerged from Egypt.." and then he says that two additional seasonal "matzah" festivals should be held: "In the ploughing season and in the harvest season you shall rest" and he explains "observe a septuple festival at the firstfruit-of-wheat harvest season and observe the gathering festival (which coincides with the ploughing season) at the end of the year". By "the gathering festival" J means "the matzah festival that occurs in the gathering season" (chaj hamatsoth shel asiph).

In support of my theory that all three festivals are meant to be matzah festivals, it should be noted that the priestly author expanded the ban against chamets to virtually all sacrifices brought to yahweh, not just "pesach" animal sacrifices brought on the abib or other annual festivals. In Leviticus 2:11 it states "You shall not make chamets any grain offering brought before yahweh".

In all likelihood, leavened bread was seen by these ancient peoples as contaminated and impure, unfit for a godly sacrifice and inappropriate to be eaten together with the meat of a godly sacrifice, even though they acknowledged that it tasted better. Thus, the ban against chamets originally had nothing to do with the abib festival in particular or with the Exodus. Only in later generations was the ban against chamets attributed to the fact that the Israelites did not have time to let their dough rise when leaving Egypt and thus isolated to the festival of abib since that is when the Israelites left Egypt. This connection was admittedly made by the E author and is clearly articulated in the verses Exodus 12:34-13:10. The other authors D and P followed suit and that's how abib became the only matzah festival (and the only Pesach festival).

When J gives the reason for observing a matzah festival in the Abib season "for in the month of Abib you emerged from Egypt" (Exodus 34:18), he is not giving the reason for the ban against chamets. Rather, he is explaining why the the festival is held in this season. This reasoning is also expressed in E (Exodus 13:4-5) "This day came ye out in the month Abib, and it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites... that thou shalt keep this service in this month".

Both J and E say in connection with the prohibition against chamets "As I have commanded you" (Exodus 34:18 and 23:15). The question is: where had this command been given before?

Answer: It is in Exodus 13:7 "Matsoth shall be eaten for seven days and you shall not see chamets or sourdough in your entire border". Although this chapter is generally considered to be an E document, this particular verse does not fit in here and I believe it was inserted here from a very ancient source by a late editor of the JE manuscript. The previous verse is not only repetitive of this verse but it actually contradicts this verse if we go by the Septuagint version which reads "six days you shall eat matzah..." But even if we go by the Masorete version, it seems bizarre and repetitious:

verse 6: seven days you shall eat matzah...
verse 7: matsoth shall be eaten for seven days...

Verse 7 should be contrasted with the P document who also admonishes against having any chamets or sourdough in the house (Exodus 12:15 and 12:19). The priestly writer mentions both chamets and sourdough but he says uses the term "it shall not be found" rather than "it shall not be seen". Also, he talks about the house rather than the border. Clearly, verse 7 is a very ancient verse, thus explaining why it talks about a border and not house, since the Israelites presumably lived a nomadic lifestyle then and did not posses any houses. Also, the term seeing instead of finding in verse 7 is also suggestive of its antiquity, for the early tribes always used verbs that were intimately tied with one of the five senses.

I think that in all likelihood, this particular verse was taken from an extremely old document (or more likely stone inscription that was widely known among the contemporary tribes. Everyone knew that there was a seven-day complete ban against chamets while sacrificing to the deity. The J author came to clarify this old tradition and said that three annual festivals should be held and he added some other rules as well. This explains "as I have commanded you" very nicely, as the J author is referring back to a known command in order to provide legitimacy and a solid base for his agenda.

The Covenant Code in Exodus 21 is an E document. Its importance lies in the fact that it is the oldest law code in the Bible after the J decalog in Exodus 34. It is therefore worthwhile for us to investigate it further. One of the first things I have noticed is that their order is NOT random. The laws are --for the most part-- neatly divided into categories.

Laws on worship
1 Law against making golden or silver idols
2 Law forbidding use of chiseled stone for yahwehעs altar
3 Law forbidding ascent to yahweh altar in steps

Laws on slaves
4 Law regarding treatment of Hebrew man-servants
5 Law regarding treatment of Hebrew maid-servants

Transgressions involving capital punishment
6 Law regarding someone who commits murder
7 Law regarding someone who hits his father
8 Law regarding someone who commits kidnapping
9 Law regarding someone who curses his father

Laws regarding person-to-person injury
10 Law regarding bodily injury caused in a quarrel
11 Law regarding someone who kills his servant
12 Law regarding seomone who causes injury to an unborn fetus
13 Law regarding someone who injures his servant

Laws regarding property that causes injury or damage
14 Law regarding an ox that gores a peron
15 Law regarding a pit that causes damage to animals
16 Law regarding an ox that injures another ox

Laws regarding a person who causes damage
17 Law regarding someone who steals sheep or cattle
18 Law regarding someone who causes fire damage to property
19 Law regarding a guard of silver or vessels 91
20 Law regarding a guard of livestock
21 Law regarding property damage caused by a borrower

Laws on day-to-day appropriate civil behavior (not punishable)
22 Law regarding someone who seduces a virgin
23 Law against witchcraft
24 Law forbidding sexual relations with an animal
25 Law regarding someone who offers sacrifices to other gods
26 Law against cheating or oppressing aliens, widows or orphans
27 Law regarding lending money
28 Law against cursing a prophet or chieftain
29 Law against delay of firstborn appropriation to God
30 Law against eating prey meat
31 Law against being a malicious witness
32 Law requiring return of an enemy’s stray animal
33 Law against judicial injustices

Law on resting times
34 Law of Shemitah-year field abandoment
35 Law requiring rest on Sabbath

Law on feasts and sacrifices at the temple
36 Law requiring observance of three annual festivals
37 Law forbidding eating a sacrifice with unleavened bread
38 Law against leaving over a sacrifice until the morning
39 Law requiring eating firstfruits at the temple
40 Law against eating an animal and its mother simultaneously

Law regarding deity worship
41 Law against prostration to canaanite gods
42 Law against immitating canaanite religious practices
-------------------------------------------------------------

1 Law against making golden or silver idols
פרק כא
יט וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָֹה אֶל־מֹשֶׁה כֹּה תֹאמַר אֶל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אַתֶּם רְאִיתֶם כִּי מִן־הַשָּׁמַיִם דִּבַּרְתִּי עִמָּכֶֽם:
כ לֹא תַֽעֲשׂוּן אִתִּי אֱלֹהֵי כֶסֶף וֵֽאלֹהֵי זָהָב לֹא תַֽעֲשׂוּ לָכֶֽם:

2 Law forbidding use of chiseled stone for yahweh’s altar
כא מִזְבַּח אֲדָמָה תַּֽעֲשֶׂה־לִּי וְזָֽבַחְתָּ עָלָיו אֶת־עֹֽלֹתֶיךָ וְאֶת־שְׁלָמֶיךָ אֶת־צֹֽאנְךָ וְאֶת־בְּקָרֶךָ בְּכָל־הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר אַזְכִּיר אֶת־שְׁמִי אָבוֹא אֵלֶיךָ וּבֵֽרַכְתִּֽיךָ: כב וְאִם־מִזְבַּח אֲבָנִים תַּֽעֲשֶׂה־לִּי לֹֽא־תִבְנֶה אֶתְהֶן גָּזִית כִּי חַרְבְּךָ הֵנַפְתָּ עָלֶיהָ וַֽתְּחַֽלְלֶֽהָ:

3 Law forbidding ascent to yahweh altar in steps
כג וְלֹא־תַֽעֲלֶה בְמַֽעֲלֹת עַל־מִזְבְּחִי אֲשֶׁר לֹֽא־תִגָּלֶה עֶרְוָֽתְךָ עָלָֽיו: פ פ פ
[פרשת משפטים] א וְאֵלֶּה הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים אֲשֶׁר תָּשִׂים לִפְנֵיהֶֽם:

4 Law regarding treatment of Hebrew man-servants
ב כִּי תִקְנֶה עֶבֶד עִבְרִי שֵׁשׁ שָׁנִים יַֽעֲבֹד וּבַשְּׁבִעִת יֵצֵא לַֽחָפְשִׁי חִנָּֽם: ג אִם־בְּגַפּוֹ יָבֹא בְּגַפּוֹ יֵצֵא אִם־בַּעַל אִשָּׁה הוּא וְיָֽצְאָה אִשְׁתּוֹ עִמּֽוֹ: ד אִם־אֲדֹנָיו יִתֶּן־לוֹ אִשָּׁה וְיָֽלְדָה־לּוֹ בָנִים אוֹ בָנוֹת הָֽאִשָּׁה וִֽילָדֶיהָ תִּֽהְיֶה לַֽאדֹנֶיהָ וְהוּא יֵצֵא בְגַפּֽוֹ: ה וְאִם־אָמֹר יֹאמַר הָעֶבֶד אָהַבְתִּי אֶת־אֲדֹנִי אֶת־אִשְׁתִּי וְאֶת־בָּנָי לֹא אֵצֵא חָפְשִֽׁי: ו וְהִגִּישׁוֹ אֲדֹנָיו אֶל־הָאֱלֹהִים וְהִגִּישׁוֹ אֶל־הַדֶּלֶת אוֹ אֶל־הַמְּזוּזָה וְרָצַע אֲדֹנָיו אֶת־אָזְנוֹ בַּמַּרְצֵעַ וַֽעֲבָדוֹ לְעֹלָֽם: ס

5 Law regarding treatment of Hebrew maid-servants
ז וְכִֽי־יִמְכֹּר אִישׁ אֶת־בִּתּוֹ לְאָמָה לֹא תֵצֵא כְּצֵאת הָֽעֲבָדִֽים: ח אִם־רָעָה בְּעֵינֵי אֲדֹנֶיהָ אֲשֶׁר־לֹא [לוֹ] יְעָדָהּ וְהֶפְדָּהּ לְעַם נָכְרִי לֹֽא־יִמְשֹׁל לְמָכְרָהּ בְּבִגְדוֹ־בָֽהּ: ט וְאִם־לִבְנוֹ יִֽיעָדֶנָּה כְּמִשְׁפַּט הַבָּנוֹת יַֽעֲשֶׂה־לָּֽהּ: י אִם־אַחֶרֶת יִֽקַּֽח־לוֹ שְׁאֵרָהּ כְּסוּתָהּ וְעֹֽנָתָהּ לֹא יִגְרָֽע: יא וְאִם־שְׁלָשׁ־אֵלֶּה לֹא יַֽעֲשֶׂה לָהּ וְיָֽצְאָה חִנָּם אֵין כָּֽסֶף: ס

6 Law regarding someone who commits murder
יב מַכֵּה אִישׁ וָמֵת מוֹת יוּמָֽת: יג וַֽאֲשֶׁר לֹא צָדָה וְהָֽאֱלֹהִים אִנָּה לְיָדוֹ וְשַׂמְתִּי לְךָ מָקוֹם אֲשֶׁר יָנוּס שָֽׁמָּה: ס יד וְכִֽי־יָזִד אִישׁ עַל־רֵעֵהוּ לְהָרְגוֹ בְעָרְמָה מֵעִם מִזְבְּחִי תִּקָּחֶנּוּ לָמֽוּת: ס

7 Law regarding someone who hits his father
טו וּמַכֵּה אָבִיו וְאִמּוֹ מוֹת יוּמָֽת: ס

8 Law regarding someone who commits kidnapping
טז וְגֹנֵב אִישׁ וּמְכָרוֹ וְנִמְצָא בְיָדוֹ מוֹת יוּמָֽת: ס

9 Law regarding someone who curses his father
יז וּמְקַלֵּל אָבִיו וְאִמּוֹ מוֹת יוּמָֽת: ס

10 Law regarding bodily injury caused in a quarrel
יח וְכִֽי־יְרִיבֻן אֲנָשִׁים וְהִכָּה־אִישׁ אֶת־רֵעֵהוּ בְּאֶבֶן אוֹ בְאֶגְרֹף וְלֹא יָמוּת וְנָפַל לְמִשְׁכָּֽב: יט אִם־יָקוּם וְהִתְהַלֵּךְ בַּחוּץ עַל־מִשְׁעַנְתּוֹ וְנִקָּה הַמַּכֶּה רַק שִׁבְתּוֹ יִתֵּן וְרַפֹּא יְרַפֵּֽא: ס [שני
]
11 Law regarding someone who kills his servant 11
כ וְכִֽי־יַכֶּה אִישׁ אֶת־עַבְדּוֹ אוֹ אֶת־אֲמָתוֹ בַּשֵּׁבֶט וּמֵת תַּחַת יָדוֹ נָקֹם יִנָּקֵֽם: כא אַךְ אִם־יוֹם אוֹ יוֹמַיִם יַֽעֲמֹד לֹא יֻקַּם כִּי כַסְפּוֹ הֽוּא: ס

12 Law regarding seomone who causes injury to an unborn fetus
כב וְכִֽי־יִנָּצוּ אֲנָשִׁים וְנָגְפוּ אִשָּׁה הָרָה וְיָֽצְאוּ יְלָדֶיהָ וְלֹא יִֽהְיֶה אָסוֹן עָנוֹשׁ יֵֽעָנֵשׁ כַּֽאֲשֶׁר יָשִׁית עָלָיו בַּעַל הָֽאִשָּׁה וְנָתַן בִּפְלִלִֽים: כג וְאִם־אָסוֹן יִֽהְיֶה וְנָֽתַתָּה נֶפֶשׁ תַּחַת נָֽפֶשׁ: כד עַיִן תַּחַת עַיִן שֵׁן תַּחַת שֵׁן יָד תַּחַת יָד רֶגֶל תַּחַת רָֽגֶל: כה כְּוִיָּה תַּחַת כְּוִיָּה פֶּצַע תַּחַת פָּצַע חַבּוּרָה תַּחַת חַבּוּרָֽה: ס

13 Law regarding someone who injures his servant
כו וְכִֽי־יַכֶּה אִישׁ אֶת־עֵין עַבְדּוֹ אֽוֹ־אֶת־עֵין אֲמָתוֹ וְשִֽׁחֲתָהּ לַֽחָפְשִׁי יְשַׁלְּחֶנּוּ תַּחַת עֵינֽוֹ: כז וְאִם־שֵׁן עַבְדּוֹ אוֹ־שֵׁן אֲמָתוֹ יַפִּיל לַֽחָפְשִׁי יְשַׁלְּחֶנּוּ תַּחַת שִׁנּֽוֹ: פ

14 Law regarding an ox that gores a peron
כח וְכִֽי־יִגַּח שׁוֹר אֶת־אִישׁ אוֹ אֶת־אִשָּׁה וָמֵת סָקוֹל יִסָּקֵל הַשּׁוֹר וְלֹא יֵֽאָכֵל אֶת־בְּשָׂרוֹ וּבַעַל הַשּׁוֹר נָקִֽי: כט וְאִם שׁוֹר נַגָּח הוּא מִתְּמֹל שִׁלְשֹׁם וְהוּעַד בִּבְעָלָיו וְלֹא יִשְׁמְרֶנּוּ וְהֵמִית אִישׁ אוֹ אִשָּׁה הַשּׁוֹר יִסָּקֵל וְגַם־בְּעָלָיו יוּמָֽת: ל אִם־כֹּפֶר יוּשַׁת עָלָיו וְנָתַן פִּדְיֹן נַפְשׁוֹ כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר־יוּשַׁת עָלָֽיו: לא אוֹ־בֵן יִגָּח אוֹ־בַת יִגָּח כַּמִּשְׁפָּט הַזֶּה יֵעָשֶׂה לּֽוֹ: לב אִם־עֶבֶד יִגַּח הַשּׁוֹר אוֹ אָמָה כֶּסֶף שְׁלֹשִׁים שְׁקָלִים יִתֵּן לַֽאדֹנָיו וְהַשּׁוֹר יִסָּקֵֽל: ס

15 Law regarding a pit that causes damage to animals
לג וְכִֽי־יִפְתַּח אִישׁ בּוֹר אוֹ כִּֽי־יִכְרֶה אִישׁ בֹּר וְלֹא יְכַסֶּנּוּ וְנָֽפַל־שָׁמָּה שּׁוֹר אוֹ חֲמֽוֹר: לד בַּעַל הַבּוֹר יְשַׁלֵּם כֶּסֶף יָשִׁיב לִבְעָלָיו וְהַמֵּת יִֽהְיֶה־לּֽוֹ: ס

16 Law regarding an ox that injures another ox
לה וְכִֽי־יִגֹּף שׁוֹר־אִישׁ אֶת־שׁוֹר רֵעֵהוּ וָמֵת וּמָכְרוּ אֶת־הַשּׁוֹר הַחַי וְחָצוּ אֶת־כַּסְפּוֹ וְגַם אֶת־הַמֵּת יֶֽחֱצֽוּן: לו אוֹ נוֹדַע כִּי שׁוֹר נַגָּח הוּא מִתְּמוֹל שִׁלְשֹׁם וְלֹא יִשְׁמְרֶנּוּ בְּעָלָיו שַׁלֵּם יְשַׁלֵּם שׁוֹר תַּחַת הַשּׁוֹר וְהַמֵּת יִֽהְיֶה־לּֽוֹ: ס

17 Law regarding someone who steals sheep or cattle
לז כִּי יִגְנֹֽב־אִישׁ שׁוֹר אוֹ־שֶׂה וּטְבָחוֹ אוֹ מְכָרוֹ חֲמִשָּׁה בָקָר יְשַׁלֵּם תַּחַת הַשּׁוֹר וְאַרְבַּע־צֹאן תַּחַת הַשֶּֽׂה:
פרק כב
א אִם־בַּמַּחְתֶּרֶת יִמָּצֵא הַגַּנָּב וְהֻכָּה וָמֵת אֵין לוֹ דָּמִֽים: ב אִם־זָֽרְחָה הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ עָלָיו דָּמִים לוֹ שַׁלֵּם יְשַׁלֵּם אִם־אֵין לוֹ וְנִמְכַּר בִּגְנֵֽבָתֽוֹ: ג אִם־הִמָּצֵא תִמָּצֵא בְיָדוֹ הַגְּנֵבָה מִשּׁוֹר עַד־חֲמוֹר עַד־שֶׂה חַיִּים שְׁנַיִם יְשַׁלֵּֽם: ס [שלישי]

18 Law regarding someone who causes fire damage to property
ד כִּי יַבְעֶר־אִישׁ שָׂדֶה אוֹ־כֶרֶם וְשִׁלַּח אֶת־בְּעִירֹה וּבִעֵר בִּשְׂדֵה אַחֵר מֵיטַב שָׂדֵהוּ וּמֵיטַב כַּרְמוֹ יְשַׁלֵּֽם: ס ה כִּֽי־תֵצֵא אֵשׁ וּמָֽצְאָה קֹצִים וְנֶֽאֱכַל גָּדִישׁ אוֹ הַקָּמָה אוֹ הַשָּׂדֶה שַׁלֵּם יְשַׁלֵּם הַמַּבְעִר אֶת־הַבְּעֵרָֽה: ס

Law regarding a guard of silver or vessels 19
ו כִּֽי־יִתֵּן אִישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵהוּ כֶּסֶף אֽוֹ־כֵלִים לִשְׁמֹר וְגֻנַּב מִבֵּית הָאִישׁ אִם־יִמָּצֵא הַגַּנָּב יְשַׁלֵּם שְׁנָֽיִם: ז אִם־לֹא יִמָּצֵא הַגַּנָּב וְנִקְרַב בַּֽעַל־הַבַּיִת אֶל־הָֽאֱלֹהִים אִם־לֹא שָׁלַח יָדוֹ בִּמְלֶאכֶת רֵעֵֽהוּ: ח עַֽל־כָּל־דְּבַר־פֶּשַׁע עַל־שׁוֹר עַל־חֲמוֹר עַל־שֶׂה עַל־שַׂלְמָה עַל־כָּל־אֲבֵדָה אֲשֶׁר יֹאמַר כִּי־הוּא זֶה עַד הָֽאֱלֹהִים יָבֹא דְּבַר־שְׁנֵיהֶם אֲשֶׁר יַרְשִׁיעֻן אֱלֹהִים יְשַׁלֵּם שְׁנַיִם לְרֵעֵֽהוּ: ס

20 Law regarding a guard of livestock
ט כִּֽי־יִתֵּן אִישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵהוּ חֲמוֹר אוֹ־שׁוֹר אוֹ־שֶׂה וְכָל־בְּהֵמָה לִשְׁמֹר וּמֵת אֽוֹ־נִשְׁבַּר אֽוֹ־נִשְׁבָּה אֵין רֹאֶֽה: י שְׁבֻעַת יְהֹוָה תִּֽהְיֶה בֵּין שְׁנֵיהֶם אִם־לֹא שָׁלַח יָדוֹ בִּמְלֶאכֶת רֵעֵהוּ וְלָקַח בְּעָלָיו וְלֹא יְשַׁלֵּֽם: יא וְאִם־גָּנֹב יִגָּנֵב מֵֽעִמּוֹ יְשַׁלֵּם לִבְעָלָֽיו: יב אִם־טָרֹף יִטָּרֵף יְבִאֵהוּ עֵד הַטְּרֵפָה לֹא יְשַׁלֵּֽם: פ

Law regarding property damage caused by a borrower 21
יג וְכִֽי־יִשְׁאַל אִישׁ מֵעִם רֵעֵהוּ וְנִשְׁבַּר אוֹ־מֵת בְּעָלָיו אֵין־עִמּוֹ שַׁלֵּם יְשַׁלֵּֽם: יד אִם־בְּעָלָיו עִמּוֹ לֹא יְשַׁלֵּם אִם־שָׂכִיר הוּא בָּא בִּשְׂכָרֽוֹ: ס

22 Law regarding someone who seduces a virgin
טו וְכִֽי־יְפַתֶּה אִישׁ בְּתוּלָה אֲשֶׁר לֹֽא־אֹרָשָׂה וְשָׁכַב עִמָּהּ מָהֹר יִמְהָרֶנָּה לּוֹ לְאִשָּֽׁה: טז אִם־מָאֵן יְמָאֵן אָבִיהָ לְתִתָּהּ לוֹ כֶּסֶף יִשְׁקֹל כְּמֹהַר הַבְּתוּלֹֽת: ס

23 Law against witchcraft
יז מְכַשֵּׁפָה לֹא תְחַיֶּֽה:

24 Law firbidding sexual relations with an animal
יח כָּל־שֹׁכֵב עִם־בְּהֵמָה מוֹת יוּמָֽת: ס

25 Law regarding pagan sacrifices
יט זֹבֵחַ לָֽאֱלֹהִים יָֽחֳרָם בִּלְתִּי לַֽיהוָֹה לְבַדּֽוֹ:

Law against cheating or oppressing aliens, widows or orphans 26
כ וְגֵר לֹֽא־תוֹנֶה וְלֹא תִלְחָצֶנּוּ כִּֽי־גֵרִים הֱיִיתֶם בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם: כא כָּל־אַלְמָנָה וְיָתוֹם לֹא תְעַנּֽוּן: כב אִם־עַנֵּה תְעַנֶּה אֹתוֹ כִּי אִם־צָעֹק יִצְעַק אֵלַי שָׁמֹעַ אֶשְׁמַע צַֽעֲקָתֽוֹ: כג וְחָרָה אַפִּי וְהָֽרַגְתִּי אֶתְכֶם בֶּחָרֶב וְהָיוּ נְשֵׁיכֶם אַלְמָנוֹת וּבְנֵיכֶם יְתֹמִֽים: פ

27 Law regarding lending money
כד אִם־כֶּסֶף תַּלְוֶה אֶת־עַמִּי אֶת־הֶֽעָנִי עִמָּךְ לֹא־תִֽהְיֶה לוֹ כְּנֹשֶׁה לֹֽא־תְשִׂימוּן עָלָיו נֶֽשֶׁךְ: כה אִם־חָבֹל תַּחְבֹּל שַׂלְמַת רֵעֶךָ עַד־בֹּא הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ תְּשִׁיבֶנּוּ לֽוֹ: כו כִּי הִוא כְסוּתֹה לְבַדָּהּ הִוא שִׂמְלָתוֹ לְעֹרוֹ בַּמֶּה יִשְׁכָּב וְהָיָה כִּֽי־יִצְעַק אֵלַי וְשָֽׁמַעְתִּי כִּֽי־חַנּוּן אָֽנִי: ס חצי הספר בפסוקים [רביעי]

28 Law against cursing a prophet or chieftain
כז אֱלֹהִים לֹא תְקַלֵּל וְנָשִׂיא בְעַמְּךָ לֹא תָאֹֽר:

Law against delay of firstborn appropriation to god 29
כח מְלֵאָֽתְךָ וְדִמְעֲךָ לֹא תְאַחֵר בְּכוֹר בָּנֶיךָ תִּתֶּן־לִֽי: כט כֵּן־תַּֽעֲשֶׂה לְשֹֽׁרְךָ לְצֹאנֶךָ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים יִהְיֶה עִם־אִמּוֹ בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁמִינִי תִּתְּנוֹ־לִֽי:

30 Law against eating prey meat
ל וְאַנְשֵׁי־קֹדֶשׁ תִּהְיוּן לִי וּבָשָׂר בַּשָּׂדֶה טְרֵפָה לֹא תֹאכֵלוּ לַכֶּלֶב תַּשְׁלִכוּן אֹתֽוֹ: ס
פרק כג

31 Law against being a malicious witness
א לֹא תִשָּׂא שֵׁמַע שָׁוְא אַל־תָּשֶׁת יָֽדְךָ עִם־רָשָׁע לִֽהְיֹת עֵד חָמָֽס: ב לֹא־תִֽהְיֶה אַֽחֲרֵֽי־רַבִּים לְרָעֹת וְלֹא־תַֽעֲנֶה עַל־רִב לִנְטֹת אַֽחֲרֵי רַבִּים לְהַטֹּֽת: ג וְדָל לֹא תֶהְדַּר בְּרִיבֽוֹ: ס

32 Law requiring return of an enemy’s stray animal
ד כִּי תִפְגַּע שׁוֹר אֹֽיִבְךָ אוֹ חֲמֹרוֹ תֹּעֶה הָשֵׁב תְּשִׁיבֶנּוּ לֽוֹ: ס ה כִּֽי־תִרְאֶה חֲמוֹר שֹׂנַֽאֲךָ רֹבֵץ תַּחַת מַשָּׂאוֹ וְחָֽדַלְתָּ מֵֽעֲזֹב לוֹ עָזֹב תַּֽעֲזֹב עִמּֽוֹ: ס [חמישי]

33 Law against judicial injustices
ו לֹא תַטֶּה מִשְׁפַּט אֶבְיֹֽנְךָ בְּרִיבֽוֹ: ז מִדְּבַר־שֶׁקֶר תִּרְחָק וְנָקִי וְצַדִּיק אַֽל־תַּֽהֲרֹג כִּי לֹֽא־אַצְדִּיק רָשָֽׁע: ח וְשֹׁחַד לֹא תִקָּח כִּי הַשֹּׁחַד יְעַוֵּר פִּקְחִים וִֽיסַלֵּף דִּבְרֵי צַדִּיקִֽים: ט וְגֵר לֹא תִלְחָץ וְאַתֶּם יְדַעְתֶּם אֶת־נֶפֶשׁ הַגֵּר כִּֽי־גֵרִים הֱיִיתֶם בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם:

34 Law of Shemitah-year field abandoment
י וְשֵׁשׁ שָׁנִים תִּזְרַע אֶת־אַרְצֶךָ וְאָֽסַפְתָּ אֶת־תְּבֽוּאָתָֽהּ: יא וְהַשְּׁבִיעִת תִּשְׁמְטֶנָּה וּנְטַשְׁתָּהּ וְאָֽכְלוּ אֶבְיֹנֵי עַמֶּךָ וְיִתְרָם תֹּאכַל חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה כֵּן־תַּֽעֲשֶׂה לְכַרְמְךָ לְזֵיתֶֽךָ:

35 Law requiring rest on Sabbath
יב שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים תַּֽעֲשֶׂה מַֽעֲשֶׂיךָ וּבַיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי תִּשְׁבֹּת לְמַעַן יָנוּחַ שֽׁוֹרְךָ וַֽחֲמֹרֶךָ וְיִנָּפֵשׁ בֶּן־אֲמָֽתְךָ וְהַגֵּֽר:
יג וּבְכֹל אֲשֶׁר־אָמַרְתִּי אֲלֵיכֶם תִּשָּׁמֵרוּ וְשֵׁם אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים לֹא תַזְכִּירוּ לֹא יִשָּׁמַע עַל־פִּֽיךָ:

36 Law requiring observance of three annual festivals
יד שָׁלֹשׁ רְגָלִים תָּחֹג לִי בַּשָּׁנָֽה: טו אֶת־חַג הַמַּצּוֹת תִּשְׁמֹר שִׁבְעַת יָמִים תֹּאכַל מַצּוֹת כַּֽאֲשֶׁר צִוִּיתִךָ לְמוֹעֵד חֹדֶשׁ הָֽאָבִיב כִּי־בוֹ יָצָאתָ מִמִּצְרָיִם וְלֹא־יֵֽרָאוּ פָנַי רֵיקָֽם: טז וְחַג הַקָּצִיר בִּכּוּרֵי מַֽעֲשֶׂיךָ אֲשֶׁר תִּזְרַע בַּשָּׂדֶה וְחַג הָֽאָסִף בְּצֵאת הַשָּׁנָה בְּאָסְפְּךָ אֶֽת־מַֽעֲשֶׂיךָ מִן־הַשָּׂדֶֽה: יז שָׁלֹשׁ פְּעָמִים בַּשָּׁנָה יֵֽרָאֶה כָּל־זְכוּרְךָ אֶל־פְּנֵי הָֽאָדֹן יְהוָֹֽה:

Law forbidding eating a sacrifice with unleavened bread 37
יח לֹֽא־תִזְבַּח עַל־חָמֵץ דַּם־זִבְחִי

38 Law against leaving over a sacrifice until the morning
וְלֹֽא־יָלִין חֵֽלֶב־חַגִּי עַד־בֹּֽקֶר:

39 Law requiring eating firstfruits at the temple
יט רֵאשִׁית בִּכּוּרֵי אַדְמָתְךָ תָּבִיא בֵּית יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהֶיךָ

40 Law against eating an animal and its mother simultaneously
לֹֽא־תְבַשֵּׁל גְּדִי בַּֽחֲלֵב אִמּֽוֹ: פ [ששי]
כ הִנֵּה אָֽנֹכִי שֹׁלֵחַ מַלְאָךְ לְפָנֶיךָ לִשְׁמָרְךָ בַּדָּרֶךְ וְלַֽהֲבִיאֲךָ אֶל־הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר הֲכִנֹֽתִי: כא הִשָּׁמֶר מִפָּנָיו וּשְׁמַע בְּקֹלוֹ אַל־תַּמֵּר בּוֹ כִּי לֹא יִשָּׂא לְפִשְׁעֲכֶם כִּי שְׁמִי בְּקִרְבּֽוֹ: כב כִּי אִם־שָׁמוֹעַ תִּשְׁמַע בְּקֹלוֹ וְעָשִׂיתָ כֹּל אֲשֶׁר אֲדַבֵּר וְאָֽיַבְתִּי אֶת־אֹיְבֶיךָ וְצַרְתִּי אֶת־צֹֽרְרֶֽיךָ: כג כִּֽי־יֵלֵךְ מַלְאָכִי לְפָנֶיךָ וֶֽהֱבִֽיאֲךָ אֶל־הָֽאֱמֹרִי וְהַחִתִּי וְהַפְּרִזִּי וְהַֽכְּנַֽעֲנִי הַֽחִוִּי וְהַיְבוּסִי וְהִכְחַדְתִּֽיו:

Law against prostration to canaanite gods 41
כד לֹֽא־תִשְׁתַּֽחֲוֶה לֵאלֹֽהֵיהֶם וְלֹא תָֽעָבְדֵם

42 Law against immitating canaanite religious practices
וְלֹא תַֽעֲשֶׂה כְּמַֽעֲשֵׂיהֶם כִּי הָרֵס תְּהָרְסֵם וְשַׁבֵּר תְּשַׁבֵּר מַצֵּבֹֽתֵיהֶֽם:
כה וַֽעֲבַדְתֶּם אֵת יְהוָֹה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶם וּבֵרַךְ אֶֽת־לַחְמְךָ וְאֶת־מֵימֶיךָ וַֽהֲסִרֹתִי מַֽחֲלָה מִקִּרְבֶּֽךָ: ס [שביעי] כו לֹא תִֽהְיֶה מְשַׁכֵּלָה וַֽעֲקָרָה בְּאַרְצֶךָ אֶת־מִסְפַּר יָמֶיךָ אֲמַלֵּֽא: כז אֶת־אֵֽימָתִי אֲשַׁלַּח לְפָנֶיךָ וְהַמֹּתִי אֶת־כָּל־הָעָם אֲשֶׁר תָּבֹא בָּהֶם וְנָֽתַתִּי אֶת־כָּל־אֹֽיְבֶיךָ אֵלֶיךָ עֹֽרֶף: כח וְשָֽׁלַחְתִּי אֶת־הַצִּרְעָה לְפָנֶיךָ וְגֵֽרְשָׁה אֶת־הַֽחִוִּי אֶת־הַֽכְּנַֽעֲנִי וְאֶת־הַֽחִתִּי מִלְּפָנֶֽיךָ: כט לֹא אֲגָֽרְשֶׁנּוּ מִפָּנֶיךָ בְּשָׁנָה אֶחָת פֶּן־תִּֽהְיֶה הָאָרֶץ שְׁמָמָה וְרַבָּה עָלֶיךָ חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶֽה: ל מְעַט מְעַט אֲגָֽרְשֶׁנּוּ מִפָּנֶיךָ עַד אֲשֶׁר תִּפְרֶה וְנָֽחַלְתָּ אֶת־הָאָֽרֶץ: לא וְשַׁתִּי אֶת־גְּבֻֽלְךָ מִיַּם־סוּף וְעַד־יָם פְּלִשְׁתִּים וּמִמִּדְבָּר עַד־הַנָּהָר כִּי אֶתֵּן בְּיֶדְכֶם אֵת יֹֽשְׁבֵי הָאָרֶץ וְגֵֽרַשְׁתָּמוֹ מִפָּנֶֽיךָ: לב לֹֽא־תִכְרֹת לָהֶם וְלֵאלֹֽהֵיהֶם בְּרִֽית: לג לֹא יֵֽשְׁבוּ בְּאַרְצְךָ פֶּן־יַֽחֲטִיאוּ אֹֽתְךָ לִי כִּי תַֽעֲבֹד אֶת־אֱלֹהֵיהֶם כִּי־יִֽהְיֶה לְךָ לְמוֹקֵֽשׁ: פ
------------------------------------------------------------

Stop 0 - God’s revelation to Moses

E account - Moses is tending Yethrau, his father-in-law’s sheep and he arrives at the mountain of God, Choreb.
God calls to him from the bush and says "Moses, Moses... I am the god of your father, the god of Abraham, the god of Isaac and the god of Jacob. Moses hides his face because he is afraid to stare at God.
God says "the cry of the children of Israel has come to me and I am now sending you to Paraoh to extract the children of Israel from Egypt".
Moses says "Who am I that I shall go to Paraoh and extract the children of Israel from Egypt?" God says "for I will be with you and this will be your sign that I have sent you: After you extract the people from Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain".
Moses says "behold, I will come to the children of Israel and I will say to them ‘the god of your forefathers has sent me to you’ and they will ask me ‘what is his name?’, what shall I say to them?
God says to Moses "ahyehAsherAhyeh (=I will be what I shall be) is my name; thus shall you say to the children of Israel ‘I shall be’ has sent me to you. Thus shall you say to the children of Israel ‘Yahweh the god of your fathers, the god of abraham, the god of isaac and the god of Jacob has sent me to you’. This is my name forever and this is my remembrance for generations".

J account - Moses sees the angel of God in a firy flame from within the bush and turns towards the bush to see why the fire does not consume the bush.
God says "Do not come any closer; remove your sandals from your feet for the place on which you are standing is holy ground".
God says " I have seen the pain of my people in Egypt and I have heard their cry. I will now descend to rescue him from Egypt and bring him up from that land to a good expansive land, a land that flows milk and honey, the place of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizites, Hivites and Jebusites. Go and assemble the elders of Israel and say to them...
Moses says "But they will not believe me and they will not listen to my voice, for they will say yhwh has not revealed himself to you.

God then shows Moses three signs to perform before the elders in order to prove his mission.

1. Moses’ staff is thrown to the ground and turned into a snake. When the tail is grasped, the snake turns into a staff again.
2. Hand is placed in bosom and becomes leprous and then healed when placed in the bosom again.
3. Water from the river is poured unto the dry land and is turned into blood.

P Account - God reveals himself to Moses and says "I am Yahweh; I have revealed myself to to the forefathers in the name ‘Shadai’ (=breasts/fertility) and I have not notified them of my Yahweh name... and so say to the children of Israel ‘I am yahweh and I will extract you from being under the hard work of Egypt and I will rescue you from their servitude and I will redeem you with a bent arm and big judgments. I will take you to be my people (you shall serve me) and I will be your God and you will know that I am Yahweh your god who is extracting you from the hard work of Egypt. I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to the patriarchs; I will give it to you as an inheritance".
Moses relates the word of God to the Israelites but the Israelites refuse to believe him because the work is so hard.
God asks Moses to go to Paraoh and ask him to release the Israelites from his land but Moses says "Behold, the children of Israel have refused to listen to me and how will Paraoh listen to me being that I have uncircumcised lips?"
God replies "Look, you will be like God to Paraoh and Aaron will be your messenger. You will speak to Aaron whatever I command you and Aaron will speak to Paraoh..."
God then tells Moses to perform several "wonders" if Paraoh asks for them.

1. Aaron drops his staff before Paraoh and it turns into a crocodile.
2. Aaron bends his staff on the rivers and lakes of egypt and the water turns into blood.
3. Aaron bends his staff on the rivers of Egypt and frogs emerge and cover the entire country.
4. Aaron bends his staff and smites the dirt of the land and the dirt turns into lice, which spread over the entire country and afflict both humans and animals
5. Moses and Aaron take soot from a furnace and sprinkle it towards the heaven. The dust spreads over the entire country and causes humans and animals to develop boils/bubbles.

Are the Egyptian Horoscopist able to replicate Aaron’s wonders?

1. Yes, but Aaron’s crocodile swallows the horoscopists’ crocodiles thus demonstrating the superiority of yahweh.
2. Yes, Egyptian horoscopists are able to perform the same wonder and so the supremity of Yahweh over the Egyptian gods is not demonstrated.
3. Yes. Same as 2.
4. No! Horoscopists tried to replicate Aaron’s wonder and produce lice from dirt but they were unsuccessful. They said "it is the finger of Yahweh" meaning that since they are unable to do it in the name of the Egyptian gods, it must be attributed to the Hebrew god Yahweh.
5. Not stated. The horoscopists were unable to stand in front of Moses because of the bubbles and perhaps this is why they never had a chance to try to replicate this wonder.

God says "Paraoh will not listen to you, so that I will multiply my wonders in the land of Egypt".
NOTE: In J there are three signs. In E there is one sign. In P there is no sign before the Hebrews but there are five wonders performed before Paraoh. The wonders act primarilly to prove the superiority of Yahweh and thereby convince Paraoh to release the Hebrews. The wonders do cause some inconvenience to the Egyptians and seem to suggest that Yahweh is punishing the Egyptians for enslaving his people, the Hebrews. However, the contrast between Aaron’s act and that of the horoscopist suggests that the primary purpose of the these wonders was to demonstrate the superiority of Yahweh. They should certainly not be conidered "plauges" according to P. In fact, the term "plauge" (negah) is never mentioned by P in this account.
------------------------------------------------------
Stop 1 - Departure from Egypt:

J account - Israelites slaughter the Pesach and firstborn Egyptians are smitten at midnight and paraoh sends his servants to moses (on the following day) to instruct the israelites that they can go.
E account - Firstborn Egyptians are smitten at midnight. Moses and Aaron are called before paraoh at night and told to leave immediately. The israelites leave immediately; their dough does not have a chance to become Chametz.
P account -
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Stop 1B - the route

E account - God does not lead the Israelites in the way of the land of the Phillistines, which is the close route. Instead, he leads them in the way of the wilderness, the Sea of reeds. This is done in order to avoid having to fight a war with the tough philistines.
Israelites complain to Moses "are there no graves in Egypt that you have taken us to die in the wilderness (due to lack of food and water)?"
-------------------------------------------------------------------
stop 2 - yhwh goes before the Israelites

J account - yhwh is going before the Israelites with a pillar of cloud during the day to show them the way and a pillar of fire (in the cloud perhaps?) during the night to provide lighting

E account - An angel of God goes before the Israelites
P account - ????
-------------------------------------
stop 3 - the crossing of the Sea of Reeds

J account - yhwh is fighting for the Israelites through the pillar of cloud and fire. He establishes a strong eastern wind all night which causes the water to dry out (=freeze) so that Israel can pass. He melts the sea water after the Israelites pass through and the Egyptians are running towards a melted sea and are "shook up" and drowned.

E account - The "angel of God" who usually goes before the Israelites is now going behind them (to separate them from the Egyptians). The angel of God removes the wheel of the egyptian chariots and the egyptians thus get stuck in the water.

P Account - As the Egyptians pursue the Israelites and get closer, the Israelites cry out to yahweh. Following God’s order, Moses bends his staff on the ocean water and causes it to split and form two walls. The Israelites pass through on the dry land of the ocean floor and the Egyptians follow but when Moses bends his staff again upon the water, the water melts and the Egyptians who are still in the water are sunk.

NOTE: In JE yhwh’s presence is embodied in the pillar of cloud and fire. Yhwh fights the Egyptians through this presence like a king fighting to protect his people. However, no outright miracle is performed. Personal attributes are ascribed to this god. In P there is no physical presence of God but the manner in which the sea "splits" and forms two walls is absolutely miraculous and is controlled by the staff of Moses.
-------------------------------------------
stop 3B - The Song of the Sea

J account - Moses and the sons of Israel sing a lengthy poem to yhwh.

E account - Miriam, the sister of Aaron leads the women in singing a short song to yhwh. The women are playing tambourines and dancing.

P account - no song is mentioned
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
stop 4 - No water in the Wilderness (Wilderness of Marah, MasaWumeribah/Choreb, Qadesh/ Tzin/Meribath Qadesh)

J account - (Wilderness of Marah) The Israelites go three days in the wilderness without water. The israelites complain. They finally arrive at a site that has bitter water. Moses, upon instruction from Yhwh, throws a piece of wood into the water and the water becomes sweet. The site is named "marah" (=bitter)

E Account - (MasaWumeribah) The israelites skirmish with Moses and ask him to provide water. Moses says "Why do you skirmigh with me and why are you probing Yhwh (whether Yhwh is in their midst)? Choreb is mentioned in the account. It is also possible that this occured in Rephidim since the E event immediately following this is the Amalekite Rephidim event.
The israelites complain "Why have you brought us up from Egypt to cause us to die here in thrist?" Upon instruction from Yhwh, Moses passes before the Israelites and strikes a stone in "Choreb" before the elders of Israel and water comes forth from the stone. The site is called "MasaWumeribah" (=test and skirmish).

P account - (Qadesh/ Wilderness of Tzin) According to P this even occurs at the very end of the 40-year Israelite journey in the wilderness at the site where Miriam died. There was no water for the congregation and the people quarelled with Moses and said "we wish we had died along with our brothers before yhwh. Why have you brought the congregation of yhwh to this wilderness to die here, us and our animals? Why have you brought us up from Egypt to bring us to this bad place? It is not a place of seed, figs, wine and pomegrandes, and there is no water to drink!"

Moses, following god’s orders assembles the congregation to the face of the boulder and says "listen now, you rebels: shall we bring forth water from this boulder?" Moses then smites the boulder twice with his staff and lots of water emerges.

God says to Moses and Aaron "Because you did not have faith in me, to make me holy in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring the congregation to the land that I have given them". It seems that Moses was expected to talk to the boulder to produce water and thereby demonstrated the greatness and holiness of god and not produce the water by smiting it which would not seem so supernatural. The place is called MeiMeribah (= water of the quarrel) or MeribathQadesh (= quarrel of Qadesh).

NOTE: In J, there is almost no miracle involved in this event. It seems that God is showing Moses a certain kind of wood that sweetens bitter water naturally, thus allowing the israelites to quench their thirst through the available water. In E, water is produced miraculously by hitting the stone. In P, Moses is expected to go even further and not even hit the stone, just talk to it. He doesn’t trust god that this will work and he is serverely punished. P also explains why the place is called "qadesh"; it is because god was sanctified through the "water of the quarrel".
-----------------------------------------------------------
Stop 5 - Food in the wilderness (Choreb?)

JE account - Yhwh says "I will cause bread to rain from heaven and the people shall depart from the camp and gather the bread daily (from around the camp), so that I may probe the people as to whether they will follow my teaching or not. On the sixth day, there will be double portions and they shall prepare what they bring (for the following day, Sabbath)".
They gathered the bread daily and when the sun warmed it, the bread melted. (I believe that this verse belongs to JE).

P Account - (Wilderness of Sin between ailim and Sinai on the fifteenth day of the second month of the Exodus from Egypt). The congregation complains to Moses and Aaron and say "We wish we died at the hands of yhwh (a natural disater) in the land of Egypt when we were sitting at the pot of meat and eating bread until full. Why bring us to this wilderness to kill us in hunger?

Moses says to the Israelites to come close before yhwh because he has heard their complaint and will provide meat in the evening and bread in the morning. The glory of yhwh was then revealed in a cloud and yhwh promised Moses as such.

In the evening quails came up and covered the camp and in the morning, after the dew disappeared, the Israelites noticed a small, round thing like drops of ice on the ground. Moses explained that this is the bread that yhwh has given them to eat and he laid forth the rules, namely, they must not take more than what they can eat for that day (= one omer per person).
Some people disobeyed Moses and left over the bread until the morning. The bread accumulated worms and produced a foul smell. Moses was angry at those people.

On the sixth day, some men collected double portions. The chieftains of the community told Moses but this time Moses agreed and said "That (collecting double portions on friday) is what yhwh spoke! Tomorrow is a holy Sabbath to yhwh. What has to be cooked and baked (for tomorrow) shall be done now and the remainder (whatever cannot be eaten today) you shall keep until the morning".

Once again, some people did not listen to Moses and went out on Sabbath to look for the "man" bread but did not find any. Yhwh was angry.

NOTE: In the JE account there is no meat. There is also no mention of any complaint on the part of the people that prompted the provision of "man". There is no direct mention in JE of the two incidents in which some people did not follow god’s "command and teaching": they left over until the morning and they went out on the Sabbath. However, the mention of a "test whether they will follow my teaching" in the JE account may allude to theese incidents which demonstrated that the people had failed the test. In JE, the bread melts at noon while in P the bread becomes rotten if left overnight (which implies that it does not melt at noon).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stop 6 - Amalek fights Israel (Rephidim, Negebh/mountain)

P account - **J account according to elliott** (occurs after sending of the spies in the region adjacent to the negebh/mountain) The Amalakite and Canaanite dwell in the mountain (which the spies used to enter the land?). Upon hearing yhwh’s decree following Israel’s refusal to conquer canaan due to the report of the spies, the people are very saddened and they changed their mind and said "we are ready, let us go up to the place that god said for we have sinned". The following morning they went up the mountain to fight the Amalekites and Canaanites against moses’ advice and they are defeated and pursued until "charmah" (=destruction).

E account - (occurs before the sending of spies in Rephidim) Amalek attacks Israel. Moses ascends to the top of the mountain and lifts up his hand holding the staff of god. This causes the Amaelkites to lose. Moses writes in the book of memories "Yhwh will erase the male Amalekites from underneath the heaven". Moses builds an altar named "YahwehNesi" (=yhwh is my flagstaff) and offers sacrifices to yhwh (assumed).

NOTE: The origin of the name charmah differs according to the two accounts. In P, the origin is as described above but in J, the canaanite king of Arad fights the Israelites in the Negebh and the Israelites eventually defeat him and destroy his cities and call the place charmah. (This is why I disagree with Elliott on the source of this account) In P, there is no mention of any battle with the Amalekites at Rephidim (which is identified as the place where the israelites camped before Sinai Ex 19:2). It is noteworthy that the two events of Amalek and Meribah seem to be connected chronologically in both accounts. According to E Amalek occured in Rephidim and Meribah occured in Choreb immediately afterwards. Even though the story of Meribah is told before Amalek in Ex chapter 17, it must have occured first, because we know from P that the Israelites went from Rephidim to Choreb/Sinai (Ex 19:2). According to P Amalek occured in Qadesh/Paran (Num 14:40) and Meribah occured in Qadesh/Tzin (Num 20) immediately afterwards. There seems to have been a tradition connecting the two events.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
stop 7 - Moses’ Father-in-law comes to the wilderness (the mountain of God in Choreb, Sinai)

J account - (at mount Sinai) Chabab the son of Reuel the Midianite visits Moses in the wilderness (to return his wife and kids?) and apparently spends some time there (assumed) and acts as the "eyes" of Israel. Moses asks him to go along with his people and that he will be rewarded once Israel conquers the land but Chabab refuses and returns to his land in Midian. Exodus 34.

E account - (at the mountain of God) Yethrau, a midianite priest brings moses’ wife and two kids to Moses who is camped at the mountain of God in the wilderness (of Choreb). Yethrau hears all that Yhwh had done for Israel and brings burnt offerings and peace offerings to God. Aaron and the elders of Israel join Yethrau for the meal held in front of God.

Moses Judges the people all day. When people come to "query god", Moses judges between the two litigants and notifies them the ordinances and teachings of God. Yethrau advises moses to function as an intermediary between god and the people ONLY, notifying them the ordinances and teachings of God but delegating regular judgements to "people of strength who fear god, men of truth who hate unjust gain". Yethrau returns to his land (Midian).

NOTE: It is almost certain that the E account occurs after Moses had issued the various laws contained in Parashath Mishpatim (Exodus 21-24) because in it Moses says "and I make them know the statutes of God, and his laws". Furthermore, Yethrau is said to have come to the mountain of God and "mountain of god" is associated with the issue of the decalog in the E account (Ex 19:2-3 and Ex 24:13).

According to E, then, the order of things is as follows: departure from Egypt, crossing of the red sea, issue of statutes and judgements (in Marah?), provision of bread from heaven, Meribah, Amalek in Rephidim, Revelation at Mountain of God (Choreb), Yethrau at Mountain of God, Golden calf, tent of meeting, Taberah (burning), provison of quail at Qebroth Hatawah, snowwhite Miriam at Chatseroth, report of the spies in the wilderness of Paran (qadesh), Nehushtan, Bele’am.

According to J, the order is as follows: departure from Egypt, crossing of the red sea, Marah/Meribah, provision of bread from heaven, revelation at mount Sinai & issue of the Decalog, Chabab (Yethrau) at Sinai, report of the spies, Dathan and Abiram, circumvension of Edom, defeat of canaanites at Charmah, Defeat of Amorites and Bashanites, Heresy of Peor, Appointment of Joshua.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
stop 8 - The covenant (Choreb, Sinai)

E account (at the mountain of god, in Choreb?) - Israel camps against the mountain. Moses ascends the mountain of God and god proposes a covenant with Israel "You shall harken my voice and keep my covenant and in return I will choose you from amongst all the nations to be my precious jewel. You will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation". The elders of Israel agree and Moses notifies Yhwh.

Yhwh says "I will come (from heaven) to you in a thick cloud so that the people hear me speak to you and thus trust you forever". Moses notifies the people.

There was a loud sound of the trumpet (from the mountain of God) and the people were frightened. Moses led the people from the camp to the bottom of the mountain. He spoke to God and God answered him with a sound (emerging from the thick cloud). The scripture does not state what the topic of conversation was.

The people saw the lightning and smoking mounatin and heard the thunder and the sound of the trumpet and trembled and asked moses that God no longer speak to them (=to moses in front of them) lest they die. Moses explains that god came to lay forth the commandments and "test" israel whether they will keep them AND so that the fear of god will be on the Israelite faces and they will not sin. Nonetheless, moses agrees that God will no longer speak to them and god henceforth spoke only to moses from the thick cloud and the people stood from afar.

God speaks words and judgements to Moses (alone) on the mountain and Moses then relates those items to the people. The people say "we will do all the words that yahweh has said". The following day, Moses builds an altar and slaughters oxen as peace offerings to yhwh. Moses writes down the words of yhwh and reads the book of the covenant in the ears of the people; the people reply "we will do and listen to all that yhwh has said". Moses sprinkles half the blood on the people and half the blood on the altar and says "behold, this is the blood of the covenant that yhwh has made with you over all these words".

Moses, Aaron, the priests and the elders of Israel ascend the mountain but only Moses is allowed to go to the top. The others protrate, see god and "envision" God from afar; they eat and drink and then descend. Moses and his servant Joshua alone then ascend the mountain of God while Aaron and Chur remain with the people to judge them. God fashions two tablets of stone and engraves the law and the Commandment on them (both sides) over the course of 40 days and hands it to Moses. However, when Moses descends the mountain and sees the calf and the dancing, he shatters the tablets at the bottom of the mountain. It seems inappropriate to present the tablets of the law to a sinful people.

J account - (at mount Sinai) Moses says to the people to wash their clothes, abstain from sex and prepare for the third day on which yhwh will descend unto mount Sinai for all to see. Nobody may ascend the mountain until the yobel trumpet sounds. On the third day, in the morning there was thunder and lightning, a heavy cloud on the mountain, a loud sound of the trumpet and Mount Sinai was full of smoke because yhwh had descended unto it in a fire.
Yhwh calls Moses to the top of the mountain and instructs him to warn the people against ascending the mountain but moses says that he has already done so. Yhwh then says "descend and come back up with Aaron and the priests but the people shall not break through to come up lest yhwh will break forth among them". Moses descends to the people and tells them.

Finally, Moses (along with the preists) ascends to Mount Sinai (in the morning, still) and takes along two stone tablets. Yhwh descends unto the mountain in a cloud and stands alongside moses (for all to see). Moses calls in the name of yhwh and yhwh passes by and calls out "yhwh is a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth, keeping lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity, disobedience and sin; but he will by no means clear the guilty completely, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children`s children, on the third and on the fourth generation."

Yhwh says "Behold, I make a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been worked in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among which you are, shall see the work of Yahweh that he does with you, for he is fearful. In return, you shall keep whatever I command you today..." and Yhwh goes on issuing to Moses the ten articles of the covenant over the course of 40 days during which Moses did not eat or drink. Moses writes the ten articles of the covenant on the two stone tablets he had brought with him.

P Account - For six days a cloud covered mount Sinai and the glory of god manifested in the form of a consuming fire at the top of the mountain was visible to all the children of Israel. On the seventh day, yahweh called unto Moses from the cloud and Moses ascended the mountain and came into the cloud. God first relates the decalog directly to the people and then Moses spends some time on the mountain (probably 40 days) while God tells him all the laws of the tabernacle, incense and vestments (Chap. 25-28 and parts of 30) as well as ritual law (Chap. 29 and parts of 30) and lastly the law of Sabbath (Ex 31:12). When finished, God writes down the laws on "two stone tablets of the testimony" and gives them to Moses.

Moses descends the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands but he is not aware that the skin of his face had become shiny (burnt?) while speaking with yahweh. Aaron and the chieftains are afraid to approach Moses but when Moses calls them they return to him and Moses relates to them all that yahweh had spoken to him on Mount Sinai. When Moses is done delivering the sermon, he places a mask on his face so that people are not afarid to come close to him. He keeps the mask ONLY when not communicating with God or delivering Fod’s word to the people. It seems that the reason he does not don the mask while delivering his sermon is so that the people see his chiny face and learn to respect him. Once done with the sermon, he dons the mask so that ordinary people are not afraid to approach him.

NOTE: In JE the revelation at Sinai is depicted as an encounter between God and Moses, NOT a revelation to the general crowd. In J, the covenant proposal and the decalog is spoken to Moses while everyone is watching. This seems to confirm that Moses is indeed the messenger of God. However, God never communicates directly with the people. The language of Ex 34:10 clearly shows that God is speaking to Moses only. In E the purpose of the revelation is to establish the people’s trust in Moses as they witness God talking with Moses (Ex 19:9). Again, god is talking to Moses only, relating to him not only the decalog but the various statutes and judgements contained in Parashath Mishpatim (Ex 20:19-23:33). Only in P is the Sinai revelation depicted as a message from God directly to the people.

Moreover, in E, the decalog does not exist as a distinct entity altogether. Ex 23:12-24 is not separated from the rest of the laws in any way. They are just part of the general law code issued to Moses on the mountain of God which was later written down and read before the people (Ex 24:4-7). In J, there are no laws other than the Decalog (Ex 34:10-25). In essence, the declog is all the law the Israelites were ever given. Only in P is there a major distinction between the decalog (Ex 20:2-14) and the rest of the law which was given to Moses piecemeal at the two cherubs (Ex 25:22) over the course of Israel’s journey in the wilderness. How do I know that it wasn’t all given at once? Ex 34:34-35 describes a routine, not a one-time incident. In addition, Ex 35:1 describes how Moses related to Israel the first batch of laws about the Tabernacle and its ritual and Sabbath. No other laws are told to Moses in the preceding chapters and no other laws are related by Moses to the people in the ensuing chapters.

In J, the theme of three is commonplace: Israel goes three days in Marah without water (Ex 15:22), Israel prepares for the revelation at Sinai for the third day (Ex 19:10-11). In E, no preparation is mentioned. In P it is a six day preparation (Ex 24:16).

Who writes the code onto the tablets?

In J it is Moses who sculpts the tablets and it is Moses who then writes the decalog onto the tablets over the course of 40 days and gives them to Israel Ex 34:27-28). The tablets are never broken or replaced in J! In E it is God who creates the tablets and it is god who writes the "law and the commandment" on them (Ex 24:12). This seems to suggest that the entire covenant code (Ex 21:1-23:19) is written down, which is what we would expect since in E there is no distinction between the declog and the rest of the covenant code. These tablets are then broken by Moses in reaction to the Golden calf sin and they are never replaced! The story of a new set of tablets (Ex 34:1) seems to be RJE (redactor of JE) material in an attempt to find a niche for the J Sinai revelation story. In P, they are called "tablets of testimony", they are made of stone and are written by the finger of god (Ex 31:18). They are kept in a special gold-plated ark, the "ark of the testimony", which assumes major significance to the Israelites as a sign of yahweh’s presence. This ark is mentioned in J too but there it is called "ark of the covenant" and it does not state explicitly that the tablets were kept there (Ex 10:33-35).
-----------------------------------------
The golden calf episode

---------------------------------------------------
stop 9 - The report of the Spies (Qadesh?)

J account - Moses sent spies to the land they intended to conquer. They visited the following:

* Amalekites who reside in the negebh, southern, desert region of palastine.
* Hittite, Jebusite and Amorites who reside in the mountain.
* Canaanites who reside alongside the ocean and alongside the Jordan.

They brough back some fruit, which looked good but the spies claimed that the people are too strong. Caleb, was the only spy who disagreed and said that the people are conquerable. And so the people wept and said "let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt".

Yhwh said to Moses "Until when will this people vex me and not have faith in me, in all the signs that I have performed in his midst?" Yhwh proposed to eradicate the Israelite people and create a new, more faithful, nation out of moses but moses pleaded with yhwh not do so and to forgive the people’s iniquity. Yhwh said that he will forgive; however, the generation that saw the glory of yhwh and his "signs" in Egypt and the wilderness but refused to harken the voice of yhwh, will not see the land, except for Caleb.
------------------------------------------------------------------
stop 10 - The rebellion against Moses by Dathan and Abiram (Qadesh?)
----------------------------------------------------
Stop 11 - Conquering the Transjordan Land of Sichon and Og (Amorites and Bashanites)

J account - The Israelites arrive at Qadesh at the border of Edom and ask permission from the edomites to pass their land. The Edomites refuse and the Israelites turned away from Edom (encircling the land instead).

The canaanite king of Arad feels threatened and attacks Israel. After initial success, he is eventually repelled and defeated. Israel destroys Arad and some of the neighboring canaanite cities and calls the place "charma". They apparently have no interest in settling the "negebh" desert lands and so they move east to go around Edom and then north with the intention of conquering some land in the transjordan north of Edom.

Israel passes the brook of Zered and enters Moabite territory and then arrives at the brook of Arnon. They request permission from Sichon the Amorite king of Cheshbon to pass through his land. Sichon refuses and gathers his entire people to fight the Israelites at "yahtza". The Israelites are victorious and inherit the land from the brook of Arnon in the south until the Yabok river to the north and the Ammonite border to the east.

The israelites then pass the Yabok river and ascend the way of the "bashan". Og the king of the Bashan and his entire people go out against them and fight them in "adrai". Once the again the israelites are victorious and they inherit his land.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

The three Israelite Holidays

Amazingly, the three original Holidays mentioned in the JE text are so different from the holidays that evolved later that they are alomst unrecognizable. P era holidays (circa 600 BCE), which are only 200 years afterward the JE Era, had assumed an entirle new face. I know this through careful exegesis of the Bible, specifically the different "documents/sources" of the Bible.

I will start with the J text. The J document we have only mentions the holidays once. In fact, no laws are ever mentioned anywhere else in the entire J document. This means that not only are Pesach Shavuoth and Sukkoth only mentioned once, but Sabbath, Matzah, Bikkurim and Peter Rechem are also only mentioned once and all other commandments are either from E or P.

Ex 34:11 Observe that which I command you this day.

Article 1 Behold, I drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare in the midst of you: but you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherim.

Article 2 For you shall not bow down to another god: for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. Don`t make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice; and you take of their daughters to your sons, and their daughters play the prostitute after their gods, and make your sons play the prostitute after their gods.

Article 3 You shall make no cast idols for yourselves.

Article 4 You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt. All that opens the womb is mine; and all your cattle that is male, the firstborn of cow and sheep. The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb: and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. No one shall appear before me empty. Six days you shall work, and on the seventh day you shall rest.

Article 5 In plowing time and in harvest time you shall rest: You shall observe a septuple feast with the first-fruits of wheat harvest.

Article 6 And the feast of Gethering at the year`s end. Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel. For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither shall any man desire your land when you go up to appear before Yahweh, your God, three times in the year.

Article 7 You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread.

Article 8 Neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left to the morning.

Article 9 You shall bring the first of the first-fruits of your ground to the house of Yahweh your God.

Article 10 You shall not boil a young goat in its mother`s milk.

I will now explain each of these articles.

Article One Commentary: It may seem that this Article consists of two separate commands. One is not to make a covenant with the Canaanites and the other is to destroy their altars etc... In fact, if we really want we can break it down even further: "you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherim" could be seen as constituting three separate commands. However, this is not that way these articles were intended. The Ten Articles are designed to issue commands in ten separate areas. Not every clause is a command unto itself. Somestimes, several clauses are needed in order to drive the point home and that's just the case here. The overall idea here is not to befriend the Canaanites and create an atmosphere where you will be obliged or inclined to honor their gods. This is expounded upon in the Second part of Article Two: "Don`t make a covenant with ...". If you make a military convenant with them not to attack each other and to come to each other's defense, then you will be invited to their feasts and eat from their sacrifices (which is still okay) and you will be attracted to their daughters and their daughters will in turn convince you to start worshipping the Canaanite gods. Rather, you shall destroy their religious altars, pillars and Asherah trees so that you don't come to worship their gods through these items. We thus see that this is actually a single, monolithic article.

In Exodus 23, which contains the E Ten Articles parallel to the J Articles, we see the following:

Ex 23:24 You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor follow their practices, but you shall utterly overthrow them and demolish their pillars. Ex 23:25 You shall serve Yahweh your God, and he will bless your bread and your water… Ex 23:32 You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you."

As you can see, all the bold parts of these verses are a repetition of language used in article two of the J source. We also see that that these phrases combine to form a single idea and we therefore rightfully consider all of this as a single article.

Article Two Commentary: "You shall not prostrate to another El!". El was a Canaanite deity and was a very popular deity throughout the Near East in those days. When the Israelites emerged onto the scene in 1200 BCE they adopted this deity and merged it with the Yahweh deity. This is why we find that El in the bible often refers to the same deity as yahweh. Thus, yahweh was not considered exclusive of El like he was considered exclusive from other deities. He was considered to be "another El", a different kind of El, a more powerful, more sophisticated and more just El. The Article here is admonishing against prostrating and worsjipping any El other that Yahweh.

The parallel of this article in the E source is as follows:

Ex 23:24 You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor follow their practices.

Again, we see that E uses similar language and also clarifies that all acts of worship are forbidden, not just protrating before their God.

This is a completely separate command from article one. Article one talks about making a militray covenant with the Canaanites and allowing them to maintain their pagan lifestyle. This article talks about actually worshipping their gods. It may seem obvious that no worship of their gods is allowed once we say that even a covenant with them is not allowed. However, this is not so. In a sense, a covenant with pagans could be considered a greater sin against yahweh, for a covenant is permanent and binding while an isolated act of worship does not imply that one is completely and permanently submitting to that particular deity.

Article Three Commentary: "You shall make no cast idols for yourselves!" This article does not talk about worshipping a deity other than yahweh. This is talking about worshipping yahweh by means of a cast idol. The practice of representing deities in cast metals was very common in those days. That did not mean that the worshipper believed that the inanimate idol had any intrinsic powers; that would be foolish and naive. It was simply a way of representing their Gods in forms that are readily perceived by the senses and performing acts of worship to the all-powerful storm god (Baal), sun god (Amon Re, Shamash) or moon god through those idols. The practice of idolatry is what this article forbids and the Golden Calf that the Israelites made in the wilderness violated this article. Recall that when Aaron made the golden calf he said to the Israelites "These are your gods, oh Israel, which have extricated you from the land of Egypt!". He did not introduce any new deity; he was just representing Yahweh in these golden calves and allowing the people a sensual perception of Yahweh in their midst, in the absence of Moses.

Why does it mention "molten gods"? That's because at the time that this article was codified in 800 BCE, the temple in Jerusalem contained two golden cherubs which represented the presence of yahweh in the tample. The golden cherubs, however, were gold-plated and not cast in metal. Thus, the wording of this article was designed so as not to contravene the established norms of society. This is further illustrated when we take a look at the parallel article in E:

Ex 20:23
You shall not make alongside me gods of silver, and you shall not make any gods of gold for youselves.

E which was written by disenfranchised Levitte priests in the norther kingdom of Israel, had no interest in legitimizing the golden cherubs in the Jerusalem temple. Nor did they approve of the golden calves that Jeroboam had established in BethEl and Dan. To them, these idols were equally abhorrant and unacceptable. Yahweh should not be represented in any form of gold silver, molten or plated.

Article Four Commentary: "You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread..." This is by far the most complicated and controversial of all the articles and I will elaborate on this as best as I could. Let's start with the verse that seems to talk about Sabbath:

Ex 34:21 Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing and in harvest you shall rest.

At a first glance, this verse talks about the weekly Sabbath: Six days you may work (in the field)but on the seventh day of the week you shall rest from plowing and harvesting. This is also the tradition interpretation of this verse. However there are some serious problems with this interpretation:

1. Why is this verse dropped in the middle of the discussion about the three festivals? Verse 18 talks about the feast of Unleavened-Bread ("Matzoth") and verse 22 talks about the Septuple feast ("shabuoth") and the Gathering feast ("Asiph"). Verse 19 that talks about donating firstborn humans and animals to yahweh is understood in the context of the Unleavened-Bread feast: when you come to see my face (in the temple) on the Unleavened-Bread festival do not come empty-handed but bring along your firstborn humans and animals and sacrifice them to yahweh. The term "You shall not see my face empty-handed" gives it away. It's obviously talking about a time when one comes to see the face of Yahweh and that is on the UB feast, as articulated in verse 23: Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel. But observance of the weekly Sabbath has no connection whatsoever to the three annual feasts and so why is it mentioned here? Furthermore, in E this material is missing completely; there is no mention of any Sabbath or firstborn donation among the three festivals.

2. The Hebrew term Charish (plowing) and Katzir (harvest) do NOT refer to acts of plowing or harvesting; they refer to the seasons of plowing and harvesting. Note that these nouns are constrcuted in the same model of Asiph (gathering, verse 22) and Abibh (corn, verse 18) which has only one meaning: the season when one gathers his produce from the field into his house and the season when the corn ripens. It makes no sense to say that the weekly Sabbath shall be observed in the plowing and harvesting season. Does the weekly Sabbath not apply during other annual seasons?

3. In E (where Sabbath is mentioned separately), the phrase "you shall rest in plowing and harvest" is not present: Ex 23:12 "Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, so that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your handmaid, and the alien may be refreshed".

4. There is absolutely no mention of the weekly Sabbath anywhere else in the J source. Thus if Ex 34:21 does indeed talk about the weekly Sabbath, isn't this major command that deserves some serious attention?

5. In all other places where the weekly Sabbath is mentioned there is a reason given why the Sabbath is so important. In E, it's so that one's servants may rest; in P, it's because god rested on the seventh day; in D it's because we were slaves in Egypt. Why does J not give a reason for this major command?

I have gone to great lengths to demonstrate that Ex 34:21 does NOT talk about the weekly Sabbath. The reason this is so important to me is because the foundation of Judaism has now been shattered. The absence of any mention of the weekly Sabbath in the J text implies that at best the J Sabbath was characterized by some special worship in some circles of society. If the ordinary citizen was required to rest on every seventh day, it surely would have been mentioned among the Ten Articles or elsewhere in J.

One of the only instances of "sabbath" in scriptures during the JE period is in 2 kings 4:23 where the husband of the Shunamite asks her why she wants to go to Elisha "He said, Why will you go to him today? it is neither new moon nor Sabbath?" We see that the Sabbath is comparable to a new moon. The new moon is NOT considered a day of rest in P literature. There were some special sacrifices in the temple on the new moon but work is not prohibited. Therefore, from this juxtaposition of Chodesh and Sabbath, we can assume that in JE, the Sabbath recurred often just like the Chodesh (unlike the seasonal festivals) and it was observed in a similar manner to the Chodesh, namely, special sacrifices in the temple but no general observance by the multitudes.

This point, however, is debatable. The Sabbath command in E is mentioned together with the seventh-year Release (Shemitah) command:

Ex 23:10 For six years you shall sow your land, and shall gather in its increase, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the animal of the field shall eat. In like manner you shall deal with your vineyard and with your olive grove. Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your handmaid, and the alien may be refreshed.

We thus see that in E, the seventh-day Sabbath is comparable to the seventh-year Shemitah: a time when no field work is permissable. This stands in direct contrast to the 2 Kings story where it seems that Sabbath is not a major rest day. It is possible that the E text was codified at a somewhat later stage in the E religion when Sabbath observance was intensified. Regardless, this is all E material; the J text that could be talking about Sabbath has now been proven not to and so in J there is no weekly Sabbath. There is more that I wish to talk about Sabbath but this would detract from our "ten articles" discussion and so I will leave that for another time.

What does Ex 34:21 talk about? Simple! It talks about the observance of the festival of Passover, referred to in J as the "Unleavened-Bread festival". Six days we are told to "work" and on the seventh day we are told to "rest". Resting here means observance of the feast of Pesach; that is, bringing a lamb to the temple and offering it as a sacrifice. In J terminology, resting is synonymous with feasting, because when one rests there is nothing else to do but feast and when one feasts, he is by definition parting and not tilling the field.

But the question remains what kind of work do we do in the first six days? The most likely explanation here is that it means "six days you may work". It is not a command that one shall work like the seventh-day rest is a command. Thus, J is saying that although Matzah must be eaten all seven days, only the seventh day is a rest/feast day. During the first six days, one may only eat Matzah but one must not be physically present in the temple. This is the only way in which the JE Passover holiday can be understood properly: The feast takes place on the seventh day, NOT the first day and the feast lasts for one day only. Note that even though D states that the passover feast shall take place on the first day, it still admits that on the following morning one may return to his tent (Deut 16:7). Thus, it seems that it was a longstanding tradition that the passover feast is held on the day before one returns home and this tradition was preserved by D even after it moved the feast day to the first day of the seven day Matzah festival.

What was done with all the leftover meat? Obviously, one cannot consume an entire lamb in one day. But you must realize that the Passover sacrifice was never intended to be consumed by a single person or family. The Passover sacrifice is no different than the "peace-offering" (shelamim) mentioned throughout the P text. Those peace-offerings were designed to be shared between the feaster, the priest and yahweh: the fats and blood goes to Yawhweh (placed on the altar), most of the meat is kept by the feaster and consumed by family and friends and certain sections -- such as the breast and thigh -- go to the priest who officiates the sacrifice and ensures that it is done properly and that Yahweh is satisfied. Furthermore, as we shall see in article eight (verse 25), the Passover sacrifice was not allowed to be left over until the following morning. This law supports the notion that the passover sacrifice was made on the seventh day and since the following day was not an official feast day, the entire animal had to be consumed on the evening of the seventh day.

The E parallel to Exodus 34:21 "Six day you may work and on the seventh day you shall rest" is not the E verse that talks about the weekly Sabbath Exodus 23:12, for we have already established that J is not talking here about a weeklt Sabbath. The Parallel is found Exodus 13:6 "Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to Yahweh". That is the Masoretic version of the text. However, the Septuagint translation reads "Six days you shall eat UB..." and since the Septuagint text is considered more ancient and more reliable we will go with it instead. Note, however, that the Septuagint deviation from the Masoretic text does not imply any material difference in the observance of the Matzah law. The intent of the Septuagint version is the same as that of the Masorete version: Matzah shall be eaten all seven days. It is just expressed differnetly in the Septuagint. It means: six days you shall eat Matzah while you go about performing your own chores, but on the seveth day you shall hold a feast before yahweh (at the Jerusalem temple) in addition to eating Matzah. This is the very same idea expressed in our J text: Six days you may work (while eating Matzah) but on the seventh day you shall rest (in addition to eating Matzah).

Exodus 34:21 is an explanation of verse 18. It explains how the seven Matzah days are broken down: six days just Matzah and the seventh day the feast as well. The parallel in E to verse 18 is, of course, Exodus 23:15: Seven days you shall eat Matzah, as I have commanded you...

Another important verse which carries that same instruction, Exodus 13:7: You shall eat Matzah for seven days and you shall not see unleavened-bread; and you shall not see sourdough within your entire border. This particular verse, I believe, was part of the original J text (it pretty much duplicates the previous E verse). The JE redactor (JER) saw no need to create a separate J account of how the law of Matzah came into being and instead dropped this J verse in the middle of the E account. This provides a precedent in both J and E to the law of Matzah. The precedence of the Matzah law is stated clearly "asher tsiwithichah" (=that I have commanded you) in both the J and E version of the Ten Articles (Ex 34:18 and Ex 23:15). It implies that the command to eat Matzah is not novel to the Ten Articles; it had already been mentioned previously in the text and that is Ex 13:7 for J and Ex 13:6 for E.

Firstborn of Oxen and Sheep and Firstboen of Humans (in J)

This is the other clause that is sandwhiched in betwen the three festivals in the J text of Exodus 34; I should say it is the only clause, now that we have concluded that the Sabbath clause talks about the Passover festival. The question is how exactly is the donation of the firstborn related to Passover? We will start with Exodus 12 & 13. Exodus 12 & 13 contain a series of proto-Israel for-generation commands and they are attributed to the E source (if they are not E, they are J; they are definitely extremely old and they don't fit the profile of P).

Ex 12:24 You shall observe this thing for an ordinance to you and to your sons forever. It shall happen when you have come to the land which Yahweh will give you, according as he has promised, that you shall keep this service.

It will happen, when your children ask you, `What do you mean by this service?` that you shall say, `It is the sacrifice of Yahweh`s Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians, and spared our houses.`

Ex 13:3 Moses said to the people, Remember this day, in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand Yahweh brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. This day you go forth in the month Abib.

It shall be, when Yahweh shall bring you into the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep this service in this month. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to Yahweh. Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and no leavened bread shall be seen with you, neither shall there be yeast seen with you, in all your borders.

You shall tell your son in that day, saying, `It is because of that which Yahweh did for me when I came forth out of Egypt.` It shall be for a sign to you on your hand, and for a memorial between your eyes, that the law of Yahweh may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand Yahweh has brought you out of Egypt. You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year.

It shall be, when Yahweh shall bring you into the land of the Canaanite, as he swore to you and to your fathers, and shall give it you, that you shall set apart to Yahweh all that opens the womb, and every firstborn which you have that comes from an animal. The males shall be Yahweh`s. Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck; and you shall redeem all the firstborn of man among your sons.

It shall be, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, `What is this?` that you shall tell him, `By strength of hand Yahweh brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage; and it happened, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that Yahweh killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of animal. Therefore I sacrifice to Yahweh all that opens the womb, being males; but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.` It shall be for a sign on your hand, and for symbols between your eyes: for by strength of hand Yahweh brought us forth out of Egypt.

Note how I divided these accounts into seven sections:

1A - Observance of the Pesach 12:24
1B - Explanation of Pesach to son 12:25-27
2 - Moses' preamble to the people vs 13:3-4
3A - Law of Matzah vs 13:5-7
3B - Explanation of Matzah to son vs 13:8-10
4A- Law of Firstborn vs 13:11-13
4B - Explanation of Firstborn to son vs 13:14-16

1A - Observance of Passover Sacrifice. This command does not tell us to offer a sacrifice to God named Pesach. Rather, it tells us HOW to offer our sacrifices to God. The fact that we will be bringing sacrifices to Yahweh at regular intervals during the year or on occasion depending on our economic status is assumed because animal sacrifices were virtually the only form of worship available in those days. What E is commanding us here is the form of worship: It explains that the blood of the sacrifice shall be placed on the lintel and doorpost of our homes and that we are not to depart our homes on the night of the offering. When shall we offer up this sacrifice ("Zebach")? It does not say! Do these rules apply to all sacrifices? Yes, That is precisely the point! Whenever we offer a sacrifice to yahweh, this procedure should be followed.

1B - Pesach. We are to explain the son that Israelite sacrifices our called "Passover" becasue Yahweh hopped over our houses when he smote the Egyptian firstborn. Again, we are not supplying a reason for offering sacrifices in general; this is self understood. Rather we are explaining to him why the sacrifice is carried out in this paricular way.

2 - Preamble. Moses is about to introduce two laws to Israel, the law of Matzah and the law of Firstborn. Of these, only the law of Matzah is time-specific to the month of "Abib". Therefore, he frist reminds the people that they are currently in the month of Abib and then he mentions the Matzah law FIRST which is specific to the month of Abib and tells the people to remember to perform Matzah in the Abib month annually.

3 - Matzah. The Law of Matzah is described here as applying to a seven-day period in the month of Abib. It also says that the seventh day of the Matzah observance is also a festival day. "Festival" or "feast" in biblical literature (Chag) always means the sacrifice of an animal. It does not specify when precisely to start the seven-day Matzah festival if we assume that "chodesh" means month. There is a possibility, though, that Chodesh here means new-moon and so the seven days start at the new moon in the Abib season.

4 - Firstborn. The Firstborn law is not time-specific. In 3A (13:5) it says "you shall work this work in this month" but the firstborn law is not applied to any specifc time. This suggests that all firstborn, regardless of when they are born, shall be offered up to yahweh in due time. And so if a cow gives birth immediately following one's return from temple, he could wait until his next temple journey to offer up the firstborn to yahweh.

In what way does the firstborn belong to Yahweh? This is not specified in any JE literature but it is explained in D (Deutoronomy 5:19). It says that we should sanctify the firstborn to yahweh and eat it before yahweh on an annual basis. In P (Numbers 18:15-18) it is explained that the Firstborn is to be sacrificed in the temple, the blood and sacrifice brought up on the altar to yahweh, and the flesh given to the priests. This contradicts D who says "you shall eat it", not the priest. Most likely, the JE concept of Firstborn was a mix between the two. Some parts of the animal were given to the priest and some were eaten by the owner. It is even possible that D does not mean that the owner should eat everything and P does not mean that the priest should eat everything and so there is no disagreement between the sources.

The question now remains: Does the firstborn offering fit the bill of the Passover sacrifice? Absolutely! Recall that the Passover sacrifice mentioned in Exodus 12:24-27 is NOT time-specific. It describes the rules of sacrifices in general and so these rules apply to firsborn sacrifices as well. Furthermore, there is no mention anywhere in JE as to the profile of feastly sacrifices in general (Zebach chag) and the Pesach in particular. And so it is entirely possible that the sacrifice of the Matzah festival (commonly called Pesach) as well as the feastly sacrifices of the other two annual festivals were intended to be firstborns.

This explains very well why the law of firstborn animals mentioned in the Ten Articles is listed right after the Law of the Matzah festival. This is because the firstborn sacrifice is part and parcel of the Matzah festival; it is the firstborn that is offered up as a "passover" sacrifice to yahweh. This also very neatly explains why article 8 (not to leave the passover sacrifice until the morning) is not mentioned until after J finished enumerating all three festivals. This is because all three sacrifices are called Passover, not just the Matzah festival sacrifice. Lastly we now understand that J and E do not differ in their concept of article 8. In E it says "The fat of my feast shall not be left over until the morning" not mentioning what kind of feast. If this applies to any feast, then according to the traditional distinction between Pesach and a general sacrifice, E article 8 is much broader than the J article 8 and almost contravenes it. But according to our explanation, there is no difference between a passover sacrifice and a general sacrifice. All sacrifices are called Passover and they all come from firstborns, if available.

Commentary on Article Five In plowing time and in harvest time you shall rest: You shall observe a septuple feast with the first-fruits of wheat harvest.

You immediately notice that I have taken the phrase "In plowing time and in harvest time you shall rest" and removed it from the end of the previous verse and instead appended it to the beginning of a new verse. This, however, is an obvious corollary to our previous comclusion that this phrase talks about the seasonal festivals of Shavuoth and Sukkoth and NOT the prohibited works of the Sabbath.

What might surprise you even more is the translation of the word "Shabuoth". It is commonly understood to mean "weeks" and it is almost certain that this was the understanding of P (Numbers 23:15) and D (Deut 16:9). But there are some serious problems with this interpretation.

1. It does not specify how many weeks. It is like calling the Pesach festival, a festival of months instead of a festival of Abib. That would not give us any idea at all as to when to celebrate the festival and neither does the term "festival of weeks".

2. All the other festivals in both J and E Ten Articles are described by adjectives preceded by "the": The Festival of Matzah, The Festival of Gathering, The Festival of Harvest. This is the only festival that omits the Hebrew letter He which means "the".

3. It is the only festival, named differently by J and E. Festival of Unleaveaned-Bread and Festival of Gathering are agreed upon by both texts but this one is named Festival of Harvest by E and Festival of Weeks by J. In fact, J itself associated it with the harvest season just a second ago "you shall rest in plowing time and in harvest time".

4. Moreover, it's not just a name difference. The very defintion of the Festival changes according to J. Take a look at the two versions of this article:

J: You shall make a festival of weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest.
E: You shall keep the festival of harvest of the firstfruits of your work that you sow in the field.

In E, the festival is defined by the season of the firstfruit harvest just like the Festival of Gathering is defined by the season of gathering from the threshing floor and winery into the house. In J, the festival is defined by "weeks". We still don't know how many weeks and exactly how to count them but we know that it is defined by counting a number weeks from a fixed point in time. This stands in stark contrast the E definiton that this festival is just another seasonal festival that depends directly on the season.

Therefore, I a proposing that an error occured over the generations in the understanding and perhaps even in the spelling and pronunciation of the Hebrew term "Shabuoth". It originally was intended to mean not "weeks" but simply an entity that consists of seven units. The English word for this is "septuple". The Hebrew pronunciation of this word would have been "Shibe'ath". "Chag Shibe'ath" would thus be translated as "seven day feast". This festival would thus be very similar in structure to the Matzah festival held in the month of Abib: it lasts for seven days, the feast day (sacrifice of the animal) is on the seventh day and the first six days are celebrated with consumption of Matzah or Firstfruits of Wheat. What is the name of this festival? That is not given!

* This explains why there is no "he" preceding Shibe'ath. That's because Shibe'ath is NOT a proper name.

* It explains how the names of J and E are really compatible. The proper name is Festival of Harvest in both accounts but the J account omits this detail, even though it does hint at it by mentioning the word "harvest" in its description and in the introductory clause "you shall rest in plowing time and in harvest time.

* There is no counting towards the festival and there are no weeks involved according to both J and E. This is a seasonal festival just like the others.

How did this meaning come to be distorted over the ages? Simple! J and E material was codified (or atleast had begun to be codified) at the tribal age of Israel circa 900 BCE or earlier. Tribes in those days were entities unto themselves and there is even a very plausible possibility that not all tribes honored the Tabernacle of Shilo exclusively. Even if they did all sacrifice in Shiloh only, there couldn't have been too much coordination among them as to the timing of national festivals. Thus, Harvest season or Gathering season for one tribe does not necessarilly cooincide with that of another tribe. And so they would wind up all celebrating a seven-day feasts in Abib and in Harvest but not at the same time. This explains how it is possible for such a divergence of practice to exist without there being an clear consensus as to how to date the Harvest festival. After, the dissolution of the northern kingdom, perhaps as late as 650 BCE, the issue could have been taken up by the Judean priests (who took on the reponsibilities of the second temple scribe/rabbi as well) and they decided to count seven weeks from the start of the grain harvest season (month of Iyar/Ziv). Even this counting system was not agreed upon by both P and D. In P, the count is made from the morrow of Sabbath (Leviticus 23:15) and in D the count is made from the start of applying the sickle to the standing grain (Deut 16:9).

Finally, I would like to point out another difference between the P and D description of Shavuoth. Accroding to P we are to count seven "sabbaths" and according to D we are to count seven weeks. Is it possible that in the P tradition, the J text (Ex 34:22) read shin/beth/taw and not the Masoretic spelling of shin/beth/ayin/taw? Perhaps! that would neatly explain why they preferred to use the term Sabbath instead of the simpler term "Shabuah" meaning week.

Article Six Commentary. "And (you shall make) the feast of Gathering at the year`s end". According to our aforementioned understanding of the term Shabuoth, the question here is: is J implying that the Gathering Festival is not held for seven days like the previous two? This is uncertain! Even though it would seem at first glance that this is the case, it doesn't have to be this way. It could be understood either way and I will therefore not discuss this matter further at this point.

Article Seven Commentray. You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. Rabbinic opinion that Matzah only applies to Passover would be hard-pressed at the wording of this article. It does not mention Passover; it says that no sacrifice (of any of the three festivals) may be eaten with UB. According to our position that there are no major differnces among the three festivals, this article is properly worded and is meant literally: no sacrifice, even a sacrifice not related to the three festivals, may be offered up and eaten with UB.