Priestly Literature, Law, and Women in the Pentateuch

Primary Concerns of Priestly Literature

Priestly literature is primarily concerned, appropriately, with matters pertaining to priestly law. Among its central concerns are the separation between the holy and profane domains and the parallel difference between ritual and moral impurity. Rituals, including sacrifice, are also covered, as are other elements pertaining to right worship. The unifying feature of these issues is the way priestly law differentiated the Jewish people from their neighbors, and especially the way it helped to unify, protect, and preserve Hebrew culture during periods of exile or bondage, as described in Exodus.

Leviticus in particular covers matters related to dietary law, establishing the dietary practices that would set the Hebrew people apart from their neighbors. However, Leviticus also addresses the core elements that differentiate Hebrew ritual from pagan ones, such as the prohibition against idol worship. All priestly literature anchors ritual and practice in a comprehensive cosmological and theological framework, providing the reason or logic behind custom and tradition. The divisions between the sacred and the profane were drawn to give the people clear, unequivocal rules to obey, with the priestly classes endowed with the power to communicate and enforce those laws.

Leviticus, Exodus, and Numbers use differing degrees of detail when focusing on priestly law. For example, Leviticus covers ritual and the demarcation between sacred and profane using specifics such as the admonishment against profane language, echoing the Ten Commandments in Lev. 19:2. Numbers, on the other hand, is defined by its titular references to pragmatic lessons in constructing physical areas of worship—the means by which to differentiate the sacred from the profane, such as the construction of the tabernacle, which appears throughout Priestly literature. Priestly literature also begins to clarify the line between ritual and moral purity, showing how observance of strict rites alone cannot confer pure moral states, and that sin is a product of human action and free will.

Martin Noth and the Deuteronomistic History

In The Deuteronomistic History, Martin Noth argues for a common historical construct and continuity between Deuteronomy and the Former Prophets canon: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. Deuteronomy would otherwise fall under the rubric of historiography, and the Former Prophets as prophetic texts. However, Noth bases his theory on textual, linguistic, and historical analyses, noting similarities among the Former Prophets that point to a possible common author. That author, Noth argues, assumes a historical and purposeful perspective in constructing a cohesive narrative relevant to the Hebrew people, particularly during times of political turmoil. While Noth's theories continue to provide a compelling perspective for reading the texts of the Hebrew Bible and recognizing historical, cultural, and semantic continuities, there is scant evidence to support the existence of a single Deuteronomic author.

Subsequent scholarship on Deuteronomy and the Former Prophets has shifted in focus while incorporating Noth's theories. There have been several revisions, including Peterson's theory of a common school of thought that provides thematic unity but not necessarily common authorship, and an impetus to construct narrative history. Another is Kratz's "redactional history" approach (Schmid & Person, 2012). Both of these build on the historicity of the Former Prophets, introducing potentially more suitable labels such as story and proclamation—labels that underscore the essential difference between empirical methods in the construction of a historical body of knowledge and other epistemologies grounded in theology and revealed scripture.

Three Theories of Israel's Emergence in Canaan

The three main theories about the emergence of Israel in the Land of Canaan are the conquest theory, the peaceful infiltration theory, and the peasant uprising theory. All three propose different methods or patterns of settlement, showing how the identity of the people was constructed from that of disparate tribes into a single unifying nation of Israel.

The conquest theory is primarily based on textual evidence from the Book of Joshua, coupled with evidence from the historical and archaeological record. First proposed by William Albright, the conquest theory suggests that the twelve tribes of Israel united under Joshua, who subdued the Canaanite people using the bellicose methods described in Joshua. Variations of the conquest theory include assessments of data showing that there was not one but several successive periods of conquest that established Hebrew dominance in Canaan, leading ultimately to the emergence of Israel.

The peaceful infiltration theory is less grounded in the Book of Joshua and more in a synthesis of other Pentateuchal texts, including Samuel and Kings. Material from Joshua also factors in to show how the tribes of Israel peacefully infiltrated Canaan over time, culminating in a final and decisive victory—albeit including some measure of violent conquest—described in Joshua and, to a lesser degree, Judges. The peaceful infiltration theory proposes a gradual process by which the tribes of Israel became the dominant culture through patterns akin to colonialism and acculturation. Archaeological and historical evidence can be used to bolster this theory as well. Albrecht Alt is the originator of this approach.

First suggested by George Mendenhall, the peasant uprising theory approaches the emergence of Israel from a sociological perspective more so than a historical or archaeological one. This theory presumes that the people of Israel were one and the same as the people of Canaan, sharing an ethnic identity and tribal affiliation, but that socioeconomic class conflicts led to the revolts described in Joshua.