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  • From: Bearpecs AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Re: Dating of Leviticus
  • Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 21:22:47 EDT


In a message dated 6/21/2004 5:21:53 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
bsr15 AT cantsl.canterbury.ac.nz writes:

I recently purchased two of the three commentaries on Leviticus by Milgrom



I think what you mean is two of the three volumes in Milgrom's commentary on
Leviticus (Anchor Bible).

I am a BIG fan of Milgrom. I find his approach to be a great balance of
respect for established scholarship and willingness to think outside the
box.
Regarding the dating of Leviticus, I find it refreshing that he sees the
text
as developing from two distinct but related "schools" (P and H) rather than
an individual author or authors, with one school (H) revising the text at
several points in time. I found his reasoning compelling for assigning some
strata to an early period and others quite late. His understanding of
Leviticus'
approach to social justice (particularly the relationship between sabbatical
years, jubilee, laws of slavery, etc.) is brilliant. For the purposes of
this list, I should point out his sensitivity to the nuances of vocabulary,
particularly the use by different sources of different words for similar
concepts or the same word for different concepts. He uses comparative
Semitic
philology judiciously and well.
Note that Barukh Levine, who did the Anchor Bible commentary on Numbers,
differs from Milgrom on a number of important issues. It is interesting
therefore to read in the Anchor Bible commentary series Milgrom on Leviticus
and
Levine on Numbers; and then read in the Jewish Publication Society commentary

series Levine on Leviticus and Milgrom on Numbers.








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