Since I receive the all-in-one posting of b-hebrew, the discussion on
the priestly stratum has already progressed past the comments that I
would have made to the first post by Lisbeth S. Fried. Moreover, it
seems that her questions were somewhat rhetorical in the sense that
she already had her own answers for them.
A couple of points that I would like to add:
She is correct when she mentions that some methodological circularity is
present: the dating of the Pentateuchal sources is directly tied to the
reconstructing of the history of the Israelite priesthood, which is tied
to dating sources as well as to other presuppositions regarding the role
of the high places, Josiah's reform, Ezekiel's program in ch. 40-48, and
the nature of cultic development in general. Wellhausen's key texts and
theses all revolve around the history of the cult: place of worship,
sacrifices, sacred feasts, priests and Levites, and the endowment of the
clergy.
One name that has not yet been mentioned is Jacob Milligram
(particularly his seminal work, (Levitical Terminology). I think that he
and others have convincingly demonstrated that the language in Ezekiel
40-48 presupposes the technical cultic language and practices of P and
thus topples one of the linchpin arguments for the relative dating order
of JEDP.
Rodney
--
Dr. Rodney K. Duke
Dept. of Phil. & Rel., Appalachian State Univ., Boone, NC 28608
[b-hebrew] re: priestly stratum,
Rodney K. Duke, 02/26/2003