preters felt called to comment upon were apparent inconsistencies or con-
tradictions within the biblical text. Take, for example, the law in Exodus
about the Passover meal:Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month
they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a
household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor
in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number
of people who eat of it. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old
male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats....Theyshall
eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with
unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in
water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs.
(Exod. 12:3-9)This passage could hardly be less ambiguous: the Passover meal was
to feature the meat of a lamb (though, apparently, goat meat was also ac-
ceptable, “from the sheep or from the goats”), and it was not to be
boiled, but roasted. But if so, then how is one to explain this passage
from Deuteronomy?You shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the Lordyour God, from the
flock and the herd,at the place that the Lordwill choose as a dwelling
for his name. You shallboil itand eat it at the place that the Lordyour
God will choose; the next morning you may go back to your tents.
(Deut. 16:2, 7)The phrase “from the flock and the herd” presumably means that a calf or
a bull would be just as acceptable as a lamb or goat, and whichever animal
was chosen, its meat was apparently to be boiled — precisely what the ear-
lier passage had forbidden. What was a person to do?
The author of the book of Chronicles, an early postexilic work, seems
to have been aware of the contradiction between these two texts, since he
addressed at least part of it in his own history:They [the Israelites] slaughtered the Passover offering, and the priests
dashed the blood that they received from them, while the Levites did the
skinning....Thentheyboiled the Passover offering in fireaccording to
the ordinance....(2Chron.35:13)160james l. kugelEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
Tuesday, October 09, 2012 12:03:59 PM