g. Chap, xxv, 39-xxvi, 2. (1) ver. 39 ; (2) ver. 40-42; (3) ver. 43 ; (4) ver. 44, 45 ; (5) ver. 46 : (6) ver. 47-49 ; (7) ver. 50; (8) ver. 51, 52; (9) ver. 53; (10) ver. 54.
It will be observed that the above arrangement is only completed by omitting the latter part of ch. xxiii and the whole of ch. xxiv. But it is clear that ch. xxiii, 39-44 is an addition, containing further instructions respect- ing the Feast of Tabernacles. Verse 39, as conijiared with verse 34, shows that the same feast is referred to; while ver. 37, 38 are no less manifestly the original con- clusion of the laws respecting the feasts which are enu- merated in the previous part of the chapter. Ch. xxiv, again, has a peculiar character of its own. First, we have a command concerning the oil to be used in the lamps belonging to the tabernacle, but tliis is only a repetition of an enactment already given in Exod. xxvii, 20, 21, which seems to be its natural place. Then fol- low directions about the shewbread. These do not oc- cur previously. In Exoc'.us the shewbread is spoken of always as a matter of course, concerning which no regulations arc necessary (comp. Exod. xxv, 30 ; xxxv, 13; xxxix, 30). Easily come certain enactments aris- ing out of a historical occurrence. The son of an Eg^-p- tian father by an Israelitish woman blasphemes the name of Jehovah, and Moses is commanded to stone him in conseciuence; and this circumstance is the occa- • sion of the f(>llowing laws being given : (1) That a blas- phemer, whether Israelite or stranger, is to be stoned (comp. l*;xod. xxii, 28) ; (2) That he that kills any man shall surely i)e put to death (comp. Exod. xxi, 12-27) ; (3) That he that kills a beast shall make it good (not found where we might have expected it, in the series of laws Exod. xxi. 28-xxii. 16) ; (4) That if a man cause a blemish in his neighbor he shall be requited in like manner (comp. Exod. xxi. 22-25). (5) We have then a repetition in an inverse order of verses 17, 18; and (6) the injunction that there shall be one law for the stran- ger and the Israelite; (7) finally, a brief notice of the infliction of the punishment in the case of the son of Shelomith. who blasphemed. Not another instance is to be found in the whole collection in which any histor- ical circumstance is made the occasion of enacting a law. Then, again, the laws (2), (3), (4), (5), are mostly rep- etitions of existing laws, and seem here to have no con- nection with the event to which they are referred. Either, therefore, some other circumstances took place at the same time with which we are not acquainted, or these isolated laws, detached from their proper connec-
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tion, were grouped together here, in obedience perhaps to some traditional association.
(VI.) These decalogues are now fitly closed by words iii promise and threat — promise of largest, richest bless- ing to those that hearken unto and do these command- ments; threats of utter destruction to those that break the covenant of their God. Thus the second great di- vision of the law closes like the first, except that the first part, or Book of the Covenant, ends (Exod. xxiii, 20-33) with promises of blessing only. There nothing is said of the judgments which are to foUow transgres- sion, because as yet the covenant had not been made. But when once the nation had freely entered into that covenant, they bound themselves to accept its sanctions, p its penalties, as well as its rewards. Nor can we won- der if in these sanctions the punishment of transgression holds a larger place than the rewards of obedience ; for already was it but too plain that "Israel would not obey." From the first they were a stiff-necked and re- Ijellious race, and from the first the doom of disobedience hung like a fiery sword above their heads.
(VII.) Oh Vows. — The legislation is evidently com- l^lcted in the last words of the preceding chapter: '• These are the statutes, and judgments, and laws which .lehovah made between him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by the hand of jMoses." Chap, xxvii is an appendix, again closed, however, by a similar formu- la, which at least shows that the transcriber considered it to be an integral part of the original Mosaic legisla- tion, though he might be at a loss to assign it its place. Bertheau classes it with the other less regularly grouped laws at the beginning of the book of Numbers. He treats the section Lev. xxvii-Numb. x, 10 as a series of supplements to the Sinaitic legislation.
II. Integrity, — This is very generally admitted. Those critics even who are in favor of different docu- ments in the Pentateuch assign nearly the whole of this book to one -wTiter, the-Elohist, or author of the original document. According to Knobel, the only portions which are not to be referred to the Elohist are — jMoses's rebuke of Aaron because the goat of the sin-offering had been biu-nt (x, 16-20) ; the group of laws in chap, xvii-xx; certain additional enactments respecting the Sabbath and the feasts of Weeks and of Tabernacles (xxiii, part of ver. 2, from T\MV^ i'n"1"2, and ver. 3, ver, 18, 19, 22, 39^4); the punishments ordained for blas- phemy, murder, etc, (xxiv, 10-23) ; the directions re- specting the sabbatical year (xxv, 18-22), and the prom- ises and warnings contained in ch. xxvi.