With regard to the section ch. xvii-xx, Knobel does not consider the whole of it to have been borrowed from the same sources. Ch. xvii he believes was mtroduced here by the Jehovist from some ancient document, whUe he admits, nevertheless, that it contains certain Elohis- tic forms of expression, as "lb3 bis, "aU flesh," ver. 14; \bS3, "soul" (in the sense of "person"), ver. 10-12, 15 il^n, "beast," ver. 13, 'i^'^ii^, "offering," ver. 4; n^'H rnni3, "a sweet savor," verse 6, "a statute forever," and " after your generations," ver, 7. But it cannot be from the Elohist, he argues, because (a) he would have placed it after ch. vii, or at least after ch. xv, {b) he would not have repeated the prohibition of blood, etc., which he had already given; (c) he would have taken a more favorable view of his nation than that implied in ver. 7 ; and, lastly, (d) the phraseology has something of the coloring of ch. xviii-xx and xxvi, which are cer- tainly not Elohistic. Such reasons are too transparent- ly unsatisfactory to need serious discussion. He ob- serves further that the chapter is not altogetlier Mosaic. The first enactment (ver. 1-7) docs indeed apply only to Israelites, and holds good, therefore, for the time of Mo- ses. But the remaining three contemplate the case of strangers living among the people, and have a reference to all time.
Ch. xviii-xx, though they have a Jehovistic colormg,
cannot have been originally from the Jehovist. The following peculiarities of language, which are worthy of notice, according to Knobel {Exod. und Leviticus er- llart, in the "Kitrzrj. Exeg. JIdbuch." 1857), forbid such a supposition, the more so as they occur nowhere else in the O. T. : "n"i, " lie down to" and " gender," xviii, 23 ; xix, 10, XX, IG, PSt^i, "confusion," xviii, 23; xx, 12; Z^ph, "gather," xix, 9 ; xxiii, 22; U'lB, "grape," xix, 10 ; il"i5<"u3, " near kinswomen," xviii, 17 ; r^lpS, "scourged," xix, 20; tlirJEn, "free," ibid.; "pJ'i? r3ri3, " print marks," xix, 28 ; X'lpil, " vomit," in the metaphorical sense, xviii, 25, 28; xx, 22; ilh'}V, "un- circumcised," as applied to fruit-trees, xix, 23; and rTlbilS, "born," xviii, 9, 11 ; as well as the Egyptian word (for such it probably is) TSipi'O, "garment of di- vers sorts," which, however, does occur once beside in Dent, xxii, 11.
According to Bunsen, chap, xix is a genuine part of the Mosaic legislation, given, however, in its original form, not on Sinai, but on the east side of the Jordan ; while the general arrangement of the Blosaic laws may perhaps be as late as the time of the judges. He re- gards it as a very ancient document, based on the Two Tables, of which, and especially of the first, it is, in fact, an extension, consisting of two decalogues and one pen- tad of laws. Certain expressions in it he considers as im- plying that the people were already settled in the land (ver, 9, 10, 13, 15), while, on the other hand, ver. 23 suj>- poses aj'utui-e occupation of the land. Hence he con- cludes that the revision of this document by the tran- scribers was incomplete; whereas all the passages may fairly be interpreted as looking forward to a future set- tlement in Canaan. The great simplicity and lofty moral character of this section compel us, says Bunsen, to refer it at least to the earlier time of the judges, if not to that of Joshua himself,
III. A uthenticitg, etc. — Some critics, however, such as De Wette, Gramberg, Vatke, and others, have strenu- ously endeavored to prove that the laws contained in Leviticus originated in a period much later than is usu- ally supposed; but the following observations sufficient- ly support their Mosaical origin, and show that the whole of Leviticus is historically genuine. The la^vs in chap, i-vii contain manifest vestiges of the Mosaical pe- riod. Here, as well as in Exodus, when the priests are mentioned, Aaron and his sons are named; as, for in- stance, in chap, i, 4, 7, 8, 11, etc. The tabernacle is the sanctuary, and no other place of worship is mentioned anywhere (i, 3 ; iii, 8, 13, etc.). The Israelites are al- ways described as a congregation (iv, 13 sq.), under the command of the elders of the congregation (iv, 16), or of a rider (iv, 22). Everything has reference to life in a camp, and that camp commanded by Moses (iv, 12, 21; vi, 11; xiv, 8 ; xvi, 26, 28). A later writer could scarcely have placed himself so entirely in the times, and so completely adopted the modes of thinking of the age of Moses; especially if, as has been asserted, these laws gradually sprung from the usages of the people, and were written down at a later period with the object of sanctioning them by the authority of Moses. They so entirely befit the JMosaical age that, in order to adapt them to the requirements of any later period, they must have undergone some modification, accommodation, and a peculiar mode of interpretation. This inconvenience would have been avoided by a person -who intended to forge laws in favor of the later modes of Levitical wor- ship. A forger vrould have endeavored to identify the past as much as possible with the present.