The Chicken or the Egg?
There's an old riddle that asks the question, "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" With the advent of the Theory of Evolution, we now have a good answer: it was the egg.
And that brings me to this week's parashah. This week, there are 100 verses, of which at least 85 describe the clothing of the priesthood and the process of sanctifying them. The other 15 have to do with the Temple objects or the relationship between the priesthood and God.
This is definitely a priestly text.
But here's a question to ponder:
Was the Temple and the priesthood and how it all functioned a result of the Torah, or was the Torah's description of all of this a result of the existing priesthood?
Hold that thought for a moment, and let's look over the other books of the prophets as part of the overall issue.
Who Wrote it, and When?
We don't really know who wrote most of the prophetic texts. The Jewish sages debated this, trying to assign them to prophets who survived the exile, giving Zechariah the lion's share of the writings.
The problem with having Zachariah or any of the prophets being part of the Men of the Great Assembly has to do with an impossibly long lifespan:
The books of the prophets were written centuries after the events had long since passed. One possible exception to this is Daniel, which has a number of failed prophecies, and so it is relegated to the collection called "Writings".
One problem is when a prophet, who supposedly wrote the text, dies in the book before it is done! Samuel and Isaiah are examples of such texts.
Some of the stories in those books were written from a more modern viewpoint, inserting communities who would not have been around at the time, or demeaning certain groups who would be giving problems to the Jews at a later period.
The Torah Position
The Torah also speaks of things that are obviously much later in the future, be it of King Og, having a large iron bed, which, while it is an important status symbol, it would not have existed in the Bronze Age. Nor would Abraham and Rebecca be riding camels. And some of the nations mentioned also make it a problem, as well as using phrases like this one:
And, of course, Moses is never mentioned in the Book of Genesis, and he dies before the end of the Book of Deuteronomy.
If you summarize all of these points, you get the same problems as you do with all of the other prophets, in that the stories may have been part of a long oral tradition, but they were written much later and with views of their times being imposed upon the text itself.
The Priestly Cult
In this week's parashah you have God, before He gives the Decalogue, establishing a special family, one that will lead the Jews forever. Nowhere in the Book of Exodus does God use the Tribe of Judah for anything but part of a census. This priestly writing is only concerned with elevating the priests, as we read in Exodus 19:6 - "You shall be a kingdom of priests..."
Some of the details of the priesthood smack of Babylonian influence, such as providing fresh bread daily to their Gods, and they could only eat it while pure. The term "Lechem" is akin to the Assyrian term akal, and their special breads for the Gods were "akal panu", while the Torah version uses "lechem panim". And both were offering these breads in multiples of a dozen.
So this begs the question:
Did the priestly cult and all of its trappings and their power and prosperity, as well as the opulence required for their workplace, did that come from the Torah?
Or, more likely, was the priestly portions of the texts written with a justification of the existence of the priestly cult and operations?
Remember, few priests were required for the day-to-day operations of the Temple, and this meant that a typical priest would only work in the temple once every few years, if that.
I am suggesting that this week's portion was authored by the priestly authors, and was done so specifically as part of a power-play.
Ask yourselves the question: Does a God really need so much golden furniture and eating utensils and fancy gems for His priesthood? And isn't demanding that the High Priest wear a crown that says "Holy to YHVH" (Ex. 28:36) a bit over the top for a God?
It should make one think.
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