Prolegomena to the History of IsraelWellhausen, Julius
Religion
Prolegomena to the History of Israel
Wellhausen, Julius
Bible. Old Testament -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.; Jews -- History -- To 70 A.D.; Judaism -- History -- To 70 A.D.
The phenomenon that in the Law meal is by preference offered raw,
while in the earlier period, even as an adjunct of the burnt-offering,
it was presented baked, belongs to the same category. The latter
is the case in Judges vi. 19 at least, and the statement of 1Samuel
i. 24 is also to be understood in the same sense; the sacrificer
brings meal along with him in order to bake it into _maccah_ on the spot
(Ezekiel xlvi. 20). But he may bring along with him common, that is
leavened, cakes also (1Samuel x. 3), which seem originally by no
means to have been considered unfit to be offered as in Leviticus
ii. 11. For under this law of Leviticus ii. even the presentation of
the shewbread would be inexplicable, and moreover it is certain
that at first the loaves of the feast of weeks were offerings,
properly so called, and not merely dues to the priests.
According, to Amos iv. 5, leavened bread was made use of precisely
at a particularly solemn sacrifice, and a reminiscence of this
usage has been preserved even in Leviticus vii. 13, although of course
without any practical weight being attached to it. /1/
-- Footnote
1. The loaves are passed over in silence in Leviticus vii. 29 seq.,
although it is in this very place that the matter of presenting
on the part of the offerer is most fully described. And when it
is said (vii. 12),
"If he offer it for a thanksgiving (Todah), then he shall offer
with it unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers
anointed with oil and fine flour (LXX), mingled with oil ;"
vii. 13, "[With] leavened cakes shall he offer as a gift with the
thank-offering of the Todah,"
the suspicion very readily occurs that verse 12 is an authentic
interpretation prefixed, to obviate beforehand the difficulty
presented by verse 13, and that similarly the first (l in verse 13
is also a later correction, which does not harmonise well by any
means with the second. Verse 13 connects itself better with
verse 11 than with verse 12.--Exod xxxiv. 25.
-- Footnote
Moreover, massah also means, properly speaking, only the bread
that is prepared in haste and in the most primitive manner for
immediate use, and originally implies no contrast with leaven, but
simply with the more artificial and tedious manners of producing
ordinary bread /2/
-- Footnote
2. Compare Genesis xviii. 6 with xix.3.
-- Footnote
In the Priestly Code the materials are finer, but they are as
much as possible left in their raw condition; both are steps
in advance.
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