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.
II.II.3. There is another and much more important difference in the
case of the animal sacrifice. Of this the older practice knows
only two kinds apart from extraordinary varieties, which may be
left out of account. These two are the burnt-offering (`Olah) and
the thank-offering (Shelem, Zebah, Zebah Shelamim). In the case of
the first the whole animal is offered on the altar; in the other
God receives, besides the blood, only an honorary portion, while
the rest of the flesh is eaten by the sacrificial guests. Now it
is worth noticing how seldom the burnt-offering occurs alone. It
is necessarily so in the case of human sacrifice (Genesis xxii. 2
seq.; Judges xi. 31; /1/ 2Kings iii. 27; Jeremiah xix.5);
-- Footnote
3. It is probable that Jephthah expected a human creature and not an
animal to meet him from his house.
-- Footnote
otherwise it is not usual (Genesis viii. 20; Numbers xxiii. 1 seq.;
Judges vi. 20, 26, xiii. 16, 23; 1Samuel vii. 9 seq.; 1Kings
iii. 4, xviii. 34,38); /1/ moreover, all the examples
-- Footnote
1. In the above list of passages no notice is taken of the
_sacrificium juge_ of 2Kings xvi.15. The statement in 1Kings iii. 4
is perhaps to be taken along with iii. 15, but does not become at
all more credible on that account. Of course it is understood that
only those passages are cited here in which mention is made of
offerings actually made, and not merely general statements about
one or more kinds of offering. The latter could very well fix
attention upon the `Olah alone without thereby throwing any light
upon the question as to the actual practice.
-- Footnote
just cited are extraordinary or mythical in their character, a
circumstance that may not affect the evidence of the existence of
the custom in itself, but is important as regards the statistics of
its frequency. As a rule, the `Olah occurs only in conjunction
with Zebahim, and when this is the case the latter are in the
majority and are always in the plural, while on the other hand
the first is frequently in the singular. /2/
-- Footnote
1. Exodus x. 25, xviii. 12, xxiv. 5, xxxii. 6; Joshua viii. 31;
Judges xx. 26, xxi. 4; 1Samuel vi. 14 seq., x. 8, xiii. 9-12;
2Samuel vi. 17 seq., xxiv. 23-25, 1Kings iii. 15, viii. 63 seq.;
2Kings v. 17, x. 24, 25. The zeugma in Judges xx. 26, xxi.4 is
inconsistent with the older _usus loquendi_. The proper name
for the holocaust appears to be KLYL (Deuteronomy xxxiii. 10;
1Samuel vii.9) not (LH. It is impossible to decide whether
the sacrificial due in all sorts of Zebah was the same,
but most probably it was not. Probably the Shelamim are a
more solemn kind of sacrifice than the simple Zebah. The word 'fat'
is used in Genesis iv. 4; Exodus xxiii. 18 in a very general sense.
It is not quite clear what is meant by the blessing of the Zebah
in 1Samuel ix. 13; perhaps a kind of grace before meat.
-- Footnote
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