Chap. xxiii., a calendar of sacred seasons, consists of two main elements which can easily be distinguished from one another, the one being derived from P and the other from H. To the former belongs the fuller and more elaborate description of vv. 4-8, 21, 23-28; to the latter, vv. 9-20, 22, 39-44. Characteristic of the priestly calendar are (I) the enumeration of "holy convocations," (2) the prohibition of all work, (3) the careful determination of the date by the day and month, (4) the mention of "the offer ings made by fire to Yahweh," and (5) the stereotyped form of the regulations. The older calendar, on the other hand, knows nothing of "holy convocations," nor of abstinence from work; the time of the feasts, which are clearly connected with agricul ture, is only roughly defined with reference to the harvest (cf. Exod. xxiii. 14 sqq., xxxiv. 22; Deut. xvi. 9 sqq.). The calendar of P comprises (a) the Feast of Passover and the Unleavened Cakes, vv. 4-8; (b) a fragment of Pentecost, v. 21 ; (c) the Feast of Trumpets, vv. 23-25; (d) the Day of Atonement, vv. 26-32; and (e) the Feast of Tabernacles, vv. 33-36, with a subscription in vv. 37,38. With these have been incorporated the older regu lations of H on the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, vv. 9-2o, which have been retained in place of P's account (cf. v. 21), and on the Feast of Tabernacles, vv. 39-44, the latter being clearly intended to supplement vv. 33-36.
Chap. xxiv. affords an interesting illustration of the manner in which the redactor of P has added later elements to the orig inal code of H. For the first part of the chapter, with its regu lations as to (a) the lamps in the Tabernacle, vv. 1-4, and (b) the Shewbread, vv. 5-9, is admittedly derived from P, vv. 1-4, forming a supplement to Exod. xxv. 31-40 and Num. viii. 1-4, Num. viii. 1-4, and vv. 5-9 to Exod. xxv. 3o. The remainder of the chapter contains old laws (vv. I5b-22) which are derived from H on blasphemy, manslaughter and injuries to the person, to which the redactor has added an historical setting (vv. 10-14, 23) as well as a few glosses. Chap. xxv. lays down regulations for the ob servance of (a) the Sabbatical year, vv. 1-7, 19-22, and (b) the year of Jubilees, vv. 8-18, 23, and then applies the principle of redemption to (I) land and house property, vv. 24-34, and (2) persons, vv. 35-55. The rules for the Sabbatical year (vv. 1-7) are admittedly derived from H, and vv. 19-22 are also from the same source. Their present position after vv. 8-18 is due to the redactor who wished to apply the same rules to the year of Jubilee. But though the former of the two sections on the year of Jubilee (vv. 8-18, 23) exhibits undoubted signs of P, the traces of H are also sufficiently marked to warrant the con clusion that the latter code included laws relating to the year of Jubilee, and that these have been modified by le and then connected with the regulations for the Sabbatical year. Both on historical and on critical grounds, however, it is improbable that the principle of restitution underlying the regulations for the year of Jubilee was originally extended to persons in the earlier code.
For it is difficult to harmonize the laws as to the release of Hebrew slaves with the other legislation on the same subject (Exod. xxi. 2-6; Deut. xv.), while both the secondary position which they occupy in this chapter and their more elaborate and formal character point to a later origin for vv. 35-55. Hence these verses in the main must be assigned to R". In this con nection it is noticeable that those passages which show the characteristic marks of H bear no special relation to the year of Jubilee, but merely inculcate a more humane treatment of those Israelites who are compelled by circumstances to sell them selves either to their brethren or to strangers. It is probable, therefore, that they form no part of the original legislation of the year of Jubilee, but were incorporated at a later period. The present form of vv. 24-34 is largely due to R" who has certainly added vv. 32-34 (cities of the Levites) and probably vv. 29-31.
Chap. xxvi. The concluding exhortation. After reiterating commands to abstain from idolatry and to observe the Sabbath, vv. I, 2, the chapter sets forth (a) the rewards of obedience, vv. 3-13, and (b) the penalties incurred by disobedience to the preceding laws, vv. 14-46. The discourse, which is spoken throughout in the name of Yahweh, is similar in character to Exod. xxiii. 20-33 and Deut. xxviii., more especially to the latter. That it forms an integral part of H is shown both by the recur rence of the same distinctive phraseology and by the emphasis laid on the same motives. At the same time it is hardly doubtful that the original discourse has been modified and expanded by later hands, especially in the concluding paragraphs. It must be admitted that Ezekiel has many striking parallels with chap. xxvi. and in particular makes use, with that chapter, of several expressions which do not occur elsewhere in the Old Testament. But there are also points of difference both as regards phraseol ogy and subject-matter, and in view of these latter it is impossi ble to hold that Ezekiel was either the author or compiler of this chapter.
Chap. xxvii. On the commutation of vows and tithes. The chapter as a whole must be assigned to a later stratum of P, for while vv. 2-25 (on vows) presuppose the year of Jubilee, the section on tithes, vv. 3o-33, marks a later stage of development than Num. xviii. 21 sqq. (P).
(J. F. S.)