Special Issue IOSOT 2013 - Books and Journals

48 S. Japhet / Vetus Testamentum IOSOT (2013) 36-76
the two terms show a tendency to interchange and their specific meaning is
not always strictly kept.67
The demand for cleanliness and sanctification is mentioned very often
in connection with the cultic ritual. The conception held by P regarding the
priests is that they were consecrated by a singular ritual of anointing68 but
must also perform a certain act of cleansing before each ceremonial act.69
The demand for the ritual cleanliness of the Levites and the laymen is not
stated generally, but from the descriptions of actual rites70 as well as other
texts, we may deduce that a certain procedure was required.
The act of sanctification before the ritual is strongly emphasized in Chr. and
relates both to the priests and the Levites. It is mentioned before any ceremony,
and is added to the descriptions of Sam. and Kings. The technical term to
describe it is always without any exception, ‏:התקדש 1 Chr. xv 12-14;71 2 Chr. v 11;
xxix 5, 15, 34; xxx 3, 15, 24; xxxv 6.
The term הטהר is found in Chr. only once, in reference to the people and,
even here, it tends to interchange with ‏.התקדש “For there were many in the
assembly who had not sanctified themselves ‏(התקדשו)‏ . . . for a multitude of
people had not cleansed themselves ‏(הטהרו)‏ (2 Chr. xxx 17-18).
In all other instances in טהר.‏Chr is confined to acts of cleansing the land
and the Temple: 2 Chr. xxix 15ff. (three times); 2 Chr. xxxiv 3ff. (three times).
Two points are noteworthy in Ezr.-Neh. The interest in the act of consecration
is much less prominent; in the most important ceremonies it is not
even mentioned!72 Secondly, the term התקדש is totally absent. When the
67) A good example is 2 Sam. xi 4; והיא מתקדשת מטומאתה which is actually translated: “Now she
was purifying herself from her uncleanness”.
68) Exod. xxx 30.
69) Exod. xxx 17-21.
70) Samuel’s sacrifice in Beth-Lehem is one example: “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate
yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice, and he consecrated Jesse and his sons and
invited them to the sacrifice”. 1 Sam. xvi 5. An explicit demand for sanctification is found in ceremonies
occurring only once, as the revelation at Sinai, Exod. xix 10, and others. But there is no
doubt that the actions described were those regular in the cult in general.
71) The present verses form a part of the additions made by the Chr. to the original story of 2 Sam.
thereby changing its original character. In the following example (2 Chr. v 11), the Chr.’s addition
deals mainly with this point, the consecration of the priests.
72) Cf.: The dedication of the altar and the foundation of the tempel—Ezr. iii; the dedication of
the temple—Ezr. vi 16-18, and more.