Not Signing Off on Sacrifices

Chiasm is a biblical quotation device; see Jeremiah 7:9, for example, who also quotes the Decalogue chiastically. See Rashbam and ibn Ezra on Lev 19:3, where they make the same points about this passage’s connection to the Decalogue. Nevertheless, some scholars challenge the connection.

Presumably, there was no need to discuss “Do not commit adultery,” since this was dealt with at length in the previous chapter and will be again in the next chapter.

לא תגנבו ולא תכחשו ולא תשקרו ולא תשבעו. אם גנבת, סופך לכחש, סופך לשקר, סופך להשבע לשקר

The number eight is a significant one in the Priestly Teaching (circumcision is on the 8^thday, Sukkot ends with an 8^th day).

This sequence of “tzedakah, justice, and love” is a chiastic reference to Jeremiah 9:23—a text that probably preceded the Holiness Collection—about what God desires of us, which is “chesed, justice and tzedakah.” The word chesed can mean both kindness and love—“thechesed of your youth, the love of your wedding” [Jer. 2:2]).

One is reminded of the late comedian George Carlin’s acerbic quip, ‘Where is kindness mentioned in the Ten Commandments?’ He only asked that question because he was reading the Decalogue in Exodus. He would not have asked that question if he were reading the Decalogue in Deut., which gives as the reason for Shabbat ‘so that your servant and maidservant rest like you’ [Deut. 5:14], or if he were reading our verses, which are the Holiness Code’s reworking of the Decalogue.

I say this despite the existence of a parashah petucha sign after verse 22. (Editor’s note: According to the Leningrad Codex the break is after verse 19. ZIF) It is not clear why the Masoretic Text indicates a break here (19/22). However, the breaks in the Masoretic Text do not always dovetail with the simple sense of the text. Note the lack of any break at Deut. 4:44.

The text jumps from point to point, from worship to ritual to the interpersonal with no discernible (to me) thematic order, unlike the very orderly structure of the first eighteen verses.

As noted above, 8 is a Priestly number.

In these eight verses, the signatures appear in a very symmetrical pattern, at the end of every two-verse section. Verses 12, 14, 16 and 18 all conclude with ‘I YHWH.’

Shabbat as primarily an act of worship is the classic Priestly understanding. Unlike the Covenant Collection and the Decalogue in Deuteronomy, which give the reason for Shabbat as providing a day of rest for the animals and the servants (Exod. 23:12 and Deut. 5:14, respectively), the Priestly Torah sees cessation of work on Shabbat as an act of worship. This is expressed by Ezekiel: “To know that I YHWH sanctify you” (20:12), and “To know that I am YHWH their God” (20:20), and is echoed in the Priestly section of Exodus (31:13). This notion finds expression, among other things, in the transition from calling the day ‘Shabbat’ to calling it “My Shabbats,” a term that is unique to Ezekiel and the Priestly Teaching. It is the term used here as well.

This is the well-known position of Maimonides in his Guide of the Perplexed (3:32). In reconciling why the Torah allows animal sacrifices as a form of divine worship, when the Prophets say clearly that God has little use for them, Maimonides explains that sacrifices were a concession to the prevalent mindset of the time. But that concession does not make sacrifices the worship of choice.

Editor’s Note: A redaction-critical approach, would suggest that vv. 4-8 were added in by a later Priestly editor and that vv. 9-10 were either the original continuation from verse 4 or, more likely in my view, were added in response to the Priestly addition by someone from the Holiness School. And thus, the pericope may reflect the tensions between the sacrifice-focused Priestly school (P) and the more socially conscious Holiness school (H). For more on these schools of thought and the differences, see Israel Knohl, Sanctuary of Silence: The Priestly Torah and the Holiness School (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1995). – ZIF

What makes this teaching so significant is that it is counter-intuitive. We expect the non-Priestly tradition to take a dim view of sacrifices, and indeed it does. Some of the texts simply have no use for sacrifices: “For it is kindness I desire, not sacrifices”, the prophet exclaims (Hosea 6:6). Other texts tolerate sacrifices: “One who sacrifices to god(s) is to be killed, except to YHWH alone” (Exod. 22:19). That all the Covenant Collection says about sacrifices is that one who sacrifices to God is not to be killed is hardly a ringing endorsement. (SeeDestination Torah by Hakham Isaac Sassoon to this verse.) What one would not expect is for a text in Leviticus—and H is still Priestly after all—to have this hesitant attitude about sacrifices. And yet, here it is, hiding in plain sight. There is no divine signature on the four-verse section on sacrifices. Translation: God allows for sacrifices but does not really desire them. God signs off on charity instead.

עֲ֭שֹׂה צְדָקָ֣ה וּמִשְׁפָּ֑ט נִבְחָ֖ר לַי-הֹוָה מִזָּֽבַח

The message is even subtly hinted at in the added “piggul” verses themselves. The verses do not say to build an altar and sacrifice, as does the follow up to the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:21). Instead, the verses limit the sacrificial cult by not allowing people to keep the meat past a certain point, perhaps so that it not be used as an amulet. Maimonides in theGuide of the Perplexed (3:32) emphasizes the significance of the Torah limiting the sacrificial cult as one of the indications that it is a concession to popular thinking.

Verses 9-10 about charity can thus connect both to the verses that precede them as well as to the verses that follow. Thematically, they connect to the verses that follow, creating the sequence of ‘charity, justice and love’ that we saw earlier. At the same time, the signatures hint at another reading, in which the charity verses are connected to, and contrasted with, the sacrifice verses that preceded them. This means that this eighteen-verse pericope is divided into two eight-verse units: vv. 1-8 about worship, and vv. 11-18 about interpersonal matters, and the two verses 9-10 which can connect to either. We have already seen that the number eight is a highly significant one in texts of the Priestly tradition. There is an inner rhyme and reason to the structure.

וּֽבְקֻצְרְכֶ֞ם אֶת־קְצִ֣יר אַרְצְכֶ֗ם לֹֽא־תְכַלֶּ֞ה פְּאַ֤ת שָֽׂדְךָ֙ בְּקֻצְרֶ֔ךָ וְלֶ֥קֶט קְצִירְךָ֖ לֹ֣א תְלַקֵּ֑ט לֶֽעָנִ֤י וְלַגֵּר֙ תַּעֲזֹ֣ב אֹתָ֔ם אֲנִ֖י יְ-הֹוָ֥ה אֱ-לֹהֵיכֶֽם

אמר רבי אבדימס ברבי יוסף מה ראה הכתוב ליתנה באמצע הרגלים, פסח ועצרת מכאן וראש השנה ויום הכפורים והחג מכאן, ללמדך שכל הנותן לקט שכחה ופאה לעני כראוי, מעלין עליו כאילו בנה בית המקדש והקריב קרבנותיו בתוכו:

כִּ֣י אִם־בְּזֹ֞את יִתְהַלֵּ֣ל הַמִּתְהַלֵּ֗ל הַשְׂכֵּל֘ וְיָדֹ֣עַ אוֹתִי֒ כִּ֚י אֲנִ֣י יְ-הֹוָ֔ה עֹ֥שֶׂה חֶ֛סֶד מִשְׁפָּ֥ט וּצְדָקָ֖ה בָּאָ֑רֶץ כִּֽי־בְאֵ֥לֶּה חָפַ֖צְתִּי נְאֻם־יְ-הֹוָֽה

Notice especially the lead in to this verse:

“With what shall I come before YHWH, bow before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will YHWH be pleased with thousands of rams, with myriad rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my belly for my sin? Man has shown you what is good, and what does YHWH require of you, only to do what is just, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:6-8)

The prophet is explicitly contrasting sacrifices to kindness, truth and humility in the presence of God. And quoting this verse as ‘standing the Torah on three’ is the same message as we have seen explicitly in Proverbs 21:3 and hinted in the two places in the Holiness Collection.