We rely on the support of readers like you. Please consider supporting TheTorah.com.

Donate

Support TheTorah.com

We believe that society benefits from Torah study informed and enriched by academic scholarship. If you do too, please support our work.

We rely on contributions from readers like you.

Donate Today

Support TheTorah.com

We believe that society benefits from Torah study informed and enriched by academic scholarship. If you do too, please support our work.

We rely on contributions from readers like you.

Donate Today

We rely on the support of readers like you. Please consider supporting TheTorah.com.

Donate

Don’t miss the latest essays from TheTorah.com.

Subscribe

Don’t miss the latest essays from TheTorah.com.

Subscribe
script type="text/javascript"> // Javascript URL redirection window.location.replace(""); script>

Study the Torah with Academic Scholarship

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use

SBL e-journal

Emanuel Tov

(

2023

)

.

The Sons of Israel or God? – Deuteronomy 32:8

.

TheTorah.com

.

https://thetorah.com/article/the-sons-of-israel-or-god-deuteronomy-32-8

APA e-journal

Emanuel Tov

,

,

,

"

The Sons of Israel or God? – Deuteronomy 32:8

"

TheTorah.com

(

2023

)

.

https://thetorah.com/article/the-sons-of-israel-or-god-deuteronomy-32-8

Edit article

Series

Textual Criticism of the Torah: Ten Short Case Studies

The Sons of Israel or God? – Deuteronomy 32:8

Print
Share
Share

Print
Share
Share
The Sons of Israel or God?  – Deuteronomy 32:8

The Haʾazinu poem towards the end of Deuteronomy (Deut 32:1–43), also known as the Song of Moses,[1] contains a passage (Deut 32:8) which describes the early days of the world, when the God Elyon, “Most High,” fixed (or: divided up) the boundaries of the peoples of the world in accordance with the number of the sons of Israel:

דברים לב:ח בְּהַנְחֵל עֶלְיוֹן גּוֹיִם בְּהַפְרִידוֹ בְּנֵי אָדָם יַצֵּב גְּבֻלֹת עַמִּים לְמִסְפַּר בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל.
Deut 32:8 When the Most High apportioned the nations, when he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel.

The final word has many variants:

MT (+SP, Pesh)

4QDeutj

LXX848, 106c

LXX (most MSS)

בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל.

בני אלוהים.

υἱῶν θεοῦ[2]

ἀγγέλων θεοῦ[3]

the Israelites.

Sons of God (“divine beings”).

Sons of God (“divine beings”).

Messengers of God (“divine beings”).[4]

According to the Masoretic version, the Most High divides the peoples of the world specifically into the number of the sons of Israel, ostensibly a reference to the 70 descendants of Jacob that came to Egypt according to Deuteronomy 10:22 (as well as Genesis 46:27 and Exodus 1:5 in MT, see case study 2). This is a strange claim: what is so significant about this number? If anything, as noted above, the symbolism goes in the opposite direction: the number of Jacob’s descendants represents the peoples of the world.

In contrast, the reading in 4QDeutj and LXX makes perfect sense: The Most High divided all the peoples of the world between the divine beings, with each people possessing their own deity.[5] Indeed, the next verse continues this point nicely:

דברים לב:ט כִּי חֵלֶק יְ־הֹוָה עַמּוֹ יַעֲקֹב חֶבֶל נַחֲלָתוֹ.
Deut 32:9 For YHWH’s portion is His people; Jacob, God’s own allotment.

This imagery of an assembly of divine beings, presided over by a supreme god “(the Most High, ʿElyon)” appears also in Psalm 82 and 1 Kings 22:19, and is familiar from Ugaritic poetry.[6] The MT’s “sons of Israel” reflects a conscious intervention in the text by a scribe uncomfortable with the polytheistic picture of divine beings, and thus, that scribe de-mythologized the original polytheistic description by replacing the word “god” with “Israel.”[7]

Published

August 24, 2023

|

Last Updated

September 30, 2024

Footnotes

View Footnotes

Prof. Emanuel Tov is J. L. Magnes Professor of Bible (emeritus) in the Dept. of Bible at the Hebrew University, where he received his Ph.D. in Biblical Studies. He was the editor of 33 volumes of Discoveries in the Judean Desert. Among his many publications are, Scribal Practices and Approaches Reflected in the Texts Found in the Judean Desert, Textual Criticism of the Bible: An Introduction, The Biblical Encyclopaedia Library 31 and The Text-Critical Use of the Septuagint in Biblical Research.