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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]
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Published
August 24, 2023
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Last Updated
September 30, 2024
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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.
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