Monatsschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums · 1928-01-01 · Heft 3 · p. Seite 326

326 and catching sight of a heathen Bamali: but not of a resident using a local altar continuously for all public worship and all slaughterings of domestic animals except at tliree pilgrimage seasons. (d) See furtlier below 2—5. 2. If one day I were to instruct a gardener to dig up f 10wer beds with a spade, and if on a susequent occasion I were to refer to my previous instructions saying, ״go and dig the beds as I told you“, coitld it*be argued that on the second occasion I was not contemplating the use of a spade? That illustration answers König’s contention as to Dt xii 21 compared with Ex xx 24. The former passage says ״thou mayest kill of thy cattle and thy flock . . . as I commanded thee“, the latter ״an altar . . mayest tliou make to Me and kill on it . . . thy flock and thy cattle“. On König’s interpretation the words ״as I commanded thee“ have 310 meaning, and other words have to be imported to convey the sense ״but not on an altar“. He is not really explaining the wording of the law, but substituting something eise for it. Nor does his reference to ver 22 help him. It is there provided that the domestic animals are to be e a t e n — not killed, as he supposes — like animals of the chase. This is explained by the words ״the uaclean and the clean may eat it together“. That has nothing to do with the method of slaughter, but only with the disposition of the flesh. As to the blood, ver 14 is explained by the parallels I have cited 011 p 355. The post-exilic practice was admittedly different to the pre-exilic, but as may be seen froni the Interpretation of the steps of Ex xx 26 and other instances, it does not represent the original sense of the legislation. After the exile the laws were necessarily interpreted in the light of the conditions which then prevailed. Such altars as SamuePs and NaamarPs, and indeed as that of Dt xxvii, would not then have been allowed: but that does not affect the question of their lawfulness in the earlier period. See further below 5 (c). 3. König regards Dt xvi 21 f as relating to the altar of xxvii 1—8, but that had not yet been mentioned, and in any case a command relating to it woulcl necessarily stand in xxvii with the other relevant instructions and not here. Thus his Interpretation is impossible. Yet two of dts other aspects call for remark. (i) He here admits that Deuteronomy in spite of his view of ch xii allows at least one occasional cairn altar by the side of the horned altar of the central sanctuary. If it goes as far as that, how'can it be said that it prohibits two ör more such cairn altars? (ii) On p 183 of his Deuteronomium (1917) tlie unity of xxvii 1—8 is denied on the ground that Dt ״der so oft gegen die Vielheit der Kultstätten kämpft“ could ״nicht von sich aus“ promote the construction of such an altar. The passage is therefore given to E. How does this square with the view that in xvi 21 f the Deuteronomist promotes this altar ״von sich aus“? And where do we find in this contention any trace of recognition of the distinction between horned and cairn altars ־with which König ״and countless others“ were so familiär? 4. That an altar was necessary for sacrifices is surely clear fron! Ex xx 24 and many other passages relating to sacrifiaes. Post-exilic practice limited sacrifice to the Jerusalem Temple, pre-exilic did not. As to Dt xii 6, (a) there is no mention of tithe animals, new moons etc; (b) an interpretation that endeavoured to bring them within its scope would be excluded by the physical facts and the clear provisions that the pilgrimages were to be made three times a year; and (c) we know from many passages that in the pre-exilic period local sacrifice was general on such occasions- 5. König has passed over the beginning of my paragraph in silence. Yet the fact that sacrifice was the only occasion of public worship in early times is of great importance. I will therefore put to him these questions before dealing with his lettered divisions: — (i) Does he really believe that any religious lawgiver deliberately limited the occasions of joint public worship for all except the inhabitants of the religious Capital to three seasons in the year? (ii) If not, to what date does he assign the invention of the Service o public prayer without sacrifice and the synagogue?