Samaritan Torah, פַּרְשַׁת מִשְׁפָּטִים

( Mostly legal nitpicking )

It's a curious fact about Biblical Hebrew that it has two very similar words for "garment", שִׂמְלָה śimlā and שַׂלְמָה śalmā. Exodus 22:25 features the first of these in the Masoretic Text, and the second in the Samaritan. Klein's dictionary confirms my supposition, that these arose out of metathesis of each other. Of course, if that had not happened, we would not have had the cute little story about Rashi and Yehuda Halevi that relies on the fact שלמה spells multiple words.

Exodus 23:17 has another ד/ר confusion: ( Read more... )

Ex. 23:19:

The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. You shall not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.

רֵאשִׁית בִּכּוּרֵי אַדְמָתְךָ תָּבִיא בֵּית ה׳ אֱלֹהֶיךָ לֹא־תְבַשֵּׁל גְּדִי בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ׃

This is the first of three prohibitions on eating a kid with its mother's milk in the Torah; the Torah does not give any reason for it, nor does the Talmud. Later commentators try: for the Rambam it was "somehow connected with idolatry. Perhaps it was part of the ritual of certain pagan festivals. I find support for this view in the fact that two of the times the Lord mentions the prohibition, it is after the commandment concerning the festivals: Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord." For Abarbanel and Luzatto it is a humanitarian ordinance intended to discourage a practice that would tend to harden the heart; for Rashbam: against gluttony; for Sforno: Humane, like שִׁלוּחַ הַקַּן. The Or haChaim says the practice is barbaric, like slaying nursing infants. Perhaps Ibn Ezra is most honest when he says we don't know the reason for it.

The Samaritan text, however, reads:

The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of your God. You shall not seethe a kid in his mother's milk, for to do this is like a sacrifice forgotten, and it is a rage to the God of Jacob.

רֵאשִׁית בִּכּוּרֵי אַדְמָתְךָ תָּבִיא בֵּיתָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לֹא־תְבַשֵּׁל גְּדִי בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ כִּי עָשָה זאֹת כְּזֶבַח שְׁכֹחַ וְעֶבְרָה הִיא לֵאלֹהֵי יַעֲקֹב׃

Some Septuagint MSS follow this reading too, except in place of שכח "forgotten", they have “...is hated” or “...sacrifices a mole”. One DSS may follow ST but breaks off halfway through the first letter—see diagram on p. 13 of this article. That article also points out that the three meanings of the root עבר, pregnancy, transgression and divine wrath, all occur all within a few sentences in another DSS fragment. (The relevance to pregnancy is of course that it is what precedes having both a kid and its mother's milk.)

Exodus 24:7 famously says:

[Moses] took the book of the covenant, and read in the hearing of the people: and they said, All that the Lord has said will we do and hear.

וַיִּקַּח סֵפֶר הַבְּרִית וַיִּקְרָא בְּאָזְנֵי הָעָם וַיֹּאמְרוּ כֹּל אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּר ה׳ נַעֲשֶׂה וְנִשְׁמָע׃

There's a famous midrash about this: God first offers the Torah to other nations, but when they ask what's in it and God tells them, they balk at it and God moves on. Eventually, God comes to Israel, and Israel says נַעֲשֶׂה וְנִשְׁמָע, i.e. "we will do [first] and [then] hear [what's in it]." However, the Samaritan text reads:

[Moses] took the book of the covenant, and read in the hearing of the people: and they said, All that the Lord has said will we hear and do.

וַיִּקַּח סֵפֶר הַבְּרִית וַיִּקְרָא בְּאָזְנֵי הָעָם וַיֹּאמְרוּ כֹּל אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּר ה׳ נִשְׁמָע וְנַעֲשֶׂה ׃

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