Samaritan Torah אחרי מות / קדושים

[lethargic_man]

Leviticus 17:1-17:5

ויקרא יז א-יז ה

The Lord spoke to Moses: "Speak to Aaron and his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and tell them: This is the thing which the Lord has commanded, saying, Whatever Israelite man that kills an ox, or lamb, or goat, whether in or out of the camp, and then does not bring it to the entry of the Tent of Meeting, to offer an offering unto the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord; blood shall be imputed unto that man: he has shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people."

וַיְדַבֵּר ה׳ אֶל־מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר׃ דַּבֵּר אֶל־אַהֲרֹן וְאֶל־בָּנָיו וְאֶל כָּל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵיהֶם זֶה הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּה ה׳ לֵאמֹר׃ אִישׁ אִישׁ מִבֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁחַט שׁוֹר אוֹ־כֶשֶׂב אוֹ־עֵז בַּמַּחֲנֶה אוֹ אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁחַט מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה׃ וְאֶל־פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד לֹא הֱבִיאוֹ לְהַקְרִיב קָרְבָּן לַה׳ לִפְנֵי מִשְׁכַּן ה׳ דָּם יֵחָשֵׁב לָאִישׁ הַהוּא דָּם שָׁפָךְ וְנִכְרַת הָאִישׁ הַהוּא מִקֶּרֶב עַמּוֹ׃

The Samaritan text has a couple of changes here, one explaining how much choice the individual has in which kind of offering he wishes it to become, and a second which is more curious:

The Lord spoke to Moses: "Speak to Aaron and his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and tell them: This is the thing which the Lord has commanded, saying, Whatever Israelite man that kills an ox, or lamb, or goat, whether in or out of the camp, and then does not bring it to the entry of the Tent of Meeting, to make it an elevation offering or a peace-offering to the LORD according to your will, to a sweet savour, and slaughters it outside and does not them bring it to the entry of the Tent of Meeting to offer it as an offering unto the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord; blood shall be imputed unto that man: he has shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his peoples."

וַיְדַבֵּר ה׳ אֶל־מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר׃ דַּבֵּר אֶל־אַהֲרֹן וְאֶל־בָּנָיו וְאֶל כָּל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵיהֶם זֶה הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּה ה׳ לֵאמֹר׃ אִישׁ אִישׁ מִבֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁחַט שׁוֹר אוֹ־כֶשֶׂב אוֹ־עֵז בַּמַּחֲנֶה אוֹ אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁחַט מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה׃ וְאֶל־פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד לֹא הֱבִיאוֹ לַעֲשׂוֹת אֹתוֹ עֹלֶה אוֹ שְׁלָמִים לַה׳ לִרְצוֹנְכֶם לְרֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ וַיִשְׁחְטֵהוּ בַּחוּץ וְאֶל פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד לֹא הֱבִיאוֹ לְהַקְרִיבוֹ קָרְבָּן לַה׳ לִפְנֵי מִשְׁכַּן ה׳ דָּם יֵחָשֵׁב לָאִישׁ הַהוּא דָּם שָׁפָךְ וְנִכְרַת הָאִישׁ הַהוּא מִקֶּרֶב עַמָּיו׃

"Peoples", plural? What is going on here?

Lev. 18:21 has another ר/ד confusion:

And you shall not let any of your seed pass through [the fire] to Molech, neither shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.

וּמִזַּרְעֲךָ לֹא־תִתֵּן לְהַעֲבִיר לַמֹּלֶךְ וְלֹא תְחַלֵּל אֶת־שֵׁם אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֲנִי ה׳׃

In the Samaritan Text:

And you shall not let any of your seed serve Molech, neither shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.

וּמִזַּרְעֲךָ לֹא־תִתֵּן לְהַעֲבִיד לַמֹּלֶךְ וְלֹא תְחַלֵּל אֶת־שֵׁם אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֲנִי ה׳׃

This is clearly somewhere where the Samaritan Text is in the wrong, but proving it was harder than I thought: As you can see from the square brackets I've put above text, the words "(through) the fire" do not exist in the Hebrew; they've been introduced into the English translation. In fact, no reference exists in the Torah to causing children to pass through the fire to Molech. There's the above references, about causing them to pass through (or serve, in the Samaritan reading) Molech, but which does not mention fire; there's Deuteronomy 18:10, which talks about passing one's children through the fire, but which does not mention Molech. There seem to be only two places in the Tenach which combine the two; one is 2 Kings 23:10:

He defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, to prevent any man making his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech.

וְטִמֵּא אֶת־הַתֹּפֶת אֲשֶׁר בְּגֵי בֶן־הִנֹּם לְבִלְתִּי לְהַעֲבִיר אִישׁ אֶת־בְּנוֹ וְאֶת־בִּתּוֹ בָּאֵשׁ לַמֹּלֶךְ׃

The other is Jeremiah 32:35.

Lev 19:23/24 gives the rules for consumption of fruit from a sapling:

When you shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then you shall count the fruit thereof as "uncircumcised": three years shall it be as "uncircumcised" unto you: it shall not be eaten of. But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the Lord withal.

וְכִי־תָבֹאוּ אֶל־הָאָרֶץ וּנְטַעְתֶּם כָּל־עֵץ מַאֲכָל וַעֲרַלְתֶּם עָרְלָתוֹ אֶת־פִּרְיוֹ שָׁלֹשׁ שָׁנִים יִהְיֶה לָכֶם עֲרֵלִים לֹא יֵאָכֵל׃ וּבַשָּׁנָה הָרְבִיעִת יִהְיֶה כָּל־פִּרְיוֹ קֹדֶשׁ הִלּוּלִים לַה׳׃

In place of הִלּוּלִים ("praising"), the Samaritan text has חלולים. This may not be a significant difference, as the two words are pronounced identically in Samaritan Hebrew, but if it is, the change of meaning is profound: חלולים means "profaned".

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