Achronology in the Priestly Tabernacle Narratives of the Pentateuch (el. knyga) (skaityta knyga) | knygos.lt

Aprašymas

Scholarship has long treated the jumbled chronology of the Priestly Tabernacle account as a sign of careless or compulsive scribal work. Garrett Haddock argues the opposite: it reflects a deliberate tendency to arrange the material by theme. He examines the narratives that pertain to the setting up of the Tabernacle and the beginning of cultic service there (Exodus 40, Leviticus 8-10, and Numbers 7). On close reading, these passages and the surrounding Priestly material exhibit clear instances of narrative disorder, what the author calls achronology. He revisits these key passages and presents firm evidence of textual development of the Priestly materials, often connected to achronology. Yet, the achronology often relates to a governing theme connected to the Tabernacle. Thus, the material in Exodus concerns the construction and assemblage of YHWH's abode, the passages in Leviticus present the Tabernacle as the site of sacrifice, and the relevant section of Numbers places the cultic tent in the context of the whole Israelite camp. The author further argues that achronology results not only from diachronic growth but also from the Priestly scribal tendency to group the material related to the Tabernacle according to theme. In doing so, he challenges scholarly trends that attribute scribal arrangement to carelessness or compulsion. His case study demonstrates not a disregard for time, but a subordination of the narrative use of time to other literary impulses, such as thematic arrangement.