rdfs:comment
| - The Station list of the 42 stations of the Exodus gets a lot of attention in the first five books of the Bible. Essentially the Pentateuch stands as Israel's deed to the property giving first the precedents or common law that can be cited as case law, then its right to the inheritance as well as possible counterclaims and their resolution in the Story of Abraham, and secondly as it walks the metes and bounds of Edom in the Book of Exodus it gives a sense of what it is about that property the people care about. In Numbers, Leviticus and Deuteronomy the list is repeated as if in the form of a contract bound with its various blessings and curses, covenants and conditions, offers, acceptance, and list of the interested parties and beneficiaries, as if the deed were being recorded in some etern
|
abstract
| - The Station list of the 42 stations of the Exodus gets a lot of attention in the first five books of the Bible. Essentially the Pentateuch stands as Israel's deed to the property giving first the precedents or common law that can be cited as case law, then its right to the inheritance as well as possible counterclaims and their resolution in the Story of Abraham, and secondly as it walks the metes and bounds of Edom in the Book of Exodus it gives a sense of what it is about that property the people care about. In Numbers, Leviticus and Deuteronomy the list is repeated as if in the form of a contract bound with its various blessings and curses, covenants and conditions, offers, acceptance, and list of the interested parties and beneficiaries, as if the deed were being recorded in some eternal registry of deeds and then finally in the book of Judges and in Joshuah it adds on a little bit more besides that might fall under the category of quieting the title and incorporating the easements in the way of a competent administrator administering a trust. Perhaps its worth noting that the people of the Exodus come from Egypt and are essentially Egyptian, not just the Sons of Israel who have lived there half a millenia, but those who accompany them as well. They are used to living the life in Ma'at and doing what is right and proper for an Egyptian to do, especially as regards their worship. In leaving Egypt to follow Moses they are in effect creating a new religion based on the only model they know. They carve an image of their new god in the Egyptian manner, house it in an ark and place the ark in a sanctuary, all in the Egyptian manner. They count and categorize in the Egyptian manner. Numbers, Deuteronomy and Leviticus go to some lengths to define a covenant to be law abiding with a census of all the congregation of some 625 elef including fighting men, priests and administrators, a total voting population of perhaps 630 elef or 5,040 men committing to agree to the 630 some odd norms, mores, laws, rules, and conventions of that covenant and to place under the ban as outlaw those who don't agree. According to rabbinic tradition, the Torah contains 613 mitzvot (מצוות, "commandments"), which are divided into 365 restrictions and 248 positive commands, plus the ten commandments and seven covenants.
|