Month: April 2014

#246. Who rebelled against Moses (and Aaron): Dathan, Abiram and On OR Korah and 250 chieftains? (Num 16:1, 12, 27 vs Num 16:1-11, 16-19)
#247. Who did they rebel against: Moses OR Moses and Aaron? (Num 16:2 vs Num 16:3-11)
#248. Why did they rebel: because Moses lords it over them OR because they sought the priesthood? (Num 16:13 vs Num 16:10)
#249. Yahweh commands the rest of the congregation to move away from the tents of Dathan and Abiram OR to move away from the tabernacle of Korah? (Num 16:26 vs Num 16:24)
#250. How does Yahweh punish the rebels: by opening up the earth and swallowing them and their households OR by consuming them with fire? (Num 16:32 vs Num 16:35)

Scholars and close readers of Numbers 16 have long noticed that the text as it now stands is a composite of two different and once separate rebellion stories, each with their own individual characters, motives, divine punishment, vocabulary, style, and theological emphasis. Both of these stories additionally exhibit unique themes, vocabulary, and agendas found in other passages attributed to these same textual traditions. Here we’re looking at a story from theRead More

#245. Is the Sabbath an eternal covenant decreed by Yahweh that must be kept under penalty of death OR not? (Ex 31:12-17, 35:2; Num 15:32-36; Matt 5:18-20 vs Acts 15:29; Rom 14:5-6; Gal 3:23-25, 4:9-10; Col 2:16)

All of the Torah’s Sabbath laws, including the account of its consecration as a holy day by God himself at creation (Gen 2:3), were penned by the same author or priestly guild!—what scholars have come to label as the Priestly source. Indeed the Sabbath itself has a much earlier origin than the writings of this 6th century BCE elite priestly guild. Thus the Sabbath is found in the earlier Yahwist andRead More

#244. Can any and all sins be atoned/expiated OR only those sins which were committed inadvertently? (Matt 6:14; Jn 3:16, 5:24; Acts 10:43; Rom 3:22, 4:25; Gal 3:13, etc. vs Deut 21:1-9, Lev 4-5; Num 15:30-31; cf. 1 Cor 5; Matt 6:15, 12:31, 18:35, etc.)

This entry expands upon an earlier entry, contradiction #174: Can sin only be atoned through sacrifice or not?—a post that needs much amending itself. Here I will try to limit my remarks [Interjection: I failed at this task, my apologies. The post goes on and on and on. Hopefully there’s a little something for everyone here.] to, first, the different stance taken between unintentional and intentional sins as viewed by theRead More