A theological staple in all the Pentateuch sources (Yahwist, Elohist, Deuteronomist, and Priestly) is the covenant promise of the land of Canaan to Abraham and his seed, variously given as an unconditional and conditional promise, as we have already seen in #29. Furthermore, this covenant, this one covenant, is then transferred to each successive patriarch and his offspring, i.e., to Isaac, to Jacob, and then finally to Joseph’s sons—all P texts (Gen 28:1-5, 35:9-12, and 48:3-6).
Yet apparently the scribe who wrote Lev 26:39-45, most probably a later redactor, misrepresented this one covenant as three unique covenants!
Then I [Yahweh speaking] shall remember my covenant with Jacob, and I shall remember also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham.
The patriarchal covenant is never stipulated in this manner, as three separate covenants. It is always one covenant: “my covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.”
We’ll chalk this one up to a copyist or scribal error. But I’m counting it anyway, to the chagrin (or perhaps mockery) of my fundamentalist readers.
It’s worse than you think. In P’s text El Shaddai promises Abraham (chapter 17) and Jacob (chapter 35) that they will be the progenitors of a multitude of nations (through Sarah, not through Hagar or Keturah, in the case of Abraham) and, in 48, that Ephraim will be the progenitor of a nation and a company of nations (according to some translations). People miss these particular blessings because… Well, I think you can see the problem. There aren’t a multitude of Israelite nations in the world today (bear in mind that particular blessing is never inured on either Ishmael, Esau or any of Keturah’s boys).
Where can i find #29 ?
#33 says : <>