Editing Priestly source (section)

==Characteristics, date and scope==
[[File:Fl- 60 Biblia de Cervera, Levitico (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|alt=Page from a Hebrew Bible manuscript with an illustration of the [[Temple menorah|Menorah]]|The ending of [[Book of Exodus|Exodus]] 40 and beginning of [[Leviticus]] 1, two Priestly texts, in a late thirteenth-century manuscript]]

===Characteristics===
The Priestly work is concerned with priestly matters&nbsp;– ritual law, the origins of shrines and rituals, and genealogies&nbsp;– all expressed in a formal, repetitive style.{{sfn|Viviano|1999|p=41}} It stresses the rules and rituals of worship, and the crucial role of priests,{{sfn|Gilbert|2009|p=34}} expanding considerably on the role given to [[Aaron]] (all Levites are priests, but according to P only the descendants of Aaron were to be allowed to officiate in the inner sanctuary).{{sfn|Kugler|Hartin|2009|pp=xix, 49}}

P's God is majestic, and transcendent, and all things happen because of his power and will.{{sfn|Gilbert|2009|p=34}} He reveals himself in stages, first as [[Elohim]] (a Hebrew word meaning simply "god", taken from the earlier Canaanite word meaning "the gods"), then to Abraham as [[El Shaddai]] (usually translated as "God Almighty"), and finally to Moses by his unique name, [[Yahweh]].{{sfn|Bandstra|2009|p=26}} P divides history into four epochs from Creation to Moses by means of covenants between God and [[Noahide covenant|Noah]], Abraham and Moses.{{sfn|McKenzie|2000|p=46}} The Israelites are God's [[chosen people]], his relationship with them is governed by the covenants, and P's God is concerned that Israel should preserve its identity by avoiding intermarriage with non-Israelites.{{sfn|Gilbert|2009|p=34}} P is deeply concerned with "holiness", meaning the ritual purity of the people and the land: Israel is to be "a priestly kingdom and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:6), and P's elaborate rules and rituals are aimed at creating and preserving holiness.{{sfn|Brueggemann|2002|pp=98–99}}

Cases have been made for both exilic and post-exilic composition, leading to the conclusion that it has at least two layers, spanning a broad time period of 571–486 BCE.{{sfn|Min|2004|pp=60–61}} This was a period when the careful observance of ritual was one of the few means available which could preserve the identity of the people,{{sfn|Gilbert|2009|p=34}} and the narrative of the priestly authors created an essentially stable and secure world in which Israel's history was under God's control, so that even when Israel alienated itself from God, leading to the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile in Babylon, atonement could still be made through sacrifice and ritual.{{sfn|Bandstra|2009|p=26}}

===Date===
[[Julius Wellhausen]], the 19th century German scholar who formulated the [[documentary hypothesis]], fixed the chronological order of its sources as the [[Yahwist]] and [[Elohist]], followed by the [[Deuteronomist]], and last the Priestly.{{sfn|Rendtorff|Kugler|Bartlet|2003|p=13}} At the end of the 20th century a growing number of scholars placed both the Yahwist (the narrative strand) and the Priestly material (a mix of narrative and legal material) in the late Neo-Babylonian or Persian periods.{{sfn|Bedford|2001|p=8}} Liane M. Fieldman (2023) considers the composition of the Pentateuch “in the fifth through fourth centuries BCE,” and Priestly source being the last addition, could have been added around fourth century BCE.{{sfn|Feldman|2023|pp=5, 6-7: "A number of scholars understand the priestly stratum to be the latest source, written after all the others [...] Since the formation of the Pentateuch [was] in the fifth through fourth centuries BCE, scholars have often assumed that the redacted form of the Pentateuch is the primary text for early Jewish communities going forward"}}

While most scholars consider P to be one of the latest strata of the Pentateuch, post-dating both J and D,{{sfn|Van Seters|2015|p=57}} since the 1970s a number of Jewish scholars have challenged this assumption, arguing for an early dating of the Priestly material.{{sfn|Carr|2014|pp=455-456}} Avi Hurvitz, for example, has forcefully argued on linguistic grounds that P represents an earlier form of the Hebrew language than what is found in both [[Book of Ezekiel|Ezekiel]] and [[Book of Deuteronomy|Deuteronomy]], and therefore pre-dates both of them.{{sfn|Hurvitz|1982}}{{sfn|Hurvitz|2000}} These scholars often claim that the late-dating of P is due in large part to a Protestant bias in biblical studies which assumes that "priestly" and "ritualistic" material must represent a late degeneration of an earlier, "purer" faith. These arguments have not convinced the majority of scholars, however.{{sfn|Van Seters|2015|p=57}}

===Scope===
While most scholars agree on the identification of Priestly texts in Genesis through Exodus, opinions are divided concerning the original ending of the separate P document. Suggested endings have been located in the [[Book of Joshua]], in [[Deuteronomy 34]], [[Leviticus]] 16 or 9:24, in [[Book of Exodus|Exodus]] 40, or in Exodus 29:46.{{sfn|Gaines|2015|pp=282-283}}

P is responsible for the first of the two [[Genesis creation narrative|creation stories in Genesis]] (Genesis 1), for Adam's genealogy, part of the [[Genesis flood narrative|Flood story]], the [[Table of Nations]], and the genealogy of Shem (i.e., Abraham's ancestry).{{sfn|Kugler|Hartin|2009|p=55}} Most of the remainder of Genesis is from the Yahwist, but P provides the covenant with Abraham (chapter 17) and a few other stories concerning Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.{{sfn|Kugler|Hartin|2009|p=65}}

The [[book of Exodus]] is also divided between the Yahwist and P, and the usual understanding is that the Priestly writer(s) were adding to an already-existing Yahwist narrative.{{sfn|Kugler|Hartin|2009|p=75}} Chapters 1–24 (from bondage in Egypt to God's appearances at Sinai) and chapters 32–34 (the [[golden calf]] incident) are from the Yahwist and P's additions are relatively minor, noting Israel's obedience to the command to be fruitful and the orderly nature of Israel even in Egypt.{{sfn|Kugler|Hartin|2009|p=78}} P was responsible for chapters 25–31 and 35–40, the instructions for making the Tabernacle and the story of its fabrication.{{sfn|Kugler|Hartin|2009|pp=75-76}}

Leviticus 1–16 sees the world as divided between the profane (i.e., not holy) masses and the holy priests. Anyone who incurs impurity must be separated from the priests and the Temple until purity is restored through washing, sacrifice, and the passage of time.{{sfn|Kugler|Hartin|2009|p=83}} According to Nihan, the purification ritual of Leviticus 16 formed the conclusion of the original Priestly document; in this and similar views, all P-like texts after this point are post-Priestly additions.{{sfn|Nihan|2007}}

Leviticus 17–26 is called the [[Holiness code]], from its repeated insistence that Israel should be a holy people; scholars accept it as a discrete collection within the larger Priestly source, and have traced similar holiness writings elsewhere in the Pentateuch.{{sfn|Knohl|1995}}{{sfn|Nihan|2007}}{{sfn|Stackert|2009|pp=12–16}}

In Numbers the Priestly source or a Priestly-like supplementer contributes chapters 1–10:28, 15–20, 25–31, and 33–36, including, among other things, two censuses, rulings on the position of Levites and priests (including the provision of special cities for the Levites), and the scope and protection of the [[Promised Land]].{{sfn|Kugler|Hartin|2009|p=97}} The Priestly themes in Numbers include the significance of the priesthood for the well-being of Israel (the ritual of the priests is needed to take away impurity), and God's provision of the priesthood as the means by which he expresses his faithfulness to the covenant with Israel.{{sfn|Kugler|Hartin|2009|p=98}}

The Priestly source in Numbers originally ended with an account of the death of Moses and succession of Joshua ("Then Moses went up from the [[plains of Moab]] to Mount Nebo..."), but when Deuteronomy was added to the Pentateuch this was transferred to the end of Deuteronomy.{{sfn|Campbell|O'Brien|1993|p=90}}