Essay su Deuteronomio 23:78

Instead of the long lists in Lev. 18 and 20, we are given only what is a paradigmatic case of people who must not have sexual relations.

The matter of bodily wastes, interestingly, did not enter the list of ritually “polluting” emissions enumerated in Lev. 12 and 15. Unlike blood and semen, they did not carry the connotation of life-death boundaries. At the same time, it is recognized here that a lapse in personal cleanliness on the part ot the Israelites will violate the purity of the camp, in which God “dwells.”

Despite the accepted existence of slavery in Israelite society, Deuteronomy deemed it cruel to return fugitive slaves. This contrasts not only with ancient Near Eastern practice but also with some cases in the Bible (e.g., I Sam. 30:15, I Kings 2:39–40) (Greenstein 1985a).

A curious list of those not counted as part of the “holy people”: one who cannot reproduce, one born of a forbidden union, and a descendant of two of Israel’s traditional enemies to the east. In contrast, the Edomites, Israel’s “cousins,” are permitted into the community after a waiting period. While scholars have tried to date these passages on the basis of specific historical events, such attempts are probably fruitless.

The law prohibits taking interest within the community as a damaging practice. The society in question, of course, was not predominantly a commercial one, and hence later interpretations, such as that of medieval Christians and Jews, were to attempt to read other things into it.

The issue of taking vows is treated extensively in the book of Numbers (cf. Chaps. 6 and 30), and was of major concern in the religious life of ancient Israel as an opportunity to make a more personal contribution to religious practice. The law also demonstrates the significance of the spoken word (through the use of “lips” and “mouth”), common to ancient societies and to many later ones as well.

Establishing a boundary for farms and their produce, the law steers a path between a human need (food) and theft.