The Origin and Development of the Prohibition of Eating Blood

Previous scholarship has generally assumed that all prohibitions of eating blood in the Hebrew Bible have the same basic meaning and refer to the same real practice in ancient society. This essay calls attention to the substantial differences in phrasing (blood as a direct object or with four differ...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Hanneken, Todd Russell (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Catholic Biblical Association of America 2023
In: The catholic biblical quarterly
Year: 2023, Volume: 85, Issue: 4, Pages: 595-617
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Deuteronomistic history
B Bible. Pentateuch, Bible. Pentateuch / Blood / Eating / Prohibition / Jewish ethics
IxTheo Classification:HB Old Testament
Further subjects:B legal revision
B blood prohibition
B Blutverbot
B Priestly Source
B scribal innovation
B Deuteronomy
B Ezekiel
B Deuteronomistic History
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Previous scholarship has generally assumed that all prohibitions of eating blood in the Hebrew Bible have the same basic meaning and refer to the same real practice in ancient society. This essay calls attention to the substantial differences in phrasing (blood as a direct object or with four different prepositions). There are also differences in the reasons to and not to eat blood (decorum, local altars, divine property, life force, ransom, divination, and idolatry). The consequences also differ substantially (scolding, forfeited blessing, excision, exile). In this essay, I suggest a model for how the variation could have resulted from well-studied processes of adaptation of received traditions to new theological and social contexts. Finally, it may be suggested that the reception and adaptation could have occurred entirely within the abstract tradition of legal revision. There may have been no contemporary practical social concern motivating the adaptation of the prohibition.
ISSN:2163-2529
Contains:Enthalten in: The catholic biblical quarterly