Misplaced Pages

#56943

91-534: The identification of Jebus with Jerusalem has been disputed, principally by Niels Peter Lemche . Supporting his case, every non-biblical mention of Jerusalem found in the ancient Near East refers to the city as "Jerusalem". An example of these records are the Amarna letters , several of which were written by the chieftain of Jerusalem Abdi-Heba and call Jerusalem either Urusalim ( URU ú-ru-sa-lim ) or Urušalim ( URU ú-ru-ša 10 -lim ) (1330s BC). Also in

182-412: A baraita taught that Ahiman was the most skillful of the brothers, Sheshai turned the ground on which he stepped into pits, and Talmai turned the ground into ridges when he walked. It was also taught that Ahiman built Anath, Sheshai built Alush , and Talmai built Talbush. They were called "the children of Anak" (the giant) because they seemed so tall that they would reach the sun. A baraita interpreted

273-552: A burnt offering ( עֹלָה ‎, olah ). Genesis 22:3 then reports that Abraham rose early in the morning and split the wood for the burnt offering ( עֹלָה ‎, olah ). And after the angel of the Lord averted Isaac's sacrifice, Genesis 22:13 reports that Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw a ram caught in a thicket, and Abraham then offered the ram as a burnt offering ( עֹלָה ‎, olah ) instead of his son. Exodus 10:25 reports that Moses pressed Pharaoh for Pharaoh to give

364-468: A drink offering ( נֶּסֶךְ ‎, nesech ) at Bethel . More generally, the Hebrew Bible addressed "sacrifices" ( זְבָחִים ‎, zevachim ) generically in connection with Jacob and Moses. After Jacob and Laban reconciled, Genesis 31:54 reports that Jacob offered a sacrifice ( זֶבַח ‎, zevach ) on the mountain and shared a meal with his kinsmen. And after Jacob learned that Joseph

455-643: A land flowing "with milk and honey." Similarly, the Middle Egyptian (early second millennium BCE) tale of Sinuhe Palestine described the Land of Israel or, as the Egyptian tale called it, the land of Yaa: "It was a good land called Yaa. Figs were in it and grapes. It had more wine than water. Abundant was its honey, plentiful its oil. All kind of fruit were on its trees. Barley was there and emmer, and no end of cattle of all kinds." The parashah has parallels or

546-460: A message by the hand of a fool cuts off his own feet, and drinks damage." The midrash asked whether the spies were men or fools. The midrash noted that Numbers 13:2 says, "Send you men ," and wherever Scripture uses the word "men," Scripture implies righteous people, as in Exodus 17:9, "And Moses said to Joshua: 'Choose us out men' "; in 1 Samuel 17:12, "And the man was an old man (and thus wise) in

637-524: A saying about the blind and the lame, Rashi quotes a midrash which argues that the Jebusites had two statues in their city, with their mouths containing the words of the covenant between Abraham and the Jebusites; one figure, depicting a blind person, represented Isaac , and the other, depicting a lame person, representing Jacob . The politicians Yasser Arafat and Faisal Husseini , among others, have claimed that Palestinian Arabs are descended from

728-457: A scout to discover knowledge. Rabbi Isaac said that the spies' names betrayed their lack of faith, and that Sethur's name (in Numbers 13:13) meant that he undermined ( sathar ) the works of God. And Rabbi Joḥanan said that the name of Nahbi the son of Vophsi (in Numbers 13:14) meant that he hid ( hikbi ) God's words. The Avot of Rabbi Natan found a reference to the episode of the spies in

819-602: A thesis on "Early Israel", a topic which has kept his interest for the last three decades. In 1987 Lemche founded the Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament with Knud Jeppesen, a publication he has been associated with to the present time as chief editor. In 1987 he became Professor of Old Testament exegesis at the Faculty of Theology and served as vice dean of the faculty from 1993 to 1999. Lemche

910-642: Is a biblical scholar at the University of Copenhagen , whose interests include early Israel and its relationship with history, the Old Testament , and archaeology. In 1971 Lemche received his undergraduate degree in theology at the University of Copenhagen, starting his long career at that institution. From 1972 to 1978 he worked there in various capacity until he was taken on as an associate professor. In 1985 he finished his doctorate in theology with

1001-464: Is actually a disguised reference to Araunah, the ר ( r ) having been corrupted to ד ( d ) . The argument originated from Cheyne, who, prior to knowledge of the Hittite language, proposed the reverse. The narrative is considered by some scholars to be aetiological and of dubious historicity . It is unknown what ultimately became of these Jebusites . According to the "Jebusite hypothesis", however,

SECTION 10

#1732765285057

1092-452: Is closely identified with the movement known as biblical minimalism , and "has assumed the role of philosophical and methodological spokesperson" for the movement. Charles David Isbell sees Lemche as attempting to dismantle and discredit the "historical-critical" method of Old Testament scholarship. Lemche himself writes that the 'so-called "historical-critical" school that created a universe of its own dubbed "ancient Israel" has dominated

1183-733: Is discussed in these Biblical sources: Joshua 14:7–12 presents Caleb's recollection at age 85 of the incident of the scouts in Numbers 13–14. Benjamin Sommer read Exodus 34:6–7 and Numbers 14:18–20 to teach that God punishes children for their parents' sins as a sign of mercy to the parents: When sinning parents repent, God defers their punishment to their offspring. Sommer argued that other Biblical writers, engaging in inner-Biblical interpretation, rejected that notion in Deuteronomy 7:9–10, Jonah 4:2, and Psalm 103:8–10. Sommer argued that Psalm 103:8–10, for example, quoted Exodus 34:6–7, which

1274-468: Is the 37th weekly Torah portion ( פָּרָשָׁה ‎, parashah ) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the fourth in the Book of Numbers . Its name comes from the first distinctive words in the parashah, in Numbers 13:2. Shelach ( שְׁלַח ‎) is the sixth and lecha ( לְךָ ‎) is the seventh word in the parashah. The parashah tells the story of the twelve spies sent to assess

1365-631: The Books of Chronicles ) is described by the Books of Samuel as having sold his threshing floor to King David, which David then constructed an altar on, the implication being that the altar became the core of the Temple of Solomon . Araunah means the lord in Hittite , and so most scholars, since they consider the Jebusites to have been Hittite, have argued that Araunah may have been another king of Jerusalem; some scholars additionally believe that Adonijah

1456-673: The Egyptians would think when they heard the news, and how they would think God powerless to bring the Israelites to the Promised Land . Moses asked God to forbear, quoting God's self-description as "slow to anger and abounding in kindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression." In response, God pardoned, but also swore that none of the men who had seen God's signs would see the Promised Land, except Caleb and Joshua. In

1547-650: The Passover regulations in the Book of Exodus (Exodus 12:49|}}). The ordinances for seeking forgiveness of unintentional sin (Numbers 15:22–29) are a shorter form of the ordinances set out in more detail ordinances in Leviticus 4 . The requirement to wait because God had not yet revealed how violators of the Sabbath should be treated (Numbers 15:34|}}) is similar to the requirement in Numbers 9:8|}}, where Moses commanded

1638-522: The blind and lame could withstand David's siege. According to the version of the story in the Masoretic Text , David manages to conquer the city by a surprise attack, led by Joab , through the water supply tunnels (Jerusalem has no natural water supply except for the Gihon Spring ). Ever since its discovery in the 19th century, Warren's Shaft , part of a system which connects the spring to

1729-522: The promised land , commandments about offerings, the story of the Sabbath violator, and the commandment of the fringes ( צִיצִת ‎, tzitzit ). The parashah constitutes Numbers 13:1–15:41. It is made up of 5,820 Hebrew letters, 1,540 Hebrew words, 119 verses , and 198 lines in a Torah Scroll ( Sefer Torah ). Jews generally read it in June or early July. In traditional Sabbath Torah reading,

1820-459: The triennial cycle of Torah reading read the parashah according to the following schedule: The parashah has parallels in these ancient sources: Numbers 13:22 and 28 refer to the "children of Anak" ( יְלִדֵי הָעֲנָק ‎, yelidei ha-anak ), Numbers 13:33 refers to the "sons of Anak" ( בְּנֵי עֲנָק ‎, benei anak ), and Deuteronomy 1:28, 2:10–11, 2:21, and 9:2 refer to the "Anakim" ( עֲנָקִים ‎). John A. Wilson suggested that

1911-432: The wadi Eshcol , they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes so large that it had to be borne on a carrying frame by two of them, as well as some pomegranates and figs . At the end of 40 days, they returned and reported to Moses, Aaron , and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh , saying that the land did indeed flow with milk and honey ( date honey ) but that the people who inhabited it were powerful,

SECTION 20

#1732765285057

2002-579: The 200 men with him rebelled, asking why that unbearable law had been imposed on them. The parashah is discussed in these rabbinic sources from the era of the Mishnah and the Talmud : Resh Lakish interpreted the words "Send you men" in Numbers 13:2 to indicate that God gave Moses discretion over whether to send the spies. Resh Lakish read Moses' recollection of the matter in Deuteronomy 1:23 that "the thing pleased me well" to mean that agreeing to send

2093-524: The Amarna letters, it is called Beth-Shalem, the house of Shalem. The Sumero-Akkadian name for Jerusalem, uru-salim , is variously etymologised to mean "foundation of [or: by] the god Shalim ": from Semitic yry, "to found, to lay a cornerstone", and Shalim, the Canaanite god of the setting sun and the nether world, as well as of health and perfection. Lemche states: There is no evidence of Jebus and

2184-581: The Anakim may be related to the Iy-‘anaq geographic region named in Middle Kingdom Egyptian (19th to 18th century BCE) pottery bowls that had been inscribed with the names of enemies and then shattered as a kind of curse. Numbers 13:27 and 14:8, as well as Exodus 3:8 and 17, 13:5, and 33:3, Leviticus 20:24, and Deuteronomy 6:3, 11:9, 26:9 and 15, 27:3, and 31:20 describe the Land of Israel as

2275-635: The Israelites "sacrifices and burnt offerings" ( זְבָחִים וְעֹלֹת ‎, zevachim v'olot ) to offer to God. And Exodus 18:12 reports that after Jethro heard all that God did to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, Jethro offered a burnt-offering and sacrifices ( עֹלָה וּזְבָחִים ‎, olah uzevachim ) to God. While Leviticus 2 and Leviticus 6:7–16 set out the procedure for the meal-offering ( מִנְחָה ‎, minchah ), before then, in Genesis 4:3, Cain brought an offering ( מִנְחָה ‎, minchah ) of

2366-420: The Jebusites and Yabusi'um may have been separate people altogether. In the Amarna letters, mention is made that the contemporaneous king of Jerusalem was named Abdi-Heba , which is a theophoric name invoking a Hurrian goddess named Ḫepat . This implies that the Jebusites were either Hurrians, were heavily influenced by Hurrian culture, or were dominated by the maryannu (a warrior-class elite). Moreover,

2457-507: The Jebusites as continuing to dwell at Jerusalem, within the territory otherwise occupied by the Tribe of Benjamin . According to the 2 Samuel, the Jebusites still had control of Jerusalem at the time of King David , but David wished to take control of the city. Understandably the Jebusites contest his attempt to do this, and since Jebus was the strongest fortress in Canaan they gloat that even

2548-418: The Jebusites outside of the Old Testament . Some scholars reckon Jebus to be a different place from Jerusalem; other scholars prefer to see the name of Jebus as a kind of pseudo-ethnic name. Theophilus G. Pinches has noted a reference to "Yabusu", which he interprets as an old form of Jebus, on a contract tablet that dates from 2200 BC. The Hebrew Bible contains the only surviving ancient text known to use

2639-459: The Jebusites persisted as inhabitants of Jerusalem and comprised an important faction in the Kingdom of Judah , including such notables as Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Bathsheba , the queen and mother of the next monarch, Solomon . According to this hypothesis, after the disgrace of a rival Elide faction of priests in the struggle for succession to David, the family of Zadok became

2730-416: The Jebusites, and that they lack any significant connection to them. Johns Hopkins University Professor William F. Albright questioned "the surprising tenacity" of "the myth of the unchanging East" and rejected any assertion of continuity between the "folk beliefs and practices of the modern peasants and nomads" and "pre-Arab times." Niels Peter Lemche Niels Peter Lemche (born 6 September 1945)

2821-737: The Jebusites, in an attempt to argue that the Palestinians have a historic claim to Jerusalem that precedes the Jewish one. Professor Eric H. Cline of the George Washington University Anthropology Department and co-director of the University of Haifa asserts that a general consensus exists among historians and archeologists that modern Palestinians are "more closely related to the Arabs of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan, and other countries" than to

Jebusites - Misplaced Pages Continue

2912-572: The Judahites were confident in delivering the corpse of Adoni-Bezek , a foreign enemy king, to Jebus in Judges 1:7. A similar incident occurred in 1 Samuel 17:54, where David delivers Goliath 's head to Jebus, which occurs before the city's conquest. In addition, the Jebusites are portrayed in a more positive light than the residents of Gibeah in the Levite's concubine narrative . Farber believes this

3003-514: The Sea of Reeds (or some say to the idol that Micah made). Rabbi Judah cited Psalm 106:7, "They rebelled at the Sea of Reeds." "Between Paran" alludes to the Twelve Spies, as Numbers 13:3 says, "Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran." "And Tophel" alludes to the frivolous words ( תפלות ‎, tiphlot ) they said about the manna . "Lavan" alludes to Koraḥ's mutiny. "Ḥatzerot" alludes to

3094-466: The archaeological record, and may be summarized as follows: From at least as early as the first half of the 14th century BCE the central highlands were the habitation of the Apiru , "a para-social element ... [consisting] of runaway former non-free peasants or copyholders from the small city-states in the plains and valleys of Palestine," living as "outlaw groups of freebooters". When new settlements appear in

3185-438: The case, though less so. However, an increasingly popular view, first put forward by Edward Lipiński , professor of Oriental and Slavonic studies at KU Leuven , is that the Jebusites were most likely an Amorite tribe; Lipiński identifies them with the group referred to as Yabusi'um in a cuneiform letter found in the archive of Mari, Syria . Lipinski also suggests that more than one clan or tribe bore similar names and thus

3276-602: The cities were fortified and very large, and that they saw the Anakites there. Caleb hushed the people and urged them to go up and take the land. But the other scouts spread calumnies about the land, calling it "one that devours its settlers." They reported that the land's people were giants and stronger than the Israelites. The whole community broke into crying, railed against Moses and Aaron, and shouted: "If only we might die in this wilderness!" Moses and Aaron fell on their faces, and Joshua and Caleb rent their clothes. In

3367-527: The city of Jebus, the ancient Jerusalem , which they inhabited. These rabbinical sources also argue that as part of the price of Abraham's purchase of the Cave of the Patriarchs (Cave of Machpelah), which lay in the territory of the Jebusites, the Jebusites made Abraham grant them a covenant that his descendants would not take control of Jebus against the will of the Jebusites, and then the Jebusites engraved

3458-571: The city, has been cited as evidence for the plausibility of such a line of attack. The account in 1 Chronicles 11 :5 mentions the advantage of a speedy attack but does not mention use of the water shafts, and according to many textual scholars the claim in the Masoretic Text could simply be a scribal error; the Septuagint version of the passage states that the Israelites had to attack the Jebusites with their dagger[s] rather than through

3549-411: The commandment of the Lord ." Afterwards, at the end of 40 days, they changed and made all the trouble, causing that generation to be punished; thus Deuteronomy 32:20 says, "For they are a very contrary ( tahpukot ) generation," since when they were selected they were righteous and then they changed ( nitapeku ). Accordingly, Numbers 13:2 says, "Send you men ," and afterwards Numbers 13:16 says, "These are

3640-460: The community and placed him in custody. God told Moses that the whole community was to stone him to death outside the camp, so they did so. God told Moses to instruct the Israelites to make for themselves fringes ( צִיצִת ‎, tzitzit ) on each of the corners of their garments. They were to look at the fringes, recall the commandments, and observe them. Jews who read the Torah according to

3731-482: The community to wait until he heard the law concerning the Second Passover . The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these early nonrabbinic sources: Pseudo-Philo read the commandment to wear tzitzit in Numbers 15:37–40 together with the story of Korah ’s rebellion that follows immediately after in Numbers 16:1–3. Pseudo-Philo reported that God commanded Moses about the tassels, and then Korah and

Jebusites - Misplaced Pages Continue

3822-404: The covenant into bronze; the sources state that the presence of the bronze statues are why the Israelites were not able to conquer the city during Joshua's campaign. The rabbis of the classical era go on to state that King David was prevented from entering the city of Jebus for the same reason, and so he promised the reward of captaincy to anyone who destroyed the bronzes – Joab performing

3913-428: The days of Saul, coming among men (who would naturally be like him)"; and in 1 Samuel 1:11, "But will give to Your handmaid seed who are men ." If Numbers 13:2 thus implies that the spies were righteous people, could they still have been fools? The midrash explained that they were fools because they spread an evil report about the land, and Proverbs 10:18 says, "He that utters a slander is a fool." The midrash reconciled

4004-531: The fact that other Jebusites resident in pre-Israelite Jerusalem bore names invoking the principle or god Zedek (Tzedek) (e.g., Melchizedek and Adonizedek ). Under this theory the Aaronic lineage ascribed to Zadok is a later, anachronistic interpolation. A Jebusite is mentioned in the Acts of Barnabas as accompanying his martyrdom. According to classical rabbinical literature , the Jebusites derived their name from

4095-442: The flow of the milk and honey in all the Land of Israel and the total area was equal to an area of twenty-two parasangs by six parasangs. Rabbi Joḥanan said in the name of Rabbi Meir that the spies began with a true report in Numbers 13:27 and then spoke ill in Numbers 13:28, because any piece of slander needs some truth in the beginning to be heard through to the end. Rabbah interpreted Numbers 13:30 to report that Caleb won

4186-430: The fourth reading, God swore that all of the men 20 years old and up, except Caleb and Joshua, would die in the wilderness. God said that the Israelites' children would enter the Promised Land after roaming the wilderness, suffering for the faithlessness of the present generation, for 40 years, corresponding to the number of days that the scouts scouted the land. The scouts other than Caleb and Joshua died of plague. Early

4277-421: The fruit of the ground. And then Genesis 4:4–5 reports that God had respect for Abel and his offering ( מִנְחָתוֹ ‎, minchato ), but for Cain and his offering ( מִנְחָתוֹ ‎, minchato ), God had no respect. And while Numbers 15:4–9 indicates that one bringing an animal sacrifice needed also to bring a drink offering ( נֶּסֶךְ ‎, nesech ), before then, in Genesis 35:14, Jacob poured out

4368-420: The geographical features of the land, the strength and numbers of the population , the agricultural potential and actual performance of the land, civic organization (whether their cities were like camps or strongholds), and forestry conditions. He also asked them to be positive in their outlook and to return with samples of local produce. In the second reading, they scouted the land as far as Hebron . At

4459-652: The highlands over a century later, at the start of the Iron Age, they are evidence of new political structures emerging among those same groups. The Iron I settlements attest a return by those groups to a settled, agricultural lifestyle, and the beginning of a (re)tribalization process. Israel was the end-product of that process. Lemche's view has much in common with that of Israel Finkelstein . Numbers 13 Shlach , Shelach , Sh'lah , Shlach Lecha , or Sh'lah L'kha ( שְׁלַח ‎ or שְׁלַח-לְךָ ‎— Hebrew for "send," "send to you," or "send for yourself")

4550-553: The land of the Jebusites. According to Joshua 10 , Adonizedek led a confederation of Jebusites and the tribes from the neighbouring cities of Jarmuth , Lachish , Eglon and Hebron against Joshua but was soundly defeated and killed. However, Joshua 15 :63 states the Judahites could not dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem ("to this day the Jebusites live there with the people of Judah"). Judges 1:21 portrays

4641-416: The land, they were to set aside a portion, a dough offering ( חַלָּה ‎, challah ), as a gift to God. If the community unwittingly failed to observe any commandment , the community was to present one bull as a burnt offering with its proper meal offering and wine, and one he- goat as a sin offering , and the priest would make expiation for the whole community and they would be forgiven. In

SECTION 50

#1732765285057

4732-578: The last Jebusite king, Araunah , mentioned in 1 Chronicles 21 :15, bore a name generally understood as based on the Hurrian honorific ewir . Richard Hess shows four Hurrian names in the Bible's conquest narrative: Piram, king of Jarmuth and Hoham, king of Hebron ( Joshua 10:3 ), and Sheshai and Talmai, sons of Anak ( Joshua 15:14 ) with Hurrian-based names. Zev Farber believes that the Jebusites were unrecognized Israelites. According to Farber, it explains why

4823-460: The last two hundred years of biblical studies.' He argues that "ancient Israel" is the product of the Jewish community that was of "the Persian and especially Hellenistic and Roman periods". In common with the general trend of modern scholarship, Lemche identifies the Persian and Hellenistic period (5th century to 4th century BCE) as the most appropriate setting in which to seek the composition of

4914-629: The listing of places in Deuteronomy 1:1, which the Avot of Rabbi Natan read to allude to how God tested the Israelites with ten trials in the Wilderness, all of which they failed. According to the Avot of Rabbi Natan, in Deuteronomy 1:1, the words "In the wilderness" allude to the Golden Calf , as Exodus 32:8 reports. "On the plain" alludes to how they complained about not having water, as Exodus 17:3 reports. "Facing Suf" alludes to how they rebelled at

5005-406: The majority of the biblical texts, arguing that this is the single period that best explains the 'mental matrix’ for most Old Testament literature and "probably all of its historiography". Lemche considers the traditional narratives of Israel's history as contained in the bible to be so late in origin as to be useless for historical reconstruction. His alternative reconstruction is based entirely on

5096-407: The midrash asked what it means "to search out ( la-tur ) by wisdom." The midrash explained that it means to search for wisdom, to become an explorer of wisdom, as the word is employed in Numbers 13:2, "Send you men, that they may spy out ( yaturu ) the land of Canaan." Thus Ecclesiastes 1:13 teaches that one should sit in the presence of one who teaches Scripture well or expounds Mishnah well and become

5187-477: The most distinguished of them, or because they did not share in the plan to discourage the Israelites. The Jerusalem Talmud taught that the bunch of grapes must have been much heavier than the stones that Joshua 4:5 reports that the Israelites took from the Jordan River , as there Joshua instructed each man to lift a stone onto his shoulder. Rabbi Joḥanan said in the name of Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai that

5278-580: The name of the Lord." In these cases, the text implies but does not explicitly state that the Patriarch offered a sacrifice. And at God's request, Abraham conducted an unusual sacrifice at the Covenant between the Pieces in Genesis 15:9–21. The consistent application of the law regarding sacrifices to both Israelites and the strangers dwelling amongst them (Numbers 15:16|}}) reflects the same principle in

5369-434: The names of the men ." Rabbi Akiva read the words of Numbers 13:2, "one man, one man per tribe," to indicate that there two spies for each tribe, or 24 spies in total, of whom 16 spies carried the cluster of grapes and eight spies carried the figs, pomegranates, and their belongings. Rabbi Simeon (or others say Rabbi Ishmael), however, said that doubled expressions like this are simply a manner of speaking, and that there

5460-493: The nations, there was none more fertile than Egypt, for Genesis 13:10 says, "Like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt." And there was no more fertile spot in Egypt than Zoan, where kings lived, for Isaiah 30:4 says of Pharaoh, "his princes are at Zoan." And in all of Israel, there was no more rocky ground than that at Hebron, which is why the Patriarchs buried their dead there, as reported in Genesis 49:31. But rocky Hebron

5551-522: The next morning, the Israelites set out to the Promised Land, but Moses told them that they would not succeed without God in their midst. But they marched forward anyway, and the Amalekites and the Canaanites dealt them a shattering blow at Hormah . God told Moses to tell Israelites that when they entered the Promised Land and would present an offering to God, the person presenting the offering

SECTION 60

#1732765285057

5642-456: The opinion of both Israel and in Moses. Yet Moses did not want to send them on his own responsibility, so he consulted God about each individual, mentioning the name and tribe of each, and God told Moses that each was worthy. The midrash explained that one can infer that God told Moses that they were worthy, because Numbers 13:3 reports, "And Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran according to

5733-483: The parashah is divided into seven readings, or עליות ‎, aliyot . In the first reading, God told Moses to send one chieftain from each of the 12 tribes of Israel to scout the land of Canaan , and Moses sent them out from the wilderness of Paran . Among the scouts were Caleb , son of Jephunneh from the Tribe of Judah and Hosea (Hoshea), son of Nun from the Tribe of Ephraim . Moses changed Hosea's name to Joshua . Moses asked for an assessment of

5824-491: The people over with his words, for he saw that when Joshua began to address them, they disparaged Joshua for failing to have children. So Caleb took a different tack and asked, "Is this all that Amram 's son [Moses] has done to us?" And as they thought that Caleb was about to disparage Moses, they fell silent. Then Caleb said, "He brought us out of Egypt, divided the sea, and fed us manna. If he were to ask us to get ladders and climb to heaven, should we not obey? And then Caleb said

5915-400: The people, as Numbers 13:30 reports, "And Caleb stilled ( vayahas ) the people." He stood on a bench and silenced them, saying, "Silence ( has )!" and they became silent to hear him. Caleb told them in Numbers 14:7, "The land . . . is an exceeding good land." God therefore said to Moses, "I am exceedingly grateful to him [Caleb]," as may be inferred from Deuteronomy 1:36, "Except ( zulati ) Caleb

6006-534: The procedure for the burnt offering ( עֹלָה ‎, olah ), before then, Genesis 8:20 reports that Noah offered burnt-offerings ( עֹלֹת ‎, olot ) of every clean beast and bird on an altar after the waters of the Flood subsided. The story of the Binding of Isaac includes three references to the burnt offering ( עֹלָה ‎, olah ). In Genesis 22:2, God told Abraham to take Isaac and offer him as

6097-417: The purpose of sacrifices, as discussed in Numbers 15:1–31. God states that correct sacrifice was not the taking of a bull out of the sacrificer's house, nor the taking of a goat out of the sacrificer's fold, to convey to God, for every animal was already God's possession. The sacrificer was not to think of the sacrifice as food for God, for God neither hungers nor eats. Rather, the worshiper was to offer to God

6188-467: The quails. And in Deuteronomy 9:22, it says, "At Tav'erah, and at Masah, and at Kivrot HaTa'avah." And "Di-zahav" alludes to when Aaron said to them: "Enough ( דַּי ‎, dai ) of this golden ( זָהָב ‎, zahav ) sin that you have committed with the Calf!" But Rabbi Eliezer ben Ya'akov said it means "Terrible enough ( דַּי ‎, dai ) is this sin that Israel was punished to last from now until

6279-507: The resurrection of the dead." Rava noted that Numbers 13:22 literally reads " they went up into the South, and he came to Hebron," and deduced from the change in the number of the pronoun that Caleb separated himself from the spies' plan and prostrated himself in prayer on the graves of the patriarchs in Hebron. Interpreting the names Ahiman , Sheshai , and Talmai in Numbers 13:22,

6370-599: The sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon God in times of trouble, and thus God would deliver the worshiper and the worshiper would honor God. Psalm 107 enumerates four occasions on which a thank offering ( זִבְחֵי תוֹדָה ‎, zivchei todah ), as described in Leviticus 7:12–15 (referring to a זֶבַח תּוֹדַת ‎, zevach todah ) would be appropriate: The Hebrew Bible reports several instances of sacrifices before God explicitly called for them in Leviticus 1–7. While Leviticus 1:3–17 and Leviticus 6:1–6 set out

6461-424: The seventh reading, if an individual sinned unwittingly, the individual was to offer a she-goat in its first year as a sin offering, and the priest would make expiation that the individual might be forgiven. But the person who violated a commandment defiantly was to be cut off from among his people. Once the Israelites came upon a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day, and they brought him before Moses, Aaron, and

6552-436: The sole authorized Jerusalem clergy, so that a Jebusite family monopolized the Jerusalem clergy for many centuries before becoming sufficiently attenuated to be indistinguishable from other Judeans or Judahites. Elsewhere in the Bible, the Jebusites are described in a manner that suggests that they worshipped the same God ( El Elyon —Ēl ‘Elyōn) as the Israelites (e.g., Melchizedek ). Further support for this theory comes from

6643-474: The son of Jephunneh, he shall see it . . . because he has wholly followed the Lord.” The word zulati signified lazeh itti , “this one was with Me,” more than the 600,000 other Israelites, who could not find your hands and feet, but failed in courage. Thus Psalm 76:6 says, “The stout-hearted are bereft of sense.” The midrash taught that it came to this because the messengers that Moses and Aaron sent were fools. Of such as these Proverbs 26:6 observes, “He that sends

6734-478: The spies pleased Moses well but not God. Reading Numbers 13:2, "Send you men," a midrash contrasted the two righteous men Phinehas and Caleb, the spies whom Joshua sent in Joshua 2:1, who risked their lives in order to perform their mission, with the messengers whom Moses sent, who the midrash taught were wicked men. A midrash read Numbers 13:2, "Send you men," together with Proverbs 10:26, "As vinegar to

6825-461: The task and so gaining the prize. The covenant is dismissed by the rabbis as having been invalidated due to the war the Jebusites fought against Joshua, but nevertheless David (according to the rabbis) paid the Jebusites the full value of the city, collecting the money from among all the Israelite tribes, so that the city became their common property . In reference to 2 Samuel 5:6, which refers to

6916-425: The teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him." The midrash taught that God could see from the first that the spies were going to slander the land, as Jeremiah 9:2 says, "And they bend their tongue, their bow of falsehood." The midrash compared God's words in Numbers 13:2 to the case of a rich man who had a vineyard. Whenever he saw that the wine was good, he would direct his men to bring

7007-586: The term Jebusite to describe the inhabitants of Jerusalem; according to the Generations of Noah ( Genesis 10 ), the Jebusites are identified as Canaanites, listed in third place among the Canaanite groups between the biblical Hittites and the Amorites . Before modern archaeological studies, most biblical scholars held the opinion that the Jebusites were identical to the Hittites, which continues to be

7098-463: The third reading, Joshua and Caleb exhorted the Israelites not to fear and not to rebel against God. Just as the community threatened to pelt them with stones, God's Presence appeared in the Tabernacle . God complained to Moses: "How long will this people spurn Me," and threatened to strike them with pestilence and make of Moses a nation more numerous than they. But Moses told God to think of what

7189-482: The two characterizations by saying that the spies were great men who then made fools of themselves. It was concerning them that Moses said in Deuteronomy 32:20, "They are a very contrary generation, children in whom is no faithfulness." For the midrash taught that the spies had been chosen out of all Israel by the command of both God and Moses; as Moses said in Deuteronomy 1:23, "And the thing pleased me well; and I took twelve men of you," implying that they were righteous in

7280-447: The water shaft . The First Book of Chronicles states that the inhabitants of Jebus forbade King David from coming to Jerusalem shortly after he was made king. Joab went up first and took the city and became chief and captain of David's armed forces. The Books of Kings state that once Jerusalem had become an Israelite city, the surviving Jebusites are forced by Solomon to become serfs . Another Jebusite, Araunah (referred to as Ornan by

7371-496: The wine into his house, but when he saw that the wine had turned to vinegar, he would tell his men to take the wine into their houses. Similarly, when God saw the elders and how worthy they were, God called them God's own, as God says in Numbers 11:16, "Gather to Me 70 men," but when God saw the spies and how they would later sin, God ascribed them to Moses, saying in Numbers 13:2, "Send you men." A midrash contrasted Numbers 13:2, "Send you men ," with Proverbs 26:6, "He that sends

7462-560: The words "And they went and came to Moses" in Numbers 13:26 equated the going with the coming back, indicating that just as they came back with an evil design, they had set out with an evil design. The Gemara reported a number of Rabbis' reports of how the Land of Israel did indeed flow with "milk and honey," as described in Exodus 3:8 and 17, 13:5, and 33:3, Leviticus 20:24, Numbers 13:27 and 14:8, and Deuteronomy 6:3, 11:9, 26:9 and 15, 27:3, and 31:20. Once when Rami bar Ezekiel visited Bnei Brak , he saw goats grazing under fig trees while honey

7553-575: The words "and Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt " in Numbers 13:22 to mean that Hebron was seven times as fertile as Zoan. The baraita rejected the plain meaning of "built," reasoning that Ham would not build a house for his younger son Canaan (in whose land was Hebron) before he built one for his elder son Mizraim (in whose land was Zoan), and Genesis 10:6 lists (presumably in order of birth) "the sons of Ham: Cush , and Mizraim, and Put , and Canaan." The baraita also taught that among all

7644-453: The words reported in Numbers 13:30, "We should go up at once, and possess the land, for we are well able to overcome it." Reading Psalm 76:6, "The stout-hearted are bereft of sense, they sleep their sleep," a midrash taught that the expression "bereft of sense" applied to Moses and Aaron. They sent the spies, who slandered the land, so that they did not know what to do. Moses and Aaron lost courage, but Caleb immediately rose and silenced all of

7735-633: Was already an authoritative and holy text, but revised the morally troubling part: Where Exodus 34:7 taught that God punishes sin for generations, Psalm 103:9–10 maintained that God does not contend forever. Sommer argued that Deuteronomy 7:9–10 and Jonah 4:2 similarly quoted Exodus 34:6–7 with revision. Sommer asserted that Deuteronomy 7:9–10, Jonah 4:2, and Psalm 103:8–10 do not try to tell us how to read Exodus 34:6–7; that is, they do not argue that Exodus 34:6–7 somehow means something other than what it seems to say. Rather, they repeat Exodus 34:6–7 while also disagreeing with part of it. In Psalm 50, God clarifies

7826-408: Was also to bring flour mixed with oil and wine . In the fifth reading, God told Moses to tell Israelites that when they would present a bull for a burnt offering to God, the person presenting the offering was also to bring flour mixed with oil and wine. And when a resident alien wanted to present an offering, the same law would apply. In the sixth reading, when the Israelites ate bread of

7917-474: Was anti- Saul propaganda, with Gibeah being the city of Saul and Jebus being the city of David . The Hebrew Bible describes the Jebusites as dwelling in the mountains beside Jerusalem in Numbers 13 :29 and Joshua 11 :3. In the narration of the burning bush in Exodus 3:18, the "good and large land, flowing with milk and honey" that was promised to Moses as the future home of the oppressed Hebrews included

8008-504: Was flowing from the figs, and milk dripped from the goats mingling with the fig honey, causing him to remark that it was indeed a land flowing with milk and honey. Rabbi Jacob ben Dostai said that it is about three miles from Lod to Ono , and once he rose up early in the morning and waded all that way up to his ankles in fig honey. Resh Lakish said that he saw the flow of the milk and honey of Sepphoris extend over an area of sixteen miles by sixteen miles. Rabbah bar Bar Hana said that he saw

8099-553: Was only one spy per tribe, or 12 spies in total, of whom eight spies carried the cluster of grapes and four spies carried the figs, pomegranates, and their belongings. In Rabbi Akiva's view, the spies used twice as many poles to hold the cluster of grapes as the spies used in Rabbi Ishmael's view. A midrash taught that one should become an explorer for wisdom, as Numbers 13:2 uses the term. Reading Ecclesiastes 1:13, "And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom,"

8190-532: Was still alive in Egypt, Genesis 46:1 reports that Jacob journeyed to Beersheba and offered sacrifices ( זְבָחִים ‎, zevachim ) to the God of his father Isaac. And Moses and Aaron argued repeatedly with Pharaoh over their request to go three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice ( וְנִזְבְּחָה ‎, venizbechah ) to God. The Hebrew Bible also includes several ambiguous reports in which Abraham or Isaac built or returned to an altar and "called upon

8281-460: Was still seven times as fertile as lush Zoan. The Gemara interpreted the words "between two" in Numbers 13:23 to teach that the scouts carried the large cluster of grapes on two staffs. Rabbi Isaac said that the scouts carried the grapes with a series of balancing poles. The Gemara explained that eight spies carried the grape-cluster, one carried a pomegranate, one carried a fig, and Joshua and Caleb did not carry anything, either because they were

#56943