Politics

When the Israelites left Egypt, they were accompanied by an ʿerev rav (Exodus 12:38). This obscure term has been interpreted in different ways throughout two millennia of Bible interpretation, both positively and negatively, and modern scholars still debate its exact meaning. The term survives in modern Jewish discourse as a slur against other Jews.

The Book of Chronicles updates and reinterprets Deuteronomy’s court system.

Contemporary abuse of a once popular biblical hero.

To avoid saying that Israel conquered the territory of their Moabite cousins, and that Reuben and Gad may once have been Moabite tribes, the Torah claims that when the Israelites arrived, the land was occupied by Amorites and ruled by King Sihon.

Numbers 32 combines two versions of how Gad and Reuven receive Moses’ permission to settle the Transjordan. The non-Priestly story emphasizes fraternity and kinship, while the Priestly version emphasizes law and obedience to YHWH. By synthesizing them, the redactor suggests that law can serve as a pillar around which the Israelite community can coalesce.