{"id":40895,"date":"2018-09-25T18:03:27","date_gmt":"2018-09-25T15:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=40895"},"modified":"2022-04-24T18:30:27","modified_gmt":"2022-04-24T15:30:27","slug":"contradictions-resolved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/contradictions-resolved\/","title":{"rendered":"Contradictions Resolved?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":50634,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[624,622,425,623],"acf":{"old_id":"40895","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":40005,"related_cahpter":"57","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The pluralism of source criticism is a model of inclusivity that is inspiring for us today","content":"

In describing the blood plague, the end of Exodus 7 observes: \u201cAnd all the Egyptians had to dig round about the Nile for drinking water, because they could not drink the water of the Nile\u201d (Exodus 7:24). This suggests that the Egyptians\u2019 thirst was slaked by drinking this non-Nile water. \u00a0But how can this be, for Exodus 7:21 states, \u201cthere was blood throughout the land of Egypt\u201d! Similarly, vv. 17b-18 suggests a localized plague, affecting the Nile only (\u201c\u2026the Nile \u2026 will be turned into blood and the fish in the Nile will die. The Nile will stink so that the Egyptians will find it impossible to drink the water of the Nile\u201d), while v. 19 implies that blood will plague all of Egypt (\u201cthe waters of Egypt\u2014its rivers, its canals [Hebrew: Niles], its ponds, all its bodies of water\u201d).<\/span><\/p>\n

A closer reading brings out other contradictions in this unit: <\/span><\/p>\n

1. Is the Nile, singular, afflicted (e.g. v. 18) or the Niles (v. 19)?
\n<\/span>2. Who initiates the plague\u2014Moses (e.g. v. 17) or Aaron (e.g. v. 19)?
\n3. Is the staff used for striking (e.g. v. 17) or is it merely held, while the outstretched hand initiates the plague (v. 19)?
\n<\/span>4. And what is the plague\u2014blood (e.g. v. 19) or stinking fish caused by the bloody Nile (e.g. v. 18)?<\/p>\n

Taken together, these problems suggest that two stories have been combined here: in one, Aaron stretches out his hand, causing blood throughout the land, while in the other Moses\u2019s staff causes dead fish to contaminate the Nile only. \u00a0(For more details see: https:\/\/thetorah.com\/source-criticism-its-in-the-plague-of-blood\/<\/a>.) \u00a0These stories have been redacted or compiled together by a conservative editor. \u00a0As readers, we naturally gloss over these differences, making the story cohere, though once pointed out, this chapter\u2019s duplications and contradictions become blatant. \u00a0By preserving both stories, the Torah\u2019s redactor offers a pre-rabbinic example of the famous dictum elu ve-elu divrei elohim chayyim<\/em>\u2014both opinions are the word of the powerful God (b. Eruvin<\/i> 13b).<\/p>\n

This is one of many such cases in the Torah where source criticism, the theory that the Torah was composed from distinct pre-existing documents (\u201csources\u201d), powerfully explains some basic problems in the Torah text. Genesis 1-3 similarly preserves two contradictory creation stories, though these are presented sequentially rather than intertwined. Such inclusive compromises offer an important model for us today.<\/span><\/p>\n

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