{"id":42516,"date":"2018-10-21T20:47:45","date_gmt":"2018-10-21T17:47:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=42516"},"modified":"2022-05-18T07:10:27","modified_gmt":"2022-05-18T04:10:27","slug":"the-everlasting-covenant-closing-the-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-everlasting-covenant-closing-the-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"The Everlasting Covenant: Closing The Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/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":[395,414,644],"acf":{"old_id":"42516","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":41606,"related_cahpter":"74","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Written codification and oral repetitions","content":"<p style=\"direction: ltr;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Exodus 24 describes a ceremony that closes the covenant of the preceding chapters. As part of this ceremony, Moses records the contents of the covenant in writing (Exod 24:4) and reads aloud the entire \u201cCovenant Code\u201d (or \u201cBook\/ Record of the Covenant\u201d; Exod 24:7). This public reading of law is the first of several in the Bible, from books spanning different periods. Moses later writes down the law and commands the Levites to read it to Israel every seventh year (Deut 31). Joshua reads aloud all the commandments, leaving nothing out, at Mt. Ebal (Josh 8). When a book of law is discovered during Josiah\u2019s temple renovations, the king organizes a public reading and renews the covenant by ushering in a program of religious reform (2 Kgs 22-23). Finally, during the post-exilic period, Ezra reads all the laws of Moses to an assembly of men, women, and children (Neh 8).<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of these examples, Exodus and Deuteronomy in particular emphasize the act of writing. In a society that was not fully literate, public readings would ensure that a wide range of the population could hear the contents of the law. Yet the laws could also have been transmitted orally without recording them in writing at all; or they could have been written without the Torah sparing words to describe this. Why the emphasis on writing?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We see from the focus on a <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">written<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> law and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reading<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that in Exodus 24, it was not just the content of the laws and their recitation that mattered, but also their written-ness, irrespective of the people\u2019s literacy or illiteracy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Exodus 24, the public reading of law occurs as one part of a series of rituals, including animal sacrifice and sprinkling the people with blood. The writing of the laws allows for the creation of a material object of significance, so that the tablets are a ritual object functioning as part of a larger covenant-completion ceremony. In its materiality, the law is <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">physically<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> given, received, and meant to be seen. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The written law thereby becomes a symbol of covenant, evidence of the formalized relationship between God and Israel, which will require repeated renewal long after the dramatic events of Exodus 24.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Image by Ben Schachter, courtesy of the artist.<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":71363,"id":71363,"title":"Jer36-spoken written","filename":"Jer36-spoken-written.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer36-spoken-written.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/literate-yet-oral\/jer36-spoken-written\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer36-spoken-written","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":71362,"date":"2020-03-08 12:12:07","modified":"2022-10-23 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Everlasting Covenant: Closing The Deal","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Written codification and oral repetitions","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":71363,"id":71363,"title":"Jer36-spoken written","filename":"Jer36-spoken-written.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer36-spoken-written.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/literate-yet-oral\/jer36-spoken-written\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer36-spoken-written","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":71362,"date":"2020-03-08 12:12:07","modified":"2022-10-23 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