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Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania
The Religion of Israel before SinaiAuthor(s): M. H. SegalReviewed work(s):Source: The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, Vol. 52, No. 1 (Jul., 1961), pp. 41-68Published by: University of Pennsylvania PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1453274 .
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THE RELIGION OF ISRAEL BEFORE SINAI
by M. H. SEGAL, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
ABRAHAM AND NOT Moses was the founder of Israel's
monotheism. Mosesgave Israel the Torahwith its command-
ments, but her God Israel inherited from the patriarchs.
This is an oft-repeatedassertionin Israel's biblical and post-
biblical literature and it is no doubt based upon a historicalfact. Nowhere do we find the designation of God as the God
of Moses. God is always described as the God of Abraham
and of Isaac and of Jacob and after them as the God of Israel.
Already Abraham's servant spoke of God as Yhwh the God
of Abraham (Gen. 24, I2 24 27 42 48). Yhwh reveals Himself
to Isaac as the God of Abraham his father (Gen. 26, 24), and
to Jacob as the God of his father Abraham and of Isaac
,(Gen. 28, I3), and thus Jacob addresses Yhwh as "the God
of my father Abraham and the God of my father Isaac"
(32, io), and he offers sacrifices to Him as the God of his
father Isaac (46, i), andconfersa blessingon Joseph's children
in the name of the God of his fathers, Abraham and Isaac
(48, i6).The children of Jacob brought to Egypt the faith in the
God of the patriarchs and preserved its memory until thedays of Moses. This is implied in the divine promiseto Jacob:
"I will go down with thee to Egypt and I will also surely
bring thee up again" (Gen. 46, 4). At the beginning of Israel's
life in Egypt the sons of Jacob style themselvesin their address
to Joseph "the servants of the God of thy father" (50, I7).
And so at the end of Israel's life in Egypt God reveals Himself
to Mosesin the vision of the bush with the words: "I am theGod of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob", and He commands Moses to declare
to Israel: "Yhwh the Godof your fathers,the God of Abraham
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob hath sent me unto
4
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42 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW
you" (Ex. 3, 6 I5). This first divine revelation to Moses at
Sinai did not thereforeproclaimto Mosesa new and hitherto
unknown God, or even a new conception with a new name
of God (as asserted by the critics).'The revelationin the vision
of the bush only proclaimed the redemption of Israel from
Egypt by the God of their fathers and the fulfillment of the
divine promise to their fathers of the gift of the land of
Canaan. And when Moses and Aaron delivered to the Israe-
lites the divine message they did not talk of a new God or evenof a new name of God,but only of the redemption which alone
was contained in the message: "And the people believed and
they heard that Yhwh had visited the children of Israel and
that He had looked upon their affliction"(Ex 4, 3I). Likewise
the great revelation to all Israel for the covenant of Sinai did
not proclaim a new God or a new name of God or a new
conceptionof God.It
only recalledthe redemptionfromEgyptpromisedin the vision of the bush: "I am Yhwh thy Godwho
hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the house
of bondage" (Ex. 20, 2), and in consequenceof the redemption
it announcedthe injunctionsof the decalogueand the follow-
ing 'judgments'and laws which formed the terms and condi-
tions of the covenant (Ex. 2I-23; 24). It is clear therefore
that the Pentateuch (andso also the rest of the Hebrew bible
and the rest of Hebrew literature) does not know of theproclamation by Moses of a new God or of a new name of
God. Moses came to Israel as the messenger of Yhwh the
God of Abrahamand Isaac and Jacob, and in the name of this
God of the ancestorsdid he lead Israel out of Egypt and con-
cludedwith them the covenant of Sinai which laid upon them
the laws and commands of the Torah. Abraham is thus the
first father of Israel's faith as he is the founder of the nationof Israel.
How did Abrahamin the midst of his pagan environment
attain to so lofty a conception and for his days so abstruse a
1 Cf. my study on the revelation of the name Yhwh in my 1l1TjIITlN321 (1957), P. 47ff.
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RELIGION OF ISRAEL-SEGAL 43
doctrine as the unity of the divine ? For it cannot be said
that in his clan or in his family there was a tendency or adisposition favoring the development of such a doctrine.
Abraham's family was not different from its neighbours in
faith and worship. "Your fathers dwelt of old on the other
side of the river (Euphrates) and they served other gods"
(Jos. 24, 2). Terahwas the father of Abrahamand of Nachor.
Abraham's family first dwelt at Ur of the Chaldees and
then moved toHarran (Gen. II, 31). Both these places were
then the great centres of the worship of Sin, the moon god,
and it may be presumed that Abraham's family were also
devoted to the worshipof the moon. The name of Abraham's
father Terah (nrrn)s plausibly associated with the name of
the moon Yerah (nnr) and the name of Abraham's wife
Sarah (Sarai, "i-, nn', the princess) is identical with the
title of the consort of the moon god.' The devotion of his
family to this idolatry may have been the true reason forAbraham's departure from Mesopotamniand his settlement
in Canaan. His new faith must have made it impossible for
him to continue to live together with his pagan kinsmen.
Though his separationfrom them was not complete; he kept
in Canaanhis contact with at Harran(Gen.22, 20). The moral
standard of his famnilywas higherthan that of his neighbors
in Canaan. For this reason he opposed the marriage of hisson Isaac to a Canaanitishwoman and ordered his servant
to fetch a wife for Isaac fromhis kindredat Harran(Gen. 24).
Similarly in the following generation Esau's Canaanitish
wives were a cause of grief to Isaac and Rebekah, and they
ordered Jacob to go to Harran and marry into Laban's
family (Gen. 26, 35; 27, 46; 28, I-2). But Abraham refused
to let Isaac go to Harran for such a purpose (24, 6 8) for fear
lest Isaac with his softer nature might be influenced by the
1 Cf. U. Cassuto, From Noah to Abraham (Hebrew), p. I50 I56;
H. Zimmern, Keilingschriften u. das AT (I903), p. 364. In the Ugariticepos of Keret Terah is a divinity of the Negeb, the enemy of Keret;cf. R. Dussaud, Mana II La Religion des Pheniciens (I945), p. 367.
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44 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW
idolatry of his family and rendervoid the divine promise for
his future.How then did Abraham attain in his pagan home to the
sublime truth of the unity of God? This question already
exercisedthe mindsof the ancients, and they invented various
tales for its explanation.' But they all agreed that Abraham
did not learn this truth from a predecessor.He evolved it by
his own contemplation, from his own intuition, guided by a
divine inspiration. This may indeed be the true answer tothe question. Abrahamis only one example of many similar
phenomena in the history of humanity's development to a
higher life. He is one of the noble elect, founders of world
religions, prophets of new truths, great reformers,who were
seized by an overpoweringideal and were made the instru-
ments of man's spiritual advancement. Abraham described
his election in religious terms: "Yhwh the God of heaven
who took me from my father's house and from the land of
my kindred", etc. (Gen. 24, 7). Thus it is also said: "And I
took your father, even Abraham,from the other side of the
river" (Jos. 24, 3). This taking is equivalent to a choice and a
seizure, to a separation from one's environment and to a
consecration to a particular purpose. Similarly, Moses said
to Israel: "And you Yhwh hath taken (out of all the peoples)
to be unto Him a people of His Inheritance" (Deut. 4, 20).It may be assumedthat Abraham'sconversionto the faith
in the One God had already taken place during his residence
at Ur, and that while still at Ur he planned to emigrate to
distant Canaan.This is impliedin the statement: "I am Yhwh
who brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldeesto give thee this
land to inherit it" (Gen. I5, 7). Life in Mesopotamiaat the
beginningof the second milleniummust have been intolerable
to a believer in the One God. The whole life of society and of
the individual was strictly regulated on the principles of a
1 Cf. Jubilees, ch. I2, and the stories in the late Midrashim, Yellinek,Beth Hamidrash, I, p. 25ff.; Eisenstein, Ozar Midrashim, i, p. iff.;
Jew. Encyc. i, p. 8sff.
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RELIGION OF ISRAEL-SEGAL 45
crass polytheism and demonology, governed by a multitude
of priests, diviners and magiciansunder the rule of the greattemples and their hierarchies. There was no room in that
Mesopotamia for an individual who could not join in the
worship and in the magical practices of his fellows. Abraham
must have felt early the pressingneed to remove himself from
such a stifling environment. He may have longed to emigrate
to a land like distant Canaan, situated on the outer fringe
of Mesopotamian civilization, only sparsely populated by avariety of small communities of different descent and different
traditions, all preserving side by side their different dentities.
In such a land he would be able to cultivate his new-found
faith and establish a society based on the worship of the One
true God. It must have been this vision which urged him to
exchange rich and fertile Mesopotamia or the poor and barren
Negeb of distant Canaan. While still under the tutelage of
his father he seems to have persuaded his father to emigratefrom Ur to Canaan (Gen.II, 3I). When they reached Harran,
which like Ur was a centre of the worship of the moon, they
broke their journey and remained there apparently for many
years. We do not know the cause of their stay at Harran
(where Abraham's brother Nachor seems to have settled
earlier),or how long their stay there lasted. But at last Abra-
ham resumedhis journeyto Canaan, eaving his father behindhim at Harran. The bible relates that Abraham's departure
from Harran was at the bidding of a divine command to
leave his father's house and his kindred and go to the land
appointed for him where a glorious future awaited him (Gen.
I2, I-2). Thus Abraham arrived n Canaanwith his dependents
and settled in the south country and in the Negeb where he
became known as a 'godly prince' and a prophet (Gen. 23,
6; 20, 7). He established the worship of God in his family,
passing on his faith to his son Isaac, who in his turn passed
on the faith of Abraham to his son Jacob, and Jacob be-
queathed the faith to his twelve sons who brought it with
them to Egypt.
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46 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW
II. THE BOOK OF GENESIS AS A HISTORICAL SOURCE
Our study of the religion of Abraham is based entirely on
the book of Genesis. But in view of the current theory of
biblical criticism which denies both the integrity and the
historicity of the book, it behoves us to justify our use of the
book in the following sections as a source of material for our
study. Modern criticism considers the book of Genesis as
well as the rest of the Pentateuch to be a combination of
fragments of a varied and generally late origin blended
together by a succession of late editors reaching down to
post-exilic times. The contents of the book are held to be a
mass of myths and legends reflecting late conditions and
events all projectedbackwards nto the distant and unknown
age of the legendary patriarchs. I have elsewhere submitted
this theory to a detailed criticism which proved it to be
fallacious.' Here it may be sufficient to state briefly theconclusionof that criticism that, with the exception of some
unimportant additions, the book of Genesis is a work of a
unitary character composed by one author who derived his
materials from the living tradition of his day. The stories of
the patriarchs in Genesis are a trustworthy record of the
lives and the acts and fortunes of real living persons as con-
ceived in the imaginative artistry of a noble writer who wasan inspired teacher of the ethical monotheism of the Torah.
The book of Genesis is an organic part of the Pentateuch.
Its principal theme is that which is developed in the four
following books, viz. the election of Israel by the covenant
with the patriarchsto becomethe peopleof Godin its divinely-
appointed home, the land of Canaan. The book describes
the antecedents of Israel from the creation of the world to
the death of Jacob and Joseph. The first section of the book
dealing with primeval times (ch. i-II) has a distinctly Meso-
1 Masoreth u-Biqqoreth, p. I-I25; also JQR, vol. xlvi, p. 89-iI5;
vol. xlviii, p. 315-349, and my forthcoming essay The Composition
of the Pentateuch in the Studies in the Bible, Studia Hierosolymitana,viii.
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RELIGION OF ISRAEL-SEGAL 47
potamian background,as is demonstrated by the Mesopota-
mian coloring of the story of Eden and its rivers, of theflood, of the tower of Babel, by the names of many of the
primeval patriarchs,and by the account of the beginnings of
Abraham himself. It may therefore be reasonably assumed
that these stories in the first section of the book are based
upon Mesopotamianmaterialbroughtto Canaanby Abraham
himself whichhe purifiedfrom its pagan dross and refashioned
in the spirit of his monotheisticfaith and handed it down as aliving tradition to his descendants.
Mesopotamian civilization continues its influence also in
the second section of the book describingthe lives of the three
patriarchs (ch. I2-35).1 This is evident in the family affairs
of Abraham with Sara and Hagar and Ishmael and Isaac
which are conducted in accordance with the established legal
customs of Mesopotamia, n the marriagesof Isaac and Jacob,
and in the whole of Jacob's life in Harran.The stories in thissecond section must have been fashioned and formulated
while the memory of the Mesopotamianinfluence was still
active and fresh in Israel, and before family relationships
were modified by changed conditions and by the influence
of the Mosaic law. It may therefore be assumed that these
stories originated contemporaneously with the age of the
patriarchsand handed down as a living traditionin the familyof Jacob and its Israelite descendants in Egypt.
Finally the exquisite tale of Joseph and his brethrenin the
third and last section of the book (ch. 37-50) must surelyhave
been founded on the living tradition of Israel in Egypt prior
to the exodus. At no other period in Israel's history (except
perhapsin the last days of the kingdom of Judah when Judah
had close connections with Egypt) could there have existed
in Israel such a familiarity with Egyptian manners and
1 Gen. ch. 36 looks like an orginally Edomite document which mayhave been incorporated in the book in the days of David or Solomonwhen Israel came into close contact with Edom; cf. IISam. 8, I3-15;
I Kings ii, I5-i6.
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48 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW
customs as displayed in this section. In no other period could
there have been such a deep interest of the narratorhimselfand of his public in the many persoanl touches and details
in the long-drawn out drama of Joseph as during Israel's
enslavement in Egypt. At no other time would such repeated
emphasis have been laid on Pharaoh's invitation to Jacob
and his sons to come and settle in Egypt, on Pharaoh'spro-
mises of honorable and liberal treatment of the immigrants
as the King's guests (Gen. 45, I7-20; 47, 6), or on the greatservices rendered to Egypt and to Pharaoh by Joseph (ch.
4I; 47). The emphasis on these details becomes intelligible
and appropriate f it voices a bitter protest against the breach
of the royal promise and against the ingratitude for the
services of Joseph involved in the harsh policy of oppression
by the Pharaoh "who knew not Joseph" (Ex. I, 8).
We thus reach the conclusion that the book of Genesis
embodies the living traditions of Israel in Egypt, and may
well be a work of the Mosaic age and of the great prophet
and legislator himself. We are therefore fully justified in
using its records as authentic material for our investigation
in the religion of Abraham.
III. THE RELIGION OF ABRAHAM
The book of Genesis furnishesus with many details about
the faith and religious practice of Abraham. He as well as
his immediate successors worshipped God under the name
of Yhwh (Gen. I2, 8; I3, 4; 26, 25; 32, IO). But Abraham
could not have been the first who formed this divine name,
since the Genesis tradition records that already in the days
of Enosh "men began to call on the name Yhwh" (4, 26),and Noah described Yhwh as the God of Shem (9, 26). We
do not know how this name reached Abraham. It may
however be conjecturedthat the name had been known as a
divine appellation among the primitive Hebrew ancestors of
Abraham, and that Abrahamappropriatedthe name for his
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RELIGION OF ISRAEL-SEGAL 49
new faith. The meaning of the name was revealed to Moses
in the vision of the bush, viz. The One who is, i.e., who isalways (Ex. 3, I4). It is derived from the verb nmr, n older
form of rnr. t is an imperfect form of the qal in the usual
sense of the presenttense. In the vision Godspeaking Himself
uses the form of the first person of the verb: n"ne,while men
speak of Him in the third person: Imimwhich has become
n His standing name.'
Abraham'sGod is the one and only God, the God of heaven
and earth (24, 3 7), the creatorof all the world and its creatu-
res (ch. I), who appointed the regular working of the world
and provided the nourishment of its creatures (I, I4-I5
29-30; 8, 22; 9, 3). His abode is in heaven and there reside
also His angels who act as His messengers (2I, I7; 22, II I5;
28, I2). Sometimes He descends to the earth and assumes a
formvisible to man (II, 5; i8, If.); but more often His angels
act for Him (I6, 7; 24, 7; 32, 2). Man was created by God'shands and is composed of an earthen body animated by a
spirit of life breathedinto him by his creator (2, 7) who made
him in a divine image and a divine likeness (i, 26-7; 5, I),
and appointed him ruler of the earth and its creatures (I, 28;
9, 2). Manis thus a being endowedwith a moral sense and is
punished for transgressing the divine commands (3; 4, II;
5, 5-7; I9, etc.). God is the judge of the earth, and His wayis justice and righteousness (I8, 25 I9; also I6, 5; cf. Ex.
5, 2I).
Abraham and after him Isaac worshipped God at altars
which they built in His honor (I2, 8; I3, 4; 26, 25). It is not
stated that they also offered sacrifices on the altars, but it
must be assumed that they did so, as this was the usual
1 This correct explanation of the relation of 71'71K n thedivine speech (Ex. 3, I4) to the name Yhwh was first propoundedin mysterious language by the great medieval Jewish exegete Samuelb. Meir (Rashbam) in the twelfth century; cf. Masoreth u-Biqqoreth,p. 52-53.
5
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50 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW
practice in their days, and as Noah had done before them
and as Jacob did after them, and as Abrahamhimself did atMoriah(8, 20; 46, I; 22, I3).1 Abraham built his altars in the
field in propinquity of trees, and he also planted a tree and
worshippedthere (I2, 6-7; I3, I8; 2I, 32). But this must not
be interpreted (as is done by modern scholars) as a belief on
Abraham's part in the sacred character of trees as being
themselves of divine origin, or as serving as a habitation for
the divine. Such a belief would be irreconcileablewith Abra-ham's faith in the God of heaven and earth. In Mesopotaniia,too, the inhabitants had long before Abraham discardedsuch
primitive notions and had learnt to house their gods in
sanctuaries and in temples. Rather must Abraham's choice
of such a site for his worshipbe explained as an adoption for
some reason or other of a custom prevalent in Canaan(Deut.
I2, 2, etc.). Similarly Jacob followed the custom of his sur-
roundings when he set up a stone at Bethel and anointed
it with oil, and vowed to make it a house of God (28, I8-22).
Jacob could not possibly have believed that his God who was
the Godof Abraham(v. I3), and the God of heaven and earth,
would dwellin the stone as the Canaanitesmighthave believed
of their local numen. His Godwas a universal Godwho would
be with him also in Harran and who would bring him back
from Harran to his paternal home.In the same way Abraham, like other founders of new
religions, adopted from his surroundings other ideas of a
spiritual import and incorporated them in a purified form
into his own new faith. Thus when Melchizedekking of Salem
who was the priest of his local deity El Elyon (the Most High
God) had greeted Abraham, on his return from his victory
over Chedorlaomer,n the name of this God "El Elyonthe
possessor (orcreator)of heaven and earth", Abrahamadopted
1 Similarly it is stated that Jacob built an altar at Bethel, and thatMoses built an altar at Rephidim (Gen. 35, 7; Ex. I7, I5-I6), butuothing is said explicitely about the sacrifices which were certainlyoffered on those altars.
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RELIGION OF ISRAEL-SEGAL 5I
this noble description and soon styled his own only God
"Yhwh El Elyon possessor (or creator) of heaven and earth"(I4, I9-20 22). Similarly Abraham adopted as a description
of his God the title 'El Olam' (the everlasting God, 2I, 33).
Both the names Elyon and Olam were known in Canaan as
divine titles.' Perhaps also the divine epithet El Shaddai
(God Almighty), first found in the story of Abraham (I7, I)
and the meaning and origin of which are obscure,was origi-
nally a divine name older than Abraham which was incor-porated into Abraham'sreligion.
Furthermore Abraham also enriched his religion with
borrowings romthe sociallife of his surroundings.He adopted
social institutions of a secular character, filled them with a
new and deeply spiritual content, and converted them into
religious institutions of a lofty and sacramental character.
The institution of the covenant was known in ancient times
as an agreementbetween two parties regulatingtheir mutual
relationship and defining the rights and duties of each side.
Though the parties may have called upon the gods to punish
the breaking of the agreement, it was nevertheless a purely
social and political institution, and it has no place in the
relationof man andthe deity. In Abraham'sreligionthe cove-
nant became the foundation upon which was established the
relation of God to primeval mankind (6, I8; 9, 9-I7) and moreespecially the relation between God and the patriarchs and
their descendants the people of Israel (I5; I7, 2ff.; Ex. I9,
5; 24, etc). The conceptionof the covenant raised immensely
the moral stature of man by making him as it were a partner
in a solemn treaty with the divine. Thus man was restored
to his originalrank in the creation as a being created in the
image and likeness of the divine, and as having possession
of a large measure of moral and spiritual independence.
Another social institution of a secular origin borrowed by
Abraham's religion and transformedinto a religious rite of
1 Cf. Cassuto, Enc. Biblica (Hebrew), I, in the respective articles;
also Dussaud, Ioc. cit., p. 359-60.
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RELIGION OF ISRAEL-SEGAL 53
2I, 4; Lev. I2, 3). From the story of Dinah at Shechemit is
clear that circumcision was strictly observed by Abraham'simmediate descendants Jacob and his sons (34, I4-I5), and
from the story of Zipporah we learn that it had to be per-
formed in infancy, in accordance with Genesis I7.
IV. THE ORIGIN OF CIRCUMCISION IN ISRAEL
Modern biblical scholars who accept the Documentary
Theory in the composition of the Hexateuch deny the his-
toricity of the ascription to Abraham of the institution of
circumcision in Israel. They assign Genesis ch. I7 to the
priestly document, which they hold was composed in the
Babylonian exile when circumcision had assumed an exag-
gerated religiousimportanceas a distinguishingmark separa-ting the Jewish exiles from their pagan neighbors. Then
was formed the tradition that the custom had been instituted
by the first patriarch as a sign of the covenant. But the otherdocumentsof the Hexateuch have preservedearlier and more
genuine tradition of the beginning of circumcisionin Israel.
The Yahwist document (J) which belongs to the eighth cen-
tury records that it was Zipporah the wife of Moses who
introduced the custom in Israel from her Midianite home
(Ex. 4, 25-6), while the Elohist document (E), which was
abouta century earlier than J, ascribed the institution of thecustom in Israel to Joshua at Gilgal who had learnt it from
the Egyptians (Jos. 5, 3 9). But if the custom came to Israel
from Egypt it is strange that the Israelites had not adopted
if long before Joshua during their prolonged stay in Egypt.
And what impelled Joshua to introduce the operation im-
mediately on their entry into Canaanand render the Israelite
males incapacitated to meet their Canaanite enemies (cf.
Gen. 34, 25), instead of deferringthe rite until after the warwith the Canaaniteswas over? The truth is that the operationwas performedat Gilgal as a preparation for the celebrationof the passoverin whichonly the circumcisedcould participate(Jos. 5, IO; Ex. I3, 48). The account of the rite in Joshua
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54 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW
5, 2-9 may be of a somewhat legendary character, but so
much is clear from it which may be accepted as historical,viz. that circumcisionwas an old custom in Israel which had
been neglected during the life in the wilderness, and that it
had to be renewedin view of the forthcoming celebration of
the passover. The support for the view that Israel in Egypt
was uncircumcisedderivedfrom Joshua 5, 9: "This day have
I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you", is based
on an incorrect exegesis. The 'reproachof Egypt' does not
mean that the Egyptians had reproached Israel for being
uncircumcised. 'The reproach of Egypt' is equivalent to
uncircumcision,or more exactly: to foreskin(;n*7i) whichwas
a reproach and a disgrace in Egypt both to Egyptians and
to Israelites. Thus the sons of Jacob say at Shechem: "We
cannot do this thing to give our sister to a man who has a
foreskin (;'1i5), for that is a reproachto us" (Gen. 34, I4)
viz. the foreskin is a reproach and a disgrace among us.As for the theory that according to the alleged J document
circumcision in Israel originated with Zipporah, it is quite
incredible that the institution of circumcision, or even of
infant circumcision, could ever have been associated with a
person who played such a very a minor part in the early
religion and history of Israel. The great importance attached
to the rite in early Israel is evident from Genesis 34; Jud.
I4, 3; I Sam. I4, 6, etc; cf. also Deut. IO, i6; 30, 6, and it is
most improbable that any Israelite would have traced its
originto a Midianitewoman.The fact is that the whole strange
episodewhich befell Moses on his way to Egypt was a passing
incident which left no mark whatever in biblical history or
literature.
Much ingenuity and subtle speculation have been spent
by ancient and modern expositors1 n explaining and supple-menting the, purposely, all too brief relation of the incidentin Exodus 4, 24-6. It is best explained on the supposition of
1 Babli Nedarim, f. 3I-32, and the medieval comm entaries, especiallyof Rashbam and Ibn Ezra, ad loc.
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RELIGION OF ISRAEL-SEGAL 55
ancient Jewish Rabbis and medieval commentators that in
his eagernessto set out on his mission to Egypt Moses hadneglected or only deferred the circumcision of his second
son Eliezer11 cf. Ex. I8, 4). When at the lodging place with
his family, Moseswas suddenlyseizedwith a violent distemper
or fever which he believed threatened his life, and he saw
in it a divine punishment for the neglect of his duty to his
son. Then Zipporah performed the operation on the infant
and cast the foreskin at the feet of her husband with the
reproachfulexclamation: "Surely a bloody bridegroom (hus-band) are thou to me". When the attack on her husband
relaxed she repeated her reproach: "A bloody bridegroombecause of the circumcisions" (rni*i?, namely of her two
sons, first Gershom and new Eliezer). It is clear from Zippo-
rah's words that, contrary to what is imaginedby the critics,
Zipporah was opposed to the circumcision of her sons and
that it was forced upon her by her husband who followedthe custom of his own people .This (as we remarkedabove) is
proof of the antiquity of the law given in Genesis I7.
This incident on the road of Mosesto Egypt seems to have
had a sequel which the narrator omitted from his account.In addition to her displeasurewith the circumcisionZipporah
must also have had another cause for complaint. She could
not have been happy to be taken away with her two infantsfrom her father's home and from her native land and carried
on the long journey to the strange land of Egypt to join her
husbandin a mission in which she could have had no personal
interest. It may be assumed that the domestic peace of the
prophet was badly disturbed after the circumcision of the
infant, and he took the only reasonable course of sending his
discontented wife with the two childrenback to her father's
home. This sending back of Zipporah and her two sons isalluded to in Exodus i8, 2-3. It may be conjectured (with
Rashbam in his commentary on Ex. I8, 2) that the whole
1 Not Gershom, as interpreted by Targum 'Jonathan' and others.
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56 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW
story of the incident of the circumcisionwas inserted into
the account of the return of Mosesto Egypt in orderto preparethe reader for the description of the return of his family to
Moses at Sinai and of the long story of Jethro in Ex. i8.
Before leaving this subject we may refer briefly to the
preposterousreconstruction of the story of the incidnet by
Wellhausen' which is piously repeated after him by his
followers.Accordingto Welihausen Moseshimself was uncir-
cumcised, and because, contrary to the Midianite custom hehad not been circumcisedbefore his marriage to Zipporah,
he was attacked by Yhwh when on his way to Egypt andthreatened with death. To save her husband Zipporah then
circumcised their son as a substitute for her husband and
with the child's foreskintouched the genitals of her husband.
That satisfied Yhwh, and He relaxed His attack on Moses.
The act of Zipporahestablished the custom of infant circum-
cision in Israel. This subtle reconstruction bristles with
incredibilities. It is incredible that contrary to both the
Israelite and the Egyptian custom Moses grew up and was
left uncircumcised.It is incredible that Jethro the priest of
Midian would have permitted the marriage of his daughterto an uncircumcised bridegroom if the custom of Midian
demanded the performanceof the rite before the marriage.
It is incredible hat Yhwh wouldhave deferred he punishmentof the sin until Moses had become a father and until he was
on his way to Egypt on the special mission laid upon him by
Yhwh Himself. It is incredible that Yhwh the God of Israel
would have been so zealous for the custom of the Midianites
as to threaten with death His own prophet for breakingwith
it. Finally it is incredible that if the rite in Midian was con-
nected with marriage Zipporahwould have circumcised herinfant son as a substitute and not her husband himself.
V. ABRAHAM AND THE SABBATH
We have shown in a previous section that the first part
1 J. Wellhausen, Prolegomena (I899), p. 345.
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RELIGION OF ISRAEL-SEGAL 57
of the Book of Genesisdealing with primeval times (ch. i-II)
has a distinctly Mesopotamian background, and is bestexplained as based on traditions formed from material
brought from Mesopotamiaby Abraham and recast by him
in the spirit of his monotheistic faith. This applies also to
the story of the creation of the world which opens the Book
of Genesis and the whole Torah (Gen. I-2, 3). This grand
composition stands out supreme in the cosmogonies of the
ancient world by its lofty spirit, its noble simplicity, itsserene rationality, its almost scientific graduation of the
multifarious works of creation accomplished by the divine
word. But like the story of primeval man which follows it
(2, 4-4) some at least of its leading features can be traced to a
Mesopotamiansource.The role of water as a primevalgenera-
ting element which prevails in a considerable part of the
story (vv. 2 6-7 9-I0 20-22) is a distinctly Mesopotamian
conception and quite foreign to Canaan. Tehom(rnnn)whichcarried chaotic earth on its face (v. 2) is a reminiscenceof
tiamat which designated in Mesopotamian cosmogonies the
period of chaos preceding the ordered creation. Again the
appointment of the luminaries of heaven to control time and
fix the calendar (v. I4) is paralleled by the action of Marduk n
the Babylonian epic of creation in appointing the constella-
tions of heaven and regulating the movements of the moonin relationto the sun (Enuma Elish V). The belief in a creative
Deity which underlies that epic was widely held in Mesopo-
tamia long before Abraham, and like other educated Mesopo-
tamians Abraham must have been familiar with this belief
and with the crude and fantastic myths engenderedby this
belief as exemplifiedin that epic in honor of Marduk.The
epic further relates how Marduk as king of the gods created
man out of the blood of kinguthe leader of the hosts of chaos
defeated by Marduk, and how Marduk imposed upon man
the duty of providing the food and drink of the gods in their
temples and of cultivating the lands belonging to the temples
(vi, 33-36; II5-I20). In striking contrast to this crude con-
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58 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW
ception of the demonic origin of man the biblical cosmogony
teaches that man was created by God in His own image and
in His own likeness and appointed ruler of the earth and its
creature (Gen. i, 26-28: cf. Psalms 8, 6-8), and instead of
man providing the food for the gods it is God who provides
the food formanand animal v. 29-30; cf. Psalms 04, 27-28;
I45, I5-I6). The conceptionof the spiritualoriginof man
and of his function in the government of the world is funda-
mental in the whole system of biblical morality and in therelationship of man to God and to his fellow creatures.
Another leading feature in the biblical cosmogony which
has its roots in Mesopotamiancivilization is the conception
of the seventh day as a divine rest day after the completion
of the work of creation. The account of how the creator
rested from all His work on the seventh day and how He
blessedand hallowedhe seventhday (2, I-3) forms hegrand
culminationof the whole story of the creationand is of course
the basis of the institution of the Sabbath in Israel (Ex. 20,
II; 3I, I7). But there can be no doubt that the Hebrew
Sabbath is somehow connected with the Accadian shappatu,
shabbatu,l but in its character and purpose the Hebrew
Sabbath is the very antithesis of the Accadian shappatu.
The shappatufell on the 7th, the I4th, the 2Ist, and on the
28th days of the lunar month (but also on the igth day ofthe lunar month which formed the completion of seven
weeks from the first appearanceof the moon on the previous
month). The shappatu was a day cursedwith ill luck so that
no enterpriseperformedon it could succeed.Whereforepeople
who could afford to postpone their work were bidden to
abstain from doing it on the shappatu, such as the king, 'the
great shepherd of the tribes' (the high priest ?). the divinerand the physician. But ordinary folk pursued their regular
employment also on the shappatu. The Hebrew Sabbath
I Cf. Cassuto, From Adam to Noah (Hebrew), p. 34-35; Commentaryon Exodus (Heb.), I69; Zimmern, KAT 3, p. 594; E. Dhorme, ManaII, Les Religions de Babylonie et d'Assyrie (I945), p. 238.
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RELIGION OF ISRAEL-SEGAL 59
was a holy day of rest from all work for all men without
distinction of class, includingalso slaves and workinganimals(Ex. 20. io), a day blessed and sanctified by the divine creator.
The Accadian shappatu was bound up with the moon and
its month. The Hebrew Sabbath had no connection whatever
with the month. It fell always on the seventh day of the
week irrespective of the day of the month. Our records fail
to enlighten us on the origin of the Accadian shappatu. But
it may reasonably be surmised that it originated from some
superstition connectedwith a mythological explanation of the
changing phases of the moon observed on the successive
seventh day of the lunar month. The shappatu was thus
associated with the worshipof the moon and must have been
specially observed at Ur and at Harran, the Mesopotaniian
homes of Abraham which were the centres of the moon
worship. Abrahamwas thus familiar with this Mesopotaniian
institution which may have been honored in his familywho (as we have seen above) were devoted worshippers of
the moon god. But to Abraham the shappatu must have been
as hateful as the whole pagan worship of the moon. He must
have rejected its practice together with the idolatrous ideas
underlying it. Nevertheless it may be conjectured that he
did not reject it altogether. As with the ancient practice of
the circumcision, the inspired religious genius of Abrahammay have borrowed rom the shappatu he potentially valuable
idea of abstention from work on the seventh day. He then
severed the seventh day from its connection with the moon
and with the lunar month, transmuted its character and its
purpose, and converted it from an ill-omened day into a
blest and hallowedday on which the divine creator had rested
after the completion of the works of the creation. It may
furtherbe assumedthat the idea of the seventh day as a restday of the divine creator led to the conception of a creation
lasting six days. For if the creator rested on the seventh day
He must have been occupied with the work of creation duringthe precedingsix days.
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6o THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW
We may therefore conclude with a certain measure of
probability that the tradition (at least in its pre-literaryform) underlyingthe account of the divine rest day in Gen. 2,
I-3, and with it the whole story of the creation of the world
in six days in Genesischapter i, of which the account of the
rest day forms an integral and inseparable part, belong to
the patriarchalage, and more explicitely to Abrahamhimself,
the their of Mesopotamiancivilization and the great founder
of monotheism in Israel. That the account of the divinerest day is based on a pre-Israelitetradition is also shown by
the complete absense in it of any allusion to the Israelite
Sabbath. And though the account uses the verb sbt twice,
it carefully avoids the use of the noun sabbat, no doubt
because of the close association of the noun sabbat with the
contemporary pagan institution shabbatu shappatu. Only
in the age of Moses when the pagan shabbatu shappatu
could have been no more than a faint and distant memory
to the few, Israel began to use freely its Hebrew equivalent
shabbat. For, as we shall see later, the sabbath was known
in Israel already before the Sinaitic revelation.
Before we conclude this section we may refer to an impor-
tant consequencewhich followed the severance of the seventh
day from the lunar month and its consecration as a day of
rest. This is the formation of a new unit of time, the week.Hence the use in Israel of the name sabbath as equivalent
to week (Lev. 23, I5, and often in Mishnaic Hebrew).
The division of the days into weeks independent of the
days of the month is a purely Israelite institution and
was quite unknown in ancient Mesopotamia or Egypt or
Canaan or anywhere else in the ancient world.' It was the
Jewish sabbath which introduced the week to the gentiles.
I This is admitted by such an extreme critic as S. Mowinkle, LeDecalogue (I925), p. 8i 83. Mowinkle maintains that Israel adoptedthe Sabbath from the Canaanites, but there is not a shred of evidencethat the Sabbath was known in Canaan before the coming of theIsraelites.
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RELIGION OF ISRAEL-SEGAL 6I
VI. THE MESOPOTAMIANS WITH THE PATRIARCHS
The Torah relates that Abrahamemigrated from Harran,
the new home of his family, by a special divine commandto
go to the land appointed for him where a glorious future
was destinedfor him (Gen. I2, I-4). Life at Harran,the other
centre of the moon worship after Ur, could not have been
more congenial to Abraham than at Ur. Yet he must have
spent a good few years at Harran since he had acquiredthereconsiderablewealth in cattle and in slaves (I2, 5). Later we
read that for his pursuit of Chedorlaomer e armedhis retain-
ers to the number of 3I8 (I4,I4). These were evidently his
slaves "born in his own house." But they could not have
been born to him in Canaan,since the Chedorlaomer pisode
occurredless than ten years after his arrival in Canaan. The
episode preceded the covenant described in Genesis I5 which
contains an allusion to the attack on Chedorlaomerand
Abraham's fear of the revenge of the enemy: "Fear not
Abraham, I am thy shield" (I5, i). But the covenant no
doubt took place before the birth of Ishmael which occurred
eleven years after Abrahams'settlement in Canaan (i6, i6;I2, 4). The 3I8 retainers must have come with Abraham
from Harran in their youth. They were Mesopotamiansborn
and bredin the Mesopotamianculture. Like Abraham(I4, I3)
they may have been of Hebrew descent. But what was their
religious faith ? It is hard to believe that they had shaken
off completely the Mesopotamian culture with its pagan
beliefs and habits. Abraham could not have forced them todo it. His religion was not of a missionary character. Thereis no biblical support whatever for the old Jewish legends
that Abraham tried to spread his faith among the heathen.His religion, like the religion of Israel in biblical times, was
the exclusive possession of himself and his own intimates.His wife Sarah seems to have shared his faith. She calls uponYhwh to judge between her and her husband (i6, 5), andshe is ranked by the divine promise as an equal to Abraham
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62 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW
(I7, I5-I6). His concubine Hagar also is treated as a believer
in God by the appearance o her of an angel (i6, 7-I3; 2I, I7).
So also his old servant appears as a devoted believer in the
God of his master (24, I2 2I 27). But of Abraham's offspring
only Isaac inherited his true faith. Ishmael and the sons of
Keturahintermingled with their neighborsand adopted their
faith. So also his nephew Lot who had accompaniedhim to
Canaan left him and settled in heathen Sodom and became
the father of Moab and Ammon who practised idolatry. Itis true that Abraham imposed circumcision on all male
dependants as also on Ishmael (I7, 23 27), but the religious
significance of circumcision as a sign of initiation into the
covenant was confined exclusively to Abraham and his
consecrated offspring (I7, 9-II). It may of course be
granted that Abraham did not permit his dependants to
practise idolatry in his household. But on the other hand itis hard to believe that those hundreds of native Mesopota-
minans in Abraham'sentourage had become converted to his
pure faith and had completely abandonedthe old inveterate
beliefs and ideas and practices which they had inheritedfrom
their heathen ancestorsin their old home. The heathen strains
in their Mesopotamiannaturemust have continuedto operate
more or less strongly in this big group of aliens in Canaan
during the life of Abraham and also afterwards when theypassed into the tutelage of his son Isaac.
Rebekah the Mesopotamianwife of Isaacmust have adopted
the faith of her husband. It is related that when she was in
trouble she went to seek an oracle from Yhwh (25, 22-23).
Their son Esau himself married Canaanitishwives and settled
among the heathen inhabitants of Mount Seir where he no
doubt adopted their faith (ch. 36). Only Jacob remainedtrueto the paternal faith and preserved it also during his long
sojournat Harran (28, I2-22; 3I, 3ff.; 32, IO). His Mesopota-
niian wives Leah and Rachel are also described as believers
in God (29, 32-35; 30, 24; 3I, i6). But theirfaith seems to have
been somewhat tainted by a remanat of heathenism. Leah
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64 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW
his home in Canaan as 'the land of Hivites'. These Mesopo-
tamians in Canaan kept alive in the patriarchal familiesremnants of the old Mesopotamiancivilization, but gradually
absorbed the faith of the patriarchs and became integrated
into the people of Israel. Some of them, if not all, must have
gone down to Egypt with the sons of Jacob and come up from
Egypt under the leadership of Moses as full Israelites or as
members of the mixed multitude which joined the Israelite
exodus (Ex.I2,
38). But it may be assumedwith confidencethat their Mesopotamian nfluence continued to operatemore
or less actively on the nascent young nation of Israelin Egypt
and also after the Exodus.
VII. ISRAEL IN EGYPT
The children of Jacob entered Egypt as a group of related
families and went out of Egypt as a people with a distinctindividuality. The long sojourn in the land of the Nile failed
to submerge then in the great civilization surrounding them
or to stifle their native genius. Even when they had spread
beyond the narrow confines of Goshen and had penetrated
into Egypt proper, andhad also been forced into the Egyptian
economy as laborersin buildingand in the field (Ex. I, 7 14),
they preserved their Hebrew identity and particularism.Indeed the peculiar structure of Egyptian society with its
rigiddivision into fixed classes madeit impossibleforstrangers
to penetrate into its ranks, more particularly for Hebrew
strangers whose intimacy was shunnedby the Egyptians and
whose native calling as shepherds was despised (Gen. 43,
32; 46, 34). Whereasin a later stage of their history Israelites
freely adoptedBabylonian and Persian names even of a pagan
theophoricformation, in Egypt we find among the Israelites
only one or two isolated names of Egyptian origin, namely
Phinehas, the name of a priest, and Hophni of a later genera-
tion, also a priest (I Sam. I, 3). The Egyptian name Moses
of the great prophet was given him by his Egyptian foster
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RELIGION OF ISRAEL-SEGAL 65
mother (Ex. 2, io). Of intermarriage between an Egyptian
and an Israelite only one case is recorded (Lev. I4, IO-II).The influence of Egyptian civilization on the Hebrew
immigrantswas slight and, if at all, confinedto the handicrafts.
It may be assumedthat the builders of the Tabernaclein the
wilderness had acquired their skill from the Egyptians. The
Israelites may have also learnt something of Egyptian agricul-
ture when they were employed by the Egyptians in the
labors of the field (Ex. I, 14), and they carriedthis learning
with them into Canaan. In the realm of ideas the Egyptian
civilization exercised no influence whatever upon Israel.
There is no trace in the Pentateuch of any resemblance or
parallel to Egyptian thought. At most Egyptian influence
was of a negative character. Israel is exhorted not to follow
the example of Egypt or Canaan in the matter of incestuous
connexions (Lev. i8, 2). Perhaps also the complete silence
maintained in the Pentateuch respectingthe life after death,which cannot be only accidental, may have its cause in the
opposition of the Hebrewlawgiver to the extraorinaryimpor-
tance attached to it in the Egyptian religionand in Egyptian
thought and practice. Members of the virile young Hebrew
nation (compare he instructive contrast between the Egyptian
women and the Hebrew women in Exodus I, I9) must have
found the absorption of the Egyptians in the business ofdeath and the tomb strange and incomprehensible. The
Egyptian religion with its devotion to the worship of beasts
and reptiles and with its deification of the Pharaohs must
have arousedin the breast of the Israelitefeelings of profound
repugnance and contempt. No wonder therefore that the
Egyptian religion and the whole Egyptian civilization which
centered in the religion remained strange and alien to the
Israelites in spite of their long sojournin the midst of them.'Hence when Joshua proposed to Israel in Shechem to choose
for themselves a religion other than the ancestral religion he
1 Ezekiel's accusation against Israel of worshipping Egyptian idols(Ez. 20, 8; 237) is a generalization of the acts of individuals.
6
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66 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW
naxned for their choice the religion of their distant forbears
in Mesopotamia and the religion of the Amorites whoseland they had occupied (Jos. 24, i6), but he did not mention
the religion of Egypt where they had dwelt so many genera-
tions. It was inconceivable that they could ever choose a
religion so utterly repugnant as the religion of Egypt.
Thus Israel formed in Egypt a closed Hebrew community
in the midst of the large Egyptian world around it, but it
remained quite impervious to any real influence from thatworld. It continued to cultivate as best it could the faith
it had inherited from the patriarchs with its few symbols,
such as cicumcision and occasional worship by sacrifices.
But it also held fast to some remnants of the Mesopotamian
civilization, such as the social and legal customs observed
also by the patriarchs, and some notions and practices of a
religious nature imported by the Mesopotamiandependants
of the patriarchs which were inconsistent with the faith of
Abraham.' These two opposing elements tended in practical
life to coalesce into a sort of syncretism which tarnished the
purity of the ancestral faith. The mission of Moses and the
great events of the exodus and the covenant suppressed, at
least outwardly, the Mesopotamianelement in the people's
life, or convertedit into rawmaterialfor the ethical legislation
of the Mosaic code. An instructive illustration of the use ofMesopotamianmaterial in the Mosaiccode is affordedby the
striking affinity, both in their literary form and in their
contents, of many civil laws in the Pentateuch (notably in
Exodus 2I-22) with the code of Hamurabiand other ancient
codes belonging to the sphere of Mesopotamiancivilization.
In the Pentateuch the Mesopotamian material has been
remoulded and revitalized by the high ethical spirit of theSinaitic revelation.
1 The pratice of Mesopotamian heathenism by Israel in Egypt isproved by the words of Joshua: "Put away the gods which yourfathers served on the other side of the river and in Egypt" (Josh. 24,
I4).
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68 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW
that land. The cultivation and the oral preservation of those
noble traditions, probably chiefly among the elders of the
peopleor in the tribeof Levi who seems to have been specially
devoted to the ancestral faith (Ex. 32, 26), are proof of a
high degree of intelligence and of a refined taste. Much of
the exquisite beauty of the Genesis narratives must have been
inherent in the oral traditions. For, in the course of their
being handed down from generation to generation these
traditions must have assumed more or less a fixed form, sothat it is likely that much of their oral and traditional pattern
has been reproduced n our Book of Genesis. This is especially
true of the snatches of ancient poetry scattered in the book
(Gen. 4, 23-24; 9, 26-27; 24, 40; 25, 23; 27, 28-29 39-40; ch.
49 in its original form) which display high poetic artistry.
It is also true of many of the prose narratives in Genesis
which contain perceptible differences in style and diction.
These differences must have existed already in the oral
traditions, and may safely be attributed to the different
persons who first formulated the various traditions, and not
at all to different written documents of later ages, as main-
tained by the literary critics.
The traditions of Genesis thus present a mirror in which
are reflected in some measure the character and the genius
of the people who created and preserved these traditions.The picture reflected is very far removed from the conven-
tional picture of the Israelites of the exodus as a horde of
uncouth and semi-barbarousbedouins which is depicted by
modern critics and historians.