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23 Feb, 16 tweets, 4 min read
Having gotten through the Ten Commandments, and before we start in on the Covenant Code, let's recap where we've been since the last thread of threads, which is linked below:
Exodus 19:1-6
Exodus 19:7-15
Exodus 19:16-25
Exodus 20:1
Exodus 20:2-3
Exodus 20:4-6
Exodus 20:7
Exodus 20:8-11
Exodus 20:12
Exodus 20:13
Exodus 20:14 (actually 20:15, but I screwed it up)
Exodus 20:14 (really this time)
Exodus 20:16
Exodus 20:17
Exodus 20:18-21

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More from @JoelBaden

Joel Baden Profile picture
24 Feb
#Exodus 29:19-23

The altar law

A sort of preface to the Covenant Code proper, the first thing YHWH says to Moses is, in canonical terms, perhaps also the most controversial. Sacrifice wherever you wish, build your altars in multiple different ways - that’s confusing!
The only way to make sense of it canonically is to understand it as referring exclusively to the period between the entrance into the land and the building of the Temple in Jerusalem. Which is possible, I suppose, but is sort of a weird thing to say at this point.
In the wilderness, of course, the people are (again, canonically) only to sacrifice at the Tabernacle in the midst of the camp, with its single exclusive very differently-constructed altar. And of course once the Temple is built that’s the sole place of worship.
Read 15 tweets
Joel Baden Profile picture
19 Feb
#Exodus 20:16

The eighth commandment

You shall not bear false witness.

Despite nearly two millennia of interpretation, this commandment isn’t just some fancy biblical language for the broad category of “lying.” It actually is about what it says: being a witness. In court.
You can’t violate this commandment in private. Witnessing was a public act. (Remembering that witnessing here means saying something, not seeing something.) It’s not regular old lying or deceit - there’s a different Hebrew word for that, and there’s no biblical law against it.
This is, simply, a law against perjury. Why would such a thing be in the Ten Commandments? Seems awfully specific (which is why, I think, everyone from Origen and Augustine on wanted to expand the meaning). But there are multiple biblical laws about testimony, for good reason.
Read 7 tweets
Joel Baden Profile picture
27 Dec 20
#Exodus 7:8-13

The first wonder

The first encounter between Moses/Aaron and Pharaoh in the plagues/wonders cycle, and, alas, the source of much interpretive and compositional confusion - but a reasonable example of how P does this sort of thing.
YHWH instructs Moses and Aaron. The instructions are for Moses to tell Aaron to do something, to bring about a wonder. They do so, and then we hear about whether Pharaoh’s magicians can do the same. If they can, Pharaoh doesn’t care. That’s the basic structure here.
The confusion here comes in the content of the wonder itself. It is often assumed that this casting down of a staff and it turning into a snake is the “real” version of the “practice” one that Moses did back in Exodus 4. But it’s not, on multiple levels.
Read 9 tweets
Joel Baden Profile picture
26 Dec 20
#Exodus 7:1-7

Planning the plagues (not plagues)

One of the central distinctions between P and J in the section that we call the plagues narrative, upon which we are about to embark, is that in P they aren’t really plagues. Don’t @ me. Let me explain.
First, we’re still reading P here, continuing directly (originally) from Moses questioning his ability to speak to Pharaoh. YHWH’s response is to bring in Moses’s brother Aaron, who is explicitly identified as such here (in the uniquely P phrase “Aaron your brother”).
The key phrase in this section, of course, is “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart.” This is P’s major claim: that the purpose of all the shit that’s about to go down isn’t actually to convince Pharaoh to let Israel go, but to put on a big show of YHWH’s power.
Read 9 tweets
Joel Baden Profile picture
9 Nov 20
Okay, we did it! #Genesis is done. If you missed anything, here’s a thread of it all, starting with the last major recap, up through Gen 36 (all previous recaps are embedded therein...I hope...)
Gen 37:1-11
Gen 37:12-17
Read 29 tweets
Joel Baden Profile picture
8 Nov 20
#Genesis 50

The end of the Joseph story

Three chunks of text here (one of which is embedded in another, but is easily identified). The chapter is mostly about the death of Jacob - Joseph’s death only comes at the very end (and only in one story).
The biggest part of the chapter is the fulfillment of Jacob’s request to Joseph at the end of Gen 47, that he be brought back to Canaan to be buried. Sure enough, as soon as Jacob dies, Joseph makes plans to carry out his father’s wishes.
Everything about how this is described conforms to the J story we’ve seen. Joseph having power in Egypt, but still having to ask Pharaoh for things carefully (as with the Goshen request), and Pharaoh being generous in response.
Read 14 tweets

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