God’s Promises to Abraham (Gen 17) and the Question of the Ending of Priestly Writing

Ishodište ovoga rada je Post 17, izvještaj o Božjem savezu s Abrahamom koji se pripisuje svećeničkom spisu (Pg). Za razliku od drugih predaja, svećenički pisac izvješćuje samo o dva saveza: o Božjem savezu s Noom (Post 9,1-17) i s Abrahamom (Post 17). Post 9,1-17 služi kao zaključak svećeničke prapovijesti, a Post 17 otvara svećeničko izvješće o povijesti izabranog naroda i ima, za spomenutu povijest, programatsko značenje. Naime, prilikom sklapanja toga saveza Bog obećaje Abrahamu brojno potomstvo (17,2-6), da će biti njegov Bog i Bog njegovih potomaka (17,7.8b), te da će njemu i njegovu potomstvu dati u posjed zemlju Kanaan (17,8a). Ova tri obećanja provlače se kroz naredne tekstove svećeničkog spisa (Post 28,1-9; 35,9-15; Izl 6,2-8) i postupno se ostvaruju. Prvo obećanje ispunja se u Izl 1,7, a drugo u Izl 40,34-35. Što se pak tiče obećanja zemlje, mnogi egzegeti danas smatraju da ono ostaje neispunjeno te da Pg završava u Knjizi Izlaska ili u Levitskom zakoniku, u tekstovima koji govore o uspostavi bogoslužja na Sinaju. Polazeći od Post 17, u ovome smo radu analizirali tekstove svećeničkog spisa koji se osvrću na Božja obećanja Abrahamu i izvješćuju o njihovu ispunjenju. Naše je istraživanje pokazalo da obećanje zemlje nalazi svoje ispunjenje u Br 13 - 14* te da, suprotno vladajućem mišljenju, postoje solidni motivi za smještanje završetka svećeničkog spisa u Knjigu Brojeva (Br 13 -14*; 20,1-13.22-29; 27,12-23).The referential point of this article is the account of God\u27s covenant with Abraham in Gen 17, which is attributed to priestly writing (Pg). The priestly writer reports only two covenants: God\u27s covenant with Noah (Gen 9:1-17) and God\u27s covenant with Abraham (Gen 17). While the covenant with Noah represents the conclusion of priestly prehistory (Gen 1-11), Gen 17 opens the narration of Israel\u27s history and has, for this history, a programmatic function. When he made his covenant God promised Abraham numerous offspring (17:2-6), that he would be his God and the God of his descendants (17:7-8b); and that he would give him and his offspring the land of Canaan to his possession (17:8a). The priestly texts following Gen 17, i.e., Gen 28:19; 35:9-15; Ex 6:2-8, refer back to these promises and relate their gradual fulfilment. Scholars generally agree that the first two promises find their fulfilment in the book of Exodus (1:7; 40:34-35), while the fulfilment of the promise of the land is subject of debate. Namely, there is growing agreement in contemporary exegesis that Pg ends in Exodus or Leviticus, in texts which do not recount the gift of the land but the institution of cult (Ex 29:42b-46; 40:16-17a, 33b; Lev 9:23-24; 16). In this article, by taking Gen 17 as the starting-point, we have analyzed the priestly texts which are concerned with God\u27s promises to Abraham and we have reached the conclusion that the promise of the land is fulfilled in Num 13-14*, and that there are valid reasons to place the end of priestly writing in the book of Numbers. Contemporary research of the book of Numbers has shown that the dating of this book is very late, but still, some scholars attributed four accounts to Pg in this book: Num 13-14*; 20:1-13, 22-29; 27:12-23. Our brief survey of these texts has revealed that these texts can indeed be ascribed to Pg on the basis of their content, terminology and specific stylistic features. Moreover, these texts refer to the fulfilment of the promise of the land. In fact, while the promise of the land in Pg is always formulated in the future tense (!tn weqatal / yiqtol; cf. Gen 17:8; 2:,4; 35:12; Ex 6:8),, in Num 13:2 we find the !tn participle, and in 20:12-24; 27:12 qatal. These occurrences point to the conclusion that in Num 13:2 God »gives« the land to the people by sending the leaders to »spy it out« (rwt;13:2). The official representatives of the people, by spying it out (rwt;13:21), take the land legally into possession. Namely, we know from biblical accounts that »walking« on a certain territory can designate taking it into possession (cf. Gen 13:14-17; 1 Kg 21:16-18). Subsequently, the qatal form !tn in Num 20:12-24; 27:12 confirms that for the priestly writer Israel has already received the gift of the land, even if the people have not yet entered it. The performed analysis, thus, suggests that Pg does not end in the book of Exodus or Leviticus, but continues and ends in the book of Numbers (13-14*; 20:113; 22-29; 27:12-23). The priestly texts in Numbers do not only narrate the failure of the generation of exodus and their leaders, Moses and Aaron, to enter the promised land, but also confirm the people\u27s receiving the gift of the land (13:21; 20:12-24; 27:12), announce the entering of the next generation (14:31) and report the installation of new leaders, Eleazar and Joshua (20:28; 27:22-23). The priestly writing would, therefore, have an open ending, since it prepares Moses\u27 death and the people\u27s entering of the land, but it does not report them. This open ending could have been conditioned by the historical moment in which the priestly writer composed his work, i.e., at the end of the Babylonian exile and in the first years of return. His last accounts, which we now find in the book of Numbers, would then reflect the failure of the first generation of returnees to come back to the land, but at the same time, they announce the return of the next generation (14:31)