Exodus 35:1-29

Exodus 35-40. P s. The Construction and Erection of the Sacred Tent. This division of the book is generally recognised as coming from the latest stratum in the Hexateuch. This conclusion can be denied (as recently by A. H. Finn in JThS 16:449- 481) only by those who ignore the number, variety, and independence of the converging lines of proof which point to it. The clearest and most specific ground for it is that the later elements in the appendix (Exodus 30 f.) to Exodus 25-29 are here redistributed and put in their proper places. Further, the radical differences of order, and astonishing omissions as, in places, of the incense altar and the laver (both among the supplements in Exodus 30) in LXX require the assumption that the Gr. translators had the material before them in an earlier and less well-arranged draft of the Heb. text. It does not follow that all differences are due to this cause, and the suggestion that the translators were not the same for Exodus 25-31 and Exodus 35-40 is shown by Finn to be ill-supported, as the present writer had independently pointed out in 1914. But the general conclusion (arrived at by Popper in 1862) that the Alexandrian Jews c. 250 B.C. had not yet received the Heb. text in its final form as we have it, sheds a flood of light on the flexibility and capacity for growth and adaptation which the Pentateuchal laws of worship preserved even at that late date. The virtual stereotyping of the text was probably subsequent to the fall of Jerusalem, A.D. 70.

The repetition of detail is minute and the verbal correspondence is close, but the copying is not slavish or unintelligent; e.g. clauses that relate to erection and use are disregarded till the right point is reached in Exodus 40. Besides the two full-length descriptions, the plan (Exodus 25-31) and its execution (Exodus 35-39), there are no less than five summaries, Exodus 31:7; Exodus 35:11; Exodus 39:33; Exodus 40:2; Exodus 40:18. The differences of order and contents between these, and between the Heb. and LXX, confirm the conclusions as to the gradual elaboration of these Chapter s. From the point of view of the student of religion this last division adds little to what went before (but see Exodus 35:20 below).

Exodus 35:1 P s. The Sabbath. This summarises Exodus 31:12, but the kindling of fire is not elsewhere expressly forbidden in OT.

Exodus 35:4 P s. Summary of materials needed and things to be made. This follows generally the order of Exodus 35-39, nut veil and screen are put in order of erection, not together as Exodus 36:35 ff.

Exodus 35:20 P s. The Willing Contributors. The picture presented, of generous and general giving for the sanctuary, in its spirit happily expresses the joyous readiness of Yahweh's worshippers in the earliest times to bring their best gifts in His honour, while the costly gifts reflect an age when wealthy individuals had become numerous. The contribution of fabrics by the women, still the spinners of the East, is noted in Exodus 35:25 f.