Deuteronomy 16:1-8

The Passover (with Maṣṣôth)

To be kept in Abib for in that month Israel was brought out of Egypt by the sacrifice of a victim from herd or flock at the One Altar (Deuteronomy 16:1 f.). For seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten Israel's food in the haste of quitting Egypt, and no leaven shall be found in their borders, nor any of the Passover flesh after the first evening (Deuteronomy 16:3 f.). The Passover shall be boiled and eaten, the people returning next morning to their tents (Deuteronomy 16:5-7); for six days Israel shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh hold a convocation and do no work (Deuteronomy 16:8). The integrity of the passage has been questioned (Steuern., Stȧrk, Berth., Marti) and with reason. For not only do Deuteronomy 16:3 f. on Maṣṣôth break the connection of Deuteronomy 16:1 f. with 5 7 on the Passover, while Deuteronomy 16:8 also on Maṣṣôth reflects the style of P; but Deuteronomy 16:7, fixing the Feast for one day after which the people are to return home, is difficult to harmonise with the seven days of Deuteronomy 16:3 f. and Deuteronomy 16:8. Two explanations are possible; (1) D's law originally consisted of Deuteronomy 16:1 f., Deuteronomy 16:5, and dealt only with the Passover; and the vv. on Maṣṣôth are from an editor. But there is no reason why the original code of D should ignore Maṣṣôth for which certainly E has a law, Exodus 23:15 a, and (Steuern. notwithstanding) J also, Exodus 34:18 a unless Maṣṣôth, a purely agricultural feast, had become too closely associated with the cults of the Baalim. (2) More probably we have here a compilation of two laws of D, originally separate, one on Passover and one on Maṣṣôth. In either case the combination of Passover and Maṣṣôth, which was not original and is not accepted even by H in Leviticus 23 (Leviticus 23:5; Leviticus 23:9 ff.; Leviticus 23:6-8 are added by P), took place between the date of the original code of D and that of the final composition of the Book of Deuteronomy.