170 JOEL S. BADEN In the non-priestly plagues narrative, we find in two places ref- erence to the fact that the Israelites dwell apart from the Egyptians, in the region of Goshen (Exod 8,18; 9,26). The location of the Is- raelites in Goshen is established exclusively in the non-priestly Joseph story (Gen 45,10, etc.), and that information can derive from nowhere else. In Exod 32,26–29, we have the strange episode of the Levites slay- ing their kin in the camp 16. Whatever we may make of this episode, it depends on the reader knowing who the Levites are: that there is a distinct group called the Levites and that they are related to the rest of the Israelite community. As no tribal distinctions have been made to this point in the non-priestly exodus account — it has referred only to Israel as a single nation — the use of the tribal term “Levite” must be based on the patriarchal narratives, which introduce Levi and his re- lationship with the rest of Israel. The same situation obtains with the introduction of Dathan and Abiram as Reubenites in the non-priestly account of their rebellion in Numbers 16. The tribes of Israel are es- tablished — in non-P just as in P — in the patriarchal account, and are assumed thereafter. In Num 20,14-16, Moses sends a message to the king of Edom that begins with a brief recollection of how the Israelites came to be on the border of Edom’s territory: “You know all the hardships that have befallen us; that our ancestors went down to Egypt, that we dwelt in Egypt a long time, and that the Egyptians dealt harshly with us and our ancestors. We cried to the Lord and he heard our plea, and he sent a messenger who freed us from Egypt”. This historical sur- vey, with its reference to the ancestors who went down to Egypt, pre- sumes the continuity of the patriarchal and exodus narratives. Ties to the patriarchal narrative are thus found in the account of the oppression of Israel, in the call of Moses, in the plagues, in the As this narrative provides the explanation for the separation of the 16 Levites to serve God, it cannot be from P: first, because the special status of the Levites is first proclaimed, by divine fiat, only in Numbers 3–4 and 8; second, and perhaps more importantly, because the idea that the Levites would be ordained to the priesthood (as the phrase mil’û yedkem in 32,29 means) is anathema to P’s worldview, in which it is only Aaron and his sons who may become priests. Furthermore, there is no aspect of the priestly nar- rative to which this episode can connect, as to this point in P the Israelites have not done anything remotely deserving of punishment. © Gregorian Biblical Press 2012 - Tutti i diritti riservati