S17-107 - Ethnicity and Biblical Law
Co-sponsored by the Biblical Law Section and the Biblical Lands and Peoples in Archaeology and Text Section
November 17, 4:00-6:30 p.m.

Hannah Harrington, Patten University
Exegeting Ethnicity in Ezra-Nehemiah

Abstract: Ezra-Nehemiah begins a trend in Second Temple Judaism of excluding those who do not conform to the group identity and, especially, banning intermarriage with outsiders. How does the author use Pentateuchal traditions to make this case and how does this trend continue in later Second Temple texts? Several legal traditions from the Pentateuch are used in new ways by Ezra-Nehemiah, including, the requirement of an asham, guilt offering, to expunge sacrilege (Lev. 5:15), the prohibition on sacrificing one’s offspring to Molech (Lev. 20:2-5), and the ban on Moabites and Ammonites entering the congregation until the tenth generation (Dt. 23:4). In each case, exegesis has turned into eisegesis with the purpose of excluding any possibility of foreign entry into Israel. This trend begins in Ezra-Nehemiah and continues in the exegesis of several Jewish groups in the Second Temple period (e.g. authors of Jubilees, the Dead Sea Scrolls).