Williamson, `Pre-Exilic Isaiah'
15
terminology used in this passage does not coincide with the later priestly legislation
for sacrifice:
µydwt[
(verse 11), for instance, do not appear in the primary legislation
(Lev. 1-7), though they do occur frequently in the descriptive passage in Num. 7:10-
88, and still more strikingly
µyayrm
are nowhere mentioned in legislative texts, but
conversely they are used in association with sacrificial animals only in passages
which reflect pre-exilic practice (2 Sam. 6:13; 1 Kgs 1:9, 19, 25; Ezek. 39:18; Amos
5:22). Several other terms developed more specific meanings with the passage of
time, and so could easily be reapplied to the new circumstances, even though in the
present context they suit the earlier usage better:
hjnm
(verse 13), for instance, is
most easily understood here as carrying its earlier general sense of `gift' when
seeking favour from a superior (and so can be appropriately qualified by
aw
: it
will not attain what the worshipper intended), but will have been readily applied
later to the cereal-offering of Lev. 2;
arqm
(verse 13) looks like an early general term
for a religious gathering which was later specified in P as a
dq arqm
with tighter
regulations; and
hrx[
(verse 13), a certainly pre-exilic term (cf. 1 Kgs 10:20), will have
been associated with the later
trx[
, the calendrical term for specific days when work
ceased for a particularly solemn ceremony.
42
It may be worth noting in passing that this process was continued even further
in the Septuagint, where
arqm arq
became `the great day' (i.e. the Day of
Atonement).
43
This, together with reflection on Joel 1:14 and 2:15, could well have
influenced the translator to introduce a reference to fasting in the next clause. If so,
the evidence for emending
öwa
to
µwx
, as often proposed, is greatly reduced,
44
and
42
Whether in addition Sabbath (verse 13) developed from a monthly to a weekly occasion and
whether the cultic use of incense (verse 13) changed as opposed to being merely more tightly
regulated remain disputed matters, and so should not be drawn in as evidence at this point.
43
Cf. J. Ziegler, Untersuchungen zur Septuaginta des Buches Isaias (Alttest. Abhandl. XII/3; MYnster:
Aschendorf, 1934) 106, and especially I.L. Seeligmann, The Septuagint Version of Isaiah (Leiden: E.J.
Brill, 1948) 102-3. It should further be noted that the LXX's rendering of
hrx[
following (
ajrgiva
,
`idleness, rest, leisure') is also distinctive, being attested nowhere else either for this word or for the
closely related
trx[
.
44
J. Koenig's attempt at a compromise, explaining the change on the basis that there was a