Lesson plan
Priestly Code
The Priestly Code (in Hebrew Torat Kohanim, תורת כהנים) is the name given, by academia, to the body of laws expressed in the Torah which do not form part of the Holiness Code, the Covenant Code, the Ritual Decalogue, the Ethical Decalogue or the Deuteronomic Code. The Priestly Code constitutes the majority of Leviticus, as well as some of the laws expressed in Numbers. The code forms a large portion, approximately one third, of the commandments of the Torah, and thus is a major source of Jewish law. It is termed the Priestly Code due to its large concern with ritual and the Jewish priesthood, and also, in critical scholarship, it is defined as the whole of the law code believed to be present in the Priestly Source except for the Holiness Code. Under the documentary hypothesis, while some scholars believe that the Priestly Code was created to rival the Ethical Decalogue and Covenant Code, others believe was intended as only supplementary to the Holiness Code.
Article summary
The Priestly Code (in Hebrew Torat Kohanim, תורת כהנים) is the name given, by academia, to the body of laws expressed in the Torah which do not form part of the Holiness Code, the Covenant Code, the Ritual Decalogue, the Ethical Decalogue or the Deuteronomic Code. The Priestly Code constitutes the majority of Leviticus, as well as some of the laws expressed in Numbers. The code forms a large portion, approximately one third, of the commandments of the Torah, and thus is a major source of Jewish law. It is termed the Priestly Code due to its large concern with ritual and the Jewish priesthood, and also, in critical scholarship, it is defined as the whole of the law code believed to be present in the Priestly Source except for the Holiness Code. Under the documentary hypothesis, while some scholars believe that the Priestly Code was created to rival the Ethical Decalogue and Covenant Code, others believe was intended as only supplementary to the Holiness Code.
Key claims
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.