Description

In this detailed study on the meaning of the biblical term kar t, "cutting off", Donald J. Wold concludes that the penalty is a conditional divine curse denying eternal life to the defiant, "high-handed" sinner (Num 15:30). He is the first scholar to examine kar t in the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and rabbinic sources. Ancient Near Eastern literature furnishes analogues to kar t in Akkadian, West Semitic, Hittite, and Egyptian. Previous explanations have not accounted for its full semantic range, prompting the author to employ semantic-field analysis. He shows that kar t is never enacted by humans. It is executed only by God for violations against sacred time, sacred substance, illicit sex and worship, idolatry, blasphemy, and failure to perform certain purification rituals - crimes against God alone.