David Wright

The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Law (OEBL) provides the most up-to-date and extensive treatment of the Bible and law yet attempted, both updating and expanding the scope of previous scholarship in the field. In comprehensive overviews, scholars at the forefront of biblical studies and law address three foci: (1) biblical law itself—its nature, collections, and genres; (2) the ancient contexts of biblical law, throughout the ancient Mediterranean (ancient Near Eastern, Greco-Roman, and Early Jewish); and (3) the afterlife and influence of biblical law in antiquity and in modern jurisprudence around the world. Essays include treatments of the Book of the Covenant, the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, Greek Law, and the Laws of Hammurapi, but also testimony and witness, property, ritual, rhetoric, gender, and sexual legislation.

This article focuses on sin in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. “Sin” may be defined as a behavior that is unacceptable to a deity or supernatural being and subject to punishment by him. This theological construct is largely built on an analogy to the way humans interact. Just as humans might be offended by behaviors of others, and just as they might castigate offenders and could be pacified by verbal apology and gift-giving, so supernatural beings are imagined to be offended and pacified. In the Hebrew Bible, as well as in other religious traditions, analogy with regard to sin operates in two different modes: the personal and the cultic. The personal mode reflects the basic interactive relationship between humans, where an offender engages an offended party directly. In this mode, the sinner appeals to the deity directly by prayer, sometimes accompanied by formal ritual activity, such as mourning behaviors or making an offering as a gift to the deity. The cultic mode, which is most prominent in the Priestly Holiness writings of the Pentateuch, builds on the personal approach but also contextualizes sin and its effects in the framework of a sanctuary or temple. An additional analogical conception operates here. The sanctuary is thought to be the dwelling of the deity, like the palace of a king or other ruling figure in society. Sin, even that committed outside the sanctuary boundaries, is imagined to create impurity that pollutes this dwelling. In order to keep the deity in good spirits and retain his presence, sacrificial purification rites are performed to clean the divine dwelling. Parts of these sacrifices (e.g., the fat) may also be given as gifts to appease the deity.