"It is commonly thought and widely accepted"

Abstract

In scholarship there occasionally arises an idea which grows to be unquestioningly accepted. One such idea within the study of the Priestly text of the Torah (P) is that Leviticus 17-26 is a work known as the Holiness Code (H). Recently this idea has grown in importance due to the work of Israel Knohl and Jacob Milgrom, who both have endeavored to reattribute an entire stratum of writings within P to the author(s) of H. Their work has such far reaching implications that it has become necessary to undertake a reevaluation of both their theory and their original premise: namely, whether Leviticus 17-26 does comprise a body of literature separate from P. Through an examination of the criteria used to identify the Holiness Code, it will be argued that Leviticus 17-26 constitutes an integrated and integral part of P as envisioned by the tradent responsible for its composition and compilation.