Special Issue IOSOT 2013 - Books and Journals

56 S. Japhet / Vetus Testamentum IOSOT (2013) 36-76
The long and complicated description, which tries so hard to define the
exact places of the Levites, is due to the fact that a concise and well-defined
term is lacking. The absence of the term עיר מגרש in Ezr.-Neh. is not an accident.
The term is not known, either in that period in general or to the author
in particular.
קטר .5
The root קטר has in Chr. two meanings: a) as a general term for the burning
of sacrifices in smoke; b) more specifically as burning of incense. In this connection
the altar of incense הקטרת)‏ ‏(מזבח and the censers ‏(מקטרות)‏ are also
mentioned.
The root קטר in various forms occurs in Chr. twenty-six times, of which
two are taken from his sources: 2 Chr. xxviii 4 // 2 Ki. xvi 4; 2 Chr. xxxiv 25 //
2 Ki. xxii 17.104
All the other instances belong to the Chr.’s own language. Some of them
might be cited here.105
1) 1 Chr. xxiii 13: “Aaron was set apart . . . that he and his sons forever should
burn incense before the Lord לפני ה׳)‏ ‏(להקטיר and minister to him and pronounce
blessings in his name forever”.
The affinities with Deut. x 8 are immediately apparent, but two changes are
prominent. The place of “the tribe of Levi” is taken by “Aaron and his sons” and
instead of “to stand before the Lord” their first task is “to burn incense before
the Lord”.
2) In the letter written by Solomon to Hiram, Solomon states his intention
to build a house for the Lord. In Kings the statement is brief: “And so I purpose
to build a house for the name of the Lord my God” (1 Ki. v. 5). In the parallel
account in Chr. it is elaborated: “I am about to build a house for the name of the
Lord my God and dedicate it to him for the burning of incense and sweet spices
‏.(להקטיר לפניו קטרת סמים)‏ Him” before
104) In 2 Ki. xxii 17 ‏.ויקטרו In 2 Chr. xxxiv 17 ויקטירו—‏Kethib ויקטרו—‏Qre These variations reflect
two divergent tendencies. On one hand, the transition to Hif ʿil, which is also demonstrated in
other strata of late Hebrew (cf. above p. 334, n. 7). On the other hand, we could trace the attempt
to distinguish between the Piᶜel as describing illegitimate sacrifice and Hifᶜil for the legitimate
one. This distinction is, however, not observed systematically in Chr., cf. 2 Chr. xxviii 3 (against
KBL).
105) The other occurrences are in Chr.: 1 Chr. vi 34, xxviii 18, 2 chr. xiii 11, xxv 14, xxvi 16-19 (frequently),
2 Chr. xxix 7, 11, xxx 14.