229, 30) for the world after the flood which still
subsists, is for the Priestly Code the crown, the end, the substance,
of the whole narrative. Its interest in the law always completely
absorbs the simple interest of its story.
We have also to remark that in this source vengeance for the
spilling of blood is not the affair of the relatives but the
affair of God; and that it is demanded for man as man, whether
master or slave, and no money compensation allowed. The words
sound simple and solemn: "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man
shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man."
Yet the religious notion of HUMANITY underlying this sentence
is not ancient with the Hebrews any more than with other nations;
cf. Genesis iv. 15, 24, and Exodus xxi. 20 seq. /1/
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1. De Wette, Beitrage, p. 57. The religious notion of the people
is old.
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The ark lands, according to Q, on Mount Ararat. In JE, as we have
it, no landing-place is named. But this is not original, as
mythic geography belongs to the Jehovist in all other passages
where it occurs.
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