Knowledge (d't) in Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice

Abstract

The subject of knowledge is stressed in the introduction of Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, and repeatedly mentioned throughout this cycle of thirteen songs, frequently in connection with holiness. In the end the liturgy joyously proclaims that “the chiefs of praise-offering” have divine knowledge. Second Temple Judaism had differing ideologies of knowledge. This article attempts to understand the stress on knowledge and the connection with holiness in this text. The research method was to extract and list the word d't wherever it appears in a coherent context in the entire liturgy. Then, the sequential development of this concept of knowledge was examined to try to understand what it would have meant to the author and participants in the liturgy. The conclusion of this article strengthens the hypothesis of earlier research on the individual songs that the pervasive ambiguity was deliberately crafted for rhetorical purposes in order to convey a mystical sense of a temporary transformation in order to gain divine knowledge during participation in the holy liturgy.