About This Tag
Chukkim are the commandments of the Torah that are kept regardless of whether their purpose or intent can be explained. Rabbinic tradition categorized them separately from mishpatim, the rules that reason would have discovered unaided. Tradition assigned to the chukkim the rules that are confusing or archaic, such as the red heifer, the scapegoat, mixed fibers, and dietary restrictions, all based on the authority of the text alone. This distinction likely reflects lost history and context rather than deliberate obscurity, since many of these commands were based on ritual practices that had disappeared centuries earlier, leaving later readers without the setting that once made them intelligible.
Note: Dates shown in this timeline are approximate and based on scholarly estimates.
Back to TagLeviticus 16:10 / Pseudo Jonathan Leviticus 16:10
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Leviticus 16:10
Hebrew Bible
8 and Aaron is to cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and one lot for Azazel. 9 Aaron must then present the goat which has been designated by lot for the Lord, and he is to make it a sin offering, 10 but the goat which has been designated by lot for Azazel is to be stood alive before the Lord to make atonement on it by sending it away into the desert to Azazel.
300-1200 C.E.
And Aharon shall put upon the goats equal lots; one lot for the Name of the Lord, and one lot for Azazel: and he shall throw them into the vase, and draw them out, and put them upon the goats. And Aharon shall bring the goat upon which came up the lot for the Name of the Lord, and make him a sin offering. And the goat on which came up the lot for Azazel he shall make to stand alive before the Lord, to expiate for the sins of the people of the house of Israel, by sending him to die in a place rough and hard in the rocky desert which is Beth‑hadurey.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Leviticus 16:22
Hebrew Bible
20 “When Aaron has finished purifying the Holy Place, the Meeting Tent, and the altar, he is to present the live goat. 21 Aaron is to lay his two hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the Israelites and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins, and thus he is to put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the desert by the hand of a man standing ready. 22 The goat is to bear on itself all their iniquities into an inaccessible land, so he is to send the goat away into the desert.
300-1200 C.E.
And Aharon shall lay his hands (upon him) in this order, his right hand upon his left, upon the head of the living goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their rebellions, and all their sins, and shall put them, with an oath uttered and expressed with the Great and glorious Name, upon the head of the goat, and send (him) away by the hand of a man prepared from the year foregoing, to take him into a rocky desert which is Beth‑hadurey; and the goat shall bear upon him all their sins into a desert place; and the man shall send forth the goat to a rocky desert; and the goat will go up on the mountains of Beth‑hadurey, and a tempestuous wind from the presence of the Lord will carry him away, and he will die.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Numbers 19:2
Hebrew Bible
1 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: 2 “This is the ordinance of the law that the Lord has commanded: ‘Instruct the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without blemish, which has no defect and has never carried a yoke. 3 You must give it to Eleazar the priest so that he can take it outside the camp, and it must be slaughtered before him.
300-1200 C.E.
Pseudo Jonathan Numbers 19:2
Targum
AND the Lord spake with Mosheh and Aharon, saying: This is the decree, the publication of the law which the Lord hath commanded, saying; Speak to the sons of Israel, that they bring to thee from the separation of the fold a red heifer, two years old, in which there is neither spot nor white hair, on which no male hath come, nor the burden of any work been imposed, neither hurt by the thong, nor grieved by the goad or prick, nor collar (band) or any like yoke.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Numbers 19:9
Hebrew Bible
7 Then the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and afterward he may come into the camp, but the priest will be ceremonially unclean until evening. 8 The one who burns it must wash his clothes in water and bathe himself in water. He will be ceremonially unclean until evening. 9 “‘Then a man who is ceremonially clean must gather up the ashes of the red heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They must be kept for the community of the Israelites for use in the water of purification—it is a purification for sin. 10 The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer must wash his clothes and be ceremonially unclean until evening. This will be a permanent ordinance both for the Israelites and the resident foreigner who lives among them.
300-1200 C.E.
Pseudo Jonathan Numbers 19:9
Targum
And the priest who slew the heifer shall wash his dress in forty satas of water, and afterwards he may go into the camp; but the priest before his ablution shall be unclean until the evening And the priest who was employed in the burning shall wash his dress in forty satas of water, and his flesh in forty satas, and before his ablution shall be unclean until the evening And a man, a priest who is clean, shall gather up the ashes of the heifer in an earthenware receptacle, its opening covered round about with clay; and shall divide the ashes into three portions, of which one shall be placed within the wall (of Jerusalem), another in the Mount of Olives, and the third portion be in the custody of the Levites; and it shall be for the congregation of Israel, for the Water of Sprinkling: it is the heifer (immolated) for the remission of sins.