Destiny of the Defiant

In this detailed study on the meaning of the biblical term karet, "cutting off", Donald J. Wold concludes that the penalty is a conditional divine curse denying eternal life to the defiant, "high-handed" sinner (Num 15:30). He is the first scholar to examine karet in the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and rabbinic sources. Ancient Near Eastern literature furnishes analogues to karet in Akkadian, West Semitic, Hittite, and Egyptian. Previous explanations have not accounted for its full semantic range, prompting the author to employ semantic-field analysis. He shows that karet is never enacted by humans. It is executed only by God for violations against sacred time, sacred substance, illicit sex and worship, idolatry, blasphemy, and failure to perform certain purification rituals – crimes against God alone.