built or returned to an altar and "called upon the name of the Lord." In these cases, the text implies but does not explicitly state that the Patriarch offered a sacrifice. And at God's request, Abraham conducted an unusual sacrifice at the Covenant between the Pieces () in Leviticus chapter 8 This is the pattern of instruction and construction of the Tabernacle and its furnishings: Gordon Wenham noted that the phrase "as the Lord commanded Moses" or a similar phrase "recurs with remarkable frequency" in , appearing in , 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, 29, 34, 36; , 7, 10, 21; , 13, and 15. The Hebrew Bible refers to the Urim and Thummim in 1 Samuel ("Thammim") and and and may refer to them in references to "sacred utensils" in and the Ephod in and 19; and 9; and and The Torah mentions the combination of ear, thumb, and toe in three places. In God instructed Moses how to initiate the priests, telling him to kill a ram, take some of its blood, and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and his sons, on the thumb of their right hand, and on the great toe of their right foot, and dash the remaining blood against the altar round about. And then reports that Moses followed God's instructions to initiate Aaron and his sons. Then, 17, 25, and 28 set forth a similar procedure for the cleansing of a person with skin disease (, tzara'at). In God instructed the priest on the day of the person's cleansing to take some of the blood of a guilt-offering and put it upon the tip of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the great toe of the right foot of the one to be cleansed. And then in God instructed the priest to put oil on the tip of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the great toe of the right foot of the one to be cleansed, on top of the blood of the guilt-offering. And finally, in and 28, God instructed the priest to repeat the procedure on the eighth day to complete the person's cleansing. In early nonrabbinic interpretation The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these early nonrabbinic sources: Leviticus chapter 8 Reading Philo noted that Moses took some blood from the sacrificed ram, holding