10
have delivered you, you are to worship me alone." Thus the emotionally charged reference to
who and what God has shown himself to be in the exodus narratives serves to motivate Israel to
obey the first and other commandments.
The frequent interjection in the Holiness Code, I am Yahweh [your God]
23
has a similar
purpose, saying in effect It is I, Yahweh your God, who has spoken this, so give heed! When
this expression is attached to promises, it is a way of saying they are sure, and when attached to
laws, this statement reminds the reader that these rules are not merely the laws of men, but the
Law of God.
4. The Laws and Narratives of Exodus 19-24 intertwine to Produce a Whole Greater than the
Sum of its Parts.
A fourth observation concerning the interrelation of law and narrative is that the literary
structure of the laws and narrative serve to convey a greater meaning than would be the case if
the laws were independent of the narratives.
Chirichigno
24
has demonstrated to my satisfaction that the material of Exodus 19-24 does
not follow a strict chronological sequence, but utilizes resumptive repetition instead.
25
According to this view, the laws were given simultaneously with the actions of Exodus 19, and
Religion and Law:Biblical Judaic and Islamic Perspectives (ed. E. B. Firmage, et al.; Winona
Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1990), 13 n. 28.
23
Lev 18:2, 4, 5, 6, 21, 30; 19:3, 4, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 15, 28, 30, 31, 32, 34, 36, 37; 20:7, 8, 24,
26; 21:8, 12, 15, 23; 22:2, 3, 8, 9, 16, 30, 31, 32, 33; 23:22, 43; 24:22, 25:17, 38, 55; 26: 2, 13,
44, 45.
24
G. C. Chirichigno, "The Narrative Structure of Exodus 19-24," Bib 68 (1987): 457-479. Also
Sprinkle, ,,The Book of the Covenant, 17-34. This synoptic/resumptive analysis of Exodus
19-24 is criticized by Richard Averbeck, "The Form Critical, Literary, and Ritual Unity of
Exodus 19:3-24:11" (paper presented to the Biblical Law Group at the annual meeting of Society
of Biblical Literature Biblical, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 20 Nov 1995) 24 n. 30.
25
On the synoptic/resumptive style, see H. C. Brichto, Towards a Grammar of Biblical Poetics
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 13-14 (definition) and 16, 19, 75-76, 78-79, 86, 93,
95, 98-99, 165, 227-228 (biblical examples).