24
an artist depends on whether one is following Jewish, Catholic, or Reformed numbering. In
terms of content, it is widely recognized that the Decalogue begins with cultic laws that deal with
Israels relationship with God, and then go on to laws on how they were to relate to other human
being. Could it be that the first tablet contained the religiously oriented laws, whereas the
second had the more ethical commandments? Youngblood may well be correct in thinking all
these constructs are wrongheaded, and that the two tablets may have been meant to represent two
copies of the Decalogue as a covenant treaty, one for Israel as vassal, and one for God as
suzerain.
44
Even then, however, one might raise the question of which parts are on the obverse
and which are on the reverse. Speculations along these lines have been around since the 3
rd
century AD Mekhilta.
45
Although the question of which commands occur on which tablets (and
which on each side) can only be answered with speculation, the nature of that speculation is
determined by the structure of the laws, and so all this illustrates how the law can influence the
interpretation of the narrative.
III. CONCLUSION
Law and narrative must be read together in order to obtain the fullest and most accurate
interpretation of both. The practice of many traditional exegetes and critical scholars of reading
laws apart from their narrative context in the final form of the text distorts to some degree the
meaning of both law and narrative.
The discussion above has tried to show that the Decalogue and the book of the covenant
must be read as part of the narrative in which God graciously establishes a personal relationship
with Israel through the covenant. This explains the prevalence of I-Thou language in the laws.
The laws must also be seen as the narrators way of painting the merciful but just character of
44
Ronald Youngblood, "Counting the Ten Commandments," BRev 10, no. 6 (December 1994):
34.
45
Jackson, "Multiculturalism in Early Biblical Law," 187.