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Yahweh for the reader. The fact that the laws are given as speech from Yahweh as a character in
the narrative serves to lend authority to these laws and motivate Israelites to obey them, not as
laws of men, but as Law of God. Moreover, the chiastic and non-chronological structuring of
the laws and narratives of Exodus 19-24 produces meanings of the whole greater than the
individual parts; in particular, giving a privileged position to the Decalogue, indicating the
priority of covenant over law, and placing the concept of fear of Yahweh at the heart of that
covenant.
The interaction of law and narrative affect the interpretation of particulars in both.
Attention to the narratives provides explanations for why both the Decalogue and the book of the
covenant begin with cultic regulations, why the civil laws begin with slaves, and the use of the
number seven. The narratives chronological framework may provide a solution to how to
reconcile the various altar laws. It provides the proper framework for understanding the laws of
firstfruits, firstborn and holiness, and the command to drive out the Canaanites.
Conversely, attention to the laws of Exodus 20-23 helps to explain the seventh day of
creation, the nature of the offense in the Golden Calf Story (as well as what the law actually
prohibits), the way Joshua constructed his altar on Mount Ebal, and aspects of the stories of
Abraham, Jacob and Joseph. It also is suggestive for interpreting the nature of the two tablets of
the Decalogue described in subsequent narratives.
I have primarily limited myself to matters related to Exodus 19-24, but a fuller
application of the conclusions reached here would encourage interpreters to read all Old
Testament narratives and laws in the light of each other. Examples could be multiplied where a
attention to the interaction of law and narrative is exegetically fruitful: the practice of war in the
narratives can be compared with the rules of war in Deuteronomy 20,
46
the Sodom narratives of
Genesis 19 can be compared with laws on homosexual acts and incest in Leviticus 18 and 20,
46
E.g., Joe M. Sprinkle, "Deuteronomic ,,Just War (Deut 20:10-20) and 2 Kings 3:27,"
Zeitschrift fur Altorientalische und Biblische Rechtsgeschichte 6 (2000): 285-301.