4
doubt Israelites applied the second person singulars directly to themselves as an individuals.
Similarly, the book of the covenant (Exod 20:22-23:33), even if more impersonal in
formulation than the Decalogue, is bracketed within an I-Thou context. The front bracket is its
prologue and introductory cultic laws (Exod 20:22-26) that are full of I-Thou language. It is
introduced as Yahwehs speech to Israel through Moses: 22 Yahweh said to Moses, "Address the
children of Israel as follows: ,,You yourselves have seen how from the sky I have spoken with
you [pl.]." The second person plural is used here in v. 22 and in the law prohibiting images in
v. 23, while the second person singular is used in altar law at vv. 24, 25, and 26.
6
Yahweh refers
to himself in first person (I, me, my) throughout (vv. 22, 23, 24, and 26).
The back bracket of the book of the covenant are the concluding social and cultic laws
(Exod 22:17-23:19)
7
as well as the epilogue to the book of the covenant (Exod 23:20-33) which
are also full of I-Thou language. I-Thou language is less common in Exod 21:1-22:17, perhaps
influenced by its civil law genre that in other ancient Near Eastern law collections tend to have
impersonal, casuistic formulations.
8
Nonetheless, this section begins with I-Thou language
(21:1 "These are the norms that you [=Moses] are to set before them") and has just enough
I-Thou language later (Exod 21:2, 13-14, 23) to keep the reader aware of the context introduced
by the prologue that this is Gods personal message to Israel.
6
Why the text switches from plural you to singular you is not entirely clear. The you plural
represents Israel as a group of individuals, whereas the you singular represents national Israel
personified as an individual, as in the Decalogue, as is shown by Dale Patrick, "I and Thou in the
Covenant Code," in SBL Seminar Papers 1978 (Missoula, Montana: Scholars Press, 1978),
71-86. Perhaps the making of idols was more likely to be an individual activity, whereas the
making of an altar is more likely to be an activity of the collective community, as was the case in
Deut 27:5-7 and Josh 8:30-31 where this law is applied.
7
In this paper Scripture references are to the English Bible versifications. Exod 21:37 in the
Hebrew Bible is 22:1 in the English Bible, and thus English Bible references in Exodus 22 are
numbered one unit higher than Hebrew Bible references to that chapter.
8
The typical source-critical explanation for the impersonal formulation of the civil laws in the
book of the covenant is that these laws were derived from an earlier, non-Israelite law-code and
incorporated into the book of the covenant with relatively little modification.