- Copyright Page
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- Introduction: Vistas in the Study of Biblical Law
- Covenant
- Social Justice
- Offenses Against Human Beings in Private and Public Law
- Litigation: Trial Procedure, Jurisdiction, Evidence, Testimony
- Women, Children, Slaves, and Foreigners
- Ritual Law: Sacrifice and Holy Days
- Purity and Sancta Desecration in Ritual Law
- “An Eye for an Eye” and Capital Punishment
- The Decalogue
- The Book of the Covenant
- Priestly Law
- Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic Reform
- Law and Narrative
- Determining the Date of Biblical Legal Texts
- The Role of Law in the Formation of the Pentateuch and the Canon
- The Law and the Prophets
- Law in the Wisdom Tradition
- Ancient Near Eastern Law Collections and Legal Forms and Institutions
- Ancient Near Eastern Treaties/Loyalty Oaths and Biblical Law
- Monarchy and Law in the Pre-Exilic Period
- Law in the Persian Period
- The Law in the Late Second Temple Period
- The Bible and the Sources of Rabbinic Law
- The Law and the Gospels, with Attention to the Relationship Between the Decalogue and the Sermon on the Mount/Plain
- Ethical and Moral Duties in Rabbinic Judaism
- Paul and the Covenant
- Rabbinic Law
- Ritual Law in Rabbinic Judaism
- Women, Children, and Slaves in Rabbinic Law
- Women, Children, Slaves, and the Law in the New Testament Period
- Social Justice in Early Christianity
- Social Justice in Rabbinic Judaism
- Index of Citations
- Index of Modern Authors
- Index of Subjects
Abstract and Keywords
Legal material is crucial for the Pentateuch’s formation. After an overview of pentateuchal research and documentary hypotheses, the legal collections and their interrelationship are discussed. Although a pre-exilic deuteronomic core, rewriting the Covenant Code, is likely, its final editing is a post-exilic development, with priestly laws and the Holiness Code following. The evolving Pentateuch becomes a distinct entity in the fourth century bce, but the text remains in a certain flux through the Hellenistic period. As a foundational document, consolidating the Judean and Samaritan communities alike, it reflects concerns with the revived temple cult(s) and Persian influence on Israelite practice. The Pentateuch receives special status earlier than the Prophets and the Writings. The transition from descriptive instruction to prescriptive law, from formative ideal to normative legislation, is a continuous process through the Hellenistic and Roman periods, with bearing on tensions around legal interpretation during the late Second Temple period.
Keywords: Torah, canon, documentary hypothesis, Covenant Code, Deuteronomy, priestly laws, Holiness Code, Pentateuch, Persian period, Hellenistic period
Thomas Kazen is Professor of Biblical Studies at Stockholm School of Theology, University College Stockholm, Sweden, and the author of Emotions in Biblical Law: A Cognitive Science Approach (Sheffield Phoenix, 2011).
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- Copyright Page
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- Introduction: Vistas in the Study of Biblical Law
- Covenant
- Social Justice
- Offenses Against Human Beings in Private and Public Law
- Litigation: Trial Procedure, Jurisdiction, Evidence, Testimony
- Women, Children, Slaves, and Foreigners
- Ritual Law: Sacrifice and Holy Days
- Purity and Sancta Desecration in Ritual Law
- “An Eye for an Eye” and Capital Punishment
- The Decalogue
- The Book of the Covenant
- Priestly Law
- Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic Reform
- Law and Narrative
- Determining the Date of Biblical Legal Texts
- The Role of Law in the Formation of the Pentateuch and the Canon
- The Law and the Prophets
- Law in the Wisdom Tradition
- Ancient Near Eastern Law Collections and Legal Forms and Institutions
- Ancient Near Eastern Treaties/Loyalty Oaths and Biblical Law
- Monarchy and Law in the Pre-Exilic Period
- Law in the Persian Period
- The Law in the Late Second Temple Period
- The Bible and the Sources of Rabbinic Law
- The Law and the Gospels, with Attention to the Relationship Between the Decalogue and the Sermon on the Mount/Plain
- Ethical and Moral Duties in Rabbinic Judaism
- Paul and the Covenant
- Rabbinic Law
- Ritual Law in Rabbinic Judaism
- Women, Children, and Slaves in Rabbinic Law
- Women, Children, Slaves, and the Law in the New Testament Period
- Social Justice in Early Christianity
- Social Justice in Rabbinic Judaism
- Index of Citations
- Index of Modern Authors
- Index of Subjects
