neilgodfrey

Excuse ignorance, but is there any discussion in the scholarly lit about the possibility that the Exodus 20 scenario of God speaking the Ten Commandments from heaven was an insertion into an earlier Exodus narrative that knew nothing of this scene?

I'm prompted to ask having just finished reading Levinson's 'Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation (or via: amazon.co.uk)'. I wonder if Levinson is sometimes implying that this is the case and is assuming his reader has the background in the scholarship that I lack. He draws particular attention to the claim in Deuteronomy that "God added no more" words to the Ten Commandments (Deut 5:22) -- implying that the other laws in Exodus were not valid as traditionally understood.

Then reading the Exodus passage again, it does appear that one can happily delete that part about God booming the commandments to all Israel and still be left with a coherent narrative, maybe even a more coherent one?:

In Exodus 19

• God sends Moses to talk to the people
• The people tell Moses they will do whatever God says
• Moses goes back to God to pass on this message from the people
• God says he will come down and people will hear when he speaks to Moses so they will forever believe that God really did speak with Moses (19:9)
• The people had to prepare themselves to see all the fireworks of God coming down to the mountain
• God comes down with a lot of noise and calls Moses up to talk to him
• God then suddenly sends Moses back down the mountain again to warn the people not to follow. It's to be a private conversation, apparently? Only Moses is worthy to talk with God.

Exodus 20: Try omitting the Ten Commandments then continue:

• The people are scared of the thunder etc so beg Moses to go back and talk with God. "Don't let God speak with us" (20:19)
• Moses tells them not to be afraid of the thunder, but that the show is to help them have a healthy fear of God. Is it not a bit odd that all the attention is on the thunder and not a glance at the fact that God has just supposedly spoken to them all himself?
• Moses then goes up to find out what God has to say to him.

Neil