Abstract
In this book, Bartor, an Israeli lawyer and biblical scholar, applies legal and narrative theory to biblical law. She limits the study to casuistic laws (apodictic laws being too terse for narrative analysis), examining the construction of narrative elements in such laws. The book is organized by “thematic clusters” (p. 10)—particular narrative phenomena—analyzed through examples from each of the biblical law collections. Although Bartor discusses the biblical legal collections (i.e., the Book of the Covenant, Priestly, Deuteronomic, and Holiness legislation) individually, she treats the laws synchronically.
After a useful overview of other approaches to law and narrative, the first chapter, “The Laws of the Pentateuch as ‘Embedded Stories,’” argues that the laws themselves are an “embedded story” within the larger “frame story” of the biblical text (18). Although the laws are not all presented differently from the frame narrative, they are nevertheless subordinated to the main story at the narrative level (p. 20).
The second chapter, “The Lawgiver as Narrator,” analyzes the role of the lawgiver. All biblical lawgivers think laws cannot and should not speak for themselves. The laws are communicative, and the lawgivers see themselves as the means of this communication (pp. 83–84). Bartor focuses on participation (self-reference) and perceptibility (engagement or intervention) of the lawgivers. The narrator of the Book of Covenant, for example, participates very little in the events narrated in the laws, nor does the addressee. In contrast, though Deuteronomy's lawgiver (D) also stays out of the narrative, he is highly perceptible and integrates the addressee extensively.
In chapter 3, “Representation of Speech: The Mimetic Illusion,” Bartor argues that casuistic laws are mimetic, creating the illusion that we are watching the events of each case unfold. This is achieved through the use of various types of speech, which draw the addressee into relationship with the lawgiver, investing him in the observance and enforcement of the laws.
Chapter 4, “Representation of Inner Life: The Lawgiver as Psychologist,” focuses on desire and intention. As with mimesis, the lawgivers use these devices to encourage a particular behavior. Chapter 5 addresses “Point of View,” the use of different narrative perspectives to put the addressee or protagonist in the place where events are happening and thus involve them as participants in the legal system.
Bartor's treatment of the laws as miniature stories makes for fresh readings that note features of the laws often ignored by biblical legal scholars. That she provides a broad overview, though it leads to the feeling that this discussion is incomplete, is understandable, as this is a first foray into largely uncharted territory; certainly an entire monograph could be devoted to any of the topics or subtopics that Bartor considers. As an example, in chapter 3, Bartor discusses the case of the suspected adulteress (Num 5), making the enticing point that the type of oath the suspected aduleress swears is not formulated in the usual way (pp. 114–15); the implications of this point go beyond narrative studies to gender studies and social and legal status in biblical Israel. Though Bartor leaves this area unexplored, other scholars might well benefit from the groundwork that she has laid here.
Additionally, the volume would have benfited from some explanation of terminology, in particular terms such as “lawgiver,” “narrator,” “protagonist,” and “addressee.” Although she addresses the identity of the lawgiver in the second chapter, that discussion does not fully elucidate distinctions between the actual lawgiver (the ancient Israelite person who wrote the laws) and the narrative persona of the lawgiver, who is variously an objective narrator, Moses, or Y
The volume assumes some knowledge of Hebrew; Hebrew terms are not always transliterated or translated. It will likely be most useful to students and scholars who have at least preliminary background in biblical law.