volume 16, issue 1, 2024, pages 22-49

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64438/sbsAJMZ4722
Published online: 2024-06-01
Published in print: 2024-06-30

Abstract: The legislative texts that are repeated in the Pentateuch were explored from the perspective of literary and communicative strategy. James W. Watts (1999) suggested that the laws that are intended for public reading not only emphasized instruction and persuasion, but that their repetition also had an impact on the very formation of these laws. Therefore, by examining the hermeneutics of the formation of parallel laws, a refinement of biblical logic can be uncovered. Though Josh 20 is out of the Pentateuchal legislature, nevertheless it is a concrete example of the repetition of the juridical regulations concerning the cities of refuge (Exod 21:12-14; Num 35:9-34; Deut 19:1-13). They have become the subject of research both in redactional studies and literary studies. In Josh 20, the motif of the legal attitude towards the intentional manslayer dominates and our interest will be on the role of the authorities towards him. We compare the roles of the authorities involved in the handling of an innocent manslayer’s asylum application in each of the parallel regulations. Though the repeated law in Josh 20 is simpler than the Pentateuchal sources, interestingly the role of the authorities is more elaborated especially in vv. 4-5. Moreover, its Hebrew version is considerably longer than the Greek, suggesting a deliberate compositional innovation that may have arisen because of recontextualization.