The Oracles of Moses, Prophet of Yahweh

Abstract

Inspired and challenged by a few recent works, especially those of Veijola, Stackert, and Hogue, this study argues that, from a form-critical perspective, the Decalogue (Exod 20:2–17 and Deut 5:6–21) is best understood as a prophetic oracle or series of prophetic oracles. Consequently, many of the traditional scholarly claims of generic idiosyncrasy within the broader ancient Near East for the pericope (as well as attempts to connect it to “law,” “wisdom,” or “royal inscriptions”) are the result of formal/generic miscategorization. Furthermore, a prophetic oracular form best explains the Decalogue’s thematic features and its biblically emic designation as דבר/דברים and is concordant with its narrative Sitz in both Exodus and Deuteronomy. While understanding the Decalogue as oracular in character is admittedly hardly new, I endeavor here to bring together multiple lines of evidence to argue that the oracular understanding is comprehensively apt for the Decalogue: form-critically, comparatively, thematically, narratively, and emic-generically.