A. The essence of the law and its fulfillment chs. 5-11

"In seven chapters the nature of Yahweh's demand is now set out in the form of great principles. The deliverance of past days is the ground on which Moses appeals to Israel to hear what Yahweh requires of them."⁷⁰

 1. Exposition of the Decalogue and its promulgation ch. 5

"The exposition of the law commences with a repetition of the ten words of the covenant, which were spoken to all Israel directly by the Lord Himself. . . . The great significance of the laws and rights about to be set before them, consisted in the fact that they contained the covenant of Jehovah with Israel."⁷¹

 2. Exhortation to love Yahweh ch. 6

Another writer suggested that chapters 6-26 expand the Decalogue with the intent of addressing the spirit of the law.⁹²He believed the structure of the book supports his contention that the writer chose exemplary cases. Moses intended to clarify the attitudes implied by the Ten Commandments rather than only giving specific commands on a variety of subjects. This writer identified four major issues that he believed the Decalogue addresses and around which chapters 6 through 26 seem organized. He saw the structure of this section as follows.

Major issues

Godward

Manward

Authority

Commandment 1

(expounded in chs. 6-11)

Commandment 5

(expounded in 16:18-18:22)

Dignity

Commandment 2

(expounded in ch. 12)

Commandments 6, 7 & 8

(expounded in chs. 19-21; 22:1-23:14; and 23:15-24:7 respectively)

Commitment

Commandment 3

(expounded in 13:1-14:21)

Commandment 9

(expounded in 24:8-16)

Rights and Privileges

Commandment 4

(expounded in 14:22-16:17)

Commandment 10

(expounded in 24:19-26:15)

As you read chapters 6 though 26, you may want to check out this hypothesis. Has Walton discovered a key to understanding why God inspired Moses to include and organize this material as he did? Some of Walton's conclusions seem questionable to me.

"Before the principles, that is, the general stipulations, of the covenant are spelled out, Moses devotes a great deal of attention to describing their nature and how they are to be applied and transmitted. Thus once more the strictly legal' or technical parts of the document are set within a hortatory framework as part of a major Mosaic address."⁹³

 3. Examples of the application of the principles chs. 7-11

"These clearly are not laws or commandments as such but primarily series of parenetic homilies in which Moses exhorted the people to certain courses of action in light of the upcoming conquest and occupation of Canaan. Within these sections, however, are specific and explicit injunctions based upon the Decalogue and anticipatory of further elaboration in the large section of detailed stipulations that follows (12:1-26:15)."¹¹²