Between Law and Narrative: The Method and Function of Abstraction

Aside from being the content of speeches by characters in narrative, how do passages of laws in the Pentateuch interact with the surrounding narratives? This book proposes that certain passages of law in Leviticus and Numbers offer direction for the interpretation of adjacent segments of narrative. This 'direction' may serve to emphasize select themes and concepts in narrative. Alternatively, it may misdirect readers, or suggest alternative options to more accessible interpretations for a stretch of narrative.A rigorous literary and syntactical analysis of six passages of narrative and law (Lev 10:1-20; 24:10-23; Num 15:1-41; 27:1-11; 36:1-13) reveals networks of laws in each passage, often on disparate topics, that share common themes and concepts. The reader's ability to recognize these common themes and concepts in each passage is the act of abstraction. Consequently, the reader is moved to search for these themes and concepts in an adjacent narrative, which is shown to be amenable to these acts of ideation.Thus, law and narrative collaborate to inform the reader of important themes in certain passages.