The essays in this volume focus on two crucial topics that have been given short shrift in the contemporary debate on the composition and formation of the Pentateuch: (1) biblical law, and the development of Israelite legal institutions; (2) the significance of ancient Near Eastern law for developing a proper model for the composition and editorial history of the Pentateuch. To correct the imbalance, the focus of this volume is on whether the biblical and cuneiform legal corpora underwent a process of literary revision and interpolation that reflects legal, social, and theological development. If so, what is the nature of this development and the evidence for it? If not, how are the textual phenomena otherwise to be explained? The contributors are Raymond Westbrook, Bernard M. Levinson, Samuel Greengus, Martin Buss, Sophie Lafont, Victor H. Matthews, William Morrow, Dale Patrick, and Eckart Otto. The volume will be of interest to students and specialists in biblical law, pentateuchal studies, and comparative legal history.

Preliminary material /Editors STUDIES IN THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT IN THE LIGHT OF CUNEIFORM AND BIBLICAL LAW -- INTRODUCTION /Editors STUDIES IN THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT IN THE LIGHT OF CUNEIFORM AND BIBLICAL LAW -- CUNEIFORM LAW /Editors STUDIES IN THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT IN THE LIGHT OF CUNEIFORM AND BIBLICAL LAW -- CUNEIFORM PROLOGUES AND EPILOGUES TO LEGAL COLLECTIONS /Editors STUDIES IN THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT IN THE LIGHT OF CUNEIFORM AND BIBLICAL LAW -- THE PROBLEM OF PROLOGUE AND EPILOGUE TO THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT AND LEADING FEATURES OF BIBLICAL LAW /Editors STUDIES IN THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT IN THE LIGHT OF CUNEIFORM AND BIBLICAL LAW -- ANNOTATIONS TO THE LAWS OF THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT /Editors STUDIES IN THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT IN THE LIGHT OF CUNEIFORM AND BIBLICAL LAW -- SUMMARY /Editors STUDIES IN THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT IN THE LIGHT OF CUNEIFORM AND BIBLICAL LAW -- VERSE ARRANGEMENT OF THE LAWS OF THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT /Editors STUDIES IN THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT IN THE LIGHT OF CUNEIFORM AND BIBLICAL LAW -- CUNEIFORM AND BIBLICAL LEGAL FORMULATIONS /Editors STUDIES IN THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT IN THE LIGHT OF CUNEIFORM AND BIBLICAL LAW -- BIBLIOGRAPHY /Editors STUDIES IN THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT IN THE LIGHT OF CUNEIFORM AND BIBLICAL LAW -- INDEX OF SOURCES /Editors STUDIES IN THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT IN THE LIGHT OF CUNEIFORM AND BIBLICAL LAW.