Introduction
This chapter is a continuation of the Book of the Covenant and consists of various and sundry laws, some causuistic (as in the first 17 verses), and some apodeictic. There is not an organized presentation here, but specific laws enumerated without regard to their connection one with another. The first 17 verses are addressed to the problem of theft and burglary. We agree with Honeycutt that, "This code made no attempt to cover every possible case,"[1] and that the purpose was to establish principles that could be applied to many cases. Some of the most profound principles in the history of jurisprudence appear magnificently in these verses.
For once we are free in this chapter from the usual verbiage about the alleged sources of the Pentateuch. Noth admitted that, "No clear relationship to any one of the Pentateuchal narrative `sources' is recognizable."[2] We believe that his quotation actually applies to every single line of the whole Pentateuch!
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