Revised versions of 12 essays previously published in various sources.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [335]-376) and indexes.

pt. 1. Setting the agenda : why biblical law matters. The right chorale : from the poetics to the hermeneutics of the Hebrew Bible -- The seductions of the garden and the genesis of hermeneutics as critique -- The Sinai covenant : the argument of revelation -- Deuteronomy's conception of law as an "ideal type" : a missing chapter in the history of constitutional law -- pt. 2. The paradigm of legal hermeneutics : close studies and test cases. The "effected object" in contractual legal language : the semantics of "if you purchase a Hebrew slave" (Exodus 21:2) -- Textual criticism, Assyriology, and the history of interpretation : Deuteronomy 13:7a as a test case in method -- Recovering the lost original meaning of [welo -tekasseh alayw] (Deuteronomy 13:9) -- "But you shall surely kill him!" : the text-critical and neo-Assyrian evidence for MT Deuteronomy 13:10 -- pt. 3. Debate and dialogue : the question of method. The case for revision and interpolation within the biblical legal corpora -- Calum M. Carmichael's approach to the laws of Deuteronomy -- The hermeneutics of tradition in Deuteronomy : a reply to J.G. McConville -- Is the covenant code an exilic composition? : a response to John Van Seters.