Given to Matthew Hayes - 05/03/2023

This commentary takes the rather unusual but well argued perspective that Deuteronomy is a performative text and is structured for essentially cultic purposes. There is evidence that it was read in 11 weekly sections, and each of these sections has its own structural coherence.

Christensen bases his arguments in part on the Masora - the markings added to the Hebrew text which indicate accenting, which demonstrate a rhythmic character to the speech an possibly indicate that the text was intended to be sung.

This approach does yield some interesting insights. From my perspective it casts the Holy War texts in a whole new light, seeing the text as much more a celebration of national identity than an actual program for exterminating Canaanites.

Christensen, however, does not allow his perspective to obscure the more 'conventional' aspects of a commentary, and there is ample discussion of the standard range of textual questions and discussions about interpretation, as well as very substantial bibliographical information. ( )