Moses, the Multilateral Mmediator: The Mesaage of the Chistic Structure in the Story of the Golden Calf (Exod 32-34)
2023
Abstract
A literary-critical analysis of the golden calf passage in Exodus 32:30 to Exodus 34:35. The chiastic (concentric) structure points to the question of God's accompaniment of Israel in the wilderness as the central theme of the section and explains the composition of this otherwise very disparate text.
According to the passage, the answer to the question is obedience to the Law, which qualifies the passage as a late Deuteronomistic polemic against the priestly focus on the tabernacle that both precedes and follows this passage.