Hans Ausloos, «Exod 23,20-33 and the ‘War of YHWH’», Vol. 80 (1999) 555-563

Some crucial elements of the compositional structure of the "war of YHWH" which can be found in Exod 14, Josh 10, Judg 4 and 1 Sam 7, equally occur in Exod 23,20-33. The differences between the latter text and the former pericopes, however, point into the conclusion that Exod 14, Josh 10, Judg 4 and 1 Sam 7 on the one hand and Exod 23,20-33 on the other are separate witnesses of an earlier tradition about YHWH as warrior.

pericope to be composed by a so-called (post-)Deuteronomistic redactor/ author/compositor of the Tetrateuch⁴.

        An investigation of the arguments which these hypotheses give on behalf of the Deuteronomistic character of Exod 23,20-33*, however, — when überhaupt arguments are given, since the Deuteronomistic origin of the pericope is taken often for granted — immediately reveals their fragility. The main part of the argumentation usually consists of an enumeration of words, expressions or theological concepts, referring to some, more or less parallel passages in Deuteronomistic literature. Occasionally, some stylistic elements in Exod 23,20-33 are characterised to be Deuteronomistic, assuming, however, that paraenesis is an exclusively Deuteronom(ist)ic feature⁵.

        Reacting against this overly rash characterisation of Exod 23,20-33 as Deuteronomistic, scholars like C. Brekelmans have contended that the pericope in fact represents a preliminary stage in the development of what