God chose to package His message not as dry advice for daily living, but as a vivid story filled with emotion and drama. Even the Law itself is embedded within the story of the exodus from Egypt. As a result, the regulations are enriched with context, consequence, and meaning. When reading narrative, it is important to keep track of the participants. The biblical narrator’s words represent the unique authority of the all-knowing and infallible author, but when characters speak, they represent only