The speaker divests himself of all his personal concerns and aligns himself fully with the community. Indeed, he identifies himself with the community: at this moment, as he pronounces its confession of faith, he is its mouthpiece. Deut. 26:5ff. is a creed with all the characteristics and attributes of a creed, and is probably the earliest recognisable example. There must therefore have been a cultic occasion for the recital by the individual of this short confessional statement of God’s redemptive
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