According to an ancient rabbinic tradition, ghosts and spirits, both good and evil, owe their disembodied existence to the Sabbath. They were created late Friday afternoon, and before their creation was completed the Sabbath arrived. The language is Hebrew, and the script is the Old Hebrew alphabet, with a few Greek letters mixed in. Oswald seeks to demonstrate in chapters 3 and 4 that incoherence in the present form of the text must be read in light of its formation, and that the process of growth must be grounded in concrete social and political contexts. The results can be summarized in three phases.
Law is essential throughout the development of the literature.
There is no theophany independent of law.