The curse of the law and its promise of life The interpretation and juxtaposition of Deuteronomy 27.26 and Leviticus 18.5 in Judaism and in Paul

James W. Carlson analyzes the Apostle Paul's interpretation and juxtaposition of Deut 27.26 and Lev 18.5 in Gal 3.10 and Gal 3.12 compared to the use and interpretation of these same two Torah verses among his Jewish predecessors and contemporaries. The bulk of his investigation looks at the meaning and function of these two texts within a wide range of Jewish works, first in the Old Testament (Deut & Lev; Jer & Ezek; Ezra-Nehemiah), then in various second Temple Jewish documents (DSS; Pss. Sol.; Pseudo-Philo's LAB.), and finally all culminating in an analysis of these same two passages in Galatians. As supportive of a traditional reading, he argues that within this Jewish literature Deut 27.26 invariably appears as a threat and an oath to do all the commandments of the law, and similarly that Lev 18.5 is consistently understood as offering a promise of life contingent upon Torah obedience. His thesis challenges the dominant paradigm established by E. P. Sanders concerning "covenantal nomism" and argues that if this formula is to be retained then the "nomism" side should be accented. The traditional quantitative understanding of Gal 3.10 (w/Deut 27.26) is supported in Carlson's work, but with a twist on this reading which agrees with the New Perspective that neither Paul nor any other Jew demanded an absolute "sinless perfection" though the mark for Torah obedience was not far from this standard and required in effect an "almost" sinless perfection. Carlson especially draws attention to two documents from Qumran as important and distinctive to his work, namely, 4Q266 frag. 11 (which juxtaposes Deut 27.26 and Lev 18.5) and 4Q377 frag. 2 (which contains an allusion to Deut 27.26).