Chapter 14 is an exposition on the third commandment. It involves matters not only of speech but of living as well. If Israel is God’s “firstborn,” his “son” (Exod. 4:22–23), then they are called to bear the image and character of the living God in their persons and in their lifestyles (Exod. 19:6; see Harman, 155–63). For example, in the face of death, they are not to lacerate or mutilate their bodies, as if that would keep them in contact with the dead, or to cut off locks of their hair (14:1–2; v. 2 is a verbal repetition of 7:6). Ugaritic tablets from Ras Shamra, Syria, suggest such practices were part of the cult of the dead and fertility rituals.

The creatures listed in verses 4–21 are categorized as they are in Leviticus 11:1–23—in the order of their primary habitat, just as they …