In his Two-Edged Sword , John L. McKenzie shows (p. 13) 
how Biblical studies in the twentieth century have abandoned 
the concept of the lineal, homogeneous structure of Scriptural 
narration:

     Modern control and use of natural forces was not known 
     to the Hebrews, nor did the wildest fancy dream of 
     anything like it. . . . The ancient Hebrews were 
     prephilosophical; the most ordinary patterns of modern 
     thought were unknown to them. Logic as a form of 
     mental discipline they lacked. Their language is the speech 
     of the simple man who sees motion and action rather 
     than static reality, static reality as concrete rather than 
     abstract.

     In our legal world words are carefully reduced to