Dr. Bob Gonzales
Puritan Board Junior
In the first half of the twentieth century, several ancient Near Eastern law codes were discovered and deciphered. Many of the laws contained in these codes bear a striking resemblance to some of the Mosaic laws of the Old Testament. This fact has forced Old Testament critics to revise their late date for the Pentateuch. But the relationship between Mosaic Law and the ancient Near East legal codes has also given rise to another form of criticism. Modern critics argue that Moses (or whoever authored the Pentateuch) received his laws from his ancient Near Eastern neighbors. This claim raises an important question for the Bible-believing Christian: Was Moses a plagiarist? Did the Mosaic Law ultimately originate with God or with pagan societies?
The ancient Near Eastern legal codes identified
Below is a summary of the ancient Near East legal codes, listed according to rank of antiquity. Most of these legal codes are casuistic in form though some apodictic laws are found in the Hittite law codes. Casuistic laws are framed in conditional language, the protasis introducing a particular scenario and the apodosis rendering a corresponding judgment (hence they are also called ‘case laws’). Apodictic laws are categorical commands or prohibitions, like those in the Decalogue.
1. The Code of Ur-nammu (c. 2050 B.C.)
4. The Code of Hammurabi (c. 1700 B.C.)
1. Regarding the lex talionis
a. Moses (Exo 21:24; cf. Lev 24:19)
a. Moses (Exodus 21:28-36)
a. Moses (Deuteronomy 22:23-27)
a. Moses (Gen 38; Deut 25:5-10; Ruth 4).
Your servant,
The ancient Near Eastern legal codes identified
Below is a summary of the ancient Near East legal codes, listed according to rank of antiquity. Most of these legal codes are casuistic in form though some apodictic laws are found in the Hittite law codes. Casuistic laws are framed in conditional language, the protasis introducing a particular scenario and the apodosis rendering a corresponding judgment (hence they are also called ‘case laws’). Apodictic laws are categorical commands or prohibitions, like those in the Decalogue.
1. The Code of Ur-nammu (c. 2050 B.C.)
➢ Discovered: Deciphered in 1952 by Samuel Kramer, but discovered earlier.
➢ Language: Sumerian
➢ Content and form: Prologue and 29 laws; casuistic
2. The Code of Eshnunna (c. 1980 B.C.)➢ Language: Sumerian
➢ Content and form: Prologue and 29 laws; casuistic
➢ Discovered: In 1945 and 1948 by the Iraq Directorate of Antiquities; published by A. Goetze in 1948.
➢ Language: Akkadian
➢ Content and form: 61 laws; casuistic
3. The Code of Lipit-Ishtar (c. 1930 B.C.)➢ Language: Akkadian
➢ Content and form: 61 laws; casuistic
➢ Discovered: In 1947 by Francis Steele and published in 1948, 1950.
➢ Language: Sumerian
➢ Content and form: 39 laws have survived with prologue and epilogue; casuistic
➢ Language: Sumerian
➢ Content and form: 39 laws have survived with prologue and epilogue; casuistic
➢ Discovered: 1901-02 by Jacques de Morgan; deciphered by P. V. Scheil.
➢ Language: Akkadian
➢ Content and form: Prologue, 282 laws, and an epilogue; casuistic
5. The Hittite laws (c. 1500 B.C.)➢ Language: Akkadian
➢ Content and form: Prologue, 282 laws, and an epilogue; casuistic
➢ Discovered: 1906-12 by Hugo Winckler; published in 1921.
➢ Language: Hittite (also contains some Sumerian and Akkadian)
➢ Content and form: 2 tablets, each containing of 100 laws; casuistic and some apodictic
6. The Middle Assyrian laws (c. 1100 B.C.)➢ Language: Hittite (also contains some Sumerian and Akkadian)
➢ Content and form: 2 tablets, each containing of 100 laws; casuistic and some apodictic
➢ Discovered: 1903 to 1914 by German archaeologists; published 1920.
➢ Language: Akkadian
➢ Content and form: 116 laws preserved on 11 tablets; casuistic
The Law of Moses and the ancient Near East legal codes compared➢ Language: Akkadian
➢ Content and form: 116 laws preserved on 11 tablets; casuistic
1. Regarding the lex talionis
a. Moses (Exo 21:24; cf. Lev 24:19)
NAU Exodus 21:24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
b. Hammurabi (ANET, 175)
Sec. 196: “If a seignior has destroyed the eye of a member of the aristocracy, they shall destroy his eye.”
Sec. 197: “If he has broken a(nother) seignior’s bone, they shall break his bone.”
Sec. 200: “If a seignior has knocked out a tooth of a seignior of his own rank, they shall knock out his tooth.”
2. Regarding the ox that goresSec. 197: “If he has broken a(nother) seignior’s bone, they shall break his bone.”
Sec. 200: “If a seignior has knocked out a tooth of a seignior of his own rank, they shall knock out his tooth.”
a. Moses (Exodus 21:28-36)
NAU Exodus 21:28 "If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall surely be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall go unpunished. 29 "If, however, an ox was previously in the habit of goring and its owner has been warned, yet he does not confine it and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death.
b. Eshnunna code (ANET, 163; cf. Hammurabi, ANET, 176, sec. 250-51)
Sec. 54: “If an ox is known to gore habitually and the authorities have brought the fact to the knowledge of its owner, but he does not have his ox dehorned, it gores a man and causes (his) death, then the owner of the ox shall pay two-thirds of a mina of silver.”
3. Regarding the rape of a virgin
a. Moses (Deuteronomy 22:23-27)
NAU Deuteronomy 22:23 "If there is a girl who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man finds her in the city and lies with her, 24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them to death; the girl, because she did not cry out in the city, and the man, because he has violated his neighbor's wife…. 25 "But if in the field the man finds the girl who is engaged, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lies with her shall die. 26 "But you shall do nothing to the girl; there is no sin in the girl worthy of death, for just as a man rises against his neighbor and murders him, so is this case. 27 "When he found her in the field, the engaged girl cried out, but there was no one to save her.
b. Hittite law code (ANET, 196)
Sec. 197 [2nd Tablet]: “If a man seizes a woman in the mountains, it is the man’s crime and he will be killed. But if he seizes here in her house, it is the woman’s crime and the woman shall be killed. If the husband finds them, he may kill them, there shall be no punishment for him.”
4. Regarding the levirate marriage
a. Moses (Gen 38; Deut 25:5-10; Ruth 4).
NAU Deuteronomy 25:5 "When brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. Her husband's brother shall go in to her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her.
b. Hittite code (ANET, 197)
Sec. 193 [2nd Tablet]: “If a man has a wife and then the man dies, his brother shall take his wife, then his father shall take her. If in turn also his father dies, one of his brother’s sons shall take the wife whom he had. There shall be no punishment.”
So was Moses a plagiarist? I think everyone on this list, including myself, would answer that question negatively. We believe the Scriptures to be inspired and thus Mosaic law finds its ultimate origin with God. How then should we explain these parallels? I'm hoping to write an article that addresses these questions, but I thought I get some input from the PB members.
Your servant,