The goring ox (1)

Text
The Codex Ešnunna was written in the nineteenth century, about a generation before the more famous Codex Hammurapi of Babylon. It was a time when the kingdom of Ešnunna became very powerful, especially under its king Naram-Sin who ruled Assyria. Laws from Ešnunna were promulagated later by the Ešnunna king Dadusha. These laws have been compared with the biblical Covenant Code for the alternating arrangement of some civil and penal cases; but the most striking parallel for content comes in one specific law about a goring ox:

Codex Ešnunna 53:
“If an ox gored and killed an(other) ox, both ox owners shall divide the price of the live ox and the carcase of the dead ox.”

Exodus 21:35:
“And if one man’s ox harms another’s so that it dies, the owners must sell the live ox and share the price of it … they shall also share the dead animal.”

Sources (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Codex Ešnunna 53
Exodus 21:35

Bibliography

Stephanie Dalley

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