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For over a century since the Codex Hammurapi (CH) was discovered in 1901 and quickly published, scholars have noted correlations between individual laws in this Akkadian collection and the Covenant Collection (CC) in the Bible (Exodus 20:23-23:19), such as in the goring ox laws in Exodus 21:28-36 and CH 250-252. A larger overarching set of similarities is now visible.
Most of the casuistic laws in the two collections follow the same order: (1) debt servitude of a male and a daughter (21:2, 7; CH 117); (2) these basic debt-slave law are each augmented by a number of laws from the family laws of CH 127-191 (the status of children born to a slave, 21:4, 175; laws about incest with a daughter or daughter in law, 21:9, 154-156; taking a second wife when the first is displeasing and providing three means of support, 21:8, 10-11, 148-149, 178; 21:5-6 echo CH 282, out of sequence); (3) child rebellion (21:15, 17; 192-193, 195); (4) talion (21:23-27; 196-201); (5) men fighting and providing a cure (21:18-19; 206); (6) death from striking (21:12-14; 207); (7) killing one of a lower class (21:20-21; 208); (8) causing a miscarriage (21:22-23; 209-214); (9) negligence (21:33-34; 228-240); (10) a goring ox (21:28-32, 35-36; 250-252); (11) animal theft (21:37; 22:2b-3; 253-265); (12) “safekeeping” of animals (22:6-8; 265-266); (13) injury and death of animals (22:9-12; 266-267); and (14) animal rental (22:13-14; 268-271).
In addition the apodictic laws of CC (20:23-26; 22:20-23:19), which enclose the casuistic laws as bookends, correlate with the location of the prologue and epilogue of CH. More particularly, the themes in the initial and final apodictic laws of CC follow the themes and injunctive style of the “exhortatory block” (CH cols. 47:58-49:44) of the epilogue of CH. The main interpretive innovation in the biblical laws appears to have been to replace Hammurapi and Mesopotamian gods with Yahweh. Thus the initial apodictic laws reflect the exhortatory block’s themes of the sovereign’s image, the memorialization of his name, the “coming” (Hebrew bwʾ, Akkadian erēbu) to the cult place, and divine blessing. The final apodictic laws reflect the thematic sequence of the exhortory block in two parallel passages (22:20-30 // 23:9-19). The motifs reflected here include the requirement not to oppress three classes of individuals (including the widow and orphan), rules about the memorialization or use of names of various sovereigns, pilgrimage to the cult place, and, in a chiastic section that bridges the two parallel passages (23:1-8), the proper pursuit of justice.
The correlations in the final apodictic laws and the exhortatory block of the epilogue follow directly upon the correlations between the casuistic laws in the two collections. The reason why the casuistic laws in CC begin with debt-slavery, which appears in the middle of CH (i.e., CH 117), is presumably because of the primacy of the theme of impoverishment, which begins the exhortatory block and CC’s final apodictic laws.
These correspondences suggest that the Covenant Collection may rely rather directly on the Codex Hammurapi. The time for this dependence may likely be the Neo-Assyrian period, specifically between 740-640 BCE, and prior to the formulation of the laws of Deuteronomy which depend on the Covenant Collection.
Sources (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Exodus 20:23-23:19
Codex Hammurapi 117-119
Codex Hammurapi 148-149
Codex Hammurapi 154-156
Codex Hammurapi 175
Codex Hammurapi 178
Codex Hammurapi 192-201
Codex Hammurapi 206-208
Codex Hammurapi 228-240
Codex Hammurapi 250-252
Codex Hammurapi 265-271
Bibliography
| Levinson 2004 | Levinson, Bernard. “Is the Covenant Code an Exilic Composition? A Response to John Van Seters.” In: J. Day (ed.). In Search of Pre-Exilic Israel. Proceedings of the Oxford Old Testament Seminar. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark 2004, 272-325. |
| Wells 2006 | Wells, Bruce. “The Covenant Code and Near Eastern Legal Traditions. A Response to David P. Wright.” Maarav 13 (2006) 85-118. |
| Westbrook 2008 | Westbrook, Raymond. “The Laws of Biblical Israel.” In: Frederick Greenspahn (ed.). The Hebrew Bible. New Insights and Scholarship. Jewish Studies in the 21st Century. New York: New York University Press 2008, 99–119. |
| Wright 2003 | Wright, David P. “The Laws of Hammurabi as a Source for the Covenant Collection (Exodus 20:23-23:19).” Maarav 10 (2003) 11-87. |
| Wright 2004 | Wright, David P. “The Compositional Logic of the Goring Ox and Negligence Laws in the Covenant Collection (Exodus 21:28-36).” Zeitschrift für Altorientalische und Biblische Rechtsgeschichte 10 (2004) 93-142. |
| Wright 2009 | Wright, David P. Inventing God's Law. How the Covenant Code of the Bible Used and Revised the Laws of Hammurabi. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2009. |
Links (external links will open in a new browser window)
Codex Hammurapi
David P. Wright
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