The Christian View of the Old TestamentEiselen, Frederick Carl
Religion
The Christian View of the Old Testament
Eiselen, Frederick Carl
Bible. Old Testament -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
That there exist similarities between the legislations of the two
nations even a superficial reading will show. One is immediately
struck, for example, by the similarity in the application of the _lex
talionis_: Ham. 196, "If a man destroy the eye of another man, they
shall destroy his eye"; 197, "If one {197} break a man's bone, they
shall break his bone"; 200, "If a man knock out the tooth of a man of
his own rank, they shall knock out his tooth." With this compare Exod.
21. 23-25, "Thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for
tooth, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe"; or
Deut. 19. 21, "Thine eyes shall not pity; life shall go for life, eye
for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot." Compare also
Lev. 24. 19, 20, "If a man cause a blemish in his neighbor; as he hath
done, so shall it be done to him: breach for breach; eye for eye, tooth
for tooth; as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be
rendered to him." This principle is applied very extensively in both
codes in providing restitution for damage done.
The use of "the oath of innocence" is also enjoined in both codes: Ham.
249, "If a man hire an ox and a god strike it and it die, the man who
hired the ox shall swear before god and shall go free." With this may
be compared Exod. 22. 10, 11, "If a man deliver unto his neighbor an
ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast to keep, and it die, or be
hurt, or driven away, no man seeing it, the oath of Jehovah shall be
between them both, whether he hath not put his hand unto his neighbor's
goods, and the owner thereof shall accept it, and he shall not make
restitution." The illustrations might be multiplied manifold. {198}
Jeremias points out twenty-four similarities between the Code of
Hammurabi and the Book of the Covenant alone;[27] which number is
greatly increased if the comparison is extended so as to include the
entire Pentateuch.
The spirit permeating the two systems is one of humaneness and
kindness. Hammurabi describes himself as a shepherd chosen by the gods
to care for his people, to lead them into safe pastures and to make
them dwell in peace and security. He compiled the code, "that the
great should not oppress the weak; to counsel the widow and orphan, to
render judgment and to decide the decisions of the land, and to succor
the injured." This is the same spirit that permeates the Pentateuchal
legislation.
The picture at the head of the code, representing Hammurabi standing
before the sun-god Shamash, "the supreme judge of heaven and earth," is
very suggestive, for it reminds one of the narrative in Exodus which
represents Moses as receiving the Hebrew laws directly from Jehovah.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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