Laws in the Bible and in Early Rabbinic Collections: The Legal Legacy of the Ancient Near East

by Samuel Greengus

Overview

The remarkable discovery of ancient Near Eastern law collections or "codes," beginning with the Laws of Hammurabi and followed by many other collections in decades following, opened a new window upon biblical law. This volume seeks to examine within a single study all of the biblical laws that are similar in content with ancient Near Eastern laws from Sumer, Babylonia, Assyria, and Hatti. The book also examines a small but important group of early rabbinic laws from postbiblical times that exhibit significant similarities with laws found in the ancient Near Eastern collections or "codes." This later group of laws, although absent from the Bible, are nevertheless of comparable antiquity. The presentation focuses on the actual law statements preserved in these ancient law "codes." The discussion then adds narratives, records, and reports of legal actions from ancient sources outside the laws-all of which relate to the formal law statements. The discourse is non-polemical in tone and does not seek to revisit all theories and interpretations. The format allows readers, including those who are new to the subject of biblical law, to engage the primary sources on their own.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781725246119
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	10/04/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	354
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Samuel Greengus is Julian Morgenstern Emeritus Professor of Bible and Near Eastern Literature at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is the author of Old Babylonian Tablets from Ishchali and Vicinity (1979) and Studies in Ishchali Documents (1986).

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xiii

List of Abbreviations xiv

Introduction 1

1 Laws Pertaining to Family Relations and Sexual Behavior 11

1.1 Marriage Rules and Incest 11

1.1.1 Incest Prohibitions between Parents, Children, and Siblings 11

1.1.2 Restrictions Arising through Marriage 114

1.1.3tProhibited Intergenerational Unions 26

1.1.4 Restrictions Affecting Wife's Sister, Daughter, or Mother 28

1.1.5 Reflections on the Incest Rules 32

1.2 Dissolution of Marriage 35

1.2.1 Divorce 35

1.2.2 Marriage Cancellation 40

1.2.3 Dissolution Because of Illness 42

1.2.4 The "Rebellious Wife" 45

1.3 Adultery 48

1.3.1 Proven Adultery 48

1.3.2 Accusations of Adultery 53

1.4 Rape and Seduction 60

1.4.1 Rape of a Betrothed or Married Woman 60

1.4.2 Rape of an Unmarried Woman 63

1.4.3 Seduction of an Unmarried Woman 66

1.4.4 Sexual Offenses against Slaves 68

1.5 Inheritance 70

1.5.1 Inheritance by Sons 70

1.5.2 Inheritance by Daughters 73

1.5.3 Social Ranking by Mother 77

1.6 Adoption 79

1.7 Homosexuality 80

1.8 Bestiality 83

2 Laws on Debtors and Debt Slaves 86

2.1 Relief Given to Debt Slaves on an Individual Basis 86

2.2 Voluntary Relief Given Debt Slaves as a Group 94

2.3 Relief Given to Debt Slaves as a Group by Royal Decrees 98

2.4 Relief Given to Debt Slaves as a Group by Calender 99

2.5 Reducing the Burden of Debt upon the Needy 102

2.5.1 Usury and Security 102

2.5.2 Rights oj'Redemption 106

3 Laws on Chattel Slaves 113

3.1 Sale of Chattel Slaves 113

3.2 Return of Lost or Runaway Slaves 116

4 Laws Relating to Personal Injury and Homicide 122

4.1 Mistreatment of Debt Slaves and Hostages 122

4.2 Injuries to Chattel Slaves 128

4.3 Injuries to Free Persons 130

4.4 Assault on Dignity 136

4.5 Striking a Parent 139

4.6 Injury to Male Genitals 140

4.7 Striking a Pregnant Woman 141

4.8 Homicide 147

4.8.1 Homicide: Intentional, Unintentional, Accidental 147

4.8.2 Compensation for Homicide 157

4.8.3 Homicide in Ancient Near Eastern Sources 160

4.9 Injury and Homicide through Negligence on Property 170

4.10 Injury and Homicide Caused by Domestic Animals 172

4.11 Unsolved Homicide 179

4.12 Kidnapping 183

5 Laws Relating to Movable Property 188

5.1tDeposit of Goods for Safekeeping 188

5.2 Animal Keepers and their Responsibilities 193

5.3 Borrowed or Hired Animals and Tools 199

5.4 Hiring of Boats and Loss through Negligence 207

5.5 Theft of Livestock 211

5.6 Theft of Property Other than Livestock 215

5.6.1 The Thief Caught "in the Act" 215

5.6.2 Reclaiming Stolen Property 218

5.7 Theft of Property Belonging to Temple or Palace 226

5.8 Loss of Domestic Animals Caused by Other Domestic Animals 231

5.9 Returning a Lost Animal to Owner 232

6 Laws Relating to Immovable Properly 236

6.1 Theft of Land 236

6.2 Negligence in an Agricultural Lease 240

6.3 Agricultural Lease and Natural Disaster 245

6.4 Trespass and Grazing 247

6.5 Damage to Field and Crops by Fire 252

6.6 Sowing Two Species in the Same Field 253

7 Unlawful Address of Supernatural Powers 257

7.1 Cursing and Blasphemy 257

7.2 Sorcery 263

8 The Courts and the Justice System 274

8.1 False Witness 274

8.2 Corruption of Judges 278

9 Final Thoughts and Perspectives 282

Historical Timeline 291

Appendix: Salient Features in the History and Culture of Ancient Israel and Her Neighbors 293

Bibliography 301

Index of Hebrew Bible 311

Index of Ancient Near Eastern Documents 319

Index of the Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls, New Testament, Philo, and josephus 325

Index of Greco-Roman Writings 327

Index of Rabbinic Works 328

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This book's intriguing thesis is that there are many 'remainders' of ancient near eastern law that survive in the late antique legal literature of rabbinic Judaism (the Mishnah and the two Talmuds) . . . Greengus uniquely shows how this influence may be discovered in rabbinic legal materials that lack explicit biblical models and antecedents. A fascinating read for all those interested in the history of law and intercultural influences."
-Richard S. Sarason
Professor of Rabbinic Literature and Thought
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati

"Samuel Greengus analyzes an important group of biblical laws with all the legal and linguistic resources discovered in the past century . . . This book will prove indispensable for readers who seek to understand the meaning of biblical laws in their original cultural context and in the course of their ongoing application in postbiblical times."
-Jeffrey H. Tigay
Emeritus Ellis Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages and Literatures
University of Pennsylvania

"Greengus presents a comprehensive discussion of biblical law in relation to the entire spectrum of law in the ancient Near East, the Greco-Roman world, and Rabbinic Judaism. Written for the general reader as well as the specialist, this volume opens the biblical laws to a broad range of readers from a variety of fields."
-Marvin A. Sweeney
Claremont Lincoln University and Claremont School of Theology
Academy for Jewish Religion California

Editorial Reviews

"This book's intriguing thesis is that there are many 'remainders' of ancient near eastern law that survive in the late antique legal literature of rabbinic Judaism (the Mishnah and the two Talmuds) . . . Greengus uniquely shows how this influence may be discovered in rabbinic legal materials that lack explicit biblical models and antecedents. A fascinating read for all those interested in the history of law and intercultural influences."
-Richard S. Sarason
Professor of Rabbinic Literature and Thought
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati

"Samuel Greengus analyzes an important group of biblical laws with all the legal and linguistic resources discovered in the past century . . . This book will prove indispensable for readers who seek to understand the meaning of biblical laws in their original cultural context and in the course of their ongoing application in postbiblical times."
-Jeffrey H. Tigay
Emeritus Ellis Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages and Literatures
University of Pennsylvania

"Greengus presents a comprehensive discussion of biblical law in relation to the entire spectrum of law in the ancient Near East, the Greco-Roman world, and Rabbinic Judaism. Written for the general reader as well as the specialist, this volume opens the biblical laws to a broad range of readers from a variety of fields."
-Marvin A. Sweeney
Claremont Lincoln University and Claremont School of Theology
Academy for Jewish Religion California

From the Publisher