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Lessons #9 and #10 reaffirm the covenant he made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Torah as a whole is the fullest expression of God's covenant with the Israelites. The Ten Commandments are to their applications what the u.s. Constitution is to municipal case law.
Lessons #9 and #10 reaffirm the covenant he made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Torah as a whole is the fullest expression of God's covenant with the Israelites. The Ten Commandments are to their applications what the u.s. Constitution is to municipal case law.
Lessons #9 and #10 reaffirm the covenant he made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Torah as a whole is the fullest expression of God's covenant with the Israelites. The Ten Commandments are to their applications what the u.s. Constitution is to municipal case law.
(Exodus 21: 1 22: 5) In Lessons #9 and #10, God reaffirmed with the Israelites the covenant he made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And we learned that the covenant followed a 6-part standardized form common to many sovereign/vassal covenants in the ancient Near East:
1. Preamble, or introduction of the speaker; 2. Historical prologue; 3. Stipulations; 4. The document; 5. The gods as witnesses; and 6. Blessings and curses
We also learned that the Torah as a whole (Genesis through Deuteronomy) is the fullest expression of Gods covenant with the Israelites.
In addition, we learned that the covenant God makes with the Israelites is markedly different from previous Near Eastern covenants:
1. As our narrative presents it, the covenant is not the result of cultural norms in a preliterate society being codified over time into a written law; rather, in Exodus God intrudes dramatically into history, descending to the top of Mt. Sinai in fire and smoke, where he dictates the stipulations of the covenant in a voice of thunder, accompanied by a terrifying pyrotechnic display of his power and authority. 2. Gods covenant with the Israelites does not reflect the minutiae of contractual, domestic, military and judicial law (as does the Code of Hammurabi, for example); rather, in lapidary style God dictates ten terse stipulations that govern the covenant communitys relationship with God and with one another. 3. In his covenant with the Israelites, God becomes the moral and ethical arbiter of humanity, the central focus of the rest of Scripture.
In Lesson #11, we learn that the ten covenant stipulations dictated by God must be applied in specific cases. In a very important sense, the Ten Commandments are to their applications what the U.S. Constitution is to municipal case law.
In Lesson #11 we explore how these principles are applied.
Such applications open the door to a vast body of rabbinical thinking on the Law. Indeed, as we continue our study through the Torah (Genesis through Deuteronomy) we will find 613 specific laws to implement the ten principles! The Law is far more than the Ten Commandments; it is Gods comprehensive teaching on all aspects of life.
The Code of Hammurabi (diorite stele), c. 1772 B.C. Louvre Museum, Paris. *Shaped like a giant index finger, the top of the 75 stele portrays the sun god Samas instructing Hammurabi in the law.] .
The Ten Commandments are ten principles by which a covenant people is to live with God and with one another. Those principles must then be applied to specific cases.
The Book of the Covenant illustrates how to do so.
In an insightful article, David P. Wright, professor of Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Brandeis University argues that the core of the Book of the Covenant (Exodus 20: 22 23: 19) draws extensively on the Code of Hammurabi as both a source and a controlling template for the Book of the Covenants composition.
David P. Wright, The Laws of Hammurabi as a Source for the Covenant Collection (Exodus 20: 23 23: 19), Maarav 10 (2003): 11-87. The Book of the Covenant spans Exodus 20: 22 23: 33, and it may be divided into four parts:
1. Cultic ordinances (20: 22-26); 2. Legal prescriptions (21: 1 22: 16); 3. Religious, moral and cultic instructions (22: 17 23: 19); and 4. Epilogue (23: 20-33)
Exodus 24: 1-18 then ratifies the covenant as a whole.
If you look very closely you will also find that the Book of the Covenant begins (20: 22-26) and ends (23: 10-19)immediately preceding the epiloguewith instructions on correct ritual procedure.
We will see this cultic framing again in the Holiness Code of Leviticus (17: 1-16; 26: 1-2) and in the laws of Deuteronomy (12: 1-31; 26: 19).
Drop that into the conversation at your next dinner party and you will dazzle your guests with your stunning esoteric knowledge of Scripture! The Book of the Covenant
1. Cultic ordinances (20: 22-26); 2. Legal prescriptions (21: 1 22: 16); 3. Religious, moral and cultic instructions (22: 17 23: 19); and 4. Epilogue (23: 20-33)
An altar of earth make for me . . . (Exodus 20: 24). Sea of Galilee Mt. Ebal (Joshua 8: 30-35) Stone Altar at Mt. Ebal Photography by Ana Maria Vargas But if you make an altar of stone for me, do not build it of cut stone, for by putting a chisel to it you profane it. (Exodus 20: 25)
Robert Alter correctly observes that herev, the word traditionally translated chisel, is emphatically sword.
The great medieval rabbi Rashi (A.D. 1040-1105), who wrote an indispensable commentary on the Torah, catches the implication, like Bill Mazeroski snagging a line drive at 2 nd base! Rashi writes:
The altar was created to lengthen a mans days and iron was created to shorten a mans days; it is not fitting that the means of shortening should be brandished over the means of lengthening. Excellent, Rabbi!
David Dancing before the Lord (2 Samuel 6: 16, 20) in Davids Rise to Power, abridged and illustrated by Barbara Griffiths. www.barbaragriffiths.com. You shall not ascend to my altar by steps, lest your nakedness be exposed. (Exodus 20: 26) The Book of the Covenant
1. Cultic ordinances (20: 22-26); 2. Legal prescriptions (21: 1 22: 16); 3. Religious, moral and cultic instructions (22: 17 23: 19); and 4. Epilogue (23: 20-33)
Legal prescriptions regarding slaves (21: 2-11)
As we observed at the start of our Scripture study, the world of the Bible (Old Testament and New) is: 1) patriarchal; 2) monarchical; 3) polytheistic and 4) slaveholding. Unlike in modern times, however, slaves in the ancient world were more akin to indentured servants than to chattel. Nevertheless, in biblical times it would be inconceivable to envision a world without slavery. Like any work of art, the Bible mirrors the time and culture from which it emerges. Thus, Scripture accepts slavery as a fact of life, nowhere condemning it; Scripture does, however regulate it, as do most other ancient Near Eastern legal codes.
Legal prescriptions regarding slaves (21: 2-11)
In the Code of Hammurabi, for example, 10 of the 282 laws (14- 20 and 117-119) regulate slavery. Compare Exodus 21: 2 with the Code of Hammurabi, #117:
Scripture
When you purchase a Hebrew slave, he is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year he shall leave as a free person without any payment. (Exodus 21: 2) Code of Hammurabi
If anyone fail to meet a claim for debt and sell himself, his wife, his son or daughter for money, or give them away to forced labor, they shall work for three years in the house of the man who bought them . . . and in the fourth year they shall be set free. (Code of Hammurabi, #117) Legal prescriptions regarding personal injury (21: 12-32)
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says:
You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not [murder]; and whoever [murders] will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment . . .. (Matthew 5: 21-22) We learned that the Hebrew word retzach in the 6 th commandment refers specifically to the premeditated, unlawful taking of another persons life. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus addresses the inner dynamics of the 6 th commandment when he recognizes that murder is the final step in a sequence of actions, beginning with the kind of anger that congeals into hatred, that leads to plotting revenge and that ultimately results in premeditated murder. In Jesus teaching he says that if you feel that kind of anger, nip it in the bud and deal with it before it metastasizes.
Legal prescriptions regarding personal injury (21: 12-32)
In a similar way the laws regarding personal injury emerge from the 6 th
commandment, You shall not murder. Clearly, Whoever strikes someone a mortal blow must be put to death (Exodus 21: 12), refers specifically to the premeditated taking of another persons life.
But then the personal injury laws go on to address degrees of culpability: accidents (with varying degrees of negligence); assault and battery; injury to innocent bystanders; and so on. The examples address how to apply the 6 th
commandment to a wide spectrum of homicides and associated behaviors:
Premeditated Accidents Murder
Now these are the cities you will give to the Levites: the six cities of asylum which you must establish for the homicide to run to, and in addition forty-two other citiesa total of forty-eight cities with their pasture lands which you will assign to the Levites. (Numbers 35: 6-7)
Golan Ramoth Bosor Kedesh Shechem Hebron
Cities of refuge are not places to escape justice, but places to ensure justice.
The Lord spoke to Moses: Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you go across the Jordan into the land of Canaan, select for yourselves cities to serve as cities of asylum, where a homicide who has killed someone inadvertently may flee. These cities will serve you as places of asylum from the avenger of blood, so that a homicide will not be put to death until tried before the community. (Numbers 35: 9-12)
When the news came to Joab, since he had sided with Adonijah, though not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the Lord and clung to the horns of the altar. King Solomon was told, Joab has fled to the tent of the Lord and is by the altar. He sent Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, with the order, Go, strike him down. (1 Kings 2: 28-29)
Dr. Creasy being dragged from the horns of the altar at Beersheva.
Photography by Ana Maria Vargas Legal prescriptions regarding property damage (21: 33 22: 5)
1. How do the laws in the Book of the Covenant differ from the Ten Commandments? 2. Are the laws in the Book of the Covenant unique to Scripture? 3. If there are close parallels between the laws in the Book of the Covenant and other ancient Near Eastern legal codes, what does that say about Scripture? 4. Slavery is commonplace throughout the Bible. Why does Scripture not condemn slavery outright? 5. In Exodus 21: 33-34 we read: When someone uncovers or digs a cistern and does not cover it over again, should an ox or a donkey fall into it, the owner of the cistern must make good . . .. How might this law apply today in an urban residential environment?
Copyright 2014 by William C. Creasy All rights reserved. No part of this courseaudio, video, photography, maps, timelines or other mediamay be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval devices without permission in writing or a licensing agreement from the copyright holder.
(East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450_ vol. 21) Paul Milliman-_The Slippery Memory of Men__ The Place of Pomerania in the Medieval Kingdom of Poland-Brill Academic Publishers (.pdf