The Old Testament In the Light of The Historical Records and Legends Part 48

263. ... If he has lost [an ox] or a sheep which has been given to [him], he shall restore to [their] owner, ox for [ox], sheep for [sheep].

264. If a [herdsman], to whom oxen or sheep have been given to pasture, has received his wages, everything (?) as agreed (?), and is satisfied,(251) has reduced the oxen, (or) reduced the sheep, (or) lessened (their) young, he shall give (back) young and increase according to his contracts.

265. If a herdsman, to whom oxen and sheep have been given to pasture, has acted wrongly, and changed the natural increase,(252) and has given (it) for silver, they shall summon him, and ten times what he has stolen, oxen and sheep, he shall make good to their owner.

266. If in the fold an act of G.o.d has taken place, or a lion has killed, the herdsman shall declare his innocence before G.o.d, and the owner of the fold shall meet the destruction of the fold.

267. If the herdsman has been in fault, and has caused damage in the fold, the herdsman shall make up the loss caused by(253) the damage which he has brought about in the fold, (both) oxen and sheep, and shall give (them) to their owner.

268. If a man has hired an ox for treading out (the corn), 20 _qa_ of wheat is his hire.

269. If he has hired an a.s.s for treading out (the corn), 10 _qa_ of wheat is his hire.

270. If he has hired a young animal for treading out (the corn), 1 _qa_ of wheat is his hire.

271. If a man has hired oxen, a cart, and its driver, he shall give 180 _qa_ of wheat daily.

272. If a man has hired the cart by itself, he shall give 40 _qa_ of wheat daily.

273. If a man has hired a workman, from the beginning of the year to the fifth month he shall give six grains(254) of silver daily; from the sixth month to the end of the year, he shall give five grains of silver daily.

274. If a man hire an artizan, (as) wages of a ... five [grains] of silver; (as) wages of a brickmaker (?)(255) five grains of silver; (as) wages of a linen-weaver(256) five grains of silver; (as) wages of a stone-worker(?)(257) ... grains of silver; (as) wages of a milkman (?) ...

[grains] of silver; (as) [wages] of a ... ... [grains] of silver; (as) [wages] of a carpenter four grains of silver; (as) wages of a ... four grains of silver; (as) [wages] of a house-superintendent (?) ... grains of silver; (as) [wages] of a builder (?), ... grains of silver. [dai]ly [he shall g]ive.

275. [If] a man has hired a small boat (?), three grains of silver is its hire daily.

276. If he has hired a down-stream (vessel), he shall give two grains and a half of silver (as) its hire daily.

277. If a man has hired a vessel of 60 _gur_, he shall give one-sixth (of a shekel) of silver daily (as) its hire.

278. If a man has bought a male or female slave, and before he has fulfilled his month an infirmity has fallen upon him, he shall return him to his seller, and the buyer shall receive back the silver he has paid.

279. If a man has bought a male or female slave, and he is liable to be reclaimed,(258) his seller shall respond to the claim.(259)

280. If a man, in a foreign country, has bought a male (or) female slave of a man, (and) when they have arrived in the midst of the land, a (former) owner of the male or female slave recognize his male or female slave, if their male and female slave are children of the land, he shall set them free without payment.(260)

281. If they are children of another land, the buyer shall declare before G.o.d the money(261) he has paid, and the (former) owner of the male or female slave shall give to the agent the money he has paid, and shall recover his male or female slave.

282. If a slave has said to his master: "Thou art not my master," he shall summon him as his slave, and his master shall cut off his ear.

Decrees of equity, which ?ammurabi, the able king, has established, and has procured (for) the country lasting security and a happy rule.

?ammurabi, the accomplished king, am I. For the head-dark (ones),(262) whom Bel a.s.signed, (and whose) shepherding Merodach has given, I have not been neglectful, I have not relaxed-peaceful localities have I found for them,(263) I have opened the narrow defiles, light have I caused to go forth to them. With the powerful weapon which Zagaga and Itar have conferred upon me, with the acuteness which Ae has bestowed, with the might which Merodach has bestowed, I have rooted out the enemy above and below.(264) I have dominated the depths,(265) I have made happy the flesh of the land, the people of the dwellings (therein) have I caused to lie down in security-fear caused I not to possess them. The great G.o.ds have elected(266) me, and I am the shepherd giving peace, whose sceptre is just, setting up my good shadow in my city. I have pressed the people of the land of umer and Akkad in my bosom; by my protective spirit fraternally (?) have I guided them in peace; in my wisdom have I protected them. For the strong not to oppress the weak, to direct the fatherless (and) the widow, I have raised its(267) head in Babylon, the city of G.o.d and Bel. In e-sagila, the house whose foundations are firm like heaven and earth, I have written on my monument my most precious words to judge the justice of the land, to decide the decisions of the land, to direct the ignorant; and I have placed (them) before my image as king of righteousness.

The king who is great among the city-king(s) am I; my words are renowned, my power has no equal; by the command of ama, the great judge of heaven and earth, may righteousness have power in the land;(268) by the word of Merodach, my lord, may my bas-reliefs not have a destroyer; in e-sagila, which I love, may my name be commemorated in happiness for ever. The ignorant man, who has a complaint,(269) let him come before my image (as) king of righteousness, and let him read my inscribed monument and let him hear my precious words, and my monument explain to him the matter. Let him see his judgment, let his heart expand, (saying): "?ammurabi is a lord who is like a father, a parent to the people; he has caused the word of Merodach, his lord, to be reverenced, and has gained the victory for Merodach above and below. He has rejoiced the heart of Merodach, his lord, and fixed for the people happiness(270) for ever, and (well) has he governed the land." Let him p.r.o.nounce (it) aloud, and with his heart perfect, let him pray before Merodach, my lord, (and) Zerpanitum, my lady.

May the winged bull, (and) the protecting spirit, the G.o.ds of the entrance of e-sagila, (and) the wall of e-sagila, daily further (his) desires(271) in the presence of Merodach, my lord, and Zerpanitum, my lady.

For the future, the course(272) of days for all time: May the king who is in the land protect the words of righteousness which I have written on my monument. Let him not change the law of the land which I have adjudged, the decisions of the country which I have decided; let him not cause my bas-relief to be destroyed. If that man have intelligence, and wish to govern his country well, let him pay attention to the words which I have written on my monument, and may this monument show him the path, the direction, the law of the land which I have p.r.o.nounced, the decisions of the land which I have decided. And let him rule his people,(273) let him p.r.o.nounce justice for them, let him decide their decision. Let him remove the evil and the wicked from his land, let him rejoice the flesh of his people.

?ammurabi, the king of righteousness, to whom ama has given (these) enactments,(274) am I. My words are n.o.ble, my works have no equal-they have brought forth the proud (?) to humility (?) the humble (?) to wisdom (?) (and) to renown. If that man(275) is attentive to my words, which I have written on my monument, and set not aside my law, change not my word, alter not my bas-relief-that man like me, the king of righteousness, may the G.o.d ama make his sceptre to endure, may he guide his people in righteousness. If that man regard not my words, which I have written on my monument, and despise my curse, and fear not the curse of G.o.d, and do away the law which I have ordained-(if) he change my word, alter my bas-relief, destroy my written name, and write his (own) name, (or) on account of these curses cause another to do so,(276) that man, whether king, or lord, or viceroy, or personage who has been elected,(277) may the great G.o.d, the father of the G.o.ds, proclaimer of my reign, take back from him the glory of my kingdom, break his sceptre, curse his destiny. May Bel, the lord who determines the destinies, whose command is unchangeable, he who has magnified my kingdom, rouse against him revolts which his hand cannot suppress, causing (?) his destruction upon his seat.(278) A reign of sighing, days (but) few, years of want, darkness without light, death the vision of (his) eyes, may they set for him as (his) destiny. May he decree with his grave lips the destruction of his city, the dispersion of his people, the taking away of his royalty, the annihilation of his name and his record in the land. May Beltis, the great mother whose command is supreme(279) in E-kura, the lady who makes my thoughts propitious, instead of judgment and decision, make his word evil before Bel, may she accomplish the ruin of his country, the loss of his people, the pouring out of his life like water by the command of Bel the king. May Ae, the great prince, whose decisions have the precedence,(280) the sage of the G.o.ds, he who knows everything, who lengthens the days of my life, take back from him understanding(281) and wisdom, bring him back into forgetfulness.(282) May he dam up his rivers at (their) sources, (and) cause grain, the life of the people, not to exist in his land. May ama, the great judge of heaven and earth, he who rules living things, the lord my trust, destroy his dominion; may he not p.r.o.nounce his judgment, may he confuse his path, may he annihilate the course of his army. May he place for him, in his oracles,(283) an evil design to s.n.a.t.c.h away the foundation of his dominion and to destroy his country. May ama's word of misfortune speedily attack him; may he s.n.a.t.c.h him from the living on high, beneath in the earth may he deprive his spirit(284) of water. May Sin, lord of the heavens, the G.o.d my creator, whose brightness(285) shines resplendent among the G.o.ds, withdraw from him crown and throne of dominion. May he fix upon him a grave misdeed, his great fault, which will not disappear from his body, and may he cause the days, the months, the years of his reign to end in sighing and tears. May he increase for him the burthen of his dominion, may he fix for him as (his) fate a life which is comparable(286) with death. May Hadad, lord of fertility, dominator of heaven and earth, my helper, withhold from him the rains in the heavens, the flood in the springs. May he destroy his country with want and famine, may he angrily rage over his city, and turn his country to mounds of the flood.(287) May Zagaga, the great warrior, the eldest son of (the temple) e-kura, he who goes at my right hand, break his weapons on the battle-field. May he turn for him day into night, and may he set his enemy over him. May Itar, lady of war and battle, who lets loose my weapons, my propitious genius, lover of my reign, in her angry heart, in her great wrath, curse his dominion, his favours into evils may she turn, may she turn.(288) In the place of war and battles may she break his weapons, may she make for him confusion and revolt, may she cast down his warriors, may she cause the earth to drink their blood, may she cast down in the plain a heap of corpses of his warriors, may she not cause his soldiers to have [burial?]. As for him, may she deliver him into the hand of his enemy, and bring him as a captive to the land which is hostile to him. May Nergal, the strong one among the G.o.ds, unrivalled battle,(289) he who causes me to attain my victory, in his great might burn(290) his people like a tiny bundle of reeds. With his strong weapon may he subjugate him, and may he crush his members like an image of clay. May Nintu, the supreme lady of the lands, the mother my creator, withhold from him his son, and cause him to have no name, in the midst of his people may she not produce a human seed. May Nin-Karrak, daughter of Anu, she who announces my happiness, let forth from e-kura upon his members a grave sickness, an evil pestilence, a grievous injury, which they cannot cure, whose nature the physician does not know, which he cannot ease with a bandage, (and which), like the bite of death, cannot be removed. Until she take possession of his life, may he groan for his manliness.(291)

May the great G.o.ds of heaven and earth, the Anunna(292) in their a.s.sembly, the divine bull of the house,(293) the bricks of e-babbara,(294) curse that (man), his reign, his country, his army, his people, and his nation, with a deadly curse-with powerful curses may Bel, by his word which cannot be changed, curse him, and speedily may they overtake him.

These laws, as being the oldest known, have attracted considerable attention, and much has been said concerning their connection with the Mosaic Code. Whatever connection there may be between them, however, it must be kept well in mind, that they have been formulated and compiled from totally different standpoints. Notwithstanding the references in the Code of ?ammurabi to religious things, there is no doubt that the laws given therein are purely civil, and compiled either by the king as temporal ruler of the land, or by his advisers, or by the judges who "decided the decisions of the land." Charitable enactments were therefore as far from the intention of the compilers of the Babylonian code as such things are from the intention of the legislation of this or any other modern civilized community or nationality. The Law of Moses, on the other hand, has long been recognized as a Priestly Code, into which all kinds of provisions for the poor, the fatherless, the necessitous, were likely to enter, and have, in fact, entered. From this point of view, Moses' code is immeasurably superior to that of the Babylonian law-giver, and can hardly, on that account, be compared with it.

From existing duplicates of this inscription, we know that it bore a t.i.tle which, in accordance with the usual custom in ancient times, was taken from the first few words of the inscription, in this case _Ninu ilu ?irum_, "When the supreme G.o.d." In the Ninevite duplicate in the British Museum, however, a kind of t.i.tle in the modern sense of the word is given, namely, _Dinani ?ammurabi_, "The Laws of ?ammurabi," the first word being from the common Semitic root which appears, in Semitic Babylonian, under the form of _danu_, "to judge." As far as our information goes, it would seem that, whilst the Hebrew _torah_ was both judicial, ceremonial, and moral, the Babylonian _dinu_ was judicial only. Ceremonial enactments are entirely foreign to it, and morality, in the modern sense of the word, though represented, does not hold a very high place, though it must not be forgotten that five columns of the text are wanting.

That there should be, therefore, but few parallels between the Codes of Moses and of ?ammurabi was to be expected, though naturally likenesses and parallelisms are to be found, the Hebrews being practically of the same stock as the Babylonians, and also, as has been shown, under the influence of the same civilization. It will be noticed, in reading through the code, that not only are there no laws against sorcery, worshipping other than the national G.o.d or G.o.ds, and prost.i.tution, but there are actually enactments referring to the first and the last, showing that they were recognized. Moral, religious, ceremonial, and philanthropic enactments are, in fact, entirely absent.

3-4. With the enactments concerning false witness, cp. Ex. xx. 16; Deut.

v. 20, etc. More especially, however, are the directions in Deut. xix. 16 ff. noteworthy. Here the direction is, to do to the false witness "as he had thought to do to his brother." In this case, too, the logical penalty would be death, in a matter involving the life of a man.

7 (liability to be regarded as a thief on account of the purchase or receiving of things without witnesses or a contract) is to a certain extent paralleled by Lev. vi. 2 ff., where, however, the penalty for wrongful possession is not death, but the restoration of the object detained, with a fifth part of the value added thereto.

8 (theft of live-stock) is ill.u.s.trated by Ex. xxii. 1, where it is ordered that the thief restore five oxen for a stolen ox, and four sheep for a stolen sheep. All laws dealing with theft seem to have been more severe among the Babylonians than among the Hebrews, and inability to make the object good, with the penalties attached thereto, was visited with death (6-11, 14, 15, etc.).

14. This enactment is exactly parallel with Ex. xxi. 16: "He that stealeth a man ... shall surely be put to death."

21 (housebreaking). Ex. xxii. 2-4, justifies the killing of a burglar caught in the act before sunrise, but not otherwise.

57. In the case of unlawful pasturing, it is probable that Ex. xxii. 5 may furnish the key to the obscurities of this Babylonian enactment. According to the Mosaic law, the owner of the cattle had to make the damage good with the best of his field or vineyard. To ensure getting the best, and his due share, the most satisfactory way would be to reap the offender's field, if he had one.

110. The opening (seemingly in the English sense) of a wine-house by a temple-devotee, or her merely entering such a place, was in all probability equivalent to prost.i.tuting herself, and if so, this law may be compared with Lev. xxi. 9, in which the daughter of a priest, if she profaned herself (and her father) by playing the wh.o.r.e, was to be put to death by burning.

117. As is shown by the preceding enactments, the person of a man might be seized for debt, but this shows that he might allow his wife, his son, or his daughter to be taken to work it off, and in that case they were to be set free in the fourth year. In Hebrew law (Ex. xxi. 2) an ordinary purchased slave was free after six years' service, but if a man sold his daughter (v. 7), she did not "go out as the men-servants do."(295)

125. The theft of things on deposit entailed only rest.i.tution if the person with whom they were deposited were not in fault. In Ex. xxii. 7-9 the person condemned had to pay or restore double the value of the things stolen.

129. In this law the conditional clause at the end is incomplete, but it may be supposed that liberty was accorded therein to the king and to the injured husband to exercise mercy, and commute the death-penalty in any way they thought fit, attaching thereto any other penalty which might seem good to them. According to Lev. xx. 10, the adulterer and the adulteress were to be put to death, but in what manner is not stated. To all appearance no mercy was given.

130. As this is a case of a married woman living in her father's house, Ex. xxii. 16 is not an exact parallel. The woman being unbetrothed, the man who had violated her had to endow and marry her.

155. Incest of the nature referred to here is practically a complete parallel with Lev. xx. 12, where, however, the nature of the death-penalty is not stated. If the correction of the code of ?ammurabi suggested in the footnote ("they shall bind that man, and cast _him_ into the water") be the true one, the man would seem to have been regarded as the chief sinner, and the woman was probably left to be dealt with by the son's family. The mere binding of the man, as in the text, would be no adequate punishment, and the correction: "They shall bind _them_, and cast _them_ into the water," pre-supposes a very serious mistake on the part of the scribe.

157. This is a parallel with Lev. xviii. 8, and xx. 11, and the penalty is death in both codes. The word "mother" in the Babylonian Code probably includes "step-mother" as well.

195. This is parallel with Ex. xxi. 15, where, however, the smiting of the mother is included, and the more severe penalty of death is prescribed, instead of merely cutting off the offending members as a punishment.

196, 197, 200, 210. These ill.u.s.trate the dictum: "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for tooth" (Ex. xxi. 24, 25; Lev. xxiv. 20; Deut. xix. 21; Matt. v.

38). They were naturally the common punishments of the period when the penalty of imprisonment could not be imposed.

199. The destruction of the eye of a man's slave, or the fracture of his limb, was apparently held to entail the diminution of his value by one-half, which the person who inflicted the injury had to pay. Nothing is said, however, concerning injury to a slave by his master, and this law, therefore, has no parallel in the Mosaic ordinance given in Ex. xxi. 26, 27, where the master is spoken of as the possible aggressor, and had to set his slave free on account of the injury he had received.(296)

206. The law regarding injuries inflicted upon a man in a quarrel is parallel with Ex. xxi. 18, 19, except that the latter decrees that the person inflicting the injury, in addition to causing the injured man to be completely healed, has also to pay for his loss of time. On the other hand, it is noteworthy that, in the Code of ?ammurabi, he who committed the injury had to swear that he did not do it knowingly-that is, with the intention of injuring the man, otherwise he probably came under the law of retaliation, Nos. 196, 197, and 200.

209. This is parallel with Ex. xxi. 22, but whereas the penalty for the injury to the woman was fixed at ten shekels of silver, the law of Moses allowed the husband to estimate the compensation, which was certified and probably revised by the judges.