Is it God or is it Hammurabi?

Originally posted on August 22, 2013

The Old Testament Law concerning violence:

“But if any lasting harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”  ~Exodus 21:23-24

Is a paraphrase of Hammurabi’s Code written in or around 1750 B.C.:

“If a man has knocked out the eye of a patrician, his eye shall be knocked out. If a patrician has knocked out the tooth of a man that is his equal, his tooth shall be knocked out.”

We know Abraham, the father of Judaism, came from Ur in Mesopotamia on or around 1800 B.C. The influence of the land of the Babylonians extended far, and would have likely influenced Abraham and the Patriarchs, either before he ventured westward, or after.  Polytheism eventually gave way to monotheism in Babylon (1500 B.C.) and Egypt (1400 B.C.) for a time, and this was after the Code of Hammurabi was written because when Hammurabi’s law was circumscribed (!) at the top of the stele, which was erected (!) around 1750 B.C.,

Hammurabi refers to his ‘God’ but the relief depicts him standing before the sun god Shamash, god of law and justice, who extends a rod and ring to Hammurabi, as a symbol of his royal authority; and not his later favored god, Marduk, the ‘solar calf’, whom would come to replace all other gods of Babylon in a streak of monotheism, by mid-century:

“Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who feared God, to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil-doers; so that the strong should not harm the weak…”

The Patriarchs of Judaism were undoubtedly influenced in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and/or Canaan by the rise (and fall) of monotheism.  But what are we to do about the source of the Law?  Can the oldest epic material in the Torah be the Word of God, but also have been predated by a polytheistic ruler?  Did the Patriarchs adopt it, along with other traditions and weave it into their own epic story, attributing it to their one and only God??  Did the ancient Hebrews come up with the law first, as an oral tradition, to be quickly followed by Hammurabi stealing it and engraving it on his stele 750 years before the Israelites could even start recording their story?

All important questions to be answered.

Love,

~Mary