The Laws of Moses and Hammurabi

Paper Summary:

This paper compares the Mosaic Code with the older Code of Hammurabi. The author describes how both represent the values of their time and place and reflect their respective cultures. Both contain laws that apply to almost every conceivable human situation, covering civil, criminal, familial, administrative, and religious matters, and speak to human society as a totality that exists within the larger whole of cosmic or divine order.The paper concludes that by reading between the lines and understanding the motives that dictate this or that prescription, modern legal theorists, ethicists, and philosophers can continue to find meaning in these pronouncements as they have continued to until today.

From the Paper:

"The laws of Ancient Mesopotamia represent the oldest known collections of codified law -a tradition that predates by many centuries the earliest written laws of other ancient civilizations, such as those of India and China. This civilization, therefore, was unique in committing to writing an entire system of legal thinking. Enacted during the Eighteenth Century before Christ, Hammurabi's famous code was preceded by numerous other written compilations of the law, the earliest yet found being that of the Sumerian king Uruinimgina, or Urukagina, a ruler of city of Lagash in the 24th Century B.C. The "Reforms of Uruinimgina" already reveal a resort to tradition and to divine sanction as necessary underpinnings of the legal enactments of human beings."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Dalley, Stephanie, A. T. Reyes, David Pingree, Alison Salvesen, and Henrietta McCall. The Legacy of Mesopotamia. Edited by Stephanie Dalley. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
• Del Testa, David W., ed. Government Leaders, Military Rulers, and Political Activists. Westport, CT: Oryx Press, 2001.
• Frymer-kensky, Tikva. In Religion, Feminism, and the Family, edited by Carr, Anne and Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen, 55-70. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996.
• Hogan, Maurice P., ed. Order and History: Israel and Revelation. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2001
• Honderich, Ted, ed. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.

More papers on The Laws of Moses and Hammurabi:

• Comparison Essay # 56206 : "The Laws of Moses and Hammurabi"
• Descriptive Essay # 102306 : "Stele of Hammurabi"
• Analytical Essay # 146989 : "The Laws of the Hammurabi Code"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: