Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Liz,

>  > >By "written law" I mean a concept whereby judges (or police or
> >  >lawyers or just judges) make decisions based on a written
>  > >set of laws. ...

HH: Everyone of the following laws instructs 
judges what to do in certain situations. If I 
were a judge who had my authority under the 
sovereignty of Yahweh, I would want to be sure 
that I followed what He commanded me to do in the 
activity of judging.

Ex. 21:6 then his master must take him before the 
judges. He shall take him to the door or the 
doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he 
will be his servant for life.

Ex. 21:22 ¶  "If men who are fighting hit a 
pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely 
but there is no serious injury, the offender must 
be fined whatever the woman's husband demands and 
the court allows.

Ex. 22:8 But if the thief is not found, the owner 
of the house must appear before the judges to 
determine whether he has laid his hands on the 
other man's property.
Ex. 22:9 In all cases of illegal possession of an 
ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any other 
lost property about which somebody says,  'This 
is mine,' both parties are to bring their cases 
before the judges. The one whom the judges 
declare guilty must pay back double to his 
neighbor.

Lev. 19:15 ¶ "'Do not pervert justice; do not 
show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the 
great, but judge your neighbor fairly.

Num. 25:5 ¶ So Moses said to Israel's judges, 
"Each of you must put to death those of your men 
who have joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor." 
[this follows other laws]

Num. 35:24 the assembly must judge between him 
and the avenger of blood according to these 
regulations.

Deut. 1:16 And I charged your judges at that 
time: Hear the disputes between your brothers and 
judge fairly, whether the case is between brother 
Israelites or between one of them and an alien.

Deut. 16:18 ¶ Appoint judges and officials for 
each of your tribes in every town the LORD your 
God is giving you, and they shall judge the 
people fairly.

Deut. 17:12 The man who shows contempt for the 
judge or for the priest who stands ministering 
there to the LORD your God must be put to death. 
You must purge the evil from Israel.

Deut. 19:17 the two men involved in the dispute 
must stand in the presence of the LORD before the 
priests and the judges who are in office at the 
time.
Deut. 19:18 The judges must make a thorough 
investigation, and if the witness proves to be a 
liar, giving false testimony against his brother,

Deut. 21:2 your elders and judges shall go out 
and measure the distance from the body to the 
neighboring towns.

Deut. 25:1 ¶ When men have a dispute, they are to 
take it to court and the judges will decide the 
case, acquitting the innocent and condemning the 
guilty.
Deut. 25:2 If the guilty man deserves to be 
beaten, the judge shall make him lie down and 
have him flogged in his presence with the number 
of lashes his crime deserves,

                                        Yours,
                                        Harold Holmyard
> From hholmyard AT ont.com  Thu May 27 22:34:53 2004
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Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 21:32:30 -0500
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From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
Subject: RE: [b-hebrew] Isaiah 53 read within the book as a whole
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Dear Liz,

I know where some of your thinking originates. The Mesopotamian
steles on which law codes were carved were not necessarily used for
actual judging of laws. They were representative laws. But I would
assume that Middle Assyrian jurisprudence conformed well enough to
the Middle Assyrian law codes that we have. And I would expect that
the case was similar with the Babylonian codes. Those laws don't come
out of nowhere. No doubt in Israel many specific laws were developed
that were not in the Mosaic code to begin with. But the OT revelation
suggests that God intended Israel to live by the laws that He gave.
Whatever the situation may have been in Mesopotamia, in Israel there
was a real God at work. There was a true theocracy, and the laws
provided specific legal guidance and expectations.

                                Yours,
                                Harold Holmyard