“Generally, three approaches to the law codes of the ancient Near East are adduced. Some scholars see them as idyllic collections of judicial problems and solutions. Others see them as thematic guides meant to serve judges, as juridical training texts.… — Joshua A. Berman Copy Share Image
“To understand, however, how the received form of the Bible frames and presents them, we do well to refer to the way I introduced them in chapter 1: the laws are, first and foremost, treaty stipulations. They are the conditions and mandates set down by the sovereign king YHWH for His treaty with the vassal Israel.12 As such, they are… — Joshua A. Berman Copy Share
“One leitmotif in the biblical law codes is an attempt to restructure society in such a way that the exploitative role of tribute paid… — Joshua A. Berman Copy Share Image
“The Sargon account is written in the first person, as is highly typical for royal narrative inscriptions, whereas the Moses account is written in… — Joshua A. Berman Copy Share Image
“When economic imbalances became extreme, the lack of equilibrium and viability could threaten social and political order.” — Joshua A. Berman Copy Share Image
“As shown in chapter 2, the Pentateuch largely rejects the monarchic principle as it was construed elsewhere, often with a religiously sanctioned central government,… — Joshua A. Berman Copy Share Image
“Generally, three approaches to the law codes of the ancient Near East are adduced. Some scholars see them as idyllic collections of judicial problems… — Joshua A. Berman Copy Share Image
“A peasant—a small landowner—resides on a small plot of privately owned lands, and engages in subsistence farming.25 As his margins of profit are slim,… — Joshua A. Berman Copy Share Image
“What we will see time and again is the way preexisting concepts and institutions in ancient Near Eastern culture are reworked according to a… — Joshua A. Berman Copy Share Image
“Deuteronomy’s notion of tithes—that for two out of three years surplus is shared broadly with the disadvantaged, and in the third year is given… — Joshua A. Berman Copy Share Image
“Motifs recur in independent fashion because they are universal. And when such events actually happen, people like to tell of them. Equally evident, however,… — Joshua A. Berman Copy Share Image
“Ennoblement and empowerment, however, are not achieved in the theological or political realms alone. In this chapter, I examine how the law collections of… — Joshua A. Berman Copy Share Image
