Town and Rural Countryside in Ancient Israelite Law: Reception and Redaction in Cuneiform and Israelite Law

Abstract

The usual alternative between an independent indigenous origin of Israelite casuistic law and the thesis of its dependency on the tradition of cuneiform law is too simple. The individual casuistic sentence of the book of Covenant (e.g. Exod. 21.18-19) is rooted in Israelite trial narratives and records, and is of indigenous origin in the local courts of the early Israelite rural countryside. In this context a knowledge of the tradition of cuneiform law was rather improbable. Entirely different is the situation with the collection and redaction of these laws into Israelite law codes. The drafting techniques of the Book of Covenant were derived from a tradition of cuneiform legal drafting techniques. The law codes were used in the curriculum of legal education in Israelite administrative centres. Here the knowledge of cuneiform legal traditions could have its place.