- Copyright Page
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- Introduction: Vistas in the Study of Biblical Law
- Covenant
- Social Justice
- Offenses Against Human Beings in Private and Public Law
- Litigation: Trial Procedure, Jurisdiction, Evidence, Testimony
- Women, Children, Slaves, and Foreigners
- Ritual Law: Sacrifice and Holy Days
- Purity and Sancta Desecration in Ritual Law
- “An Eye for an Eye” and Capital Punishment
- The Decalogue
- The Book of the Covenant
- Priestly Law
- Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic Reform
- Law and Narrative
- Determining the Date of Biblical Legal Texts
- The Role of Law in the Formation of the Pentateuch and the Canon
- The Law and the Prophets
- Law in the Wisdom Tradition
- Ancient Near Eastern Law Collections and Legal Forms and Institutions
- Ancient Near Eastern Treaties/Loyalty Oaths and Biblical Law
- Monarchy and Law in the Pre-Exilic Period
- Law in the Persian Period
- The Law in the Late Second Temple Period
- The Bible and the Sources of Rabbinic Law
- The Law and the Gospels, with Attention to the Relationship Between the Decalogue and the Sermon on the Mount/Plain
- Ethical and Moral Duties in Rabbinic Judaism
- Paul and the Covenant
- Rabbinic Law
- Ritual Law in Rabbinic Judaism
- Women, Children, and Slaves in Rabbinic Law
- Women, Children, Slaves, and the Law in the New Testament Period
- Social Justice in Early Christianity
- Social Justice in Rabbinic Judaism
- Index of Citations
- Index of Modern Authors
- Index of Subjects
Abstract and Keywords
No ancient Near Eastern parallels exist for the presentation of civil and criminal law as clauses attaching to a covenant, established between a God and a people or nation. In the Hebrew Bible, this conception is widespread. In particular, the Covenant Code (Exod. 21–23), the Holiness Code (Lev. 17–25), and the Deuteronomic Code (Deut. 12–26) all—though in different ways—pretend to draw their force from a covenant between YHWH and Israel. The present chapter explores the notion of covenant and the various elaborations of covenant theology. It is suggested that the combination of law and covenant was first established in Exodus 19–24, and that the other law codes adopted the idea, together with an important number of laws (more in the case of Deuteronomy than in the Holiness Code), from there.
Keywords: covenant, covenant theology, vassal treaty, constitutional arrangement, temple rights, criticism of the monarchy
Jan Joosten is Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Oxford and student of Christ Church.
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- Copyright Page
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- Introduction: Vistas in the Study of Biblical Law
- Covenant
- Social Justice
- Offenses Against Human Beings in Private and Public Law
- Litigation: Trial Procedure, Jurisdiction, Evidence, Testimony
- Women, Children, Slaves, and Foreigners
- Ritual Law: Sacrifice and Holy Days
- Purity and Sancta Desecration in Ritual Law
- “An Eye for an Eye” and Capital Punishment
- The Decalogue
- The Book of the Covenant
- Priestly Law
- Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic Reform
- Law and Narrative
- Determining the Date of Biblical Legal Texts
- The Role of Law in the Formation of the Pentateuch and the Canon
- The Law and the Prophets
- Law in the Wisdom Tradition
- Ancient Near Eastern Law Collections and Legal Forms and Institutions
- Ancient Near Eastern Treaties/Loyalty Oaths and Biblical Law
- Monarchy and Law in the Pre-Exilic Period
- Law in the Persian Period
- The Law in the Late Second Temple Period
- The Bible and the Sources of Rabbinic Law
- The Law and the Gospels, with Attention to the Relationship Between the Decalogue and the Sermon on the Mount/Plain
- Ethical and Moral Duties in Rabbinic Judaism
- Paul and the Covenant
- Rabbinic Law
- Ritual Law in Rabbinic Judaism
- Women, Children, and Slaves in Rabbinic Law
- Women, Children, Slaves, and the Law in the New Testament Period
- Social Justice in Early Christianity
- Social Justice in Rabbinic Judaism
- Index of Citations
- Index of Modern Authors
- Index of Subjects
