In Lecture 6 of Bart’s Finding Moses course, he presented slides related to law codes believed to have been in circulation prior to writing the Pentateuch, notable kinds of laws, and other information. The audible file and the PowerPoint file of slides from that lecture are in the “Bart Ehrman Lg Files” directory of the 128 GB USB memory drive.
Pre-Pentateuchal Law Codes
- The Covenant Code (Exodus 20:22-23:33)
- From the E source
- Mainly casuistic
- Often connected with agricultural settlements: slaves, violence, property rights
- Priestly Code (Leviticus 1-16)
- From the P source
- Priestly activities (esp. “sacrifices”)
- Purity (unclean foods; ritual impurity)
- The Holiness Code (Leviticus 17-26)
- From the P source
- Laws to maintain Israelites’ distinctive identity (ethics; rituals; religious practices)
Notable Kinds of Laws
- Lex Talionis
- General principle (e.g., Exod. 21:22-24; Lev. 24:19-20)
- Wide misunderstanding
- Laws of Purity
- Impurity before there were germs
- Purity and sin
- Examples (Menstruation; child birth; male discharge; corpses)
- Sacrificial Laws
- General issues
- Specific examples (Lev. 1-7, 16)
- Burnt offerings (food gift offerings pleasing to God)
- Grain offerings (food gift offerings pleasing to God?)
- Sin and guilt (offerings to make amends for wrongdoing)
- Atonement (Lev. 16: annual purification of the tabernacle and the eradication of sins)
Laws Seemingly Strange or Severe – Different Times, Different Perspectives
- Some Examples:
- Buying slaves (Exod. 21:2-6)
- Selling a daughter as a sex slave (Exod. 21:7-8)
- Striking or cursing parents (Exod. 21:15, 17)
- Mean-spirited oxen (Exod. 21:28-29)
Relevance for Modern Issues?
(Examples from Exodus 21-22; Leviticus 18-19
- Capital Punishment? (Exod 21:15, 17; 22:18, 19: parents, sorcery, and bestiality)
- Capitalism? (Exod. 22:25)
- Abortion? (Exod. 21:22-25)
- Sex laws? (Lev. 18:6-23: incest, in-laws, threesomes, menstruants, men, animals) (Patriarchs? Levirate marriage?)
- Gay rights? (Lev. 18:22)
- do not interbred so could not have Donkeys, sowing two crops in an acre, and sweaters made with two materials (Lev. 19:19)
- Rare steaks (Lev. 19:26)
- Immigrants? (Lev. 19:33-34)
- What is relevant and what not?
