Q&A: The Code of Hammurabi
The Code of Hammurabi
Question
I recently studied the Code of Hammurabi in depth, which according to scholarship was written about 400 years before the giving of the Torah, and the complete similarity between some of its laws and the laws of the Torah cannot be denied. I would be glad to hear the Rabbi’s opinion on the matter. More power to you.
Answer
I haven’t looked into the matter in depth, but I’m sure you can find plenty of material online. Many people have dealt with this. But why is it interesting? If there is similarity, so what?
Discussion on Answer
Alternatively, it could be based on an ancient tradition that predates the Torah (Adam, Shem, and Ever). And even if there is similarity, that is not necessarily copying. The law is the same law, with the necessary modifications.
The Torah speaks in human language. The Torah is mainly—or at least has an important component of—ordinances and laws. If the accepted way to formulate things in a certain way regarding an ox that gored a person, the law of the owner, and the law of the ox, then naturally the legal wording will be identical. But if you look at the laws themselves, they are not necessarily similar.
Claims are made that some of the Torah’s laws were copied from those laws.