Covenant Collection

Deathblows to a Pregnant Woman – What Restitution Was Required?

The requirement of a “life for a life,” recalling the lex talionis, is provided when a man accidentally kills a pregnant woman in a brawl. While this consequence is generally explained as capital punishment or monetary repayment, its legal formulation in the Covenant Collection is suggestive of live, human, substitution.

Dr.

Sandra Jacobs

How Exodus Revises the Laws of Hammurabi

The author of the Covenant Collection in Exodus knew the Laws of Hammurabi and revised them to fit with Israelite legal and ethical conceptions. This is clear when we compare their laws of assault in each.

Prof.

David P. Wright

What Was the Sin of the Golden Calf?

Many scholars, traditional and academic, believe it was worship of another god, the first commandment in the Decalogue, but what Aaron actually claims about the calf points to a different collection of laws.

Prof.

Joel Baden

The Hebrew Slave: Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy

A classic example of source criticism applied to Torah legislation.

Dr. Rabbi

Zev Farber

The Rape of the Unbetrothed Virgin in Torah and Assyrian Law

A Comparative Analysis

Dr.

Eve Levavi Feinstein

The Bible's Evolving Effort to Humanize Debt Slavery

. . . and the Challenges of Putting it into Practice.