I don’t defend the Torah’s ostensibly immoral laws, but I do try to understand what motivated them.
Dr. Rabbi
Eliezer Finkelman
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The Torah allows kin to take vengeance on a murderer; in cases of manslaughter, the killer is offered sanctuary at a refuge city. These laws highlight the struggle to limit clan justice in ancient Israel, a challenge found centuries earlier among the northern Amorites, as detailed in several letters to King Zimri-Lim of Mari.
Dr.
Yigal Bloch
,
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