Laws are ways of governing and controlling the behavior of people. Everyone obeys laws in some type of way, no matter if it involves obeying the rules, or the commandments that you choose to follow. In this particular case, the rules come from Hammurabi’s judgements, while the commandments come from YHWH. Each of these important rules and commandments serve their own purpose to their society and have their way of interpreting what they believe is right. Not only are the commandments that YHWH gave the Israelites and the Judgements of Hammurabi different, but they also have their similarities as well.
Even though the Code of Hammurabi was not one of the first sets of laws in the Mesopotamian era, it was certainly one that had the most success and was well-known to many. Hammurabi’s code was discovered in 1901 and created by Babylon’s ruler Hammurabi himself. YHWH’s commandments were given to Moses by God when the Israelites were looking for Canaan which is said to be their “promised land.” These commandments were what set the Israelites apart from the rest of their neighbors and made them unique in their own way and culture. YHWH was said to be their god from whom they enjoyed special protection from. From this special protection, Israelites had to make their own sacrifices like being religiously pure or distancing from cultures that involve other people.
Both YHWH’s commandments and Hammurabi’s have their similarities. The first similarity is the fact that they are both sets of laws. Everyone in their society should be able to follow these sets of laws or live accordingly to these rules. They each serve their own purposes with their laws to show their people what should be right in their aspects of life. Not only are they laws, but they both try to benefit daily life as well. These should basically be incorporated into their everyday life in order to maintain religious purity and for justice. If they don’t incorporate into their daily lives, there can be consequences. If you live and preach these rules or codes daily, you will live a good life and have good in your life instead of evil. The last similarity these concepts have in common was how they were both created by rulers. The codes were created by Hammurabi who was the Babylonian king while the commandments were passed from God who is known as being the supreme being.
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While they both contain some similarities, what they have the most of are their differences. Hammurabi’s codes were mainly concerning on all aspects of life not just a particular one. The judgements included personal inquiry, marriage and family problems, felons and victims, the administration of justice, and etc.… These judgments let us into the world views that went on during that time in the Mesopotamian civilization. The Hammurabi code also was much more laws than the commandments had. It contained hundreds of laws that were included in these codes, 282 laws to be exact. All of these 282 laws had to be followed or else there would be some harsh consequences depending on which law you disobeyed. Each law had their own punishments with some being greater than others. Also, in Hammurabi’s code, higher social classes weren’t making the same sacrifices as someone who was in a lower social class would.
Hammurabi’s Code of Laws were written on a stone pillar which was around seven feet high so it would last. The last difference is how these codes represent “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” This is basically when someone believes that a person did something wrong, then they should be punished as well in the same exact way that they have done wrong. The laws basically were constructed on the eye for an eye idea like for example, this can be witnessed in his code 196 by stating,” If a man has destroyed the eye of another free man, his own eye shall be destroyed…”
YHWH’s judgements were different in many aspects than those of Hammurabi’s codes. Instead of focusing on all aspects, the god mostly focused on religious laws instead of all laws. This can be seen in commandment 1 which states,” I am the lord, your god: you shall not have strange gods before me.” Commandment two and three also involve god saying you shouldn’t take his name in vain and to keep the lord’s day holy. Unlike Hammurabi’s 282 laws, there are only 10 commandments. They were written in the Hebrew language and they were ideas that should be followed if they wanted to maintain special protection. The 10 commandments did not include punishments like the Hammurabi’s code did. The rules applied the same to everyone not just to the upper or lower class but to both equally. This was the foundation of Jewish religion and in the Hebrew Bible it is known as the Old Testament.
Which strikes me as more significant would be the differences and not the similarities. I have noticed that there are plenty of more differences between the two. The differences are more important because it shows the uniqueness of each society and how they each worked from the differences they had. What I thought was interesting was how Hammurabi’s code of laws punishments were applied based on gender and social class. Hammurabi’s differences struck me the most like for example, men had power over their families and if he wanted to, he can sell his wife or children into slavery in exchange to paying off debts. The reason why the differences were more appealing to me is the way that Hammurabi’s code had more laws and their own ways in order “to promote the welfare of the people… to cause justice to prevail in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil, that the strong might not oppress the weak.” (p.14)
After reading about both the 10 commandments and Hammurabi’s codes, what I can conclude from my answer is the fact that the codes were much stricter than the commandments and definitely should be obeyed unless you want to face the punishment. For every law you don’t follow, there will be a punishment. They were publically displayed for everyone to see and know they were getting into severe problems for not obeying the codes. The Hammurabi codes were also harsh like the fact that a child could get their arms cut off for hitting their father. Also, they wanted every person to follow the legal codes and were very hesitant on the fact that the punishment should fit the crime.
In conclusion, both Moses and Hammurabi were laws and rules that were different in their own time periods. Hammurabi’s codes were mainly consequences on what would happen to a person if they didn’t commit the right actions, while YHWH’s commandments were mainly religious ideas for the Israelites. Alongside the differences, they both demonstrate the structures and values that each society maintained and followed.
