The Relations between the Laws of Babylonia and the Laws of the Hebrew Peoples

The Relations between the Laws of Babylonia and the Laws of the Hebrew Peoples is by the Rev. C. H. W. Johns, and the title page names The Schweich Lectures 1912. The preface says it has long been held that the laws of the Israelites, as revealed by God to Moses, are incomparable. A passage says that when the Code of Hammurabi is compared with the Laws of Moses, the common material may be due to one of two common sources, primitive Semitic law (otherwise nomad law) and the law of settled communities.

A passage says it is better to say that both legislations are compromises between the two types of law, and that the Laws of Moses manifest an independent development strongly influenced by the Code of Hammurabi. A passage says the law rules that, whatever was the amount of debt, six years’ service must be held to discharge it. The text says a large number are royal letters or dispatches from the king and his officers to subordinates, or vice versa.