What about the other 603 laws?
Are they not as good as those ten?
The 10 were the Covenant made at Horeb....also many ancient Rabbis believed anywhere where it is written "
Thus saith the Lord" or "
the Word of God came to me saying" is God's unalterable word. All else is History, Poetry, Narrative, etc., about God and the people of God....I would add to that the words of Jesus Himself and the word He gave to those that God gave Him (the writings of the Apostles)....but so not forget what Jesus said in John 17..."Father sanctify them by the truth, your word IS truth" not might be or contains, IS...so I do not believe it is possible to genuinely be a Christian (follower of Jesus) or saved (have eternal life, i.e., the Holy Spirit living in you) and say Jesus was in error or that He lied!
And no, Moses did not copy (steal or otherwise) the 10 commandments (or the other 603 commandments) from Hammurabi’s Code. However, I do understand how a person raised without the knowledge of God in today’s world may see some similarities and make this connection, although to me such leaps are illogical.
So let me begin here. 1 Kings 6:5 (a History book) reveals that the exodus occurred 480 years before Solomon began to build the Temple (966 B.C.), so the exodus occurred around the mid 1400–1500 B.C. period. Also I would not rely on the 1700’s date for Hammurabi as this is derived from the “
conventional chronology” used by (contemporary) today’s liberal (biased) historians and it has been proven to be off by at least 2 centuries in almost every case. Because of this they say Joshua did not come to the land at the time of Jericho’s destruction…they claim he was 200 years too late, but the truth is all the Archaeologists who explored the remains (5 of them) not taking sides, by just the evidence alone, date the destruction at exactly the same time as Ai, Hatzor, etc., 200 years earlier (right at the time the Bible places him there).
Their excuse is justified because they misjudge who Pharaoh was at the time of Moses, and move that incorrect date backwards misplacing Joseph and forward misplacing Joshua. I assure you they do this quite intentionally though claiming objective scholarship and never (and never will) admitting the truth. The misdating of Joshua’s arrival is based on the use of the alleged “conventional chronology” applied by Dame Kathleen Kenyon (but see also the work of John Garstang, Ben Tor, and many others).
So for example, just because Confucius in 600 B.C. said “do not do to other what you would not want done to you” does not mean Jesus secretly went to China and stole the idea from the Confucians. How about it just makes sense! Oh! And then since He was God He may have shared some of His light with people other than Jews (Seth, Noah, and Abraham for example were not only not Jewish, but they were not even of the Children of Israel who were Jacob’s 12 offspring, they were what Jewish people today would call “gentiles”). God gave others seeking Him insights as well though in no comparison to the revelation given through Israel. Truth is given and discovered elsewhere at various times (2 + 2 = 4 no matter here, there, on the moon, in the past, the future, etc.,). The Bible NEVER claims to contain ALL the truth, it claims that all it contains is true (that is quite another matter).
Next, the Bible tells us that God has placed a measure of faith in every man. By this inner witness there are certain things that all people intrinsically sense are just plain wrong, or not fair. And the basis of many early sets of laws are simply the application of this inborn human wisdom (by experience) and/or agreement by the community or culture, that these things are not good, taboo, or must be avoided. In other words, you do not need to hear from God to know
murder is wrong. Even in a most primitive culture who does not know of God as we perceive Him, if you kill the King/Chief or rape his wife they will be coming for you...no matter where you run and if caught you will be punished/tortured/killed! As for other laws, consider gravity…it is only logical from experience…i.e., one learns quick enough not to stick one’s hand into the fire - AaeeiiiAHHHH!!!...screaming very loudly was probably the first universal term for fire, which led to a rule or law about what THOU SHALT NOT do regarding this bright warm twinkly stuff!
So, before Hammurabi came along, the great, great grandfather of all people alive today (we call him Noah) already understood and respected many things lawfully, some from experience and some given him from God...for ex. Godly marriage is one husband one wife for life, with mutual regard and respect, the need for rest, the observance of the Holy, not to murder, don’t eat the spotted mushrooms, and so on. Since there were settlements and cities from even before Noah's time there were pre-Hammurabi and pre-Torah understandings of “property” and “ownership” and “trading” and “bartering”, etc.
Because there were couples who were “husband and wife”, there also developed cultural guidelines as to what this meant and what governs those relationships. People like Hammurabi, whether under direction from some god/demons or name for God as they understood Him (like Marduk, but thats another whole discussion) or the true one and only God (known to mankind long before he was born), merely are counted as the person who “codified” or wrote them all down. In fact, when we discovered the pre-flood city of “Sippur” (literally “Booktown”, the worlds first library, from centuries before Hammurabi) we found 1,000’s of clay Tablets with all kinds of materials even civil and criminal laws and punishment/rewards, and what constitutes divorce, as well as books on math, astronomy, medicines, etc.,!
So Moses received what was essential for YHVH’s covenant with Israel (a conditional covenant that did not promise salvation but blessings and curses on their land, persons, property, etc., see Deuteronomy 28) from YHVH. Whether or not some of these understandings were common to others in other times and cultures, or not, is irrelevant. And even foreknowledge of these rules/laws in history, is likewise irrelevant. In addition, there are many things in Hammurabi’s Code that the Bible does not discuss and many things in the Torah not considered in Hammarubi’s code, for example Commandments 1,2, and 4 of the big 10 are nowhere mentioned in Hammarubi’s code.
So in conclusion, the person who told you this, or the website article...whether intentionally or unintentionally, is just
straining at the gnat and swallowing the camel whole in an attempt to discredit the Bible and it’s God, and to steal the joy and squelch the faith of those who might believe and be saved, through philosophies of vain deceit after the rudiments of the world which is ruled by the god of this world, which is his/her god after their “self”!
I hope this has added some perspective. Here is my advice…just
believe God not just “in” Him and He will count your faith as Righteousness (Matthew 6:33; John 3:3-8; Acts 2:37-39; Romans 6:23; Titus 3:3-8). Amen!
In His love
Paul