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HOME: Bible Archaeology LEADER, LAWGIVER, LEGEND MIRIAM'S STORY |
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Moses' Stone Tablets - were they stelae? The Bible says that when Moses went up onto Mount Sinai, he was given 'stone tablets' by God (see Exodus 20 and 34). These tablets were engraved with a long list of commandments that formed, in essence, a law code for the ancient Hebrew people.
Were the stone tablets of Moses similar to the ancient stele of Hammurabi? The Hebrew people were not isolated in time and space. They were part of Eastern Mediterranean culture, and shared in the culture and ideas of their neighbors. The Tablets of the Law, as described in Exodus 20 and 34, bear a striking resemblance to the stele on which the Laws of Hammurabi were carved.
The great lawmaker Hammurabi instructed that the laws on the Stele were intended for future generations, and in fact the Code of Hammurabi was used in schools in Mesopotamia for another thousand years. This became even more pronounced in the Israelite tradition, where fathers were instructed to teach their children the commandments, and people met together at regular intervals to listen to a reading of the Law. Similar codes of law were created in several nearby civilizations, including Ur-Nammu's code and the later Hittite code of laws. There were certainly differences between the content of the two sets of laws - comparison shows that the laws of the Old Testament were predominantly 'apodictic' - they began with 'thou shalt' or 'thou shalt not', whereas most ancient law codes were casuistic: 'when a man...., he shall....'. But the actual tablets were probably similar to the stele of Hammurabi.
Semitic ("Asiatic") laborers in Egypt making bricks (15th Century BCE), just as the Hebrews are described as doing when enslaved in Egypt. The caption that accompanies this wall painting says that they are 'captives whom his majesty brought, for the works of the temple of Amon". It also says that 'the taskmaster says to the builders: "The rod is in my hand; be not idle." Some Egyptian texts mention brick quotas and a lack of straw, just as Exodus 5 does.
A passage from the Merneptah Stele Inscription showing the word 'Israel' (this is the oldest reference to Israel in a text outside the Bible). From 4th year of Pharaoh Merneptah (1212-1202 BC), possibly the pharaoh under whom the Exodus took place (his father Ramesses II may have been the pharaoh who enslaved the Israelites). The passage reads as follows: The Great Ones are prostrate, saying: "Peace" (shalama);
Not one raises his head among the Nine Bows;
Plundered is Thehenu; Khatti is at peace;
Canaan is plundered with every evil;
Ashkelon is conquered;
Gezer is seized;
Yanoam is made non-existent;
Israel is laid waste, his seed is no more;
Kharu has become a widow because of Egypt!
All lands together are at peace;
Any who roamed have been subdued.
The three characters on the left (woman, man, bent throwstick), along with the three vertical strokes beneath the first two, indicate that 'Israel' refers to a people, not a land or a city like Ashkelon, Gezer, and Yanoam. In other words, Israel was a nomadic people in or near Canaan at the time this inscription was made.
See Bible People: Moses for a short version of Moses' story See other fascinating links between
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Stone Tablets of Moses - Archaeology of The Bible - Bible Study Resource: The Ten Commandments and the Laws of Hammurabi |
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