Part 8 (1/2)

First Pentad: Injuries by Animals, xxi. 28, 29, 30, 31, 32.

Second Pentad: Injuries to Animals, xxi. 33-34, 35, 36; xxii. 1,4.

_Fourth Decalogue: Responsibility for Property._

First Pentad: In General, xxii. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

Second Pentad: In Cattle, xxii. 10-11, 13, 14, l5a, I5b.

_Fifth Decalogue: Social Purity._

First Pentad: Adultery, Deut. xxii. 13-19, 20-21, 22, 23-24, 25-27.

Second Pentad: Fornication and Apostasy, Ex. xxii. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20.

[Sidenote: _Their date_]

Many of these laws antic.i.p.ate the settled agricultural conditions of Palestine. Society, however, is very simple. The decalogue and peatad form also points clearly to an early period, when the laws were transmitted orally. Many of the laws probably came from the days of the wilderness wandering, and therefore go back to the age of Moses, in some cases much earlier, as is shown by close a.n.a.logies with the code of Hammurabi. Although in their present written form these oral _Judgments_ bear the marks of the Northern Israelitish prophetic writers who have preserved them, the majority, if not all, may with confidence be a.s.signed to the days of David and Solomon.

[Sidenote: _The early humane and ceremonial laws_]

The remaining verses of Exodus xx. 23 to xxiii. 19, contain, groups of humane and ceremonial laws. In the process of transmission they have been somewhat disarranged, but, with the aid of the fuller duplicate versions in Deuteronomy, four complete decalogues can be restored and part of a fifth. The following a.n.a.lysis will suggest their general character and contents:

HUMANE AND CEREMONIAL LAWS

_First Decalogue: Kindness._

First Pentad: Towards Men, Ex. xxii. 2la, 22-23, 25a, 25b, 26-27.

Second Pentad; Towards Animals, Ex, xxiii. 4 [Deut. xxii. 1], Deut.

xxii. 2, 3; Ex. xxiii. 5

[Deut. xxii. 4], Deut. xxii. 6-7.

_Second Decalogue: Justice_.

First Pentad: Among Equals, Ex. xxiii. 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3.

Second Pentad: On the Part of those in Authority, xxiii, 6, 7a, 7b, 7c, 8.

_Third Decalogue: Duties to G.o.d._

First Pentad: Wors.h.i.+p, Ex. xx. 23a, 23b, 24, 25, 26.

Second Pentad: Loyalty, Ex. xxii. 28, 29a, 29b, 30, 31.

_Fourth Decalogue: Sacred Seasons._