LEGISLATIONS OF ISRAEL AND BABYLONIA. 157 



tion of the various formative influences that we have seen 

 at work in the code of Hammurabi, we must consider the 

 distinctive currents of thought that dominate the whole. The 

 historical student of, say, English legislation in the nineteenth 

 century, is compelled to take into account the great intellectual 

 forces that moulded its history — such as utilitarianism, laissez 

 faire, collectivism. The nearest analogy in the case of 

 Hammurabi (if there be one) appears to be the theory that 

 extensive state regulation is for the benefit of the community, 

 and the main interest lies in the political, social and economic 

 conditions — in the external elements of human life. In the 

 case of the Pentateuch a 1 legislation the exact opposite is true. 

 Here the internal and spiritual compel our fascinated gaze, and 

 the external is of interest mainly in so far as it manifests the 

 influence of the former. The greatness of Israel lies in his soul. 



The jural laws contained in the Mosaic legislation form a 

 portion of a larger corpus which was given to the Hebrew 

 tribes by the God w^th Whom at the period they entered into 

 a special relation. By an act that is unparalleled in history 

 a God took to Himself a people by means of a sworn agreement. 

 Some words that are fundamental for our purpose must be 

 quoted from the offer : " Xow, therefore, if ye will obey my voice 

 indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar 

 treasure to me from among all peoples : for all the earth is mine ; 

 and ye sJiall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy 

 nation."* The views here expressed dominate the legislation. 

 Holiness — the correlative holiness to which the Israelites must 

 attain because the Lord their God is holyf — embraces much 

 that is not germane to our subject this afternoon, but it also 

 covers the whole field of national and individual righteousness. 

 The duty to God that is laid upon the Israelites in these words 

 is a duty that has practical consequences in every phase of 

 social life. I have already quoted a sentence from Sir Henry 

 Maine in which he speaks of the uniformity with which 

 religion and law are implicated in archaic legislations. There 

 is a stage in human development where life is generally seen 

 v/hole, and it is to this stao^e that the Pentateuch belono-s. But 

 no other legislation so takes up one department of man's life 

 after another and impresses on them all the relationship of God 

 and people. Perhaps nothing will so clearly bring out my 

 meaning as a statement of some of the more fundamental 

 differences between the Pentateuchal legislation and the old 



Ex. xix, 5 ff. 



t Lev. xix, 2 



