THE LAWS OF THE BABYLONIANS. 



245 



Bc'lisuiiu." The price paid was 5 shekels of silver. In this 

 inscription provision is only made for the eventuality that 

 Samas-nuri might deny her mistress, in wliich case her hair 

 was to be shaved off, and she was to be sold. Hagar, however, 

 was apparently lower in station even than the woman referred 

 to on this tablet, and was driven out with her son to perish for 

 much less, apparently, than merely denying lier mistress. 



Naturally it seems strange that any woman should give to 

 her husband, as in the case of Abraham and the man mentioned 

 in this inscription, another wife, who was bound to be her rival. 

 The desire that her husband should have children to perpetuate 

 his name does not altogether explain it, and the adoption of an 

 orphan-child, or the child of a poor man or a widow with little 

 or no property, would have overcome the disadvantage of child- 

 lessness sufficiently well — at least, that would seem to be the 

 case, and would certainly be the lesser evil of the two to the 

 wife. It is here, however, that the code of Hamnnirabi is again 

 of value, as the following enactment shows : — 



SiLimna awelum assata ihuz-ma assatu si amta ana midi-sa 

 iddin-ma mdrS ustabsi, aivelum sil ana sugetim ahazim pani-su 

 istakan, aiuelam suati ul imaggaru-su — sugdim ill ihhaz. 



" If a man has taken a wife, and that wife has given a hand- 

 maid to her husband, and she has had children, (if) that man 

 set his face to take a concubine, they shall not allow that man 

 (to do so), he shall not take a concubine." 



According to this, a childless woman gave another wife to her 

 husband to prevent him from going himself and taking a 

 concubine. The matter is therefore explained — a wife preferred 

 to choose herself the woman who was to replace her, and she 

 chose one who would be subordinate to her, not one who might 

 become a really serious rival. Xow that we know all the 

 circumstances, the matter is more explicable to the European 

 mind, and the Biblical narrative likewise gains, thougli we wish 

 that both Sarai and Abraham had treated Hagar more con- 

 siderately. 



According to Pfarrer J. Jeremias, there are no less than 

 twenty-four enactments in which the Laws of Hammurabi 

 exhibit certain, or almost certain, analogies with the Book of 

 the Covenant, in which sometimes the one, sometimes the other, 

 seems to be the more primitive and rude. For all these, 

 however, I have not at present time. My intention was to 

 give simply a short description of the code, leaving the com- 

 parisons for some future communication. The examination of 

 over 280 legal enactments is not to be compressed within the 



