MSNBC reports that? Israeli archaeologists say they have found two 3,700-year-old clay tablets that appear to contain legal pronouncements similar to the Code of Hammurabi and the biblical “tooth for a tooth” rule.
The full report can be read at
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/07/27/4764338-ancient-legal-code-uncovered
Here’s the introduction to the piece..
The clay fragments, bearing Akkadian cuneiform script, were unearthed this summer during the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s excavations at Hazor National Park in northern Israel. They date to roughly the same time frame as the Babylonian Hammurabi Code, which is considered the world’s oldest surviving written collection of laws. And the fact that the tablets were found in Israel suggests they might have had an influence on Old Testament writers.
Wayne Horowitz, a professor at Hebrew University’s Institute of Archaeology, told the Jerusalem Post that a team of experts is preparing the Hazor code for publication as part of a book. He said the discovery could open up interesting new connections between the Hammurabi Code and biblical law.
