241. As this law stands, it refers to the unlawful working of another man's ox, and not to an ox taken in pledge, for the working of which there could be no remedy, any more than there was for taking a man's wife, child, or slave, in pledge to work out a debt.
244 (loss of an animal through attack by a wild beast). Compare Ex. xxii. 13: “If it (an animal delivered into the care of another) be torn in pieces, then let him bring it for witness, and he shall not make good that which was torn.” Apparently there was no obligation to place the animal in a safe place. Cf. Gen. xxxi. 39 (Jacob's reproof to Laban): “That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it.”
245 ff. These are to a certain extent illustrated by Ex. xxii. 14, 15, in which passage, if the owner of the injured animal was not present, the borrower had to make good any loss. If, however, the owner was there to protect it, there was no penalty, as he could in all probability have prevented the injury from being inflicted, and in any case might be supposed to have control over the animal.
250. The owner of a furious bull was protected from loss, even though the result was fatal, if he did not know that the animal was vicious. In Ex. xxi. 28, though the owner of the offending ox was to go free, the animal itself was to be stoned to death, and its flesh not eaten. There is no doubt that this was hard on the owner, but it must have had an excellent effect, and ensured the proper enclosing of all doubtful animals.
251. Even when the master knew that his ox was vicious, the Babylonians were more lenient than the Hebrews, who, in such a case, besides the destruction of the ox, decreed the death of the owner as a punishment for his negligence (Ex. xxi. 29). As will be seen from verse 30, however, he might be spared by paying such ransom as might be imposed upon him.
252. One-third of a mana of silver is equivalent to 20 shekels, so that the sum here indicated as compensation for the death of a slave who has been gored by a bull differs from that awarded in Ex. xxi. 32, by ten shekels—one-sixth of a mana more.
266. This is in part covered by 244 (destruction of cattle by a lion), and is parallel with Ex. xxii. 10, 11, where, also, an oath had to be sworn between the parties, and the herdsman in whose care the cattle were, went free of all obligation. The accident causing the loss, however, is not there described as “an act of God.”
267. The wording of this law clearly indicates that it would apply if the herdsman were in fault, and suggests that the same condition must be read into Ex. xxii. 12, where, if the cattle were stolen from him, he had to make the loss good.
Besides the enactments in the Code of Moses, however, we find, in the interesting and important monument translated above, and in the legal documents of the period to which it belongs, noteworthy parallels to other parts of the Old Testament. Reference has already been made (pp. [174], [175], and [185], [186]) to the contracts of the period of Ḫammurabi's dynasty which illustrate the matter of Sarah giving Hagar to Abraham because she herself was childless (Gen. xvi. 1, 2). That this was the custom in Babylonia is now confirmed by law 144, which also furnishes the reason why it was the wife who chose her partner in the husband's affections. It was because the first wife preferred to choose herself the woman who was to replace her, and in doing this, she chose one who would be her subordinate, not one who might become a really serious rival. A parallel case is that of Bilhah (Gen. xxx. 4). Hagar's despising her mistress (Gen. xvi. 4) is illustrated by law No. 146, which allows the mistress to reduce her to the position of a slave again, which was agreed to by the patriarch, the result being that Hagar fled (v. 6).
The determination to have the possession of the cave of Machpelah placed upon a thoroughly legal footing (Gen. xxiii. 14-20) may, perhaps, be illustrated by law No. 7, though there is not much parallelism between the two instances, a field with a cave and trees being a difficult thing to steal. There is hardly any doubt, however, that the patriarch desired that no accusation should be brought against him or his descendants for unlawfully using it, as is suggested by the fact that when Ephron offered to give it, he said that he did so “in the presence of the sons of my people” only, but when the transaction was completed as Abraham wished, it was done not only in the presence of the children of Heth, but before all who went in at the gate of his city (Gen. xxiii. 18), and naturally included strangers as well.