Post 5: Exodus 19:25-9, 32, 40, Deuteronomy 34

One thing that I noticed when reading Exodus 19-25 is that many of the laws given to the Israelites seem to be concerned with justice or in some cases, getting revenge. This is exemplified in the famous line, “you will award life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stroke for stroke”. Many of the punishments suggested for crimes are equal to the amount of damage caused. This rule ensures that crimes get punished, but that the punishment is not too excessive or lenient. In cases where no damage is done, even when there was malicious intent, there is often no punishment required. For example, if two people get in a fight, if one person is injured but later recovers, there is no punishment for the person who injured the other. 

I thought it was interesting that there isn’t any punishment for fighting itself, only for the consequences for fighting. This could be because at this point in history, fighting was a fact of life and it would have been impractical or dangerous to stop fighting all together. However, I found it interesting that there seemed to be few laws that took intent into account. For most of the laws, the end result was all that mattered for the punishment, no matter what the intent or goal was.

In general, I think that these laws had consistent moral ideas. In general, the laws seem to encourage people to respect the life and livelihood of other people. This can be seen through the harsh punishments for murder and stealing or hurting someone’s livestock. Although some of the laws seem harsh by modern standards, the general principle of respect for others is still important and relevant.