The Difference Between Sumerian Law and the Ten Commandments

Did the Ten Commandments Copy Sumerian Law?

Some of the Ten Commandments already existed in law codes older than Moses. The Sumerian Code of Ur-Nammu (c. 2100 BC) is the oldest law code discovered so far. Its first article reads, "If a man commits a murder, that man must be killed." After Sumer, the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (c. 1750 BC) set penalties for false accusation and false testimony (laws 1–3), theft (laws 6–8), and adultery (law 129).

Bans on murder, theft, adultery, and false testimony existed before the Ten Commandments. There are three ways to interpret this fact.

The Claim That They Were Copied

Abraham came from Ur, a Sumerian city (Gen 11:31). It is the city where the Code of Ur-Nammu was made. Jacob lived 20 years in Haran in Mesopotamia, and there he fathered eleven sons (Gen 31:38–41).

Mesopotamian law was present in the land of Canaan too. In 2010, fragments of a clay tablet with content similar to the Code of Hammurabi were found at the site of Hazor in northern Israel. They date to the 18th–17th centuries BC. In the 14th century BC, the kings of Canaan wrote letters to the king of Egypt in a Mesopotamian language (the Amarna letters).

The form of the Ten Commandments matches ancient Hittite treaty texts. A treaty lists the king's name, what the king has done for the vassal, the terms to be kept, and the storing of the document, in that order. The Ten Commandments also begin with "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt," give the commands, and store the stone tablets in the Ark. George Mendenhall first pointed this out in 1954.

Chapter 125 of the Egyptian Book of the Dead has the dead person declare before the gods, "I have not killed, I have not stolen."

The Claim That Everyone Already Knew These Laws

Bans on murder, theft, and adultery existed in almost every ancient society. The legal historian Raymond Westbrook held that the ancient Near East shared a common customary law, and that each law code was a written version of it. In this reading, similar articles were not copied from one another but came from the same customs.

Protecting the weak was also common ground. The prologue of the Code of Ur-Nammu says, "The orphan was not delivered up to the rich man; the widow was not delivered up to the mighty man." The prologue of the Code of Hammurabi says the gods appointed him "so that the strong should not harm the weak." The Babylonian text "Advice to a Prince" says that if a king seizes his people's property, the gods will punish him.

The Bible also shows the same norms before Sinai. God forbade murder to Noah (Gen 9:6). Before the Ten Commandments, Joseph called adultery "sin against God" (Gen 39:9).

Paul said that even people who did not receive the law have "the work of the law written on their hearts" (Rom 2:15). From this view, the overlapping commandments are not the result of copying but of the conscience every person has.

Commandments Not Found in Other Law Codes

Five commandments are not found in the same form in any other law code.

First, "You shall have no other gods." In Sumer and Babylon, each city served a different god, and people worshiped many gods together. The Egyptian king Akhenaten (14th century BC) made people worship only the god Aten, but this was abolished after his death.

Second, "You shall not make an image." At the top of the Hammurabi stele, the sun god Shamash sits enthroned while Hammurabi stands before him. Mesopotamian temples held statues of the gods. Some West Semitic peoples set up standing stones instead of statues, but there was no law forbidding divine images.

Third, "Keep the Sabbath." Babylon had a day called shapattu. It was the day of the full moon. There was no law that every seven days servants, foreigners, and even livestock must rest. Deuteronomy gives the reason for the Sabbath: "Remember that you were a slave in Egypt" (Deut 5:15).

Fourth, "You shall not covet." Other law codes punished the act of taking. No law code forbade the desire to have. The Hebrew word chamad means both the coveting heart and the plan to get hold of something (Mic 2:2). In the part about the neighbor's wife, Deuteronomy changes the word to ta'avah (to long for in the heart) (Deut 5:21).

Fifth, the form. Other law codes use the case-law form: "If a man does X, then Y." The Ten Commandments use the direct command form: "You shall not." In 1934, Albrecht Alt saw this form as a distinctive feature of Israelite law.

Conclusion — Even the King Stood Under the Law

The Code of Ur-Nammu and the Code of Hammurabi were laws made by kings. Their prologues record the king's achievements. No king appears in the Ten Commandments.

The Bible says that even the king must keep the law. Deuteronomy 17:18–20 commands the king to copy out the law himself and read it all his life. In 1 Samuel 8:11–17, Samuel warns that a king will take the people's sons, daughters, fields, servants, and donkeys. This list overlaps with the list of things the Ten Commandments say not to covet (Exod 20:17).

The Bible records kings breaking the commandments. David took Uriah's wife, and the prophet Nathan rebuked David (2 Sam 12). Ahab took Naboth's vineyard, and the prophet Elijah rebuked Ahab (1 Kgs 21). Mesopotamian royal inscriptions record the king's achievements, not the king's wrongs.

In short, the commandments between people in the Ten Commandments are also found in Sumerian and Babylonian law. The Bible explains them as a law written on every human heart (Rom 2:15). The commandments about God, the Sabbath, and the ban on coveting are not found in other law codes. And in Sumer and Babylon the king made the law, while in Israel even the king stood under the law.