Compare And Contrast The Law To The Code Of Hammurabi

After nomadic people found better success with the formation of farms, groups of clans formed together into towns which eventually grew into complex societies. The emergence of societies resulted in an excess of food which caused the population to quickly grow larger. Before the arrival of civilization, the heads of the family would make the decisions based on the best interests of the entire family itself. Now with large numbers of people living close together, decisions had to be made as a group in order to decide on important matters such as how the society would behave, who gets land, and what gods they should worship. Good social and political order is established by the ethical leadership of a strong ruling party, the implementation of a rule of law, and the existence of a common set of beliefs among the populous. It was clear that a system of government needed to be established for the protection of the cities grains and to fend off intruders. In many cases, one town would “extend their control over nearby farming villages, thus creating small states.” These small states that formed were a …show more content…
The Ten Commandments passed down by God through Moses to the Israelites were basically moral rules that the followers of the God of Israel were instructed to obey. Unlike Hammurabi’s code, the punishments for violating the law were the same for everyone and were believed to affect their standing in the afterlife. Both of these codes kept social and political order within their society by clearly defining what actions should and should not be done in order to keep peace between the ruler and their subjects. The Ten Commandments were implemented into law during the reign of Israel’s future kings. Israel’s strong focus on religion in their government gave their people insight on how they should behave as well as how the government should conduct their