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{{Short description|Exodus 20:22-23:19}}
{{For|other meanings of 'Book of the Covenant'|Book of the Covenant (disambiguation)}}

The '''Covenant Code''', or '''Book of the Covenant''', is the name given by academics to a text appearing in the [[Torah]], at [[Book of Exodus|Exodus]] {{bibleverse-nb||Exodus|20:22|HE}}–{{bibleverse-nb||Exodus|23:19|HE}}; or, more strictly, the term ''Covenant Code'' may be applied to Exodus 21:1–22:16.<ref>Raymond Westbrook, "What is the Covenant Code?" in ''Theory and Method in Biblical and Cuneiform Law: Revision, Interpolation and Development'', ed. B.M. Levinson (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994), 15–36</ref> Biblically, the text is the second of the law codes said to have been given to [[Moses]] by [[God in Judaism|God]] at [[biblical Mount Sinai|Mount Sinai]]. This legal text provides a small but substantive proportion of the [[mitzvah|mitzvot]] (religious duties) within the Torah, and hence is a source of [[Jewish Law]].

==Academic context==
The date that the Covenant Code was composed, and the details of how it found its way into the Bible, continue to be debated. Most proponents of the [[documentary hypothesis]] associate it with either the [[Elohist]] ("E") materials, or, less commonly, the [[Yahwist]] ("J") materials.<ref name="Seters2015">{{cite book|author=John Van Seters|title=The Pentateuch: A Social-Science Commentary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=42-_CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA68|date=24 September 2015|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-0-567-65880-7|pages=68–69}}</ref> (These are two of the four sources of the classic documentary hypothesis, the other two being the Deuteronomic ("D") material and Priestly ("P") material.) According to Joel Baden, "The Covenant Code is a part of E; the priestly laws [of Leviticus and Numbers] are part of P; and the deuteronomic laws [of Deuteronomy 12–26] stand at the center of D."<ref name="Baden2012">{{cite book|author=Joel S. Baden|title=The Composition of the Pentateuch: Renewing the Documentary Hypothesis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Beg7LeeNGlkC|date=24 April 2012|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-15263-0|pages=26–27}}</ref> Regardless of precise positions on the process, scholars agree that the Covenant Code was produced by a long process in which it changed over time.<ref>Raymond Westbrook, "What is the Covenant Code?" in ''Theory and Method in Biblical and Cuneiform Law: Revision, Interpolation and Development'', ed. B.M. Levinson (Sheffield:
Sheffield Academic Press, 1994), 15.</ref>

A study of continuing importance is that of [[Albrecht Alt]], who in 1934 published an analysis of the Covenant Code which hinges on the distinction between casuistic and apodictic law.<ref name="Westbrook16">Raymond Westbrook, "What is the Covenant Code?" in ''Theory and Method in Biblical and Cuneiform Law: Revision, Interpolation and Development'', ed. B.M. Levinson (Sheffield:
Sheffield Academic Press, 1994), 16.</ref> The Covenant Code consists largely of case or casuistic law (often in the form of an "if-then" statement, in which specific situations are addressed),<ref name="Coogan424">Coogan, Michael D., ''A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament'', Oxford University Press, 2009, p. 424</ref> as for example Exodus 21:33–36. Apodictic laws (characterized by absolute or general commands or prohibitions, as in the Ten Commandments)<ref name="Coogan424" /> on the other hand, also appear in the Covenant Code, for example in Exodus 21:17 ("Whoever curses father or mother shall be put to death").<ref name="Coogan110">Coogan, pp. 109–110</ref> Alt claimed, though some scholars disagree, that the apodictic laws were a feature only found in Israelite codes.<ref name="Westbrook16" /> Scholars do, however, agree that the contrast between the apodictic and casuistic forms is a clue to how multiple sources of law were edited together into the Covenant Code,<ref name="Westbrook16" /> although there remain disagreements over the precise details.<ref>Raymond Westbrook, "What is the Covenant Code?" in ''Theory and Method in Biblical and Cuneiform Law: Revision, Interpolation and Development'', ed. B.M. Levinson (Sheffield:
Sheffield Academic Press, 1994), 17–18.</ref>

The form and content of the code is similar to many other codes from the Near East of the second [[millennium]] BC.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Finger of the Scribe: How Scribes Learned to Write the Bible |last=Schniedewind |first=William M. |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=24 September 2019 |isbn=978-0-19-005248-5 |pages=153–156 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oZKwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA153}}</ref> It also resembles the [[Babylon]]ian [[Code of Hammurabi]]. According to many scholars including [[Martin Noth]] and [[Albrecht Alt]], the covenant code probably originated as a civil code with the [[Canaanites]], and was altered to add Hebrew religious practices. [[Michael Coogan]] sees a noticeable difference between the Covenant Code and the non-biblical codes like the Code of Hammurabi. The Covenant Code, like other biblical codes, differs from these by including among the laws dealing with criminal and civil matters various regulations concerning worship. Both, however, set the laws in an explicitly religious context.<ref name="Coogan110" />

==Relationship to the Ritual Decalogue==
Some of the commandments in the Covenant Code overlap noticeably with the commandments in the [[Ritual Decalogue]].<ref name="Coogan2014">{{cite book|author=Michael Coogan|title=The Ten Commandments: A Short History of an Ancient Text|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jYQ6AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA45|date=28 April 2014|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-20700-2|pages=44–45}}</ref> Robert Pfeiffer suggested that the Covenant Code is an expansion of the Ritual Decalogue.<ref name="SetersSeters2003">{{cite book|author=John Van Seters|title=A Law Book for the Diaspora: Revision in the Study of the Covenant Code|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IHo8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA9|year=2003|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-515315-6|page=9}}</ref> Carol Meyers holds that the direction of influence is in the opposite direction: that Exodus 34 borrows material from within the Covenant Code.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Meyers|first=Carol|author-link=Carol Meyers|title=Exodus|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0QHHITXsyskC&q=Carol+Meyers+Exodus|isbn=9780521002912|page=258}}</ref>

==Evident values==
The Covenant Code portrays the values of the society in which it was produced, some of which are different from Western twentieth-century values.

With the ancient cultural view of women as property of men, the casuistic law regarding the seduced virgin in [http://studylight.org/desk/?l=en&query=Exodus+22%3A16-17&section=0&translation=nrs&oq=&sr=1 Exodus 22:16–17] portrays a woman who, as the property of her father, has had her value diminished by the loss of her virginity. However, this law still calls for restitution to be paid by the man who seduced her. A second example comes from [http://studylight.org/desk/?l=en&query=Exodus+21%3A20-21&section=0&translation=nrs&oq=Exodus%252022%3A16-17&new=1&sr=1&nb=ex&ng=22&ncc=22 Exodus 21:20–21], which describes the punishment required for a slave owner who strikes his slave with a rod. If the slave survives their injuries no punishment is required because they do not have the same rights as Israelite males.<ref name="Coogan110" />

In some instances, the values represented in the Covenant Code are more similar to present-day, Western values. Two examples include the placing of mothers on the same level as fathers in [http://studylight.org/desk/?l=en&query=Exodus+21%3A15+%2C17&section=0&translation=nrs&oq=21%3A15%2520-%252017&new=1&sr=1 Exodus 21:15, 17], and providing for special care of members of lesser social classes, including converts, widows and orphans ([http://studylight.org/desk/?l=en&query=Exodus+22%3A21-22&section=0&translation=nrs&oq=Exodus%252021%3A15%2520%2C17&new=1&sr=1&nb=ex&ng=21&ncc=21 Exodus 22:21–22]).<ref name="Coogan110" />

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Book of Exodus navbox}}

[[Category:Documentary hypothesis]]
[[Category:Book of Exodus]]

Covenant Code - Revision history

imported>AntiDionysius: Reverted edit by Aspo46 (talk) to last version by Potatín5