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Show jj Recent Babylonian Discoveries. if A pajtty sciftiout by tiQmclfginTi nmqnt feirocnttap Mtersow fjery imporltinb'dlscovorles'at Babylon-Mint Babylon-Mint throw much light on the clvill.a-mon clvill.a-mon and people that dwelt there .near? w 4,GO0 years ago. Moses "lias uSAallV Been recognized as the oldest law Birtlifcf I lodalof jifo fepafo Ml, UiatjjgAvcrJtcd I!ablonSluMiffA-i8' mlieiPAbftihairt'smtlfer,"lv'raft,ST? jrfsident there, nearly 500 years, before the firm? Of-iMoseS.- llc.re fan ft lujv bxtracLs-'from the code: . j .1 jIf anyone brings an accusation of aiiycThfifl'"b'cfoTe,thc Tildcrs; aiirt 'does' Rbt prove w1tttJThe hiifc cliaigiflj he shall, if It be a capital ollcnsu, bo put (6 death. git a son strike Ills fathdr,' his lian'ds shall be cut olT. ' Sjlf any one destloy the, eye of ail-U ail-U Other, his own eye shall be 'destroyed. V glf any one break put 'tlie. tooth' of another, his own tooth shall.be broken out. Blf a physician makes an operation on any one with a. knife, and heals lijm, urif hcopens a tumor amVtllc I fye is milnjmed.k-jie shall rccetoapu sW'clst)r-gold:aj L- -"ci11 glf aphysleladnsjiiakcs(.ijn operation. with "a knife and'klliVnls' patient, or opens. a.turaor wh tlie knife- aud the dye is 'destroyed, then liisMiands' s'riall S disease, the fee was live shekels for a' jj citizen, three for a frcedman and two1 B for a slave. If he operated on an ox m 6't an iiy. Ids, Joe was (a sixth of .a, M shekei.tljut If "tile anhrjal died lie.' H:i0 IE to pay a quarter of a shekel to the" H owner. - B The code llxes wages by the day-und JUl the year for service. A common iw working man was paid six geralis a IKS day for live months, fronl April to Ij August, and live a day for the other if ' inoliths, with their shoiter days 'and. fm lpss exhaustive labor. fe The laws of marriage and ln- p herltancc arc minute, and meant to W& be just to the woman as well as the B man. The propeity rights of di voiced KE wives were carefully guarded. Slander K against the character of a betrothed K ,,, or married woman is punished with a jgS 'Abrand on the forehead. wjt " Marilageatid divorce are piovided jflj for. One clause reads: "If any ono Hi takes a wife, and she gives her maid S to her husband, aud the maid bears K cliildicn, and thereupon claims equiil- S ity to her mistress, since she has borne S him children, the master can not sell g. her for money, but the mistress shall reduce her to slavery and count her .H among the maid servants." fij It will be seen that there is aslmu- S larity between the old Babylonian B laws and those of Bible times. It ls B very probable that the Ildbrews ob- K talned their knowledge of law fiom K the more civilized people of the cast. H Besides the code of laws found, there B luc columns and tablets containing B deeds, bills of sale, bases, moitgages B and many other legal forms that ate B very similar to those in vogue at the B present da'. m Then there arc some items of his-. B tory that arc quite Intciesting. Hum- K murabl, the king, who lived between B 2,300 and 2,400 years H. C, and is sup- B posed to have been Identical with B Amraphel, king of Shlnar, mentioned B in Genesis 14-1. Tills king raised B levees along the Tigris to shut out B destructive floods and dug great Irrl- Bj gation canals' that brought the great Bj plains into cultivation. Hammurabi By J2is called a "King of Righteousness," jB which reminds one of Abraham's rc- H ferencc to Mclchcsidck king of Salem. IPJ Here Is an extract taken from the Is' column: "Hammurabi, the King of ffi Righteousness, on whom Shamash has S bestowed right (or Inw) am I. My Xj words are well. considered; my deeds P3 have not their equal; to bring low M those that arc high; to humble those H that are haughty; to expel Insolence. H If a succeeding ruler considers my 9 wprds, which I havo written in tills H my Inscription, If he does not annul fa my law, docs not corrupt my words m nor change my monument, then may m Sliamjish (the sun god) lengthen that King's reign, like that of me, the m King 'of Righteousness, that ha may IS reign In righteousness, bver his, sub- 1 Jects.'J '-' " Dno, effect of these discoveries seems fm toremovo the time of tlie Hood to a km pcjlod more remote than that assigned H to It In Rlble chronology. The records JB so far discovered ,do not' throw any M new light upon tiio history of the Wk Hood, although tlie sons of 7SToah and W perhaps Noah himself, were undoubt- 91 edly living at the time that Hani- S r rnurabl reigned at HabylOn. It Is not Bj W smprobable, though, that as the work Wb progresses, discoveries may be made ffi that will clean up questions pertain- ff lag to the flood, to the tower of liable, . , to the confusion of Jjyigucs, and lie rlevldlngoyiic earth, tliatJhaVe long been-sitbjgcto dlsciis?iorl, Furtfrpr |
