Abstract

RUGWIJI, Temba. The Law and Society in the Old Testament: Formulation and Implementation of the Law in Ancient Israel. Old testam. essays [online]. 2020, vol.33, n.1, pp.125-142. ISSN 2312-3621.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2312-3621/2020/v33n1a8.

Various laws were practised in ancient Israel. Although the present study will introduce briefly the concept of law as practised in Ancient Near East (ANE) in general, the project focuses particularly on ancient Israel as depicted by the Old Testament (OT) law traditions. The study seeks to investigate two main issues, namely: (1) formulation and implementation of the laws in ancient Israel, and (2) the application of the OT laws during the New Testament (NT) era and in Christendom. An attempt is made to respond to the following three research questions: (1) how were the OT laws formulated and implemented? (2) Were the OT laws the same as those practised by pagan nations or kings? (3) what is the NT/Christian view of the OT laws? In its entirety, the discourse will utilise two approaches, namely: (1) narrative inquiry, and (2) desk research.

Keywords : Legal traditions; Ancient Israel; Old Testament; New Testament.

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