Texts in Conversation
David's demand for repayment uses the same practice of fines beyond replacement found in Hammurabi's livestock laws. Nathan turns the king's own appeal to this familiar standard of justice against his abuse of another person.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Code of Hammurabi 1:31
Babylonian Legal Text
Ancient Near East
6 If anyone steals the property of a temple or of the court, he shall be put to death, and the one who receives the stolen goods from him shall also be put to death. 7 If anyone buys silver or gold, a male or female slave, an ox or a sheep, a donkey or anything else from another man's son or slave without witnesses or a contract, or takes it for safekeeping, he is considered a thief and shall be put to death. 8 If anyone steals cattle or sheep, or a donkey, a pig, or a goat: if it belongs to a god or to the court, the thief shall repay thirtyfold; if it belonged to a freed man of the king, he shall repay tenfold; if the thief has nothing to pay with, he shall be put to death.
2 Samuel 12:6
Hebrew Bible
4 “When a traveler arrived at the rich man’s home, he did not want to use one of his own sheep or cattle to feed the traveler who had come to visit him. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and cooked it for the man who had come to visit him.” 5 Then David became very angry at this man. He said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! 6 Because he committed this cold-hearted crime, he must pay for the lamb four times over!” 7 Nathan said to David, “You are that man! This is what the Lord God of Israel has said: ‘I chose you to be king over Israel and I rescued you from the hand of Saul.
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Notes and References
“... 12:5-6. deserves death/quadruple compensation. In his outrage, David would like to be able to sentence the offender to death because of his pitiless attitude, but the law was clear enough. The fourfold compensation is consistent with the law in Exodus 22:1 for the theft of a sheep (Hammurabi’s Code requires a fine ten times the value of the stolen livestock). ...”
Walton, John H.
The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
(p. 339) InterVarsity Press, 2000
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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