The recent publication of David P. Wright's "Inventing God's Law" is a highly detailed comparative study that marshals an impressive body of evidence demonstrating the dependence of Torah legislation on law codes from the Library of Assurbanipal. In some cases, for example, the apparently arbitrary order of the laws found in the Bible matches the order in which similar laws appear in the cuneiform sources. Even if one is not fully convinced by Wright's full argument, he produces more than enough evidence to create some serious problems for Gmirkin's thesis.
The recent publication of David P. Wright's "Inventing God's Law" is a highly detailed comparative study that marshals an impressive body of evidence demonstrating the dependence of Torah legislation on law codes from the Library of Assurbanipal. In some cases, for example, the apparently arbitrary order of the laws found in the Bible matches the order in which similar laws appear in the cuneiform sources. Even if one is not fully convinced by Wright's full argument, he produces more than enough evidence to create some serious problems for Gmirkin's thesis.