Hebrew Law in Biblical Times: An Introduction

This book presents the scholar, historian, lawyer, and general student of the Bible with a highly readable and useful handbook. First published in Jerusalem in 1964, this concise yet knowledgeable treatise remains illuminating. Its skillful organization makes it the most accessible of all introductions to biblical law.Falk's research is grounded in historical, sociological, linguistic, and comparative data. His work yields interesting insights about technical legal terminology, vital social information behind the Israelite legal system, and broad perspectives on law among Israel's neighbors, the Babylonians, Assyrians, and Egyptians.Alongside its discussions of homicide, torts, property, contracts, slavery, and divorce, this book includes sections on law and religion, divine judgment, collective responsibility, blasphemy, and religious elements in biblical family law. These studies make it clear that Hebrew law in biblical times cannot be understood except as an integrated system of social institutions and religious values.

Ze'ev W. Falk (11 May 1923 - 19 September 1998) studied Jewish history, Talmud, and international relations in the Faculty of the Humanities at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem from 1949 to 1952, completing his Ph.D. in 1959. He spent three years in private legal practice and then served as legal advisor to the Israel Ministry of Welfare from 1955 to 1961 and as legal advisor to the Ministry of the Interior from 1960 to 1965.

Professor Falk was on the Faculty of Law at Hebrew University in Jerusalem in various academic capacities from 1952 to 1988. He also taught as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Tel Aviv from 1964 to 1969. He founded the Jewish law yearbook Dine Israel, and he edited the journal Siah Meisharim. In addition, he authored twelve books as well as numerous scholarly articles on biblical research, the Talmud, Jewish law and history, rabbinical literature and philosophy, and religious poetry.

A popular and personable lecturer, he enjoyed several appointments as a visiting professor at several institutions of higher learning in the United States (Temple University, University of California at Berkeley, New York University, Hamline University), as well as others in Germany, Brazil, and Russia. His driving mission was to understand and communicate the intersections between law and religion and emphasis on the Jewish experience.