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Full Idea
Mosaic law meant that God ruled through his laws, and since all were equally subject to the law, the system was the first to embody the double merits of the rule of law and equality before the law.
Gist of Idea
Mosaic law was the first to embody the rule of law, and equality before the law
Source
Paul Johnson (The History of the Jews [1987], Pt I)
Book Ref
Johnson,Paul: 'A History of the Jews' [Phoenix 1993], p.40
A Reaction
If this is correct, it seems to be a hugely important step, combined with Idea 1659, that revenge should be the action of a the state, not of the individual. They are the few simple and essential keys to civilization.
Related Ideas
Idea 1659 Protagoras seems to have made the huge move of separating punishment from revenge [Protagoras, by Vlastos]
Idea 7810 The 'Eumenides' of Aeschylus shows blood feuds replaced by law [Aeschylus, by Grayling]
| 7337 | In Mosaic legal theory, crimes are sins and sins are crimes [Johnson,P] |
| 7339 | Because human life is what is sacred, Mosaic law has no death penalty for property violations [Johnson,P] |
| 7340 | Mosaic law was the first to embody the rule of law, and equality before the law [Johnson,P] |
| 7338 | Man's life is sacred, because it is made in God's image [Johnson,P] |
| 7336 | A key moment is the idea of a single moral God, who imposes his morality on humanity [Johnson,P] |
| 7341 | Sampson illustrates the idea that religious heroes often begin as outlaws and semi-criminals [Johnson,P] |
| 7342 | Isaiah moved Israelite religion away from the local, onto a more universal plane [Johnson,P] |
| 7348 | The Jews sharply distinguish human and divine, but the Greeks pull them closer together [Johnson,P] |
| 7353 | The Pharisees undermined slavery, by giving slaves responsibility and status in law courts [Johnson,P] |
| 7344 | Judaism involves circumcision, Sabbath, Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, New Year, and Atonement [Johnson,P] |
| 7345 | In exile the Jews became a nomocracy [Johnson,P] |
| 7347 | Zoroastrians believed in one eternal beneficent being, Creator through the holy spirit [Johnson,P] |
| 7349 | Immortality based on judgement of merit was developed by the Egyptians (not the Jews) [Johnson,P] |
| 7354 | The main doctrine of the Pharisees was belief in resurrection and the afterlife [Johnson,P] |
| 7356 | Pious Jews saw heaven as a vast library [Johnson,P] |
| 7355 | The Torah pre-existed creation, and was its blueprint [Johnson,P] |