328 Paul Heger theological approach in the Bible (19), and is completely exonerated of any guilt in Deut 19,10. He has not committed any act against the divine order; on the contrary, he has taken part in reconstituting it. The residence in the cities of refuge (Exod 21,13) is not a punishment; this would be against the concept of theodicy, as he has accomplished a divinely designed act. He is saved from the anger of the avenger by this divine provision. This active divine involvement in human affairs, the investiture of God as the initial and supreme creator and custodian of the law, is also apparent in the deuteronomic laws uttered by Moses. Deut 6,1 shows clearly that the laws are of divine origin and that Moses only mediates their transmission In emphasizing the divine source of the Israelite law as its distinctive feature, I am not placing myself with those scholars who consider ethical values as the distinctive feature of the Israelite system. The weighing of ethical values is a matter open to debate (20). For example, a number of Mesopotamian laws, protecting women, would seem to us more ethical than the biblical laws, in which they are absent. The Ur-Namma codex (LU) (21) provides a fixed amount to be paid by the man divorcing his wife. While the Ketubah, a compulsory payment assuring the divorcee’s subsistence, was instituted in the first century BCE by Simeon ben Shatah (22), it is unclear what prior Israelite custom was. It is possible that Israelite custom allowed the divorcing man the choice of whether to grant his ex-wife any payment, similar to the rule in the Middle Assyrian Laws (MAL A 37) (23). The fact that the compulsory payment rule is attributed to Simeon ben Shatah may indicate its previous want. As another example, the Hammurapi laws allow a betrayed husband to forgive his adulterous (19) See Lev 26,25; Deut 28,25; 32,30; Ezek 14, 21; Isa 10,5-13 (20) As noted by M. GREENBERG, “Some Postulates of Biblical Criminal Law”, Yehezkel Kaufmann Jubilee Volume (ed. M. HARAN) (Jerusalem 1960) 5-28. B.S. Jackson maintains that Mesopotamian laws also obey high ethical principles: “Reflections on Biblical Law”, JJS 24 (1973) 27-28; ID., Essays, 35. (21) LU 9. A similar rule appears in the Sumerian Law Handbook of Forms iv 12-14. (22) We read in bShab 14b that Simeon ben Shatah established the endowment of a Ketubah (a pledge of funds in the event of the husband’s death or divorce) at a woman’s marriage. He was active in the first part of the first century BCE. (23) It is also possible that in Ancient Israel, all male relatives of a deceased childless husband were obligated to marry the widow, similar to the Mesopota- mian custom. A widow’s sustenance would thus be assured, but this would not solve the problem of a divorcee.