332 Paul Heger citizens (39). Such rules demonstrate the development of social concepts and the creation of appropriate legislation. Israelite law in contrast, instituted by God, does not permit any change of His decrees and ordinances. As I have argued elsewhere (40), the Torah does not offer even a hint that any apparently valid reason would allow disregarding or transgressing a divine decree. Such laws are eternal (41) and inalterable (42); they are final and nothing can be added to them or subtracted (43). Punishments are also precisely determined by God, and no one, including the injured party and the court, can deviate from them, choose another penalty or forgive a sin, as this is an offence against God (44) in addition to the harm to another human. In Mesopotamian (39) We read in MAL B 14 that if a man makes bricks in a plot not his own, an act which seems to have had much more severe implications for social and public order than other unauthorized appropriations and uses, he is liable to a complex and harsh punishment. Misappropriations for other uses are punished solely with financial compensation. The particular penalty of service to the king indicates that the mischief caused harm to the public order, which had to be redressed by service to the public. One assumes that a father having sex with his daughter was also perceived to be offensive to morality and social order, and therefore he was banished, as decreed in LH 154. Both the citizens and the public authority were obligated for the maintenance of social and public order, as we may see in the following few examples: lost property and loss of life resulting from a robbery are compensated by the public, if the robber was not seized (LH 23–24); the wife of a prisoner is financially supported by the city authorities for two years, if she provides evidence that she is unable to feed herself (MAL 45); a captive soldier will be redeemed by public funds, if he does not have enough liquid assets, and he is not required to use his own estate for this purpose (LH 32); a superior mistreating or oppressing a soldier is convicted of capital punishment (LH 34); protection is afforded the borrower in times of distress (LH 48-49). (40) Specifically with respect to the question of whether war may be waged on Sabbath; see P. HEGER, The Pluralistic Halakhah. Legal Innovations in the Late Second Commonwealth and Rabbinic Periods (Studia Judaica XXII; Berlin – New York 2003), 28- 30. (41) Divine laws are characterized as µlw[ tqj “a lasting ordinance” (Lev 16,29; 23,14.31.41; Num 19,10.21; Deut 12,28; 23,4 and others), and as µymyh lk “[to be obeyed] always” (Deut 6,24; 11,1; 19,9; 31,13). (42) Despite the perceived inalterability of divine law, the later sages did indeed change and add to biblical commands. However, they represented themselves as simply interpreting Scripture, stressing their adherence to the rule not to add to or subtract from divine law. (43) See Deut 13,1 (12,32 in KJV). (44) PAUL, Studies in the Book of the Covenant, 100 writes: “Since law is an expression of the divine will, all crimes are considered sins, and certain offences become absolute wrongs incapable of pardon by human agency”.