The Scope Of Mosaic Law

In recent weeks I have enjoyed learning about specific legal names for various criminal activities and, of course, I have also paired particular versions of crimes with the respective verses in Old Testament Law that address them and wanted to post some of the results.  I think few people appreciate or understand the simultaneous broadness and specificity of Mosaic Law in that it uses general principles, case laws, and universal commands to cover an extraordinary amount of ethical and legal ground.  To demonstrate this, I have arranged several lists of similarly-grouped crimes along with references to verses in Mosaic Law which deal with them.  As with other lists, such as my definition tables, the content is subject to possible expansion and change.

Obviously, some of these crimes will overlap with categories outside of the one they are placed in.  For instance, rape would be both a sexual and violent crime, child sacrifice involves aspects of both religious and violent crimes, and several things listed below (such as Exodus 21:15, 17, and Deuteronomy 21:18-21) could constitute their own separate category outside of where they are placed.


Property crimes [1]
1. Larceny (Exodus 22:1, 4)
2. Burglary (Exodus 22:2-3)
3. Embezzlement (Exodus 22:7-15)
4. Theft with inability to repay (Exodus 22:3)
5. Destruction/consumption of another's field/vineyard (Exodus 22:5)
6. Arson (Exodus 22:6)

Violent crimes--including sexual assaults and CAPs (crimes against persons)
1. Premeditated murder (Exodus 21:12, 14)
2. Manslaughter (Exodus 21:13)
3. Criminal negligence resulting in loss of life (Exodus 21:28-30)
4. Assault and battery resulting in minor injuries and/or illness (Exodus 21:18-19)
5. Assault on a pregnant woman resulting in miscarriage (Exodus 21:22)
6. Assault and battery resulting in permanent injuries (Exodus 21:23-27, Leviticus 24:19-21)
7. Striking or assault on one's parent (Exodus 21:15)
8. Female sexual assault on a man's reproductive organs (Deuteronomy 25:11-12)
9. Rape (Deuteronomy 22:25-27)
10. Kidnapping with intent to sell (Exodus 21:16, Deuteronomy 24:7)
11. Kidnapping without intent to sell/possession of kidnapping victim (Exodus 21:16)
12. Kidnapping for ransom (Exodus 21:16)
13. Human trafficking/ slave trading (Exodus 21:16, Deuteronomy 24:7)
14. Involuntary servitude (Deuteronomy 24:7)

Sexual crimes
1. Adultery (Leviticus 20:10, Deuteronomy 22:22)
2. Sex with an engaged person (Deuteronomy 22:23-24)
3. Bestiality (Exodus 22:19, Leviticus 20:15-16)
4. Prostitution by a priest's daughter (Leviticus 21:9)
5. Marrying a woman and her mother (Leviticus 20:14)

Religious crimes
1. Blasphemy (Leviticus 24:16)
2. Child sacrifice (Leviticus 20:2-5)

Speech crimes
1. Perjury (Deuteronomy 19:16-21)
2. False accusation against a wife [2] (Deuteronomy 22:13-21)
3. Cursing one's parent (Exodus 21:17, Leviticus 20:9)

Miscellaneous
1. Contempt of court (Deuteronomy 17:8-13)
2. Negligence leading to loss of animal life (Exodus 22:33)
3. Sex between unengaged singles [3] (Exodus 22:16-17)
4. Sorcery (Exodus 22:18, Leviticus 20:27)
5. Extreme incorrigible disobedience to parents (Deuteronomy 21:18-21)


[1].  Though many in modern times refer to property crimes in general as theft, theft is a rather large category that includes many different types of property crimes.  There are more forms of theft than listed below.
1. Larceny is ordinary theft of property.
2. Burglary is entry into a home or building in order to steal.
3. Embezzlement is misuse of money entrusted to oneself.
4. Arson is destruction of property by burning.

[2].  Perjury was punished with the same penalty that would have been inflicted on the falsely accused.  However, in Deuteronomy 22 a false accusation against a wife's virginity prior to marriage receives only a fine and perhaps an additional flogging (scholars are undecided about the second component of the punishment).  The reason the two penalties differ, seemingly a blatant contradiction, is because the act of perjury is premeditated and malicious while the offense in the second case is not.  If someone planned to accuse a spouse of lying about his or her virginity in order to illicitly have them executed, the offender would be killed.

Also, this law did not punish premarital sex with death but criminalized lying to one's spouse about virginity before marriage and falsely accusing a spouse of lying about the matter.

[3].  The reason I did not group this with sexual crimes is that, as I have explained elsewhere, this action is not intrinsically wrong and was certainly not treated as a crime, though a specific outcome was legally preferred.  See http://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2016/08/on-exodus-2216-17.html.