Torah Law Wasn’t Originally Authoritative
It wasn’t until the late Second Temple period—shaped by Greek and Roman legal culture—that Torah law started to function as actual law.
Dr. Hilary Lipka
University of New Mexico
Dr. Hilary Lipka is an instructor in the Religious Studies Program at the University of New Mexico, main campus. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. from the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University. She is the author of Sexual Transgression in the Hebrew Bible (Sheffield Phoenix Press) and co-editor (with F. Rachel Magdalene and Bruce Wells) of the forthcoming Sexuality and Law in the Torah (Bloomsbury T & T Clark).
Last Updated: November 10, 2026
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King Solomon Solves the Case of the Two Prostitutes
So why aren’t we told which mother actually stole the baby?
Why Does the Bible Prohibit Marrying a Father’s Wife?
Ancient Near Eastern law collections do not unequivocally prohibit a son from marrying his father's wife, and neither do modern incest laws. And yet, the Bible repeats this prohibition multiple times. Six reasons why.
A Woman Who Seizes a Man’s Testicles During a Fight, Her Hand Is Cut Off
A wife who intervenes in a fight to save her husband by grabbing his opponent’s testicles is punished by having her hand cut off (Deut 25:11–12). What is the nature of her offense? Why isn’t her intent to save her husband a mitigating factor? What is the relationship between the punishment and the crime?
The Prohibition of Cross-Dressing
Men and women are prohibited from wearing each other’s clothes (Deuteronomy 22:5). What is the motivation behind this law, and why is this behavior “abhorrent to YHWH”?
