According to renowned scholar Moshe Greenberg, this is where the laws of Israel fundamentally diverged from those of other nations.10 Many of Israel’s distinctive laws were based on the peculiar and supreme value that God placed on human life. Unlike anywhere else, in Israel, murder was seen as an offense against God himself. Because humans were created in the image of God, they bore immense value to him. No amount of money could be exchanged for a life, because nothing could compensate for murder except for the life of the murderer himself. “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his
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