Hammurabi's misharum

Hammurabi proclaims misharum: consumer debts remitted, debt-slaves manumitted, services illegally imposed on free persons cancelled. The same content as the Israelite release, three centuries before the Torah's version, issued by the king at his own discretion.

Geometry, Release: A reading: pressure that is held builds until something releases it. Here the release waits on one man's choice.

In plain words

Hammurabi decrees a release: household debts cancelled, debt-slaves freed, at least three centuries before the Torah's version. The record is plain that release is not Israel's invention. Here it comes when the king chooses, so the one who gains by withholding it is the one who decides.

The mechanism

RELEASE, HELD BY THE THRONE — the remission exists, but its trigger is one man's decision, so the party who profits from withholding it is the party who schedules it. Say this first and plainly: the release content is not Israel's invention and never was.

How it was checked

• EvidenceT7 PRIMARY DOCUMENT / MEASUREMENT; Status: COMMITTED; a capture; a release
• Letter eraTHE ENCLOSURE AT THE BIRTH OF WRITING c. 3500 to c. 1150 BC
• SourcesPRIMARY DOCUMENT — Akkadian misharum texts; deror is the direct cognate of andurarum, which renders Sumerian amargi, 'return to the mother'