Redemption of an Israelite
Instead of their seals, they placed their fingernails.
Fingernail of Zakuri, fingernail of Dukur-ili, owners of the man being sold.
Mannu-ki-Arba’il, son of Ahiyau—Bahianu contracted from Zakuri and Dukur-ili for 30 minas of copper and has released him. The payment has been made in full. That man is purchased and acquired. Any revocation, lawsuit…
In this document from Assyria, in 700 BCE, Mannu-ki-Arba’il, the son of an Israelite man named Ahiyau (Ahijah or Ahio), who was being held as security for a debt, is redeemed and becomes the property of the man who redeemed him. The sellers “signed” the document by impressing their fingernails into the damp clay tablet in place of seals. The document is dated by the Assyrian “eponym” system in which years were not numbered but, instead, each year was named for a high government official.
Related Guide
The Ancient Near Eastern Background of Biblical Law
Biblical law was influenced by the legal collections of its powerful neighbors, especially the Babylonians and Assyrians.
