The Genesis of Justice: Ten Stories of Biblical Injustice That Led to the Ten Commandments and Modern Law (Hardcover)

by Alan M. Dershowitz (Author) "Would you give a young person a book whose heroes cheat, lie, steal, murder-and get away with it?..." (more)
Key Phrases: subsequent law books, traditional commentators, fifty innocent, New York, Midrash Rabbah, Ten Commandments (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
A Harvard Law School faculty member since 1964, Dershowitz is noted for representing controversial and unpopular clients. In addition to tomes on the law and two novels, he wrote a 1987 book prescribing a remedy to save American Jews (The Vanishing American Jew). In this further demonstration of his versatility, he turns to 10 stories from Genesis to demonstrate how the Bible provides a basis for contemporary ideas about justice and injustice. The narratives deal with Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Abraham, Lot, Jacob, Dina, Tamar and Joseph. Dershowitz includes a translation of each story, recounts some theological commentaries and offers his own interpretations. He acknowledges the failings of the biblical characters, pointing out that they were guilty of deception, lust, crime, incest, revenge and murder. Their problematic actions highlighted the need for the laws that appear later in the Torah, starting with Exodus and the Ten Commandments. The book concludes with four chapters on "The Genesis of Justice in the Injustice of Genesis." Dershowitz argues that the "bad actions" depicted in Genesis gave rise to the "common law of justice." He addresses the question of theodicy, claiming that the belief in the hereafter solves the problem of why evil exists on earth. Finally, he asserts that the stories he has examined explain the need for judicial codes. The book makes an important contribution by clearly validating this claim, although Dershowitz disregards the stories' significance as a basis for moral and ethical development. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Harvard law professor Dershowitz has written a dazzling and stimulating commentary on ten Old Testament stories and how they provide the origins for today's laws. In a familiar style that evokes being in a small seminar with the professor, Dershowitz takes ten biblical stories, including those of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and Lot, and offers multiple views on their application today. His view is that the Book of Genesis reveals the origins of justice in society. Ranging over such topics as the insanity defense, police corruption, federal sentencing guidelines, and the defense of the guilty, the book provokes the reader to consider God's fairness as well as that of our current justice system. In the best Socratic tradition, Dershowitz (Reversal of Fortune) asks many questions and provides multiple scholarly and commonsense views of the lessons to be learned from the biblical tales. He ends the book with a discussion of the Ten Commandments and shows how they can be traced to the stories of Genesis. For believers of all faiths, as well as nonbelievers, this is an outstanding work.
-Harry Charles, Attorney at Law, St. Louis
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (March 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446524794
• ISBN-13: 978-0446524797
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #967,244 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dershowitz in Defense of Injustice in Genesis, September 3, 2000

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

Never underestimate Alan Dershowitz. That's a lesson I learned when I was a student of his at Harvard Law School. Just when it seemed like he was cornered, with his argument tattered to ribbons, he would emerge with a counterargument that depended on his first argument being devasted. He had just successfully set-up the other professor (who shall remain nameless here) once again. Since then, I have seen him use the same strategy successfully time and again in many of his most famous cases. He has the nerve to skirt the edge of defeat to grasp victory.

So I was not surprised to see that having taken on the Book of Genesis as his client that a similar strategy prevails here. The book is based on his successful seminar on the same subject which he has recently been teaching at Harvard.

He does a marvelous job of taking a religious text and examining it as a source of legal precedent both in sacred and secular terms. Few would have the nerve, but your understanding of Genesis will be greatly improved as a result. He encourages you, as well as his students, to bring your own religious beliefs to the discussion. He proposes no official interpretations, and shares a diversity of opinions from learned Rabbis and religious thinkers of the Christian and Moslem faiths. In each case, he also shares his own interpretation. If you are like me, you will not always agree with him, but you will be interested to know what he concludes. He undertakes his inquiry in the spirit of a disputatious Hebrew school student who earned rebukes for his impertinent questions about where Cain's wife came from. He also draws from the Jewish tradition of encouraging the faithful to study the texts for their meaning.

He clearly confronts the contradictions within Genesis through examining 10 stories, one per chapter. In the story of Adam and Eve and the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, Professor Dershowitz emphasizes that God changes the deal. Having told Adam that he would die if he ate from the Tree of Knowledge, Adam goes on to live quite a long life. Having never told Eve not to eat from the tree, God punishes her with pain of childbirth and expulsion also. He describes God as having erred in dealing with Adam and Eve. You'll have to decide for yourself what your interpretation is. The title of the chapter is "God Threatens -- and Backs Down."

Here are the rest of the first 10 chapter titles. They give you a sense of the argument that Professor Dershowitz is building:

Cain Murders -- and Walks

God Overreacts -- and Floods the World

Abraham Defends the Guilty -- and Loses

Lot's Daughters Rape Their Father -- and Save the World

Abraham Commits Attempted Murder -- and Is Praised

Jacob Deceives -- and Gets Deceived

Dina Is Raped -- and Her Brothers Take Revenge

Tamar Becomes a Prostitute -- and the Progenitor of David and the Messiah

Joseph is Framed -- and Then Frames His Brothers

His basic points in these chapters are that bad things happen to good people and vice versa, that punishment on earth is often disproportionate and inappropriate (such as punishing descendents as yet unborn), and that the rules keep shifting.

Having driven you to the brink of despair about what Genesis means, he then offers his counterargument that all of this is purposeful on God's part. In chapters 11 and 12, he argues that Genesis is there to set the stage for the Ten Commandments, so show what a world is like without firm and lasting sacred rules that apply to all people at all times. In this context, God's apparent inconsistency is not so troubling, because it is replaced with the consistency of today. In chapter 13, he argues that a meaningful set of religious rules requires that there be justice in an afterlife. Otherwise, the obvious injustices in this life would leave people disaffected from religion. In chapter 14, he connects each of the Ten Commandments to one of the stories in Genesis. These form both a precedent for principle, as well, as a background for understanding the need for a better rule. He connects these points to secular law, as well.

Those with a Jewish religious education will find the material most familiar. To make the text more available to Christians and Moslems, he adopts the common English translations of the Hebrew for his usual references. Fundamentalist Christians will find an occasional nod in their direction, but will probably not find the information very helpful in many cases. Agnostics and people from religions not based on the Old Testament will find the perspective of creating a legal code primarily relevant to their interests. The modern-day examples of crime and criminals will be appealing to all.

I think any reason to spend more time with God's word is good, and I applaud Professor Dershowitz for adding another useful perspective to the riot of apparent contradictions in Genesis. Those with faith will feel affirmed. Those without faith may find a pathway closer to that having faith.

After you finish this book, think of your own examples of religious texts that provide confusion in your mind. Then do some reading to better understand what those texts could mean.

Have faith and prosper!

52 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If History Begins in Sumer, Law Begins in Genesis..., March 23, 2000

By	Larry Mark "editor of MyJewishBooks.com" (nyc) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

....let's discuss this enlightening book which explores the stories
from the first book (Genesis) of the five books of Moses (Torah) from
the perspective of law and justice. Based on Torah, Talmud, rabbinic
commentaries, the Hasidic commentaries of Rabbi Levi Isaac of
Berditchev, and the legal insight of a yeshiva educated Harvard law
professor, the reader follows the development of the concept of
justice. Consider the flawed personalities in the Book of
Genesis... it's like watching 5 seasons of Law & Order: Adam and
Eve (expulsion); Cain and Abel (murder and favoritism); Noah, Abraham
and Isaac (attempted murder, the akedah), Hagar and Sarah; Abraham,
Sodom and ten good people (collective punishment?); Esau and Jacob
(bait & switch, verbal contracts and trickery); Jacob and Laban;
Hamor, circumcision, and Jacob's sons; Joseph and his
brothers. Dershowitz provides an enlightening read and ready access to
commentaries that remove the rose-colored glasses from the stories you
heard as a child.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dershowitz Adds to the Understanding of Justice, March 23, 2000

By A Customer

In his "The Genesis of Justice," practitioner and law professor (and apparently, Bible scholar)Alan Dershowitz adds to the wealth of midrahism examining the first book of the Torah. His approach is surprisingly traditional, but filled with new insight. A necessary addition to any library examining the meanings of Genesis and the Torah as a whole.