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of modern law: the belief that some things are always right or always wrong for all people—the concept of “moral absolutes.” At the same time, the HebrewBible did contain specific laws and punishments in what scholars refer to as the “Covenant Code.” As in Babylonian law, however, the HebrewBible says nothing about incarceration for citizens of Israel. Scholars have suggested one reason for this is Israel’s early history. The Israelites spent forty years migrating across the desert en route from Egypt to Palestine, where they eventually settled. During these years, they lived as nomads, setting up tents in different places as they migrated, lacking any permanent cities. In such conditions, jails or prisons were impossible to maintain.

The Ten Commandments influenced the development of Western laws, including the American legal system.

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The History of Punishment and Imprisonment