Biblical Law: A Text of the Statutes, Ordinances, and Judgments of the Bible

American Vision is pleased to present H. B. Clark's Biblical Law—now back in print after over 60 years!

Written in the style of a law reference guide, Biblical Law is a layman's compendium of the Bible's applications to all manners of contemporary society.  Now with a new introduction by Gary DeMar, Clark's classic exposé finds itself in a prime position to educate a whole new generation of Christians.

Political law, civil law, economics, and more:  With topics ranging from war and taxation to contracts and loans, from marriage and hospitality to welfare and husbandry, Clark's expositions are as practical as they are scriptural. 

From the Publisher's Introduction by Gary DeMar 

I was first introduced to Clark's Biblical Law when I saw it referenced in Rousas J. Rushdoony's The Institutes of Biblical Law. Clark's subtitle offers the best summary of his work that I can offer: Being a Text of the Statutes, Ordinances, and Judgments Established in the Holy Bible—with Many Allusions to Secular Laws Ancient, Medieval and Modern—Documented to the Scriptures, Judicial Decisions and Legal Literature. Biblical Law is laid out as a legal text. It consists of seven parts and 65 chapters and includes material on General Principles, Political Law, Civil Law, Economics and Welfare, General Laws, Penal Law, Crimes and Punishment, and Procedure and Administration of Law. 

Biblical Law is one of the most comprehensive studies of the application of the Bible to contemporary life that one will ever come across. For Clark, law means a rule or a body of rules for the government of human life, prescribing rights and duties and regulating conduct. As you can see, Clark's definition of law is comprehensive. Law is not just for the individual; it's for all of life, including the civil sphere of life. Clark's extensive footnotes—thousands of them referencing the Bible and court cases—show how often the Bible has been used in contemporary lawmaking. 

Biblical Law is a true compendium of the Bibles use of law touching on everything—from religious freedom, sales, exchanges, leases, labor and employment to health, healing, physicians, and everything in between. 

From the author's Preface:

A Pandect of Profitable Laws, against Rebellious Spirits! 

Thus the Scriptures are described in the Preface to the King James Version. Indeed, the Holy Bible is not merely a repository of early laws; it is the code at once most ancient and best known by those who have been observers of the Christian Creed; and to it our later laws and governmental processes are, in essential and enduring parts, immediately indebted. 

Nor is the Bible simply a collection of rules; it is the history and literature of an ancient people as well as a text of morals and religion. Such being the pattern of the Scriptures, the author—in order that Biblical Law may be easy of access—has extracted the many commandments, precedents and customs which are to be found throughout the Sacred Writings and has sought to present them logically and systematically, in the style of a modern law book. 

During the centuries, millions of devout Christians, according to their knowledge and understanding, have respected the precepts of the Scriptures; and this textbook has been mainly contrived for other millions who now, and in the days to come, would follow "the ancient paths" and "adhere to the teachings of their fathers"—and who therefore need and will hereafter need further light that they may properly "shew the work of the law."

The attainment of another objective has, also, actuated the author. He has sought to resolve the question as to whether Biblical Law, when better understood and observed, may replace or at least point a way to simplification of present-day secular law, with its wilderness of words, "so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable."

Generally it will be seen that Biblical Law is no less sound and usable today than when it first was written. And one who will carefully examine its rules and attempt to trace their workings will be astonished to find how completely they cover the entire field of civil, domestic, and even social life.