Tens and Hundreds (8) - Bodanis

David Bodanis who wrote “E=MC2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation” is now working on a history of the Ten Commandments. In a recent radio interview, he described their impact in a small area in the mountains of Israel.

Archaeologists found that very suddenly, around 1200 BC, this particular place went from about thirty or forty settlements to almost 600 or 7000 settlements. A lot of people were coming from outside, but they established a cohesive society with farming and roads going between settlements.

Every other place with population of that size would have signs of a big central government. There would be palaces, barracks for soldiers and houses for administrators. This place had an organised society, but there was no sign of any organised central state.

These people shared a code of agreed behaviour that allowed them to exist in harmony. These people did not have to live there, but who chose to live there had to abide by these guide lines.

Something unique was going on.

This suggests that Tens and Hundreds combined with God's Law did produce a stable society.