When I think of what happened to Charlie Kirk, it brings me back to justice that is way older than the Old Testament. The Code of Hammurabi is one of the oldest and most famous legal codes in human history. It was created by Hammurabi, the sixth king of the First Babylonian Dynasty, who ruled from approximately 1792 to 1750 BCE.

The code is best known from a seven-and-a-half-foot-tall stone monument, or stele, on which the laws were carved in cuneiform script. The top of the stele features a carving of Hammurabi receiving the laws from Shamash, the Babylonian sun god and god of justice, which served to legitimize his rule.

In ancient Mesopotamian life, the relationship between the Father of all gods, Anu, and Shamash is complex and varies between different traditions and eras. In some Akkadian traditions, Shamash is considered the son of Anu, the supreme sky god, or the very first God humans worshiped. However, in Sumerian tradition, Shamash (known as Utu) is more commonly the son of the moon god Nanna (Akkadian: Sin).

Anu was the divine personification of the sky and was often considered the king of the gods and the father of all deities. In the Babylonian theological system, the gods were sometimes ranked numerically, with Anu given the highest number, 60. Shamash was a highly important deity but was typically ranked lower than Anu. Shamash was often associated with the number 20.

So, how does this remind me of Charlie Kirk? While Anu was the ruler of the heavens and a figure of remote authority, Shamash was the god of the sun and divine justice. He was seen as an active and ever-present force who brought light, truth, and judgment to the world. Shamash was believed to be the one who gave the famous Code of Hammurabi to the king, highlighting his role in establishing and enforcing law and justice among humanity.

In essence, Anu held the highest position as the king and father of the gods, while Shamash, despite his different possible parentage depending on the story, was a major deity with a very practical and direct role in human life as the god of justice. I’m wondering what kind of justice Charlie Kirk would have embraced.

The text of the Hammurabi code itself consists of a prologue, 282 laws, and an epilogue. The laws are written in a casuistic, “if… then…” format, covering a wide range of legal issues, including Criminal law covering theft, murder, assault, and property damage. Family law encompasses marriage, divorce, adultery, inheritance, and adoption. Commercial law touching wages, contracts, debt, and trade, and Property law over land and housing.

The Code of Hammurabi is known for several key principles, some of which are surprisingly advanced for its time, while others reflect the social hierarchies of ancient Babylon. There is one that is ringing now loudly in my ears after the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Lex Talionis (“An Eye for an Eye”) is the most famous principle of the code. It established a rule of proportionality in punishment, meaning the penalty should be equal to the crime. For example, if a man broke another man’s bone, his own bone would be broken. As with the Old Testament, this was often a way of limiting revenge rather than encouraging a literal maiming. However, this principle was applied with a significant caveat.

It brought with it the Presumption of Innocence. The code introduced the idea that an accuser must present proof to support a charge. If they failed to do so, they could face the same punishment they sought for the accused. This is an early and important precursor to the modern legal principle of “innocent until proven guilty.”

By writing down the laws and making them public, Hammurabi provided a more consistent and stable legal framework. Before this, legal judgments were often based on local custom or the whims of a judge. The code was not necessarily the only law in the land, but it served as a permanent set of legal precedents. The Code of Hammurabi is significant for several reasons. First, it provides an invaluable window into the daily life, social structure, and economy of ancient Babylon. It is one of the earliest examples of a systematic and comprehensive set of laws. Its principles of proportionality and the need for proof have influenced legal thought for millennia.

Charlie Kirk was a man of faith. He cloaked himself in the Abrahamic Branch of religion and found within that branch both the concepts of “an Eye for an eye” and “turn the other cheek” and forgiveness. Listening to one of his last interviews on Megyn Kelly’s network, before he was cut down by an assassin, Charlie spoke of Justice with a capital “J” on Mark Halperin’s podcast “Next Up” and gave us his thoughts.

At the 30:58 mark in the podcast, Charlie says: “One of my passion projects is going to be part of me atoning for my sins in this regard because I used to kind of be sympathetic and even push for this legislatively in a prior life, but this whole criminal justice reform stuff has been a complete failure. And a lot of people on the right fell for it, and it was obviously pushed for people on the left, and the Koch brothers put a lot of money behind it. But how many more examples do we need of somebody with 10,12, 13, 14 priors that then goes and commits a murder? This is not an isolated thing. We now see that this is not there there are some people that have demonstrated that the current model is not able to rehabilitate him, these people. So, I think that is really where I want to focus a lot of my attention which is what are we really doing here in regard to this whole fake and fraudulent criminal justice push that we’ve seen uh the last 10 years especially. Is it making us safer? Is it making our streets better? And I understand the intention of it. I understand that there’s some people that get caught up in that thicket that probably are in jail for too long or the evidence could have been better weighed. But largely, we do not have enough people in prison in this country. And I can defend that. It’s very defensible actually. Only half of America’s murders are even solved. You think about that, Mark. Only half of our murders in our country are solved. That means 50% of our murderers are walking the streets of our cities. We should have more people in prison.”

At the 41:17 mark in the podcast, Charlie says: “We are a violent country, we need more prisoners and we need more prisons. And until we’re willing to swallow that pill and say that we’re going to keep on having situations like this happen. And our inner cities are going to be chaotic places of crime where you don’t know if you’re going to be getting on a subway and if you’ll get home or whether something’s going to happen to you. There’s a lot more to unpack here, Mark, but the just to just to summarize, if we are to write a new book of rules, you must first you must first upend the current one which is dominant, which was ushered in post George Floyd. I want to see that gone. That new book of rules, though, I’m happy to have that conversation with anybody.”

These were some of the last thoughts uttered out loud about Justice in America that fell off the lips of Charlie Kirk. I believe Charlie was clear and was leaning on the “eye for an eye” part of his faith. So, I’m with Charlie, let’s go get these bastards!

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C. Rich

C. Rich is the voice behind America Speaks Ink, home to the America First Movement. As an author, freelance ghostwriter, poet, and blogger, C. Rich brings a “baked-in” perspective shaped by growing up on the streets and beaches of South Florida in the 1970s-1980s and brings a quintessential Generation-X point of view.

Rich’s writing journey began in 2008 with coverage of the Casey Anthony trial and has since evolved into a wide-ranging exploration of politics, culture, and the issues that define our times. Follow C. Rich’s writing odyssey here at America Speaks Ink and on Amazon with a multi-book series on Donald Trump called “Trump Era: The MAGA Files” and many other books and subjects C. Rich is known to cover.  CRich@AmericaSpeaksInk.com

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