The world is my parish.
Any group of people needs guidelines to get along with each other in community.
These range from matters of common courtesy and cultural norms that set boundaries for behavior, to civil and criminal law that keep order in society and restrict the ability of the powerful to dominate the weak. Such codes of conduct oil the machinery of society, reducing the friction caused by people living and working closely together. Yet, Israelites were not the only people of the Ancient Near East who had such codes of conduct. Much of what is contained in Israelite codes can be found in other cultures, some pre-dating the Old Testament by centuries. Often these are attributed to a deity who instructed the leader to give the laws to the people.