DovBear asks:
Why is the law collection that makes up parshas Mishpatim addressed to people who live in houses, and not tents?
Why is the Torah talking to a type of society that hadn't yet come into being? And if we're meant to extrapolate from the cases given in the Torah, why isn't there any mention of commerce? There are no merchants, and no artisans. Everyone is presumed to be a farmer who owns sheep, oxen and slaves. Strange. Very strange.…
DNA posted this answer (he is being sarcastic, but this is the standard answer given in yeshivot) on DovBear:
That's simple. You see every time the torah talks about something which didn't yet exist at the time of moshe, it was a book written with prophecy and written for future generations as well.
And every time it seems outmoded and only to deal with ancient circumstances which are irrelevant, or even barbaric, by modern standards, that's because it was written for that time.…
In other words, when the Torah fails we say it was written for a time long ago. Where it succeeds in "predicting" the future, we say it proves God's existence and his Authorship of the Torah. Can't get more closed circle than that.
What do you think? Do you have any better answers?