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| The Ten Commandments (Bible Card) |
Lectionary: Proper 22
Text: Exodus20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20; Philippians 3:4b-14
Introduction: Connotations of Law
The
relationship between Christians and law in the Bible is complicated. On
the one hand, many Christians are quick to state that the law was done away
with (or something like that) because of Jesus Christ and grace. But on the
other hand, many Christians, especially many American Christians, believe
wholeheartedly that many biblical laws, starting with the Ten Commandments, are
necessary to the proper functioning of society. Traditionally, Christians have
been quick to label Jews as legalistic in terms of redemption, deliverance, and
salvation. At the same time, many Christians may not impose too many obstacles
for someone to approach Christ, but once you do, there is a laundry list times
ten, of standards (but don’t call them laws or rules) that you are expected to live in
to and up to.
Maybe for
some of you, this sounds rather foreign. If that is the case, good for you and
thank God you never had to experience it.
But for
others, the mention of law in relation to the Bible, Christianity, and religion
might be a huge trigger for fear, judgment, and feelings of inadequacy and
failure.
Psalm 119 is
an entire acrostic poetry on how wonderful and good, liberating, and joyful God’s
law is. Is there something we are missing when we think about law in the Bible?
Static View of Law
In our
present society, “law” has certain connotations, images, and even feelings
associated with its mention and use. Among some of the positive ones include
stability of society, predictable expectations of behavior, and baselines for many
types of relationships. Some negative associations might be rigidity and
inflexibility, harshness and leniency (depending on what one wants from
the law), loopholes, too many laws, and unequal applications. Law may also
invoke neutral associations, especially regarding its ideals, even if they are
not often or ever met. These might include such things as justice, equality, and fairness. Law
is usually thought to be stable and permanent. Once a law is handed and written
down, it is expected to be unchanging except in the rarest of circumstances. Our
entire society operates on the premise of that predictability.
When
Christians brought up in the Western tradition (that’s us) think about the
Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, and how it was given to Israel, we imagine
something like what is depicted by Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments,
receiving the law on tablets of stone, written by God himself. “How much more
permanent and eternal could it be?” we ask ourselves.
I hadn’t
thought much about it before, but the story of Esther contains interesting explanations
about the law of the Medes and the Persians. One such example is found right near
the beginning. It reads,
19 Now, if the king wishes, let him send out a royal order and have it
written into the laws of Persia and Media, laws no one can ever change. (Esther
1:19a CEB)
When the
text goes out of the way to explain something, that is often a clue that what
is being explained might be foreign to the audience. Here, “have it written into
the laws of Persia and Media, laws no one can ever change,” is certainly used
to make a point to the king about a desired effect of the law, but I also think (because it is repeated in Esther
8:8 and found in Daniel 6:8) that it explains something that is not a Jewish
norm regarding how they think about laws. (Both Esther and Daniel are late
post-exilic writings).
To us, the
practice of around laws of ancient Persians seems overly harsh,
especially if the laws are impetuous and unwise, or conniving and malicious. But
even in our society, dumb, self-serving, and even malicious laws get passed and
we know how difficult they are to change. In practice then, I think that our
society is quite like the Persians.
Dynamic View of Law
How then,
did the ancient Israelites and Jews view law and what were their practices?
From a
commentary on this portion of Exodus, Thomas Dozeman writes,
“Law in the Bible resists a simple definition. It embraces
many words and metaphors, including torah (tôrâ), judgment (mišpāṭ), statute (ḥôq),
commandment (miṣwâ), testimony (ʿēdût), and covenant (bĕrît). The dynamic
character of law is conveyed through metaphors of motion and speech. Law is
alive, deriving from the words (dĕbārîm) or voice (qôl) of God. The words are
codified in writing, including the Ten Words (ʿăśeret haddĕbārîm), the Book of
Torah (sēper hattôrâ) and the Book of the Covenant (sēper habbĕrît). Once
codified the law is anything but static. Rather, it creates a roadway
(derek) through life upon which humans are able to walk (hālak). The vocabulary
indicates the breadth of the subject matter, while the metaphors underscore the
dynamic quality of law as a resource for change through time. Jewish legal
interpretation employs the metaphor of walking, halakah, to underscore the
dynamic character of law in ongoing tradition.”
And Dozeman
continues,
“Ancient laws function differently than the modern Western
model of law, where the legal judgments of the court are comprehensive and
clearly expressed in written language available to participants in advance. The
ancient legal practice is not tied exclusively to written laws, but depends on
the context of the situation to resolve dispute.”
Pete Enns,
in Exodus for Normal People writes,
“Debate and wisdom always have been necessary for us to
figure out how to obey God’s laws. This is why, strictly speaking, Judaism is
not so much focused on obeying the Law of Moses ‘on its own terms,’ but on the
long tradition of working out what it means to obey ambiguous and ancient laws
as circumstances change over time… The common view among Christians, that Jews
are slaves to the letter of the Law, does not remotely do justice to the
subtlety of Jewish tradition.”
From these
quotations, we begin to see how vastly different the modern, Western conception
of law is vs. how the ancient Israelites and Jews thought and worked with their laws. For
us, the law is the end of arguments. Sure, decisions might be appealed, as happens
in our legal system. But eventually, a final verdict, a final interpretation of
the law as it is written, is handed down, a precedent is set, and that interpretation
is understood to be mostly permanent, except in very rare cases. For Jews however,
the law is the beginning of contemplation, dialogue, argument, and a contextual
application that is assumed to not be the final word on a matter and application
can change as context changes. And this includes the Ten Commandments.
Amy-Jill
Levine writes,
“First, the Torah is not a law code in the sense of a
comprehensive set of laws intended for use by the court, and in a number of
cases, such as the Decalogue, it is unclear how or by whom they were enforced.
Second, it contains several collections of laws that reflect different periods,
authors, and audiences.”
Progression of Law
The very
literary development of the Hebrew scriptures and its Torah portion shows evidence
of gradual development and change to the Law.
We are
probably of the impression that the Ten Commandments is the first, the
earliest, and the foundation for all the other laws of the Torah. But the
literary history indicates otherwise. Levine continues, “Biblical scholars call the
earliest collection, Exodus 20:22-23:33, the Covenant Collection.”
Furthermore,
there are two versions of the Decalogue, and there is evidence that suggests that the version found in Deuteronomy 5 is the earlier version. In this (Deut.) version, the
reason for the Sabbath is humanitarian: the deliverance from slavery. In the
Exodus version, the reason for the Sabbath is creation, and the set-apartness
(i.e., holiness) of the seventh day, which is more a priestly concern that
develops post-exile.
In fact, Exodus
19:20 through 20:17 looks like a late insertion. There are numerous pieces of
literary evidence to support this (which we don't have time right now to explore more fully). What it means is that the original narrative
of God’s theophany at a mountain (unnamed originally, but probably Horeb) to
Israel and the giving of the Covenant does not include the Decalogue. The
Decalogue was a separate tradition that merged with the earlier theophany
tradition to form what we now have as a single Sinai narrative.
The laws
found in the Torah reflect too, many of the law codes that existed in other
societies around Israel. The progress of the laws found in Torah is summarized
by Levine.
“The abolition of social classes, this equal treatment of
people from different classes, perhaps based in the biblical notion that all
are created in God’s image (so Gen 1), is a parade example of how the Bible
improves upon the legal system it inherited.”
In other
words, other law codes at the time privileged those with power and means, but
the unique feature of the Torah is that all are equal under God.
But what
about when Jesus comes on the scene, and the apostles inaugurate the Christian community?
Levine offers the following,
“When we put Jesus into his Jewish tradition, we see that
both concerns, justice and mercy, remain. Great care must be taken in using the
Bible as a precedent for judicial issues—especially when the biblical materials
are not as clear as we may think.”
And Dozeman
writes,
“An interpretation of law as a dynamic resource for change
and spiritual contemplation is less common among Christian interpreters, who
selectively read NT literature that views law negatively as a system of
religious legalism resistant to change and antithetical to the mystical
experience of God…
[But] Law is also a resource for change in the NT. Jesus
states in the Gospel of Matthew that teachers of the law trained in the kingdom
of heaven bring forth old and new treasures (Matt 13:52). Recent scholarship
has reinforced the dynamic role of the law in NT literature.”
Examples of
dynamic change in interpretation of the law include Peter and what clean vs.
unclean means; Paul and his interpretation of circumcision, his views around food
regulations, and his interpretation of what constitutes belonging to Israel.
The conflicts between Jesus and the teachers of the law are also examples of how
the interpretation of the law was not static but constantly undergoing change.
God is Unchanging?
What all
this means is that the laws are not written in stone. If the laws are
dynamic and interpretation is contextual, does that mean there is nothing firm
and solid?
Both the Old
and New Testaments contain texts that state that God does not change (Numbers
23:19; Malachi 3:6; James 1:17; et al.) This unchanging nature of God has
traditionally been extrapolated, at least within Christian tradition, to include laws that God has given. But we have now seen that the Jews view God-given laws
quite a bit differently than the traditional Christian view.
When we investigate
the Hebrew scriptures and history, we do find what is considered the unchanging
nature of God. It is hesed, often translated as “lovingkindness” or
“steadfast love” into English. But those words and phrases do not capture the
full essence of what that means. Joshua James in Psalms for Normal People explains,
“There’s a common refrain that occurs throughout Psalms that
will help us anchor this theological tenet about God’s past actions informing
the people’s present trust. In our English translations, the refrain is
typically rendered, ‘for Yahweh’s steadfast love endures forever.’ For many
modern readers, however, the point is missed…”
“The Hebrew term rendered ‘steadfast love’ is hesed,
and its intended meaning goes well beyond sentimentality. It refers to ‘acts of
commitment’ or ‘acts of faithfulness.’ God’s love, in other words, is measured
not by what God feels, but by what God has done. In Psalms, hesed
is an observable divine activity that consistently works on Israel’s behalf.”
When we read
the beginning of the Decalogue, God starts with what God has done in the past
for God’s chosen people. That is the basis and foundation for why the law is
given. It is the one thing that does not change about God. God’s commitment to
God’s people begins even before the people are aware that there is this God. And
the history of the Israelites demonstrates God’s commitment even when the
people are unfaithful.
How God’s
acts of commitment and faithfulness look changes depending on people, society,
and history. But God’s commitment to people God chooses does not change.
How people
demonstrate faithfulness to God also changes depending on their society and
culture, history, and many other human attributes. Each group of God’s people
have to determine what that looks like. And that is the reason for God’s law.
It is a starting point to begin learning and experimenting with what
faithfulness looks like for those people, in that place, and at that time. What
is found in God’s instructions to God’s people is to be a people who practice justice
and mercy without distinction to all.
Law and the Gospel
When all
this is brought together, the gospel lived and proclaimed by Jesus isn’t at all
different from the law and covenant given to Israel through theophany from a
mountain.
What does
becoming a people of justice and mercy look like for us today? In what ways can
we meditate on God’s revelation and God’s instructions, both the older and the
newer Covenants, so that we can be faithful and committed to God’s purposes for
us?
__________________
References
Dozeman, T. B. (2009). Exodus (Eerdmans Critical
Commentary). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
Enns, P. (2021). Exodus for Normal People.
Perkiomenville, PA: The Bible for Normal People.
James, J. T. (2023). Psalms for Normal People.
Harleysville, PA: The Bible for Normal People.
Levine, A.-J. a. (2020). The Bible With and
Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently.
San Francisco: HarperOne.
