This is a response I wrote about a year ago for my Old Testament class. It was an online course, so we wrote responses to the readings every week. What the reading was is not hugely important to understand this particular response; just know it was from Deuteronomy.
The readings this week from Deuteronomy made me think about rules. Rules are in place usually with reason, to protect us in work and play. We are given rules are laid down by our parents, our teachers, our religion, our government from the moment we are born until we die. Some have very clear motivations, and are almost always applicable. The “no diving in shallow water” rule has an obvious reason with an obvious consequence. Some rules have convoluted motivations with frustrating consequences. A friend of mine is having trouble financially and the situation is made worse by the rule that she cannot claim her father as a dependent until she is 24. At 22 she is supporting herself and father who suffered a stroke last year and cannot work. However she cannot claim him as a dependent on her taxes because he is her father. This rule is probably in place because someone took advantage of the system at one point. Because of those consequences, my friend now suffers. No matter the authority that puts down the rules, these rules serve some purpose at some point. Some become archaic and are thrown out and some endure in usefulness. As a person grows up, the rules for them change in their house and the relationship between parents and child change. The same is true for the government, at least the one in which Americans live. As a person grows up, the laws applying to them change and a citizen has more power to influence the laws.
The rhetoric form of Deuteronomy is a speech given by Moses, the parent/teacher/religion/government figure of the Israelites. One of the things that Moses primarily does is speak for God. Moses begins by recounting the story of how the Israelites got to the place they are now. The primary theme is that God took care of them and provided for them. This reminds me of many a disciplinary lecture. A parent sits their teenager down and says “I feed you and clothe you and put a roof over your head so you will follow my rules!” A police officer says “it is my job to take care of this city so I am going to write you this speeding ticket.” Moses says that God takes care of them, so as long as they live under his roof they will follow his rules.
The new rules that God sets down are, like many rules, sometimes have obvious motivations with obvious consequences and some seem more convoluted. God tells them not to intermarry with the locals so they are not tempted to turn away from their faith (Dt. 7:3-4). This sounds very similar to a parent warning their child or giving advice on who to choose as friends and who to date and marry. Different parents will say different things, but hopefully that advice runs more like, “choose someone who will encourage you to be who you are and not turn you away from your values.” The laws concerning food seem a little more arbitrary to a modern audience (Dt. 14:3-21). Some of these at the time would have been considered a health issue. Shellfish, for example, were often ill-prepared and were a very big risk to eat (Dt. 14:10). Some were more of a ritual issue, like eating nothing that “dies of itself” or a “kid in its mother’s milk” (Dt. 14:21, note 14:21 Harper Collins Study Bible). While the shellfish rule is fairly obvious in motivation, the dying animal rule is not so clear.
What is termed the greatest commandment here is “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Dt. 6:5). This rule was to be recited to oneself throughout the day to keep it fresh and important. It contains great meaning to the Jewish people today no matter if they keep kosher laws or not. For us as Christians, we see the Old Testament as part of our salvation history. This rule is recited by Jesus, whose life we might compare in this extended metaphor to how the rules change when you move out of your parents house or how the laws change for you at 18, 21, or 24. Jesus adds to it, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself,” and the rule is changed again (Mt 22:36-40; Mk 12:28-34; Lk 10:25-28). Our metaphorical son or daughter now has the keys to the car and votes. As God’s people develop and grow, so does how God treats them and gives the rules associated with them.
Carol... I honestly have NO idea what you mean in the last 4 sentences or so of the entry.
ReplyDelete- In what way is Jesus' life "compared to how the rules change when you move out of your parents' house"?
- I am not sure what you mean by claiming that Jesus added to text of Deut. 6:5 when he answers the question concerning what the Greatest Commandment is in his answer "Love your neighbor as yourself." In what way is his citing Leviticus 19:18 adding to Deut 6:5? There is not a change or addition present. These two texts / commands summarize the whole of the Law. Commandments 1-3 (Actually I would say 1-4... but your blog... your theology... so I'll play and give your listing of the commandments rather than my preference.) Are summarized with the statement: Love God. If you love God, you will keep his Holy Name and worship him alone as he commands. The later commands all are compacted in the law to love our neighbors; you don't kill someone you love, you don't covet something of another person's if you love that person, you don't lie to a person you truly love with your whole heart, etc.
I followed your example fine about the rules in our lives as God's law... but I do not follow the jump to who gets the keys or votes. I'm trying, but I don't understand.
Finally,
"As God's people develop and grow, so does how God treats them and gives the rules associated with them."
Hmm.
"Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin." (Romans 3:19-20)
Do God's laws change or become altered? I'm reminded of Jesus' declaration that he came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it. The law remains, as the portion of Romans 3 cited above states, as a mirror - at which we look and we see ourselves as guilty law-breakers. Sinners. Have you lied? Liar. Stolen something? Thief. Looked with lust? Adultery of the heart.
God's perfect law shows us as we are: as sinners in desperate and utter need of God's mercy. Not justice: justice would result in getting what we deserve (see Revelation 21:8). As a criminal, I deserve the payment I should receive for my job as a criminal (Romans 3:23).
But the law is not to point us to our criminalness and leave us there. A diagnosis of a disease is not meant to be an end itself. The diagnosis allows those involved to identify the problem and issue a cure.
And what is the cure to the law? What is the opposite of the bad news? The Good News that people are being reconciled to God through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, shed on the cross for the complete remission of sins to all who trust in Christ's work to save and change their mind about their sin and who Christ is. Change their mind from being a hater of God to a lover of God. Repentance and Faith (trust)... two sides of the same coin.
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
(Romans 3:21-26 ESV)
I did not mean for that to become a mini blog post itself. :-) I'm a fan of the gospel though.
ReplyDelete