A Just Society

Deuteronomy 24:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deu%2024&version=NIV
            I have a feeling that most of the reaction to Deuteronomy 24 is going to center around the first few verses, namely, the prohibition on remarrying a former spouse.  And I have a feeling that that reaction is going to be looking for a reason for this prohibition.  Let me respond to those questions in two ways.  First, let me say, I don't know why this prohibition is in there.  I've performed a few marriages over the years in which the couple was coming back together after time apart, and I've found them blessed events.  This may be a case where we say, "I'm not going to get bogged down in the details of Moses' law," rejoice that we are not bound by all the specific regulations, and recognize that the principle--namely, the sanctity of marriage--is the important principle.
            I have a second response, too, and this one is a little snippy:  Let's not get so bogged down in the parts we don't understand that we miss what a remarkable chapter this is in terms of its concern for justice for the poor.  People who think that Moses is all hellfire and brimstone need to take a look at passages like this.  Acts of mercy abound:  newlyweds are not to be sent into battle; livelihoods are not to be endangered in greed; the dignity and needs of the indebted are to be considered; portions of crops are to be left behind for the poor.  You know, our world could stand those lessons!  I've performed many weddings in which no honeymoon was possible because there was no vacation time available.  We live in an age dominated by big banks and huge corporations and we hear all sorts of horror stories of the impersonal policies and practices that don't see human beings to be cared about but customers to be fleeced for as much as possible.  And don't get me started about the tragedy that a nation that produces food for the world has its own poor and starving!
            So, let's be fair to Moses.  On the one hand, there are parts of his law that we don't fully understand (although with a little imagination we can figure out some still-applicable principles).  On the other hand, there is a vision of a just society in parts of his law that ought to be the envy and the desire of the industrial West.

Pure and Helpful

Deuteronomy 22-23:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deu%2022-23&version=NIV
           Deuteronomy 22 begins with the oddest collection of laws:  regulations about helping a neighbor with his livestock, regulation about cross-dressing, about eating birds, about mixing seeds, etc.  Let me suggest at least two underlying principles.
            First, there is a concern here for what Christians name sins of omission.  Christian theology actually has a whole vocabulary for sin, and we contemporary Christians might do well to recover it and use it more often.  So, the basic distinction is between original sin and actual sin.  Original sin is the corruption of our nature that we have inherited from Adam; it is the cause and source of actual sins. Actual sins are all those thoughts, words, and deeds which run contrary to the will of God.  Further, actual sin has two 'expressions:' sins of commission, in which we actively violate something the Lord has said, and sins of omission, in which we fail to do the good at hand.  Deuteronomy 22 and its command to take care of lost animals is a reminder, "Don't fail to help your neighbor."
            Second, there is a concern here for purity.  I doubt there's any great, deep significance to 'cross-dressing,' mixed crops, or mixed weave clothes.  But there is an underlying principle:  let things be what they are, and don't try to make one thing into another.  Why?  Well, because God made it what it is, for one thing.    And because it reminds you that you are one thing--God's holy people--and you shouldn't act like something else.

It Still Matters

Deuteronomy 20-21:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deu%2020-21&version=NIV

            In the last couple of days' readings, there are at least two instances in which verses from Deuteronomy are quoted in the New Testament.  The principle of two witnesses (Deut. 19:15) is quoted by Jesus (Matt. 18:16), Paul (2 Cor. 13:1), and the writer of Hebrews (10:28).  Likewise, Paul grabs on to a verse from today’s reading—Deut. 21:23—and makes a huge theological point in Galatians 3:13.

            Now, both of those instances ‘work;’ there is no hermeneutical funny-business.  Jesus and Paul, especially, are using the ‘two witnesses’ principle in a discussion about confronting sin.  (The writer to the Hebrews has a little more of a stretch.)  And Paul’s use of the statement about being hung on a tree presents itself very clearly in Gal. 3, since he is talking about Jesus being cursed for being nailed to a tree.

            The thing that puzzles—amazes—me is that I’m not reading Deuteronomy that closesly.  The bit about cursedness and trees is tucked in regulation about firstborn sons, rebellious son, and lost oxen.  The bit about witnesses is tucked between cases of manslaughter, property markers, and the conduct of war.  I don’t know about you, but I read these things two and three times sometimes, because, really, we’ve been over this ground before, and I lose interest and focus.  Jesus and Paul did not lose focus.  They searched the Scriptures, looking for application, looking for hints of God’s plans and purposes.

            One of the themes of this blog has been that it is hard to appropriately apply the Scriptures—to do it in a way that is sensitive to their Christological center and that takes full account of their historical nature.  Yet, we see from the New Testament that our efforts aren’t wasted.  There is that moment of comprehension, that moment of connection, when we see the consistency of God’s Words—old and new, when we are rewarded with a new, hard-won insight into the character of God.

            I guess I’m just saying, “Keep at it, folks.”  We’ve been in the law of Moses for a long time (about 9 weeks, by my count), and I suspect that these last few days in Deuteronomy have been tough for you as they have been for me, because interest is flagging.  Keep at it.  Obscure as they may seem, these are still the words of God!
--reposted from March 16, 2011

A Prophet Like Moses

Deuteronomy 18-19:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deu%2018-19&version=NIV

            Commentators (well, evangelical commentators, anyway) widely understand Deuteronomy 18:15 as a messianic prophecy.  The expectation of the ‘second coming of Moses’ was current in Jesus’ day.  Someone even asked John the Baptizer if he was ‘the Prophet.’  It’s understandable that John was thought of like that:  after all, he summoned the people back to the Jordan, in a way enacting a new Exodus through the practice of baptism.  (John was a prophet of renewal, calling Israel to be faithful again to her history and to her identity as God’s treasured possession.)

            I find the progression of Matthew’s Gospel most interesting:  it begins with John’s call to repentance (Exodus), brings Jesus into the wilderness for trial and testing, specifically about whether He will trust the Lord’s purposes for Him (Israel in the wilderness), and the next thing we know, He’s on a mountain, teaching about identity in the Lord and the way that identity is lived out (Sermon on the Mount/Deuteronomy).  In other words, it sure seems that Matthew wants us to see Jesus as the ‘prophet like Moses.’

            Now, some care is called for.  Jesus is not a new lawgiver.  He’s the Savior, who fulfills Israel’s vocation on behalf of mankind.  Frankly, it’d be a disservice if we saw Moses only as a lawgiver!  I think it’s important that we keep this in mind:  Israel is not some law-driven, legalistic thing.  One of the themes we have uncovered throughout our reading of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) has been that Israel’s vocation, her calling—from Abraham onward—is to carry God’s promise of blessing for the nations to its completion.  The story of Israel is not primarily about laws and obscure regulation; it is primarily about the Lord setting aside a peculiar people to fulfill His promises to the world.
           Given our reading the last few months, it would be easy to see Israel only as a bunch of rules-bound legalists, a real "do this and live" kind of people.  That would mean losing sight of the promise to Abraham and the calling of Israel to be God's 'peculiar people' for the salvation of the world.  True, there were times in her history--a lot of them--when Israel lost track of her unique mission and acted like a bunch of rules-bound legalists.  But the presentation of Jesus as a prophet like Moses reminds us that there was always more going on with Israel than just 'rules.'  Salvation was always at stake in her life--salvation for all mankind.

Passover, Justice, and a King

Deuteronomoy 16-17:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut%2016-17&version=NIV

            Deuteronomy 16-17 is another of those passages that covers several topics, and it has led me to these three reflections about Passover, justice, and kingship.

            First, there is this curious little phrase associate with the unleavened bread of Passover—bread of affliction.  I didn’t study it extensively, but my concordance tells me that this is the only place this particular form of the phrase occurs.  When we were in Exodus and bumped into unleavened bread the first time, I explained that bread with yeast appears to ‘bloat’ so there was some sense in which yeast was associated with decay.  That makes good sense of, say, 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, in which yeast is associated with malice and wickedness.  Here, though, we have a different image.  Now, I’m just thinking out loud, but my experience with unleavened bread is that it’s kind of tough and hard to eat.   So, perhaps there’s a second aspect to the feast of unleavened bread—“You left in a hurry, and the bread you ate on the way out was like the slavery you were leaving—tough and hard to swallow.”  It’s not a bad thing to remember what we were (look at St. Paul in Eph. 2:1 or Col. 1:21); as a matter of fact, remembering what we once were sustains our joy in what we now are.

            The second thing that stood out for me today was 16:19-20:  “You shall not pervert justice.  You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.  Justice, and only justice, you shall follow.”  This call for impartial justice, to set things right according to the values of the Lord, is sharpened in 17:6, which declares that you need at least two witnesses.  It is sharpened even more by 17:7, namely, the witness has to be the first to throw a stone in punishment.  It’s one thing to work behind the scenes, to slander and besmirch, another; it’s a whole other thing to be the instrument of punishment.  It would take a pretty cold person to take part in the execution of another if one had exaggerated or made up one’s testimony against that person!

            Finally, I was struck by the fact that the Lord gave them permission to set up a king—like the other nations.  After all, in 1 Samuel, when they actually ask for a king, the Lord takes it as rejection of His reign (1 Sam. 8:7).  So, then, why does the Lord give them permission beforehand?  Perhaps it’s like parents and teenagers:  we know they’re going to make choices of which we don’t approve, but if we see it coming we can we can maybe mitigate the damage they do.  Imagine the conversation, “You want a tattoo?  Well, you’re 18; I can’t legally stop you, but maybe I can influence where you get it and how big it is . . .”  Or, “I can’t completely restrict the music that you’re listening to, but maybe I can keep you from embracing the worldview in those songs and keep you from listening to it so loud that you hurt your ears.”  It does seem an odd thing that the Lord would allow something He wasn’t pleased with, but I suppose that’s the price of human will:  He can’t make us act appropriately without destroying what He made us.  So, He says, “You’re probably going to want a king; make sure he’s one of you and that he follows my laws, ok?”
--reposted from March 14, 2011

The Urgency of Dispossession

Deuteronomy 11-12:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut%2011-12&version=NIV

            Deuteronomy 11-12 offers more insight into why the Canaanites have to be completely dispossessed of the land, namely, the Canaanite religion will be a snare and a trap to Israel.

            Notice that Moses warns the people of Israel that Canaan is not like Egypt.  In Egypt, the crops were fed and watered by the rising of Nile; in Canaan, they are nourished by falling rain.  So, the Egyptian religion focused on the gods of the Nile, and the Canaanite religion focused on the god of the storm.  Now, when Israel, who lately had been slaves and historically had been herdsmen, settles in Canaan, they will have to learn how to work and farm this new land.  What would be more natural than to ask, “What do those who already work the land do to ensure good crops?”  The answer was obvious, “They worship Baal.”  I suppose it’s the same way in the modern West.  If we were to ask, “How do people today define and ensure prosperity?” the answer would have to do with the pursuit of the almighty buck, and we are certainly enticed to make that the center of our lives.  Anyhow, the Canaanites must go lest their ‘technology’ for farming entices the Israelites to idolatry.

            Further, the Canaanites have their religion diffused over the entire land.  Moses warns about high places that must be destroyed.  Israel is not to worship willy-nilly, each man as seems best and where seems best to him.  Israel has a clearly defined style of worship and a divinely designated place of worship.  The point—one of the points—is that Israel cannot just safely cordon off the Canaanites; the Canaanites influence is too insidious.  They and their idolatry must be driven out completely.

            So, two reasons are presented for getting rid of the Canaanites rather than co-existing with them:  the enticement of their religion and its insidiousness.

            Now, look, in the New Testament, the Church’s focus has shifted from Old Testament Israel’s.  We are not called to preserve the promise until its fulfillment; we are called to proclaim that the promise has been fulfilled.  So, it will not do for us to hunker down in our own sanitized and safe bunkers; Christians cannot be separatists from the world around us—not if we are going to be effective witnesses to that world.  We are going to have to risk contact—substantial contact—with the world.  On the other hand, the call for purity is still there.  But for us it’s a purity of heart.  The purification we need is a purification of heart, not of land, because each one of us carries Christ with us; we carry a  kernel of the land of promise wherever we go.

Gracious Despite It All

Deuteronomy 9-10:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut%209-10&version=NIV

            I have two quick thoughts on Deuteronomy 9-10.  First, in case Israel missed it, Moses reminds them several times that the Lord is not giving them the land because of their righteousness.  (He says it like three or four times.)  Then, to drive the point home, he goes through the list of times that the Lord was so angry He thought about starting over—the golden calf and the first refusal to take the land figure prominently.

            The application is pretty obvious:  in case we missed it, the Lord did not save us because of our righteousness, either.  The Small Catechism says that all of this is ‘without any merit or worthiness’ in us (explanation of the 1^st Article of the Creed).  Nope, we done’ deserve any of it.  That is grace—a love that embraces even the unlovable, God’s love seeking the lost, even as they are in the process of running away.  “While we were still sinners,” Paul reminds us (Rom. 5), “Christ died for us.”

            The second thought is about the character of Israel’s (and our!) God.  In the midst of all the talk about God’s anger, it’s easy to lose track of the fact that the Lord shows no partiality, that He defends the cause of the defenseless, that He loves even the foreigner.  He establishes and disciplines Israel for the purpose of bringing His salvation into the world, a salvation He gives freely to Jew and Gentile alike (Rom. 1).  His Law always functions in service to His Gospel.