Deuteronomy 14-30 :Finding Truth in All the Laws

We have already seen the many laws that Israel's leaders established, so the actual information in Deuteronomy 14-30 probably seem fairly familiar.  Israelite culture was in many ways all about a particular attitude or perspective, and the laws in these chapters outline how that attitude translates into practical reality.  There are laws about being set apart from other cultures in personal habits, laws about how Israelites should treat one another, and laws about how people should view their possessions.  Most of the Israelite laws are inappropriate for modern society, but looking beneath the surface can reveal some truths that surpass time and culture.

Some laws cover what food people should eat, what types of animals were suitable for sacrifice, what practices from other cultures one should avoid, what kind of clothes one may wear, and various other restrictions that may even seem heavy-handed and oppressive.  The point behind many of these laws, whether the Israelite leaders thought of it this way or not, was for the Israelites to be intentional in their behavior.  If you are restricted from wearing certain things or eating certain things, or if you must choose an animal without blemish for a sacrifice, you are likely to become very conscious of your choices.  It would be difficult for someone to go on autopilot and stay within the lines of Israelite law.  Without imposing heavy-handed restrictions on ourselves, we are still capable of living intentionally.  By being thoughtful and purposeful in our decisions, we can create more meaningful lives, even if our intentional actions are different from what other people decide.

Other laws address how people treat one another.  More than one witness is necessary to convict someone of a crime.  You can't take away someone's source of livelihood to cover a debt.  Every seven years, all debts (between Israelites) are cancelled.  If an Israelite man sleeps with an unmarried Israelite woman, he must marry her rather than dishonoring her family.  Treat people fairly rather than taking advantage of others.  Take care of the less fortunate.  Essentially, recognize that people are worthy of respect.  People are worth more than whatever could be gained by taking advantage of them.  No one is a more valuable human being than anyone else, so respect people in all your dealings.

Finally, there are laws that demand sacrifice.  Give your best as an offering.  If you miss a few grapes when harvesting, don't go back over the vineyard and claim every last one.  If you are going to war, don't take men into battle that have a good reason to be at home instead.  Essentially, recognize that you have enough.  Live from a space of abundance rather than a fear of scarcity.

Of course, there are laws about having the community stone your son to death if he's a drunkard who won't listen to you.  And there are laws about marrying your brother's widow in order to father a child that will carry on your brother's name.  Their culture was obviously different from ours.  They had no problem with  invoking the death penalty for what we would consider a minor offense, or not an offense at all.  We don't have to get caught up in the literal obedience of laws intended for a culture in its infancy thousands of years ago.  Certainly, there is a certain amount of societal control and fear of the outside world that informed the laws, but we can look past that if we choose to.  The important bit is to recognize the truth that underlies all of it, the undeniable pieces that remain despite human fears.  People are worthy of our respect.  We live in abundance.  Life is better when we are intentional about our actions.

There are also lists of blessings and curses tied in with obedience to the laws.  Do what God wants, and you will live well.  Disobey and suffer.  It's presented as compensation to be sought and punishment to be feared, but there is also a sense that following the principles will lead inevitably to a rewarding life, while not following the principles will lead inevitably to unhappiness.  Chapter 30:11-18 reads:

Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”  No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.  For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess

Without veering too far from the actual scripture, it's safe to say that you have the ability to make wise choices in your life.  You can choose to live with an attitude of abundance, to respect other people, to be intentional in your decisions.  You already know what is right, even though sometimes it is tempting to choose what is convenient.  And what you don't know can be learned or discovered.  You are never lost or abandoned, even when the journey is difficult.  You are always able to put one foot in front of the other and move forward, even if you are only able to remember a few basic principles.

Guidelines and laws are useful for a society, but they don't mean as much as the principles on which they're built.  You know that human beings have value, and thus you have value.  Start from there.  You know that there is some part of every person that is beautiful and creative, even if it is sometimes difficult to see.  Honor that truth.  Recognize that you have enough, and that you have something to offer.  Be intentional about how you respect other people and yourself.  It isn't too difficult, and it isn't beyond your reach.      

Deuteronomy 4-5: Rewriting the Ten Commandments and Making a Covenant with Ourselves

Deuteronomy, the "second law" (or the second telling of the agreement between the Israelites and God), imagines Moses speaking to the Israelites as they are about to enter the Promised Land, recounting their decades-long journey and reminding them of their spiritual identity as a community.  As such, it contains some passages that read like pep-talks, and it is repetitious of information that was conveyed in previous books.  Deuteronomy 4 is one passage in which Moses tells the Israelites why their god is the best god ever, and in many ways, he's right.  Their concept of spiritual identity was indeed different from many cultures of their time.  The writers of Deuteronomy also knew that by referring back to people who had supposedly been eye-witnesses to certain impressive events, later generations would be more likely to take that spiritual identity seriously.  It's why some people believe in ghosts or alien abductions.  Eyewitness accounts build credibility.

Out of this chapter, the passage on idolatry is of particular interest.  When we read about the golden calf episode before, I wrote about our desire to worship things outside of ourselves.  If you missed it, here's a link.  Even once we get more comfortable with ascribing worth to ourselves, there will be moments of self-doubt.  Moses reassures the Israelites that even if they are driven away and wind up carving little wooden idols for themselves, when they determine to earnestly look for God, they will find him.  Spiritually speaking, this is a truth that bears repeating, or rephrasing at least.

If you should find that spark of divinity within yourself -- if you should recognize that deep truth, undeniable beauty, and intentional creativity -- and then later be overcome with doubt and look for something outside of yourself to place above you, it's alright.  You haven't really lost anything, and the divine character within you will be there when you determine to recognize it again.  It may get easier for you to see the more you connect with it, but it isn't something you can lose.  You can't make yourself worthless.

Which brings us to the Ten Commandments.  Jesus is recorded as rephrasing these commandments in a more positive light: Essentially, love God and love one another.  The apostle Paul reiterates in his letters that to love others is to fulfill the law.  It's hard to disagree with that.  The Ten Commandments were likely influenced by Hittite and Mesopotamian treaties between lords and vassals, and they contain some of the moral absolutes that human cultures of every faith and creed have accepted to a certain degree, concepts regarding the value of human life and the sanctity of personal property.  The Ten Commandments were in theory a pact between God and the Israelites, but in practical terms they were a pact between the Israelites and themselves.  They were saying, in essence, "We agree to abide by these laws in order to have a unified and sustainable culture."  I'm not saying that they didn't believe in God.  I'm just clarifying the practical reality of their agreement.

We have many laws in our culture, too.  Some of them are based on the same concepts about the value of human life and property.  Acknowledging the Ten Commandments as the model of the American legal code is hotly debated from time to time when someone becomes offended that they are displayed at a courthouse somewhere.  Instead of getting into the practical matters of legal code, though, it seems most appropriate for this venue to approach the Ten Commandments from a perspective of what can be spiritually reclaimed.

Slightly out of order, some of the commandments are covered by the idea that we will be generally happier people if we respect others, or love others if you prefer.  We cannot honor others and still lie about them, steal from them, or otherwise betray their trust.  When we are willing to recognize the universality of human value, we also recognize that we do damage to our own identities when we devalue others.  We are not above anyone else, so we are not entitled to dehumanize anyone else.  Honor and respect other people, and murder, adultery, theft, and false testimony become non-issues.

Coveting other people's possessions, relationships, or circumstances is not so much about devaluing another person as it is about devaluing ourselves.  Be aware of what you have in your life.  Acknowledge your ability to create a life focused on what matters most to you.  Cultivate gratitude, and it won't be as tempting to compare what you have with what other people have.  When you are grateful for your own life, it becomes easier to celebrate with other people rather than resent them.

Honoring one's mother and father is also good advice, if a bit vague.  One must eventually think for oneself, and it can be debilitating to base every thought on what Mommy and Daddy think.  That being said, parental wisdom is going to be an inevitable guiding force as a person develops.  The relationship perhaps bears a bit more emphasis than other human relationships because of the sacrifice inherent in raising a child.  It can be humbling to consider the choices parents make on our behalf.  Having an even softer and more gracious heart toward the people that chose to make sacrifices for our benefit is powerfully connecting.

Not all parents are willing to make sacrifices, though.  Not all parents make choices for the benefit of their children.  Although they may be few and far between, some parents are dangerous to their children in one way or another.  There is no obligation for us to bring ourselves into harm's way.  Exercise wisdom and be as understanding as you can be.  Be grateful for the gift of life if nothing else, and honor their humanity even if a close relationship seems harmful.  The relationship is not more important than your well-being.

The first four commandments are the ones that are focused on spiritual things rather than our relationships with other people.  In my post-Christian thinking, I place these philosophically closer to the bit about coveting because they are more about how we view ourselves than they are about how we treat other people.  To begin with, recognize your worth and your capability.  We've already revisited our tendency to find something outside of ourselves to worship.  The truth is that we can find that worthiness within ourselves if we are willing to look there.  Remember that there is nothing that you can do to make yourself worthless.  Instead of placing other people or things or concepts above yourself and ascribing more value to them than you ascribe to yourself, become aware of how people and things and concepts work in cooperation with one another.  Nothing is more worthy than you, and you are not more worthy than anyone else.  Some people may have certain abilities that you lack, and you have some abilities that other people lack.  That offers us opportunities to connect and co-create.

This concept of self-worth is at the heart of this endeavor, so it will come up again.  It isn't a switch to be flipped.  It's a journey, a process.  It takes time and intention.  For this reason, the concept of a Sabbath is a powerful tool.  If we do not know ourselves and understand ourselves, we cannot hope to create truly fulfilling lives.  It is important for us to set aside time -- sacred time that we prioritize -- to tap into that center of truth and beauty and creativity within us.  It doesn't have to be a whole day every week, but consistent time set aside to engage with ourselves is how we learn to see the depth of our own value, and consequently recognize that quality in everybody else.  It's tempting to find ways to numb ourselves to the things we don't like about our lives or to remain so busy bouncing from one thing to another that we never have to take a look within ourselves.  You don't have to be afraid of what you'll find there.  There may be layers of lies or negative beliefs about yourself to sort through, but if you go looking for connection, for beauty, for creativity, you will find it.

So, a suggested "covenant" we can make with ourselves, understanding that if we fall short or make a mistake that we can forgive ourselves and try again:


1. Recognize the deep truth, genuine beauty, and intentional creativity within you.

2. Value yourself as much as every other human being, and more than external things and concepts.

3. Prioritize time for self-examination to become more adept at seeing the truth, beauty, and creativity within yourself (and in other people).

4. Acknowledge the close relationships in your life and the sacrifices that other people have made on your behalf.

5. Honor and respect other people -- all people regardless of their culture or beliefs.

6. Be grateful for your life and celebrate what you have.

Rewriting Leviticus, the Little Book of Legalism that No One Really Likes

The book of Leviticus gets its name from the descendants of Levi, who had special religious and political responsibilities among the Israelites. While there are certainly spiritual lessons to be gleaned from the Bible, the book of Leviticus has a very legalistic message that largely has little bearing on modern life. There are a few verses here and there which have merit as sage advice, as we’ll see, but even within the overall context of the Bible, the legalistic approach didn’t work. That’s the whole point of the New Testament, actually.

Which is a point worth mentioning, since there are those apologists who promote the concept of biblical inerrancy and insist on using the Bible as proof of its own veracity. A large portion of the book of Leviticus deals with the appropriate way to handle blood sacrifices: which animals are appropriate for what kind of sacrifice, how the sacrificial animals are to be handled, and how soon it has to be eaten by the priests. If the Bible is absolutely true and without contradiction, then these regulations (from God, mind you) have to be addressed. Most Christians would say that all the business with sacrifices was nullified by Jesus, and that’s all well and good. Except that it means a portion of the inerrant, infallible scripture has been improved upon and rendered obsolete. Which is not to say that the New Testament has it “right” either, but merely to point out an obvious discrepancy.

Another large portion of the book of Leviticus is about cleanliness, as in what kinds of things make a person clean or unclean and what a person must do to regain purity. Among the things that make a person “unclean” are: leprosy, menstruation, having a discharge of any kind below the waist, giving birth (especially giving birth to a girl), touching certain animal carcasses, or eating a creature found dead. Ritual washing after a waiting period is typically enough to cleanse a person from those impurities. Mold is also unclean, and if washing moldy clothing or walls doesn’t get rid of it, a priest can order the moldy object to be destroyed. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. We still have issues with mold in our homes today. Some of the ideas about what makes a person “unclean” reflect a certain level of ignorance within the culture, however.

Of particular interest are the regulations about what can be eaten. Orthodox Jews today still follow many of the prescribed dietary laws of Leviticus, if not all of them. Americans will be disappointed to learn that fat is prohibited, along with pork, rabbit, shrimp, monitor lizards, and “flying insects that go about on four legs.” The laws even go so far as to dictate something of a “resting period” for fields, years in which nothing is harvested so that the land will continue to be bountiful. That part’s not actually a bad idea. Most people wouldn’t have a problem giving up bats and weasels from their diet, although they may not be keen on adding grasshoppers to the menu. The biggest problem with this whole topic (aside from the idea that what a person eats can make them innately impure) is once again with regard to the issue of inerrancy.

In the New Testament, it is proclaimed that all food is clean. Peter reportedly had a vision about it, and Paul wrote explicitly that all food is clean and people should stop getting hung up on such insignificant issues. I’ll just come out and say that I agree with this point of view. It bears noting, however, that the same Bible that declares all food to be clean also declares that, according to God, eating some things will make you unclean and could get you kicked out of the community of chosen people. Both statements cannot be true. And if God is infallible, then how can he have changed his mind on the subject? Since the Bible obviously holds contradictory information, it doesn’t make sense to cling to the concept of a completely inerrant body of scripture. And, truth be told, most self-proclaimed Christians use a certain amount of personal discernment and judgment about such things anyway.

The last big topic in Leviticus is sexual impurity. We don’t really need divine guidance to tell us that we shouldn’t sleep with our close relatives, but it’s understandable given what we know about Abraham’s family tree that this was important information for the Israelites to clarify. And it is clarified in great detail. It is spelled out exactly with whom (and what) a person should not be having sexual relations. Punishments for disobedience range from being ostracized or childless (which their god could obviously determine), to being burned or stoned to death. If nothing else, it certainly offers some insight into how the Israelites were tempted to pass the time as they were wandering in the wilderness.

Leviticus also records some very wise advice, though. For instance, it recounts the commandments about not stealing from each other, not deceiving one another, and not lying about people. It commands employers to deal with their workers honestly and justly, and it instructs people not to hold grudges. One of my favorite lines urges people to confront people directly and earnestly instead of sugar-coating things or just standing by and watching someone’s unhealthy behavior. In fact, it is here that the Bible first admonishes, “love your neighbor as yourself.” It’s a shame that these tidbits of wisdom are scattered in and amongst rules about not trimming the sides of your beard. It can be easy to lose sight of what’s important when confronted with the legalism of exactly how a purification sacrifice has to be done and exactly which of your family members you can’t sleep with.

But it isn’t all threats of punishment from on high. There is a short passage in which God expresses what the reward will be for following all of the laws. He’ll send rain to nourish the earth, and he’ll make their harvests plentiful. He’ll make the land peaceful, eradicating all the wild beasts and keeping invaders out. In fact, he’ll make the enemies of the Israelites fall by the sword before them. He’ll increase the Israelites in number, and he won’t hate them. If they just do everything properly.

These sorts of promises seem somewhat problematic. How many people have to do things right in order for the harvest to be plentiful? If it doesn’t rain, how do we know whose fault it is? And if it does rain, does that mean that we’ve been perfect? If our numbers increase, does that mean we’ve done everything right? Or right enough, at least? Or is it only the actual number of Jews that we should be keeping track of? While there are some people who still believe that natural cycles are a direct measure of God’s satisfaction with humanity, most people understand that weather patterns are not based on whether my neighbor eats fat or sleeps with his aunt. The abundance of our food supply depends on a lot of factors, but none of those factors has to do with whether we have properly put our community’s sins into a goat and set it free in the wilderness.

The book of Leviticus reminds us how ludicrous we can be sometimes when we start trying to control every detail and ensure perfection in how we orchestrate our lives. For those who are Christian, the book shows the need for a savior, since it would be impossible for anyone to do everything precisely according to the law. From another standpoint, perhaps it is worth looking at the few rays of insight that shine through the legalism. Which basically boil down to one thing. Respect people. Just respect other people. Not for any particular reason. Just because they are human beings. We don’t need magical rituals to purify us, and we don’t need to stone people or burn them when they make mistakes. We have done and will do some things that we’re not proud of. We’re all in the same boat as far as that goes. If we could just cultivate a little respect for other people, we might eventually even be able to make a few more laws obsolete.

So, the book of Leviticus rewritten? Respect people. All people. And if you fail to do so, forgive yourself and go back to respecting people again.

Exodus 19-24: The Voice of God and the Death Penalty Cannot Control a Society

Societies need laws.  Even though we all have an innate sense of right and wrong, and we have feelings like guilt and shame to guide our behavior, societies need laws.  It's important to have some ground rules about how people are allowed to treat one another, just to clarify any discrepancies.  Laws also provide a sense of repercussion for when someone's behavior is out of line: If you do this, then this will happen to you.  The punishment isn't necessarily a deterrent, but it defines the consequences for one's actions.

Exodus 19-24 is about creating laws.  We've already seen that the Israelites have the capacity for some pretty rotten behavior, just like any group of people.  It may be tempting to excuse some of that because they didn't have any guidelines written down, but I believe that people still know right from wrong.  Rather than sheer education about morality, it seems that the purpose of creating a set of laws is more likely (a) to encourage people to do what they know is right more often, and (b) to define a set of consequences for when someone decides to do something harmful to another human being.  The Moses solution to these matters is to claim that the laws originate from God, so there can be no arguing or debate about them.  He also applies the death penalty liberally, should people need additional deterrent.

The setup is brilliant.  There is a display of God's ferocious voice on Mount Sinai, with the people kept behind a boundary (because touching the holy mountain would kill them).  According to the telling in Exodus, the theatrics should have been impressive enough to make anyone think twice before disobeying the command of God.  Over the course of the chapters, it's not quite clear which elders were allowed on the mountain when, or how many times Moses went up and down the mountain, or how long the Israelites were camped out near the mountain.  It is clear that they were there for awhile and that the place was holy.  Mount Sinai is a symbolic representation of a place where the divine and the physical meet.

The laws are another matter.  First, there are the famous Ten Commandments, about which much has been written.  It's been noted that they are almost all in the negative, i.e. "You must not ..."  And later on in the biblical narrative, Jesus' commands contrast with that by telling people what to do instead of what not to do.  Neuro-linguistic programming aside, the laws of Moses are clearly an attempt at control, and some measure of control may have been completely necessary for the survival of the Jewish society.  Ultimately, though, the Jewish people didn't do any better than any other society with regard to obedience, despite the claim that the laws came from God.  The rest of the Old Testament is the record of that told through their own eyes.

Looking at the laws themselves, most of them make sense for a society and seem quite rational.  If you damage or steal someone else's property, you are responsible for paying for it along with a monetary penalty.  If you kill another person, you will be put to death.  If you harm someone without killing them, the same level of harm will be enacted upon you.  Justice.  There are even specific detailed cases that are included for the sake of clarity.

Some of these laws are not enforceable, nor are they intended to be.  In a couple of places, the command is given not to mistreat foreigners, and then God promises that the Israelites will destroy six groups of people completely.  It seems like this destruction would probably involve something those people would consider "mistreatment," not to mention killing.  There is the proclamation that witches should be put to death, and we know how that went in Salem (and much of Europe).  But then, no one claimed that these laws were on the cutting edge of women's rights.  If a man rapes a virgin, he has to marry her or at least pay for her, but if he "dishonors" his parents, he gets put to death.  Who gets to decide whether a man has "dishonored" his parents anyway?

The point is that the laws that make sense in these chapters are the same kind of laws that every successful society has established.  They don't have to carry a death penalty or be attributed to an unquestionable deity for people to understand why those kinds of laws make sense.  The laws help to clarify the wrongness of the very things we are already wired to feel shame about.  The problem with their iteration in Exodus is that the culture did not recognize all people as having equal value.  If a son strikes his violent and abusive father, the son gets put to death while the father continues to be violent and abusive, as long as he doesn't kill another man.  If he kills a slave, he just has to pay for the slave.  If he kills a foreigner, chances are that he's just doing God's work. But if he exploits a widow, then he will be put to the sword.  The "laws" then become just a concrete way of articulating who can get away with what in the society.

Our society has laws.  They are created by men, whom we know to be fallible.  For the most part, the consequences seems reasonable on paper, although in reality the punishment often seems light.  Still, few people would rationally introduce the death penalty for every crime.  The laws help to clarify how the society will respond to certain behavior, and the "justice" system is intended to carry out that response.  Laws and punishment don't really alter what people do all that much, though.  People still speed, even though they know they may get a ticket.  People still murder other people, even though they know they may get the death sentence.  People are still abuse and mistreat other people, even though there are legal consequences.

I believe that those individuals know that what they are doing is wrong, even without a law to tell them so.  I believe that when a corporation brings harm to people or the land on which they live, the people responsible for that decision know that what they have done is wrong.  I believe that when a person strikes another human being in anger, a part of him feels shame.  What he does with that shame is another matter entirely.  The greater the group of people responsible for a shameful act, the easier it is to brush past it and appreciate the perceived reward for bad behavior.  At the end of the day, we need a clear set of societal consequences for shameful behavior, because we do not have a universal respect for our fellow human beings and the world we share with them.

Moses missed the boat just like every other lawmaker.  You cannot control human behavior through laws, even with the voice of God to back you up and the most severe of penalties for disobedience.  Laws help a society hold together, but people will continue to break the laws of a society as long as the society's values are misguided.  If the society values money, people will do shameful things to get more money.  If the society values power, people will do shameful things to get more power.  Laws cannot change that.

Wouldn't it be something if the society valued its people?  Wouldn't it be something if people looked at themselves and the other people around them and saw something worth more than money and power?  Wouldn't it be something if people saw the resources of the world and felt a deep sense of respect rather than greed?  I don't know if a society can change in such a fundamental way.  I know that individuals can.  I know that it is possible for an individual to see the truth and beauty and creativity within every person.  All it requires is a willingness to see it.  There are no laws that can govern or enforce it, but if we all managed to do it, we may not need so many laws.