The wife and I were reading some Deutoronomy today and I was curious what your take might be on the following passages. To they say anything about our society today, or how we should be living?
In no particular order.
1 If you see your brother’s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to him. 2 If the brother does not live near you or if you do not know who he is, take it home with you and keep it until he comes looking for it. Then give it back to him. 3 Do the same if you find your brother’s donkey or his cloak or anything he loses. Do not ignore it.
15 If a slave has taken refuge with you, do not hand him over to his master. 16 Let him live among you wherever he likes and in whatever town he chooses. Do not oppress him.
6 If you come across a bird’s nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young. 7 You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.
(this is the same ‘promise’ that children receive for honoring their parents. Don’t know which is more difficult…)
19 Do not charge your brother interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest. 20 You may charge a foreigner interest, but not a brother Israelite, so that the LORD your God may bless you in everything you put your hand to in the land you are entering to possess.
and this last one was pretty interesting…
1 If a man is found slain, lying in a field in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, 2 your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns. 3 Then the elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked and has never worn a yoke 4 and lead her down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley they are to break the heifer’s neck. 5 The priests, the sons of Levi, shall step forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister and to pronounce blessings in the name of the LORD and to decide all cases of dispute and assault. 6 Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, 7 and they shall declare: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. 8 Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, O LORD, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent man.” And the bloodshed will be atoned for. 9 So you will purge from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the LORD.
You ask, “Do [these passages from Deuteronomy] say anything about our society today, or how we should be living?”
Answer, No and Yes.
No, in the sense that the Law, as written in the first four books of the Bible, was pre-Christ. It spelled out specific rituals and sacrifices required for atonement for sins. It spelled out rules for the people of God to live by. In many instances in the Old Testament, God punished people severely for disobeying his Law. He did so, in part, to demonstrate his power. Even so, time and time again, His chosen people failed Him, forgetting his miracles and choosing to worship other Gods or otherwise go their own way.
Christ, the Messiah, the lamb of God, came, as prophesied in the Old Testament, to give His life for us as a final sacrifice, to redeem us, to atone for our sins, so that we could live, and SO THAT WE WERE NO LONGER SUBJECT TO THE LAW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. In that sense, no, the Law has nothing to do with how we now should live. ~ It is my understanding that Orthodox Jews, who believe that the Messiah has not yet come, still feel obligated to follow the Law as written in the Old Testament. ~
As for “Yes?” Yes, some of the rules for living are sensible guidelines for a good and moral and healthy life. The Christian Bible could be called a rule book for living, and a good one, even if God, and his son, Jesus, the Christ, our Messiah, and the Holy Spirit, did not actually exist, don’t you agree?
So, yes, follow the instruction in Deuteronomy of the moral laws, even of the common sense ideas regarding what you should and should not eat–it certainly cannot hurt your health to do so–but NO, do not feel that you should need to sacrifice animals or go through any other ritual of atonement described in the Old Testament in order to make yourself alright with God, because Christ took care of that when He came and gave his life for us so that we could live. Read all about it in the first four gospels of the New Testament, especially the chapter of John.
Cindy
p.s. Regarding:
6 If you come across a bird’s nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young. 7 You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.
You make a parallel to the “‘promise’ that children receive for honoring their parents. Don’t know which is more difficult…)”
Don’t read too much into what you are reading in the Bible. Pay attention to what it SAYS, not what you can infer from it or that you read between the lines. The passage talks about birds; about the management of wildlife, which were at that time, the food supply.
Ask first, What does it Say?. Then, What does it Mean? Then, How does this apply to me?
If you had answered the first two questions correctly, you might not have reflected on human child/parent relationships…
Correct me if I misunderstood your comment re the “promise.”
God Bless,
Cindy
Cindy,
Thanks so much for stopping by. I really appreciate your insight. It was fun to just think through and ponder some of the stuff and like you say what it SAYS about the context, the law, and what relevance it might have for us today.
But, as you say, we are certainly no longer bound by the law.