What is the value and authority of the ancient law of Moses for the modern man, Jewish or Christian?
We do not understand the nature of law in the Bible if we reduce it to a chore that alienates human beings and deprives them of their freedom. This truth is affirmed in the Bible from the start.
The first steps of Adam just created from dust, as well as the first steps of the people of Israel just liberated from Egypt, are engaged in the rhythm of the law (Genesis 2:4, 16; Exodus 20). In the tradition of Israel, the law is in fact associated with liberty.
On the text of Exodus (32:16), which says that the law has been “engraved,” haruth, an old interpretation recommends: “Do not read haruth (engraved) but heruth (liberty).” Through this play on words, the ancient sages related the law to liberty. The apostle James in the New Testament will echo this association (James 1:25; 2:12).
Biblical law is thus different from human law. It was determined by God to serve human beings, help them find their real identity, and blossom fully. The law of Israel was then conceived from a universal perspective and therefore designed to always be relevant.
A Different Law
Indeed, God did not want to speak His own language. According to the ancient rabbis, the Torah, although coming from heaven, is not in heaven. It speaks a human language. It is, therefore, expected that biblical laws share common points with the laws of their neighbors. The Babylonian Code of Hammurabi of the 18th century (B.C.E.) and the Hittite laws of the 15th century (B.C.E.), to mention only a few, often deal with the same topics, and most of them are written in the same casuistic (case-law) style, which characterizes a good number of biblical laws. For a long time, critical scholars have underlined this connection and deduced from it the dependence of Israel on her cultural environment. More recent research in that domain, however, has shown many surprising differences between the two systems of laws.
The first important difference concerns the biblical emphasis on the value of the human person over objects and society. In Babylon, the death penalty is required for some thefts, while the Bible requires only financial compensation. In Israel, human life prevails over material values. Also, in Israelite society, the law is the same for everyone. Contrary to the other societies of the ancient Middle East (especially in Babylon and Egypt), the Bible does not mention a privileged class that would escape the rigors of the law.
Biblical laws differ from other laws in that they always refer to God. While in Middle Eastern legal documents the reference to God is rare and formal, generally in the introduction and sometimes in the conclusion, biblical laws are imbued with this reference, which is used as a leitmotif throughout the text: “for I am your God.” The law is here understood as the manifestation of the covenant with God (Hosea 8:1). It is the very place of religious life. The law is not perceived as the result of a human consultation. The law is instead received as a gift, a revelation from above. The importance in the Bible of the so-called “apodictic” laws, that is, laws that are absolutely normative, is significant. Biblical law speaks with authority, and this language is all the more striking as the legal literature of the ancient Near East is dominated by casuistic laws. The commandment “thou shalt not kill” or “thou shall not commit adultery” falls absolutely and sharply. It is enough that it comes from above to be taken seriously. This is the particular style of the Decalogue. The law of God is not justified on the basis of a logical process; only the experience of obedience will allow us to check its rightness. In casuistic law, we know why the law is right before having experienced it, while in apodictic law, we know it afterwards. Israel’s response to the gift of the law accounts for this approach: “We shall do, then we shall understand” (Exodus 19:8, literal translation).
The law of Israel is thus different from all the others, for it implies a dimension that is absent elsewhere: the Jew obeys the law by faith.
A Universal Law
Essentially focusing on the human person and stemming from God, the biblical law is laden with a universal message. The law concerns all men and women, not just Israel. It is true that in Jewish tradition we have two types of laws: those that apply to the nations (Noachic laws) and those that oblige only the Israelites. Nonetheless, throughout the Scriptures looms the hope of one day seeing all peoples walk and vibrate as one with Israel under the same law (Malachi 4:1, 2). One of the most eloquent signs of the universal invitation of this law is its reference to creation. It is noteworthy in the decalogue that the Shabbat, the memorial of creation, is situated in its geometric and thematic center (see table, p. 14), that is, the very place where the seal was put in ancient covenant documents. This position of the Shabbat suggests that the awareness of God as the Creator lies in the heart of the Ten Commandments, which also echo the ten words of creation (see the ten “He said” of God in Genesis 1).
Likewise, the dietary laws of kosher, which distinguish between clean and unclean meats, remind us of Genesis 1. Indeed, the language of Leviticus 11, which records these laws, uses the same technical words and stylistic expressions (beasts of the earth, creeping animals, after their kind, etc.). Furthermore, the listing of the animals follows the same sequence as in Genesis 1:24–26 (the sixth day of creation). After the creation of the animals of the earth (Leviticus 11:2–8; cf. Genesis 1:24–25), the creation of man is related successively to that of the animals of water (Leviticus 11:9–12; cf. Genesis 1:26a), that of the animals of the air (Leviticus 11:13–23; cf. Genesis 1:26b), and that of the animals of the earth and of the reptiles (Leviticus 11:24–43; cf. Genesis 1:26c). Lastly, in Leviticus 11, as in Genesis 1:24–26, the relationship between humans and animals has its counterpart in the relationship between humans and God. In Genesis 1:20, the duty of domination over the animals is associated with the fact that humans are created in the image of God. Likewise in Leviticus 11, the duty to distinguish between clean and unclean meats is associated with the fact that human holiness reflects divine holiness: “you shall be holy; for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44, 451).
A Law Still Relevant
Because they are related to creation, the religious and moral laws of the Decalogue, as well as the dietary laws of Kasheruth, are universal and therefore still relevant to any human being. The so-called ceremonial laws, which are related to the temple and the sacrifices, were bound to disappear with it. As for the circumstantial laws, which are mostly casuistic, they were also bound to lose their normative character as soon as the “circumstances” that generated them did not exist anymore. This is, for instance, the case for the laws concerning the slaves, the way to dress, to till the land, and to organize and administer the city. These two last categories of laws (ceremonial and circumstantial) were not designed to be observed forever. On the other hand, the Decalogue and the dietary laws do not belong to the ceremonial laws or to the circumstantial laws. These laws have nothing to do with sacrifices. This is obvious in regard to the Decalogue, and this is implied in the laws of clean meats, which are given for eating purposes (see, for instance, the fish). Also, the Decalogue, like the Kasheruth laws, does not belong to the circumstantial laws because they depend on the event of creation, whose impact is universal and always relevant.
If the universal character of these two series of laws (Decalogue and Kasheruth) is intended through their reference to creation, the absence of this reference in other laws does not mean, however, that they are no more normative. In fact, any law that is neither ceremonial nor circumstantial maintains its status as an absolute law. This is the case for the laws of sexuality, hygiene, relations with neighbors, etc.; most of these laws extend and explicate the laws already contained in the Decalogue. The law of Israel knows two laws: an absolute and universal law and a relative law that depends on times and circumstances. This distinction is found again in the New Testament, where texts that speak about the abolition of the law are balanced with many other texts that exalt it. Not that these texts contradict each other; they, in fact, speak about two different laws. If the early Christians who were religious Jews were led to cancel the laws of sacrifices because they referred to the Messiah, they never questioned the law of the Decalogue, of which Yeshua had even deepened and extended its application. It is the same for the dietary laws of Kasheruth, which are alluded to in the apostolic recommendation “to abstain from things strangled and from blood” (Acts 15:20; cf. Leviticus 17:14). From these observations, it follows that the principle of law in religious life remains valid for the Christian as well as for the Jew.
A Law from God
The law is different, universal, and always relevant because it is the very expression of God’s character. It starts there. This is why the Decalogue begins with “I am the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:2). All the commandments find their raison d’être there.
According to Rashi, the Ten Commandments were said in one divine word. The lesson thereby taught is that the commandments derive from the same source and are laid on the same principle. The ethical laws “you shall not murder,” etc., are proclaimed in the same breath as the religious laws “you shall have no other gods before me,” etc. Ancient Jewish tradition even correlates the ethical laws of the second part of the Decalogue to the religious laws of the first part of the Decalogue: “Murder is equivalent to an injury to God. For man is in the image of God; apostasy is equivalent to adultery; stealing leads to a false oath; the Sabbath breaker is equivalent to the one who covets his fellow’s wife, etc.”
In the Bible, the relationship with God is not of a mystical order, a kind of ecstasy that would bring the human person out of reality. On the contrary, the religion of the prophets concerns the life of human beings in the warm flesh of their existence and their acts. Spirituality is bound to the ethical requirement that curves the will and forges the being according to the imperatives from above. And there is then more than a discipline. The law is a gift from God, an expression of His love for mankind, and is therefore designed to be lived here below as an expression of our love for God. The prophet Jeremiah sees the law written in human hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). The psalmist sings of the love and delight of the law (Psalms 119:92). Paul himself delights “in the law of God” (Romans 7:22). We should not obey the law out of fear because we are afraid to be punished or out of interest in order to gain the favor and salvation of God. We should obey the law freely out of love for God because we are loved and saved by Him (see Exodus 19:4, 5; cf. Psalms 119:41–45). Moreover, we obey the law in order to fulfill our destiny and to be truly ourselves. The goal of the law of God is the liberty of men and women.
This is not only the idea of the Jew but also the ideal of any person who wants to live according to God and with Him, for he or she has understood that she or he cannot live without Him.
1All biblical quotations are from the New King James Version unless otherwise noted.
2Mekh, Yitro 8
Image: El Greco's View of Mount Sinai. Public Domain
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