Day 42 - Leviticus 17 - 19 - Without the law we are lost.

The rest of Leviticus is just more regulations. The laws that ensue flesh out the ten commandments. It confirms the Decalogue as fundamental moral law: a constitutional framework.

The ensuing regulations reference the Decalogue directly or indirectly. All laws in constitutional states complement constitutional principle else they will be challenged.

Constitutionalism only emerged when the Magna Carta was signed in 1215. Even so, that great document was spurned by King John. Only three clauses remain in British law.

Later, William Penn, introduced a constitution in Pennsylvania, as a precursor to the US Constitution, after the Articles of Confederation failed to unite the thirteen states.

France introduced a constitution after the tennis court debacle of Louis XVI led to the revolution that ended the monarchy. Britain then deposed Charles 1 in favor of Cromwell’s democracy.

I am not saying the Decalogue favored democracy, but it laid the ground rules for all other laws, which were as adaptive as contemporary laws, thanks to the oral tradition, whilst subscribing to the fundamental framework - as all good constitutional states should.

The Jewish legal system was millennia ahead of its time and the first time in history that a law was set above all, be they kings, statesmen or soldiers.

The ensuing regulations were not austere, pointless legalisms, but the heart of a progressive God who wanted a just and equitable society.

No private sacrifices (Chapter 17)

I live in a country where people slaughter animals in their back yards. Not only is that unfair and patently barbaric, it is self-defeating. If a sacrifice is not properly validated, then it is a kind of self-validation, which is not a sacrifice at all.

God rejected that, as He had made adequate provision for a central facility where sacrifices could happen in an orderly, humane manner with the blessing of qualified priests.

Though God sacrificed His son for humanity and provided a costly path to redemption, humans still snub that in favor of their own private solutions, then presume that such man-made ways are good enough. That fails the first test: it is not validated by God.

Please forgive a crude point. At work they spoke of “intellectual masturbation”, where people agonize over their private ideas and theories to make themselves feel better while doing little or no communal good. That is what private ways are to God.

If any religion is about pleasing God and knowing His favor, then surely it must answer the most fundamental question about what that God wants, and if it doesn’t, by implication it is self-serving and not a religion or a worthy sacrifice at all.

God extended the law to the eating of blood, which is still marginal to social norms and health regulations. He also forbade sacrifices to idols, other gods or devils. That too was right as the cultural norms of Israel demanded one right way, not everyone for himself.

Uncovering of nakedness (Chapter 18)

Being undressed or scantily dressed, is a hallmark of contemporary society. It reflects a wanton, sensual, self-serving society that has chosen to test moral boundaries and tempt God. It has indirectly led to a breakdown of the social fabric.

God would not have that. There was a history to that. Reuben, Uncovering of anyone else’s nakedness was strictly regulated. Yes in marriage, no in almost any other context. That includes violations of parents, daughters-in-law, neighbors and even one’s own wife. It was a morally decent society.

I do not see anything unreasonable in the regulations. That is a long-held prejudgment of God’s laws. He was not a killjoy. He just wanted a safe, ordered society as a basis for wholeness, happiness and continuity. Society snubbed His ways for all the wrong reasons.

Honoring father, mother, the Sabbath and your people (Chapter 19)

God then reasserted the first 4 commandments, to honor God, the Sabbath and our parents. The average Jewish child loves the weekly Sabbath meal. It centers them. It is a powerful touchstone. As for family, well that is sacred to the Jew.

That is why they are the most enduring society in history. We have none of that, nor does the church. We break bread every now and then and have scant regard for the long-weekend we call Easter, duly named after Ishtar: the great witch Semiramis who presumed to be the mother of God.

I accept a Sunday Sabbath, as the early church met on the first day of the week, because the crux of the church was a resurrection. The crux of Jewry was a death or sacrifice.

I am not an advocate of reverting to Jewish ways as it assumes a formulaic approach to favor with God. Not so. Favor came through what Jesus did. However, the principle of Sabbath predates Moses. It was enshrined in divine principle from the day of creation.

We so badly need to bring our families together once a week, in honor of each other (God put family and Sabbath in the same sentence) and to sustain the touchstone of our faith, our values, our ethos and our lives. We need to be a true counter-culture to a dying world.

God extended that to sundry laws about interrelationships with others, leaving some of your crops for the poor, not prostituting daughters, divination, honoring of strangers and so on.

What a lovely law. No wonder it is also called a covenant, as like any social contract, as was also true of William Penn's constitution, it requires our allegiance to work. It is for us, after all, and if we are grown up and civilized we should embrace it by choice, not by duress.

I see so much good and all we ever remember is what we perceive as onerous and demanding prescriptions relating to religious rituals. That is how the world also perceives the church: not as wholesome, peace-loving citizens, but as religious nuts.

God help us as a society, as the church and as humanity, to reclaim virtue and principle before our world reaches a point of no return. We are not free for all our supposed moral freedoms, we are enslaved to our immorality and have lost our compass. 

(c) Peter Missing @ bethelstone.com