Deuteronomy 19-21

(May 12, 2014)
Reading the Old Testament, it is important to remember that the God of the Old Testament is also the Christ of the New Testament.  That, of course, means that the teachings that seem to make no sense in the light of Christ’s mortal ministry must be understood as originating from the same source.  There are three explanations for the discrepancies, and each one teaches us something different.  I address this to the topic that our eye shall not pity him condemned to death – that feels very contrary to our current understanding of Christ, His teachings, and how we are supposed to feel about those around us (including sinners).

The first potential option is that Moses was the chosen servant of the Lord, but some or many of his decisions were just him using his best judgment.  That means that Moses was trying his best to see that his teachings were not undermined by misplaced pity such that tolerance for sin by way of cultural acceptance became commonplace.

The second potential option is that Moses had this requirement revealed to him and it represented the Lord’s commandment to the people of Israel, but that it was something time and place specific.  There was some aspect of the Israelite nature that required this commandment at this time in order to bring forth the purposes of God (and this is the option that I happen to believe – I believe, at its ultimate core, that righteousness is nothing more or less than bringing forth God’s purposes, and that may also be ultimately all happiness is as well).  Our lesson to take from this would be to follow our current Prophet regardless of concerns with temporal differences with the Lord’s commands in other times and places.

The third and final option is that there is something eternal and necessary about not pitying the guilty.  This means that what Moses taught here (whether inspired or not) was somehow congruent with love one another, bless him that curses you, pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you, if someone takes your coat give them your cloak, turn the other cheek, and so forth.  The only congruence that I can see (and I admit this is very possible) is that Christ taught the individual while Moses is structuring a society – we as people must forgive but the society must enact justice.

Finally, I was struck by the language of these chapters that even in times of war, when the people of Israel were fighting for their survival, they were not to cut down the trees found in the Promised Land that provided food.  They were to keep in mind that they would ultimately be living where they fought, and their destiny was tied to this place.  I immediately drew a parallel with our own battles with sin (in ourselves, or more particularly in others) – do we sometimes engage in scorched earth tactics to purge sin out of our own lives or the lives of others?  Do we end up damaging those who we love (or ourselves), leaving little behind once sin is gone (if it ever goes)?  Israel could follow this commandment because they trusted the Lord to lead them to victory, and so to should we trust in the Lord to fight our battles.