The Sefer Torah (Law

Scroll) ceremonially kept

in an ark in synagogues

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 Thou shalt not…

be centred in the Jerusalem temple. But an ever- From very earliest times thinkers grappled with
growing body of laws dealt with inter-personal the sufferings of good people and the apparent
relationships. How Jews were meant to relate to one
another was summed up in Leviticus 19:18 – “Love
flourishing of evil. The Book of Job is generally
accepted as the oldest book in the biblical canon, GOING TO
your neighbour as you love yourself”.
Here again Israelite religion was unique. Other
having its origin in pre-Mosaic times. It concerns
the appalling series of disasters which befell Job,
THE PAGANS
ancient religions were either animistic – ie they a faithful worshipper of God. His friends make Remarkable timing
worshipped nature gods – or polytheistic – ie they various attempts to explain his misfortunes before There is a passage in the chapter of John’s
worshipped a variety of gods. Animism was God, in person, intervenes to point out, in what Gospel which, at first sight, is puzzling. It comes
morally neutral. Nature cannot be good or bad, Tennyson called “the greatest poem, whether of immediately before the climax of the story on the
it just is. Polytheism tended to envisage a realm ancient or modern literature”, that, although his death and resurrection of Jesus. Some Greeks have
inhabited by deities who were human beings activity is beyond human understanding, he is come to Jerusalem and they ask to be introduced to
‘writ large’, displaying all the vices and virtues of involved in his creation and he does care about this strange teacher everyone is talking about. Jesus’
mortals. They had values but were as likely to his human creatures. In a word, God loves what response seems to be a non-sequitur. “The time has
act out of envy, hatred, lust or mere caprice. he has made. come for the Son of Man (ie himself) to be glorified”
(12:20-21). He goes on to talk about his impending
An example of the latter can be found in the
suffering and its significance. This passage
Babylonian story of the Great Flood. This major THUS SAYS THE LORD indicates, first of all, that some of the Greeks, the
disaster featured in the records of several Middle The importance of love was explicit from the intellectual leaders of the Mediterranean world,
Eastern peoples. In the Babylonian epic the flood time the law was given: “Love the Lord your God were being attracted to the Jews’ religion of ethical
was sent by the ‘top god’, Enlil. He decided to with all your heart, soul and strength”. This was monotheism. The timing was significant. The Jesus
save one family – that of Utnapishtim – from the demanded as a response to God’s demonstrated movement began at a time when sophisticated
universal carnage simply because he liked him. love for his people – primarily in delivering them Greco-Roman thinkers were turning their backs on
The Old Testament version recorded the deliverance from slavery in Egypt and establishing them pagan polytheism. Viewed from the other side, it
of Noah and his family, saved as the basis of new securely as a settled nation. The law established appears from Jesus’ reaction that he recognised that
society because Noah was the only virtuous man a covenant or agreement between God and the culmination of his earthly ministry involved
the spread of belief in the God of the Jews to the
in a wicked world. Israel but it was never a cold, calculating deal
Gentile world and that the time for this momentous
Israel’s God could only make ethical demands involving divine blessing in return for the
event had come.
of his people because he was morally perfect: obedience of the people or punishment as
‘The Lord told Moses to say to the community a consequence of disobedience.
of Israel, Be holy, because I, the Lord your God, It was left largely to the Old Testament prophets
am holy” (Leviticus 19:1-2). He could also do this to hammer out what this loving relationship
because he was involved in the day-to-day lives actually meant. Writing over a period from around
of his people. Again, this combination of perfection 870 to 400 BCE, these forthtellers (rather than
and participation in an imperfect world was foretellers) explored at a deeper level the nature
unique. To some ancient thinkers, such as of God and his dealings with his people in the
Heraclitus (circa 535 – 475 BCE), it seemed obvious form of biography, visions, warnings and promises.
that an all-powerful being who was the very Whereas the Torah was a take-it-or-leave-it legal
embodiment of virtue could not ‘soil his hands’ code, the prophetic writings made readers aware
with the morally tainted affairs of men. Their of what lay behind the law. The first point to note
supreme being was remote and unapproachable. about their message was that it was direct. Most of
They were the ancestors of 18th-century deists the canonical prophets were not cultic specialists
who developed the image of the ‘watchmaker or teachers of the law. They were selected by
God’. Having set creation ‘ticking’, he left it to its God to be his messengers. The claim “Thus says
own devises. the Lord” appears more than 1,200 times in the
prophetic writings.
THE GREATEST POEM, Secondly, the prophets spoke from personal
WHETHER OF ANCIENT experience. The stories of men such as Jonah
OR MODERN LITERATURE and Daniel were dramatic, enthralling accounts
It was left for the poets of the Old Testament to of how God dealt with his chosen spokesmen
grapple with the seeming triumph of lawlessness and – by extension – how he would deal with
that sometimes seemed to support the idea of an his people at large. Some writings are ‘enacted
absentee god. The writer of Psalm 94 was deeply prophecies’. For example, the 8th-century prophet
moved by the apparent triumph of injustice: Hosea, married a woman called Gomer, who
“They kill widows and orphans proved unfaithful but, instead of imposing
And murder the strangers who live in our land. the harsh penalty of the law for adultery, he
They say, ‘The Lord does not see us; forgave her and took her back. This was an
The God of Israel does not notice’” (Psalm 94:6-7). analogy for the relationship between God and

“THE PROPHETIC WRITINGS MADE The Greeks sought out Jesus,

READERS AWARE OF WHAT LAY eager to meet the new teacher

they’d heard so much about

BEHIND THE LAW”

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 Elijah’s sacrifice on Mount Carmel.
According to 1 Kings 18, Elijah wanted
to prove that idols had no power, and
so challenged the priests of Baal to
pray to their idol to ask him to burn a
sacrifice. The priest prayed all day to
no avail. Elijah built an altar of stones
and placed his sacrifice on this altar.
Within moments of praying to God, the
sacrifice and altar burst into flames

THE GUARDIANS OF THE LAW

Pharisees warned to avoid arid legalism
‘Pharisaism’ has become a byword for hypocrisy, self- abolish Judaism. This resulted in civil war during which
righteousness, arrogance and narrow-minded legalism 6,000 Jews were massacred in the Temple courtyard.
because many members of this sect were the enemies The Pharisees enjoyed widespread popularity as a
of Jesus. In origin, however, the Pharisees stood in the nationalist force resisting Hellenism. They emphasised
long tradition of religious reformers, dedicated to the scrupulous obedience to the Law, which they spent
purity of religion, the upholding of the Torah and the much of their time interpreting and re-interpreting
eradication of foreign influences from Jewish religious in order to apply it strictly in all circumstances. Their
life. They emerged as an important party in the 2nd religiosity had its roots in passion for the Law (St
century BCE when Palestine and its surrounding Paul was a Pharisee before his conversion) but Jesus
territory was part of the Seleucid Empire. The dominant condemned their fastidiousness because it missed the
cultural influence was Hellenism (ie based on Greek point of what Torah was all about: “You give to God a
religion and philosophy) and the conquerors employed tenth even of your seasoning herbs… but you neglect
it to impose unity on their extensive dominions. At the to obey the really important teachings of the Law such
height of Seleucid power an attempt was made to as justice and mercy and honesty” (Matthew 23:23).

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 Among the ruins of several pagan people. Only another divine initiative could solve
shrines on the Areopagus a later the problem.
age placed this plaque of the That takes us to the New Testament. The event
Christian address Paul gave there
we’re reminded of every Christmas was a unique
innovation, quite unlike anything recorded in any
other body of religious writing: the Creator entered
his own creation in human form to establish
a ‘New Covenant’. Did this mean that the law was
scrapped? Not according to Jesus. Though he was
accused often of overthrowing the legal system
he categorically rejected the charge. “Do not think
I have come to do away with the Law of Moses and
the teaching of the prophets,” he insisted. “I have
not come to do away with them but to make their
teachings come true… as long as heaven and earth
last, not the least point nor the smallest detail of
the law will be done away with” (Matthew 5:17-18).
The foundation of Jesus’ argument against his
critics, the experts in the law, was that they’d missed
the fundamental connection between law and love.
Respect for the law had degenerated into legalism.
The Torah had come to consist of 613 do’s and
don’ts, covering all the minutiae of human conduct.
Instead of providing people with a framework for
virtuous living, it tied them in knots. When Jesus
was challenged to declare which of the 613 rules
he considered the most important he reiterated the
basics: “Love God with all your heart soul, mind
and strength and your neighbour as yourself. This
is more important than offering animals and other
sacrifices to God” (Mark 12:30-33).
This challenging of the legal system was one of
the reasons why the Jewish religious leaders plotted
to have him killed. It remains a major point of issue
between Jews and Christians. The followers of Jesus
were accused of abandoning morality. They were
charged with ‘antinomianism’, of believing that it
did not matter how people behaved as long as they
believed that Jesus was an emanation of God, the
long-promised saviour of his people – the Messiah.

YOU STUPID GALATIANS!

It was left to St Paul in his letters to various
groups of Christian believers to explain just how
faith in Jesus, the Christ, and virtuous behaviour
were related. When the young church in the
Israel. God’s people had gone off to worship other “Will the Lord be pleased if I bring him thousands Roman province of Galatia fell under the control
gods. At first God promises severe retribution but of sheep or an endless stream of olive oil? Shall of Jewish teachers who were reintroducing legal
he goes on to declare: I offer him my first-born child to pay for my sins? proscriptions, Paul saw red. “You stupid Galatians!’
“How can I give you up, Israel? No… what he requires of us is this: to do what is he exclaimed. “Who bewitched you? … did you
How can I abandon you? just, to show constant love and to live in humble receive God’s Spirit by doing what the Law requires
My heart will not let me do it. fellowship with God” (Micah 6:7-8). or by hearing the good news [of Christ] and
My love for you is too strong. believing it?” (Galatians 3:1-2). The ‘good news’ was
I will not punish you in my anger ONLY ANOTHER DIVINE that the death of Christ on a Roman cross was
I will not destroy Israel again. INITIATIVE COULD SOLVE the sacrifice which obviated all other sacrifices
For I am God, and not man” (Hosea 11:8-9). THE PROBLEM demanded by the Law and made possible the
The words encapsulate the dilemma of a religion That was still as impossible for the vast majority permanent reconciliation of God and man. It
based on ethical monotheism. How can a perfect of people as it had been at the time of the Flood. declared God’s love for his creation and prompted
God be in communion with his imperfect chosen And, if that was the case, nothing could rescue the response of human love. And that love, in its
people? Making sacrifice in the temple provided the the creation from continuing in a downward spiral turn, moves believers to please God by obeying
only means of restoring people’s relationship with as the result of human misuse. It was a no-win his commands. One of the later New Testament
God when the law had been broken, but the prophet situation and the historical books of the Old writers put it simply: “We love because God first
Micah, whose life overlapped with Hosea’s, pointed Testament provide a remarkably honest record of loved us” (1 John 4:10) And St Paul declared: “To
out the inadequacy of the ritual system. the roller-coaster relations between God and his love is to embrace the whole law” (Romans 13:10).

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