28/30 March 2007
Lesson 21: The SHEMA, the great commandment

"Are We There Yet?"

Traveling through the desert for forty years certainly is a long time! The Hebrew people were given the Law at Mt. Sinai (Ex. 20) and now it is repeated, just before they enter the promised land (Dt. 5). During the past few months that we've been journeying with the people of God, we've seen many commandments and laws in the books of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Being in the ancient near East, the people had access to a legal tradition that was already in existence for 3000 years. They were familiar with rules.

However, these were unique. Scholars have determined that there were four different Israelite codes. First, the Covenant code which goes back to Mt. Sinai. Even though some of the material might go back to the time
of the patriarchs which they were i n Mesopotamia, the important characteristic is that it was sanctioned by the Lord as his law for his people. This was repeated in Dt. 5. However, there is a lot more in Dt. and that is called: the Deuteronomic code (Dt. 12-25). Some of this is ancient, but it is also probable that later material was added, possibly at the time of King Josiah's reign (622 BCE). The old laws were then adapted to new circumstances and new laws added according to the need of later times. Thirdly, there was the "Holiness Code" found in Lv. 17-26. The contents of this code comprise stipulations in connection with the sanctuary, the priests and the covenant community. All the stipulations must be kept by the Israelites and regarded as holy and thus the property of the Lord: "For I the Lord, who sanctify you, am holy". (Lv.21:8) Fourth: the final compilation of laws. Many of the legal compilations were not in the exact form as we have them in the Pentateuch. After the exile compilations were made, some laws were readjusted to new circumstances and other laws added. The different codes were then placed in the broad framework of the Penteteuch as we have it today. The final form of the Pentateuch was reached only in c450 BCE in the time of Ezra. (The New Bible Dictionary, 2nd ed., c1962, Tyndale. pp685,686)

The foundations of Western civilization are laid here. Ethics, morality, justice, literature: all are results of the codes that are written in the book of Dt. Just to pick one example. There's an increased sensitivity to the subject of slavery right now due to the film about William Wilberforce and his efforts to end British involvement in the slave trade. If we look at the listing in Dt. 5, note how one must not let one's slave work on the Sabbath. We don't know exactly how one became a slave, whether this person was a Hebrew fulfilling a debt, or a stranger taken in to do work. Nevertheless, this person was to be treated as a member of the family, so to speak...right after "son and daughter" (Dt. 5:14). Similarly, one must not covet a neighbor's
slave (Dt. 5: 21). And elsewhere in the code is the stipulation that a slave must be freed after six years. Life and freedom were exceedingly important concepts.

"In the prescriptions of Jewish law we cannot but note a presumption that all people, even slaves, are human and that all human lives are sacred. The constant bias is in favor not of the powerful and their possessions but of the powerless and their poverty; and there is a frequent enjoinder to sympathy: A sojourner you are not to oppress: you yourselves know the feelings of the sojourner, for sojourners were you in the land of Egypt.

This bias toward the underdog is unique not only in ancient law but in the whole history of law. However faint our sense of justice may be, insofar as it operates at all it is still a Jewish sense of justice". (Thomas Cahill, "The Gifts of the Jews", 155)

And this is all possible because of the over-riding principle of: God, our God is One. The Jews were the first people to develop an integrated view of life and its obligations. All life, having come from the Author of life, was to be governed by a single outlook. The material and the spiritual, the intellectual and the moral were one....God is One, life is a moral continuum--and reality makes sense. (156,157)

These laws protect the vulnerable. "All workers--including slaves, animals, and immigrants--need a Sabbath day of rest each week to deliver them from their vulnerability to being overworked. Elderly parents who are vulnerable to neglect must be honored. People who are vulnerable to being murdered need a society that protect them from murder. Married persons who are vulnerable to betrayal and the destruction of marriage require protection from adultery. People who are vulnerable to stealing (originally this was a prohibition against kidnapping) should have protection from stealing. People who are being tried in a law court or whose reputation is being threatened must be protected from false witness. Neighbors need protection from other neighbors who might covet and steal their possessions. The Ten Commandments are about God's deliverance of the vulnerable from powerful forces that threaten them; they are also about God's command to us to participate in delivering those who are vulnerable.....The Lord, the Holy Redeemer of Israel, hears our cries and brings deliverance. The Ten Commandments are about God's presence, and God's delivering love for the vulnerable." (Glen Stassen, "Living the Sermon on the Mount", 3,4)

How reassuring is that--experiencing God's love and laws which work in conjunction with each other to promote justice and peace. Professor Stassen goes on to say that God did something new when Jesus went up the mountain to teach. Does that sound like our Sunday morning sermons? I was amazed when I discovered this book and read the similarities between Moses and Jesus--how Matthew wanted those who heard or read this Gospel to think of parallels in ancient scriptures and connect them to what God is doing here, in and through Jesus. "In this case, Jesus going up the mountain intentionally reminds us of Moses going up Mount Sinai to get the Ten Commandments. Moses' story in the book of Exodus begins with his birth and proceeds to his rescue from Pharaoh's murderousness. Jesus' story in the Gospel of Matthew begins with his birth and then relates his rescue from King Herod's murderousness. Moses had to be rescued from Pharaoh's intention to have Hebrew boy babies killed, and Jesus and his parents had to flee from Herod's doing the same. Moses and the people of israel were sojourners in Egypt and then returned to Israel. Jesus and his parents spent a sojourn in Egypt and then returned to Israel. Moses and his people spent forty years in the wilderness before entering into Israel. Jesus fasted forty days in the wilderness before entering into his ministry. Through Moses, God gave the people of Israel the Sermon on the Mount. Moses was the first prophet in Israel. Jesus and John the Baptist restarted prophecy in Israel after there had been no prophets for many years. In all these ways, Matthew tells us that Jesus is renewing and fulfilling the line of prophets who speak God's word to us. Moses began that line of prophets; Jesus is in this sense the new Moses----and more!" (2)

And this is the NEW covenant that we experience today--build on the foundation of the old--what we've been learning these past few months. But one truth remains unchanged: "Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God, the Lord is One". (Dt. 6:4 NIV) The Israelites in the desert were commanded to "hear"--meaning "to pay attention, to understand, to obey," just as the Israelites in the land of Palestine hundreds of years later were encouraged "to hear" by Jesus when he said, "Let anyone with ears listen!" (Mt.13:9 NRSV)

It's almost the end of Lent, the forty days that we have used to reflect on the presence of God in our lives. As the Byzantine Vespers read: "Having completed the forty days that bring profit to our souls, we beseech thee in thy love for us: Grant us also to behold thy passion." (from The Lenten Triodion)

As our Jewish friends celebrate the Passover, they remember in detail the deeds of the Lord that we've so diligently studied. Their liturgy recalls:

Not only our ancestors alone did the Holy One redeem but us as well, along with them, as it is written: "And
God freed us from Egypt so as to take us and give us the land which had been sworn to our ancestors."
Therefore, let us rejoice at the wonder of our deliverance: from bondage to freedom, from agony to joy, from
mourning to festivity, from darkness to light, from servitude to redemption. Before God let us ever sing a new song.

Each day all of us are able to sing a new song of praise to the Redeemer of our souls. This is the prayer we can say each day: "Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God, The Lord is One" (Dt.6:4 NIV) Lenten Prayer II (Russell Vande Bunte, RCA pastor)