Deuteronomy 4:1-2
So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to
observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.” vs. 1
As the community of our faith ancestors began to emerge from the tangle of tribes occupying the deserts of the Middle East, their leaders began to compile a legal code that would govern their behaviors and ensure their legacy. The laws arose out of their tribal experiences and reflect the rules and behaviors necessary for their survival as a community of faith. Some of the codes were borrowed from other cultures and traditions and others were peculiar to the developing faith of the Hebrew people. The scribes who finally wrote them down and compiled them in what we know as the Deuteronomic Code considered them to have been given by the Lord and came to regard them as a part of their holy scripture. While some of those statutes and ordinances seem strange to our ears, ultimately this law came to be the identifying mark of the Jewish people. It was the core of their faith. Rabbis taught that obedience to the commandments would bring blessings to the community, and disobedience would bring down God’s judgment. As the years passed and the people occupied the land we know as Israel, the kings proved to be ineffective. But the law was the strength of the nation, and because of the law, Judaism survived and remains a force in the world today.
Thought for the Day: How does law build a lasting community?
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