Image from amazon.com
[First posted July 3,2012.
More on James Tabor’s Restoring Abrahamic Faith, Chapter 5: THE WAY, concluding section; edited and reformatted for website reading.]
——————-
Jewish tradition tells us that the entire TORAH, or Five Books of Moses, contains 613 Commandments (mitzvot).
At least two-thirds of these deal with—-
- matters of the Temple,
- the priesthood, and
- the social-economic system applicable to ancient Israel living in the Land.
This means that large portions of the TORAH are not directly applicable, even to devoutly observant Jews, at this time in history.
From a historical point of view this means that the TORAH comes to us in its ancient Near Eastern setting and context.
No one today can simply pick up the TORAH and literally follow it. Too many situations and contexts have changed over the centuries.
The TORAH, in the form we have it, was given to ancient Israel, as a special Covenant, and applied to their particular situation and setting, 3500 years ago, when all Twelve Tribes were living in the Land with the full operation of Temple and priesthood.
———————————————————————————
The Rabbis have developed and passed on in Jewish tradition (Mishnah, Tosefta, and the two Talmuds) their own complex and rich traditions regarding the application of TORAH to their ongoing life in the Diaspora.
YHVH is a God of history. His WAY and PLAN are revealed and worked out in time and history. Obviously the texts of the Bible, for that reason, are historically conditioned, given at a specific time and place with applications appropriate to their historical setting. Yet in principle the essential Teachings reflected in the Hebrew Bible are relevant to diverse cultures and time periods.
Non-Jews who love YHVH and want to follow His WAY must surely ask—is there a single commandment (mitzvah) of the TORAH from which one can not learn essential aspects of God’s nature and WAY for humankind?
Which of the commandments (mitzvot) of TORAH are to be spurned or forgotten? One has only to page through whole sections of TORAH such as Deuteronomy chapters 12-25 or Leviticus 18-19, to realize its potential relevance and importance for humankind. It is broad in scope, touching upon social, economic, cultural, and ecological aspects of life on this planet.
The following is a topical summary of these major sections of the TORAH that serves to illustrate this point:
Core Teachings from Deuteronomy:
Chapter 5: The TEN WORDS.
- No other gods before YHVH, the ONE GOD
- No making of idols
- No vain use of God’s holy Name YHVH
- Observing the Sabbath
- Honoring parents
- No murder, adultery, stealing, lying, or coveting
Chapters 12-25:
- Destruction of all evidence of idolatry and pagan ways in the Land (12:1-4)
- Tithes and offerings to God brought to a central sanctuary (12:6-28)
- Prohibition against worshipping YHVH like the pagan nations worshipped their gods (12:29-32)
- Prohibition against following any prophet or influence that advocates the worship of other gods (chapter 13)
- Prohibition against eating animals which are unclean; anything that is found dead; or slaughtering a newborn animal for food (14:1-21)
- Sharing one tenth (tithe) of your produce with the Levite, the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the stranger (14:22-29)
- Release of those who have fallen into debt or servitude every 7th year (15:1-18)
- All the first born males of the herds are sacred to God (15:19-22)
- Prohibition of eating blood (15:23)
- Celebration of Passover (Spring); Feast of Weeks/Pentecost (Summer); and Feast of Booths/Tabernacles (Fall) at the central sanctuary (16:1-17)
- Establishment of courts with just and honest judges and officials of government; more difficult cases go to higher court (16:18-20; 17:8-13)
- Prohibition of setting up pagan symbols and pillars (16:21-22)
- Sacrifice only the best animals (17:1)
- Execution of those who turn to idolatry (17:2-7)
- King is not to exploit the people, amassing wealth, women, and power, but is to meditate on the TORAH and carefully follow it (17:14-20)
- Levitical priests are to be supported by the other tribes (18:1-8)
- Prohibition of all forms of spiritualism and the occult—especially divination and consulting the dead (18:9-22)
- Cities of refuge are to be set up for accidental homicide cases (19:1-13)
- Ancestral landmarks are to remain (19:14)
- Evidence only established by testimony of multiple witnesses (cross examination), punishments are to be swift and fair, fitting the crime (19:15-21)
- Warfare: terms of peace are to be offered before battle; women, children, and animals are to be spared; the seven nations of the Land are to be utterly destroyed ; environments is to be protected (20:1-20)
- Thorough investigation of homicides, blood guilt to be taken most seriously (21:1-9)
- Foreign wives and second wives to be treated fairly and given full rights (21:10-17)
- Execution of rebellious youth (21:18)
- Proper and swift burial of those executed by hanging (21:22-23)
- Restoring lost property of others (22:1-4)
- Clothing of sexes to be kept distinct (22:5)
- Birds not to be over harvested (22:6-7)
- Attention to property safety and liability (22:8)
- Prohibition against mixing seeds, animals, cloth (22:9-11)
- Tassels required on garments (22:12; see Numbers 15:37-41)
- Virginity to be authenticated; adultery forbidden with death penalty; engaged woman is as if married; rape is punishable by death; marriage follows pre-marital sex if parents consent (22:13-29)
- Prohibition of sex with father’s wife (22:30)
- Certain persons excluded from the congregation (23:1-7)
- Washing (mikvah) after male ejaculation (23:10-11; see Leviticus 15:16-18)
- Sanitation and latrines required (23:12-14)
- Protection of runaway slaves (23:15)
- No cult prostitution, male or female (23:17-18)
- No charging of interest on loans to countrymen (23:19-20)
- Faithful performance of all vows (23:21-23)
- Hospitality required but not to be abused (23:24-25)
- Divorced allowed, but women not to be passed from man to man (24:1-4)
- Newly married given release from civic duties (24:5)
- Millstone (item vital to livelihood) not to be taken in pledge for loans (24:6)
- Kidnapping punishable by death (24:7)
- Control of disease and infections, quarantine (24:8-9)
- Respect for the property and dignity of the poor (24:10-13)
- No oppression of poor, laborers to be paid promptly (24:14-15)
- Fathers not punished for sins of children, nor children for sins of parents (24:16)
- Justice for the foreigner, orphan, widow (24:17-18)
- Generosity toward the poor, the orphan, the foreigner, the widow (24:19-22)
- Corporal punishment limited to 40 blows (25:1-3)
- Working animal not to be muzzled (25:4)
- Brothers are required to marry widowed brother’s wife with no children (25:5-10)
- Male genitals are off limits in a fight (25:11-12)
- Use of just weights and measures in business (25:13-16)
- Amalek is to be blotted out from the land (25:17-19)
Additional Teachings from Leviticus
- Sexual relations forbidden with close relatives (18:1-18)
- Sexual intercourse forbidden during menstrual days (18:19; see 15:19-30)
- Male homosexual relations forbidden (18:22)
- Sexual relations with animals forbidden (18:23)
- No abusing the deaf, deceiving the blind (19:14)
- Impartiality required toward the poor, no deference toward the powerful (19:15)
- Prohibition against slander toward a brother (19:16)
- One must help anyone in danger (19:16)
- One is not to hate one’s brother, nor take vengeance, nor bear a grudge. Love your neighbor as yourself (19:17-18)
- Fruit of trees forbidden for the first three years (19:23-25)
- Eating blood forbidden (19:26; see 17:10-16)
- No tattoos, shaving of the head and beard (19:27-28; Deuteronomy 14:1-2)
- Honor of the aged (19:32)
- Equal treatment of strangers and foreigners (19:33-34)
This overview shows the wide range of subjects and areas that are covered in the TORAH, though a mere list of this type does not do justice to the underlying principles that undergird the entire system of TORAH based ethics.
Both Moses and Jesus emphasized that humans are to “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” (Deuteronomy 8:3; cf. Luke 4:4).
Continued in TORAH Faith for Non-Jews 5b