February 1, 2013’s Bible Thoughts Today explores
method in interpreting Old Testament Law for transformational development. It
concentrates on the method of John Rogerson, a British Old Testament theologian
and ethicist.
So far, this
blog has been quite general and has roughly outlined the role that the legal
material of the Pentateuch played in the life of Israelite and Jewish
communities, and has drawn some implications for some of the goals of
development work. This begs the question concerning how the specific, time and
culture bound, specific legal material that makes up the whole of the
Pentateuch’s legal material is used in development work. Again, I draw upon the
categories of Old Testament ethics in order to suggest an answer to the question.
John
Rogerson’s method in his book, Theory and
Practice of Old Testament Ethics involves the discovery and use “of
imperatives of redemption” and “structures of grace.” Rogerson defines an
“imperative of redemption” as, “a reason for commanding a particular action
that is grounded in what God has graciously done in redemption.” He defines a
“structure of grace” as “a social arrangement that is meant to work our
graciousness in practical terms, so that both those who administer it and those
who benefit it are aware of the graciousness implied.”[1]
Rogerson’s
“imperatives of redemption” and “structures of grace” work in tandem. An
example of an imperative of redemption is Deuteronomy 15:14b-15,
Give to him as the LORD your God
has blessed you. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God
redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today.
This command is given in the
context of a law regarding providing liberally for a Hebrew slave when the
slave leaves a master’s service after his limited term of service ends,
If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a
woman, sells himself to you and serves you six years, in the seventh year you
must let him go free. And when you
release him, do not send him away empty-handed. Supply him liberally from your
flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. (Deuteronomy 15:12-14a)
The structure of grace, which
provides for the release from a limited period of slavery used to settle debts,
is rooted in the fact that the Israelite who purchased the Hebrew slave is
descendant of a people who were slaves in Egypt. Because the master’s
ancestors, and hence the master, has experienced the pain of slavery, and been
redeemed from it by God, the master should be generous with the slave(s) that
he has. The law regarding the release of slaves in Deuteronomy and Leviticus 25[2] and the
law of Jubilee in which sold land reverts back to its original owners, and thus
a family’s patrimony and means of independent livelihood is restored (Lev 25)
is grounded in the fact that since Israel was redeemed by God from Egypt, the
Israelites are God’s servants and should not be treated as another’s slaves.
The idea that the Israelites were slaves in Egypt that God redeemed is the
motive force, or “imperative of redemption” behind the laws in Deuteronomy 15
and Leviticus 25 regarding the freeing and generous treatment of Hebrew slaves
and the return of a family’s ancestral land in the year of Jubilee.[3]
The
limited scope of the areas of life covered in the legal material of the
Pentateuch means that rather than providing a comprehensive rule for every area
of Israelite life, they were meant to portray the character of the LORD, and
the type of society that Israel had to be to be pleasing to the LORD. The point
of the law regarding slaves in Deuteronomy, Leviticus and the Book of the
Covenant in Exodus is that ideally slavery should not exist in Israel,[4] and the
law of the Kinsman redeemer that purchases a family member out of debt slavery
or a piece of land that has been sold to settle debts reinforces this picture.[5]
The
legal material in the Pentateuch paints a picture of the gracious character of
God, and the type of society that Israel was to be to please God and live with
God in their midst. This material pointed Israel Godward, and was to transform
them into a people of God. The material in the Pentateuch regarding slavery
accepts that there is slavery in Israel, but points to the ideal that there
should not be, and provides mechanisms to remove slavery from Israel grounded
in God’s gracious act of delivering Israel from slavery. In cultural contexts
that differ from Iron Age Israel to a greater or lesser degree, the legal
material does not provide culturally contextualized mechanisms to remove
slavery from a society, but shows the character of the LORD, who demands that
it is removed for God’s blessing and presence to be in a society. The
imperative of redemption that God delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt shows
the character of God that has also redeemed us in Christ Jesus from bondages
that effect societies and peoples throughout the world on multiple levels. The
imperative of redemption that God has redeemed us so we should strive for the
redemption of others calls for the development structure of grace through which
the character of our gracious God can be manifested through our different
societies.
Bible
Thoughts Today has briefly examined the legal material in the Pentateuch
and has concluded that this material was promulgated to turn Israelite society
Godward, so that it becomes a society in which God could dwell and which God
could bless. From this, it concluded that helping people find a way of life
that God blesses and in which they could live in God’s presence should be a
primary goal of Christian development work. This is rooted in pursuing the aims
and priorities of God in public and private life. If this is the case, then
Christian development work should be rooted in evangelism and discipleship
first and foremost. We then briefly examined a method with which to apply the
individual, concrete and culturally specific laws in the Pentateuch’s legal
material to different societies. To this end, we lifted up Rogerson’s
“imperatives of redemption” and “structures of grace” as a method with which to
apply the individual laws of the Pentateuch to culturally different contexts.
We hope you have found this past week’s reflections on the
use of the Old Testament Law in transformational development useful in
stimulating thought concerning the use of the Bible in contemporary society. If
you did, we ask you to mention Bible Thoughts Today and recommend it to your
social networking circle. This next week, the discussion will be guided, but
more open ended, as we turn to the use of the Bible in contemporary evangelical
thought, starting off with a discussion of the relationship between the Old and
New Testaments.
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