This past Saturday night Cindy was watching the 50s epic, The Ten Commandments. As I was passing through the room (it is not one of my must see movies) I heard Moses (aka Charlton Heston) telling Pharaoh (aka Yul Brynner) that he needed to let the Hebrews go so that they could be ruled by Law and not by a tyrant. This is an interesting statement considering Moses knew nothing of Law until the people of God had reached the wilderness. God had not tipped off Moses that the 10 Commandments would be forthcoming. For those of you who may be curious about why the writers of the film would make such a gaff about the Law being mentioned so early in the story we need to remember that this film was as much about critiquing communism as it was about telling the story of Moses and the Ten Commandments. Interestingly enough however the writers got their theology right even if they got their Biblical history wrong...which we will get to in a few paragraphs…but first a few words about Law.
While many of us may think of the 10 Commandments as something new and unique, it was not unprecedented. Over the more than a thousand years prior to the Exodus (usually dated in the 1200s BCE) various Middle Eastern rulers (Urukagina, Hammurabi, Ur-Nammu of Ur, and Lipit-Ishtar of Isin among others) produced law codes. These codes were designed to restrain governments (including kings) in their abuse of citizens and offer guidance in settling disputes between individuals. They point to an understanding that while the supreme ruler may be considered a god, as was often the case, this status was not an absolute license for action. It was a reminder that even "a god" needed a contract with his people or the "god" could be overthrown.
What is remarkable about the Torah, or the Law of Moses, is that it is a contract between God and humanity, not between human rulers and those they govern. The Law begins by clarifying the relationship between the people and God (including religious rituals), then goes on to deal with relationships between human beings in areas as diverse as hygiene and sexual activity (again from a religious point of view). As a series of laws formulated during the time when Israel was still a loose knit agricultural society they do not deal with many of the issues dealt with by other law codes such as large scale commerce and the rule of kings. At the same time however there are similarities between the Torah and the other law codes such as when they deal with civil penalties and divorce.
Now back to the ways in which the writers got their theology right.
The first is that Law directs the allegiance of people towards God as the law giver. It is a reminder that no human being should ever be given ultimate rule over the people of God. The true "king" will always be God. This understanding in and of itself was always a restraint on the power of the Israelite kings. Thus the orientation of the people will be to worship God and not the kings (which was not the case in Egypt, Rome and most of Mesopotamia where kings were often worshipped as gods).
Second, the Law restrains evil. The Hebrew Scriptures make it clear that the God of creation is a God of order and not chaos. Therefore if people are to be truly free and redeemed, they need to live within life giving parameters. Chaos, or the lack of law and structure, leads to death and so needs to be restricted by the use of law.
Finally the law points us toward the good. It offers us models of appropriate behavior in difficult circumstances…thus insuring order in God's world. All three of these uses of the law move us toward being the redeemed people of God…which is why Jesus made it clear that the law would never disappear.
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