kingdomready.org

I was reading an excellent book (Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament by Wheaton Professor John Walton and it had a great deal of information that put together the Old Testament very well. I wanted to bring up this one part about the Mosaic law (specifically the first four commandments), and how we can see the forceful changes it makes to the status quo of the ancient peoples.

1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me

The Israelites were being commanded not to construe YHWH as operating within a community of gods. There was to be no thought of pantheon or consort. He does not function as the head of a pantheon with a divine assembly. He works alone… The first commandment becomes a simple statement that YHWH’s power is absolute, not being distributed among other deities or limited by the will of the assembly… If YHWH does not share power, authority, or jurisdiction with them, they are not gods in any meaningful sense of the word. The first commandment does not insist that the other gods are non-existent, but that they are powerless; it disenfranchises them. It does not simply say that they should not be worshipped, it leaves them with no status worthy of worship

The conclusion is that YHWH is fully capable to meet the peoples’ needs. He is concerned with their safety - he guards them as a warrior god (YHWH of Hosts). He is concerned with their longevity - he acts as a fertility god in many instances (Abraham, Hannah…). In the ancient world the people would run to a specific god to fulfill a specific need. YHWH is declaring that he can fulfill all these needs - and they should not run to other gods to fill them. Unfortunately Israel’s history shows us they did just that for fertility (Asherah), and war (Baal).

2. Thou shalt not make any graven images…

No image is to be used as the mediator of revelation or presence from Deity to people, or as the mediator of worship from the people to Deity. The prohibition particularly excludes that sort of worship that is understood as meeting the needs of the Deity though the image… The priests served a mediatorial role, but their role was to present the offerings on behalf of the people rather than to receive the offerings on behalf of the Deity.

All other ancient temples contained an image of the god. The priests would feed the god, and give the god drink, and make sure it was taken care of. This was their service. YHWH is different, in that he does not need anything from man. In other creation accounts the gods created man to do the work the gods not longer wanted to do. YHWH obviously didn’t create with that in mind. YHWH does not need anything from his people - rather he gives to his people. In other cultures, neglect of this basic act of service to the god was offensive to the god and he/she acted in retribution.

3. Thou shalt not take the name of YHWH thy God in vain…

The name is equivalent to the identity of the Deity and expresses the Deity’s essence, and the divine identity can be commandeered for illicit use… In light of this information, the third commandment when read as ancient Near Easter literature concerns how YHWH’s power/authority was not to be perceived - people were to recognize it by refraining from attempts to control or misuse it. It was not to be thought of as an efficacious symbol that could be used to pursue one’s self-interests.

All ancient peoples realize the name of the god has power. YHWH commands Israel to not misuse that power. Could this be a way to understand Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount, that people who sin wilfully, people that Jesus does not know - while performing miracles in his name - will not enter the Kingdom?

4. Remember the Sabbath…

The key to understanding the Sabbath rest for people is found in the Sabbath rest for YHWH on the seventh day of creation, as the command in Exodus tells us. The concept of divine rest can, in turn, be elucidated by ancient Near Eastern literature, which demonstrates that a deity’s rest is achieved in a temple, generally as a result of chaos having been dispelled. The rest, while is represents disengagement from any process of establishing order (whether through conflict with other deities or not), is more importantly an expression of engagement as the deity takes his place at the helm to maintain an ordered, secure, and stable cosmos… The divine rest is characterized by ongoing control and stability (rather than sleeping peacefully, which is another concept in the ancient Near East)…His control is represented in his rest and is recognized by yielding for the day their own attempts to provide for themselves.

As much as mankind needs a break - the break from work was to recognize YHWH’s ability to retain order. Stopping work for a day isn’t going to cause the world to fall apart. YHWH can keep everything in order while you rest. Think on the fact that every seven years they are supposed to let the land lay without crop, so the land can rest. To stop farming for a year is a big deal - but YHWH can sustain.

Thoughts?