Today it really does start to get a bit 'way out' as we plough our way through a long and seemingly disparate set of rules and regulations, an awful lot of which seem to invoke a death sentence. For the first time since I began this exercise I found myself longing to get to the end of the material. This temptation to skim or skip would, had I not steadfastly resisted, have meant I'd have missed a couple of important positives right at the end of this section.
What Kind of Society?
The piecemeal nature of the material gathered here, and its allusions to a settled society with fields and wells etc., suggests that these rules will have emerged over time and not been handed out to Moses 'for future reference'.
Many years ago, I recall someone saying that you could deduce an awful lot about a society by the rules it made, because on the whole rules are made in response to bad stuff. If this is so, then the Hebrews must have been a pretty disfunctional and violent lot!
Many of these rules are concerned with what must happen if someone is killed, deliberately or otherwise. Some are concerned with the treatment of women - and if what is recorded is anything to go by, however patriarchal the rules, life was a whole lot worse without them. Family life must have been troubling, with children showing violence and disrespect to their parents (totally contrary to the commandment with blessing attached).
All of which make me think about the laws that are passed, sometimes very rapidly and seemingly with little thought to their unintended consequences, in our own land(s). A nation that needs to outlaw consumption of certain substances and restrict the use of others; a nation that require legislation around health and safety, trades unions and minimum wages; a nation that feels the need to create laws to reduce a perceived risk of relgious fundamentalism... And so on, and so forth.
When in the future read the statute books of the UK or of Scotland or of Europe, what might they deduce about us and our values?
[Whilst part way through typing this, a friend called in and when I shared what I was reflecting on, said the kind of issues here made it sound like people who would be ideal for the Jeremy Kyle show... wish I'd thought of that!]
Resident Aliens
God says:
You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry; my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children orphans.
Given that we know there will lots of bloodshed and violence before Israel is established as a nation, much of it seeming to our eyes xenophobic, this command is as poignant as it is challenging.
How quickly an oppressed group, once liberated, can become oppressive. How soon once our goals or desires are satisfied, we are blinded to those of others. All too easy to forget our own history and assimilate the values and attitudes we once despised.
And how pertinent these words when we think of the current refugee and migrant situation in and around Syria, and indeed of the endeavours by the UK Prime Minister to restrict benefits for EU migrants. Is our corporate memory so short? Have we forgotten what it was like before the welfare state (even if only via the history books)? Have those of us who were bullied or marginalised forgotten how that felt?
Loans to the Poor
God also says:
If you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, you shall not deal with them as a creditor; you shall not exact interest from them. If you take your neighbour’s cloak in pawn, you shall restore it before the sun goes down; for it may be your neighbour’s only clothing to use as cover; in what else shall that person sleep? And if your neighbour cries out to me, I will listen, for I am compassionate.
We hear so much about people trapped in various kinds of poverty, and indeed have legislation in place in response to the horrors of 'pay day loans'; we see countless people begging whose stories may or may not move us to action (and sometimes, as I have experienced, have abuse hurled at us by those we try to help).
The poor will always be with you, said Jesus, and they are.
There are many ethical, or at least more ethical, loan providers, such as Credit Unions. There are trained advisers such as Christians Against Poverty. There are organisations such as The Poverty Truth Comission enabling those living with or on poverty to find a voice. There are secular and religious charities meeting needs at grass roots in the UK and overseas.
There is good news, if we have the eyes to see and ears to hear.
There is a long way to go to making this command a real lived reality, people are still pawning and selling things they actually need in order to pay bills or to service loans. But to end on a positive, this is one area that seems to touch the hearts and the pockets of many people both in 'sticking plaster' responses such as Food Banks and Clothes Banks, and in longer term, more radical enterprises such as Cooperatives and Start Up Projects.
Over the last few weeks I've been watching with interest the emergence of a new project in Glasgow called StepUp Shoe Shine which brings together corporate social repsonsibility and people needing an opportunity to rebuild their lives. Do take a look at the website and find out more... it feels like a creative response to a complex issue.