These are the ordinances you shall lay before them. (Exodus 21:1)
The law in its narrative context places the “Ten Commandments” as the core base of Israelite legislation. By nature, they are what scholars call “apodictic” law, that is, commands to be obeyed. We shy away from calling them “universal” for the very fact that God gave them especially to Israel in the context of an exclusive covenant (CCC, 2062). As we said before, in their historical context, we might refer to them as “criminal law,” for to break them meant civil, even capital, punishment.
The Covenant Code we have been discussing over these last few posts follows upon these Ten Commandments, and are to be understood as direct application of the Decalogue. They come as “case studies” (casuistic) and serve as what one commentator calls “guiding principles” (Durham). We have already discussed the slave laws and the Lex Talionis. Though the social structures and the unique setting of theocracy in ancient Israel do not allow these laws to be implemented in our modern context, still they serve for “all time” as guiding principles of justice.
For instance, it is clear that the Apostle James knew the Covenant Code by heart, as many Jewish boys were required to do, and meditated on it deeply. When considering strangers, widows and orphans, the law specifically demands not to oppress them, and
if you do afflict them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows, and your children fatherless.
Ex. 22:22f.
In its original context this is most startling, because nothing was further from the nature of pagan deities to even care about the poor. James directly applies it as a guiding principle for the Church:
Behold the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud cry out; and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
James 5: 4
Again,
You shall not pervert justice for the needy among you in a lawsuit. You shall keep away from anything dishonest. The innocent and the just you shall not put to death, for I will not acquit the guilty.
Ex. 23:6-8
Paralleled by,
You have lived on earth in luxury and pleasure; you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter. You have condemned; you have murdered the righteous one; he offers you no resistance.
James 5:5f.
Many know how Martin Luther, a great proponent of a radical separation between law and grace, had little use for the Book of James. However, we see the same attitude with St. Paul describing his call to the Gentiles to the Apostles in his letter to the Galatians, which he fondly called his Katy von Bora, after his wife, because of St. Paul’s perceived emphasis of grace over law:
… and when they recognized the grace bestowed upon me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas their right hands in partnership, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only, we were to be mindful of the poor, which is the very thing I was eager to do.
Gal. 2:10
This attitude toward the poor comes directly out of the law, which St. Paul knew as well as anyone, and loved it. When St. Paul speaks of law as a hindrance to the Gospel of grace, he is specifically referencing those cultic laws that visually distinguished the Jews and the Gentiles, such as circumcision, dietary laws, dress, holy days, etc. The Apostles at the First Ecumenical council (Acts 15, Gal. 2:1-10) determined, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, that a Gentile did not have to become a Jew, or look like a Jew, to be a disciple of Jesus. Rather, it is having faith in Christ, who is the fulfillment of the law, and in our union with Him, that we too are empowered to fulfill in our own lives the spirit of the law.
The whole body of Catholic social teaching called the “preferential option for the poor,” builds on the foundation of the Covenant Code and systematically runs throughout the rest of Scripture. It is not only a matter of compassion, but a matter of justice, to provide for the poor, because the poor, often victims of political and societal systems that are oppressive, deserve the help of those who have plenty. The attitude of Cain, expressed in his warped response to God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” is often the attitude of those who do not see their responsibility to the poor.
Although some of the laws, such as “You will not permit a sorceress to live (Ex. 22:18),” fall hard on modern ears, and “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk (Ex. 23:19),” is difficult to understand without its historical context, the whole body of this legislation was critical to maintaining the covenantal life of Israel. Fidelity to YHWH and justice is behind every one of these laws.
We mentioned above how structurally this Covenant Code is the expansion and application of the Decalogue. It is noteworthy that St. Matthew picks up on this same structure. Jesus is on the mount and speaks to His disciples like YHWH spoke to Moses on the mount. The Beatitudes function like the Decalogue, and the rest of the Sermon on the Mount expands and makes application of each of the Beatitudes, like the Covenant Code does for the Decalogue. Jesus doesn’t reject the law, but affirms it, transforming the old focus on a particular nation and territory, to a focus on a whole new Kingdom embracing the whole world.
Takeaway: The Covenant Code, although specifically given to the Hebrew nation for a particular time, is relevant to our Catholic Kingdom living here and now.
Question: 1) How and in what ways has your view of Hebrew law changed after studying the Covenant Code?
Resources:
CCC, 2062, 1716ff. on the Beatitudes.
Durham, J. Exodus in WBC, p. 320