Some good issues were brought up today in class. Here are my further responses:
1. First, don't think of the ancient Israelites as sitting around a table and making up lies that they agree to write down in a book. That's surely not the way it happened. Even our own memories of last week are clouded by our feelings, events, health, etc. There were many traditions that added to the final "redaction" or edit of the Bible. None of these stories were outright lies. The way it happened would be something like this: a few people had a very personal feeling of a special personal freedom; that feeling was somehow related to a sense of a great power that made "men," even the strongest or most powerful men, seem weak in comparison and surely unworthy of more than ordinary respect. Perhaps this group then were seen as causing "trouble" to a larger group or country. Somehow, despite odds against them, they managed to free themselves. Like these under-rated ball clubs who somehow win a big game against a mightier opponent. Because of this group's belief in God God was given more and more credit for the good that happened. Just like you, years from now, may give your mother or father more credit than perhaps they deserve for your education. But a parent or sibling inspired you so much that you are very grateful for them for giving you a sense of your own worth and dignity. Soon you exaggerate their efforts on your behalf. In the same way, the Israelites exaggerated what may have been a lucky escape. A chain of diseases frightened their owners (and we don't even know if these were Egyptians), allowing the weaker group to escape; and even the escape was exaggerated over centuries until God's role in that escape became larger and larger. Another good analogy is when you fall in love; you attribute all your success to your lover or beloved; because they gave you confidence when your family saw you as a failure; suddenly your lover is telling you you're so beautiful or handsome and intelligent. You're grateful for how they helped you through those difficult times and you exaggerate their importance; after all, it's YOU who studied, dressed well, etc. Still you may not have studied without that encouragement, or dressed well without being told you were attractive in the first place. In the same way, a sense of some powerful God, separate from worldly desires, gave these people a sense of worth, "empowering" them to struggle to achieve a new kind of dignity and freedom apart from the usual sense of inferiority towards people with more authority, power, money, strength, etc. This sense of God is then given to God himself until even our freedom is seen as coming from God; just like today Christians believe that even grace comes from God and is unearned by humans.
2. Regarding the law of talion. Revenge and justice are two different things. Talion clearly refers to justice, not blind revenge. Moreover, bear in mind, that laws written down and enforced are two different things. It's doubtful if many of those laws (commandments) were actually enforced. It's hard to believe that children were put to death for defying a parent, though it may have happened on rare occasions.
But keep in mind that today, in a well-ordered legal society, we can afford leniency to some degree. But some kind of "rule of thumb" was necessary for ancient societies; and all scholars and historians agree that the Hebrew laws were far more compassionate than other societies had. Also, keep in mind that even Jesus threatened eternal Hell for sinners. How does that square with Jesus' reputation as a man of compassion and forgiveness? Did Jesus really mean Hell in the sense of eternal punishment without end, forever and forever? Or is that Hell simply a way of speaking about punishment and separation the sinner brings on himself: we are punished by our sins, not for our sins, as the saying goes. The smoker punishes himself (his own body: lungs, for example), etc.
3. Finally, I wish to address the issue of erecting graven images. There is no simple solution to this. Clearly the Old Testament Commandment prohibits this. Clearly Christians have figures and pictures of Jesus, Mary, and many saints in their churches and homes. Does this violate God's Commandment? Of course, many Christian scholars or theologians point out that these images are not really worshiped; they are merely help aids, or reminders, of God. Nonetheless orthodox (strict) Jews could never imagine God in the form of a person or pictured as a person. This difference still separates Jews from Christians to this day. One thing for sure: both religions have found the best way to meet God in their daily lives: the Jews in the image of the LAW (see especially Psalm 119); the Christians in the image of JESUS. In the end, what matters is that the religious experience be kept alive, whether through the Law or through Jesus or through a meditation on Nothing.
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