I don’t think a lot of us realize just how much of a departure the Mosaic Covenant was from anything that had ever been known in history up to this point time…
…especially when it came to the areas dealing with social justice such as caring for the widows and the orphans.
The closest thing I can think of is the American Constitution and honestly I’m not even sure if that’s a good example.
But let’s play with this thought for a moment.
The American Constitution was founded on the ideals that a nation’s people should govern themselves and be responsible for their own lives.
In other words, I’m talking about the institution of democracy.
The concept of democracy, which the US constitution was modeled after, was revolutionary to some degree but was not a complete departure from anything that had ever been known in the world up until that time.
For instance, Ancient Rome had installed a governmental body called the Senate that in theory at least was supposed to represent the needs and desires of the people.
Another example is the 13th century Magna Carta which placed limits on the ruling power of a king.
This was considered revolutionary for its time and its principles also influenced the US constitution.
According to the Magna Carta, the king also had to obey the same established laws of the kingdom that everyone else did.
From this, we can see that the US Constitution while being a significant step towards democratic self-government was NOT revolutionary in terms of being a complete departure from anything that had ever existed before it.
In other words, it was not as radical as the Mosaic Covenant.
Here’s why.
Before the Mosaic Covenant came into being, there was ONLY ONE SOURCE OF LAW AND JUSTICE for every society and nation on earth.
Law and justice before the Mosaic Covenant was only what a nation’s king declared it to be.
Let me say that again because it goes to the crux of what I want to communicate to you in this post.
BEFORE the Mosaic Covenant, all laws and notions of justice originated with the king of a given society or nation.
They were manmade.
The very idea that the living God would in such amazing detail provide a system of instructions that EVERYBODY including the king had to obey was both a mind-boggling and mind-blowing proposition.
The Mosaic Covenant was unprecedented and a radical departure from the norm at that time.
And I’m sure for the Israelites at the time who were on the receiving end of these divine ordinances from their God, all of this must have seemed like a surreal fantasy, more like a dream or a vision than reality.
Because there was so little about many of God’s instructions that an Israelite could relate to, misunderstanding and misinterpretation became the rule rather than the exception (I guess this is a phenomenon you could argue still continues to this day).
That is why I believe God also mixed in a few elements of His Torah with already existing ways and customs.
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