“These are the commands, decrees, and regulations that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you. You must obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy, and you and your children and grandchildren must fear the LORD your God as long as you live. If you obey all his decrees and commands, you will enjoy a long life” – Deuteronomy 6:1-2 NLT
“God has revealed to us the way a society should live. A study of the book of Deuteronomy paints a picture of a culture with lifestyle habits that make for a sustainable and workable life.” – Lance Ford in Right Here Right Now
Torah means “instruction”, “law” and “teaching.” Most of the time we think of Torah as only law, which in many cases has negative connotations like being restrictive, punitive, or legalistic. This is far from the truth as Torah gives us profound answers to the problems we face today in our society. For example, teachings on the right to bear arms (Exodus 22:2), whom should care for the poor (Deut. 15:7-8, 10-11), whether the death penalty should be operative (Genesis 9:6; Acts 25:10-11), how Christians ought to care for the earth (Genesis 1:26, 27; Deut. 11:11-12) and many, many more pertinent subjects.
Because we have so separated the Old and New Testaments, we often times no longer have a voice into our culture nor do we know how to create a biblical climate in our society. In regard to the Old Testament, we are like the children of Israel in our treatment of the law. Listen to the Lord God through Hosea the prophet:
“I wrote for them the many things of my law, but they regarded them as something foreign” [“a strange thing” KJV] – Hosea 8:12 NIV.
In Christ,
Dale
dale@daleebel.org