Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!princeton!njin!paul.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: tblake@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu (Thomas Blake) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: "Laws that are not Good" (Ezekiel 20) Message-ID: Date: 3 May 91 07:27:12 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: State University of New York at Binghamton Lines: 60 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Folks, Lately, I've had Ezekiel 20 niggling at me. I wonder how others interpret some of the interesting passages in this chapter. In Ezekiel 20, the Lord is outlining to Ezekiel his charges against Israel, (and asking him to pass sentence if he's ready). The Lord explains that time and time again he has reached out to Israel, only to have them turn their back on him. He also explains that he's been tempted to destroy them a number of times, but in his mercy has reached out again, (only to be rejected it seems). The stuff I find *really* interesting starts around verse 17: 17 "But then I took pity on them. I decided not to kill them there in the desert. 18 Instead, I warned the young people among them: Do not keep the laws your ancestors made; do not follow their customs or defile yourself with their idols. 19 I am the Lord your God. Obey my laws and my commands. 20 Make the Sabbath a holy day, so that it will be a sign of the covenant we made, and will remind you that I am the Lord your God. 21 "But that generation also defiled me. They broke my laws and did not keep my commands, which bring life to anyone who obeys them. They profaned the Sabath. I was ready to let them feel the force of my anger there in the desert and to kill them all. 22 But I did not, since that would have brought dishonor to my name among the nations which had seen me bring Israel out of Egypt. 23 So I made another vow in the desert. I vowed that I would scatter them all over the world. 24 I did this because they had rejected my commands, broken my laws, profaned the Sabbath, and worshiped the same idols their ancestors had served. And here's where the fun really begins... 25 "Then I gave them laws that are not good and commands that do not bring life. 26 I let them defile themselves with their own offerings, and I let them sacrifice their first-born sons. This was to punish them and show them that I am the Lord. (TEV) So, just like in Isaiah and in the Gospels, God (Jesus in the Gospels) claims that the people have made their own laws, and turned from God's Laws and Commands. And, like Jesus' teachings on the laws governing divorce, it appears that God has given Israel bad laws in addition to the good ones. How then are we to decide which laws are laws made by the people, which ones are God's good laws, and which ones are God's bad laws? We're fond of snatching laws from the Old Testament, and holding others to them. Some of them are obviously contradicted by Jesus (I.E. an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth). Many of them are not so clear. I tend to lean toward (the two "Geatest Commandments") and see if they are in accord. I also like Paul's letter to the Romans. And I believe that Wesley's quadrangle is of assistance, but what do others say? How are we to decide which laws/commands are the good laws/commands of the Lord? What are we to use as a guide? How do we go about applying it? Tom Blake SUNY-Binghamton