We often hear people speak of our nation’s ‘Judeo-Christian heritage.’ As near as I can tell, when people say that, they are speaking of our culture’s traditional adherence to selected Christian doctrines (that’s the Christian part), and to the 10 Commandments found in Exodus 20 (that’s the Jewish part). I really think it’s as simple as that (although it is possible that some also have in mind Genesis 3).
The 10 Commandments, as the concept of a divinely-given law, are indeed important to many people in our country (even if few people actually know many of the individual 10 Commandments!). So much so, that many people advocate for their appearance in law courts and other official buildings. I’m not going to get into the church/state debate (at least not in this current blog series), but my point is that many take them to be the basis of our society and our society’s laws.
I want to make it clear that I think the 10 Commandments are indeed important and should be taken seriously. However, I stumbled on an interesting passage a little while ago from Deuteronomy 27. I won’t reprint the whole text this week, but it recounts the story of Moses, who, at the end of his life, gave the Israelites a new set of commandments that they were to write on stones and set up after they entered the Promised Land. I am wondering why this list of commandments in Deuteronomy is relatively unknown; that is, when we talk about our ‘Judeo-Christian heritage,’ I wonder why no one ever talks about Deuteronomy 27.
First, it is clear from the passage that Moses meant this list of commandments to be the basis for the law in the Promised Land. Thus, they were (or should have been) the legal foundation for the Jewish nation. Now, there is nothing to suggest that this made the list of commandments found in Exodus 20 irrelevant, but it seems that Moses regards this new list as having special importance for the future of the Jewish nation.
It is also a little awkward that the 10 Commandments from Exodus 20 are regarded as the basis of America’s laws, because 8 (out of 10!) of them are perfectly legal. And not only are they legal, but there is no cultural taboo against, say, coveting or working on the Sabbath. Furthermore, the two that are illegal in certain contexts, namely stealing and killing, aren’t at all particular to Christians or Jews. That is, every society that has ever existed for any length of time necessarily had some kind of injunctions against killing and stealing.
Interestingly, most of the commandments found in Deuteronomy are illegal in America. Or at least violating them is a cultural taboo, or could even get you sued. So, my proposal is this: let’s weave together Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 27, as this represents a more complete understanding of our Judeo-Christian heritage. More to come next week about how this might work.
