The Law and the
Prophets
(and the Kings)
Moses
• Moses leads the people out of slavery in Egypt
(ten plagues, Angel of Death, doors marked
with the blood of the lamb, parting of the Red
Sea, etc.)
• God provides the people with help in the desert
(Manna from the heavens and water from
rocks)
• Most importantly, God give Moses the Law
As Americans, we tend to see freedom
as the greatest good and rules as an
impediment to freedom.
Jews, however, believed in a God who
flooded the world, destroyed Sodom and
Gemorrah, wiped out pharaoh’s army,
etc.
So knowing what pisses God off, and
how to avoid that, is a blessing.
The Law
I I am the Lord your God: do not
have any other gods before me.
• Do not worship other deities.
• Do not put anything besides God first in your
life (i.e. money, pleasure, drugs, popularity,
sex, etc.).
• Do not believe anything besides God has divine
powers (i.e. astrology, palm readings, tarot
cards, etc.)
II Do not take the name of the
Lord, your God, in vain.
• God’s name is not a curse, and should not be
used in place of one.
III Remember to keep
holy the Sabbath Day.
• Sunday is a day of worship, rest and
prayer.
• Do no UNNECESSARY work.
• Give time for your relationship with
God.
IV Honor your father
and mother.
• RESPECT your parents (and just
authorities).
• OBEY parents.
• Care for them.
V You shall not
kill.
• Do not commit murder.
• Do not assault/insult.
• Suicide.*
* Most suicides are insane.
• Poverty
–Hunger kills about 24,000 people EVERY
DAY. (That’s one every 3 seconds, or a
9/11 every 3 hours.)
Don’t kill (cont’d)
• War
• Pacifism: Love your enemy, do good
to those who persecute you, forgive
70 x 7 times, if your enemy is hungry,
feed him, etc.
Just War Theory
In order to fight, there must be:
• Just cause
• Comparative justice
• Right intention
• Probability of success
• Last resort
• Proportionality
When fighting, you must keep in mind:
• Proportionality
• Noncombatant immunity
Environmental-related deaths
• Destruction of Japan’s nuclear disaster, last
year’s gulf spill, etc., can bring about large
scale deaths.
• We extinct about 3 species/day, have
destroyed over half of the world’s rainforests.
• Recent study suggests ALL cancer is manmade.
• Danger of global warming could flood coastal
cities, cause Katrina-like storms, destroy
ecosystems, etc.
Abortion
• Abortion kills about 1.3 million people each
year in this country, 55-60 million worldwide
(as many as WWII did in 6 years).
• The heart begins to beat at 21 days, the
earliest recorded brain waves are 40 days.
• Part of personality is there from conception.
• CC sees unborn as the MOST innocent, MOST
defenseless, and those who lost the MOST of
their lives.
VI You shall not
commit adultery.
• Be faithful to your wife/husband.
• You can not fornicate.
VII. You shall not steal.
• This includes destruction of property,
plagiarism, fraud, identity theft, etc.
VIII. You shall not bare
false witness against
your neighbor.
• Don’t lie, testify falsely, spread rumors, destroy
someone’s reputation.
IX. You shall not covet your
neighbor’s wife.
X. You shall not covet your
neighbor’s goods.
• Coveting refers to an extreme jealousy,
being willing to do anything to get
him/her/it.
603 other laws
• Many involve ritual purity, cleanliness, Temple
worship, etc., and have not been followed by
Christians (or Jews in the case of Temple
worship) for millenia.
• Many involve basic fairness and morality: lying
cheating, stealing, making restitution, etc.
There are also many SOCIAL JUSTICE laws, in
order to maintain justice for the poor, widows,
orphans, slaves, etc.
– For example, USURY, lending money with interest,
is outlawed.
– On the Sabbath Year (7th) debts are forgiven, debt
slaves freed, land goes fallow (poor can take what
grows).
– On the Jubilee Year (50th), debts are forgiven and
land is redistributed to the family of original owner.
The Prophets
• Moses is the first of
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many Old Testament
prophets to speak
for God.
Major prophets
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
Daniel
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Minor prophets
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Amos
• Called to be a prophet as a teenager.
• Known as the prophet of social justice.
• Great defender of the poor.
Hosea
• Married a temple prostitute.
• He loves her, she is repeatedly unfaithful.
• His relationship to his wife mirrors the Jewish
people’s relationship with Yahweh.
Isaiah
• This prophet told people they should “beat
their swords into plowshares.”
• He predicted the Messiah would hail from
Galilee, be born of a virgin, suffer, and
have someone prepare the way for him
The Message of Prophets
• Be faithful to their ONE GOD, YAHWEH.
• Prophets urge kings not to rely on military
strength, foreign alliances, etc.
• Prophets take the side of the poor, the widow,
the orphan, the oppressed, etc.
The Kings
• God did not want them to have a king, as God
was to be their king.
• When the people begged, however, God gave
them what they wanted, warning of taxes,
enslavement, wars, etc.
• The first king was Saul.
• Saul lost God’s favor and David, who had killed
Goliath, was the next to receive the throne.
• Following David was Solomon. The rule of
David and Solomon is considered Israel’s
Golden Age.
The Temple
• As God did not want them to have a king,
He did not want them to have a Temple,
because they should see God as being
everywhere.
• The people begged and God relented. The
Temple was built in Jerusalem under
David and Solomon.
God’s Promises and the Dynasty of David
• God promised David that his kingdom would
stay united under Solomon and that his dynasty
would last forever.
• After Solomon (who was from the So. and
oppressed the No.), the kingdom split into two,
Israel (No.) and Judah (So.)
• The North was conquered in 722 BC by the
Assyrians; the South in 586 BC by the
Babylonians (who destroyed the Temple).
• Each time, many people were exiled.
Ezekiel
• People lost hope that Israel could ever be
restored.
• Ezekiel tells them that God could even restore
life to “dry bones”.
Conquered Again and Again
• After the Babylonians were overrun
by the Persians (who returned those
in exile), Israel had some
independence for a time.
• The Greeks, led by Alexander the
Great, conquered Israel in 333 BC.
Around 164 BC, Jews expelled their
Greek rulers, celebrated each year at
Hannukah.
Rome
• About a century after the Maccabean revolt,
Rome conquers Israel in 63 BC.
• They killed Jesus at around 30 AD and
destroyed the Second Temple around 70 AD.
• So what about the promise of a kingship that
will last forever?
• Does God lie, fail to make good on his
promises, or will someone restore the throne of
David?
• Believing the third, Jews expect a MESSIAH
(Cristos in Greek) to restore the throne of
David.
Better Days
• The difference between the traditional
expectation of the Messiah and what we got is
the time and place of the kingdom: an eternal
one in heaven.
• WE GOT SO MUCH MORE THAN EXPECTED,
BUT SOME REJECTED IT BECAUSE IT WAS
UNEXPECTED, UNWORLDLY.