Contrasting today’s governing philosophies of right and left against the realities and expectation of society from a Torah/Biblical standard. Most of this comes from the true, biblical definition of loving your neighbor as yourself.
The struggle to make heaven on earth normally fails to define the biblical goal of life on earth.
I’m reading Bill Barr’s new book. My interest in it is because he was the AG when I was finishing high school and then again when Trump was president. It’s turning out to be a great history book and a wonderful read. Buried in the middle of this book, though, is an incredible education on the difference between the left’s idea of society and the conservative idea of society. On the left, is the desire to create a perfect society by using government to remove risk, provide for almost all basic services, and generally educate and indoctrinate society toward whatever fancies the elites. On the right is the idea of limited, tiered governance with decisions made on the lowest level possible by elected representatives who reflect the population of their localities. The former position is one that has been tried and failed miserably over time and the latter is one that generally works for a spell but needs to be re-set every 50 years or so. That’s a very interesting number of years, by the way. It’s important to note that we have a mix of these two systems in our country today with the leftist position generally having the upper hand these days.
Both of these systems of government try to offer something to the citizens. Even though they are diametrically opposed concepts, the adherents to these beliefs believe that their method of governance is going to create their version of a utopia on earth. Those on the left view utopia, in concept, as a society where everyone is equal with equal income, status, and lifestyle. That’s their stated goal, however there’s always an elite that gets to live like wealthy capitalists at the head of this version of utopia. The right’s version of utopia is a free market system where hard work and innovation can lead to financial success, employment is generally fair, and people are left alone as much as possible. This second one sounds really appealing, I must say. But what is the Bible’s concept of a utopian society this side of the kingdom? It’s something different from both of these concepts.
Slide 2 Then did they till their ground in peace, and the earth gave her increase, and the trees of the field their fruit. The ancient men sat all in the streets, communing together of good things, and the young men put on glorious and warlike apparel. He provided victuals for the cities, and set in them all manner of munition, so that his honourable name was renowned unto the end of the world. He made peace in the land, and Israel rejoiced with great joy: For every man sat under his vine and his fig tree, and there was none to fray them: Neither was there any left in the land to fight against them: yea, the kings themselves were overthrown in those days. Moreover he strengthened all those of his people that were brought low: the law he searched out; and every contemner of the law and wicked person he took away. He beautified the sanctuary, and multiplied vessels of the temple. (1Ma 14:8-15 Brenton/Apocrypha)
- Oddly enough, this comes from the apocrypha
- Peace
- Eating what you plant
- Free to keep Torah
- Torah enforced, wicked taken away
- Restoration of the temple
- Where does this come from?
Slide 3 ‘Corresponding to the number of years after the jubilee, you shall buy from your friend; he is to sell to you according to the number of years of crops. ‘In proportion to the extent of the years you shall increase its price, and in proportion to the fewness of the years you shall diminish its price, for it is a number of crops he is selling to you. (Lev 25:15-16)
- Land value based on what it could produce, not arbitrary like today. Valuations today are incredibly out of sync with wages and earnings. Without a periodic reset, the working class just can’t keep up.
Slide 4 “For YHVH your Elohim will bless you as He has promised you, and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you. If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which YHVH your Elohim is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks. Beware that there is no base thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,’ and your eye is hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he may cry to YHVH against you, and it will be a sin in you. You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing YHVH your Elohim will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings. For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’” (Deu 15:6-11)
- Lending is control. Don’t we know it.
- The poor will never cease. Get that. Governments cannot end poverty.
- You have to be generous to the poor even when it’s going to hurt.
Slide 5 ‘You are also to count off seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years. ‘You shall then sound a ram’s horn abroad on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement you shall sound a horn all through your land. ‘You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family. ‘You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee; you shall not sow, nor reap its aftergrowth, nor gather in from its untrimmed vines. ‘For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its crops out of the field. ‘On this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his own property. (Lev 25:8-13 NASB)
- A great reset every 50 years.
- During the reset, everybody goes back to their ancestral lands, the source of their sustenance.
- Everybody gets their debts forgiven.
- Everybody does not give up their wealth.
- Families are reunited – talk about the present state of families.
- During the reset, nobody works and YHVH provides the food. This eliminates strife and puts everyone on a level playing field.
- Economics have learned these cycles are organic. YHVH either knew we would do this or He made all societies to have this. Today’s governments spend enormous amounts of money to avoid this reality. Detroit. NYC. Companies “too big to fail”. All was meant to fail periodically.
- This is not a model for eternity. It’s not necessary in eternity.
Slide 6 ‘Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. ‘Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am YHVH your Elohim. ‘You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. ‘You shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your Elohim; I am YHVH. ‘You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning. ‘You shall not curse a deaf man, nor place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall revere your Elohim; I am YHVH. ‘You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly. ‘You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor; I am YHVH. ‘You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. ‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am YHVH. (Lev 19:9-18 NASB)
- This defines loving your neighbor as yourself. Not a new commandment and is well defined through Torah.
- Leaving food around for travelers and the needy. Shows much dignity. Expects people to be traveling and doesn’t discriminate.
- No false dealings. Wouldn’t that be great.
- No swearing falsely by His Name – why we put our hands on bibles.
- No mocking the disabled or hindering them.
- Justice is blind – rich and poor are to have the same standard. Don’t we all want that?
- No slandering, uh social media?
- No hating your countryman. We’re way past that.
- No bearing grudges or taking vengeance.
- All this boils down to loving your neighbor. It is defined, not new. So we can know how to love our neighbor. And don’t we wish life was like this?
These topics show how Israel was meant to be a society, a culture. The Torah is not just a set of dos and donts, but a lifestyle. I only know of a record of them keeping this lifestyle in the Maccabees. The assumption is that this will be the way of life in the 1000 years, or something very similar. In the olam haba, we really don’t know. But for today we have a model for how we should strive to live, even though we are outside the land. We have to find a way to navigate the societies we are in while longing to live a biblical lifestyle. And we can do that understanding that even in the Torah’s biblical lifestyle there are poor, needy, needs for justice, income equality, families being separated, and all sorts of bad things that need to be dealt with. We live in a fallen world and Torah was given as the best means to manage that fallen world. And we have the Torah on our hearts because we long for its justice, realizing that the economic and legal realities of today aren’t aligned with the bible.