When reading the Old Testament, customs mentioned in the first five books of Moses can grate on our modern sensibilities. What to do with savage practices, strange customs and laws on slavery, polygamy, and those that appear to promote patriarchy? While answering these questions adequately would require considerably more space than can be afforded here, following are a few thoughts to get started.
After the fall into sin, humanity’s degradation accelerated up to the Flood and continued all the way through the patriarchal era. By the time of the Egyptian slavery of Israel, most people, even among God’s chosen nation, had lost sight of the true God. Think of the sexual immorality displayed right after encountering God at Mount Sinai, or their intentions to kill the innocent Joshua and Caleb. Num. 14:10. One obscure regulation in the Torah illustrates the habits of Israelites at that time: the law against the immodest lady wrestler, ruling what should be done when the subject grabs the opponent’s genitals! Deut. 25:11, 12. As strange as such a law may seem, it was given because this kind of situation arose often enough to elicit legislation. God had a hard task, taking a primitive nation of brutalized ex-slaves and turning them into a light to the world.
Humans possess freedom of choice. In order to bring people to a higher ground, substantial reforms may have to be gradual; otherwise, the changes can seem incomprehensible and they will reject them by exercising their freedom of choice. God in His patience met Israel partway, calling them to step up, while setting before them the ideal to which they were to return. As we move through the Bible, we observe a moral advance towards restoration of the Edenic model. Regulatory laws such as those on divorce, slavery, or polygamy set the minimal standard, not the optimal one. For example, the law permitted divorce “because of the hardness of your hearts,” though “from the beginning it was not so.” Matt. 19:8. That law was given not to condone, but to regulate divorce and protect the disadvantaged women. In due time, Jesus categorically denounced the practice of divorce. Yet even Jesus warned, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” John 16:12.
Slavery is a similar case. Old Testament laws concerning slavery were a vast improvement on other Near Eastern legislation, which permitted brutal and demeaning treatment of slaves. In Israel, people were forced into servitude because of debts, poverty, or for committing a crime. They were protected against physical abuse: if it resulted in loss of a limb, the servant was to be set free. Ex. 21:26, 27. Slavery was limited to six years, and if during that period there was a sabbatical year or a jubilee, they regained their freedom even sooner.
In the beginning, there was only one law—that of love—and it was written in the heart. As man fell into sin, the law had to be spelled out, and the lower the moral level sank, the greater the detail.
Immature children need to be given a great number of instructions (“don’t stick your finger into the plug,” “look before you cross the street,” etc.). Israel after the Exodus was like a child (Hosea 11:1–4), and God mercifully first gave the Ten Commandments, followed by more detailed laws. According to the 12th century rabbi Maimonides, there were 613 laws in the Pentateuch, of which 248 are positive commands and 365 are prohibitions.
God looks forward to the time when His law of love will once more be written only in people’s hearts. Jer. 31:31–33.
