Growing
up in a proximately Christian world, most of us are aware of at least some of
the Old Testament laws, but have never really studied them in detail. After
all, it’s a common belief among modern Christians that the old laws no longer
apply after the coming of Jesus. However, how many of those laws still apply to
modern Jews, whose only holy books are the Old Testament and Torah?
In
order to deal with this question, it’s best to sort Old Testament law into three
categories: ceremonial law, civil law, and moral law. Ceremonial laws lay out
the ritual worship of the Israelites. These laws detail religious festivals,
tell the people how to dress during worship, how to purify themselves for
worship, how and what to sacrifice, and how to treat the different aspects of
the Temple. Civil Laws tell the Israelites how to act in their daily lives. These
laws are essentially the laws of the land. They tell the Jewish people what is
considered a crime, and outline punishments for each of them. Moral law is
mostly self-explanatory, and simply tells the people how they should treat one
another (1).
For
many modern Jews, especially those who are more traditional, ceremonial law
still plays a large part in their religion. Like Christians, Jews no longer
sacrifice animals to Yahweh, though their lack of sacrifice is for a very
different reason. After Judaism developed, sacrifices could only be made at the
Temple. After the Temple was destroyed for the final time by the Romans, Jews
no longer had a place to offer blood sacrifice to their god (2.) Muslims have
since claimed the place where the Temple once stood as their own holy place,
and have built their own monument on it. In order for the Jews to resume their
sacrifices, it would be necessary to reclaim the land from the Muslims, destroy
their holy place, and rebuild the Tabernacle. Since this isn’t happening any
time in the foreseeable future, Jews are exempted from making sacrifices (3).
However, this does not mean that they are exempted from all ceremonial laws.
Depending on how traditional a sect of Judaism a Jew follows, there are certain
rituals he or she must follow. Modern Jews still observe Kashrut laws, which
are laws pertaining to dietary restrictions. Most laymen know these practices
as “keeping kosher.” Jews also still follow the holidays and feasts laid out in
the Old Testament, such as Passover (4).
Whether
Jews still observe the civil laws of the Old Testament is a more difficult topic
to research. Many of these laws—such as the ones that forbid incest and
homosexuality—are generally practiced even in modern Christianity, and there is
no doubt that Jews follow them. It’s also more or less common sense that
sleeping with goats is still a major no-no, though the waters get murkier when
dealing with issues concerning marriage. Here, views seem to have changed over
the years. For example, while polygamy is not condemned in the Old Testament,
Jews no longer practice it, even though there are small sects who defend the
practice (5). When it comes to the prescribed punishments for breaking these
laws….well it isn’t as if Jews go around stoning people—which is the punishment
for pretty much everything in the Old
Testament—so it seems they no longer follow those laws quite so literally.
The moral
laws of the Old Testament are something that Jews and Christians alike both
practice today. These laws, such as “Do not lie” and “Do not steal” are both a
matter of common sense and common human decency. Jewish moral law also demands that
foreigners be treated well, likely because they were so accustomed to being
mistreated in foreign lands. However, when it comes to these moral laws, it’s
necessary to make a clear distinction between the way Jews and Christians
interpret them. When Christians say “Love thy neighbor,” they count the entire
world as their neighbors. When Jews say “Love thy neighbor,” the neighbors they
speak of are other Jews.(6).
Though
small changes have been made over the centuries, it’s surprising how little the
Jewish faith has changed in the thousands of years since its inception. No
other religion can claim such endurance of faith, especially among such a
scattered people, and devotion of practicing Jews to the old ways of their
faith is admirable.
(6)
History of Christianity notes, Dr. Prudlo
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