The Covenant

The cultural language of the bible can be partly deduced through the covenant that God made with Israel and their forefathers. I say partly because much of Israel's behavior was also heavily influenced by neighboring people groups within the land around them. This is why Israel at times practiced polytheism in place of the covenant that they had been given. The book of Exodus, Judges, and Hosea are great examples of this cultural back and forth that is prevalent in Israel's history.

Ruth, the widow/foreigner, is a great pair of eyes to use in order to witness the covenant they were given. In Ruth 1:19-22, scripture say to love the foreigner as your own and do them no wrong as you yourselves know what it is like to have been foreigners, Exodus 12:49, Exodus 22:21-24, Exodus 23:9, Leviticus 19:33-34 and Deuteronomy 10:18-19. Ruth 2:1-7,8-19; leave food behind for the poor or the foreigner in your land, Leviticus 23:22, and Ruth was both. If you take a deeper dive into the law it will become obvious that everything Boaz did for Ruth, including his marriage to her, was his act of obedience to covenant laws.

In the New Testament, Jesus sums up the Law for us with ease. In Luke 10:25-28, an expert in the law rises up to test Jesus by asking, “What must I do to inherit eternal life.” Jesus responds by saying, “what do you understand/perceive the law to say.” The man answers by saying that the law says to love God and to love others as you love yourself, to which Jesus replies, “Go, do this, and you will live.” The 10 commandments are a great summation of this aspect of the law. The first 4 of the 10 commandments are for how humans should interact with God so as to respect and Exalt Him. The next 6 commandments are the basics for how people should treat one another, and so the simplicity of the law is this, Love your God and your neighbor as you love yourself. This is the cultural attitude that Israel was meant to adopt from their sponsor, God.

The expert goes on to ask, “Who is my neighbor?” and Jesus tells a story to answer this completely legitimate question. (Luke 10:29-37). A man is robbed and beaten near to death on his way to Jericho from Jerusalem. A priest passing by along the same road sees him and avoids him, so does a Levite traveling the same road. A Samaritan walking the same path sees the injured man and takes immediate action. He bandages his wounds, puts him on his donkey and brings him to an inn, and continues to care for him. He then pays the innkeeper a sum of money and says, please take care of him until I return, and whatever extra cost might be procured, I shall cover on that day I will return. Who is that man's neighbor? The one who showed mercy to the man was his neighbor. Luke 10:36-37. The person does not have to be your physical neighbor, and then Jesus says, “Go and do likewise.”  This is how God intended Israel to interact with others because of their relationship with Him.

The beauty of this is that the Law becomes the culture, and the culture becomes second nature to us as it is passed down through the generations. The issue is that all cultures are passed down in like manner, and when one is carrying two opposing cultures, they are forced to pick between one and commit or flip between them. The flipping does not seem to last as cultures tend to just blend into each other, which is seen in Israel's lives throughout the bible. At different times they adopted and or expressed different cultural behaviors. Human sacrifice, choosing a human king, worshiping other gods, as their neighbors had done, and taught them to do through their relationship. All this to say, know the law, so you know from which culture or relationship Israel is being inspired to move. The likely sources are God or man.

For me in the modern-day, I carry with me several cultures from which and through which I see the world. My Afro-American culture, my AirForce-Brat culture, My Black Jew culture (cult), my Christian culture, my economic class culture, and much more. At the end of the day, my relationship with God should be one in which all of these others are superseded.

P.S. I feel like I have been rambling tonight. I know what I was thinking, not sure how well I expressed it, haha. Anyways, thank you for reading this (thankful face emoji).