This week’s parasha, continues Moses’ second discourse, comprised
of the laws given at Moab. Our parasha can be divided into two sections.
First, we have laws pertaining to civil and religious
authorities such as judges, prophets, kings, and priests. This includes laws
regarding those who are outside the communal structure that God commands us to
create – apostates, sorcerers, and people who consult with ghosts. In this
section, according to the Etz Hayyim commentary, “The Torah establishes limits
to the powers of judges, priests and prophets. By making these limitations
known to the public, the Torah lays the ground for public supervision and
criticism of human authorities, thus preventing them from gaining absolute
domination and prestige.”
The second section of our parasha deals with judicial and
military matters such as the cities of refuge for the manslayer, what to do
with an unsolved murder, and laws about warfare.
Parts of this Torah portion express values that are
surprisingly progressive. Our civil and religious authorities are accountable
to the law and to the people. Bribery and other types of corruption of public
officials are prohibited. The Torah steps in to stop the traditional cycle of revenge
killings in the case of manslaughter. The Torah here seems to be dealing with
communal issues that we are still struggling with today – how to deal with an
unsolved killing, how to keep our public officials honest, how to know when we
can trust a religious authority.
My overarching question this week is whether we see these
values as being a natural outgrowth of the worldview and theology of the book
of Deuteronomy. How might monotheism and centralization of worship be
consistent with these types of rules limiting the power of human authorities? Why
are these laws and limitations important to the God of Deuteronomy?
No comments:
Post a Comment