Reading: Leviticus 24-25, Psalm 38
The first little section of today’s reading relates to the continual presence of light and food in the tabernacle, and then moves directly to capital punishment. Makes sense, yes? Actually I think it does, but we have to (as usual) wrench our brains out of our 21st century way of thinking about justice to see it. The bread and light in the tabernacle were a continual reminder to Israel that God and his presence is other. God is holy- everything about him is holy, including his name. At this point the Israelites seem to get this to some degree, but the incident with the son of an Egyptian confuses them. They know that for a son of Israel to blaspheme the name of God is unacceptable, but this man is an Egyptian! Is God the God of Israel only, or also the God of the Egyptians? They aren’t sure, so they confine the man and ask God what to do.
God makes an extraordinary statement. While we might look at this and think God rather harsh- demanding the whole congregation of Israel stone this guy- the reasoning behind this action is not an angry God taking out his angst. It is something far more important. By telling Israel that his name is holy for both the native and the sojourner, God is declaring his authority over everyone, not just the people of Israel. This is an intense statement in the ancient world, where local deities were the norm. But God isn’t done. He also takes this reasoning to matters beyond his own holiness. The rules for justice in Israel will apply to all people the same way, whether they are natives or foreigners.
We have already seen that God is concerned with the treatment of the poor and the refugee in Israel. God’s rules about justice applying the same way across the board was revolutionary for the time- the native was always favored over the foreigner in ancient tribal society (have we changed much?) God is declaring a single rule for all people. If a foreigner or an Israelite kills an animal, they are to be charged the same. Or if they kill a person. Or if they injure a person. Or if they blaspheme the name of God. All people are equal before God, the ground is to be level in Israel.
This leads directly into the discussion of debt. One of the most radical rules laid out for God’s people are the sabbath years and the year of Jubilee. The sabbath year is revolutionary in the way the weekly sabbath is- everyone gets a year off every seventh year. The slave. The servant. The rich. The poor. The animals. The land. Everyone. And Everything. Try bringing this up with your boss and you’ll quickly see how revolutionary it is.
As out there as the sabbath year is, God doesn’t stop there. Every fifty years all debts are forgiven, and all property returns to it’s original owners. Slaves go free. Borrowed money is let go. Land reverts to family ownership. Generational poverty is never to be a thing in Israelite society. Israel may not enslave itself, because they are already servants of God. They cannot sell their property because it does not belong to them. God puts in place a social system that radically departs from the social systems of those days, and in many ways from this day.
But God still isn’t done. The financial relationships between Israelites will not follow the familiar patterns of wealth and poverty, even aside from the year of Jubilee. The rich people in Israel are not to charge interest to the poor, and when they cannot sustain themselves, the wealthy are to bring the poor into their households as hired hands. God outlines a social safety net rooted in treating everyone as family, and acknowledging that everything and everyone belongs to God. Following these rules, the people of Israel would not just be a little different from the people around them, they would be so distinct as to cause a commotion.