In this episode, I continue a multi-part series based on my 30 years of teaching the Catholic faith in my local parish’s inquiry program. This is the second part of my very brief overview of the Old Testament. We examine the differences between Catholic and Protestant versions of the Old Testament and the reasons behind those differences. We also discuss the role of a covenant ratified through sacrifice and Old Testament law.

Hello, this is Chris Young. Welcome to Episode 103 of Contemplating Life.

In this episode, I continue a multi-part series based on my 30 years of teaching the Catholic faith in my local parish’s inquiry program.

As always, whenever I talk about religion, I’m not out to convert anyone. I’m just telling my stories.

Handout materials for this lesson are available as PDFs in the episode description.

Note, this episode contains a frank discussion about how sexual assault was treated in biblical times. Listener discretion is advised.

This is the second part of my very brief overview of the Old Testament. Recall that we said last time that the New Testament refers to the Hebrew Scriptures as “The Law and the Prophets.” In this episode, we continue looking at laws. We proposed that laws are not a negative thing. They are designed by our loving Father to protect us. Let’s dive deeper into laws.

Why have laws?

One reason is to allow us choices. In our introductory lesson, we discussed free will as an essential element of humanity. It is a gift from God. Yet how do we show our devotion to God? How do we exercise our free will in our relationship with God?

Because God gives us laws, it gives us the opportunity to choose to follow his laws or to reject him. In Genesis 2:16-17, it says: “You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and bad….the moment you eat from it, you are surely doomed to die.” So, in some respects, the forbidden fruit is simply a test which, unfortunately, Adam and Eve failed.

Another purpose of the law is to preserve the mission. For example, in Exodus 19:3-8, it says,

Moses went up to the mountain of God. Then the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying: This is what you will say to the house of Jacob; tell the Israelites: You have seen how I treated the Egyptians and how I bore you up on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.

Now, if you obey me completely and keep my covenant, you will be my treasured possession among all peoples, though all the earth is mine.

You will be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.

What does it mean to be a kingdom of priests? Priests are people who lead others to God. So the Israelites, God’s Chosen People, were to be an entire kingdom of priests. They have a holy mission to serve as intermediaries, bringing the rest of the world to God. However, to do so, they must follow God’s laws. Because Christians are also people of God, the New Testament also reminds us that we are a priestly people. (See 1 Peter 2:9)

Another reason for laws is to teach us fundamental morals. The prime example is the Ten Commandments as outlined in Exodus 20. Incidentally, the morality embodied in the Ten Commandments was nothing new. There are close parallels between them and an even more ancient standard called the Code of Hammurabi. We discussed the commandments in our previous episode.

There are many other commandments in the Old Testament. Much of Leviticus and Deuteronomy consists of lists of laws and commandments that Moses handed down to the Chosen People. Keep in mind that Moses wasn’t just a religious leader. He was a community leader. The commandments include what we today would describe as “civil law.” They include instructions on settling disputes. What if someone steals your ox or damages your property? What restitution must be paid? There are hundreds of these kinds of commandments that deal with these issues.

Scripture scholar Dan McClellan, who I’ve referred to many times, points out that many of the civil laws found in the Old Testament are contrary to the kind of morality we have today. In his book “The Bible Says So That this“ one of the main cases he outlines are the laws regarding rape.

If an unmarried woman was raped, the perpetrator had to pay her father because she was now damaged goods and could not be married to a suitor who would pay a price for his bride. The rapist had to pay restitution and marry the woman because no one else would. This meant that a rape victim was destined to spend the rest of her life married to her attacker.

If a married woman was raped, the penalty was death, not out of respect for the woman but for the damage done to the husband’s property, his wife. Depending on whether or not she cried out for help, she could be killed as well.

The woman had no agency in either circumstance. She was simply a property that the sexual assault had damaged.

The next time someone speaks in favour of biblical marriage, you might want to bring that up.

Many of the laws and commandments regarded various rituals and prayers. There are detailed descriptions of how to celebrate special occasions such as Passover. There are descriptions of priestly garments to be worn by the Levites.

Today, Christian apologists make a distinction between moral laws and ritual laws. No such distinction was made at the time these commandments were promulgated. One can argue that the debate among the apostles about whether or not one had to follow all Jewish practices in order to become a Christian released us from such ritual and dietary regulations. That’s okay. But just keep in mind that the distinction between morality versus religious commandments was not one observed by the ancient Hebrews.

Because these commandments also included what we would describe as civil laws today, issues such as dietary restrictions were simply good public health practices. Forbidding certain foods, such as pork, was good public health policy because these animals were literally unclean.

While male circumcision was considered a religious ritual, one can also argue the health benefits of the practice. There are legitimate reasons behind it not just an act of religious commitment.

To help put this in context, I invite you to take a look at the chart on the third page of our handout materials. It shows the relationship between various types of laws as is seen in the Old Testament, the New Testament, Church law, and our secular government laws.

In our first row of the table, we look at the source of the law. In the Old Testament, the source was God the Father via Moses and the prophets. In the New Testament, the source is God the Son, Jesus, who handed down laws to us via the apostles. In church law, the source is God the Holy Spirit via the Church leadership such as the Pope and the bishops. In our secular society, the source of law is “We the people” via our elected representatives.

On the second row of the table, we list basic principles. In the Old Testament this is found in the Ten Commandments. In the New Testament, our basic principles of Christian life are found in the Beatitudes delivered by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. In the Catholic Church, there are the Precepts the Church, sometimes referred to as the Laws of the Church, which we will discuss at another time. Finally, in our civil society, our basic principles are outlined in the U.S. Constitution.

The third row talks about social law. In the Old Testament, these are found in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, as I mentioned before. In the New Testament, we have the Sermon on the Mount and other teachings about the Christian life. In church law, there are rules and regulations regarding marriage and excommunication. In civil society, we have criminal and civil laws.

The fourth row we describe as religious laws, but more generically, these are rules and regulations about how to do things. In the Old Testament, there are descriptions of the Passover Seder and various other rituals and feasts to be celebrated. In the New Testament, we can find scriptural foundations for the celebration of the sacraments. These include things such as “Do this in remembrance of me,” which is the basis for our celebration of the Mass. Or “Baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” We are also taught how to pray, for example, through the Lord’s Prayer. In the modern church, we have liturgical law and sacramental policies. Under secular government, we have programmatic regulations. These explain in detail how to implement laws.

For the final row of our table, we look at guidance. In the Old Testament, we have the Wisdom and Prophetic books. In the New Testament, Jesus gives us parables and teachings to guide us. In the modern church, the Pope and Bishops issue Encyclicals and teaching documents to offer us guidance. In secular society, the government develops public policies and goals that it hopes to achieve.

I hope this helps you to understand various types of laws and put the Old Testament laws in context with the rest of Scripture, the authority of the church, and our civil governments.

On the same page of the handout material, let’s take a deeper dive into what is in the Old Testament.

The Catholic version of the Old Testament consists of 46 books. However, most Protestant Bibles contain only 39. Here is the background…

The books of Tobit, Judith, Esther, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, I & II Maccabees, and parts of Daniel were written in Greek. These books are known as “deuterocanonical books” which means they are part of a second canon of books. They formed part of the Septuagint Greek text and were interspersed among the other books of the Old Testament.

The Septuagint is the earliest Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. Legend holds that it was ordered produced by Ptolemy II Philadelphus ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom from 284 to 246 BC. He gathered 72 scholars, six from each of the 12 tribes of Israel, to translate the Hebrew Scriptures from Hebrew into Greek.

There is much scholarly debate on when Jewish leadership officially formed the canon of sacred writing considered inspired by God as Holy Scripture. In one respect, it wasn’t until 90 CE that the Jewish leadership officially adopted as inspired 38 books thought to be written originally in Hebrew and rejecting the Septuagint Greek text. One can understand why the Jewish people would only hold in reverence sacred writings in Hebrew.

The Septuagint was the basis for much of the Latin Vulgate, which was the official translation of the Catholic Church created by Saint Jerome in the fourth century CE. The seven books in question only became controversial because Jerome placed them in a separate section of his Latin translation.

In 393 CE, the Council of Hippo adopted as “inspired” the 26 books of the New Testament. Until then, each local church had its own collection of sacred writings; many were held in common, but others were disputed. There is no disagreement between Protestants and Catholics about the contents of the New Testament. We share the same 26 books.

Martin Luther published his German translation of the New Testament in 1522 and the Old Testament in 1534. He did not regard the deuterocanonical books as Scripture but described them as “useful and good reading.” He followed the practice of Jerome in placing them at the end of the Old Testament, but labeled them “Apocrypha,” which means not authentic.

In 1564, the Catholic Church at the Council of Trent officially declared these books to be sacred and to be accepted “with equal devotion and reverence”. That church Council was in response to the Protestant Reformation.

It turns out that there was a good reason why Martin Luther might’ve been prejudiced against these books. The Protestant Reformation was primarily about corruption in the Catholic Church. Let’s take a minute to go down a rabbit hole and talk about the Reformation.

One of the difficult parts of Christian teaching is the idea that if you die in a state of sin, you will be damned to hell for eternity. That doesn’t seem consistent with our concept of a loving and merciful God.

To remedy this situation, the Catholic Church invented the idea of purgatory. If you a committed a minor offense, you would not be pure enough to enjoy the beatific vision of God in heaven. But you didn’t deserve eternal damnation either. So upon judgment at your death, you could be sent to a place of finite temporal punishment called purgatory, which would purge you of your offenses. Everyone who ever goes to purgatory is guaranteed to get to heaven eventually. The severity of your sins determines how long you spend in purgatory.

The church holds that through prayer and good works, you can expiate some of your offenses and shorten your sentence in purgatory. Good works that you perform throughout your life count in your favor. These are called indulgences. The offering of particular prayers or various charitable works can earn one an indulgence. The problem is that the Church defined one way to gain an indulgence as donating money to the Church.

Unscrupulous clergy saw a way to exploit this for their own gain. Donate money to the church, and we will see to it that you get a short time in purgatory. Or, donate on behalf of a deceased friend or relative to earn them similar indulgences. The wealthy were encouraged to donate land and possessions to the Church in their will. In large part, the Protestant Reformation was motivated by the corruption surrounding the selling of indulgences.

In one of the deuterocanonical books, 2 Maccabees 12:38-46, we have the story of a Jewish priest and warrior named Judah Maccabee. He was an early leader in the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire, taking over from his father around 166 BCE, and leading the revolt until his death in 160 BCE.

Judah and his warriors discovered something disturbing as they prepared to bury those of their number who fell in battle. In verse 40, it says, “But under the tunic of each of the dead they found amulets sacred to the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear. So it was clear to all that this was why these men had fallen.” That’s an interesting conclusion. You can just see Judah asking around the survivors, “Hey, are any of you guys wearing forbidden amulets? No? Will these guys were. No wonder they died.”

Feeling sorry for their fallen comrades, they prayed that God would forgive this sin. This begs the question: if you die in a state of sin, why bother praying for someone who is already condemned to hell? So, there must be some other place besides heaven or hell you can go after dying, where prayers of the living might be helpful to the ultimate disposition of your soul.

The Catholic Church uses that particular passage, in part, to justify the concept of purgatory. Prayers for the dead are perfectly fine. Look at that passage. Why did they pray if you are going straight to hell? There must be something else there. We’re going to call that purgatory.

Here’s where it gets interesting. They didn’t just pray. They took up a monetary collection to send to the temple so that they would offer sacrifices for the warriors who died in sin. And there is your scriptural justification for the practice of monetary donations to get you a shorter sentence in purgatory.

Because such donations are being solicited and used corruptly, you can easily understand why Martin Luther might be motivated to want to leave out that particular piece of Scripture if he had the chance.

By the way, I forgot a couple of things, so I’m editing in a brief insert here. First question: Did Martin Luther believe in purgatory? That depends. When he posted his original 95 Theses criticizing the Catholic Church, he addressed purgatory, but in later years, it’s clear his beliefs evolved away from purgatory altogether.

The other issue I forgot to mention is that the Council of Trent, in response to the Protestant Reformation, firmly declared that the Church had the right to offer indulgences, but specifically outlawed monetary donations for indulgences.

I’m going to wander off on a tangent for a second. How did the medieval church become so corrupt? One of my colleagues teaching RCIA at Saint Gabriel was the late Dr. Jim Divita, who was a history professor at Marion University, a local Catholic institution. He had a theory on why the Church became so corrupt. He blames it on the Black Death plague. It is estimated that 50 million people, roughly half of Europe’s population, died from the disease in the mid-1300s.

When someone is at death’s door, you call for the priest to administer Last Rites. Dedicated clergy would heed the call, exposing themselves to the disease. However, dispassionate or lazy clergy would stay isolated and survive. Additionally, the vacuum left by vacancies in the clergy was often filled by those seeking the position for less than altruistic or spiritual reasons. A great deal of power and wealth rested in the church, and men of greed were attracted to the position. Two centuries later, corruption was widespread and reached the top.

The theory makes sense to me. Jim was a great teacher who could make otherwise boring history compelling. I miss him dearly.

Back to the Apocrypha.

For centuries, most Protestant Bibles included the Apocrypha, but it was not considered as important as the remainder of Scripture. Dan McClellan has reported that the American Bible Society decided to drop the Apocrypha just to make the book smaller and cheaper to print. Commenters on his videos deny that. I’m not knowledgeable enough to have an opinion.

In summary, Jews are not too keen on these books because they don’t trust anything not written in Hebrew. Protestants, led by Martin Luther, have their reasons for wanting to ignore these books.

Moving along, we want to talk about how we could make the Old Testament more relatable. One way to do that is to understand the parallels between the Old and New Testaments. I invite you to look at the chart at the bottom of the third handout page. Here are the parallels.

The Jews were the first people of God. Christians are the second people of God.

The 12 sons of Jacob form the 12 tribes of Israel. The 12 apostles form the early church.

Israel’s children are enslaved in Egypt. Adam’s children are enslaved by sin.

Deliverance comes from the blood of the Passover lamb spread on the doorposts. Deliverance also comes by the blood of Jesus, spread on the cross.

The Chosen people were saved by passing through the waters of the Red Sea. Christians are saved by passing through the waters of baptism.

The chosen people were fed in the desert by manna– a bread come down from heaven. Christians are fed from the Eucharist, which is also bread from heaven.

Giants and walls barred the entrance to the promised land. Satan and his legions attempt to bar us from heaven.

The first city of God was Jerusalem. New Jerusalem is a city in heaven.

David, king of Israel, slew Goliath. Jesus, descendant of David, King of the Universe, destroys Satan.

Before we wrap up, we want to discuss the concept of covenant and how it relates to law and sacrifice all of which are very important themes in the Old Testament.

A covenant is a type of unbreakable promise. For example, it has been said that marriage is a covenant relationship. Unfortunately, humans are imperfect beings and the permanence of a human covenant is not what it ought to be. For purposes, we are talking about a covenant relationship between God and His people. Even when the people go astray, God never abandons the promises he made in that covenant relationship.

Let’s look at some examples. God made a company with Noah. God made a covenant with Noah after the flood. In Genesis 9:9-13, we read, “See, I am now establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you: all the birds, and the various tame and wild animals that were with you and came out of the ark. I will establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed by the waters of a flood; there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth.” God added: “This is the sign that I am giving for all ages to come, of the covenant between me and you and every living creature with you: I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”

By the way, I once asked a Christian friend of mine, “The story implies that prior to the flood, there had never been a rainbow in the sky. But you understand the science of light refraction. You know what causes rainbows. How do you reconcile this?” He said that before the flood, it had never rained in all of human history. Genesis 2 says that the Garden of Eden, and presumably everything else, was watered by a spring welling up out of the ground. Okay. Agreed to disagree. Back on topic.

The most famous covenant of the Old Testament was between God and Abram (who later changed his name to Abraham). We read in Genesis 17:1-8

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said: “I am God the Almighty. Walk in my presence and be blameless. Between you and me I will establish my covenant, and I will multiply you exceedingly.” When Abram prostrated himself, God continued to speak to him: “My covenant with you is this: you are to become the father of a host of nations. No longer shall you be called Abram; your name shall be Abraham, for I am making you the father of a host of nations. I will render you exceedingly fertile; I will make nations of you; kings shall stem from you. I will maintain my covenant with you and your descendants after you throughout the ages as an everlasting pact, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land in which you are now staying, the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God.”

Throughout Exodus chapters 19-23, it speaks of the covenant God had with Moses. For example, in Exodus 19:5, we read, “Now, if you obey me completely and keep my covenant,* you will be my treasured possession among all peoples, though all the earth is mine.” When it says, “obey me completely,” it means “follow my laws.”

Covenants are ratified by sacrifice. Sacrifices are significant to the Jewish people. As examples, Abraham was ready to sacrifice his son, Isaac, until God intervened and told him that he did not have to.

Moses offered a sacrifice, as we read in Exodus 24:4-8. “Moses then wrote down all the words of the LORD and, rising early the next day, he erected at the foot of the mountain an altar and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. Then, having sent certain young men of the Israelites to offer holocausts and sacrifice young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD, Moses took half of the blood and put it in large bowls; the other half he splashed on the altar. Taking the book of the covenant, he read it aloud to the people, who answered, ‘All that the LORD has said, we will heed and do.’ Then he took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words of his.’”

Whenever a covenant sacrifice was offered, the community would consume the sacrificed animal. For example, in the Passover, you would eat the sacrificial lamb.

Finally, in the New Testament, we learn that Jesus establishes a new covenant, which is ratified by his own sacrifice on the cross. In Luke 22:19-20, it says, “Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.’ And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.’”

Similarly, we consume that sacrifice when we receive the Eucharist.

I think back to my dear friend father Paul. When he talked about the Old Testament, he would often devote an entire lesson to the concepts we have discussed here, such as covenant and sacrifice. He also developed two lessons on the Mass. One was called “The Mass as a Sacrifice,” and the other “The Mass as a Meal,” which explored these topics in more depth. If I go beyond the four lessons that I used to teach on Scripture, I will talk a bit more about the Mass from a theological perspective, but not quite to the depth that Fr. Paul used to cover it. We have just barely scratched the surface of these topics.

That’s enough for this episode. In our next episode, we will further explore ways to make the Old Testament relevant to us today by examining the Old Testament prophets and comparing them to modern-day prophetic figures. That will probably wrap up our brief look at the Old Testament.

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