Economic Life (2) Living Together

The Mosaic covenant provided a way for people to live together in peace in a community. The Children of Israel lived in a decentralised society, where households and families live close to each other, within tribal groupings.

Justice and law were administered in local communities, so there was no central government. God had proved his laws, so there was no need for a parliament or king to make laws. Local communities defended themselves, or came together with other communities to defend themselves from eternal invaders, so there was no need for a king with a large standing army.

God gave his system of government and economic system in the Torah. His is a radically different approach, with no central government, where leaders and judges emerge out of local communities, where problems of poverty and inequality are dealt with in local communities, where defence is controlled by local communities no a centralised standing army.

Most of the interaction between households and communities was economic. The Torah contained Instructions for Economic life to guide and support this interaction. There were not laws, because there were no penalties or sanctions to enforce. They were voluntary guidelines to strengthen the community interaction. The Instruction for Economic Life made it possible for diverse people to live together in peace in a decentralised society.

God gave his system of justice and economic blessing in the Torah. His is a radically different approach, with no central government, where leaders and judges emerge out of local communities, where problems of poverty and inequality are dealt with in local communities, where defence is initiated by local communities and there is no centralised standing army, and no taxation to support it.

Christians seemed to have missed this, because they cannot see the trees for the dead leaves of legalism. They are so scared of slipping from grace into legalism that they prefer to stay away the Torah. They are forced instead to either look in vain in the gospels, or go back to nature for teaching about political and economic systems.

Christians who are interested in politics and government only go to the Torah to find scriptures that support modern systems of government, such as democracy or monarchy. This distortion prevents them from seeing the magnificent system of justice and law, and the wonderful economic system that God gave to his people.