                           20020419.00

     I keep thinking that I neglected to make some important
points concerning the draft contract between God and his
people which is laid out in Leviticus 26. I did note that if
God is inward and subjective, any contract with him also
becomes inward and subjective, and as such ceases to be an
instrument of constraint or coercion to be publicly
enforced, but becomes the guarantee of an individual, inward
relationship to God which is nobodys business but Gods and
mine, and as such is a source of my dignity and of my
freedom.

     The text of the Leviticus 26 contract however gives no
indication of its being anything but an objective and public
obligation; and even if we determine ultimately that this
contract must be construed as being inward, individual and
subjective, we should nonetheless, if only as an exercise,
read what the contract says and consider its implications as
an objective document.

     If we are to be honest with ourselves, we must read the
whole chapter, not just the first 13 verses, the fun part,
in which the author of this text describes the wonderful
things that he says God promises if we
      "walk in (his) statutes and keep (his)
       commandments, and do them" (Leviticus 26:3)
We must have the courage to read on (verses 14 through 41:
please read them!)  and contemplate what the author of this
text says God will do to us if we will not hearken unto God
and "will not do all these commandments":
   "28. Then I will walk contrary to you also in fury;
    and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for
    your sins.
    29. And you shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the
    flesh of your daughters ye shall eat.
    30. And I will destroy your high places and cut down
    your images and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses
    of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you."

     That doesn't sound right to me, and I don't believe God
said it, and if he said it, he must have been upset and
angry at the time and not meant it. If I were God I would
sue for slander and blasphemy whoever said that I said that.

     I don't believe God said it, because it contradicts
God's promise to Noah after the flood, that God would not
again destroy the earth.  I don't believe God said it,
because it contradicts God's conduct in the case of Joseph,
who although he had done no wrong, was sold into bondage by
his brothers, and was thrown into prison on the false
accusation of Potiphar's wife.  Joseph's fate would be
absurd if the Leviticus 26 contract were taken at face
value.  And even more absurd would be the fate of the eleven
brothers who sold Joseph into slavery. If anyone deserved
punishment it was they, but they were _not_ punished! On the
contrary, they were rewarded by Joseph (and by God) who
saved them from starvation, feeding them from the stores
that Joseph (and God) had accumulated in the seven years of
plenty.

     I don't believe God said it, because it contradicts
God's treatment of Job.  Job lost his possessions, his
family, his health and endured terrible pain without having
violated any of God's commandments.  Job was wiser than his
friends who (relying perhaps on Leviticus 26) told him that
he must have done something very wrong since he was in such
big trouble. Job knew better.  He understood that good
fortune is not the reward of virtue, and that suffering and
death are not punishment for sin.

     Most explicitly the author of Leviticus 26 is
contradicted by Isaiah.  The person who "has it all" is not
(necessarily) the servant of God.  According to Isaiah the
bad things that happen to a man are _not_ the result of his
disobeying God.  On the contrary, the servant of God is
recognized by his failure in life, by his misfortune.
Isaiah describes the servant of God in these words:

 3. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows,
 and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our
 faces from him; he was despised and we esteemed him not.
 4. Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our
 sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God,
 and afflicted.
 5. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was
 bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our
 peace was upon him; and with his stripes he are healed.
 6. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned
 everyone to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him
 the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:3-6)

     As for the commandments themselves, Micah simplifies
matters when he asks:

    8. He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what
    doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and
    to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
                              (Micah 6:8)


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