Question: Why is the Law of God so harsh?

“If there is a dispute between men and they come into court and the judges decide between them, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty, then if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with a number of stripes in proportion to the offense.” Deuteronomy 25.1, 2

Let’s face it: The Law of God is harsh.

In places, that is.

In ancient Israel a person guilty of certain offenses could be beaten, sold into slavery, or even put to death. Capital punishment was commanded for crimes most people today do not even regard as such: adultery, for example, or homosexual practice, worshiping false gods, and reviling one’s parents, among other matters. To many today it seems not merely harsh, but barbaric, to put people to death for such offenses, if they’re even offenses at all.

Further, when Israel went to war with enemies they literally “took no prisoners.” Every living thing – man, woman, child, beast – was condemned to death among certain of the enemies of the people of God. Among others, survivors of battle were subjected to hard labor.

So, yes, the Law of God is harsh, but, as I hope we’ll see, this is not without good reasons.

But before we get to that, we need to remind ourselves of one important matter: The Law of God is designed to provide and sustain a social order based on justice and love (Deut. 16:20; Matt. 22.34-30). Love, the apostle John insisted, defines the character and purpose of the Law of God (1 Jn. 5.1-3; 2 Jn. 6). Everything about the Law of God is intended to serve the larger ends of defining and promoting love for God and love for one’s neighbors. So unique and so wise is the Law of God overall, that the Scriptures represent the nations surrounding Israel as remarking the wisdom of the Law and even “streaming up” to Zion to learn more of it (Deut. 4.6; Mic. 4.1-8).

We understand that sometimes, in order to promote a social order grounded in love, harsh measures are required. Parents whose children do not respect or obey them, or who are unkind to one another, do not simply look the other way and say, “Oh well, they’re just kids.” Sometimes discipline is required, and you can be sure that, to those kids, at least, that discipline seems harsh and unloving. But the purpose of it is to train children to control their uncharitable inclinations and to learn the ways of respect and love.

Even in our day certain of the laws of the land are regarded by some folks as harsh, since they actually insist on punishing those who offend the peace and security of the social order. Others might say, at the same time, that the laws are not harsh enough.

Which is just to say, it does not follow, as this week’s question seems to imply, that because the Law is God’s Law it ought not be harsh in any way.

That being the case, there must be reasons, grounded in love, why the Law of God is so very harsh in certain places. Let’s see if we can sort this out.

T. M. Moore

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