Peace in Our Time
If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him. Exodus 23:4 NASB
Return – The instructions that accompany citizenship in the Kingdom of YHVH are fundamentally different than our view of political affiliation. In systems based on Western thought, individual rights and privileges are at the heart of citizenship. But in the Semitic world, community obligations and responsibility are the essential focus. Individualism is far less important than wholeness of the community. Therefore, the Torah includes special instructions about care for those who oppose us. Torah includes opportunities for reconciliation as a fundamental element of community. While I might be inclined to take action that harms my enemy, Torah requires me to do just the opposite. I am to act against my natural proclivity to repay evil with evil and instead, demonstrate inclusive care even for those who stand against me.
The Hebraic culture is not the only culture of the ancient Middle East to embrace this kind of obligation. Hospitality must be shown to the stranger, even if he is an enemy, in many Bedouin tribes. In fact, to turn away someone in need, regardless of political or social differences, is considered a great offense. If we reflect on the geographical and social circumstances that produced these tribal norms, the motivation behind such actions becomes obvious. And this reflection also teaches us why our Western culture has “progressed” to a state of extreme individualism.
Bedouin life is brutal. The desert is an inhospitable place. Water is scare and crucial. Protection from nature and living enemies is a necessity. Men cannot easily survive on their own. Survival depends on mutually binding communal obligations. In other words, if you and I are going to survive in this environment, we must work together. Since everyone in this world needs assistance to survive, no one can be denied the basics for life. If I refuse to help my enemy today, I cannot expect him to help me tomorrow—and in this world, that means both of us die.
The Western worldview changed all of this, not because of a higher moral consciousness but because the protection of life shifted from the individual to the state. The welfare of the stranger was no longer my personal obligation. It now fell to the body politic. This relieved me of direct involvement. Because the basic needs of life were provided (in one from or another) by the anonymous State, I was no longer held accountable, except, of course, as I participated as a citizen of the State. And the State determined who was my enemy. The result is the history of war. Simply put, Torah provides a means to avoid widespread, anonymous, life threatening conflict. It does not require that every person be a friend. It only requires that every person be treated as if he were a friend.
This is the ultimate solution to human conflict. It is God’s perfect way to bring about peace. The history of humanity demonstrates the consequence of the denial of community wholeness. And it is a sad history indeed.
Topical Index: peace, community, individualism, enemy, Exodus 23:4
So, could it be said that hell derives from individualism and life is produced in loving one’s neighbor as yourself?
What a fitting TW for today!
Shalom to All!
We were discussing a similar verse on Shabbat. We do need to care for others who can be enemies at times yet it is hard and necessary to balance that with being wise as serpents and gentle as doves. My fear would be that if I found my neighbor’s donkey and was taking care of it until I could figure out which neighbor it belonged to is that I would be accused of stealing it if it were found in my possession.. After all, in our world today even possession of someone’s things can be a misdemeanor or felony considering its value. Feeding it could be a sign of intent to keep it. I’d have to have signs up immediately all over the place in an effort to protect myself. That aside, we do need to find ways to show chesed to our neighbors while being wise and protective of ourselves and family members. There are plenty of stories in cyberspace of naive people who tried to help certain people and ended up dead and beheaded. Things are not looking good these days. We’ve got to have wisdom, gentleness, and compassion.
A great lesson for me to share with kids! Michael C, I don’t know if we should stretch it that far. To reiterate, it’s about peace and living in community.
A good friend of mine wrote about those oxen in ditches after he had apparently spent a lot of time helping others the best he knew how. He wrote something like “I spent a lot of time pulling other people’s oxes out of their ditches only to find that they had intended them to stay there.” Sadly, I think I may know what he was talking about. I, too, have seen the dogs and pigs going back…
I now think you have to figure out, somehow, how to balance respect for the choices of others – no matter how poor they may seem – against their very real needs. Further, you have to know when helping others is not right for YOUR needs. Alanon taught me that what is good for me is good for those around me. Everything else is manipulation and victimization and the further maintenance of disaster. This brings me right back to the second great command that I must love my neighbor AS myself. I have to figure out what the first part of that command looks like (and figure out how to do it!) before any of it is going to work. To repeat myself (I am sure), this quickly puts me all the way back to commandment #1 which reminds me of the fact that if I have not accepted the love of God for me – and returned it, too (obedience is how I am told to love Him back) – nothing is going to be working any further down my line. I have no oxygen to share with you if I am currently out. Just sayin’.
One of the things I most appreciate about these particular days in the Mosaic Festival cycle is the traditional expectation for the faithful to consider their personal relationships and seak and offer words of reconciliation. Something not considered on an annual basis in the Christian “church ” traditions. This underlines Skips message about how a community actually maintains the reality of “peace in our time”.
Jesus said that he only said and did what he say the Father say and do. When he taught to love your enemy, it wasn’t new doctrine as you point out. Too many times we think that Jesus taught a different message than that of the OT, but he confirmed it. When Paul taught at Berea, they validated his teaching against the OT. He also only confirmed what he OT taught as it was fulfilled in Christ.