Читать книгу Hinge Points of History - John Hunsuck - Страница 9

Peaceful and secure travel was needed to protect the person and effects of citizens on the road or at sea. Their enemies vanquished, the Romans allowed free transit to encourage commerce and of course to collect the resulting taxes.

The third was the freedom of movement throughout that known world, or “Pax Romana,” meaning peaceful freedom to travel, at least for Roman citizens.

Now let’s cover the history of this period with the theme of this book: invention, discovery or development, all inspired by God that profoundly changed the course of history.

From about 1200 B.C., the nation Israel was alternately viewed with fear or contempt as events unfolded. The known world knew the story of Israel, as told in the Bible from Genesis through Joshua. They watched and, in some scattered cases, recorded some of the more profound points of interaction with Israel and their neighbors as this tiny country waxed and waned under the rule of the Lord by the law, without a king. The period of the Judges, as recorded in the Bible book of the same name, shows the pain suffered by Israel when they were disobedient and their triumph when they returned to God. The development of man’s relations to each other and to God seems to be recorded to exemplify the common problems of all mankind.

The family structure was the basic element of government structure in Israel. The senior patriarch was the central authority in a family. Male children made their homes within the bounds of the family property. The women were expected to marry into friendly neighboring families and to settle nearby. Marriage to foreigners was prohibited. Although this prohibition was violated at times, the prohibition was kept in law and usual practice.

The patriarch had the responsibility of making final decisions. If his decision was appealed on the basis of written law (the Mosaic Code), the case was then taken to the tribal chief or sub-chief and finally to the High Priest at the Tabernacle. The structure of the leadership from the family all the way to the High Priest still copied the family structure. All testimony was in front of the principles and the judges. The witnesses were not allowed to compare or to discuss their witness. As you can see, our current testimony practice began during this period. Secret witnesses were not allowed. Cross examination took place on the spot. False witness was punished severely. Contempt of the judge’s decision could be met with the death penalty. Scoff-laws could be given the death penalty for simply failing to obey their parents. Jurisprudence and precedent practiced even today have its roots from the annals of Israel.

God is extremely frank and serious in dealing with His people. He established the law because people do wrong things, some of which have automatic penalties attached and some that do not appear to have penalties in the human view. Thus the law is to convict the offender and repay the victim more than to punish. There were few jail cells and no long term penitentiaries during this time. Dungeons for political prisoners were prohibited in Israel. This is shown in the law by the process of confession and sacrifice to remove penalty. Again, we see this in action today when the judge asks for any final words from a convicted person prior to passing sentence. The judge is looking for a basis to reduce or modify the sentence if the person is penitent. It seems the purpose of law is to keep honest and virtuous people clean by reminder, but to capture and punish the criminal by recompense or death. Thus the development of the necessary tools of representation, law, justice and government in general are established upon the basic building block of society: the family.

Note: The punishment mode has changed drastically from the Mosaic Code. Today the theme of “punishment” is remediation and reform, but with little provision for the victims.

Although these were and still are options under the law for penitents, the impenitent had only harsh payment before them. If their violation was incidental or not premeditated, they were only required to pay actual damages and costs plus a mandatory “sin offering” at the Tabernacle or Temple. Premeditated crimes, however, called for as much as double damages and/or costs, plus the sin offering. Capital crimes, such as premeditated murder, required the death penalty to be carried out before sunset of the day they were found guilty. Note that “retribution” or material payment to the one injured was the norm. The courts exacted costs in money or work. Judges were the elders of the community. Jail time, as we practice it, was unknown except for violent offenders, and then only until the trial and execution. Few violent offenders survived to live after sunset on the trial date. The “state” was not the recipient of retribution or fines. The victim received retribution “in his hand” from the guilty party. Thus, there was no real need for many jails or jail cells in any district. They stood empty while the convicted earned enough to repay his debt to the victim, plus pay for his keep by the state while he was under the state’s supervision. (What a far cry from today’s norm!)

The state also gave explicit credit to God as Author of all law of the universe. The leaders were only stewards of that which they owned or had put into their trust by God. We even have an artifact from that in our courts. The judge usually admonishes a condemned person with, “... may God have mercy on your soul ...”

As time wore on, the people became uneasy with the loose form of government and opted to crown a king so they could be like the “surrounding nations.” Thus, they threw away their freedoms and made themselves subject to a person far more dangerous than God: Man! Now they were like the others ... But God set limits. Government was to have only two permanent powers: assure justice and assure safety of the nation and its people. Any other powers were to be emergency and temporary and dissolved upon completion. (Ref 4) Deuteronomy 17:14-20; I Samuel 12: all

The reign of kings in Israel was dependent upon obedience to the Covenant. Each king was to hand copy the book of the law and read from it daily. Deuteronomy 17:18-19. As centuries passed, the kings and people ignored the Covenant with the final disastrous result: defeat at the hands of pagan people and enslavement in Babylon. The period of captivity was 70 years (a life sentence). Four things of lasting value occurred during this time:

1.God’s intent to remove idolatry from the nation of Israel succeeded.

2.The synagogue was established as a local place of worship because the Temple was destroyed and the children needed a school. A Rabbinical order was established to teach the Scriptures, the sciences, history and other courses.

3.The non-pronounced name of God, YHWH (rendered LORD in texts), was replaced by the personal name Jehovah.

4.The Old Testament was compiled by Ezra and exists in that form to this day. The Dead Sea scrolls attest to that fact.

With these things accomplished and the punishment completed, Babylon was conquered by Persia. Cyrus permitted and then Darius ordered the Jews to return to their homeland to rebuild their city of Jerusalem and their Temple of God.

The period following the return is sometimes called the “Period Between the Testaments.” To set the time line, we note that representative government was begun in Persia with the selection of Magi sometime around 700 B.C. The common Greek language was begun around 150 B.C. The Romans established common communication systems beginning about 50 B.C. These common systems were made up of roads, signals and sea lanes for easy and peaceful transit throughout the Roman Empire. God’s wondrous plan to bring things together for the crowning point of history was complete.

The One promised to the Jews as the “Messiah” or Anointed One (in Greek, Christus) was born to a virgin in Bethlehem. According to our current calendar, this happened about 5 B.C. The boy, Jesus, grew to manhood in Nazareth. A seldom heard story happened around the time that Jesus was 20-years-old. An uprising in Galilee left an outpost of Roman soldiers dead. The governor put down any plan to continue rebellion by ordering the crucifixion of a thousand randomly chosen Galilean men of age 20. They were crucified along the road from Galilee to Jerusalem, right through the town of Nazareth. Jesus must have watched the men die this agonizing death, since at least one dying man could be seen from every point along the road. Jesus, the man, assuredly knew about crucifixion. About another 10 years passed before Jesus followed John the Baptist into His ministry to bring good news to the world: the Gospel.

Thus closes the era of the Old Testament, but not the Covenant. We note that the Covenants with God are never dissolved; only improved. The best clause is coming ... (and it isn’t Santa).