laws of love

A friend's recent query got me wondering: why did God establish so many detailed rules and regulations for the Israelites? The sheer volume of it all seems oppressive. These people just came out of generations of slavery, for crying out loud!

Then it dawned on me that God set forth such detailed rules because the Israelites had been enslaved for generations. They had no idea how to govern themselves. All they had known of law and order came from selfish masters who wielded authority like a whip. The Israelites needed to be taught how to live as free people, how to act out of love rather than fear, how to take care of their economy and health and families. Fortunately for the Israelites, they had a Teacher and a TA (Moses) who, in spite of the occasional tough-love incidents, deeply loved and cherished them.

I've often wondered why so many African nations fell to despotism and/or violent disorder shortly after independence. It makes a bit more sense now. Most African nations were ruled by colonizers much like the Egyptians. But when given independence, these nations did not have good teachers to help them to stand as free nations. Instead, their teachers were the very people who oppressed them, who stayed on to pillage valuable natural resources. These nations weren’t really granted independence; they were merely paroled. When they “mis-stepped” – by, for example, democratically electing leaders disfavored by a certain global power – interference and penalty came swiftly and severely.

It makes me angry to think about this, in part because I can’t think of any solutions. It does make me wish, however, that there are more true believers in positions of power, who can step in the breach and be good TAs, ones faithful to the Teacher and not their own interests.