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Old Testament Ethics
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Initial Overview of the Ethics of the Old Testament ________________________________________________________ How we live our lives is governed by ethics. Ethics is “human moral conduct according to principles of what is good or right to do.” Our ethical values today descend primarily from a Christian ethic in which “a truly ethical decision, we are told, must be spontaneous, undirected, free - the individual's unfettered and uncoerced response to each new decision-demanding situation.” The ethical values of today, especially Christian ethics, borrow and carry forward the Hebrew ethics of the past. This essay is an attempt to survey briefly the literature of the Old Testament and to point out any common themes which may be apparent in the diverse literature which we encounter. One factor which sets Ancient Israel apart from other religions of the time was its monotheistic basis. The ethics of Ancient Israel is historical and traditional as opposed to philosophical and theoretical. In Ancient Israel an ethical conception of God is attained, that is not philosophical but historical; while its view of the moral life is certain of justification not only by reason but by history. Thus God is looked upon as an ethical personality and is looked to as an example of good and right. In the Old Testament, God's voluntary (voluntary for God) covenant with man must be looked at as the prime, but not only, example of ethical value. The covenant's requirements is one source of all ethics, morals, laws, and justice in the Old Testament. Within Ancient Israelite society, we are presented with considerable diversity. Society was divided into partisan groups. In the pre-exilic period alone we can discern the nomadic people who became the early settlers through to the priestly groups and the prophets. The social and cultural conditions of each of these groups contributed to their own ethical understanding and in turn to what could be considered an ‘Old Testament ethic’. The individual contributions made by these differing elements in society demonstrate a tension between these groups, as a result of their different traditions and their different needs. The initial impression that we are given is that any ‘Old Testament ethic’ may not be a consistent ethic. This potential inconsistency, viewed against a background of a contrast between the primacy of Law or grace, has seen the Old Testament in the modern world placed firmly back into its ancient realm and with it its richness. Whilst such diversity seems to be apparent in the ethical outlook of the Old Testament, it may be possible to isolate central features. As a result of this it may become possible to outline an understanding which approaches an ‘Old Testament ethic’. One reason as to why such a more centralised approach is lacking in many studies of the Old Testament ethics can be identified in a statement made by James Gustafson: biblical ethics, he observed, is in itself, ‘a complex task for which few are well prepared; those who are specialists in ethics generally lack the intensive and proper training in biblical studies, and those who are specialists in biblical studies often lack sophistication in ethical thought.’ A person venturesome enough to engage in interdisciplinary work runs the risk of being tagged a dilettante by colleagues in each discipline! It is the breadth of response though which remains characteristic of the nature of Old Testament ethics. For the utopian, Isaiah 2:4 becomes a standard; for the hardened of heart Genesis 9:6 is the norm. It is in fact this diversity which has been at the heart of the many issues regarding the use of the Old Testament in the development of moral theology. The ability to select certain passages to support a wider cultural or theological movement, or to isolate particular passages to illustrate a certain moral argument has often led to the conclusion that the Old Testament’s contribution to contemporary moral thought is limited.
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