The Laws of Jehovah

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The premise that Jehovah, the ancient god of the Hebrews, was a cruel, violent, vindictive god, much lacking in Love and mercy, is based on the historical records of the ancients themselves. It arises from a careful study of the Hebrew Scriptures, the ancient documents in which they recorded their interpretations of their god. These docs purport also to record "his" actions. These are the thirty-nine ancient texts usually called by Christians "the Old Testament." (The Hebrews never used this term, and, out of respect for their tradition, I prefer the more correct term, "the Hebrew Scriptures.")

Jehovah was one of the elohim (gods") mentioned in Genesis. This is the origin of the stories of gods and goddesses throughout the Middle East. There were dozens of "gods" in those days. It would never have occurred to any of the ancients to postulate one single God for all humanity, or for all the cosmos. Gods back then were wargods,whose only purpose was to fight for and support the nation,armies, and war. So, naturally they were steeped in violence and soaked in the blood of innocents. Any god worth anything had to be very tough, and never tender, merciful, or compassionate. (This would have been seen, tragically, as"weakness.")

But this does not imply that the elohim had not a single redeeming quality. The purpose of the Law (as in Ten Commandments) was not to create better people. Indeed, Paul argued that this never occurred.

What was the purpose of Law? Clearly, it was to unite the people, and thus, tmake the nation stronger, and socially to unify the people of a nation. For a disunited nation could result in only catastrophe.

So, the law was army-oriented as a part of the overall plan-- the same agenda that controlled every other part of the nation. A nation with less crime, for example, could be more militarily stable, and create a stronger army. Warfare, and making the army more powerful, was an underlying motive for many of the ancient laws. This is why, for example, mothers of female babies were ritually "unclean" longer than those of males. This distorted, misogynistic legislation had nothing to do with God, but had everything to do with war.
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