Kingdom constitution

By: Ty Gibson

Imagine a world in which every person lives with relational integrity toward all others, resulting in a social structure of mutual flourishing. The whole point the ancient Hebrew Scriptures was to provide a constitutional blueprint for exactly this kind of world.

After leading the children of Israel out of bondage, they gathered at Mount Sinai. There, as a free people, God gave them “the law”—a set of relational principles—that describe what living in love looks like (Exodus 201-17; Deuteronomy 4:44). As a “complete law of liberty,” the law envisioned a world in which there is “no harm” (James 1:25; Romans 13:10).

Israel was a social experiment in love that continually went wrong due to Israel’s rebellion. Beginning with the call of Abraham out of the morally bankrupt Chaldean system, Israel was constituted as a nation to be a kind of controlled study in covenant living. The stated goal was that Israel would be a “kingdom of priests” to the world (Exodus 19:6), mediating the knowledge of God’s character and principles to all other people groups. By organizing their governing system in accordance with God’s law, Israel would thrive on all levels of life. That thriving would be an attractive witness to the world. Israel would become a light to the nations, revealing that love, as the underlying law of life, generates mutual flourishing for all its participants.

In a world of theological darkness, intellectual ignorance, moral degradation, generational abuse, and hierarchical dictatorships, God selected a people group, placed them under a prophet rather than a king, established a covenantal relationship with them involving a system of progressive laws, all grounded in the single principle of love, with the goal of maturing humanity toward responsible self-governance and the eradication of evil.

Moses taught one law: love, in the covenantal sense of relational integrity. That one law had two essential directions of applications: love to God and love to neighbor. Those two laws were then delineated in Ten Commandments, the first four entailing love to God and the remaining six love neighbor. From that premise, there were many other laws that gave additional detail regarding how to apply the law of love to various levels of life. Here are ten crucial areas covered by the Torah:

1 Political System

• a covenantal constitution • governance by impartial law, not arbitrary power • governance by prophets, which is to say, by knowledge, rather than under the rule of kings

2 Land Ownership Laws

• the privilege and right of individual land ownership was intended by the law • with the protective provision that “the land shall not be sold in perpetuity” • with a grace reset system called the “Jubilee,” which stipulated that all land must, at the appoint time in the cycle, be returned to the original owner, insuring that a person’s financial failures would not irreversibly impoverish the family lineage

3 Land Management Laws

• the land must rest every seventh year to restore its life-giving nutrients • the law of fourth-year fruit harvest allowed sufficient time for trees to become established, for maximum yields • pruning laws stipulated that new grape vines must be pruned for six years

4 Animal Laws

• you must return a stray animal to its owner, even if the own is you enemy, and you must relieve the suffering of an animal, even if the owner hates you • working animals must not be muzzled and thus denied food • working animals must be given rest on the Sabbath

5 Health Laws

• bodily discharges require washing • excrement must be buried outside the camp • scavenger animals must not be eaten • a structure with recurring mold must be destroyed

6 Educational Laws

• all children must be taught the law daily, insuring universal literacy • the daily temple rituals were an educational system unfolded by means of enactment

7 Laws for the Poor

• there must be justice for the poor in a dispute • orphans and widows must be provided for and not be afflicted • in harvest time, food must be left for the poor to reap • you must not harden your heart nor shut your hand to the poor

8 Labor and Economic Laws

• workers must be allowed to eat as they work • there must be no fraud in measuring and selling • you must not loan with interest to a brother • you must not require payment of a debt from a man who cannot pay • you must exact no debt by force • all unpaid debts must be cleared every seventh year • for the corporate operations of Israel’s priesthood economy, a flat tax of 10% was required of each person

9 The Sabbath

• a socio-economic equalizing law, bringing all to uniform rest before God, the Great Provider • acknowledging the dignity of all creation, including servants and working animals, resisting the commodification and oppression of creation • operating as a reminder that God is the sole Creator and Redeemer of humanity • it was also a rejuvenation law, providing a rest-work rhythm for health and maximum productivity

10 Citizenship Laws

• Israel was not intended to be a pure bloodline • but rather a witness and invitation for all peoples to come into covenant relation with Yahweh • an open immigration policy was stipulated upon acceptance of God’s covenantal law, allowing Israel to absorb all nations into one thriving, non-violent family

With this “righteous . . . body of laws” as the governing constitution of Israel, the nations would be attracted to Israel’s God (Deuteronomy 4:7, NIV). But due to Israel’s constant covenant breaking, that powerful witness was never given to the world, until. . .

When Paul looked upon Christ, he realized, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believe” (Romans 10:4). “End” is telos in Greek, meaning goal or summation. Christ is the great teleological end-goal to which the law was pointing all along. In Christ, covenantal faithfulness was fulfilled in all directions: God to humanity, humanity to God, and humanity to humanity.