Mar 18 Day 47 Deuteronomy 17:1–20:20

When he has taken the throne of his kingdom, he shall have a copy of this law written for him in the presence of the Levitical priests. It shall remain with him and he shall read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, diligently observing all the words of this law and these statutes, 

The Law. It’s an interesting thing. It can be used, and frequently is, as a regulator or constrainer on behavior. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. Can’t you read the sign?? Or like parents often feel, when they are stuck in the boundary-maker and boundary-keeper role, with toddlers or teens. That’s how I frequently approach these Hebrew Scriptures. They contain a lot of rules and laws that constrain and regulate the behavior of the people.

But this morning’s reflection by N.T. Wright offers another perspective. He agrees that the Law is used to regulate or constrain. But he continues that it is also used to frame and inspire.

To the people of Israel, to recite Law throughout their lives would help ground them in who they are, in where they’ve been, and what they’ve been through. Families pass on important parts of the familial narrative through stories to the next generation. Remember. This is who you are. This is who your people are. This rooting is most important when things are hard, hard for a child or a culture. The people of Israel needed the Law to remind them who they are.

Personally, I don’t have a lot of generational stories, but I have plenty from my life and my kids’ early life. And these stories or laws are passed on. While some of them are in the form of a story, there’s generally a larger Truth behind the story, that helps ground everyone.

Law can also inspire. These are laws that may sound more like affirmations, or statement of intent. In my faith world, sometimes I feel this when I recite ancient creeds or covenants. Sometimes the words don’t necessarily feel genuine in today’s reading, but there’s a sense that it’s an aspiration, or that it may be true tomorrow.

I liken this aspect of laws to the modern-day concept of personal affirmations. I am strong. I will exude love. These statements are sometimes true, and sometimes an intent of what can or should be. God sought for the people of Israel to have these laws on their heart and lips at all times because sometimes the statement was true, and sometimes it was an intent of what could or should be.

We adopted a six year old girl from the foster care system nearly 20 years ago. She’d lived through more experiences, trauma, and placements than anyone should. I’d developed a three-point bedtime statement, that she can, to this day, recite. You are loved. You are safe. You are not going anywhere else. We repeated these in good times, and in bad, and to begin with, they were just words. But they were words she could repeat, and hope to be true.

Before this morning, I hadn’t thought of the early Law as this sort of future-framing vision. Yes, God needed to corral the wayward people with regulations. But that’s not why the people were to remember. It was to give them a vision of the people they were destined to be, and to give us a vision of the people we are destined to be. Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, soul and might. That’s a goal and a promise, more than a regulation.