Someone asked me recently what to do as a Christian with all the violence and atrocities found in the Old Testament, many of them seemingly sanctioned if not commanded by God through the Law or the prophets. Even when not directly described there can be an apparently blood-thirst, especially in some of the Psalms (137 being of the worst) which is distasteful to our contemporary morality. How do reconcile that with "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness" (1 Tim:3:16)?
First, it's important to do what the person who asked was already starting to do: always read the Old Testament in light of the new, especially in light of the words and actions of Jesus Christ. One text my questioner mentioned was that Jesus said he came to fulfill the law not destroy it, which for him could mean a condoning of the violence within the Law. He's right about Jesus' saying as crucial to interpreting the Old Testament but not as a condoning, but rather it is a revelation of two spiritual realities:
1) VIRTUE AND INTENT ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN ACTIONS. Fulfillment of the law means going beyond the law to locate its intent not just its practice; the individual laws are signs of the interior disposition God wills us to have. Like the temple on Earth was a model of the temple in heaven (Hebrews 8:5), the earthly Law is a model of the heavenly law of Charity encapsulated in the Beatitudes. Jesus gives us examples of this sign and fulfillment: "do not kill" is the law but eliminating wrath, the desire for vengeance, from one's heart is the fulfillment; sleeping with another's wife is adultery, but the fulfillment is to remove lust from one's heart altogether. Great, that's the contemporary morality that eliminates even the desire for vengeance. Jesus then goes on to say that absence of sin is not enough, true fulfillment of the law is to be merciful as the Father is merciful, and combined with the Beatitudes we can see that he's pointing to becoming virtuous as being fulfillment of the law. Virtue and Intent are what the law is meant to lead to, but as law, in and of itself, it can't create/manifest those things, only grace from Christ Jesus can and the law can only regulate actions. Thus, the law demonstrates this very lack by human effort to make oneself good, but points to the fulfillment that we're to long for.
2) THE LAW IS PART OF GOD'S PROVIDENTIAL PLAN. When Jesus says he didn't come to destroy, he reveals that in God's providential plan the Law did have its place. If we are to trust in God's providence for ourselves in our time, we have to trust in his governance of the People of God then. But God's Providence isn't about directing people's lives like puppets. Sometimes its about allowing lesser things, even evils, in order to reach a greater good. I want to talk more about this second point in parts.
Judging the past: there is a danger that I believe stems from Natural Sin, in our tendency to judge those who came before us, who conveniently are not here to defend themselves. We believe that because we came later along, we're somehow better, and thus worthy of judging those who came before. However, if we follow this, then those 5,000 years will have all right to look at our age and judge us to be barbarians. Frankly, they will have plenty of evidence with the attempted genocide of the Jews, the acceptance of "collateral damage" i.e. civilian deaths during military actions, systemic and legal racism, abortion, etc all occurring within the last one hundred years. To fight the evils of the day, the Law, with all its severity, may have been exactly what was Providentially needed from the mouth of God to create any kind of civility and holiness at all, and we should be wary of judging Him and His people.
Because of the hardness of your hearts: There's another saying of Jesus that I think is key in discerning the Law in its time and practice. The teaching occurs while he's discussing divorce. The scribes and Pharisees correctly aver that the Law allows for divorce. But Jesus' replies, “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives" What is true of divorce can fairly be applied to the rest of the Law. The severity of the Law was allowed, because the People of God had a hardness of heart when it came to viewing "the other" that the violence was allowed in order that the sin might be addressed at all. Providence was moving the People of God toward true faith, justice and mercy, but for the hardness of their hearts God allowed evil to occur--but did not will it--in order that a greater good might come of it, namely Jesus, born of the tribe of Judah of the people of Israel.
Addressing the Gravity of Sin. Finally, the Fathers of the Church know that the Old Testament and the Law--because all Scripture is a Living Word that can and does speak to us today--always contains a moral sense that is necessary for us, even under the new covenant. When it comes to the violence, the lesson is to ask how seriously do we take sin? With what violence do we attack the sin within that we might be found "pure of heart"? Are we willing to pluck out an eye or cut off a hand (Matthew 18:8-9) ? Are we willing to take a thought when it's only in its infancy, and dash it upon the Rock of Christ so it cannot grow into a sin (this was St Benedict's interpretation of Psalm 137)? The Israelites approached idolotry and sin with a scorched earth policy because they recognized the seriousness of sin. Are we so quick to question their methods because they were wrong, or because we are not willing to take sin so seriously? Probably it's both, but I think the second question is actually the more interesting and important one when it comes to examining growing in my faith, and getting closer to God.
We should thank God in light of the Old Testament that by following Jesus Christ he has shown us "a better way" the way of Love" (1Cor 12:31) and that violence of arms and stoning is no longer needed to show holiness to the world, for he has taken our stony hearts and given us hearts of flesh, the Sacred Heart. But violence is still necessary for holiness, for everyone who enters [the Kingdom] does so with violence. (Luke 16:16); the flesh must be crucified (does it get more violent than crucifixion?) that we might put on Christ. So let us still be inspired by the zeal of the Israelites led by Joshua—Jesu in the Greek—who conquered the idolaters that we might allow ourselves to be conquered by Joshua/Jesus Christ.
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