Life in the Household of the Father

Bible Study* to Prepare for General Assembly

The Rev. Dr. Raymond F. Person, Jr

Professor of Religion at Ohio Northern University

*Downloadable PDF Available on Assembly Website Scroll down to “Bible Study”

The narrative setting of the Book of Deuteronomy is Moses’ farewell speech to the people of Israel before they cross the Jordan River into the Promised Land. Moses begins by reminding the Israelites about their coming out of Egypt, the wandering in the wilderness, and the giving of the law at Mount Horeb (Deuteronomy 1-11) before teaching them again about the law itself (Deuteronomy 12-25).

In Deuteronomy 6, Moses admonishes the Israelites to remember and observe the statues and ordinances. “Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey” (Deut 6:3). These statues and ordinances should become something that is a part of their every waking moment, something that they must diligently teach to their children. “Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise” (Deut 6:6-7).

We, twenty-first century Christians, have much to learn from Moses’ speech to the ancient Israelites, if we want to live in a way that is pleasing to God, so that we too can live in a “land flowing with milk and honey”—that is, a bounteous land that provides for more than we physically need.The purpose of the law certainly focuses on our relationship with God, but it does so by emphasizing how we relate to all of the things around us. Most of the law concerns how we relate to other humans: whether family, neighbors, or strangers. “Honor your father and your mother … You shall not commit murder. Neither shall you commit adultery. Neither shall you steal” (Deut 5:16-19). “You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Deut 10:19). Although the emphasis of the law is on our relationships with other humans, too often we overlook how the law provides guidelines for how we live with the non-human members of the Earth community. Admittedly, not too many of us North Americans tend vineyards or herd sheep and goats, but from the perspective of Deuteronomy we must nevertheless broaden our understanding of what God requires of us, if we want to live sustainably in a “land flowing with milk and honey.”

The Household of the Father

The fundamental basis of Israelite society was the bet av, the household of the father. This phrase does not simply refer to what we understand as the nuclear family and the structure they live in, but refers to all of the humans, animals, plants, and land that together make up the basic socio-economic unit of ancient Israel. The humans in the bet av would have included the father, mother, their grown sons and their families, and any servants. The land would have included not only the land on which the dwelling was built, but also the  surrounding gardens and orchards as well as the more distant cultivated fields and pastures under the control of the household. The actual structure of the house was not simply a dwelling place for the humans, but was also where some of the livestock lived and where a variety of food storage and preparation activities took place. Given the Israelites’ broader understanding of what was home, we should not be surprised that the law addresses relationships between all of the members of this household, including the land, animals, and plants.

The Land
According to Deuteronomy, “the heavens and the heavens of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth with all that is in it” (Deut 10:14). The land when provided with life-giving water is the source of all of Israel’s divine blessings. “Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your livestock, both the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock” (Deut 28:4).

However, these blessings only come to those who obey God’s law. Those who do not obey, will experience curses that also have their source in the land when life-giving water is withheld.

“Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock” (Deut 28:18).

Since the ancient Israelites did not have the equivalent of our powerful synthetic chemicals or the means for modifying natural genetics, we do not find laws concerning, for example, the disposal of heavy metals in landfills or the necessity for clean air and clean water standards. Nevertheless, as Deuteronom proclaims, if the land and water belong to God, we must care for creation as if it is not only our home but also God’s garden, so that we may be truly blessed to continue to live in the good land. Unfortunately, because of the type of ecological disasters we currently face—including climate change and most recently the nuclear crisis in Japan—we all too often understand something about how our own actions bring curses upon ourselves and others when we do not pay attention to living sustainably on the good land.

The Animals
Since livestock were part of their household—sometimes living under the same roof—the ancient Israelites reflected on their everyday relationship with animals in ways that are foreign to most North Americans who live far from the farms producing their food, (far, that is, at least by acquaintance with farming, if not by geographical distance). The law in Deuteronomy demonstrates this reflection, for example, in two laws concerning oxen.

“You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked” (Deut 22:10). “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain” (Deut 25:4). Plowing with two animals of significantly different pulling strength would be detrimental to both of the yoked animals, something that the animals themselves would likely complain about in their own ways.

Likewise, muzzling a hungry ox or other draft animal that is treading out the grain prevents it from eating its fair share of the harvest while it is doing valuable work. Both of these forbidden practices are means of protecting the animals from unethical treatment; and ultimately of sustaining the productivity of these beasts.

The law also addresses how to relate to wildlife that may provide food not just today but for days to come. “If you come on a bird’s nest, in any tree or on the ground, with fledglings or eggs, with the mother sitting on the fledglings or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young” (Deut 22:6). Although taking the young for food is allowed, the mother must be left to brood again. 

The Plants
In ways similar to the ancient Israelites’ reflection on animals, the law in Deuteronomy includes concerns for how plants are treated. This is most obvious in the passage concerning the conduct of war.

“If you besiege a town for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, you must not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them. Although you may take food from them, you must not cut them down. Are trees in the field human beings that they should come under siege from you?” (Deut 20:19). Since trees do not take sides in a war—they provide their fruit to whomever (human or other animals) picks it—they should not be attacked as objects of war. The brutality of war is something that should remain (albeit severely limited even in the perspective of Deuteronomy) between humans, so that the land and the plants do not suffer such devastation. Unfortunately, our modern weapons are far more dangerous to the land and trees than an army wielding axes, swords, and arrows.

Questions for Reflection

Based on the teachings of Moses as presented in Deuteronomy, reflect on the following questions concerning how we should live and what we should teach our children.

(1) How do we envision our households? How does this vision differ from that of the ancient Israelites?

(2) What is our relationship to the land? How does God’s relationship to the land inform our own relationship to the land?

(3) Do you have animals in your own household? A dog? A cat? Another pet? Should we treat other animals the same way we treat our pets? Why or why not?

(4) What is our relationship to plants? Are plants only here for our enjoyment?

(5) Consider this text with an eye to sustainable practices. Note where Deuteronomy’s instructions are not just a matter of being “nice” to plants, animals and other humans, but where they offer instructions that are essential to our own survival.

Dr. Raymond F. Person, Jr. earned his BA and MDiv from Phillips University and his PhD from Duke University. He is the author of six books and numerous articles, most recently The Deuteronomic History and The Book of Chronicles (Society of Biblical Literature, 2010). He currently works on a commentary on Deuteronomy for the Earth Bible Commentary series of the Christian Church in Ohio. with Sheffield Phoenix Press. He is also a founding member of the Anti-Racism Commission