Justice in the Levitican and Deuteronomic World

Justice, in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28-29, is administered in this life, when one is alive and breathing. What occurs relies on whether or not God's covenant has been kept. Both books clearly state the outcome of obeying or disobeying God. When one follows the covenant, blessings are abound. If one defies the covenant, their life will be (literally) hell on Earth. "Obey and prosper; turn away and perish" (Bernstein, 147). God judges the righteous and wicked during their lifetime, indicating the notion of neutral death. If neutral death occurs, it makes obedience to the covenant more important because it determines how life will be on earth.

The texts send a clear message: obeying God results in prosperity. The righteous are those who observe the word of God and are therefore blessed with a good life. Leviticus states, "If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments" then blessings follow (Leviticus 26.3). The land will be fertile (4-5). Peace will ensue (6). Everyone will be protected and shall multiply (7-9). Leviticus 26 also displays the anthropomorphic qualities of God: "I will turn toward you" (9), "I will make My dwelling among you" (11) and "I will also walk among you" (12). Here, God is embroiled in their lives. He sees to it that they are blessed and their lives are the best they can be. If the people of Israel fulfill their covenant, God keeps his end of the contract: "I will confirm My covenant with you" (9).

Likewise, there is a list of benefits in Deuteronomy: "If you dilligently obey the Lord your God...all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you" (Deuteronomy 28.1-2). Prosperity will come upon the land, people and food (3-5, 8, 11). The people will be protected and will be established "as a holy people unto Himself, as He swore to you" (7, 9). Again, there are rewards for obedience. Abiding by God's commandments will result in God bestowing blessings and upholding His covenant. The Deuteronomic depiction of God differs slightly from Leviticus 26. Someone appears to dictate the word of God ("observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today") while in Leviticus, God talks directly: "If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments" (Deuteronomy 28.15; Leviticus 26.3).

The flipside of the covenant is when the people of Israel disobey God. Both Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy spend much more time outlining the consequences of the wicked. For those who defy the covenant, the outcome is catastrophic. In Leviticus 26, God is almost merciful. The punishments get sucessively worse with continued disobedience. First, there is general havoc in one's life. Illness will occur, food will be lost, and enemies will win (Leviticus 26.16-17). If that fails to get Israel to obey, then God will "discipline you seven times over for your sins" (18). The punishments continue until it reaches "wrathful hostility" and God himself wreaks chaos on the lives of the wicked. The children will be eaten and the people will be driven from the land (28-33). Despite the severity, God does not "abhor them as to destroy them" (44). He allows room for repentance: "If they confess their iniquity....then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham as well, and I will remember the land...I will not reject them." (40-44). The covenant is eternal. Even if they are wicked and ignore God, he always will allow them to come back.

The consequences in Deuteronomy are much less lenient than they appear in Leviticus. First, the curses for Israel counteract the blessings. It then grows progressively worse, moving into illness and famine (Deuteronomy 28: 21-25). Cannibalism is again mentioned, along with what happened in Egypt (53, 61). In Leviticus 26:45, Egypt served as a reminder to God of his covenant with the ancestors of Israel. In Deuteronomy, the plagues of Egypt remind the people of Israel what they owe to God for delivering them (Bernstein, 149). He allows them to deteriote through foreign invasion and families turning against one another. There is no means of escape and the penalties for disobedience are much harsher. In this text, the author is more intent on scaring people to maintain the covenant. Fear of God is used as a tactic. Why should the people of Israel completely obey the covenant if God will allow repentance, as he does in Leviticus? The Deuteronomic version allows less room for slippage and is stricter in repercussions. It is also less personal, as I stated before. The tone is much more forbading and reprimading than that of Leviticus 26.

The people of Israel are rewarded or punished in life rather than in death (Bernstein, 150). In fact, there is no mention of the afterlife in either text. Death appears as the end and it should be avoided if this life is all one has. Whether a person is cursed or blessed depends entirely on obeying the covenant. Neutral death means no distinction between the righteous and wicked in the afterlife. So justice must be carried out in the life one is living now. In Deuteronomy 29, Moses explains the importance of the covenant. Their children, their children's children and the generations to come shall be affected by what happens. He reminds them of Egypt and the forty years in the wilderness. It attests to how God was faithful to the people of Israel and in turn, they should be faithful to God. If they defy God, his wrath will come and destroy them.

Although similarities exist between the two versions of the covenant, there is an apparent diversion in Deuteronomy 28-29. Perhaps the Deuteronomic view is harsher because the author strongly believes that judgement is imminent. The people of Israel should obey the covenant because the repercussions will effect not only them, but the generations thereafter. It is a responsibility to maintain the divine law that God revealed to them. Any divergence from the word of God will cause chaos for all mankind.

Bibliography:

Bernstein, Alan E. The Formation of Hell.

Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993.

New American Standard Bible.
La Habra: Foundation Press Publications, 1971.

"The Watchers, the Cosmos, and Divine Justice"

The Enochian books provide an insider's look into the heavenly realm. Each book differs on the structure of the cosmos and whether divine punishment consists of destruction or long-term suffering (Wright,118; Bernstein, 181). The Book of the Watchers expounds upon Genesis 5:24: "Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him". It details Enoch's ascent into heaven. His journey provides insight into the notion of eternal life and punishment-what one does on Earth will affect one's position in the afterlife. Furthermore, the pseudepigrapha text reveals the development of thought on Deuteronomic justice and the repercussions of evil.

The beginning of Book of the Watchers centers on the rebellion of the angels. First, we are told the earth is corrupt and judgement is imminent (Wright, 119). From chapters 6-11, it explains how the rebel angels come to earth, fornicate with women and reveal "eternal secrets which are performed in heaven" (1 Enoch 9.6). Their digression for teaching humans different skills and crafts are catastrophic-the whole earth has been tainted (10.8). Their offspring, the Nephilim, take over and torment people. We are told "there were many wicked ones" and "all their conduct became corrupt" (8.2-3). Hearing the call of the sufferers, the angels in heaven take the matter up to God, who promises a flood. He orders the angel Raphael to send Azaz'el into a hole in the desert. Gabriel is to remove the remaining rebel angels from life. God orders Michael to tell all the angels who fornicated with women that they would die with their wives. After this occurs, all the rebels will be led "into the bottom of the fire-and in torment-in the prison (where) they will be locked up forever." (10.4-13).

The fate of the rebel angels are a paradigm for the fate of the wicked and righteous. Because the angels corrupted the earth with sin, they are eternally imprisoned. At the boundaries of the universe, Enoch sees a pit with pillars of heavenly fire, "the prison house for the stars and the powers of heaven" (1 Enoch 18.15). This appears as a holding place for all the dead until the judgement (Bernstein, 187.) After they are judged, the dead are separated (22.9). Enoch continues on to a chaotic place without limit, where other wicked angels are held for ten million years, according to their sins. (21.6). The length of punishment coincides with how severe the sin is. Another place, worse than the first, is an immense fire. Again, it is called "the prison house of the angels" who are kept there forever (21.10). The third place is located inside a big mountain and closely resembles a tomb. Enoch hears the voice of Abel, a person who is dead yet still appears alive in that mountain. The encounter reinforces the notion that this place is Sheol (Bernstein, 185). In the afterlife, the righteous and wicked are separated. The evildoers await judgement while being tormented. The righteous are held in a lighted place around a spring of water. The text also describes how the "accursed ones" will be in full view for the righteous, who will judge the wicked (27.3). The fact that these holding places are already in existence sends a message to the readers: this is what waits for you if you obey or transgress God (Wright, 123.). The notion of obedience-disobedience coincides with the Deuteronomic form of justice. Justice will be extended into the afterlife and it does not end. Observing the covenant becomes much more important when reward or punishment is eternal.

The cosmography of the Book of the Watchers draws upon Near Eastern influences. The author of Enoch used his surroundings in order to construct the cosmos. When Enoch ascends to heaven, he encounters a heavenly temple where the divine throne is located. The biblical image of the Jerusalem Temple clearly sprung forth this view of God's dwelling (Wright, 120). The ceiling is filled with lightning and stars, thousands of angels are singing perpetually, and God himself is wearing gleaming garments. The author is painting heaven as an astounding scene, full of magnificent sights and sounds. It projects the own author's majestic view of God and his abode.
As Enoch travels back to earth and heads west, he sees the storehouses of the winds and where the firmament of heaven rests on the world (1 Enoch 18:2, 5). The earth here is portrayed as a flat surface, a very popular concept in Near Eastern culture (Wright, 120). The early Greeks too, had the notion of a flat earth surrounded by water, though it was reformed by later astronomers into a spherical earth. Though all of these ideologies existed at the time of writing 1 Enoch, the author used the flat earth model because it coincided with the bible. Because all these models of earth were competing, the Book of Watchers reinforced and perpetuated the biblical view (Wright, 123).

During Enoch's second earthly journey, he travels to the ends of the earth where an incessantly burning fire gives heaven its brightness (1 Enoch 23:1-4). This could be an adjustment to a Pythagorean belief that all light reflects a central, cosmic hearth. Here, the author places the fires not at the center but at the ends of the earth (Wright, 121). Enoch continues eastward from Jerusalem (28-33). He cross the Red Sea and eventually enters the "Garden of Righteousness" where he sees the "tree of wisdom" (32:2-6). This is a reference to the Garden of Eden and the tree from which Adam and Eve ate. Again, the author incorporates stories from the bible to validate his own. The text retells Enoch's journey to the ends of the earth again. This time, Enoch journeys to the western gates of heaven where spiritual bodies leave the sky (they enter in the gates of the east). The gates are influenced from Near Eastern traditions, where celestial beings transverse the boundaries of heaven and earth through a gate (Wright, 122).

In the Book of the Watchers, there is a clear indication of moral death. The decisions a person makes in this life is crucial. It not only extends after death, but for all eternity. Boundaries exist between heaven and earth, which humans are prohibited from crossing over. Enoch's journey of the cosmos allows the audience to understand what exactly will happen to those who obey or defy God. Those who align themselves with him will enjoy the afterlife. The wicked shall be tormented. It demonstrates the growing emphasis placed on observing the word of God and living a moral life. Following the Deuteronomic reforms are pertinent to one's place in eternity.