Progressive revelation is the key to understanding how Jesus and Paul can oppose the slavery that was tolerated in ancient Israel.
(1) In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus offers progressive revelation that at times nullifies Mosaic laws in the Pentateuch. Jesus repeatedly introduces His new revelation with the phrase 'You have heard that it was said of old...but I say unto you." For example, consider Jesus' repudiation of Moses' commandment about divorce:
"He answered them, "What did Moses command you?" They said; "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her." But Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation "God made them male and female." For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, :and they shall become one flesh." ...Therefore, what God has joined together, let no man separate (Mark 10:3-9)."
In other words, the cultural bias of the ancient Israelites closed their minds to the values God wanted to reveal to them. So God chose to work within their biased belief system to secure what obedience He could inspire, with the plan of providing them more accurate revelation of His values and His will through Jesus, when the time was right for them to hear it.
(2) Similarly, at the time of Moses, agrarian culture created a widespread bias that the divine must be appeased through a system of sacrifice. But through Jeremiah God makes it clear that ideally the Israelite sacrifice system contradicted His will:
"Thus says...the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat the flesh. For on the day I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to them or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this command I gave them: "Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people (Jeremiah 7:21-23)."
But the Israelite bias prevented them from being open to God's opposition to their sacrifice system. So God chose to reveal His will within that system as a structure for promoting His core spiritual and ethical values. Note God's sarcastic suggestion that they eat the sacrifices instead of offering them up to Him.
(3) Similarly, the ancient Israelites presume divine authorization for their massacres in the conquest of Canaan and are not open to God's preference for nonviolent resolution of conflict. Their liberation from Egyptian slavery requires a fertile Promised Land elsewhere. So they view their violent takeover of land as a necessary evil for survival. But God twice makes His preferred anti-war stance clear through Isaiah and Jeremiah:
"They shall be their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks' nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn warcraft any more (Isaiah 2:4 = Micah 4:3)."
Finally, Jesus repudiates the ancient Israelite pro-violence with His teaching on loving enemies and nonretaliation.
(1) In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus offers progressive revelation that at times nullifies Mosaic laws in the Pentateuch. Jesus repeatedly introduces His new revelation with the phrase 'You have heard that it was said of old...but I say unto you." For example, consider Jesus' repudiation of Moses' commandment about divorce:
"He answered them, "What did Moses command you?" They said; "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her." But Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation "God made them male and female." For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, :and they shall become one flesh." ...Therefore, what God has joined together, let no man separate (Mark 10:3-9)."
In other words, the cultural bias of the ancient Israelites closed their minds to the values God wanted to reveal to them. So God chose to work within their biased belief system to secure what obedience He could inspire, with the plan of providing them more accurate revelation of His values and His will through Jesus, when the time was right for them to hear it.
(2) Similarly, at the time of Moses, agrarian culture created a widespread bias that the divine must be appeased through a system of sacrifice. But through Jeremiah God makes it clear that ideally the Israelite sacrifice system contradicted His will:
"Thus says...the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat the flesh. For on the day I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to them or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this command I gave them: "Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people (Jeremiah 7:21-23)."
But the Israelite bias prevented them from being open to God's opposition to their sacrifice system. So God chose to reveal His will within that system as a structure for promoting His core spiritual and ethical values. Note God's sarcastic suggestion that they eat the sacrifices instead of offering them up to Him.
(3) Similarly, the ancient Israelites presume divine authorization for their massacres in the conquest of Canaan and are not open to God's preference for nonviolent resolution of conflict. Their liberation from Egyptian slavery requires a fertile Promised Land elsewhere. So they view their violent takeover of land as a necessary evil for survival. But God twice makes His preferred anti-war stance clear through Isaiah and Jeremiah:
"They shall be their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks' nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn warcraft any more (Isaiah 2:4 = Micah 4:3)."
Finally, Jesus repudiates the ancient Israelite pro-violence with His teaching on loving enemies and nonretaliation.
