How do the laws and ideas of ancient Hebrew still influence your lives today?

Answer 1

Very little remains of the laws, customs, and morals of the ancient Hebrews. We know of

their odd culture and society through the large body of written records that have come down

through the ages, but their practices seem quaint today, and certainly have no place in the

advanced, enlightened world of the 21st Century.

Consider a few of the strange, outmoded laws that governed the ancient Jewish society.

Obviously, these are quite inconsistent with the modern world in which we live:

-- don't steal

-- don't murder

-- don't cheat on your wife

-- don't gaze at your neighbor's wife and daydream

-- teach your children

-- don't torture animals

-- don't eat blood

-- when a man works for you, pay him

-- visit sick people

-- deliver everything your customer pays you for

-- take care of widows, orphans, travelers and poor in your city

-- a thief pays back double what he stole; if he doesn't have it to pay, he works it off

-- don't cook an animal in its mother's milk

-- if you come upon a guy with his car broke down on the road, stop and help him

-- a man who is newly married, a new home-owner, or frightened, isn't allowed to serve in combat

-- shoo the sitting bird away before you take her eggs from the nest

-- if you dig a hole in the ground, put a guard-rail around it

-- pause to express gratitude before you eat, and again after you eat

-- work your job six days; then spend a day considering where it all comes from, and what it's all about

-- people don't own people

-- people don't own land either; we can use it for our living, but we're expected to care for it

-- be holy