Old Testament Foundations of

Ethics

Understanding Ethics from a

Christian Perspective
 Contents
• Introduction
• The Bible and Its Importance
• God’s Established Order
• The Creation Story
• The Patriarchs
• Egyptian Slavery and Redemption
• The Decalogue
• The Nation of Israel
• Worship and Priesthood
• Israel’s Kings – Saul, David, etc
• The Prophets
• Conclusion
 Introduction
• Why look at the Old
Testament? Many people
invoke O.T teachings in
matters of ethics and
morality
 The Bible and Its Relevance
• Bible: what is it?
– Bible; biblia (books); biblion (book);
collection of books

• Is it full of myths and irrelevant stories

or mistakes? Proof for the Bible?
– Archaeology
– Jesus’ words
– History
– Current events
 c

• Archaeologists esp. pictorial

Egyptologists have
discovered a lot of
evidence proving the
Bible stories.

• Jesus believed the

stories in Old test. to
be true (Jonah – Matt
12:40; Noah’s ark –
Matt 24: 27ff; etc.)

• The Israel – Palestine

conflict
 God’s Established Order
Creation Story
 Cont’n…
• In the beginning God created the heavens and
the earth
– Things had a beginning which started with God
– God is defined by Thomas Aquinas as “the
unmoved mover”
• Means that there is a purpose for everything
• When God’s order is disrupted, there are
consequences
 Attributes of God
• Omniscient – all-knowing
• Omnipotent- All powerful
• Omnipresent- present everywhere
• Beneficent- Totally good
 What Is To Create

•Some doubt if all things were created

in 7 days. But whatever the case, there
was an origin for everything and there
is a design (order) observable in all
creation.
 Goodness of creation

• Ontological- God’s own being

• Moral –God’s justice or
righteousness
• Aesthetic – God’s beauty and
perfection
 How Humans are Unique Compared to All Other
Animals

• Creativity

No other species of animal,

including the apes, are able
to create and understand
images of art and drawing.
 Consciousness

• Human consciousness is a
mystery that has evaded decades
of intensive research by
neurophysiologists.
 Personality
• Another thing that makes humans unique is
personality. According to Joseph LeDoux, a
neuroscientist at New York University:
"We have no idea how our brains make us who we
are. There is as yet no neuroscience of personality.
We have little understanding of how art and history
are experienced by the brain. The meltdown of
mental life in psychosis is still a mystery. In short, we
have yet to come up with a theory that can pull all
this together
 Abstract thinking
• Is the human brain that much different from that of
our closest "relatives," the chimpanzees? According
to Daniel J. Povinelli, from the University of
Louisiana's New Iberia Research Center
• "Humans constantly invoke unobservable
phenomena and variables to explain why certain
things are happening. Chimps operate in the world of
concrete, tangible things that can be seen. The
content of their minds is about the observable world
 Body, soul, spirit
1. Body only. Lower life forms, including
reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates
2. Body and soul. From the Hebrew nephesh, or
soulish creatures, including birds and
mammals
3. Body, soul and spirit. Humans and angels
 Spirit
• The spirit is that part of humans
that is able to love and experience
God directly. It is found in no other
animal species, since no other
species can experience God or
form a relationship with Him.
 Moral judgments
• After Adam and Eve had sinned, they became
like God in that they could distinguish good
from evil. The ability to make moral judgments
is also a characteristics that is found only in
humans. Even the higher apes cannot make
moral judgments about the behavior of other
animals
Human Brain
 Human Brain
• The human brain is the center of the human
nervous system.
• Estimates for the number of neurons (nerve
cells) in the human brain range from 80 to 120
billion.
 Human mind
• A mind is the complex of cognitive faculties
that enables consciousness, thinking,
reasoning, perception, and judgment—a
characteristic of human beings, but which also
may apply to other life forms.
• The mind is frequently synonymous with
thought
 The Patriarchs the ancestor of the Israelites

• Abram (Abraham) • Faith and worship of one God

• Although Abraham had
weaknesses, he trusted God
• Isaac • Trust in God – marriage;
prosperity
• Not perfection but obedience
• Jacob (Israel)
• Trust in God’s plan for one’s life
• Joseph
• Creation of a new nation
through Moses
• Moses
 Lessons Egyptian Slavery
• Slavery is the condition of man after the fall

• Without Divine intervention it is not possible to get

freedom from sin and evil or to be ethical.

• Moses’ self-help represents man’s effort to be free

from evil. Man can not rescue himself from slavery to
sin. (E.g. various gov’t institutions)

• Egypt demonstrates that evil has a system under

which it keeps people captive
 PENTATEUCH/DECALOGUE
• Law is the Foundation of OT ethics
• Law here refers to Pentateuch
• Israel was a theocracy i.e a form of
government in which a state is understood as
governed by immediate divine guidance
provided to ruling clergy or other ruling
officials
• Being a theocracy, Israel made no distinction
between social and personal ethics
 The Decalogue

• These are commands of God.

• They are eternal universal
values indispensible for the
fulfillment of the individual
and society.
 Cont’n……
• Holiness is a central concept that unifies OT
Ethics.
• The Hebrew word for ‘holy’ is to be “Set
apart”.
• God is set apart from creation
• Gods people (Israel) is to be set apart as a
distinctive nation and reflect God’s character.
 Cont’n...
• Ten commandments
1. Reverence to God
2 Reverence to man

– Why was the law needed yet it was not there

before?
• Human nature; to expose heart of man
(law can’t make man good or change his
heart)
 Duties to God
1.WORSHIP • 2. IMAGES
 Emphasizes Gods  Requires purity of
sovereignty. worship.
 God permits no
divided royalty
 Introduction of new
gods to Israel
reduced God to
pagan gods
 Duties to God
3. BLASPHERMY The third
 Reverence to God in all commandment
deeds and word. forbids misuse of
 Attitude of heart than God’s name.
reverence of the tongue  Prohibits being
untruthful in all our
deeds
 Cont’n…
4. SABBATH • Duty to man.
 Sabbath means “rest” 5.“Honor your father and
 God rested on Sabbath, mother” (Ex 20:12
when we do the same ,  “honor” means taking
we are being like God. parents seriously.
 Children are to care for
aged parents. Reward -
long life.
 Duty to man
6.“Do not kill” 7.“ Do not commit
(Ex:20:13) adultery( Ex 20:14)
 Embodies universal  Expresses the
principle of sanctity principle of
of human life. sacredness of
 Truly aspect of divine marriage i.e. before
nature of life. and after.
 Duty to man
8.“Do not steal” ( Ex 9.“Do not bear false
20:15 witness “ . ( Ex 20:16
 Steal refers to direct  Forbids false witness
or indirect theft. in court, gossip etc
 Paying workers  True testimony
 Caring for the poor regarding neighbors.
for those with what
to share
 Duty to self

10.“ Do not covet”. (Ex

20:17)
 Means to set the
heart upon
 Not to desire what
belongs to another.
 Israel: Nation of Priest and Kings
• Only nation given
• Saul (first king)
special commands
– Corruption of politics
• All were meant to be and power
priests but Levites
distinguished • David
themselves – Without obedience to
• God wanted to be their God a ruler will end up
King making mistakes
• Worshippers
• Ushering the Messiah
 The Prophets
• Minor and major prophets
• Jeremiah 4:1-2
– Return to the Lord if your life is to be ethical or
to blessed
• The ethical role of the prophets
– Return God’s people to him
– Remind people of the commands of God
– Remind people of the consequences of sin

• SIN & EVIL SHALL NOT GO UNPUNISHED

 Conclusion
• Major lesson from Old Testament

• Life and the universe were created by God and

the creator has a purpose and the scriptures
are the manual by which humans should live
their lives.
• Each nation exists (as a whole) for a given
purpose which the leaders must find out and
ensure that it is fulfilled.
 References
• Holy Bible

Internet sources: Accessed on 19/9/2013

http://www.godandscience.org/evolution/image
ofgod.html .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_brain