A couple of months ago I borrowed a book by Alan Dershowitz on terror, but I never got around to reading it, even after renewing it. I checked other books of his at the Duluth Public Library and was intrigued by The Genesis of Justice: Ten Stories of Biblical Injustice that Led to the Ten Commandments and Modern Law.
Dershowitz is a lawyer, law professor, and a Jew who has studied the Torah and other religious writings. As a Jew, he is proud of the tradition of arguing about the Torah, the Talmud, and tradition itself. In fact, one of his favorite stories is Abraham arguing with God about the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Dershowitz thesis is that the stories of Genesis lead from anarchy to tribalism to a civil society. In the beginning people were on their own and had to defend themselves against others. Punishment was promised but never materialized. "Eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge and you will die." Killing is forbidden, but Cain lives a long life.
Later people lived by trickery to survive against stronger foes. Jacob tricks his brother Esau into giving him his birthright and later tricks their father into giving Jacob the blessing intended for Esau. But the price of those who live by deception will themselves be deceived. And punishment is often passed on to following generations.
However, as people saw that evildoers got by with their deeds and that future generations were not punished, the belief in an afterlife arose where punishment was meted out forever. That such punishment was given or not give could not be proven by observation, only by faith.
God also changes as Genesis unfolds. Dershowitz writes "the God of Genesis ... is a petulant, vengeful, demanding, and petty God, as well as a forgiving, merciful, life-affirming, and even repentant God."
Dershowitz very much believes in this God. However, I see more that God is created in the image of Man. As human societies develop they change their ideas of God to match their current situations. From a need to sacrifice to appease God, to a sense that law is from God, to a sense of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God.
Whatever your view of God, The Genesis of Justice is a fascinating read of biblical and legal scholarship.
