Can We Consume Character? How to Learn Justice by Feasting

Deuteronomy offers a surprising method for becoming just disciples.

In the Old Testament, Israel found herself surrounded by monarchies and empires with powerful rulers and highly stratified societies, and she eventually sought to emulate that kind of system. Such political economies were filled with bureaucrats, professional soldiers, priestly classes, and—down at the bottom of the social pyramid—peasants. The peasants, of course, were expected to provide food for everyone.

Yet Israel was called to become a countercultural community that embodied God’s character and participated in God’s missional purposes—through faithful obedience to God’s just and righteous law. But this would require the formation of a just community made up of just persons. Where do such just communities and individuals come from? How can people gain and grow in the virtue of justice?

To address this question, the Book of Deuteronomy offers a breathtaking vision of what it means to become just—particularly in class-segregated contexts like those that dominated the ancient world and many societies today. Yet its answer is a surprising one: just discipleship begins at a feast.

In Deuteronomy 14:22–27, we read God’s explicit instructions for tithing: Israelite households must bring the first fruits of their harvest and the firstborn of their livestock to the sanctuary. Why? So that they might feast on them together before the Lord.

The explicit goal of this feast was that the Israelites would “learn to fear Yahweh” always (Deut. 14:23, author’s translation). But how did the tithe feast teach the fear of God? The passage makes no mention of teaching, reading, or instruction. Instead, it entails a learning by doing —or to be more precise, a learning ...

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from Christianity Today Magazine
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