The Old Testament commanded God's people to keep to the covenant that they had freely entered into, with their God.
And, there were punishments, for those who broke their covenant, with their God.
That, isn't terrible, nor was it unjust.
"
And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do."
Yadda said....
Quote:
The Old Testament commanded God's people to kill any Hebrew who had intentionally broken their holy covenant with their God.
Too bad!
The Hebrews were commanded to kill any Hebrew person, who tried to corrupt the Hebrew nation.
Deuteronomy 13:6
If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;
7 Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;
8 Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:
9 But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.
Leviticus 18:24
Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:
25 And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.
26 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:
27 (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)
28 That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.
29 For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.
30 Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.
Why so ?
Why must the Hebrews keep God's ordinances and laws ?
Because the Hebrews had freely, willingly, and without coercion, entered into an agreement [a holy covenant] with their God to live by/according to his laws.
Exodus 19:5
Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
7 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him.
8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.
The ancient Hebrews were A COVENANT PEOPLE.
They had entered into a solemn covenant with their God.
[n.b.
There was nothing to stop any Hebrew from leaving his people, if he/she did not want to live according to the covenant that his people had entered into, with God.
Any Hebrew could leave his people, and go and live 'in the world', among the Gentiles.
Thereby, becoming a Gentile!
But if the Hebrew person remained living among God's people, and blatantly and intentionally, broke the covenant with God [that he was constrained by], that Hebrew person understood, that he was risking LAWFUL execution, according to the terms of the covenant, with God.]