The historian Flavius Josephus, writing in his treatise Against Apion, thought he had the answer, at least when it came to the Jewish people. And it all came down to a specific approach to education and law.
Josephus, defending Judaism against its detractors in the Greco-Roman world, argues that our strength lies in the beautiful intertwining of practical life and sacred learning. He contrasts this with other societies where either practical skills were taught without moral grounding, or laws were discussed without practical application. Not so with the teachings of Moses, our great lawgiver!
Josephus emphasizes that Moses meticulously wove together these two strands. It wasn't enough to simply hear the law. It had to be lived, breathed, and embodied in every action. Nor could one simply go about their daily life without the constant guiding hand of the law.
Think about that for a moment. From the moment a child was weaned, even down to the specifics of their diet, nothing was left to chance. Moses created a system where every aspect of life – what to eat, who to associate with, how hard to work, when to rest – was governed by a clear set of rules. As Josephus puts it, this was so that "by living under that law as under a father and a master, we might be guilty of no sin, neither voluntary nor out of ignorance."
Now, this might sound a bit… strict. But Josephus's point is that this constant guidance, this all-encompassing legal framework, was designed to protect people. It wasn't about stifling individuality, but about creating a society where everyone knew the rules, and where even unintentional transgressions could be addressed. Ignorance, in this system, wasn't an excuse.
And here's the kicker: this wasn't a system where people were simply told what to do. They were actively engaged in learning why. Moses, according to Josephus, understood the importance of communal learning. He made sure the people had dedicated time, every single week, to "assemble together for the hearing of the law, and learning it exactly." He highlights that this weekly gathering and learning was something that other legislators seemed to have overlooked.
It's a radical idea, isn't it? That the strength of a society lies not just in its laws, but in the active, continuous engagement of its people with those laws. That a truly just society is one where everyone is both guided by and educated in the principles that govern their lives. A system designed to minimize both willful and accidental wrongdoings. It makes you wonder, doesn't it, what societies today could learn from this ancient model?