Descriptive—or Prescriptive?

Specifically, we began to treat the Torah as if it were prescriptive, codified legislation, though that concept did not exist in the ancient world, As commonly happens, interpreters were inclined to read the biblical text through the filter of their own cultural river—their own cultural context. As a result of such reading, people began thinking that the Torah dictated the law of the land to Israel. And since it was considered divine revelation, it was therefore construed as God’s ideal guide to society and morality. And if it is God’s guide to the ideal shape of society and morality, then all people everywhere are obligated to apply it; one must merely determine how to deal with idiosyncrasies and anomalies in order to apply it to today.—Walton and Walton, The Lost World of the Torah, 22