The Era Of Relativism In Israel

Before the Bible says Israel became a theocratic monarchy--at least the theocratic elements were supposed to be present even if they were later disregarded for the sake of personal whims and social pressures--the Jews were led by a series of figures called Judges, said to have been authorized by God to oversee the people.  This period of Biblical history is marked by some of the more extreme sins that the Bible ever goes into detail about, including the gang rape and murder of a woman.  Over and over, the book of Judges states that during this era, the general Israelite did "whatever was right in their own eyes" (one mention of this is in Judges 21:25), a clear reference to the concept of relativism having immense influence over them even if they did not use the word to describe it or ever paused to think about the nature of relativism (just go clarify, that any relativism is either objectively self-refuting or false in light of the fact that preferences do not dictate or reveal reality beyond one's perceptions does not prove that morality exists or that the Bible is true; that, however, is not the primary point here).

Everyone did what their conscience or preferences made appealing to them, something that would never be the case in a rationalistic culture, a type of society that has never been present in recorded history, or even in a culture that actually lives out the commands of the Bible that the Israelites in Judges repeatedly stray from.  Murder, dramatic overreactions to lesser offenses, and particularly cruel forms of sexual assault, as if all sexual assault is not already cruel enough, occur in the narrative of Judges, stemming from the popularity of relativism at the time.  Nowhere else does the Bible directly focus on moral relativism as lived out by the majority of a whole society, and ironically a society that was specifically tasked with representing the opposite of this to other nations at that (Deuteronomy 4:5-8).

This is the kind of outcome that results when a group of people or even just a powerful individual does whatever their subjective moral emotions referred to as conscience compel them to: they pursue whatever action or belief satisfies their fluctuating personal whims at a given time, and this easily becomes devastating to themselves and people around them.  Even aside from the logical impossibility of it being rational to believe anything because of conscience beyond that one has a conscience and that one experiences specific moral feelings as a result, and even aside from the moral evil inherent in not caring about or submitting to whatever moral obligations exist, emotionalism and relativism (which are different to some extent despite either easily lending itself to the other) almost invariably lead to chaos and circumstances that are not ideal for personal or collective flourishing.  The period of the Judges is the best example of an era of relativism in the Biblical timeline of events, and it shows this clearly.

The logical impossibility of moral relativism aside, for only moral realism and moral nihilism are possible to begin with, it is idiotic for people to actually expect anything other than chaotic social relations or explicitly predatory or hypocritical behaviors to spring from moral relativism.  No one except perhaps a handful of fools who just happen to have power have anything to gain when a whole society consistently lives out relativistic beliefs about morality, with most or all individuals doing whatever they wish due to emotionalism and assumptions to their own detriment.  Predictably, many people talk and act as if they want the ideological freedom of moral relativism despite the fact that it cannot be true without wanting their fellow humans to also choose to do whatever they want.  The Israelites in their era of relativism as described in Judges act the same way.