Deuteronomy 25 continues the laundry list of (often bizarre) laws. Modern Christians and Jews, no matter how orthodox, are of course highly selective in which of these they pay attention to. Nobody on earth actually lives according to Biblical morality.
25 “If there is a dispute between men, and they come into court, and the judges decide between them, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty, 2 then if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with a number of stripes in proportion to his offense. 3 Forty stripes may be given him, but not more; lest, if one should go on to beat him with more stripes than these, your brother be degraded in your sight.
Unfortunately, there is no indication of what transgressions might merit this treatment.
4 “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.
WTF? A) Why would anybody want to muzzle an ox in the first place, and B) where else does the Torah show the least concern for animal welfare? You can't muzzle it, but you can break its neck or slit its throat and let it bleed to death.
5 “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead shall not be married outside the family to a stranger; her husband’s brother shall go in to her, and take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. 6 And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his brother who is dead, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. 7 And if the man does not wish to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ 8 Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak to him: and if he persists, saying, ‘I do not wish to take her,’ 9 then his brother’s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot, and spit in his face; and she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’ 10 And the name of his house[a] shall be called in Israel, The house of him that had his sandal pulled off.
Contrary to popular belief, this was the actual sin of Onan -- he refused to impregnate his late brother's widow. But God killed Onan. Heretofore, you just have your sandal pulled off, which doesn't seem quite as harsh.
11 “When men fight with one another, and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him, and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts, 12 then you shall cut off her hand; your eye shall have no pity.
Again, WTF?
13 “You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small. 14 You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small. 15 A full and just weight you shall have, a full and just measure you shall have; that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. 16 For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are an abomination to the Lord your God.
Okay, that's a good one.
17 “Remember what Am′alek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt, 18 how he attacked you on the way, when you were faint and weary, and cut off at your rear all who lagged behind you; and he did not fear God. 19 Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies round about, in the land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the remembrance of Am′alek from under heaven; you shall not forget.
In fact God doesn't get around to the Amalekites until a few hundred years later, when he orders Saul to exterminate them. However, that ostensibly happened before this was written, so it isn't all that hard for D to predict the past.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 25:10 Heb its name
1 comment:
In addition to the mishmosh/potpourri, women seem to basically be treated as men's property. I guess that was common in the ancient world, and is still common among current males who act like troglodytes.
Post a Comment