Deuteronomy 23 – 26
Verse 23:1 is just one of those odd laws:
No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord.
Initially it is difficult to understand why this is wrong; I mean it’s not something they can control. But then I did some reading and found that it was a common pagan practice for in the world then. Apparently the eunuchs were most common to do to those looking after children. This was a willing mutilation of one’s body and violated God’s creation of man. Since they is no longer a practice it made no sense to me, but after doing a little research makes perfect sense.
Verses 25:11 -12 are another odd set of laws:
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.
This is the origin of fair fight rules. Interestingly it does not mention what would happen if a man were to win by doing this act. It is laws like this that suddenly bring forward legalism. Would there be exceptions if the man was trying to murder her husband? Would this be valid f it was a robber they were trying to subdue? This is how more laws beget more laws.
Look at the tax laws today, they government has created one of the most complex systems of taxation known to mankind because it needed clarity. It has also been manipulated by the rich so they can avoid taxes, which creates loopholes that required more laws to close them up. This was the condition of Israel when Jesus came on the scene. Pharisees were there to clarify the Law and to create new laws to ensure the people were “holy” before God. Jesus came to this world and simplified the law tremendously, just do things in love.
Think about this love would not have these men fighting in the first place. Love would not have a person mutilating another to win. Love would not have one murdering, stealing or committing adultery. Today the “free love” movement of the 60’s has perverted this and made it more love of self or do what feels good. This has taken us down a dangerous road where adultery is being justified even by TV evangelists. The argument is you can’t stop them from doing something wrong, so make it safe for them. In the TV evangelist’s words, forgive because he is a man and could not help himself.
Now back to the verse, this seems extreme to cut a woman’s hand off for grabbing a man’s “junk” in a fight. If she was defending herself I am sure this would be ok, but why is it wrong here? Is it more than just hitting him and more like the previous verse where she mutilates the man to help her husband? Not sure, but again seems odd.
Today I seemed preoccupied with the privates of a man and how the Law dealt with them. Actually one verse I was going to pick was concerning nocturnal emissions. Sorry about the preoccupation on this subject. At the same time it all seems odd why there is so much focus on those things.