After telling his disciples to be more righteous than the pharisees, who make a point of obeying the law, Jesus explains how to do that by going one step further. He also covers some points of law that are not included in the ten commandments, but are found in the broader context of the many rules and regulations god supposedly gave to Moses, apart from the ones carved in stone. He starts with a point of law, then expands the requirements necessary to avoid hell/damnation.
*First (Matt. 5:21-22), is murder, found in the ten commandments. Not murdering anyone is not enough though. You also must not get angry with anyone (some manuscripts say without cause, a little loophole.) or face judgement. This is not found in Luke.
*Second, saying "raca" (Apparently a grievous insult that insinuates someone has nothing between their ears) to anyone can land you in front of the sanhedrin, the Jewish court. However, Jesus says even calling someone a fool, presumably a lesser offense, can land you in the fires of hell (gehenna). This is not found in Luke.
*Third, it's not enough to give a sacrificial gift to god, you must first go and make sure you correct any relationship issues first. Wise advice. After that, you won't even need to go make your sacrifice. Not found in Luke.
*Fourth is practical advice to settle monetary disputes out of court if you don't want to end up in jail. Not found in Luke.
*Fifth is adultery, found in the ten commandments. It is not enough to never commit adultery physically. A man must also never look at a woman (presumably one he is not married to) lustfully. This is deemed equivalent to the actual act of adultery. It occurs in the "heart" instead of the body. The body, however, seems to take the blame. A man would be better off without eyes than to look, lust, and land in hell. He would also be better off without his right hand, too. What's his hand got to do with it? Shall we read between the lines? Have you noticed yet that these these teachings are directed primarily at men? This is not found in Luke.
*Sixth is divorce. Jesus says "It has been said, anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce." The old testament law doesn't actually say that. It is what the Jews came up with from reading Deuteronomy 24:1-2. It says, "IF a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her (basically he thinks she was not a virgin Deut 22:12-14), let him write her a certificate of divorce, give it to her and sends her from his house, and after she leaves his house if she becomes the wife of another man, and her second husband....writes a certificate of divorce...the first husband is not allowed to marry her again....That would be detestable in the eyes of the lord." There is no command to give certificates of divorce, unless you want to quibble with semantics, but there is an inference that certificates of divorce are the standard procedure.
Anyway, Jesus says in Matt. 5:31-32 that anyone who divorces his wife , except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. This is echoed in Luke 16:18, but is not part of the comparable sermon. There, it is more of an afterthought stuck in between two parables. Matthew reapeats himself in 19:7 and Mark also chimes in with similar words in Mark 10:4. Those last two references are in a context of Jesus having a discussion about divorce. We will not go into a broad discussion of divorce here. The basic idea is any man is an adulterer if he marries a divorced woman, and a divorced woman is an adulterer no matter who she marries. There are no guidelines for a woman who wants to divorce her husband.
More to come.
Showing posts with label murder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label murder. Show all posts
Thursday, February 15, 2018
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Numbers chapter 35
After reading chapter 35:
*Now, Yahweh tells Moses to tell the Israelites that the Levites must be given their own towns in the promised land. They also get the surrounding land, 3,000 feet on each side of the town, for pasture. The Levites are to be given 48 towns in all. Six of them are to be cities of refuge, three on the east side of the Jordan, three on the west. The cities of refuge are places for Israelites and "foreigners" to hide in when they have accidentally killed someone and are waiting for trial. Otherwise, "the avenger" of the death may not let them live that long.
*At trial, a death is considered murder when it is caused by a blow with an iron object, a stone (except in the case of stoning ordered by God or the priests, of course.) or a lethal piece of wood. If the cause of death is shoving someone with malice a forethought, throwing something at a person with intent to harm, or hitting with fists, that is murder. Those who murder are to be put to death by "the avenger of blood" whenever he meets them.
*Suddenly shoving someone, unintentionally throwing something at someone, accidentally dropping a stone on someone, all done without hostility to a non- enemy are not considered murder. However that person is still in danger from the "avenger of blood", so the community must protect him by sending him back to the city of refuge in which he had been waiting before the trial. He has to stay there until the death of the current high priest. But if he leaves the city of refuge before the proper time, and the avenger finds him, he's toast. The avenger will not be guilty of murder if he kills the person, even if the person had been judged not guilty by the assembly. So, who is this avenger? Probably the nearest male relative. These are basically honor killings.
*In order for the assembly to judge someone a murderer, there must be at least two witnesses to the event. No one is to be put to death on the testimony of one witness. The murderer cannot be bought out of his death sentence. Even the person judged not guilty cannot be bought out of his term spent in the city of refuge before the death of the high priest. We also learn that bloodshed pollutes the land, and the only way to make the land happy again is to kill the person who did the killing, more bloodshed, go figure.
*So, use poison and don't let anyone see you. (You do realize this is a joke, right?)
*Now, Yahweh tells Moses to tell the Israelites that the Levites must be given their own towns in the promised land. They also get the surrounding land, 3,000 feet on each side of the town, for pasture. The Levites are to be given 48 towns in all. Six of them are to be cities of refuge, three on the east side of the Jordan, three on the west. The cities of refuge are places for Israelites and "foreigners" to hide in when they have accidentally killed someone and are waiting for trial. Otherwise, "the avenger" of the death may not let them live that long.
*At trial, a death is considered murder when it is caused by a blow with an iron object, a stone (except in the case of stoning ordered by God or the priests, of course.) or a lethal piece of wood. If the cause of death is shoving someone with malice a forethought, throwing something at a person with intent to harm, or hitting with fists, that is murder. Those who murder are to be put to death by "the avenger of blood" whenever he meets them.
*Suddenly shoving someone, unintentionally throwing something at someone, accidentally dropping a stone on someone, all done without hostility to a non- enemy are not considered murder. However that person is still in danger from the "avenger of blood", so the community must protect him by sending him back to the city of refuge in which he had been waiting before the trial. He has to stay there until the death of the current high priest. But if he leaves the city of refuge before the proper time, and the avenger finds him, he's toast. The avenger will not be guilty of murder if he kills the person, even if the person had been judged not guilty by the assembly. So, who is this avenger? Probably the nearest male relative. These are basically honor killings.
*In order for the assembly to judge someone a murderer, there must be at least two witnesses to the event. No one is to be put to death on the testimony of one witness. The murderer cannot be bought out of his death sentence. Even the person judged not guilty cannot be bought out of his term spent in the city of refuge before the death of the high priest. We also learn that bloodshed pollutes the land, and the only way to make the land happy again is to kill the person who did the killing, more bloodshed, go figure.
*So, use poison and don't let anyone see you. (You do realize this is a joke, right?)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)