(Deuteronomy 23:15 - 23:25)
“If an escaped slave has taken refuge with you, do not return him to his master, but let him live with you without persecution in whatever town he may choose.
“Israelite women or men are forbidden to become temple prostitutes and the fees that such persons may earn may not be used as payment for any vow in the house of Jehovah your god, for both are abominations to him.
“You may not charge interest to fellow Israelites, whether on money, food, or anything that might be loaned on interest. You may charge interest to a foreigner, but not to a fellow Israelite, so that Jehovah your god may bless all your undertakings in the land you are entering to take possession of.
“If you make a vow to Jehovah your god, do not delay in fulfilling it, for he will require it of you and, failing to do so, you will be guilty a sin. However, if you make no vow, no sin is committed. But be careful to do what you say, if you have made a voluntary vow to Jehovah your god.
“When you pass through your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, but you must not take any away in a basket. And when you pass through your neighbor’s field of standing grain, you may pick some kernels with your hand, but you must not reap the crop with a sickle.”
Notes
1. The provision to shelter runaway slaves is an interesting one, hardly conducive to the perpetuation of the institution of slavery, of which Jehovah has never expressed any disapproval. If there is no legal obligation for fugitive slaves to be returned, then the incentive for slaves to escape is great. Therefore, one would think this provision would result in considerable social disruption, however humane it may seem to us. It would be surprising if this passage was not cited when 19th century Americans were dealing with the problem of fugitive slaves.
2. One way in which Jehovah separates himself from his rival gods is his rejection of practices such as prostitution and “sacred” intercourse within the temple. Such practices may have been widespread in the ancient world, in Greece and Rome as well as Babylonia and other Middle Eastern countries, but there is no consensus among historians as to its extent. Prostitution was rarely condemned by ancient cultures or regarded as immoral per se. The biblical references are obviously to the religious practices of the neighboring Canaanites, but there is no real evidence for the existence of temple prostitution in early Palestine. The authors of the Bible had an interest in portraying their enemies in the worst possible light and using their immorality as a justification for Israel’s aggression against them.
3. The Old Testament prohibition on charging interest is curious, since the descendants of the Israelites would become notorious as moneylenders (one of the few professions the medieval Christians, conforming to this regulation, would allow the Jews to engage in). It highlights the hallmark of tribal mentality, two different set of rules, one governing relationships within the tribe and another governing relationships with those outside it. While foreigners dwelling among the Israelites are, in many ways, treated with equality, here we see an example of disparate treatment and of how foreigners might be exploited by Israelites.
4. It is made clear that not to fulfill a vow made to Jehovah is a sin, but that to renege on some promise not made explicit, a mere statement of intention, or some vow made perhaps to someone other than Jehovah, would not qualify as a sin.
5. Taking a few samples from a neighbor’s vineyard or field is held as permissible, not stealing, while collecting grapes in a basket or actually harvesting the grain is not. This is quite in line with tradition and indeed, English common law.
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Cleanliness in Camp
(Deuteronomy 23:9 - 23:14)
“When you set up camp while waging war against your enemies, avoid anything that is ritually impure. If one of your men is ritually impure because of a nocturnal emission, he must remove himself from camp for the day. He should stay away from camp until evening when he is to bathe himself, returning to camp at sunset.
“Establish a designated area outside of camp to be used as a latrine. Each man should have as part of his equipment a shovel so that when he urinates or defecates he can dig a hole for that purpose, then cover it up with dirt. The camp must be kept holy because Jehovah your god moves about in it as he protects you and defeats your enemies. He does not want to be exposed to anything indecent -- or else he may turn away from you!”
Notes
1. Jehovah continues his micromanagement of Israelite affairs, apparently thinking that his Chosen People are too stupid to figure out it needs to make a place where soldiers can relieve themselves. The reason for it, though, seems less for the sake of the Israelites than for Jehovah, who wants to make sure he will not offended by any unsanitary conditions. The Victorian dictum “cleanliness is next to godliness,” has its corollary here, “cleanliness (in the sense of maintaining ritual purity) is part of godliness.” And there is the threat that if Jehovah does not find everything squared away in camp, he will abandon the Israelites -- a rather petty threat for a presumed god to make.
2. Surely there is a certain impracticality in the rule that a soldier must absent himself from camp for a day if he has a nocturnal emission (colloquially, a wet dream, literally, an involuntary ejaculation occurring during sleep). One can imagine the scenarios. “Where is Captain Nehemiah? Why isn’t he attending our meeting of officers to discuss our strategy to defeat the Canaanites? Oh, he had a wet dream last night and won’t be able to come back to camp till after sunset.” or “Why can’t Benjamin perform guard duty today? He got out of it by saying he’s ritually impure because he supposedly had a nocturnal emission last night.” and “We don’t see much of our sergeant in camp these days. He keeps having wet dreams!” The situation seems patently ludicrous and one unlikely to further troop morale or personal dignity, being, at least to modern sensibilities, an embarrassing intrusion upon one’s privacy.
“When you set up camp while waging war against your enemies, avoid anything that is ritually impure. If one of your men is ritually impure because of a nocturnal emission, he must remove himself from camp for the day. He should stay away from camp until evening when he is to bathe himself, returning to camp at sunset.
“Establish a designated area outside of camp to be used as a latrine. Each man should have as part of his equipment a shovel so that when he urinates or defecates he can dig a hole for that purpose, then cover it up with dirt. The camp must be kept holy because Jehovah your god moves about in it as he protects you and defeats your enemies. He does not want to be exposed to anything indecent -- or else he may turn away from you!”
Notes
1. Jehovah continues his micromanagement of Israelite affairs, apparently thinking that his Chosen People are too stupid to figure out it needs to make a place where soldiers can relieve themselves. The reason for it, though, seems less for the sake of the Israelites than for Jehovah, who wants to make sure he will not offended by any unsanitary conditions. The Victorian dictum “cleanliness is next to godliness,” has its corollary here, “cleanliness (in the sense of maintaining ritual purity) is part of godliness.” And there is the threat that if Jehovah does not find everything squared away in camp, he will abandon the Israelites -- a rather petty threat for a presumed god to make.
2. Surely there is a certain impracticality in the rule that a soldier must absent himself from camp for a day if he has a nocturnal emission (colloquially, a wet dream, literally, an involuntary ejaculation occurring during sleep). One can imagine the scenarios. “Where is Captain Nehemiah? Why isn’t he attending our meeting of officers to discuss our strategy to defeat the Canaanites? Oh, he had a wet dream last night and won’t be able to come back to camp till after sunset.” or “Why can’t Benjamin perform guard duty today? He got out of it by saying he’s ritually impure because he supposedly had a nocturnal emission last night.” and “We don’t see much of our sergeant in camp these days. He keeps having wet dreams!” The situation seems patently ludicrous and one unlikely to further troop morale or personal dignity, being, at least to modern sensibilities, an embarrassing intrusion upon one’s privacy.
Thursday, June 2, 2016
Those Excluded from Jehovah's Congregation
(Deuteronomy 23:1 - 23:8)
“No one whose genitals have been crushed or cut off may join the congregation of Jehovah. No one born illegitimately may ever became a member of Jehovah’s congregation nor may his descendants even for ten generations. No one who is an Ammonite or a Moabite or their descendants even to the tenth generation may join Jehovah’s congregation, for their nations did not welcome you with food and water when you came out of Egypt. Instead they hired Balsam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram to curse you. (Jehovah your god did not heed Balaam, but turned his curse into a blessing, because Jehovah your god loves you.) Throughout your history, you must never promote their prosperity or make a treaty with them. But you should not abhor the Edomite, for he is your relation, or the Egyptian, for you were resident aliens in their land. Children from the third generation of them may become members of Jehovah’s congregation.”
Notes
1. It seems rather cruel and unfair that if a man suffers an accident adversely affecting his private parts then he’s no longer allowed to be a part of Jehovah’s congregation, or, in modern terms, to worship in church. This provision may have been directed toward religious devotees who willfully emasculated themselves, such as the worshipers of the ancient Phrygian god Attis. But this would seem to condemn castration for any reason. (Hebrew society had no place for eunuchs, who, nevertheless, were a part of many Asian cultures.) The early Christian church, though, expressly accepted as members men who had been emasculated. Jesus himself, in Matthew, ambivalently suggests castration to avoid submitting to carnal desires that might lead to sinful sexual behavior. Some Christian zealots have put this into practice. (An interesting example is the American Civil War soldier Boston Corbett, the killer of Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth. Perhaps unbalanced by inhaling poisonous fumes while working as a hatter, he became a religious fanatic. One night in 1858, while walking home from church, he was propositioned by a couple prostitutes. Disturbed by the encounter, he sought guidance from the Bible and found a solution by severing his private parts with a pair of scissors.) --- The castration of boys to maintain a high singing voice was practiced in Europe from the 16th Century. It was only condemned by the Catholic Church in the 19th Century; Italy did not make this abominable custom illegal until 1870!
2. The exclusion of those of illegitimate birth from Jehovah’s congregation is consistent with the policy of keeping only those who are “impure” from worshiping Jehovah. Just as animals sacrificed to Jehovah must be without blemish so must the worshipers be without physical imperfections. That no one has no control over the circumstances of his birth or the morals of his parents is not considered. Children paying for the sins the fathers is well established in Jehovan law. Punishment creates a deterrent to bad behavior; however, in this case, it is not the guilty but the innocent upon whom the weight of punishment falls.
3. Moabites and Ammonites are also excluded from worshiping Jehovah because they, or their ancestors did not treat the Israelites with hospitality during the Exodus. Moreover, they hired the prophet Balaam to curse them. The Moabites and Ammonites are apparently to be regarded as permanent enemies. Jehovah eschews the modern notion of “permanent interests, but no permanent enemies.” The United States of America, for instance, has never held historic grudges; it has a habit of establishing friendship with almost every country it has fought a war against, England, Mexico, Spain, Germany, Japan, even Vietnam. Jehovah, though, if anything, is a vindictive god who has no desire to make friends of enemies.
4. Egypt, surprisingly, is given something of a pass. The grandchild of an Egyptian could become a full-fledged Jehovah worshiper. This, because the Israelites lived in their country. Indeed, but they were slaves there -- what favors were owed the Egyptians? The Edomites were also granted some leniency since they were relatives. (The Edomites were descended from Esau, Jacob’s elder twin brother.) It should be pointed out that the Moabites and Ammonites were fellow Hebrews as well, being descended from Lot, Abraham’s nephew.
5. Aram, here Aram Haharaim, “of the two rivers”, is usually placed in an area including northern Mesopotamia and Syria and what is now southeastern Turkey. This area would have been the kingdom of Mitanni during Moses’ time. However, it is more likely that the Aram of the Bible, the home of the Aramaeans, was a much smaller area in southern Syria north of the Golan Heights, not in Mesopotamia, where Arameans may have later settled.
“No one whose genitals have been crushed or cut off may join the congregation of Jehovah. No one born illegitimately may ever became a member of Jehovah’s congregation nor may his descendants even for ten generations. No one who is an Ammonite or a Moabite or their descendants even to the tenth generation may join Jehovah’s congregation, for their nations did not welcome you with food and water when you came out of Egypt. Instead they hired Balsam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram to curse you. (Jehovah your god did not heed Balaam, but turned his curse into a blessing, because Jehovah your god loves you.) Throughout your history, you must never promote their prosperity or make a treaty with them. But you should not abhor the Edomite, for he is your relation, or the Egyptian, for you were resident aliens in their land. Children from the third generation of them may become members of Jehovah’s congregation.”
Notes
1. It seems rather cruel and unfair that if a man suffers an accident adversely affecting his private parts then he’s no longer allowed to be a part of Jehovah’s congregation, or, in modern terms, to worship in church. This provision may have been directed toward religious devotees who willfully emasculated themselves, such as the worshipers of the ancient Phrygian god Attis. But this would seem to condemn castration for any reason. (Hebrew society had no place for eunuchs, who, nevertheless, were a part of many Asian cultures.) The early Christian church, though, expressly accepted as members men who had been emasculated. Jesus himself, in Matthew, ambivalently suggests castration to avoid submitting to carnal desires that might lead to sinful sexual behavior. Some Christian zealots have put this into practice. (An interesting example is the American Civil War soldier Boston Corbett, the killer of Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth. Perhaps unbalanced by inhaling poisonous fumes while working as a hatter, he became a religious fanatic. One night in 1858, while walking home from church, he was propositioned by a couple prostitutes. Disturbed by the encounter, he sought guidance from the Bible and found a solution by severing his private parts with a pair of scissors.) --- The castration of boys to maintain a high singing voice was practiced in Europe from the 16th Century. It was only condemned by the Catholic Church in the 19th Century; Italy did not make this abominable custom illegal until 1870!
2. The exclusion of those of illegitimate birth from Jehovah’s congregation is consistent with the policy of keeping only those who are “impure” from worshiping Jehovah. Just as animals sacrificed to Jehovah must be without blemish so must the worshipers be without physical imperfections. That no one has no control over the circumstances of his birth or the morals of his parents is not considered. Children paying for the sins the fathers is well established in Jehovan law. Punishment creates a deterrent to bad behavior; however, in this case, it is not the guilty but the innocent upon whom the weight of punishment falls.
3. Moabites and Ammonites are also excluded from worshiping Jehovah because they, or their ancestors did not treat the Israelites with hospitality during the Exodus. Moreover, they hired the prophet Balaam to curse them. The Moabites and Ammonites are apparently to be regarded as permanent enemies. Jehovah eschews the modern notion of “permanent interests, but no permanent enemies.” The United States of America, for instance, has never held historic grudges; it has a habit of establishing friendship with almost every country it has fought a war against, England, Mexico, Spain, Germany, Japan, even Vietnam. Jehovah, though, if anything, is a vindictive god who has no desire to make friends of enemies.
4. Egypt, surprisingly, is given something of a pass. The grandchild of an Egyptian could become a full-fledged Jehovah worshiper. This, because the Israelites lived in their country. Indeed, but they were slaves there -- what favors were owed the Egyptians? The Edomites were also granted some leniency since they were relatives. (The Edomites were descended from Esau, Jacob’s elder twin brother.) It should be pointed out that the Moabites and Ammonites were fellow Hebrews as well, being descended from Lot, Abraham’s nephew.
5. Aram, here Aram Haharaim, “of the two rivers”, is usually placed in an area including northern Mesopotamia and Syria and what is now southeastern Turkey. This area would have been the kingdom of Mitanni during Moses’ time. However, it is more likely that the Aram of the Bible, the home of the Aramaeans, was a much smaller area in southern Syria north of the Golan Heights, not in Mesopotamia, where Arameans may have later settled.
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