Friday, December 19, 2003
Deut 22 indifference
In his Journal, John Woolman tells of a defining moment in his childhood when he killed a mother bird for sport and then realized that the chicks would suffer. He felt that he had to return to the spot and kill them to end their suffering.
Here is the instruction in Deuteronomy. I don't know if John Woolman was aware of it at the time.
Deut 22:6-7 6 If you come on a bird's nest, in any tree or on the ground, with fledglings or eggs, with the mother sitting on the fledglings or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. 7 Let the mother go, taking only the young for yourself, in order that it may go well with you and you may live long.
In the same chapter, speaking of finding some animal or article that a neighbor had lost, the instruction is: Deuteronomy 22:3b "you must not remain indifferent." (Tanakh translation)
It is nearly impossible in this age of information overload not to become indifferent. But the charge of God is not to be indifferent to the suffering that specifically comes before you.
Jesus was confronted one day with a crowd of men who brought before him a woman they intended to stone to death. She had, they said, been caught in the very act of adultery. It is a grievous sin, and in this very same chapter of Deuteronomy, it is a crime deemed worthy of death. Here is the story:
John 8:4 they said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6 They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
Of course, there is a great deal of speculation about what he wrote. The story is silent on the subject and, generally speaking, I think that if the scripture doesn't answer a question, that is likely on purpose. However, it seems almost certain to me that Jesus was recalling this verse:
Deuteronomy 22 22 If a man is caught lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman as well as the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.
The accusers had quoted the law incorrectly, for it reads, "both of them shall die." The law was as concerned with the adulter as with the adulteress. Where was the man?
The charge of God is not to remain indifferent to the suffering that comes before us. Jesus was not indifferent to the law and the demands of righteousness -- he later told the woman to "sin no more." But the first task, is to choose life. The first task is empathy. The first task is to resist indifference and hardness of heart.
Click "comments" to respond or add your thoughts.
Here is the instruction in Deuteronomy. I don't know if John Woolman was aware of it at the time.
Deut 22:6-7 6 If you come on a bird's nest, in any tree or on the ground, with fledglings or eggs, with the mother sitting on the fledglings or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. 7 Let the mother go, taking only the young for yourself, in order that it may go well with you and you may live long.
In the same chapter, speaking of finding some animal or article that a neighbor had lost, the instruction is: Deuteronomy 22:3b "you must not remain indifferent." (Tanakh translation)
It is nearly impossible in this age of information overload not to become indifferent. But the charge of God is not to be indifferent to the suffering that specifically comes before you.
Jesus was confronted one day with a crowd of men who brought before him a woman they intended to stone to death. She had, they said, been caught in the very act of adultery. It is a grievous sin, and in this very same chapter of Deuteronomy, it is a crime deemed worthy of death. Here is the story:
John 8:4 they said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6 They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
Of course, there is a great deal of speculation about what he wrote. The story is silent on the subject and, generally speaking, I think that if the scripture doesn't answer a question, that is likely on purpose. However, it seems almost certain to me that Jesus was recalling this verse:
Deuteronomy 22 22 If a man is caught lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman as well as the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.
The accusers had quoted the law incorrectly, for it reads, "both of them shall die." The law was as concerned with the adulter as with the adulteress. Where was the man?
The charge of God is not to remain indifferent to the suffering that comes before us. Jesus was not indifferent to the law and the demands of righteousness -- he later told the woman to "sin no more." But the first task, is to choose life. The first task is empathy. The first task is to resist indifference and hardness of heart.
Click "comments" to respond or add your thoughts.
