Going to war (chapter 20)
If a man had planted a
vineyard, or just married or was simply afraid, he did not have to go to war. That
was such a far cry from the world that sent my sickly grandfather a white
feather.
They organized their
ranks under captains, a well proven system of order that was originally
instituted by Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses.
In going to war against
foreign nations they had to first offer peace terms and, if accepted, they were
to subject them to tribute, else only the fighting men were to die in battle.
However, God reserved
not a stitch of mercy for the Canaanite nations. Women, children, men,
livestock, everything had to be utterly destroyed – with no exception.
It sounds genocidal,
but one of those nations, the Amorites, was cited way back in Genesis 15:16.
God said then, “their iniquity is not yet fulfilled”, meaning he was willing
for things to come to a head before uprooting them.
He waited almost 500
years to deal with the most reprobate of peoples. He did not target a single
culture, but those who were evil, lest their corrupt ways overflow into Israel.
They worshiped
snakes, burned their children, held open orgies, you name it. And God was not
willing that any should survive.
One little
aside was that a city besieged should not see a destruction of trees.
To this day, Jews are kind to the earth and they still plant millions of trees.
Innocent blood (chapter 21)
Now contrast all that
with the concern that God held for the shedding of innocent blood. If a man was
found dead and the killer was not known, the nearest city took the
responsibility to cleanse themselves of guilt by offering a sacrifice.
He treated their
enemies the same way. The women, children and elderly of defeated foreign
cities, were out of bounds, but they could take a woman to marry. Even so, she
was not to be treated like a prize, but to be honored as a woman.
Innocent blood was not
to be shed, for God did not despise the surrounding nations and even instructed
Israel not to meddle with Moab and Ammon.
To show balance: if a man
had two wives and loved the one more than the other, that was not to undermine the
birthrights of any child born to the lesser wife.
However, if a child
among the Jews was sufficiently rebellious, he could be judged and stoned by
the city. It is hard to accept, but consider just how rotten a culture becomes
when it does not sort out miscreants before they corrupt whole towns.
Finally, if a man was
sufficiently wicked he was hanged on a tree, but had to be taken down by
sunset, for “accursed is anyone who hangs on a tree”. That is why Jesus was
removed at sunset, but the curse he bore was our curse, so we could go free.
Social graces (chapter 22)
There is just so much charm
and grace in this chapter. A man had to look out for his neighbor’s animals and
if a bird’s nest was in the way of construction, the birds and their young had
to be saved and the mother set free.
A house had to have
parapets so no one fell off the top and died. Vineyards had to be sown with
diverse cultivars to hedge against crop failure.
It was wrong to plough
with an ox and a donkey: wrong to the donkey.
Adultery was duly
punished, but rape even more so. However, if a man lay with a girl and both
were single, he had to pay to take her as his bride and had to honor in marriage.
This was a truly gracious,
noble people.
More social graces (chapter 23)
Well some were just
excluded. A man castrated for example. Not excluded from the people but he
could not congregate before the tabernacle.
God would never forget
that Moab and Ammon had not given the Jews safe passage, but while he refused
any retribution, he also refused to honor their people amongst his own. That
was challenged when Ruth arrived in Bethlehem.
However, Edom, the descendants
of Ishmael and thus of Abraham, were to always be treated as brothers, but as
we see in the ongoing conflict between Jews and Palestinians, sibling rivalry
is somewhat hard to overcome.
A little aside, the
Jews had a small spade attached to the other end of their swords, so they could
go to the toilet and cover up their waste.
Servants that sought
refugee status among others, were to be granted protection, but prostitutes
were banished from Israel, completely.
Contracts were not to
be broken and, whilst you could pluck grapes from a neighbors vines or eat an
ear of corn, no one could take a sickle to a neighbor’s crops or steal his
produce.
And more (Chapter 24)
Divorce was allowed,
but while a woman could divorce again, she could not remarry someone she had
divorced as that was tacit adultery.
A man was not allowed
to go to war in the first year of marriage.
Pledges had to be
honored, but never taken forcefully and a poor man was not to be
oppressed. Nor could judgment be
perverted for a stranger.
When a field was
harvested, that which fell to the ground was to be left for the poor to gather,
as Ruth did in the field of Boaz.
(c) Peter Missing @ bethelstone.com
