10-29-19

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS

October 29, 2019

Scripture: Deuteronomy 25:11-12

If two men are fighting with each other—a man and his fellow Israelite—and the wife of one of them gets into the fight, trying to save her husband from his attacker and does so by reaching out and grabbing his genitals, you must cut off her hand. Show no mercy.

Thought For the Day: If there was any question on whether men wrote and compiled most of the ancient scriptures, I believe we have indisputable proof with this passage. Sorry, but this is something only a guy would create, and it might have been written by the very guy who had the wife of his opponent grab his genitals in a fight. It is fascinating that the response is, “Show no mercy.” Some translate it as, “Show no pity” or “Withhold compassion.” It is the Hebrew word Chuwc, and it is not the usual Hebrew word we translate as mercy – Checed (God’s loving kindness) or Rachamim (God’s merciful compassion). The word used in vs. 12 takes God out of the conversation as the word is not usually associated with what God has done or how God acts. It almost sounds as if the author does not want God’s loving kindness or merciful compassion to make an appearance in this situation. How often do we quietly exclude God from the response when the actions of someone else have negatively impacted us directly? We want revenge, not divine mercy. When it is theoretical or an event where injury was caused to someone unrelated to us or even someone we did not like, that’s when we call upon God’s merciful kindness as a model for others to use? It is easy to expect others to show mercy, but what about those moment when someone has you by the…?

Prayer: Teach me your mercy, O Lord, the same mercy you have shown me. Teach me to speak and share this mercy in every circumstance. Amen.

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