Deuteronomy?

Originally posted by avalanchethecat
Ok, I see what you're saying. I still don't understand why you would have any truck with a religion which ever prescribed stoning to death as a punishment for not being a virgin on marriage.

Ok, I see what you're saying. I still don't understand why you would have any truck with a religion which ever prescribed stoning to death as a punishment for not being a virgin on marriage.

Before I respond to that, perhaps some additional considerations of the "Trial of Jealousy in Numbers" is in order.

1.) Some critics say the trial is oppressive to women. Some scholars give reasons to believe the law applied to MEN as well. You have "a man or woman" (Numbers 5:6) You have again "a man or a woman" (Num. 6:2) . Some scholars therefore argue that the special trial could be wife's perogative to call for the trial as well.

I have no settled opinion so far on this.

2.) It could be argued that the trial was for the innocent woman's protection as well. This law shielded the innocent woman from the husband's violent rage or arbittrary threat of divorce. In other societies a woman could be dispensed of very cheaply.

If the woman was happened to be guilty she had reason to be terrified of the supernatural sign. And the Israelite community would be struck with a warning as well by the supernatural nature of the exposure. Compare this with the affair with Ananias and Saphire in the NT in Acts 5.

Also the supernatural detection of the guilt in the case of Achan in the book of Joshua sent a sobering warning through the whole society.

Innocency would not be punished.

3.) Some critics compare this Trial of Jealousy in Numbers 5 with the "River Ordeal" in non-Jewish Near Eastern societies such as Babylon, Assyria and Sumer.

Compare the difference. When the criminal evidence was inconclusive, the accused would be thrown into a bitumen well. Bitumen is a natural petroleum tar commonly used as a sealant and adhesive, ie. for bricks. In Sumer this tar "river" was the abode of the god Id (meaning "river" ) . For the innocent this was a nightmare of toxic fumes. Most of these, so called "jumpers" and "plungers" who went "into the god" died anyway from the fumes.

In this case those who survived the torture were deemed innocent. Those who did not were assumed guilty. Either way was a torment. And I doubt the veracity of the superstition. My opinion is that probably some guilty of adultery circumstancially survived and some non-guilty ones circumstantially died.

Do you see any difference in the Trial of Jealousy in Numbers 5 and the Assyrian, Babylonian, Sumerian River Ordeal ? One difference is that if the "plunger" - the suspected criminal COULD NOT SWIM or get out of the tar pit, he looked guilty even if he was not. This was not the case with the Israelite accused. The telltale supernatural sign was proof of guilt.

4.) The River Ordeal of other ancient Near Eastern cultures assumed GUILT until innocence was dubiously proven (non-swimmers looked guilty). The Numbers Trial of Jealousy, however, assumed innocence unless guilt was proven by a divine miracle.

Now, my last point in this post will be brief. The hatred of God for sin is portrayed strongly in the Old Testament. Without this display of Divine Revulsion at sin we would not understand what it meant for the Son of God to bear the sins of all mankind in ONE all-inclusive atoning death for the world.

The Gospel of Luke following immediately after the book of Genesis would make little sense. A period of time was needed to display God's sever judgment on sins as a backround for the display of His LOVE in focusing all judgment upon the Son of God for ALL men and women's eternal redemption.

In that way I can trust the God who made Christ the end of the Law to everyone who BELIEVES.