Strange

Sometimes people refer to the Bible as "God's love letter to mankind", but that is really a gross oversimplification of things. There are some strange things in the Bible that one would not typically put in a love letter. Deuteronomy seems to contain its fair share of these.

My most recent reading brought me to Deuteronomy chapter 25 which discusses the fact that if a man dies who is married but has no children, his brother is to take his sister-in-law as his wife and their son is to take the name of the deceased husband. It then addresses how the woman is to respond if her brother-in-law is not to keen on the idea. You can imagine how deeply my life was impacted when I read the following:

But if the man does not desire to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, 'My husband's brother refuses to establish a name for his brother in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband's brother to me.' "Then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. And if he persists and says, 'I do not desire to take her,' then his brother's wife shall come to him in the sight of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face; and she shall declare, 'Thus it is done to the man who does not build up his brother's house.' "In Israel his name shall be called, 'The house of him whose sandal is removed.'

You can also sort of tell that the Law was recorded by a man. The next two verses read

If two men, a man and his countryman, are struggling together, and the wife of one comes near to deliver her husband from the hand of the one who is striking him, and puts out her hand and seizes his genitals, then you shall cut off her hand; you shall not show pity.

Let's just say that I am glad we are under grace and not the law. Have a great day, and may you never be known as him whose sandal is removed.