Week 48 Philemon
I don’t know how many of them there are in total. But I know a lot of things in the bible are incomprehensible to modern readers. The main reason? They’re old & behind-the-times & archaic & well…incomprehensible.
By contrast in the modern-world I understand modern things because I’m modern. I won’t understand a lot of ancient-world things because I’m not ancient.
Anyway there’s an ancient thing in Philemon that’s surprisingly and totally understandable to modern people. Paul says to Philemon: if (Onesimus) has harmed you in any way or stolen anything from you, charge me for it…I will repay it. Then he adds one extra thing: and I won’t mention that you (Philemon) owe me your very soul.
So it looks like in the ancient world – just like in the 21st century – there was a Who Owes The Most Rule in play. Let’s say Guy #1 owes Guy #2 $100,000. Then let’s say Guy #2 borrows $10 from Guy #1. Guy #1 can’t really go demanding that Guy #2 pay back the couple of bucks he owes him. Guy #1 owes the most and that means Guy #2 is in the driver’s seat. That rule is totally understandable to me.
In one way this universal Debtor-Ratio Law is so obvious I wonder why Paul figured he needed to remind Philemon who was in the driver’s seat. It seemed unnecessary. Like piling-on. But who knows…maybe Philemon was a bit thick and needed the blunt reminder.
Note: quotes from Philemon 18-19 (NLT)