Week 10 Deuteronomy 22-25
They likely begin in chapter 21 but I really start noticing them in 22. In 22 they’re getting pretty obvious and stay pretty obvious for the next four chapters.
In those four chapters – 96-verses in all – there’s about 34 different regulations laid out (maybe more…but at least 34). So that means one law / regulation every 2.8 verses.
That’s not a huge problem (after all the Ten Commandments only take up 16-verses – one commandment every 1.6 verses). A bigger problem is that the 34-rules are all-over-the-map. It’d be one thing if they were topically consistent – for instance 34-Domestic-Rules or 34-Community-Rules. But they’re rules about everything imaginable. (It’s a guess but I feel pretty confident saying that content classification was not on the writer’s mind.)
But even that’s not the most perplexing thing. What’s surprising is that a) some of the rules actually make pretty good sense but b) other rules sound absolutely wacky. Example a) if I build a flat-roofed house I need to install a guard rail so no one falls off. Example b) if two men are fighting and the wife of one of them grabs the opponents genitals then…she has her hand cut off.
One way to manage the diversity is to selectively categorize the rules according to (let’s say) contemporary Alberta standards (e.g. humane vs. inhumane rules). But I’m not sure how much that helps. So for now my preference is to look for absolutely universal laws…Permanent Fixtures. The rest will land wherever they land.
Note: see Deuteronomy 22:8 & 25:11