Friday, August 31, 2012

Biblical Marriage-Slavery [Me]


Yesterday I happened to run across some passages in the Bible that could ever-so-easily be applied to my relationship with the Boss, if taken a certain way. Which is, of course, a key to reading things in the Bible. You can find almost any meaning you wish to, should you look at it in a certain light. So this is an exercise, not a religious experience. Still, it's interesting.

About the time that we became 'a thing', an actual couple (okay, triad), where I was staying at his house more often than at my own, I decided to shave my head. There were a number of reasons for the shaving, but I asked him to do 'the deed' for me. About that time, I ran across this in Deuteronomy:
Deuteronomy 21:11-14 - Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)11 You might see a beautiful woman among the captives who you want to be your wife. 12 You must then bring her into your house where she will shave her head and cut her nails. 13 She must change her clothes and take off the clothes she was wearing when she was captured in war. She will stay in your house and be sad about losing her father and her mother for a full month. After that you may go to her to be her husband, and she will be your wife. 14 If you are not pleased with her and choose to divorce her, set her free. You cannot sell her. You had sexual relations with her, so you must not treat her like a slave.





So he found me beautiful, brought me into his house, shaved my head - and I was nude at the time. And I pretty much stayed there since, and that's been many months. So according to Deuteronomy, it is as if he has married me. Oh, except for that being an enemy captive part that started it.

Okay, so I could have left at any time. But I stayed. A few months later, he pierced my ear and put in Cherish's slave ring, signifying that he took her specifically as his slave forever. Oh, and back to Deuteronomy:
Deuteronomy 15:16-17 - Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)16 “But one of your slaves might say to you, ‘I will not leave you.’ He might say this because he loves you and your family and because he has a good life with you. 17 Make this servant put his ear against your door and use a sharp tool to make a hole in his ear. This will show that he is your slave forever. You must do this even to the women slaves who want to stay with you.
We could have left, but we loved him and would not leave him. So he put a hole in our ear and made us his slave forever, according to the Bible. Well, except for where the first passage said he cannot treat me as a slave. Hmmm....

Okay, so this was just a momentary amusement. As a Christian, I do follow Biblical teachings, but from the New Testament. Jesus said that the Old Law is no more. Still, these passages serve as a reminder that this sort of slavery-marriage is a Judeo-Christian tradition. I wonder what other interesting passages I can find?



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