Many great and ponderous things are said in regard to sex by Christians. Throughout my teenage years we were told of the emotional intimacy effected by sex, and this argument became one of those used to encourage us to be celibate outside of marriage and faithful to one spouse.
Therefore it is interesting to see what the Old Testament says or implies about sex and its implications. The Law of Moses was obviously central to the religion of the Old Testament and in the New Testament the Law is described as the Law of God and as "good and holy and true". So what does that Law say? Deuteronomy 21:15 takes for granted that a man may have two wives. That's a good thing, because the same Law obliges a man to have more than wife wife in certain circumstances. I'm referring to the Levirate marriage. I quote: Deuteronomy 25:5-10 5 When brothers reside together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go in to her, taking her in marriage, and performing the duty of a husband's brother to her, 6 and the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed to the name of the deceased brother, so that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. 7 But if the man has no desire to marry his brother's widow, then his brother's widow shall go up to the elders at the gate and say, "My husband's brother refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me." 8 Then the elders of his town shall summon him and speak to him. If he persists, saying, "I have no desire to marry her," 9 then his brother's wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face, and declare, "This is what is done to the man who does not build up his brother's house." 10 ... Clearly, in such cases, a man was obliged by the Law to take another wife and sanctions were employed to shame him and his family if he did not. This is not likely to have been a rare occurrence either. First, the death rate of men in those days was probably high (battles, disease, etc); and second, such case laws arose out of actual situations. It is easy for some fundamentalists to dismiss the Law as obsolete for Christians, but that's too easy. (In such cases it might be appropriate to push a few buttons - mention the word "homosexuality" and the law of God, for example.) Consider what obeying the law on Levirate marriages would involve. Now, in asking this I'm not trying to encourage everyone to indulge in sexual fantasies about their brother or sister-in-law. I'm just asking people to think of the implications of this law for the relationship with one's wife/husband if one's brother-in-law died. One is obliged to have sex with one's sister-in-law. What does this do to one's relationship with one's first wife? One could find the opportunity quite desirable, or one could find it quite detestable. The case law above seems to have arisen in the latter case. But in either case, what does this do to the notion of sexual intimacy and exclusivity? It seems to me the "Law of God" in the Old Testament didn't give a hoot about sexual intimacy and spiritual unity. Sex was all about reproduction. Anybody else like to give their call on this one? - Greg ------------------------------------------------------ - You are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) See: http://nsw.uca.org.au/insights-l-information.htm ------------------------------------------------------
