Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid. – Deuteronomy 21:21

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 20, 2012): Deuteronomy 21

The National Hockey league and the Players Association have begun their very public battle over the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Both are incredibly interested (even though they may deny it) in having the public on their side. The fight has been characterized as the battle between the Millionaires and the Billionaires. And the truth is that the public probably identifies with neither group. But what is probably the most frustrating element of the fight is that it does not even seem that the two groups have a firm grasp on the facts in the case. Even the amount of money that is available to be divided up between the two sides seems to be in doubt. The problem seems to be as big a problem as Solomon’s decision to divide a baby between two mothers.

In the story of King Solomon, two babies had been born, but only one child had lived. Both of the women claimed that the living child belonged to them and Solomon is asked to decide the issue between the two women. Solomon’s famous reply is that the issue could not be decided fairly, so the only answer that was left was for the child to be cut in half and half of the child given to each of the competing mothers. In the story, the real mother of the child immediately withdraws her request. The life of the child she loved was more important than whether or not the child could live in her home. The woman who was not the mother was apparently happy with Solomon’s decision; what was important to her was that the other mother would simply share in her grief. In the conclusion of the story, Solomon’s wisdom recognizes that it was the woman who was willing to give up the child so that the child could live that was the real mother and he turns the child over to her. But the whole story begs one question. If both mother’s had been happy with Solomon’s decision, would he have actually have cut the child in half.

In asking the question, Solomon had trusted that love would win out. I think a similar thing is happening here. The parents are invited to call their children rebellious in front of the elders of the city. But the price to be paid is incredibly high. The message seems to be that differences within the family should be worked out within the family. This was not a step to be taken lightly – and in the end the hope was that love would win out.

The reality is that if death is the outcome, we are often more careful with the things that we love. But death occurs in many ways. And it might be best to live life with the knowledge that any action could cause a kind of death; that all of our actions should be weighed against the things that are really important to us in life. And that might be the real question that both sides of the NHL disagreement maybe need to figure out.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 22