… when they sin in any of these ways and realize their guilt, they must return what they have stolen or taken by extortion, or what was entrusted to them, or the lost property they found or whatever it was they swore falsely about. They must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the owner on the day they present their guilt offering. - Leviticus 6:4-5

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 21, 2015): Leviticus 6

The story of President Warren G. Harding and Nan Britton was been part of political gossip for decades. The question – did Warren G. Harding have an affair with Nan Britton, a woman 31 years younger than he was, and father her only daughter Elizabeth-Ann? The politically correct answer until very recently was “we don’t know.” Britton authored the first kiss-and-tell book in 1928 (five years after Harding’s sudden death ending his Presidential career after just over two years in office at the age of 57) and titled the book “The President’s Daughter.” In the book she tells of her love affair with the President, including a famous passage about their love making in the coat closet of the Executive Office. Britton insists that she wrote the book only so that she could earn the money necessary to support her daughter. The book and the rumor (Nan Britton insisted that the story was true right up until her death in 1991 at the age of 94) have created a barrier between the two families that has lasted for almost a century.

But recent DNA testing has revealed that the story Nan Britton is true – well, at least partially true. We have no idea whether the sordid details of the President’s love life with Britton happened the way that Britton insists that they did. But we do know that her daughter Elizabeth-Ann is the daughter of Warren G. Harding. The families are still struggling to come to terms with what this means for them, but the reality is that for most of her life, Nan Britton was considered to be a liar and a gold-digger, inventing stories at the expense of a President of the United States for her own material gain. She was a woman without honor until the day that she died. And now, finally, that honor needs to be returned to her.

Mosaic Law specifies that stolen property must be returned with interest. Restitution is not enough. And the principal applies even when the theft is accidental, or if we are ignorant of the theft until later. Once we realize that we are in possession of something that does not belong to us, we make restitution and we add a fifth – what belongs to someone else, always belongs to someone else. Even if they don’t remember, when we remember we are to do the right thing and return the property – with interest.

The principle with property work’s well. But it is not just property that we steal from others – and it might be the other things that are more important. What do we do when it is honor that we have stolen? How do we return that? When we think of Nan Britton, this becomes the real question. And it is not just the family squabble which to a certain extent continues today even after the DNA verdict – it is the way that history has viewed this young woman whose life direction and public image became fixed when she slept with a President who was 31 years her senior. It is time that history restores the honor of this woman – with interest.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Leviticus 7