Today's Scripture Reading (November 21, 2021): Leviticus 24
An unknown speaker offers this pearl of wisdom; "A tongue has no bone, but it can break a heart, so be careful with your words." The point of this proverb opposes the lie that most parents like to tell their children; "Sticks and stones may break my (or your) bones, but
names will never hurt me (or you)" Actually, the reverse is often true. The wounds you
might inflict on my body by beating me with a stick or throwing stones at me
will eventually heal. But the scars I receive because of your words I will carry for
the rest of my life;
I might never recover from what you say about me. I don't think that any of us have any trouble bringing up
in our memory the way that we have been verbally abused in the past. And
sometimes, and I admit that I am one of these victims, the result of those words is
that we suffer from a form of post-traumatic stress disorder, and there are
things that we will do that will bring the words back to us as if they
were just spoken, and there are some things that we just can't do.
Sometimes we struggle with the idea of blasphemy, but
essentially blasphemy
just indicates that we have verbally abused someone. And Leviticus is concerned with the
circumstances when we are tempted to abuse God verbally. At the heart of the issue is that verbal abuse
causes real damage. When we verbally abuse each other, we bring great harm to the other; a punch might be a kinder blow. But when we verbally abuse God, we cause damage to the
personhood of God, and we steal away God's ability to move and work in our midst.
Ancient Jewish Rabbis have attempted to fill in the
back story for the conflict described in this passage. According to the rabbinical legend, this man was not just one of the many people
of mixed race who left
Egypt with the Israelites during the Exodus; he was the son of the man Moses had killed decades earlier for physically beating up on the Israelite. This man was raised by his Israelite mother and came to Identify, at least partially, with the Children
of Israel. At this moment, he was trying to pitch his tent among
those belonging to the Tribe of Dan, his mother's tribe. But someone recognized him, and didn't want this child of one who had physically abused an
Israelite anywhere near their tents. They believed that he was not worthy of being part of the Exodus. A fight
ensued, and during the struggle, this man had blasphemed or verbally abused God.
If there is anything to say in the man's defense, it might be that the Egyptians regularly
verbally abused their gods. But that was part of the problem. The man did not recognize the God of Israel as anything special. He was just
another god, no different from the pantheon of gods that had
existed in Egypt. So, he blamed God for his struggle among the exiles just
as he would have blamed the Egyptian gods for his struggles back in Egypt. And it was this belief that was at the heart of the
problem; it was for this lowering of the name of God that
this man would have to pay a very significant price.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Leviticus 25
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