You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life. – Deuteronomy 22:7

Today's Scripture Reading (March 10, 2025): Deuteronomy 22

In 1765, Great Britain's government enacted the first of the Quartering Acts. These Acts required the citizens of the thirteen colonies to help feed and lodge British soldiers in public buildings if there was no more room left at the local barracks. After the events of the Boston Tea Party (December 16, 1773), where British Tea was thrown into the Boston Harbor to protest the British Parliament's tea tax and demanded "No taxation without representation," the Quartering Act was expanded to include housing soldiers in private homes. It is important to note that no British troops were ever quartered in inhabited homes. But the ability was there. As a result, James Madison introduced the third amendment to the American Constitution. 

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

It is an amendment that we don't hear about very often. It definitely doesn't have the status of the first (religious freedom and free speech) or second (Right to possess and bear arms) amendments to the Constitution. Some have gone even further and called the third amendment the most useless of all the 27 ratified amendments to the American Constitution. It has never been used as a prime determinant in any court trial. It is not that the sentiment stated in the amendment is not appropriate. Who knows, with the current unrest that exists between the United States and its two neighbors, Mexico and Canada, more troops may be needed to protect the borders of the United States even in peacetime. However, quartering an army in private homes against the owners' wishes still seems unrealistic. The third amendment really appears to be useless.   

Of the 613 Jewish laws, rabbis have considered this command to be the least essential law God gave to his people. Essentially, it demands kindness of the followers of God toward a bird. Some have extrapolated the law given here to apply to all animal life. Maybe this law doesn't measure up to "Love the Lord your God with everything that you are and your neighbor as yourself," but kindness is never wasted, even if it is directed toward a bird in trouble. Yet, the rabbis note that even this, which is the least of the commandments, is accompanied by a blessing; "so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life."

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 23