LIBERATED OR NOT (Numbers 5)

Today is another test of my commitment to write about what I read, no matter how hard: the test for an unfaithful wife.

My objections are purely social and egalatarian in nature, the product of being an American woman, "liberated," in the sense that while I recognize the difference between the sexes (viva la difference!), I don't feel held back or rated as a second class citizen because of my gender.

So, as I said, a test where a husband can prove his wife's guilt or innocence in cases of adultery, without a similar provision for a jealous wife, offends my sensibilities.

I did something I very rarely to: I read the commentaries, and it did give me some new things to think about. So here are my thoughts on this unusual chapter.

• Faithfulness in marriage is central to God's will. 
• The Jewish commentaries say the husband must have some reason for suspicion; not proof, however, or else his wife would be stoned.
• The Jewish commentaries also say that if the husband is guilty of the same sin, his belly will swell at the same time his wife's does.
• -----So my concerns about fairness were apparently felt by minds who studied the law before the birth of Christ.
• The woman stands "in the presence of God" during the trial. All of our sins are uncovered in God's presence; His light reveals them all.
• The test provides a way to prove her innocence. The wife doesn't have to bear her husband's unjust suspicions.
• God called Israel His lover who had gone whoring after other gods. Marriage infidelity is a "type", or a picture, of God's relationship with His people; He is our husband, and believers today are the Bride of Christ.  God is never unfaithful; but we often are. Perhaps this test is restricted to the wife because of the role of marriage in describing our relationship to God.

As a footnote--in my fiction writing this week, I had to decide whether a male mentor would counsel a female. The answer is no; the temptation is real, innuendo and sin do exist; and the best strategy is to avoid the appearance of evil.

TAKING RISKS (Genesis 43)

I'll take full responsibility for his safety; it's my life on the line for his (Genesis 43:9, MSG)

Judah, in a powerful, beautiful way, is a "type," or picture, of Christ in today's passage. Jacob doesn't want to send his youngest son Benjamin, his only living link to his beloved Rachel, to Egypt. Judah steps in and says "my life for his, if he doesn't return safely." He later lives up to that promise, offering to remain as Joseph's slave so that Benjamin may return to their father. 

The story is a picture of Jesus's "substitutionary atonement," words to say Jesus died in my place. He paid the price for my sin. It's beautiful, it's amazing, it's the reason why I have eternal life and live in God's love.

But I don't want to talk theology exclusively. Imagine the risks.

Imagine the risks God took in creating man--knowing, even before Adam drew his first breath, that he would sin and God the Son would die on the cross for the salvation of all mankind.

Imagine the risks Jacob, Benjamin, and Judah took, in allowing Benjamin to accompany his brothers to Egypt. Judah was willing to spend his remaining years in an Egyptian jail rather than allow the same fate to happen to his baby brother.

Caring for someone else involves risk. I know that risk on a personal level: I love my children, and my daughter committed suicide. My heart has been torn in two and healed over. 

Today, in the most unexpected development from living in a nursing home, I have found love.  As heady as the feeling is, I know I run a risk. I may watch his body and/or his mind deteriorate. The same holds true for him. 

But consider the rewards. Joseph, reunited and reconciled with his family. Jesus, reconciling the world to God by the cross.

I don't know the full extent of the reward awaiting me--but I would not have missed my daughter's life for any price, nor do I wish to shut my heart to new love.

If we protect ourselves from hurt, we also shut ourselves off from joy. 

Love is worth the risk.