Looking Beyond Bedouin Codes

Exodus 21:22-25 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

22 When people who are fighting injure a pregnant woman so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no further harm follows, the one responsible shall be fined what the woman’s husband demands, paying as much as the judges determine. 23 If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

Cause a miscarriage?  Pay a fine.

Harm the one?  Lose in kind.

I personally don't favor abortion.  But using the Bible as a cudgel to condemn those who've had abortions is an iffy thing.  As you can see by the this and three other recent posts labeled religion, there is as much or more condoning abortion than condemning it.

What did Jesus say?

Nothing directly.  As there is with homosexuality.  What you can find a treasure trove of is verses urging us to take care of the poor and disadvantaged, and condemning those that would exploit them.

A more dramatic problem in Jesus's time was infanticide.  This was practiced by both Romans and Jews.  If a baby were the wrong sex or had a disfiguring handicap, it would be abandoned.  There were areas known for being "killing fields" where there were many corpses of abandoned infants.

What did Jesus say about this common, horrendous practice?

Nothing.

Does that mean he supported it?

I pray not.  But any condemnation is implicit, not explicit.

Matthew 1:21 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

It was critical to the Angel communicating with Joseph that Joseph NAME the infant that Mary is to have.  Naming is acknowledging the infant and sparing it from infanticide.  Without the naming, without the acceptance by Joseph, the infant would be abandoned at birth.  The culture would not accept or allow it to live without acknowledgment from Joseph.

This doesn't condemn infanticide.  It allows Mary and her infant an escape clause.

You can't depend on the Bible to freeze frame morality.  It is a guidebook to the light, but you can't be stuck on its culturally related perception of what is right and wrong.  Jesus told us the summary of the word: Love God, love your neighbor.

Focus on that instead of Bedouin codes of conduct.