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The Rev. Dennis McCarty Community Columnist |
Babies and small children are worth five sheckels for a boy and three for a girl (still a considerable sum).
But harsh though it may sound today, newborns less than a month old are worth nothing. They don't count.
Some commentaries say this is because of the nature of Temple vows. A healthy man can do more physical labor than a woman or a child, so is valued more highly. Newborns aren't mentioned because they can't do any work at all. But that explanation doesn't wash.
A baby 2 to 12 months old can't work, either, and they do have value in Leviticus.
Harsh laws
The Bible is often a harsh book. If you look at the Bible in its historical setting, everyone was harsh, it was a harsh time. Until the industrial revolution and modern medicine came along, many babies were stillborn or died in the first few weeks. (In biblical times, according to historical estimates, up to 50 percent.)
People didn't look at families the same way then as they do now. It didn't make sense to plan for a newborn until you were sure it was going to survive.
Exodus 21 is just as harsh. The original Hebrew text (a more accurate source than the imprecise King James translation, done 2,000 years later,) reads that if men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman so that there is a miscarriage, "and there is no harm," the offender is to be fined. If there "is harm" to the woman, the offender must "give eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe."
The clear meaning is that if a man hits a woman and she loses her baby, it is a misfortune and he must pay. But if that's all that happens, it's not an injury to a real person. That requires blood atonement.
Literalists
There are so-called biblical literalists who claim that every human life begins at conception. The Bible actually says quite the opposite. But such literalists ignore what the Bible says on that point, as though it had never been written. Or make excuses to explain it away.
But nowhere in the Bible is slavery condemned. Before the Civil War, slaveholders often cited Scripture to justify the practice. Nowadays, everybody agrees slavery is bad and everyone ignores the Bible's quiet acceptance of it.
The Holiness Code in Leviticus talks a lot about different kinds of sexual behavior. Homosexual activities between men are forbidden on pain of death.
So are many (but not all) forms of incest: there's a long and specific list of forbidden sexual practices.
But homosexual activity between women is not forbidden in Leviticus. Neither is a father sleeping with his daughter. (In Genesis, in fact, Lot's daughters do have children by him.) And while a man marrying two sisters is forbidden, that's exactly what the Patriarch Jacob did in marrying Leah and Rebekah - two sisters - in Genesis.
No reasonable American approves of any form of incest - or bigamy - any more, no matter what the Bible says. At the same time, many quote Leviticus to condemn all homosexuals - but don't mention that female homosexuality is not forbidden there. (Many hundreds of years later, Paul did expand the prohibition to include women - sort of. Paul knew how to read Greek but not Hebrew - and didn't understand Hebrew Scripture. He misquotes and misstates it in several places.)
In Leviticus, children who "make light of" their parents (using the original Hebrew meaning) are condemned to the exact same punishment as those who commit sexual crimes: death. If we took that one seriously, no youth in this country would reach the age of 16.
The point is, the Bible is a very complex book, written thousands of years ago, by people who saw the world very differently from us. Biblical literalists pick and choose, quote some parts and ignore others, same as everyone else.
I love the Bible. Each time I open it, it's a glimpse into my humanity and the ageless mystery of our human encounter with the Divine. But that doesn't make every word true or useful. Anyone who tells you they live by every word in the Bible, either isn't being honest or just isn't reading carefully.