Yahweh's on Religious Freedom, cont'd
Deuteronomy 17:2-7:
2 If there be found in the midst of thee, within any of thy gates which HaShem thy G-d giveth thee, man or woman, that doeth that which is evil in the sight of HaShem thy G-d, in transgressing His covenant,
3 and hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have commanded not;
4 and it be told thee, and thou hear it, then shalt thou inquire diligently, and, behold, if it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel;
5 then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, who have done this evil thing, unto thy gates, even the man or the woman; and thou shalt stone them with stones, that they die.
6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is to die be put to death; at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.
7 The hand of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So thou shalt put away the evil from the midst of thee.
2 If there be found in the midst of thee, within any of thy gates which HaShem thy G-d giveth thee, man or woman, that doeth that which is evil in the sight of HaShem thy G-d, in transgressing His covenant,
3 and hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have commanded not;
4 and it be told thee, and thou hear it, then shalt thou inquire diligently, and, behold, if it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel;
5 then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, who have done this evil thing, unto thy gates, even the man or the woman; and thou shalt stone them with stones, that they die.
6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is to die be put to death; at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.
7 The hand of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So thou shalt put away the evil from the midst of thee.
I was going to write that #4 could be deemed sufficient "justification" for how mid-20th century to current Israelites have treated Palestinians, but upon reflection: isn't Allah the "same" G-d as Hashem ("same" in quotes because how can you compare G-d's other than by the names preferred by their followers, albeit "published" through a different prophet(s) than the ones in the Hebrew Bible)? That's also the "justification" for crucifying Jesus, although he was supposedly "preaching" about the same G-d.
ReplyDeleteOn a lighter note, #7 reminds me of the scene in _Life of Brian_ where they stone "blasphemers" (mostly off-camera).
I've heard that Monty Python's Life of Brian was well-researched by the guys. Bart Ehrman, a well-known biblical scholar, shows it in his course of the Bible and movies.
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