Taken in isolation or viewed from a distance of several thousand years and from a completely different cultural setting, almost any Bible instruction may initially seem a little alien. Out there on the internet, people are generally uninterested in doing historical research or establishing cultural context before they start forming opinions. It’s a whole lot of work … and, let’s face it, it’s fun to mock things — it makes us feel intelligent or morally superior. So taking a poke at certain of the Old Testament commands that God gave through Moses to the people of Israel as “weird” is becoming increasingly trendy.
As somebody who is convinced the entire Bible is the inspired word of God, it goes without saying that from my perspective absolutely nothing in the Law of Moses can possibly be unintentional, random, insignificant, or intended for comedic effect. Everything in it has a point. Thus, from time to time I have dredged up some of the more frequently derided Old Testament regulations and tried to set them in their historical context for you.
I think you’ll probably wind up agreeing with me that they make a great deal more sense when we do.
| That Wacky Old Testament (1) | Rocking the reverse mohawk |
| That Wacky Old Testament (2) | Eating old store long kept |
| That Wacky Old Testament (3) | Israelite women worth less than Israelite men |
| That Wacky Old Testament (4) | What’s so terrible about graven images? |
| That Wacky Old Testament (5) | Stoning that rebellious son |
| That Wacky Old Testament (6) | The exclusion of men with ‘disabilities’ |
| That Wacky Old Testament (7) | The Gibeonite revenge |
| That Wacky Old Testament (8) | The exclusion of those born of forbidden unions |
| That Wacky Old Testament (9) | The perfection of the Law |
| That Wacky Old Testament (10) | Fire from heaven on innocent men |
| That Wacky Old Testament (11) | The institutional crutch |
| That Wacky Old Testament (12) | Breaking the neck of your baby donkey |
| That Wacky Old Testament (13) | The bitter water faithfulness test |
| That Wacky Old Testament (14) | Inequality in Israelite marriages |
| That Wacky Old Testament (15) | A defense of public flogging |
