Welcome to the Pauline Family's "Year of the Bible"! I'm reading the Bible clear through this year, and I invite you to read along with me. But first, let us pray:
I praise you, my God, with all people.
May they thank and adore you!
You have written your greatness in creation,
your Law in consciences,
your eternal promises in the Bible.
You are eternally faithful and always lovable!
As I read Sacred Scripture today, open my mind to hear your voice and understand your loving message.
Amen.
Today's chapters are Deuteronomy 23-25.
Among the rulings in today's chapters there are several pillars of social justice. Since these laws are listed by category and not in order of objective importance, it can seem seem as if they were all of equal weight, and perhaps all equally provisional as well. Jesus himself dismissed the regulations on divorce as Moses' granting an accommodation to the people's "hardness of heart" (see Matthew 19:8), and we hardly have to worry about some of the other matters treated here. Yet there are other laws that, while the applications are out of date, express principles of social justice that we very much need to take to heart today. This mix of the time-bound and the essential underscores why an authoritative interpretation of Sacred Scripture is so important.
Just for fun, let me add that I (and St Paul) frequently cite Deuteronomy 25:4 "You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out grain." Paul helpfully adds, "God did not say this for the benefit of the oxen" (1 Col 9:9). (This comes in handy in the kitchen!)
If you are looking for a solid but approachable companion to the Bible, I can wholeheartedly recommend A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament by Brant Pitre and John Bergsma. Although the authors are top-level Scripture scholars, they write for "real" readers. Notes include recent findings from archaeology and ancient manuscripts.
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