Do We Make It Too Easy?

The man who commits adultery with another man's wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death. Leviticus 20:10

Scanning the news this morning, I see that John says, 'Don't trust men 40+', and then further down the page, it seems that he says, 'Girls, don't trust men under 40.' Well, that narrows it down for you. You can trust men at the age of 40. I don't recall being super trustworthy at 40, but as I am on the + side of that, maybe I can't trust myself on this. Sigh, another magical age that I seem to have blown by without realizing.

Back in the day, that is the day of Moses, an adulterous couple was put to death. No, they were surely put to death. I have tried to pay attention to the news for quite some time now, but I do not recall anyone being put on death row for adultery in these parts as far back as I can remember. If the death penalty seems too much for us, maybe we can make the sin more difficult in other ways. The man should mow the lawn of the woman he is wanting to commit adultery with, the woman would have to garden or trim in the yard of her intended conquest. If you are into that politically-correct thing, just switch the roles, if you wish.

With this sort of public service, the husband and wife who are not involved in the adultery could exercise their consent as well. The man might for example plant some land mines in his lawn. This would serve to make adultery more difficult and perhaps cut down on the sin a bit. Do you suppose this would work?

For more than a thousand years the Law of Moses specified death as the penalty for adultery. Yet, there sat Jesus drawing in the dust while a woman caught in adultery stood before Him. Not only had the law not stopped the sin, but they couldn't even carry out the penalty portion correctly as the adulterer, clearly specified in our verse for today, was not present. Surely we didn't forget that part, did we, gents? So if rapid and immediate death did not stop the sin, how would a poor attempt at public shaming help?

Always, always we need something that acts on the desire to sin, someone to save us from ourselves and that fallen condition we are born into. If the death penalty cannot frighten us away from the sin, and public shaming turns into a joke because 'everyone is doing it', then we must look to a savior. We need a rebirth into a better state, a place where temptation does not live and love reigns eternal. We need Jesus!

Our Lord Jesus, always and forever,
Bucky