The Victors Guide to Compassion
Christians are people who live in the victory secured by the blood of Christ. This does not mean, however, that Christians are allowed to treat anyone however they please nor live however they please. Christians are still and always accountable to the plan of God for blessing the world He loves through the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached into men's hearts and transmitted into heavenly blessings to the nations.
We learn this principle in a most surprising ancient warfare stipulation God gives to His people through Moses. The surface of this text seems out of bounds, but further investigation into the time and context reveal God's regulations upon the people He chose to bless the nations.
Deuteronomy 21:10–14 (ESV) “When you go out to war against your enemies, and the LORD your God gives them into your hand and you take them captive, 11 and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire to take her to be your wife, 12 and you bring her home to your house, she shall shave her head and pare her nails. 13 And she shall take off the clothes in which she was captured and shall remain in your house and lament her father and her mother a full month. After that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. 14 But if you no longer delight in her, you shall let her go where she wants. But you shall not sell her for money, nor shall you treat her as a slave, since you have humiliated her.
This is certainly a strange passage. But it is important to draw out a few contextual issues at first. Notice the Lord stipulates the woman is beautiful and there is evident desire in the victor wishes to wed her. The immediate action then is to see her shave her head, take off her captive garments and mourn in the man's house for a month the loss of her family. This is astounding. Consider how beautiful that image would be NOW to the man who was captivated by her beauty during the conquest. The man could not become her husband until he had spent a considerable amount of time seeing her at her worst and knowing her in her darkest times. Such a man would be more than a war hero full of testosterone. He would be required to care for her and emotionally bond with the woman's life change. This would remove any sense that his attraction to her was simply physical.
What then does God teach us today through this passage? First, we could draw a moral code of conduct. We could suggest that spiritual victory over the world in Christ does not then give the Christian carte blanch on his treatment of others. No, the God-fearing person has to enter the world of pain even to those who were his enemies and care for them. He has to associate with those who have lost it all. He has to sympathize with them, bring them in and give them time to heal and recover.
Secondly, we can draw a beautiful picture of Christ toward those He conquers in His love. The victor in Deuteronomy 21 must bring home the beauty, let her be unattractive and shed of all external glories and then commit to loving her for life.
Is this not what the true Victor of our faith has done for His church? He conquered our old life. He took us captive because He saw us not as beautiful but ugly with sin. YET He still pursued us and brought us in. We come under his roof and say goodbye in time to our old life. He is patient with us in this. We still mourn for the old pagan ways of our past life. We are brought in ugly, void of external offerings to bring our master. Yet His loving commitment to us is firm, He will not be deterred by our nastiness but will wait for due season wherein we come to know Him no longer as conquering former enemy, but now as divinely sent lover of our very souls.
Even in a dark passage, we see pictures of the spiritual life offered us in Christ.
We learn this principle in a most surprising ancient warfare stipulation God gives to His people through Moses. The surface of this text seems out of bounds, but further investigation into the time and context reveal God's regulations upon the people He chose to bless the nations.
Deuteronomy 21:10–14 (ESV) “When you go out to war against your enemies, and the LORD your God gives them into your hand and you take them captive, 11 and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire to take her to be your wife, 12 and you bring her home to your house, she shall shave her head and pare her nails. 13 And she shall take off the clothes in which she was captured and shall remain in your house and lament her father and her mother a full month. After that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. 14 But if you no longer delight in her, you shall let her go where she wants. But you shall not sell her for money, nor shall you treat her as a slave, since you have humiliated her.
This is certainly a strange passage. But it is important to draw out a few contextual issues at first. Notice the Lord stipulates the woman is beautiful and there is evident desire in the victor wishes to wed her. The immediate action then is to see her shave her head, take off her captive garments and mourn in the man's house for a month the loss of her family. This is astounding. Consider how beautiful that image would be NOW to the man who was captivated by her beauty during the conquest. The man could not become her husband until he had spent a considerable amount of time seeing her at her worst and knowing her in her darkest times. Such a man would be more than a war hero full of testosterone. He would be required to care for her and emotionally bond with the woman's life change. This would remove any sense that his attraction to her was simply physical.
What then does God teach us today through this passage? First, we could draw a moral code of conduct. We could suggest that spiritual victory over the world in Christ does not then give the Christian carte blanch on his treatment of others. No, the God-fearing person has to enter the world of pain even to those who were his enemies and care for them. He has to associate with those who have lost it all. He has to sympathize with them, bring them in and give them time to heal and recover.
Secondly, we can draw a beautiful picture of Christ toward those He conquers in His love. The victor in Deuteronomy 21 must bring home the beauty, let her be unattractive and shed of all external glories and then commit to loving her for life.
Is this not what the true Victor of our faith has done for His church? He conquered our old life. He took us captive because He saw us not as beautiful but ugly with sin. YET He still pursued us and brought us in. We come under his roof and say goodbye in time to our old life. He is patient with us in this. We still mourn for the old pagan ways of our past life. We are brought in ugly, void of external offerings to bring our master. Yet His loving commitment to us is firm, He will not be deterred by our nastiness but will wait for due season wherein we come to know Him no longer as conquering former enemy, but now as divinely sent lover of our very souls.
Even in a dark passage, we see pictures of the spiritual life offered us in Christ.
Comments
Post a Comment