While reading through some of the laws in Leviticus and Deuteronomy recently I came across the passage below:
Deut 22:23 If within the city a man comes upon a maiden who is betrothed, and has relations with her, 24 you shall bring them both out to the gate of the city and there stone them to death: the girl because she did not cry out for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor's wife. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst.I wasn't hunting for marriage related laws, this one just happened to jump out at me. Why did it grab my attention? Because according to this passage, God Himself violated the law.
Luke chapter 1 describes the occurrence.
Mary the mother of Jesus was in a city; the town of Nazareth. She was betrothed to Joseph. The Holy Spirit came upon her, overshadowed her, and planted a child in her womb. She did not cry out for help because she didn't want or need it. Joseph initially believed himself to have been wronged and planned to divorce her.
All of these facts line up to show a clear violation of the law laid out in Deuteronomy 22.
At the very moment the New Covenant was initiated, God Himself broke an Old Covenant law related to marriage. Perhaps it was a sign of it's passing, a shattering of a clay tablet inscribed by a Pharisee.
The Spirit must have whispered to Mary "Don't think about what you've been taught. Simply love Me with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." Mary responded by opening to His request, despite knowing that she could be stoned.
I'm still pondering what this could mean. I don't have an answer. But since God Himself begins the very life of Christ through a violation of marital law, it certainly points out that the Biblical "view" of marriage is far from straight forward.
I do not believe there was a violation of the law. Deut22 bars a man from having relations with a betrothed maiden, and the Holy Spirit could hardly be considered a man. Further, there is the definition of relations. The Holy Spirit implanted the Son of God into the womb of Mary by entering through her spirit. There was no carnal knowledge as prohibited in Deut22.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the response Wally.
ReplyDeleteYou've raised a few questions for me. First, why do you say that Jesus was implanted by the Holy Spirit entering Mary through her spirit? The scriptures don't specify how it happened. Various translations use the phrases "cover you", "overshadow you", "come to rest on you", "hover over you", "come to you", "come upon you", "come on you", "come from above into thee", etc.
Since it is not specified, I've spent some time in contemplation about it, and have written some thoughts here:
http://theologyofdesire.blogspot.com/search/label/Annunciation
I find it hard not to envision the scene cutting to The Song of Songs... Our God is after all a lover, first and foremost.
The second question relates to your comment about the law specifying "man". Given that the passage does use that designation, do you think that relations with an incubus would violate any sort of law? (Though I don't think any laws are written about human/spirit sexual interactions. Just human/animal.) The scriptures are full of references to dark spirits, so if a demon came to a young woman and had relations with her, in your mind how does that all fit?
Looking forward to your thoughts.