D22-1: In Scripture, Idioms Connected To Human Sexuality Are Often Used To Teach Spiritual Truths

Today we begin Deuteronomy Chapter 22.

For the Complete Jewish Bible, click here.

For the King James version, click here.

I’m going to have a challenge presenting the contents of Deuteronomy 22.

Why?

Because this chapter deals explicitly with topics centered around human sexuality in a very matter-of-fact fashion and…

…my challenge is how to present the material in such a way so as not to offend my audience, especially those from the West.

Western believers in particular are quite squeamish when it comes to matters of sex in the Bible.

Here’s the thing.

Our English Bibles are the product of gentile translators who for the most part were refined upper-class Europeans who superimposed a very reserved and puritanical European Christian mindset onto the text as well as a pretty blatant dislike for any and all things Jewish.

Hence, a lot of the fiery sexual content that is quite frankly inherent in God’s Word is masked.

Because it’s hidden, we miss it.

In Western culture, the handling of the topic of sex usually falls under two extremes with practically zero middle ground.

One extreme is to treat it in a very sterile and purely scientific or medical way.

The other extreme is to treat the topic as a very guarded and intensely sensitive and private thing.

Of course, the Liberal Left has taken a very different route as they seek to normalize through legal means sexual behavior the Bible clearly calls out as an abomination.

Here’s what we’ve got to come to terms with.

How the ancient cultures viewed sex and sexual relationships were quite radically different than we do today.

They weren’t squeamish or embarrassed about it.

It was considered just a part of everyday life and was not hidden away in retarded hush-hush tones.

Also understand that in those days, having big families was essential to the survival of the tribes and clans.

Human reproduction literally played a central role in everything.

It wasn’t hidden away and even the children developed a mature understanding of sex from quite a young age.

In addition, consider that every Israelite family lived in close quarters next to their farm animals where one could see first hand on a regular basis the function of sex and reproduction being literally played out before their eyes on a regular basis.

Now don’t get any wrong ideas here.

Folks during biblical times were very modest about their sexuality when out in public.

In fact, you know the HIJAB that Muslim women wear.

That actually comes from a Jewish tradition which is based on Torah.

We also have to consider the living conditions of the folks in that era.

We’re talking about a situation where large families were crammed into tiny one-room huts or…

…as nomads, they were crammed together into their tents made out of animals skins.

So if a couple wanted to engage in some horizontal boogie-woogie, there wasn’t a lot of privacy to do the act.

Here’s what I want you to keep in mind as we move forward.

Throughout the Tanach from beginning to end, sex and its role in Hebrew society not only played a central role but is woven in to the very language and culture of Scripture in so many direct and indirect ways.

In fact, idioms connected to human sexuality are often used to teach and demonstrate spiritual pictures and principles.

That’s right.

Physical sex is used to teach spiritual truths.

But since it is for the most part hidden from our view, we can’t recognize them in the Scriptures.

Why?

Because of those sexually repressed puritanical European Bible translators I was just talking about who used language to mask what they considered to be to explicit and offensive.