“A mamzer may not enter the assembly of Adonai, nor may his descendants down to the tenth generation enter the assembly of Adonai.”-Deuteronomy 23:3
When it comes to Deuteronomy 23 which deals with the thorny topic of who can and cannot join Israel, scholars have a real problem.
What problem am I talking about?
I’m talking about the real difficulty scholars have dating these laws listed here in Deuteronomy 23…
…among which are the instructions concerning exactly WHO or WHAT is a MAMZER.
The general consensus among most scholars (both Jewish and gentile) is that what we’re reading here was indeed penned during the time of Moses but others will argue hell no and say this section was probably penned during the time of Moses’ successor Joshua.
The point is…
…the examples given here in Deuteronomy 23 as well as all of the people groups or nationalities listed may have come later or changed over time.
Having said that, it doesn’t matter one darn bit which scholar is right or wrong, the underlying principles of the rules and regulations listed here in Deuteronomy 23 stand!
I need to remind you of something a lot of folks would prefer to just ignore.
Although the Scriptures we have (and I’m ONLY referring to the TANACH and NOT the NT when I say the “Scriptures”) are infallible or inerrant and should be taken exactly as written, what “infallible” and “inerrant” actually means is a very complex matter that can’t be resolved via simple soundbites.
Let me explain further.
If you were to go to the religious section of a bookstore or do a search on Amazon, you would find a ton of different English Bible versions available for sale.
Now if if you were to actually purchase lets say 8 or 10 of these different Bible versions and compare one given chapter with another, YOU WOULD FIND HUGE VARIATION that at times would make you wonder if you were even reading the same Bible and chapter.
For instance, if you were to compare the King James version to the NIV version or an even more modern version such as the “Life Application Bible”, the differences would be quite stunning.
Given the linguistic differences, out of all these different Bible translations, exactly which one would you consider to be the infallible version?
Do you see what I’m getting at?
Here’s the key point concerning this issue you’ve really got to understand.
It’s NOT that Bible translators are being devious…
….or have an agenda that…
…motivates them to insert entirely different…
…meanings into the same passage.
(although such deviousness does occur)
Rather, more often than not, it’s simply that through the natural passage of time, the English language has mutated and undergone much change and the translators in an attempt to be good stewards of the Word are simply picking a more modern English word that means now what the old word meant then.
For example, the modern name for a given city or nation will often be inserted in place of the older name which is no longer in use.
For instance, the ancient city name LUZ is no longer in use, so a Bible translator will instead use the modern name of the city which is BETHEL.
See what I mean?
This is a natural phenomenon that occurred frequently as the Bible was recopied and retranslated for each generation.
We shouldn’t consider this in any way to be fraudulent.
Okay, now that I got that off my chest, let’s turn our attention to the word MAMZER.
The truth is this word does not mean then what we think it means today.
It does NOT mean a child born from unwed parents.
That’s right Charlie.
MAMZER does NOT mean a bastard.
What the word MAMZAR is really referring to is…
…a product of an unlawful sexual union as defined by Torah.
A MAMZAR is the result of an illicit mixture.
We’ll continue this discussion the next time we meet.
Stay frosty.
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