An Attack on Life? – The Sixth Commandment

An Attack on Life?

The Sixth Commandment

Deuteronomy 25:11, 12

“When men fight with one another and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts, then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall have no pity.”

Such an assault as is described here is an attack on the very idea of life—a threat to a man’s legacy. Even though her husband may be getting the worse of this scuffle, a woman must not think to attack her husband’s assailant by seeking to injure his private parts. He is, after all, still a man, and his private parts represent his ability to fulfill his God-given mandate to fill the earth. She must not take it in hand to jeopardize his ability to do that. Presumably, there must have been other ways to come to the defense of her husband, for the penalty for this violation is severe.

In this series of In the Gates we present a detailed explanation of the Law of God, beginning with the Ten Commandments, and working through the statutes and rules that accompany each commandment. For a practical guide to the role of God’s Law in the practice of ethics, get The Ground for Christian Ethics by going to www.MyParuchia.com and click on our Book Store.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.