PJ54
Well-known member
I've been thinking about why the issues were so important back in the old covenant. Consider the law:
(Deuteronomy 23:1) 23 “No man who has been castrated by having his testicles crushed or who has had his male organ cut off may come into the congregation of Jehovah.
These were laws that had to be followed. However, when Christ came & the 1st century congregation came along things have changed. Consider:(Leviticus 12:1-3) 12 Jehovah went on to say to Moses: 2 “Tell the Israelites, ‘If a woman becomes pregnant and gives birth to a male, she will be unclean for seven days, just as she is in the days of the impurity when she is menstruating. 3 On the eighth day, the flesh of his foreskin will be circumcised.
(Matthew 19:10-12) 10 The disciples said to him: “If that is the situation of a man with his wife, it is not advisable to marry.” 11 He said to them: “Not all men make room for the saying, but only those who have the gift. 12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs on account of the Kingdom of the heavens. Let the one who can make room for it make room for it.”
The attitude towards these things have taken a 180. I decided to look on the Watchtower Library & came across this:(Galatians 5:7-12) 7 You were running well. Who hindered you from continuing to obey the truth? 8 This sort of persuasion does not come from the One calling you. 9 A little leaven ferments the whole batch of dough. 10 I am confident that you who are in union with the Lord will not come to think otherwise; but the one who is causing you trouble, whoever he may be, will receive the judgment he deserves. 11 As for me, brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the stumbling block of the torture stake has been eliminated. 12 I wish the men who are trying to unsettle you would emasculate themselves.
*** ip-2 chap. 17 pp. 249-252 Foreigners Gathered to God’s House of Prayer ***
Comfort for the Foreigner and the Eunuch
6 Jehovah now addresses two groups who want to serve him but who under the Mosaic Law are disqualified from coming into the Jewish congregation. We read: “Let not the foreigner that has joined himself to Jehovah say, ‘Without doubt Jehovah will divide me off from his people.’ Neither let the eunuch say, ‘Look! I am a dry tree.’” (Isaiah 56:3) The foreigner’s fear is that he will be cut off from Israel. The eunuch’s concern is that he will never have children to preserve his name. Both groups should take courage. Before we see why, let us consider what standing they have under the Law in relation to the nation of Israel.
7 Uncircumcised foreigners are excluded from sharing in worship with Israel. For example, they are not allowed to partake of the Passover. (Exodus 12:43) Foreigners who do not flagrantly break the laws of the land enjoy justice and hospitality, but they have no permanent ties with the nation. Of course, some fully embrace the Law, and as a sign of this, the men get circumcised. Then they are proselytes, privileged to worship in the courtyard of Jehovah’s house and considered a part of the congregation of Israel. (Leviticus 17:10-14; 20:2; 24:22) However, even proselytes are not full participants in Jehovah’s covenant with Israel, and they have no land inheritance in the Promised Land. Other foreigners may turn to the temple in prayer, and evidently they may offer sacrifices through the priesthood as long as the sacrifices conform to the Law. (Leviticus 22:25; 1 Kings 8:41-43) But Israelites are not to associate closely with them.
Obviously the Law was a temporary arrangement for what would be greater, and that was Christ Jesus. However, the question I have is why even have these arrangements to begin with? I came across some information on eunuchs that if a male were to be castrated before prepuberty, they would develop to look androgynous or feminine. The nations in the past have used such court officials for many things like protecting harams & other things. What came to shock me is that in some cases, is that the eunuchs (particularly the ones that were castrated to keep their young aspects & look feminine) were treated like concubines where the nobles would engage in homosexual activity with them (perhaps political favors were part of it or it's how their brains rewired themselves due to physical & hormonal changes, who knows?). Here's some links on the subject:Eunuchs Receive a Name to Time Indefinite
8 Eunuchs, even if they are born of Jewish parents, are denied full membership of the nation of Israel. (Deuteronomy 23:1) Among some pagan nations of Bible times, eunuchs had a special place and it was the custom to castrate some of the children taken captive in war. Eunuchs were appointed as officials in the royal courts. A eunuch might be a “guardian of the women,” a “guardian of the concubines,” or an attendant of the queen. (Esther 2:3, 12-15; 4:4-6, 9) There is no evidence that the Israelites followed such practices or that eunuchs were specially sought out for employment in the service of Israelite kings.
9 In addition to being able to share in only a limited way in the worship of the true God, physical eunuchs in Israel suffer the great humiliation of being unable to father children to carry on their family name. How comforting, then, are the next words of the prophecy! We read: “This is what Jehovah has said to the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths and that have chosen what I have delighted in and that are laying hold of my covenant: ‘I will even give to them in my house and within my walls a monument and a name, something better than sons and daughters. A name to time indefinite I shall give them, one that will not be cut off.’”—Isaiah 56:4, 5.
Eunuch - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Eunuchs and the Postgender Jesus.pdf
drive.google.com