Today I read Deuteronomy 25 which covers one of the strangest topics in all of Israel's customs, the brother marrying his brothers widow to raise up seed to his brother. I have personally never understood this and to my current day principles it is quite, unsettling. I think on my own family and as much as I love my sisters-in-law, I cannot think of any of them in that way. They are my family, my sisters, just as much as my full blood sister is. How could the ancient Israelites even consider such a thing?
The obvious answer is because God commanded them to. But I have a strange hunch that they followed this command with no more trouble than they did the keeping of the Sabbath day holy. Perhaps they did not feel that a sister-in-law was a sister. Perhaps it was always his brother's wife and that's as close as it came. I really don't have the answer to this one. I am extremely glad it is not a commandment today, although all of my siblings have children so it is a non-issue for me, however, even thinking about it seems strange. I'm sure God had a reason for it and who knows? Perhaps it was already the normal practice in Israel to begin with and they thought nothing of it when God asked them to do it. I just don't know on this one. I'm sure I will know some day. Until tomorrow.
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