Why is there a whole book devoted to Solomonâs horny poetry?
I have a theoryâŚ
Comment on Seriously Jesus, who was doing that for that to be added đ
frezik@midwest.social â¨2⊠â¨days⊠ago
This would have come from a time when ancient Judaism was evolving out of its polytheistic roots. The early sections of the Hebrew scriptures tended to treat other gods as existing, but youâre only supposed to worship YHWH.
Likely, there was some specific ritual that had been used in local polytheistic practices, and itâs specifically telling you not to do that.
This is an issue for the sort of fundamentalists who insist that absolutely everything in the bible is useful for modern times. You say that, but then whatâs this goat milk thing about? How about all the idolatry prohibitions when many modern Christians wonât regularly encounter religions that use idols? Why is there a whole book devoted to Solomonâs horny poetry?
You can kinda come up with answers to those, but they will invariably involve some kind of âreading between the linesâ. That is, reading assumptions into the text that arenât explicitly stated. Which fundamentalists also say youâre not supposed to do.
Klear@lemmy.world â¨2⊠â¨days⊠ago
Alaknar@lemm.ee â¨2⊠â¨days⊠ago
My favourite is that you cannot wear clothes made from more than one kind of thread.
Which means, in essence, that in the XXI c., literally everybody, including priests, is a sinner, and goes to hell, because everything is a blend these days.
m4xie@lemmy.ca â¨2⊠â¨days⊠ago
Even in medical times, clothes were usually made with wool fabric and sewn with linen thread for strength. Some Jewish communities would only wear kosher clothing sewn with wool thread.
andros_rex@lemmy.world â¨2⊠â¨days⊠ago
Not Jewish - but my understandings: Those are ritual laws. Non Jews arenât bound by them. I donât think the idea is ever that you âgo to hellâ for not following those rules in Judaism.
Itâs more that you have a covenant with God, where you have agreed to follow a set of rules. The rules themselves are less important than the fact that you have an agreement about this with the higher power - that you keep yourself pure and honor that power through these rules. I think in the historical context a lot of the purity rules are a way of distinguishing your group from others - creating a shared culture around those rules.