The Levirate marriage described in Deuteronomy 25:6-10 tells us that God was concerned for a man who died without having an heir to his inheritance. So a law was put in place to ensure that in such a situation his unmarried brother was obliged to do his duty by marrying his wife and helping him to produce an heir. In verses 11-12, we again see God’s concern for a man who could no longer have any children because his genitals were injured. The person who injured his genitals in this case was the wife of another man whom he had engaged in a fight. It was understandable that a wife would want to help her husband when he was having a conflict with another man. But it was unthinkable for her to be so vicious as to deliberately injure the genitals of her husband’s opponent.
The punishment for such an action was
severe. The hand that she used to injure her husband's opponent’s genitals was
to be cut off. The logical reasons we can think of why God would prescribe such
a punishment were, firstly to act as a deterrent for such an act. He did not
want any woman to even contemplate such an action. Secondly, it was because of
God’s impartiality. In the Levirate marriage, He had allowed the brother of the
dead man to be insulted and shamed just because he refused to carry out his
duty. In this case for a woman who had committed such a gross act was also to
be shown no pity.
One lesson to take away from these verses will again be God’s call for us to act with impartiality. However, we also see the call to think before we act. It is one thing to assist another person in a dispute, but quite another to help him severely injure another person. While God allows us to come to the rescue of another, He will not allow us to act viciously. We must always be judicious and sensible in our actions. The intent must not be to cause severe injury.
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