Eunuch

Wounded Eunuchs

Deuteronomy 23:1 "He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD."

Does this verse express a bigotry for eunuchs?

The rule that a eunuch should not enter into the congregation was intended to prevent the Israelites from making eunuchs of their brethren or their children.

That was a custom to prevent wealth from being diluted but it was against the command to be fruitful. There was also a custom to castrate servants and treasurer's to keep them honest but any attempt to cause the infertility of mankind is a sin against the God of creation. As we judge so shall we be judged.

The family was the most essential unit of the kingdom. Congregations are free assemblies not individuals.

We see in the very next verse that bastards are also excluded from being a part of the official congregation of the nation.

Deuteronomy 23:2 "A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD."

They could join after 10 generations. So again this is a rule to encourage the avoidance of illegitimacy.

They could still be a part of the community but not an "official" congregation of the nation.

Early Israel was one form of government in which there was no king or central executive authority. Each family was an autonomous unit of self-government which came together in a network of volunteerism. It was a true Republic in which every family was free from things public, Libera res publica.

Even taxation was in the form of a tithe where each family in free assemblies or congregations supported the public minister or levite of their choice "according to their service". If the people were slothful in their freewill offerings they would end up under tribute and back entangled in the bondage of Egypt.

The levites provided a social safety net of private welfare called "pure Religion" which did not depend on the covetous practices of Cain, Nimrod, and his Babylon nor Caesar, FDR, and their world of Rome. Their table was always a snare and a net.

Christ and the daily ministration of free bread in the form of the Eucharist of the early Church provided from house to house was to not only set the captive free but it created the social bonds required in a free society to maintain that freedom, liberty, and power to choose.

The Eunuch Simeon

So many people who get official education imagine they understand the gospel but they are actually suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect, the cognitive bias in which people believe that they are smarter and more capable than they really are.

The article of Phillip: Vessel of God’s Grace suggests that the Law of Moses does not permit a eunuch to join in God's assembly but does not understand that assembly.

There are a number of errors in his article. First, Moses may have married a Cushite but Zipporah was an Ishmaelite. She may have had some Cushite blood in her but I do not think she was the Cushite Moses married.

There may be a sort of prohibition in scripture against a eunuch taking a certain role in the network of assemblies because he cannot produce a family.

It is families that are assembled for a particular purpose of political governance as a free people.

There was a suggestion that Simeon "ran into religion" as if there is a problem with the idea of religion.

What Simeon ran into may have been ideology. The 5 times religion is mentioned in the bible 4 times it is mentioned with a negative reference.

This is not because religion is bad but the religion of the Pharisees was making the word of God to none effect because it was not "pure religion" since Herod.

James speaks highly of religion.

The religion of the Pharisees and Sadducees and others had become public religion that was very much spotted by the "world". Unfortunately most of the people today in all religions depend on public welfare, which is public religion.

Herod had been baptizing people into his kingdom of God, his Public religion.

Public religion like the Corban of the Pharisees makes the word of God to none effect through its covetous practices and the sloth that produces.

The eunuch was now becoming a part of a social welfare system that operated by faith, hope, and charity rather than the covetous practices of the world that used force, fear, and fealty of the legal charity of the world.

Baptism by water was simply the ritual unto repentance. But to repent was to go The Way of Christ.

The Eunuch blessed

The Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40) that Philip the evangelist preached the Gospel of the kingdom to was a High Official in charge of all the treasures of the Queen of Ethiopia.

He repented of the public religion of the world and bore witness he accepted the way of righteousness with a water baptism.

The same was true at Pentecost when the people were put out of one system of social security of legal charity to become a part of the system of the fervent charity of God.

Long before that we see in Isaiah 56:4, 5 that the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths and hold fast to my righteousness — to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever.

Understanding the Sabbath and that it is about debt and surety and bondage of Egypt and the wages of unrighteousness is essential to understanding true baptism but also understanding the congregations of the people and their purpose.

The need to be a doer of the word and not a hearer only was also emphasized by Christ.

Eunuchs for the kingdom

What about Matthew 19:11–12?

These words of Jesus have nothing to do with encouraging self-mutilation. Nor is it an attempt to create a doctrine of celibacy. This whole chapter is about the Family. The words concerning eunuchs must be read in the context of the whole meaning of the Chapter and the Doctrines of Jesus. The family is the primary institution of God and the building unit of His Kingdom of God.

There is no advocacy of celibacy nor becoming a Eunuch but also there is no stigma attached to it if you are made a eunuch or choose not to have a family. You would still be expected to keep the commandments if you wanted eternal life. And of course as Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, and Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself and as we saw in Isaiah 56:4, 5 he would be expected to keep my Sabbaths and hold fast to my righteousness and not go into debt to obtain the wages of unrighteousness nor have an appetite for the dainties of benefactors who exercise authority one over the other.

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