man killed the girl,” said one of the other elders.
“Only one witness,” said Daniel. “Only one person witnessed the event and can properly swear and give testimony.”
The second elder spoke again. “But do any of us doubt the veracity of Ehud, our countryman? Surely we still know that this young man is a murderer. We cannot release him!”
The chief elder hesitated again.
“My Lord,” Daniel spoke again.
“You may speak,” said the chief elder. He enjoyed the respect that this young man gave him. He’d been prepared to be angry at the intruder, but now he noticed that this young intruder was the only one giving him the respect he was due.
“The law says, ‘A single witness shall not be sufficient to convict a person of any crime or wrongdoing. At the word of two or of three witnesses shall the accusation be established’ (Deuteronomy 19:15). Only one person witnessed the crime, and it cannot be established by the testimony of one who did not actually see the crime.”
“I disagree. We are here in a foreign land. We cannot afford to break trust with our fellow countryman Ehud. I believe his testimony, and I will take the word of his companion in establishing his testimony,” said the second elder.
“My Lord, may I ask another question of the witnesses?” Daniel’s voice was respectful, and he clearly addressed the chief elder.
“Go ahead.”
“With what weapon did the young man strike the girl?”
“With an axe,” said Ehud quickly, as his companion’s mouth opened and then closed.
Daniel walked over to the body. He knew that what he was about to do was shocking. He settled in his mind that he would not be staying in these people’s camp that night. Everyone else might forget, but he remembered such of the laws as he’d learned before he was taken into exile. There was no priest and no temple to go to for purification, but he’d do what he could do after he had handled the corpse.
He reached down and tore the robe from the back of the victim, leaving her back exposed as a gasp went up from the gathered villagers. The gasp was for his audacity in handling the body and in uncovering her in that way. But then there was another gasp as the gathered people saw that the girl’s back was beaten to a pulp, with pieces of her clothing still clinging to the wounds. Everybody could see in a moment that she had not be killed with an axe, but instead had been beaten to death.
It took only a few moments for the verdict to be given for the accused young man to be released. The girl had no family there, but the elders determined to bury her properly.
The chief elder turned to Daniel. “Can we not convict this man of the murder of the girl?” he asked, now convinced of Daniel’s wisdom and learning.
“Not unless there are witnesses that he was the one who beat her. But you can convict him of bringing false testimony. The law also says, ‘You shall do to him as he planned to do to his brother’ (Deuteronomy 19:19). We do not have a temple, but I think it would be right to follow this law even here.”
Ehud’s face turned white as he heard the village elders, one after another, agree to the verdict based on their own witness to the false testimony.
All in all, thought Daniel, it was not the restful evening he’d hoped for. But justice was done, however unpleasant.
QUESTIONS:
Why is false testimony so strongly condemned in Scripture?
Is lying when you are not under oath less destructive?
Is there ever a time when it is acceptable to lie? To violate an oath?
God Talk Club
and the She Bears
2 Kings 2:23-25, 1 John 4:7-21
Small talk was dying down and everyone had their drinks.1 Mark had a question:
“I’ve been given an assignment,” he said to the group, and I’d like your thoughts.2
“What is it?” asked Mandy.
“We’re supposed to write a 10 minute homily on 2 Kings 3:23-24.”
“Ten minutes? That’s going to cramp your style. You can’t tell them everything you’ve learned in your seminary classes.” Mandy was laughing as she said it, and Mark took it in good humor. He really did like to put his whole seminary training into each homily.
“Ten minutes,” echoed Jerry. “You can’t really get to the meat of a scripture in that period of time.
“I didn’t know you Presbyterians had long sermons. I thought you generally had about 20 minute homilies,” said Mandy.
“Not at my church. It’s more like 30-40 minutes, and sometimes we get more in the pastor’s Sunday School class.”
“Oh, you learn something new every day,” said Mandy. “But we should get back to Mark. What are your questions?”
“Well,” said Mark and paused. He felt like he knew what he’d hear from each person and was almost afraid to start. “It’s such a violent story. Elisha seems to get offended and so he slaughters a bunch of kids. Where’s the moral in that?”
Justine, Mandy, and Jerry started talking at once, then started to apologize to each other.
Over the confusion, Bob Norman cut in. “OK, I’ll bite. What is this story of the she-bears?”
“You don’t know that one?” exclaimed Mac. “That’s a skeptical staple. A Christian says ‘God is love’ and you say ‘But what about the she bears?’ I’m going to have to revoke your skeptic’s license.”
Bob was working on getting used to Mac. He was a science teacher, an atheist, and quite convinced, but he had been raised in a conventionally religious home, one where he didn’t see church all that often. Until he had gotten together with the God-Talk Club he hadn’t argued religion that much. He just didn’t believe.
Mac, on the other hand, seemed to think that the purpose of skeptics was to argue with Christians. She knew more about Christianity than most Christians.
“So what is the story?” asked Bob, looking at Mac.
“Well, this prophet named Elisha was walking along, and some children started taunting him about being bald. So he cursed them and called some she bears to maul them. The bears got 42 of them.”
Jerry cut in, “Well, not precisely. How about we read the text as it’s written?”
Jerry pulled out his Bible and read:
(23) He went from there to Bethel, and
