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Homosexuality and biblical interpretation (view source)
Revision as of 04:50, April 10, 2009
, 04:50, April 10, 2009→David and Jonathan
See [[David and Jonathan]]
See [[David and Jonathan]]
==Daniel and Ashpenaz==
"Now God had brought Daniel into favour[H2617] and tender love[H7356] with the prince of the eunuchs." (Dan 1:9)
A far less popular attempt by a popular pro-homosex writer is one which argues that the Hebrew words for ''favour'' and ''tender love'', ''chesed'' ''v'rachamim'', is more reasonably translated "mercy" and "physical love", rendering it that the eunuch "Ashpenaz showed mercy and engaged in physical love" with Daniel the eunuch. He deals with the problem of eunuchs engaging in sex by assuming that they were both castrated after puberty and also retained their sex drive.
However, grammatically the combination of the two Hebrews words used for favor and tender love is not exclusive to here, but are used many times elsewhere to describe the lovingkindness (KJV) of the LORD, as in Psa 25:6: “Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies[7356] and thy lovingkindnesses[2617],” or Psa 103:4: “....who crowneth thee with lovingkindness[2617] and tender mercies[7356].” (cf. Ps. 40:11; 51:1; 69:16; Ps. 103:4; Is. 63:7; Jer. 16:5; Lam. 3:22; Hos. 2:19; Zec. 7:9)
Moreover, in it's 42 occurrences the word for "tender love" almost always means mercies in the general sense, and is never used to describe strictly physical love, let alone in the erotic sense. Nor is the it used as part of a reciprocal action, as between two persons engaging in such. The idea that it describes physical love seems to be derived from the fact that in a minority of times it denotes the womb, (Gen. 49:25, Prov. 30:16, Isa. 46:3, Eze. 20:26) yet the subject in such cases is not being physically loved. The context of Daniel 1:9 is that of other texts in which kindness and mercy is shown, and fits perfectly with the usual combination of chesed with v'rachamim, that of non erotic lovingkindness and mercies.
In addition, studies show that castration after the onset of puberty typically reduces sex drive considerably or altogether eliminate it.<ref>The case for castration, part 2, Washington Monthly , May, 1994 by Fred S. Berlin</ref><ref>The Unkindest Cut: A Czech Solution for Sex Offenders, Timemagazine, By Leo Cendrowicz / Brussels Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009</ref>
Thus the assertion that Daniel 1:9 is more reasonably rendered as “mercy and engaged in physical love” is not reasonable, and is unwarranted, and demonstrates for traditionalists the extremes pro-homosex polemicists can go to in attempting to force text into passages it does not belong in.
== See also ==
== See also ==