in the first place such that all six brothers after him line up to provide him with one. And finally when all eight of these people; the poor woman and her seven husbands meet in the here-after whose wife is she? It looks to be an insoluble problem and that’s precisely the point. The Sadducees trotted this story out when they wanted to stump their resurrection-believing opponents. It is kind of a show-stopper and they were hoping to have some fun seeing Jesus struggle with it. At this point some background may be helpful. In the time of Jesus the Sadducees were the upper class folk who only accepted the first five books of the Old Testament, those parts supposedly written by Moses, and in those books resurrection is never mentioned. Well, if God had intended people to be resurrected he would have told his friend Moses about it and Moses would have told them. But he didn’t and that’s why they believed the resurrection was not scriptural and just a fantasy. In fact, those in the elite class probably thought the notion of resurrection was just sour grapes for groups and individuals who hadn’t made it like they had. Resurrection believers believed in a resurrection, even though Moses never mentioned it, because they were still trying to make something out of themselves unlike us Sadducees who had done that already. Even then people and groups were squabbling over how to read scripture and which books in the Bible were from God and which weren’t. Some things never change. While the Sadducees clever story scored debate points, it had a sad underbelly that even they felt. If there is no God-empowered resurrection, the only way a man could insure his continued existence was through having children and if a woman failed to produce the needed children before he died, the brother of the man should help him by marrying the widow and having children for his brother. This is why the rule had been put into the Book of Exodus in the first place—it was a way of achieving a resurrection of sorts through procreation. Since they believed God wasn’t interested in maintaining on-going-ness, they would have to take matters into their own hands and do it through their progeny. The whole thing was driven by the fear of death, the fear of going out of existence: that dread felt at three in the morning on the day you celebrate your next birthday.
in the first place such that all six brothers after him line up to provide him with one. And finally when all eight of these people; the poor woman and her seven husbands meet in the here-after whose wife is she? It looks to be an insoluble problem and that’s precisely the point. The Sadducees trotted this story out when they wanted to stump their resurrection-believing opponents. It is kind of a show-stopper and they were hoping to have some fun seeing Jesus struggle with it. At this point some background may be helpful. In the time of Jesus the Sadducees were the upper class folk who only accepted the first five books of the Old Testament, those parts supposedly written by Moses, and in those books resurrection is never mentioned. Well, if God had intended people to be resurrected he would have told his friend Moses about it and Moses would have told them. But he didn’t and that’s why they believed the resurrection was not scriptural and just a fantasy. In fact, those in the elite class probably thought the notion of resurrection was just sour grapes for groups and individuals who hadn’t made it like they had. Resurrection believers believed in a resurrection, even though Moses never mentioned it, because they were still trying to make something out of themselves unlike us Sadducees who had done that already. Even then people and groups were squabbling over how to read scripture and which books in the Bible were from God and which weren’t. Some things never change. While the Sadducees clever story scored debate points, it had a sad underbelly that even they felt. If there is no God-empowered resurrection, the only way a man could insure his continued existence was through having children and if a woman failed to produce the needed children before he died, the brother of the man should help him by marrying the widow and having children for his brother. This is why the rule had been put into the Book of Exodus in the first place—it was a way of achieving a resurrection of sorts through procreation. Since they believed God wasn’t interested in maintaining on-going-ness, they would have to take matters into their own hands and do it through their progeny. The whole thing was driven by the fear of death, the fear of going out of existence: that dread felt at three in the morning on the day you celebrate your next birthday.
Proper27-2013-Are%20We%20Completely%20Mistaken.docx