David took his men with him and went out and killed two hundred Philistines and brought back their foreskins. They counted out the full number to the king so that David might become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.
- 1 Samuel 18:27
Ah, the good old days, when all a boy really needed to win his intended was enough swag to pay whatever price was demanded by the girl’s father. Whether it was in foreskins, shekels, or asses, marriage was essentially an economic (and quite often also a political) transaction. Yeah, things have changed a fair bit since the days before the birth of Jesus Christ…and I suppose that’s my point. There are people who would forcibly drag us back to a time ruled by Old Testament codes. Somehow, they’d adapt those rules to fit modern times…though no one seems able or willing to explain exactly how that might work. I’ve referred to these folks as the American Taliban (and I’m not the only one), because of their complete, total, unwavering commitment to an theology/ideology that brooks no dissent and knows no mercy.
And yet these folks decry the “threat” that Sharia poses to this country? When their doctrine and rules are essentially the Christian version of the same code? Or is it just that their version of intolerance and blind zealotry is more acceptable because it’s “Christian”?
I could really devote a lot of time and energy to debunking that sort of hypocrisy, but what I REALLY want to know is what one did with 200 foreskins in those days. And were the foreskins of 200 Philistines worth more than the same number of Roman foreskins?
