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 rule to encourage the avoidance of illigitamacy.

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