Something you’ve probably noticed about the Bible’s Old Testament is the way guys reacted to bad news. They ripped their clothes. As early as Genesis and as late as the time of the Apostles, whenever something didn’t go their way, they would “rend their garments.”
Maybe that was acceptable behavior back then, but when I was a kid, deliberately tearing anything was a punishable offense. Just a few years ago I was irked about something and tore my shirt. My wife refused to mend it. It still hangs in my closet with buttonholes the size of saucers.
I can only imagine the plight of wives back then whenever their husbands would throw temper tantrums.
“How many more times, Abram, do you think I can mend this tunic? Look at it. Look at the places you’ve torn it. Here was when you lost your temper with the tax collector. And this one, remember this one, the Temple guard who told you to go home and change your sandals?”
“So, I remember already. Just fix it will you.”
“Just fix it? All day I cook and clean and then you come home with another ripped tunic. You think that’s all I’ve got to do? Abram, I want you should talk to Simon the baker. He took that anger management class and it’s made him a new man. You should take that class, Abram, while you’ve still got a tunic to wear.”
I know that things haven’t changed completely since the days of Proverbs and Deuteronomy, but I haven’t seen a guy shred his shirt in years. Maybe the anger management classes are working.