Monday, August 11, 2008

One-day-old Hispanic girl found hidden among Nashville bushes

WSMV and the Tennessean reported (here and here) on the discovery Friday of a one-day-old infant girl hidden among some bushes on McDonald drive in Nashville, which is a street that runs just north of Briley Parkway, near Murfreesboro Road.

According to WSMV, "Tennessee has what's called a 'safe haven' law, meaning a person can legally leave an infant less than 72 hours old at a hospital, police station or fire house with no questions asked."

The police say the child is Hispanic, according to the WSMV report.

Illustration of Pharoah's daughter* by Bethanne Andersen.

*This is off-topic, but at a time when many are caught in the crossfire of what is often a confused and unnecessarily negative policy debate about personal responsibility vis-a-vis immigration law, I find it both instructive and exhortative that Moses' mother violated national law by hiding him instead of killing him, as did Pharoah's daughter by saving him. Considering that the law had come from her own father, Pharoah's daughter betrayed more than just her country - she betrayed her family. As a result, according to the Jewish tradition I learned about here, Pharoah's daughter was renamed "daughter of God."

In the words of Patricia K. Tull, A. B. Rhodes Professor of Old Testament, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (audio and PDF here):
She is not in a position to change her father's laws or heart. But she listens to the baby's cries and follows her own law, her own heart. Lacking the power to change governmental policies, the Pharaoh's daughter nevertheless overturns a society gone terribly awry.

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