03/01/10

Numbers 18-21

In chapter 18, the LORD spoke to Aaron, and told him that he and his sons "and your father's family" will bear the responsibility for any offenses against the sanctuary, and that he and his sons will bear responsibility for any offenses against the priesthood. The other Levites have been given to do the work of the Tent of Meeting, but only he and his sons may serve as priests at the altar and inside the curtain - anyone else would be put to death. With their burdens and responsibilities, they will also be supported by the offerings of the people. He and his sons are to have "\the part of the most holy offerings that is kept from the fire." The LORD gives them that as their portion. That also means that they "will have no inheritance in their land...I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites." They are to have "all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance."

Numbers 19 describes the water of cleansing. A red heifer "without defect or blemish" is to be sacrificed and burned, with cedar, hyssop and scarlet wool tossed on while its burning. The ashes are to be gathered by someone clean and put in a ceremonially clean place outside camp. The ashes, placed in a clean jar with clean water forms the water of cleansing, which can be used to clean unclean people and things.

In chapter 20, Miriam dies and is buried at Kadesh. Then the company grumbles against Moses and Aaron again, because there is no water. Moses and Aaron "fell facedown" in the Tent of Meeting, and "the glory of the LORD appeard to them." He told Moses to gather the assembly and to speak to a rock, and "it will pour out its water." So Moses speaks to the assembly, calls them rebels, and strikes the rock with his staff, and water gushes out. But the LORD was angered with Moses "because you did not trust in me enought to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites," and he told him that he would not lead the people in to the promised land.

Moses sent messages to the king of Edom, telling him about the promises the LORD had made and how he had brought them out of Egypt, and asked permission to pass through Edom. But the Edomites refused and threatened to attack them if they tried. The Israelites sent back word that they would stay on the main road, and take nothing, not even grass or water, but again the Edom said no, and "came out against them with a large and powerful army." So Israel turned away.

After that they left Kadesh and came to Mount Hor, where the LORD told Moses and Aaron that "Aaron will be gathered to his people." At the LORD's command, they went up Mount Hor with Eleazar and transferred the priestly garments on to him, and then Aaron died on top of the mountain. The whole of Israel mourned for 30 days.

Numbers 21 starts with a story of the Canaanite king of Arad capturing some Israelites as they traveled the road to Atharim. Israel pledged to GOD that if he would "deliver these people into our hands, we will totally destroy their cities." The LORD heard, and gave the Canaanites over to them and they destroyed the cities.

But, as they traveled the Red Sea route around Edom, they again grew miserable and grumbled against Moses and against the LORD. The LORD sent venomous snakes among them and many died, but Moses prayed, and the LORD told him to "make a snake and put it on a pole." Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole, and anyone who was bitten could look at the bronze snake and live. They continued on towards Moab, and the book describes places along the way. It also references another book, apparently now lost, called the "Book of the Wars of the LORD."

As they had done with Edom, the Israelites sent a message to Sihon, king of the Amorites, that they would take nothing if allowed to pass through, but, also like the Edomites, Sihon refused. He mustered his army and marched out to attack. The Israelites won, and "took over his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, but only as far as the Ammonites." They captured all of the cities of the Amorites and occupied them. Moses then sent spies to Jazer and captured its settlements and "drove out the Amorites who were there." They then turned towards Bashan, and Og, kind of Bashan, marched to meet them with his entire army. The LORD told Moses that "I have handed him over to you," and they struck him down and his whole army, "leaving them no survivors," and "took possession of his land."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• Among a nation set apart from other nations, the descendants of Aaron are set apart yet again, as a priesthood among the nation of priests. That seems a heavy burden.
• Ps 51:7 - "Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow."
  
  I've recited that many times, as we read the 51st psalms as a prayer of confession before the Lord's Supper at Park Street. But I never understood the context for it. Now I do. It's a reference to Numbers 19 and the water of purification. The ashes from the purification offering, with clean water, are sprinkled using hyssop. And there was hyssop burned as part of the purification offering. The ritual was to be performed to make the unclean clean. So this is a prayer for ritualistic cleansing as the LORD commands.
• It's difficult to be sure what, exactly, Moses did that angered GOD at Meribah. My best guess reading is that Moses said "must we bring you water out of this rock" rather than "must the LORD bring water out of this rock" but I don't know that for sure. I may be misreading. If that's it, again, it seems harsh to treat Moses that way after the service he's given (albeit, not without some grumbling of his own along the way.) Maybe that's part of the lesson. "With GOD all things are possible" and failing to acknowledge the work of the LORD is a sin. And all sin, and fall short, and are in danger of judgement. If Moses can be kept out of the promised land for mis-speaking at this point and in this way, how could any of us possibly think we've "earned" our way in to heaven?
• Aaron's death seems...unseemly. I guess that it makes sense, if dead bodies are unclean, that you don't want him dying in the priestly garments, but the passage reads cold. Aaron also gave good service to the LORD.
  
  But again, all sin, all fall short. Even Aaron, even Moses.
• As some point, you assume that you're going to stop reading things like this:
  

  They quarreled with Moses and said, "If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD! Why did you bring the LORD's community into this desert, that we and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place?

  But no. No amount of convincing seems to work. Here, in chapter 20, complaining about their conditions.
  
  And here again in chapter 21:
  

  ...they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!"

  It's understandable why the LORD was angered against them.
• Yes, GOD told them to make the bronze snake while they made the golden calf on their own, but that strikes me as dangerously close to idol worship. And it's definitely the kind of thing that leads to idol worship - "hey, that bronze snake can protect you from snake bites!"
• It seems likely that Numbers 21 marks the actual start of the conquest of Canaan, which is predominantly documented in the book of Joshua.

Psalms 24

Another psalm of praise, of acknowledgment of the LORD and the debts we all owe to him. "The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it..." But again, we see the Jewish perspective of ritualistic cleansing, of following the law, as preparing a man to "ascend the hill of the LORD." The Christian perspective is that none of us can ever prepare to ascend that hill on our own, that no amount of works or cleansing can enable a man to follow the law well enough to earn that. Only Jesus could ascend that hill, and we can only do it in him.

One of Handel's wonderful Messiah choruses is the last four verses of this psalm.

Psalm 24
Of David. A psalm.
1 The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;

2 for he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the waters.

3 Who may ascend the hill of the LORD ?
Who may stand in his holy place?

4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol
or swear by what is false. [a]

5 He will receive blessing from the LORD
and vindication from God his Savior.

6 Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek your face, O God of Jacob. [b]
Selah

7 Lift up your heads, O you gates;
be lifted up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.

8 Who is this King of glory?
The LORD strong and mighty,
the LORD mighty in battle.

9 Lift up your heads, O you gates;
lift them up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.

10 Who is he, this King of glory?
The LORD Almighty—
he is the King of glory.
Selah

02/27/10

Numbers 1-3

In the first part of Numbers 15, the LORD conveys to the Israelites, through Moses, information about some further detail on some offerings, including the kind of grain and drink offerings to give with various animal sacrifices. He tells them that the rules apply both to native born and aliens, "a lasting ordinance for the generations to come." And he told them again that the offerings to the LORD should come "from the first of your ground meal." These rules are followed with more rules for offerings for unintentional sins. "But anyone who sins defiantly...must be cut off from his people. Because he has despised the LORD's word and broken his commands...his guilt remains on him." The chapter ends with instructions from the LORD that they are to wear tassels on the corners of their garments, to remind them of the commands of the LORD.

Between the offering commands and the instructions to wear tassels, however, there's a story of a man "found gathering wood on the Sabbath day." They put him in to custody, unsure of what to do with him. The LORD said to Moses that the whole camp should stone him, so they put him to death.

Chapter 16 relates the story of a revolt against the leadership of Moses and Aaron, led by three Israelites named Korah, who was himself a Levite, and Dathan and Abiram of the tribe of Reuben. They denounced the way in which Moses and Aaron appeared to claim more holiness than the rest of the community. Dathan and Abiram also denounced Moses for having brought them out of a land of mil and honey "to kill us in the desert." Moses "fell facedown," and told them to put fire and incense in their censers the next morning, and that the man the LORD chooses "will be the one that is holy."

They gathered at the Tent of Meeting, and the LORD wanted to separate Moses and Aaron and then kill the whole assembly, but Moses and Aaron prayed that he not. So he told them to tell the assembly to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Moses told everyone that they would know that the LORD had not sent him "if these men die a natural death and experience only what usually happens to men" but if the ground swallowed them, "then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt." The ground split open and Korah, Dathan and Abiram, with their tents and households and possessions, were "swallowed up" and the the ground closed over them. Then the people fled, fearing that they would also be swallowed up, and the fire of the LORD consumed the 250 men who had joined the leaders and were offering incense. The LORD told Moses to have Aaron's son Eleazar take the censers out of the remains and hammer them into sheets to overlay the altar. "This was to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense before the LORD." The next day, the grumbling continued, now against Moses and Aaron for having "killed the LORD's people." So the LORD sent a plague among them. Aaron offered incense and made atonement for them, and stopped the plague, but 14,700 people had died.

In chapter 17, the LORD told Moses to gather twelve staffs from the Israelites, one from each of the tribes, including Aaron's, and to put them in the Tent of Meeting, where he would make one of them bud. So they did this, and the next day, entering the Tent of Meeting, saw that Aaron's staff, representing the house of Levi, "had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds." So they kept Aaron's staff in the Tent of Meeting, but the people said to Moses, "We will die! We are lost, we are all lost! Anyone who even comes near the tabernacle of the LORD will die. Are we all going to die?"

Thoughts, questions, issues

• There will always be a challenge to leadership. In the case of the Israelites, the younger generation, led by three men, revolted against the leadership of Moses and the elders.
• There are passages in the Bible that make it very hard to worship GOD. This section of Numbers is one of them, as GOD comes across as petty, vengeful and almost sadistic. Does gathering wood on the Sabbath really warrant public stoning? Even if a man challenges the leadership of Moses, does that justify his wife and children and servants being buried alive? The responses to the provocation seem all out of proportion to those provocations.
  
  How are we to understand these stories? What can we read out of them of relevance to us today?

Psalms 20

If there's a better-known piece of scripture than the 23rd Psalm, I don't know what it is. I would guess that, of all the people in the world that know one Psalm by heart, the vast majority know this one. It's certainly the piece of scripture that I know best, and the prayer that I tend to pray in any times of strife and stress. "The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want."

I've used the NIV most of the time during this project, but I love the KJV Psalm 23. That's the one that I know and pray.

I've sung at least four different settings of this text, possibly as many as seven.

1The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

02/25/10

Numbers 8-10

The first verses in Numbers 8 tell how Aaron set up the lamps to light the area in front of the lampstand as the LORD commanded. The rest of the chapter describes the purification of the Levites. They were taken from among the other Israelites and made ceremonially clean by washing, shaving "their whole bodies" and washing their clothes. They performed a grain offering and a sin offering, and gathered the whole Israelite community to lay hands upon the Levites. After the burnt offerings, the Levites were presented as a wave offering to the LORD, set apart from the other Israelites. The LORD said that the Levites were to perform their duties in the Tent of Meeting from age 26 to age 50.

In chapter nine, the LORD tells Moses to have the Israelites celebrate the passover. Moses told the Israelites this, but some were unable to celebrate due to ceremonial uncleanness because of a dead body. They asked what they should do, and Moses told them to wait until he could find out the LORD's command. The LORD instructs them that one who his traveling or unclean may still partake of the passover meal but one is who is not traveling and is clean who does not partake must be cut off.

The LORD's presence rested in the cloud above the tabernacle. When it stayed, the Israelites stayed. When the cloud lifted from the tent of meeting, the Israelites traveled. "Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out."

In chapter ten, the LORD tells Moses to make two silver trumpets, which are to be used for signalling to the camp when it is time for the leaders to meet and when it is time for the camp to move out. And he tells them to blow the horns when they are in battle in their own land, and "you will be remembered by the LORD your God and rescued from your enemies."

Finally, the LORD deemed that they were ready to move on from Sinai, and on the 20th day of the 2nd month of the 2nd year, "the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle of the Testimony." They left the camp, Judah leading the way, followed by Issachar and Zebulun. The tabernacle was carried by the Gershonite and Merarites next. These were followed by Reuben, Simeon and Gad, before the Kohathites came, carrying the holy things. ("The tabernacle was to be set up before they arrived.") Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin were next, with Dan, Asher and Naphtali as the rearguard.

Moses told Hobab, son of Reuel the Midianite (who was Moses' father-in-law) that they were leaving and encouraged him to come with them. When he said that he was going to return to his own land and his own people, Moses pleaded with him to come, because he knew the desert and could "be our eyes," and told him that they would share with him "whatever good things the LORD gives us." They set out from Sinai ("the mountain of the LORD") with the ark of the covenant going before them and the cloud of the LORD over them. And the chapter closes the ritualistic prayers that Moses would give whenever the ark set out or came to rest.

Thoughts, questions, issues

• One of the striking aspects of the book of Numbers is how mundane much of it is. It has a kind of dry weight of authenticity, in that the vast majority of it, at least thus far, is material that there's absolutely no reason to invent. There are those who contend that the exodus and the conquest never happened, but it's hard to see a good reason that this book would be a late invention.
• Numbers 9:8 is shocking for those of us who have never heard the voice of GOD directly. A procedural question arises, and Moses' response is, "I don't know - let me ask GOD." And GOD answers him. Directly and, apparently, immediately. Which of us hasn't dreamed of having that resource for our questions? For us, our questions tend to get asked and the answers come, when they do, in very indirect and open-to-interpretation ways, if they come at all. It's hard to imagine having that kind of pipeline to the creator of the universe.
• The question arises, again, of how the people of Israel could ever turn away after witnessing GOD's presence the way that they have.

• When you go into battle in your own land against an enemy who is oppressing you, sound a blast on the trumpets. Then you will be remembered by the LORD your God and rescued from your enemies

  There's a passage that I'd completely forgotten about. And so I've read the Chronicles of Narnia many times, and never realized that Susan's horn is yet one more piece of theology that Lewis "smuggled in."
• The story of Hobab is interesting in that he does not say what he decided. We are left to imply that he came, but it doesn't actually say that. What I don't know, as I'm writing this, is whether or not it becomes obvious later. If Hobab plays a prominent role later in the book of Numbers or in Deuteronomy, then this quesion will be answered. But right now, I have it.

Psalms 22

Psalm 22 starts with a cry of despair, a cry that Jesus echoed from the cross. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" I think it's a cry which we can all understand. Even if never the depth of the pain and suffering that Jesus took for us, or that the psalmist felt, we've all had times when we felt distant or disconnected or "forsaken" by GOD.

As an aside, one of my favorite Messiah choruses is from this passage, "He trusted in GOD that he would deliver him." But there's almost never a chance to sing it unless you're doing the whole oratorio. It has a fabulous bass line, but doesn't really lend itself to a stand-alone performance - there's too much context needed.

Psalm 22
For the director of music. To the tune of "The Doe of the Morning." A psalm of David.
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from the words of my groaning?

2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, and am not silent.

3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the praise of Israel.

4 In you our fathers put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.

5 They cried to you and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not disappointed.

6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by men and despised by the people.

7 All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads:

8 "He trusts in the LORD;
let the LORD rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him."

9 Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you
even at my mother's breast.

10 From birth I was cast upon you;
from my mother's womb you have been my God.

11 Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.

02/16/10

Leviticus 22-24

In chapter 22, the LORD emphasizes the importance of proper handling of the sacred offerings by the priests "so they will not profane my holy name." The priests must be clean, and if any condition of uncleanness occurs, they must be cleansed before handling the sacrifices. "The priests are to keep my requirements so that they do not become guilty and die for treating them with contempt. I am the LORD, who makes them holy." He also reiterates the instructions regarding the sacrifices - they are to be "without blemish."

in chapter 23, the LORD repeats the instructions for the appointed feasts. The sabbath is "a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work." The Passover, the festival of the First Fruits, the Feast of Weeks, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of Tabernacles are all mentioned with times and rituals.

Leviticus 24 features the first narrative of any kind since the deaths of Nadab and Abihu in chapter 10. First, the LORD commands the Israelites to bring clear olive oil for the lamps and tells them that Aaron is to tend the lamps continually in the Tent of Meeting. Then, in verse 10, a son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father got into a fight with an Israelite and "blasphemed the Name with a curse." They put him in custody "until the will of the LORD should be made clear to them." The LORD told Moses to take him outside the camp, and that the entire assembly should stone him, "anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death." He reiterates the principle of justice, "eye for eye, tooth for tooth." And the Israelites took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him, as the LORD had commanded.

Thoughts, questions, issues

• For the vast majority of the book of Leviticus, nothing happens. The stoning of the blasphemer is the first narrative of any kind since the deaths of Nadab and Abihu in chapter 10, and is really only the second piece of narrative in the book. It's a book of law, and that's it, at least through the first 24 chapters.
• It's interesting to get the stoning of the blasphemer at the same time as the reminder to let the punishment fit the crime. It's hard to get into the mind-set where death is an appropriate punishment for blasphemy.

Psalms 15

The psalmist reflects, briefly, on the good things that come to he "whose walk is blameless."

Psalm 15
A psalm of David.
1 LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may live on your holy hill?

2 He whose walk is blameless
and who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from his heart

3 and has no slander on his tongue,
who does his neighbor no wrong
and casts no slur on his fellowman,

4 who despises a vile man
but honors those who fear the LORD,
who keeps his oath
even when it hurts,

5 who lends his money without usury
and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things
will never be shaken.

02/11/10

Leviticus 9-11

In chapter nine, Moses summoned Aaron and his sons and his elders, "on the eighth day." They gathered to begin the priestly ministry of Aaron and his family. Aaron offered a calf as a sin offering from himself and a lamb as a burnt offering. He then sacrificed a goat as a sin offering for the people. He offered hte burnt offering and the grain offering. He then sacrificed an ox and a ram as a fellowship offering for the people, then he turned and lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them. Moses and Aaron entered the tent and blessed the people when they came out. And the glory of the LORD appeared, and fire came out and consumed the offerings on the altar, and the people prostrated themselves.

Chapter ten opens with Nadab and Abihu, two of Aaron's sons, offering unauthorized fire before the LORD, and fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them. Moses told Aaron that the LORD had warned people not to approach him in an unworthy fashion. He then called two of Aaron's cousins and had them remove the dead bodies outside the camp. He then warned Aaron and his other two sons Eleazar and Ithamar to maintain a calm demeanor "or you will die and the LORD will be angry with the whole community." And he told them that they couldn't leave the entrance to the Tent of Meeting because they had the anointing oil on them. Then the LORD gave Aaron and his sons more instructions, including that they were not to drink when they went to the Tent of Meeting. "This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean, 11 and you must teach the Israelites all the decrees the LORD has given them through Moses."

Moses told Aaron and his sons to take the grain offering left over and eat it "in a holy place, because it is your share." When he asked after the goat from the sin offering and discovered that it had been burnt up, he was angry, but Aaron asked, "Would the LORD have been pleased if I had eaten the sin offering today?" That appeased Moses.

In chapter 11, the LORD began to lay out the dietary laws to Moses and Aaron.

Thoughts, questions, issues

• Chapter 9 starts "on the eighth day," but eighth day of what, I don't know. I've lost track of what the timeline is, and am unsure of the reference. Is is the eighth day of the first month? The eighth day after the erection of the tabernacle? I do not know.
• The deaths of Nadab and Abihu seem almost extravagantly unnecessary. "They offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to his command," but I don't understand what command is being referenced. The only thing that I see that comes close in from chapter 6, but that just said that the fire on the altar should be kept burning, not that fire couldn't come near to the altar from other places. I just don't understand what the background is, what command has been violated.
• I presume that there is some logic to the list of clean and unclean animals. I haven't done any research into it, but there is nothing obvious to me.

Psalms 11

Number 11 is a psalm expressing trust in the LORD.

I never noticed before how many verses in the psalms sound exactly like verses from proverbs. Consider verse 5 - "the LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates." Out of context, would you be able to identify the source?

1 In the LORD I take refuge.
How then can you say to me:
"Flee like a bird to your mountain.

2 For look, the wicked bend their bows;
they set their arrows against the strings
to shoot from the shadows
at the upright in heart.

3 When the foundations are being destroyed,
what can the righteous do [a] ?"

4 The LORD is in his holy temple;
the LORD is on his heavenly throne.
He observes the sons of men;
his eyes examine them.

5 The LORD examines the righteous,
but the wicked [b] and those who love violence
his soul hates.

6 On the wicked he will rain
fiery coals and burning sulfur;
a scorching wind will be their lot.

7 For the LORD is righteous,
he loves justice;
upright men will see his face.

02/10/10

Leviticus 5-8

Chapter five begins talking about sin and "unclean"ness. Among the sins specifically mentioned are refusing to testify when one has knowledge and taking an oath "thoughtlessly." This is quickly followed up with an extension of the discussion of the rituals of cleansing. Anyone guilty of any of these sins must confess and bring a lamb or goat or two doves or two young pigeons as a sacrifice. There are specific instructions for the priest as to how to perform the sacrifice. If he cannot afford any of the previous prices mentioned, the sinner should bring flour for his sin offering. And the LORD is clear in his instructions that the sin occurs when the LORD's commands are broken, even if the guilty party does not realize it.

Chapter 6 identifies more specific sins, including deceiving one's neighbor about something left in his care, or finding lost property and not returning it. The guilty party much make restitution in full plus 20% more, and make a guilt offering. This is followed by further instructions for the specific rituals to be associated with the burnt offering, the grain offering and the sin offering. Then chapter 7 offers the regulations for the guilt offering and the fellowship offering. And, as part of the regulations, the Israelites are forbidden from eating fat or blood.

In chapter 8, the LORD tells Moses to bring Aaron and his sons, the priestly garments, the anointing oil, a bull, two rams and basket of unleavened bread, and to gather everyone at the tent of meeting. Then Moses washed Aaron and his sons with water, and dressed Aaron in the garments. He anointed the tabernacle and everything in it with the oil. They offered the bull for the sin offering and the ram for the burnt offering. The ram was sacrificed for the ordination of Aaron and his sons, and blood was put on their ears thumbs and toes and sprinkled on the altar. So Aaron and his sons were consecrated as the LORD had instructed.

Thoughts, questions, issues

• My overwhelming perception, eight chapters in, is that the pages of Leviticus are drenched in blood. Blood sprinkled, burnt, poured. Blood on the altar, on the ground, on the robes. It's a very bloody book.
• Thus far, the law being handed down has been explicitly for the Israelites. Even the Ten Commandments are explicitly intended for the children of Israel - "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt." Why do Christians not have to follow the Levitical dietary and ritual laws? Because those were for a covenant with the people of Israel. Christians are part of a new Covenant in Jesus Christ.
• Do modern Jews, even the orthodox, practice the sacrifices as they've been laid out here? Not that I know of. What I don't know is why that is the case.

Psalms 10

The Psalmist ponders the seeming lack of the presence of God. "Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?" And, with God "hid[ing]," the wicked take advantage. "His victims are crushed, they collapse...they fall under his strength. He says to himself, 'God has forgotten; he covers his face and never sees.'" But the Psalmist cries for the LORD, and trusts that he is still watching, listening and caring. "You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more."

Psalm 10

1 [a]Why, O LORD, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

2 In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,
who are caught in the schemes he devises.

3 He boasts of the cravings of his heart;
he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.

4 In his pride the wicked does not seek him;
in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

5 His ways are always prosperous;
he is haughty and your laws are far from him;
he sneers at all his enemies.

6 He says to himself, "Nothing will shake me;
I'll always be happy and never have trouble."

7 His mouth is full of curses and lies and threats;
trouble and evil are under his tongue.

8 He lies in wait near the villages;
from ambush he murders the innocent,
watching in secret for his victims.

9 He lies in wait like a lion in cover;
he lies in wait to catch the helpless;
he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.

10 His victims are crushed, they collapse;
they fall under his strength.

11 He says to himself, "God has forgotten;
he covers his face and never sees."

12 Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God.
Do not forget the helpless.

13 Why does the wicked man revile God?
Why does he say to himself,
"He won't call me to account"?

14 But you, O God, do see trouble and grief;
you consider it to take it in hand.
The victim commits himself to you;
you are the helper of the fatherless.

15 Break the arm of the wicked and evil man;
call him to account for his wickedness
that would not be found out.

16 The LORD is King for ever and ever;
the nations will perish from his land.

17 You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted;
you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,

18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.

02/06/10

Exodus 32-34

In chapter 32, the people of Israel, impatient with Moses who has been forty days and nights on Mount Sinai with God, demand that Aaron make them a "god who will go before us." He tells them to give him their gold earrings and uses them to fashion a golden calf, which they proceed to worship as the god "who brought [them] up out of Egypt." He then announced a festival, so he built an altar and they sacrificed burnt offerings and offered fellowship offerings to the calf.

The Lord was angered at what the people had done, and tells Moses to leave him "that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them." But Moses "sought the favor of the LORD" and argued that the LORD should "relent and ... not bring disaster on your people," and the LORD relents.

Moses went down the mountain carrying the stone tablets on which God had engraved the Ten Commandments, and he and Joshua heard the sound of the people shouting. Joshua thought that it was the sound of war in the camp, but Moses said that it was neither victory nor defeat but singing. WHen he saw the calf and the dancing, "his anger burned" and he threw the tablets to the ground, breaking them. He took the calf and burned it in the fire, then "ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it." He asks Aaron what happened, and Aaron tells him. Then he saw that the people were running wild and out of control, so he stood at the entrance to the camp and called "whoever is for the LORD" to him, and "all the Levites rallied to him."

He told them that the LORD said to go "back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor," and they did so, killing about three thousand. The next day, Moses told the people that they had committed a great sin, but that he would go to the LORD and try to make atonement for them. The LORD told him that "whoever has stood against me I will blot out of my book," but that Moses should lead them to the promised land, and when the time came for God to punish, he would punish. And he struck the people with a plague because of "what they did with the calf Aaron had made."

Chapter 33 opens with the LORD telling Moses to leave Sinai and go to the land which has been promised to "Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." The LORD will send an Angel to drive out the inhabitants, but won't go with them, "because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way." The people were distressed by this, began to mourn, and no one put on any ornaments.

Moses took a tent and pitched it some distance from the camp and called it the "tent of meeting." "Anyone inquiring of the LORD would go to the tent of meeting." When Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance. Whenever the people saw that, they worshipped. After the LORD spoke to him, Moses would return to the camp, but Joshua did not leave the tent.

Moses asked the LORD to teach him the LORD's ways "if you are pleased with me," so that he could continue to find favor with the LORD, and encouraged him to "remember that this nation is your people." The LORD replied that his presence would go with them, and Moses asked that it if didn't, he not send them up from that place. "How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us?" The LORD said that he would do that and that he was pleased with them, and then Moses asked the LORD to show him his glory. The LORD said that he would cause "all my goodness" to pass in front of him but that he could not see the LORD's face, because "no one may see me and live."

In chapter 34, the LORD told Moses to chisel two stone tablets like the ones that he broke when he saw the golden calf, and to come up on to Mount Sinai alone and God would write on them "the words that were on the first tablets." And he did that, and the LORD came down in a cloud and proclaimed his name and that he was a "compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin." He also said that he "does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation." And Moses bowed and worshipped him, and asked for forgiveness for their sins.

The LORD said "I am making a covenant with you," and that through the nation of Israel, "the people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you." He reiterates many of the earlier commands and instructions about not worshipping idols or other gods, celebrating the feasts of unleavend bread and first fruits and ingathering and keeping the Sabbath. And he told Moses to write down all of these words, as they recorded the covenant. And Moses was on the mountain with the LORD for "forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water."

When Moses returned with the new tablets of the Testimony, his face was radiant, though he didn't know it, because he had spoken with the LORD. When Aaron and the others saw him, they were afraid of him. But he called to them and Aaron and the leaders came to him and he spoke to them. Then all the Israelites came to him and he gave them "all the commands the LORD had given him on Mount Sinai." After that, he put a veil over his face, but whenever he was in the presence of the LORD to speak to him, he took the veil off until he came out and told the Israelites what the LORD had commanded. Then he would put the veil back on.

Thoughts, questions, issues

• Even given that we are all sinners and cannot follow all of God's laws, even if "with men it is impossible," this is still a stunning transgression. And it's one that is very hard for us to understand. Many of the temptations that the people of Israel face are temptations that we can understand. We are tempted to covetousness and gluttony, to greed and sexual immorality. But the appeal of melting down gold to form a golden calf to worship escapes us. Well, it escapes me, anyway.
  

  I do understand the argument that we make idols of things, of houses or lawns or specific cars, that we get too attached to "things" to the point of distorting our regard. But, even ignoring what they've just gone through, the proofs that have been offered to them, the glory on top of the mountain as God gives the law to Moses, it's hard to understand how a golden calf could provide any temptation to anyone.

• Again, much as was the case with Sodom, God lets one of his covenant leaders talk him out of his wrath. First Abram and now Moses. And it's interesting that one of the arguments Moses makes is, in essence, "what will the Egyptians say?" He basically tells the LORD that destroying the people would open him up to mockery from the Egyptians.
• Moses tells the Levites to go through the camp killing people. Or, more specifically, he tells them that the LORD wants them to go through the camp killing people. But we have no evidence that the LORD said that. Certainly, the writer of Exodus is not shy about putting words in the LORD's mouth, whether they all started there or not, but in this case, which appears to be an order to commit indiscriminate atrocities, the words are attributed to Moses alone. Did the LORD tell Moses to say it, and that part didn't get recorded? We don't know. Were there actually specific instructions for identifying the "brother and friend and neighbor" to be killed? We don't know.
• It's hard to see how the Levites rampaging through the camp is an appropriate response to anything. And it's hard to reconcile that command with a "compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin."
• Ex 33:3 is another example of a portrayal of the LORD that clashes with our modern, post-incarnation beliefs and expectations. The LORD's comment that he won't go because he "might destroy you" implies that either he isn't omniscient (doesn't know what will happen) or isn't omnipotent (can't control his own emotions.)
• "Ornaments" would mean, I suspect, jewelry - earrings, bracelets, necklaces and the like.
• "Forty days...without bread or water" sounds an awful lot like Jesus' temptation in the desert.
• Twice in Exodus, Moses goes on to Mount Sinai, is there for forty days and forty nights, and comes down with God's law on two stone tablets. I can't help but wonder if the same story is being told twice. I recognize that the ending is different, but the essentials are the same.
• I wonder what Moses' face looked like that it frightened everyone so much.

Psalms 6

Much like the Proverbs are little nuggets of advice or wisdom, the Psalms tend to be prayers. And it's hard to write a little bit about them. Where do you start? Where do you stop? I can write almost nothing or, I suspect, I could write quite a lot, analyzing any line. I'm not thrilled with either option. If anything "leaps out," I'll say so. Otherwise, when I'm in the book of Psalms, I'm going to try to look at them as prayers and find appropriate parts to make my own prayer.

For the director of music.
With stringed instruments.
According to sheminith.
A psalm of David.

O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath.

Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint;
O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony.

My soul is in anguish.
How long, O LORD, how long?

Turn, O LORD, and deliver me;
save me because of your unfailing love.

No one remembers you when he is dead.
Who praises you from the grave [b] ?

I am worn out from groaning;
all night long I flood my bed with weeping
and drench my couch with tears.

My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
they fail because of all my foes.

Away from me, all you who do evil,
for the LORD has heard my weeping.

The LORD has heard my cry for mercy;
the LORD accepts my prayer.

All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed;
they will turn back in sudden disgrace.

02/05/10

Exodus 28-31

Continuing with the instructions on proper worship, Exodus 28 contains God's descriptions and instructions for the garments to be worn by the priests, the ephod, the breastpiece, the tunic and turban, and the rest of the garments, including linen undergarments. In chapter 29, he instructs them to consecrate the priests, Aaron and his sons, and tells them how to do so, including which animals to be sacrificed, in what manner, how hands are to be laid on beforehand and how long it should take. Chapter 30 describes the rituals and artifacts to be used with the altar of incense and anointing oils. It also deals with a census and a "ransom" to be paid to the Lord for each man's life.

Finally, in chapter 31, God tells Moses who is to do the work. "I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri...of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts, to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze..." And "I have appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, to help him." And, after commanding them again to honor the Sabbath, he gives Mostes the two stone tablets "inscribed by the finger of God" with the testimony on Mount Sinai.

Thoughts, questions, issues

• There are several aspects of the priestly garments which are intended as reminders of the twelve tribes of Israel.
• The "Urim and the Thummim" are apparently some objects which the priest would use to determine truth or falsehood, guilt or innocence.
• I've always been under the impression, I'm not sure right now why, that the priests of Israel were to be the sons of Levi. Which, obviously, Aaron is one of. But there should be another 50,000 of them, or so, at this point, and all of the references to priests here are to Aaron and his sons. Does that mean that the rest of the Levites were no longer the priestly tribe? Or is my impression just wrong? (That's never a bad way to bet...)
• The idea of God's demanding to be paid is, well, not the way we usually think of an offering. If life is a gift, we should certainly be grateful for it, and we certainly should honor the giver. And obviously, it isn't like God needs the money. So it's an obligation imposed on the Israelites during the census to do what, exactly? Remind them of God? Is it just to support the priesthood, or to provide charity to the poor?
• If the Ark of the Covenant is ever found and opened, will the stones still be there?

Psalms 5

I mentioned the Samuel Wesley hymn Lead Me, Lord yesterday. Verse 8 of the 5th Psalm is the source of the title and first line.

Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation.

Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.

My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.

For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.

The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.

Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.

But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.

Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.

For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.

Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee.

But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.

For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.

02/02/10

Exodus 18-20

In chapter 18, Moses' father-in-law Jethro, having heard of all that God had done in freeing the Israelites from captivity in Egypt, came to him in the desert with Moses' wife and sons. Moses went out and greeted him and told him all that had happened, and how the Lord had saved them. Jethro acknowledged that the Lord "is greater than all other gods" and offered a burnt offering. Aaron and the other elders came and ate with Moses and Jethro in the presence of God.

After watching Moses sit and act as a judge the following day, Jethro asked him what he was doing. Moses told him that the people came to Moses to seek God's will, and settle disputes. Jethro suggested that he was going to wear himself out, and that he should instead teach the people God's decrees and laws, and select capable men who fear God and make them officials over smaller groups of the people. The other officials cound handle the simple cases, and Moses would handle only the difficult ones. So he that that and put capable men of Israel over "thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens." Then Jethro returned to his own country.

In chapter 19, in the third month after the exodus from Egypt, Israel camped in the desert at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Moses "went up to God" and God called to him from the mountain and told him what to say to the people. He was to remind them of what they had seen and how God brought them out of Egypt, "carried...on eagles' wings" and that if they would obey him fully and keep his covenent, they would be, of all the nations, God's "treasured possession....a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." Moses told the people, who said that they would do everything that the Lord has said. Moses then took their answer back to God.

The LORD told Moses to consecrate the people for the next two days, to have them wash there clothes and abstain from sexual relations, to stay away from the mountain and not to touch the foot of it on penalty of death and prepare for the third day. When the third day came, there was a thick cloud over the mountain, and thunder and lightning, and a very loud trumpet blast. And Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God at the foot of the mountain. Moses spoke and God answered. He descended to the top of Mount Sinai, and called Moses to the top to meet him. God told him to warn the people that they must not force their way through, and the even the priests must consecrate themselves. Moses told God that the people could not come up on Sinai because of the previous warnings, but God told him to go and bring Aaron up with him.

And, in chapter 20, Moses went up Sinai and God gave him the Ten Commandments. When the people saw the lightning the smoke on the mountain, and heard the thunder and the trumpet, they trembled with fear. They stayed away and told Moses to speak to them, for fear of dying if God did. Moses told them that "the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning." Them God told Moses to tell the Israelites not to make any idols, not to make "gods of silver or gods of gold." He told them to make an altar of earth and sacrifice their burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.

Thoughts, questions, issues

• There is no mention of Zipporah or Moses' sons from the time of the circumcision at the inn on Moses' journey back to Egypt (Ex 4:24-26) until chapter 18. They were traveling with him on his journey, but are never mentioned during the plagues or the exodus from Egypt. Now they arrive with Jethro, which would seem to indicate that they either never went all the way back to Egypt with him, or were sent back to Midian before the exodus. Clearly, they were sent back to Midian - what's not clear is when.
• On the third day, God appeared to the people on Sinai. And on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead, and appeared to the people. "Prepare yourselves for the third day" sounds as if it ought to be a verse from one of the Gospels, but here it is, in Exodus 19.
• In 19:8, the people of Israel clearly accept the covenant which God has offered them. At this time, it has not yet been made clear what, exactly, is going to be required on their part. Yes, they need to obey God "fully" but they did not know what the orders would be. They accepted anyway. So they had some faith, even if it was an uneven and fearful faith. (How much faith is required to follow God after the demonstrations they had received is, of course, a mitigating consideration when tempted to get too effusive with praise for their acceptance of the covenant.)
• The Ten Commandments:
  
  1. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.
  2. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.
  3. You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
  4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
  5. Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
  6. You shall not murder.
  7. You shall not commit adultery.
  8. You shall not steal.
  9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
  10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
  (Ex 20:1-17)
  
  The Ten Commandments appear again, in the same order with only minor textual differences, in Dt 5:6-21.
• The fear of God, the fear of anything, helps as a motivating factor. But it's not a great long-term motivation. To really change long-term, behavior has to be motivated by a desire, or longing, or love. Fear is a great motivator short-term, but not for making fundamental changes.
• As we see with the Israelites over and over and over again.

Psalm 2

Thoughts, questions, issues

• I guarantee that it won't be the last time I say this, but there are some pieces of scripture that I cannot hear or read without the music starting up in my head. Reading the second psalm starts Handel's Messiah. "Let us break their bonds asunder." "...against the Lord, and against his anointed..." "The Lord shall have them in derision..." "Thou shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel..."
• And, from the general obliviousness department, how have I never noticed verse 12? "Kiss the Son...blessed are all they that put their trust in him."
• And there's verse 7 - "The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee." I've heard that passage in the Messiah a hundred times, and never stopped to think about where it came from, or to realize that it's an Old Testament verse, dating to hundreds of years before the birth of Christ.
• And yes, I recognize that this is self-referential on David's part. But, just like the passage in Exodus ("prepare for the third day") it works on more than one level. If David was talking about himself, we still read it and hear the name of Jesus.
• So the kings of the earth set themselves up, and take counsel together, and plan and plot against the people of God and their anointed ruler. And the Lord, sitting in heaven, laughs at them. "Man proposes, God disposes."
• And there's a warning there, in verses 9-12. The Lord reigns, and what he wants destroyed will be destroyed, so the wise thing to do is to serve him with fear and rejoice with tremblings.

1/30/10

Exodus 12-14

In chapter 12, God tells Moses how to prepare for the coming of "the destroyer," that will take all of the firstborn of Egypt while "passing over" the Israelites. He describes how and when they are to prepare a lamb, eat it, dispose of the leftovers and put blood on the tops and sides of the doorframes. He tells them they must prepare a feast with unleavened bread, and clean any yeast out of their houses. These are all instructions for what is still celebrated today as Passover. The LORD tells Moses to "obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants." The Israelites did what the LORD said, and at midnight, the LORD strick down all the firstborn of Egypt - "there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead."

Pharoah summoned Moses and Aaron and told them to "take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go." The Israelites did and also "asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold," which the Egyptians provided. The Israelites, six hundred thousand men plus women and children, traveled from Rameses to Succoth. They had been 430 years in Israel, "to the day." The Lord gave Moses and Aaron the regulations for the Passover.

In chapter 13, the Lord tells Moses that the Israelites must consecrate every firstborn male to God, and that the "first offspring of every womb...belongs to [God], whether man or animal." The Lord then led them with a pillar of cloud to guide them by day, and a pillar of fire to give them light by night.

In chapter 14, the Lord parts the Red Sea, and the Israelites pass between walls of water. First, they wandered in the Egyptian desert for a time. During htis period, Pharoah and his officials changed their minds, and decided to take their chariots and bring them back. All of Pharoah's horses, chariots, horsemen and troops caught up with the Israelites camped by the sea. The Isrelites were terrified, and cried to Moses, "was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?" Moses told them that "the Lord will fight for you; you need only be still." So, at the Lord's instruction, Moses reached out his hand over the sea and the wind drove the sea back, "and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground." As the Egyptians followed, the Lord "made the wheels of their chariots come off." When the Israelites reached the far side, Moses stretched out his hand again, and the waters flowed back, and covered the chariots, "the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• It's interesting that the Egyptians are accommodating when the Israelites ask for "silver and gold." If that's really true, it's hard to come up with a legitimate reason other than "the LORD had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people."
• Six hundred thousand seems like an awfully big number. But it also says that they were in Egypt for 430 years. Assuming that a new generation is born at approximately 20 year intervals, we're talking about 69 men growing to 600,000 in 21 and a half generations. Through the miracle of compound interest, we see that that represents growth of about 52% per generation. That works out to just over 1 1/2 procreating sons per man. Which actually seems conservative.
• One of the key components to the bible story is the people of God repeatedly turning away from him, doing what they are not supposed to do and not doing what they are supposed to do. Sometimes, it's more understandable than others. That the Israelites would cry out to God from the edge of the sea is neither surprising nor disparaging. That their first reaction is to blame Moses for getting them in trouble is indicative of a problem. This is a people that has just watched as God has done miracles to free them from bondage. A little bit more faith would have been appropriate. And, as subsequent acts were to show, justified.

Proverbs 17:15-28

It's a modern cliche to say that "better for 10 (or 100 or 1000) guilty to go free than one innocent man to go to jail." Proverbs seems to say otherwise.

Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent—
the LORD detests them both.

Of course, later in the same chapter, it says

It is not good to punish an innocent man,
or to flog officials for their integrity.

Not that anyone would debate it.

01/28/10

Exodus 5-8

Chapter five begins with Moses and Aaron addressing Pharoah. They tell him that the God of Israel says to "let my people go," so that they can hold a festival in the desert. When Pharaoah claims ignorance of the God of the Israelites, they tell him that the people want to take a three-day journey into the desert to make sacrifices and offerings, otherwise he will bring plagues upon them. But Pharoah just berates them for taking the people away from their labor. After Moses and Aaron have left, he tells the slavemasters not to give any more straw to the Hebrews making bricks, to make them find it themselves, but not to reduce the quota. When this happens, they cannot meet the quota, and are punished. The people complain to Moses and Aaron that they have brought this increased punishment upon them. And Moses "returned to the LORD," echoing the complaint.

Chapter six reveals, for the first time, the name of GOD, as he once more reminds Moses that he is listening and will deliver the Israelites. He tells Moses that he will make his power known and that "because of my mighty hand he [Pharoah] will drive them out of his country." He instructs Moses to tell the Israelites that he (GOD) will bring them out of bondage in Egypt. Moses delivers this message, but the Israelites didn't listen because they were discouraged. The Lord then told Moses to go back to Pharoah but Moses, again, resisted. "If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?" The rest of chapter six is taken up with the genealogy of the house of Levi down to Moses and Aaron and Aaron's sons, and then, again, Moses question for God about "faltering lips."

In chapter seven, God tells Moses that he has been made "like God to Pharaoh," and that Aaron is like his prophet. Moses is to say everything that God tells him, and Aaron will tell Pharoah to let the Israelites go. They tell Pharoah, and when he demands a miracle, Aaron throws his staff to the ground where it became a snake. Pharoah's priests threw their staffs to the ground where they also became snakes, but Aaron's snake swallowed the others. Pharoah still would not listen. Next, God tells Moses and Aaron to meet Pharoah at the banks of the Nile in the morning. They do so, and when Aaron holds out his staff and strikes the water with it, the Nile turns to blood. But Pharoah still would not listen.

Chapter eight continues the now-established pattern. Moses and Aaron demand that Pharoah let God's people go, Pharoah refuses, and a plague ensues. First is a plague of frogs, followed by gnats and then flies. After the plague of flies, Pharoah allows them to go to the desert to pray, and implores Moses to pray for him. But when they left his presence, and God removed the flies in response to Moses' prayer, "Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• One of the things that is difficult, conceptually, in dealing with passages like Ex 5:2 is understanding exactly what the phrase "God of Israel" would mean to an Egyptian at the time. He was certainly a pagan, polytheist of sorts, but, while I've read and heard many things about Egyptian religious belief and the trappings thereof, that's different from actually thinking that way. Would Pharoah think of the "God of Israel" as a real being with real power? As an icon or symbol? As a mistaken belief? Certainly, he doesn't, by any of his responses, indicate that he has any fear of this entity.
• In chapter six, we see, for the first time, the name of God. Prior to that, in dealings with Abraham and Isaac, the terms have been "adonai" or "elohim," but now the tetragrammaton יְהֹוִה ("Yahweh" or "Jehovah") makes its first appearance, as God tells Moses who he is, and tells him that Abraham and Isaac and Jacob did not know him by this name.
• The geneaology of Moses and Aaron (Ex 6:13-26): Israel->Levi->Kohath->Amram (father of Moses), Israel->Levi->Jochebed (mother of Moses.) So Levi was the paternal great-grandfather, and maternal grandfather, of Moses and Aaron.
• The Hebrew word which the NIV translates as "faltering," עָרֵל means, literally, "uncircumcised." The KJV uses that.
• I have to confess that there are parts of this story that I don't believe. I can believe that God turned Aaron's staff into a snake, but not that Pharoah's priests could do the same thing with theirs. I can believe that God turned the Nile to blood, but not that "the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts."
• There's a big question, of course, about all of the trials and plagues in Egypt. I'm going to save it for later (but is starts with "why").

Proverbs 16:17-33

A couple of verses from this section is echoed by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount:

Pv 16:25 "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death."

Mt 7:13 "For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it."

Pv 16:17 "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall."

Mt 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

1/27/10

Exodus 1-4

Exodus, chapter one, continues the story of the Hebrews in Egypt, right from where Genesis left off. The descendants of Jacob/Israel are prospering in Egypt. Eventually, Joseph and his brothers and that whole generation dies, "but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them." The Pharoah also died, and a king came to power in Egypt who didn't know Joseph, didn't remember what he had done to save Egypt, and saw the Israelites as a threat to the Egyptians. So he had slave masters put over the Hebrews, and they were used for forced labor. "But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly."

Still seeing a threat, the king of Egypt, called the Hebrew midwives (Shiphrah and Puah) and told them that if a boy was being delivered, they were to kill it, and only let the girls live. The midwives "feared God" and did not do what the king instructed. When he asked them why, they told him that the Hebrew women were different than Egyptian women and had their babies before the midwives arrived. And God propered them and gave them families because of what they had done. The Pharoah, though, ordered all of his people that male Hebrew babies should be thrown in to the Nile.

In chapter two, a Levite woman gives birth to a son. She hid him, but when he reached three months, she could hide him no longer. She put him in a basket coated with tar and pitch and put it into the reeds along the bank of the Nile, with his sister watching at a distance to see what would happen to him. The basket was found by Pharoah's daughter, who had gone to the river to bathe, and she felt sorry for him. His sister asked Pharoah's daughter if she would like to fetch one of the Hebrew women to nurse him, and when she said yes, the boy's sister fetched his mother. Pharoah's daughter paid the woman to nurse the baby, and when he was older, she got him back and named him Moses.

When Moses was grown, he saw an Egyptian guard abusing a Hebrew. Looking about him, he killed the guard and buried him in the sand. The next day, seeing two Hebrews fighting, he asked one "why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?" The man asked, in return, if he were going to kill him like he did the Egyptian. Moses feared for his life, and fled to Midian before Pharoah could kill him.

In Midian, he aided the seven daughters of a priest of Midian in drawing water from a well for their father's flock. When he heard what Moses has done, he invited him in to his home. Moses stayed and took the man's daughter Zipporah as a wife, with whom he had a son, Gershom. During his time in Midian, Pharoah died but the slavery of the Israelites continued. God heard their groaning and remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.

In chapter three, Moses is tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro on the far side of the desert when he sees a bush burning without being consumed on Horeb ("the mountain of God"). As he approached, God spoke to him from within the bush. God told him to remove his sandals and not to come any closer, as it was holy ground. He then told Moses that he was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and Moses hid his face. God told him that he had seen "the misery of my people in Egypt" and "heard them crying out because of their slave drivers." Moses wanted to know who he should say had sent him, and GOD replied, "I AM THAT I AM." So he was sending Moses to Pharoah to bring the the people of Israel out of Egypt. Moses resisted, offering excuses and reasons, to all of which God said "I will be with you."

In chapter four God offers Moses signs. First, he has him throw his staff to the ground, and turns it in to a serpent. He then told Moses to put his hand inside his cloak. When he withdrew it, it was white and leprous. He repeated the process and saw it back to normal. Moses continued to resist, saying that "I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue." When Moses asked God to send someone else, "the LORD's anger burned against Moses." Despite that, he acquiesced and chose Moses' brother Aaron to assist him.

Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and told him that we was going to go back to Egypt to see whether any of his people were still alive. Jethro told him to go and wished him well. Moses took his wife and sons and put them on a donkey and traveled to Egypt.

On the way, at an inn, the Lord "met him and sought to kill him." But Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off her son's foreskin and tossed it at Moses' feet, saying, "surely, a bloody husband art thou to me." Then he let them go.

The LORD then went to Aaron and commanded him to meet Moses in the desert. So he went and met Moses on Mt. Sinai in Horeb, the "mountain of God" where Moses had earlier seen the burning bush. Moses told Aaron all that the Lord had said, and what their mission was. And they went and gathered together all of the elders of Israel. Aaron spoke and showed them all the signs that GOD had said, and the people believe, and worshipped GOD.

Thoughts, questions, issues

• Exodus is the second book in the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses, the Torah. It follows the stories of the patriarchs from Genesis, which ended with Israel in Egypt. When Exodus opens, Israel is not longer a welcome visitor, but a captive people. Exodus is the story of how they are delivered from bondage in Egypt.
• I'm not sure what to make of the midwives. On the one hand, the king is concerned that the Israelis outnumber the Egyptians. On the other, there are two midwives for the Israelis, and they are named in the text. Are they meant to represent a large number of midwives? What is the significance, if any, of the names?
• In chapter 2, the man with the daughters is called Reuel. In chapter 3, the same man, unless I'm badly mis-reading something, is called Jethro.
• When GOD called Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, he went up to the mountain, bound his son, and raised the blade before God stopped him. When GOD called Moses to lead the Israelis out of Egypt, Moses begged him to find someone else. And even after seeing three miraculous signs, he still wants more.
• God names himself "I AM THAT I AM." One of the issues in philosophical debates is whether the universe requires a creator, a first cause, an uncaused cause. Logically, there is not effect without a cause, and everything we see is an effect. What is the cause?
  
  "I AM THAT I AM" (or "I AM WHO I AM" [NIV]) can certainly be read as a claim to being that uncaused cause.
• One thing that is unclear in this story is how, or how well, Moses and Aaron knew one another. We don't know at what age Moses went to live in the palace, whether Aaron was older or younger, how it was that Aaron wasn't killed during the Pharoah's purging of male Hebrew babies or whether there was any interaction between Moses living in Pharoah's house and Aaron living (presumably) in Hebrew slave quarters.
• I like the imagery of God "stretch[ing] out my hand over Egypt."
  
• Ex 4:24-26, the story of the meeting and conflict at the inn, and the circumcision of Moses' son(s), is one of those that I really have no context for. I don't understand who "the LORD" is, in this context, because surely, if the LORD had tried to kill Moses, well, Moses would have been killed. Nor is there any reason which strikes me as plausible for GOD to attempt to kill Moses who was on a mission which GOD had just given him. I can't see any reason that Zipporah would react by cutting of her son's foreskin. I don't understand why she calls him a "bloody husband" (though I can't help but wonder if that's the etymology of that particular piece of Bristish slang.) In short, it's a two-verse story that I find myself completely unequipped to deal with, which is probably why I quickly forgot it the last time I read the book.

Proverbs 16:1-16

So many of the lessons in the book of Proverbs use, at least figuratively, the idea of wealth, riches, gold and silver and jewels, as things that people want. And as rewards for good behavior. 16:16 is a verse in which that idea is used to make wisdom itself even more desirable.

How much better is it to get wisdom than gold; and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!