03/04/10

Numbers 28-30

In Numbers 28-29, the LORD reiterates and systematically describes the offering schedule. He lists first the offerings that are to be made daily, then the offerings made on the Sabbath and the monthly offerings ("on the first of every month"). This is followed by the offering instructions for the Passover ("on the fourteenth day of the first month"), the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Trumpets ("first day of the seventh month"), the Day of Atonement ("tenth day of this seventh month") and the Feast of Tabernacles (eight days, from the "fifteenth day of the seventh month").

Chapter 30 contains instructions from the LORD on the keeping of oaths and vows. A man who makes a vow to the LORD must keep it. A woman still living in her father's house was not obligated to keep the vow unless her father hears it and says nothing. If he forbids, however, "the LORD will release her." Likewise, a married woman makes vows only subject to the approval of her husband. A widow or divorced woman can make binding vows.

Thoughts, questions, issues

• I presume that the offering regulations here are in harmony with those offered elsewhere, in Exodus and Leviticus, but I haven't had a chance to examine the various passages. I may do that at some point, because it strikes me that a harmony of the offerings would be interesting. On the other hand, there are probably 50 of them available on the internet right now, so I may not.
• It strikes me reading this passage that the "odor pleasing to the LORD" is going to be an odor pleasing to the people, as well. The Tabernacle is going to, well, reek. There's blood everywhere. Animal blood baking in the sun is an upleasant odor. Certainly, the burning offering are going to give off an odor that masks that and is far less unpleasant.
• The obvious reaction to the vows section in chapter 30 is that it's horribly sexist. But I don't know that that's the correct way to read it. If women were considered incapable, however, divorced and widowed women would not be able to make binding vows. Certainly, the husband and father relationships are given more authority, but also more responsibility. Culturally, in a time and place without advanced medical care or contraception, the responsibility for going out into the world and supporting a family could not - literally could not - fall to a child-bearing woman.
• It's important to remember that GOD was speaking, always, to a specific people, in a specific time and place and condition. We need to study his word because it is his word, but the specific applications are to conditions as the Israelites found them in the desert, in Moab.

Psalms 27

When we are frightened, scared of the world around us, when we feel as if "evil men advance against me" but we turn to the LORD in prayer, that's when we're praying as the psalmist did in Psalm 27. And really, everything in the middle is just commentary or amplification on the first and last lines. "The LORD is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? ... Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD!" As the Veggie-Tales characters sang, "GOD is bigger than the boogey-man."

Psalm 27
Of David.
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When evil men advance against me
to devour my flesh, [a]
when my enemies and my foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.

3 Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then will I be confident.

4 One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.

5 For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.

6 Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the LORD.

7 Hear my voice when I call, O LORD;
be merciful to me and answer me.

8 My heart says of you, "Seek his face!"
Your face, LORD, I will seek.

9 Do not hide your face from me,
do not turn your servant away in anger;
you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
O God my Savior.

10 Though my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will receive me.

11 Teach me your way, O LORD;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.

12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
breathing out violence.

13 I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.

14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.

02/09/10

Leviticus 1-4

The Books of Moses that make up the Pentateuch continue in Leviticus. Exodus described how the LORD led the people of Israel out of bondage in Egypt, and how he handed down to them the law. In Leviticus, much of that law is described. Today's reading, the first four chapters, all deal with specific details for various offerings. Chapter one describes, in detail, the process for making a burnt offering. Chapter two describes the grain offering and chapter three, the "fellowship" offering. Chapter four describes the steps for making the sin offering.

Thoughts, questions, issues

• There's a tremendous amount of repetition in this section, as the instructions for the various offering are very similar, and each is repeated for minor variations in circumstances.
• The burnt offering, whether from the herd or the flock, must be a male. The "fellowship" offering can be either male or female.
• "It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the LORD" is in chapter one three times. The "aroma pleasing to the LORD" is repeated a couple more times in chapter three.
• Jesus is often referred to as the "lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." Chapter four of Leviticus describes the sin offering process. "If a member of the community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD's commands, he is guilty. When he is made aware of the sin he committed, he must bring as his offering for the sin he committed...If he brings a lamb as his sin offering, he is to bring a female without defect. He is to lay his hand on its head and slaughter it for a sin offering at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered."

Psalms 9

Psalm 9 comes with an interesting note, in that a tune is specified. Apparently, there are eleven psalms with tunes specified, number 9 is the first. I have no idea what the tune is, obviously, nor do I suspect that it would be of much use with the English words. But it seems to me to be one more foreshadowing in the Old Testament of the pivotal events of the New. In reality, is not the whole story of the Bible, start to finish, about "the Death of the Son," and the redemption accomplished through it?

And just to acknowledge the cluelessness which this exercise involves, as I read this tonight it occurs to me, for the first time, that the story of Abraham and Isaac is, in miniature, the story of redemption which God has writ large upon the earth. He asked of Abraham no more than he then provided for us - the sacrifice of his son as an atonement for sin.


This is also a praise psalm, albeit one with a more martial air than the one which precedes it. Much of the praise is for not only protecting againd, but destroying, "the enemy."

Psalm 9
For the director of music. To the tune of "The Death of the Son." A psalm of David.
1 [a]I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart;
I will tell of all your wonders.

2 I will be glad and rejoice in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

3 My enemies turn back;
they stumble and perish before you.

4 For you have upheld my right and my cause;
you have sat on your throne, judging righteously.

5 You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.

6 Endless ruin has overtaken the enemy,
you have uprooted their cities;
even the memory of them has perished.

7 The LORD reigns forever;
he has established his throne for judgment.

8 He will judge the world in righteousness;
he will govern the peoples with justice.

9 The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.

10 Those who know your name will trust in you,
for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

11 Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion;
proclaim among the nations what he has done.

12 For he who avenges blood remembers;
he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.

13 O LORD, see how my enemies persecute me!
Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,

14 that I may declare your praises
in the gates of the Daughter of Zion
and there rejoice in your salvation.

15 The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug;
their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.

16 The LORD is known by his justice;
the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.
Higgaion. [b] Selah

17 The wicked return to the grave, [c]
all the nations that forget God.

18 But the needy will not always be forgotten,
nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.

19 Arise, O LORD, let not man triumph;
let the nations be judged in your presence.

20 Strike them with terror, O LORD;
let the nations know they are but men.
Selah