Numbers 7-10:10

Chapters 7-9 Do not contain very much devotional material. Chapter 7 deals specifically with the different gifts that were given by the covenant community with the expressed purpose of being used in the tabernacle. They are described. Chapter 8 deals with the lamp and the lamp stand in the tabernacle.

Chapter 8 deals with getting the Levites ceremonially clean. The process involved the sprinkling of the water of cleansing. (Another and more familiar way to say that is simply "Holy water.") The last thing that happens is they go through a laying on of the hands ceremony. This sounds eerily familiar with Christian initiation in the New Testament.

The Christian is washed with water, in the name of the Lord, and the have a laying on of hands, and the Holy Spirit comes upon them.

The second Passover is celebrated in chapter 9.  There are specific rules to be made, and this is a mandatory feast. There is an exception made for people who are unclean or away on a journey. It should be noted that the people who were away, or were unclean came and asked Moses if they could participate in the Passover feast. This is not something that people should feel is being "forced" on them.

The Christian Passover is celebrated every day in both the Orthodox and Catholic Churches. The Eucharist is how we participate in this Passover. Jesus is the bread of life. His blood is the fourth cup. He sustains us with his own true presence in the Eucharist.

Chapter 9 also speaks of the Cloud of the Lord. The Cloud of the Lord "overshadowed" the tabernacle. Numbers 9:18 is significant to Christians because it is a type of Mary. Just as the Spirit of the Lord overshadowed the tabernacle in the wilderness, that same Spirit of the Lord overshadowed Mary. Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, and Christ was conceived.

Chapter 10-10:10 finish up this section of Numbers. The Lord commands Moses to make two trumpets, and these trumpets were used to signal when it was time for everyone to pack up and move on.

Numbers Intro - Chapter 6

Book: Numbers
           The Septuagint, (the greek translation of the Old Testament) names the book "arithmoi. Which in English is translated "Numbers." The book was named Numbers because of the two censuses mentioned in the book. To be fair, the book has a lot of numbers. But I think to name  the book numbers is to miss our on the main theme of the book. In Hebrew, the name is"b'midbar" which means "in the desert." I think that this more accurately reflects the message of the book, because this book of the Torah chronicles the time that Israel spent traveling from Egypt to the promised land. There is considerably less law in this book than Leviticus, though there is still law, but there is still considerably less narrative than Genesis, though much more than Leviticus had. There will be more devotional material in Numbers than there was in Leviticus.
              
Author: Moses
Date: According to a traditional date, Numbers would have been written around the same time as the rest of the Torah, at 1440 BC. I reject the documentary hypothesis, and the late date (approximately 400 BC) that it proposes. 

General outline:

I.    At Sinai (1:1-10:10)
    A. The First Census (1:1-54)
    B. The Arangement of the Camps. (2:1-4:49)
    C. Legislation (5:1-8:26)
    D. Final Events at Sinai (9:1-10:10)
II.  From Sinai to Edom (10:11-20:21)
    A. To Kadesh (10:11-12:16)
    B. At Kadesh (13:1-20:21)
III. From Edom to the Jordan. 
    A. Aaron's Death (20:22-29)
    B. The Destruction of Arad (21:1-4)
    C. The Bronze Serpent (21:5-9)
    D. The Journey to Moab (21:10-20)
    E.Initial Victories (21:21-35
    F. The Plains of Moab (22:1-36:13)

This brief commentary will begin with an explanation of the purpose of the Nazarite vow, and a brief exposition of the Priestly blessing and it's theological significance in Christianity. 

The Nazarite Vow is described in chapter 6:1-21. As we have seen in Exodus and Leviticus, the ministers were essentially Levites. Now, it is often said that Israel had a priesthood, but now we are all priests. And that's not entirely accurate. Every Israelite was a priest, in a sense, just as every Christian is a priest. But there was a specific group of Israelites that were considered priests in an exclusive sense. Just as there is a specific group of ministers who have special duties in the church. The major distinction was that the Levites were born into their priesthood. But what if a person wanted to separate themselves for God's exclusive service? 

The Nazarite Vow would fulfill that specific purpose. A person who took on the Nazarite Vow could do so either permanently, or temporarily. They were to abstain from three things. 1) Cutting their hair. 2) Eating or drinking anything from the vine. So no grapes, no wine, no olives, no oil. 3) They could not come into contact with anything or anybody dead. As long as these three conditions were met, this person could serve the Lord in a special capacity, though he is not a priest.

So who in scripture has taken a Nazarite vow? Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist all were very important characters in biblical history who have taken the vow from their birth. But there were others who have taken the Nazarite vow. Paul did in Acts 18:18, Four Christians with Paul took the vow in Acts 21:23-24, 26.

Now, many have mistakenly said that Jesus Christ had taken a Nazarite vow. This is a common mistake. Jesus was a Nazarene. A Nazarene was a person who was from Nazareth a city.

From Chapter 6:22-27 we find a very beautiful priestly blessing. Let's break it down a bit.

"The LORD said to Moses: Speak to Aaron and his sons and tell them: This is how you shall bless the Israelites. Say to them:

The LORD bless you and keep you!
The LORD let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you!
The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace!

So shall they invoke my name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them.

The first thing that is obvious is that Aaron and the priests are to pronounce this blessing. This is a blessing that is within the context of covenant worship. The priest here stands in the place of God, to the people. Aaron is not the source of the blessing, but is the vessel that God is using to announce this blessing.

The three parts of this blessing all begin with the divine name. YHWH. Translated above as LORD. It is imperative to understand that the name of the LORD is being invoked over the people in covenant setting. Notice also that this can be seen as a sign of the Trinity in the Old Testament. This is significant.

From a Oneness Pentecostal perspective, David Norris argues that the name of the Lord is being invoked over the believers and in fact, the name of the Lord is being called down over the Israelites. He connects this verse with Acts 2:38, where he would place an importance of the name of God being called down in baptism, that name being Jesus, as it means "YHWH saves."

But using the same argument, a trinitarian can look at the same verse, and see in it that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all share the same name, that is YHWH. They could see this same portion of scripture and baptize in the Name of Yahweh the Father, and of Yahweh the Son, and of Yahweh the Holy Spirit. 

Leviticus 20-27

Through these last 7 chapters, there is not much devotional material. But there is this line that repeats itself over and over. "I am the LORD who sanctifies you."

Now this is a very significant thing especially when you consider the whole book. Through the book we learn of various ceremonies that a person goes through to become sanctified. Sacrifices and washings, and feasts oh my. These people were to live lives striving towards holiness. And if one were to look at it with an overly "Lutheran" view of the text, they would be earning their sanctification. Yet, God thunders repeatedly "I am the LORD who sanctifies you."

The participation of these Israelites in their sanctification does not imply that they are sanctifying themselves, by their own power and ability. God is the one who sanctifies.

So this is the tension that Arminians and Calvinists live in.

I would make clear, that God was the one who delivered them from Egypt. And these rules and stipulations and laws are given after they were delivered, but nevertheless, these are God's house rules for their time period.

Are there still house rules today? Are there still punishments for the violation of those house rules?

Jesus and Leviticus 19

Jesus interprets Leviticus 19 very well, I believe in Matthew 5:43-48. This is my own translation of this text. 
You have heard it said, “Love your countrymen”,and detest the one who hates
you. But, I say to you, love the one who hates you, speak well of those who
speak ill of you, do good to those who detest you and pray for those who falsely
accuse you and slander you. so that you may be sons of your father in heaven,
for he causes the sun to rise on the evil ones and the good ones, and rain on the
just ones and the unjust ones. for if you love the lover of you, what reward do
you have? Even the tax collecters do the same, don’t they?and if you greet your
brother alone, what more are you doing? Don’t even the the other nations do
that? So be Perfect, just as your father in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5: 43-48
You have heard it said, “Love your countrymen”,and detest the one who hates
you.

A few things right out. First, you’ll notice that I have opted for the word
countrymen instead of the word neighbor. Now this does have significance. For
Jesus is doing two things. One, presenting the teachings of the Pharisees, and
two, presenting his own teaching on the matter. Now, I chose the word
countrymen for a purpose. To the Jews, the commandment “Love your
neighbor” referred not to the Gentiles and especially not to the Sammaratins.

To the Jews, the word neighbor referred to ones own nation. I.E. Other Jews.
Now, this is important. Because they are quoting a scripture here. “Love your
countrymen.” This is found in Leviticus 19:18. Now I find it very interesting,
that just a few verses earlier, Jesus teaches about retaliation. And in the context
of Leviticus 19, verses 17 and 18 speak directly to the issue of retaliation. A while ago My Pastor, Dave Bucy spoke about how the commandment found in Leviticus 24:20
“eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.” was not a commandment to get even, but
rather, if you do decide to “get even” make sure that the punishment fits the
crime. If a person hits you, do not be like Lamech, and kill them. Rather, if they
gouge out your eye, gouge out theirs, and ONLY that one eye, and nothing else.
It was a law of limitation. But here, we see in Leviticus 19:17-18 the proper
response to a disagreement. The one that the Torah actually encourages, and not
just allows. “You shall not hate your brother… You shall not take vengeance or
bear a grudge” so Jesus begins to teach the better way.

But what does it mean to be a neighbor? And this is where the rub comes. What does
it mean to be a brother? A Scribe in Luke’s gospel asked that question, and Jesus,
through a parable, says that everybody is your neighbor. Everybody is your brother.
But, I say to you, love the one who hates you, speak well of those who speak ill
of you, do good to those who detest you and pray for those who falsely accuse
you and slander you.

According to the Pharisaic interpretation of Leviticus 19:18, your neighbor was
limited to those who treated you good. So, they felt that if God commanded us
to love our neighbor, then God, implicitly declared the opposite to be true. That
is, Hate your enemy. However, when they did this, they completely ignored the
surrounding context where it says not to hold a grudge.

Jesus gives a better way. Love people, whether or not they love you. Speak
good of people, whether or not they speak good of you. Now this is a hard thing
to do. If somebody gets under my collar, I have a hard time saying two good
words about them, much less love them. Yet, this is what God tells us to do.

Love our neighbors, as yourselves. So that you may be sons of your father in heaven,

Jesus says that acting in this way is actually a reflection of God’s character.
When we act this way, people will look at us and say “wow, they truly are sons
of God.” When does God act this way though? Jesus gives an example from
nature.

For he causes the sun to rise on the evil ones and the good ones, and rain on the
just and the unjust.

My Father growing up taught me that this meant that God rains on the just and
the unjust. And the rain meant trials and tribulations. He thought that this was
like Job’s situation. That God pours out troubles on everybody. Now, that is
true, God is just to pour out his wrath on everybody, but that is not what Jesus
is getting at. In ancient times, rain was seen as a blessing, and not a curse. And
Jesus says about God, the sun comes up, and the rain falls, on both the
righteous and the unrighteous. God does not discriminate on who he shows love
to. He provides for the elect, and for the damned. He, in his sovereignty,
upholds the universe by the very word of his power, and yet he condescends to
the needs of fallen men who do not deserve the rain to fall, or the sun to shine.
Those whom are worthy of nothing but his wrath, God provides for every day.
Every time the sun shines, it shines on a world that is in enmity with God. It
shines on a world that has rebelled against the true source of light. When it
rains, it rains on a world that hoards its food instead of shares it. When it raints
it rains on a world that wastes the resources that God is providing. Yet God
does not stop pouring our lavish blessings on this pathetic little rock. And when
we receive the Holy Spirit, and God begins to change us from the inside out, he
begins to shape us into his image again. That fallen lump of clay begins to show
the light of the Almighty God who provides unselfishly. And we give of
ourselves the way that God gave. We give of ourselves a sacrificial offering.
We give money to the homeless man, even though we know that he may just
buy more booze. We trust people even though they have betrayed us countless
times. We love those who have abused us. We pity those who would seek to see
us harmed. And how do we give? Where do these resources come from? They
come from the Spirit who is alive in us, the very infinite Spirit that John
identifies as Love.

For if you love the lover of you, what reward do you have? Even the tax
collecters do the same, don’t they? And if you greet your brother alone, what
more are you doing? Don’t even the the other nations do that?

Jesus is speaking to Jews, and by extension, everybody who is of the seed of
faith. He is providing an ethic for the Kingdom. In Jesus Christ, God has started
a New Nation. A nation whose citizens are not unified by language, or race,
they are not unified by a flag or a constitution. They are not unified by a socio-
economical status. Rather, they are unified by God’s saving work through the
Messiah, Jesus.

So be Perfect, just as your father in heaven is perfect.

What a charge. What a hard thing to hear from Jesus. He tells us to be Perfect. Will
Jesus really give us a command that is impossible to live up to? Dave Norris gives a
good example in his book Big Ideas. A Farmer tills a field. He is going to grow a field
of corn. He has worked a long time pulling the weeds out, aerating, and fertilizing.
He hears the truck from around the corner, and he goes outside to pick up the seed
that is being delivered to him. The truck’s tailgate comes down, and he sees the seed.
“Perfect!” the man exclaims. The man plants the seeds, and comes out in about 8
days, and he sees little shoots pushing up out of the ground. “Perfect!” the man says.
And goes back into his home. After a few more weeks, the corn grows higher, and it’s
up to the farmers waist now. There is not corn on it, but the farmer looks at it. It is
not yet time for harvest, and no money could possibly be made from this little crop,
but it is appropriately grown, and appropriately mature so the man clasps his hands
together and declares “Perfect!”After a few more weeks, the corn is now taller than
this man, and there is actually a few ears of corn coming out of the plant, but it’s not
quite harvest time. The man rubs his hands together after looking at the stock and
announces “Perfect.” The Corn is now ready to harvest. There is so much corn that
the stalks are starting to bend from the weight of it, and it has truly reached it’s
perfection. It is fully grown, and fully mature.

Living the kingdom ethic is not something that happens over night. But we do have an
upward call in Christ Jesus. We are constantly growing. Constantly being conformed
into the image of Christ. Constantly being perfected, but at each stage of
development, God looks at his children, and examines their fruit, and hopefully he
exclaims “Perfect!”

Leviticus 18

Leviticus 18 deals with all forms of sexual misconduct. This is something that is very important specifically because this is something that speaks very much to our world today.

There are serious ethical issues involved in this hairy mess of homosexual marriage and civil unions. We know that the current system does not work. For example: Oftentimes hospitals have rules about visitation: "Family members only." Also, adding their lover to their health insurance is something that is important as well for homosexual couples. Well, they live together, eat the same food, pay bills together, share a roof, love each other. That sounds like family. 

But the issue comes with what does it mean to be married? Is it simply an issue of love and commitment? Or is it an issue of human nature and societal structures? Or is it an issue of religion?

Now, Dan Savage recently attacked the Bible and the church concerning sexual conduct and Leviticus, and he said "Why should we follow this one law only?" And he was referring specifically to where it says "A man shall not lay with another man as he would with a woman. (Leviticus 18: 22)" But there are some important factors to understand both biblically, and universally.

Marriage is an institution that has existed before Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. It is held in every culture, and in every part of the world. It is not a religious institution only.

Now, from a Judeo-Christian perspective, not everybody can or should get married. Marriage and sex is not for everyone. I can't marry and have sex with my sister. I can affirm that my sister is beautiful, and lovely, and wonderful person, and the only reason I would not consider marrying my sister is the fact that we are related. If I were to say something about incest like "That's sick, that's unnatural, and morally outrageous" I would be using the same exact words that people use against homosexual marriages. Leviticus also forbids these unions as well.

Can I not say the same thing of another man? He is handsome, responsible, a lovable person, and the only reason that I would not consider marrying him is that he is a man?

What about the issue of Polygamy. (This one is a little more slippery because many religions even to this day practice polygamy, so the analogy is imperfect.) Can I affirm that my friend is lovely, wonderful, and beautiful, and the only reason I would not take her is because I or she is already married to another person. This union is also generally forbidden in society as well as in Leviticus.

We can say the same things of other morally outrageous unions, such as marrying my mother, my step-mother, cousin or niece etc. (each forbidden in Leviticus and society in general. Also bestiality.)

Jesus takes it another step further. He says that people who have gotten divorced have surrendered their right to marry. So, now if I get a divorce (outside of specific circumstances), all marriages are forbidden to me. Yet society allows this union to this day.

So the question needs to come out. Where is the line drawn? A line WILL be drawn, and once that line is drawn, it will be pushed, even if it takes 8,000 years to push the line, it will be pushed. Either way, people should know that the Christian perspective (and overall religious perspective) is not "Only men and women can marry." It's actually "Only one human male and one human female who are not related, and have not engaged in the act of divorce from a previous marriage, are permitted to marry, though it is understood that some should never marry even if these criteria are met." This position doesn't leave just homosexuals out in the cold. It leaves a lot of straight people out in the cold as well.

Leviticus 11-17

Laws regarding Legal Purity, the Day of Atonement, and Sacrifices. 11-17

Chapter 11 deals with Clean and unclean animals. The epistle of Barnabas gives an allegorical interpretation for these laws. Because they are unbinding on Christians in accordance with the Acts 15 council and Jesus' words, early Christians who believed that this was scripture needed a way to interpret these texts so that they could understand their overall moral or purpose.

According to the Epistle of Barnabas (which is not scripture), these animals represented negative attributes that the people of God were not to exhibit. The Pig was unclean because it would literally eat anything, healthy or unhealthy, and God wanted his people to live healthy lives by only participating in activities that could be considered morally healthy. The Vulture was unclean because it was a scavenger. This represented that God did not want his people to disrespect those who were weaker than them, etc.

Others have suggested that because certain foods, if not cooked right, could be deadly, and because the knowledge was not available to them, God simply forbade those foods, until people knew how to cook those foods properly. I am less convinced of this interpretation. I would prefer Barnabas' allegorical interpretation and application.

Chapter 12 deals with the purification of women after they give birth to a child. The character of God is shown in this passage because there is a provision for women who are poor, and cannot afford to give the prescribed lamb for the offering. Poor families were permitted to give either two turtle-doves (which would be the more expensive option) or two pigeons (which would be the least expensive offering, available for the poorest of people.Luke chapter 2 records that Mary and Joseph offered two turtle doves or two pigeons indicating that they were very poor people.

Chapters 13-14 deals with leprosy and how a person or a house may be made ritually clean after a period of being leprous.

Chapter 15 deals with bodily fluids, such as nocturnal emissions and blood from a period.

Chapter 16 is the day of atonement. It is the center of the book. This is an intentional thing.The day of Atonement was the day that all of Israel's sins were forgiven.

Chapter 17 deals specifically with the slaugtering of animals for the purposes of sacrifice, along with a prohibition against eating blood.

Leviticus 8-10

In Leviticus 8-10, we see more ceremony, and get a glimpse into the ordination of priests. The priests don the linen Ephod, the turban, the Urim and Thummim. But most important is the blood. The blood is placed on their right earlobe, their right thumb, and their right big toe. The priest has a ministry of blood. My last blog deals more on the duties of a priest, but the bloodiness of the job cannot be overstated.

The blood of the animals is a consistant and daily reminder of the sinfulness of Israel, and the consequences of sin, namely death. These animals took the place of the Israelite's lives, at least temporarily.

But what if the mediator is corrupt? What if the one who is supposed to bring the people to God and God to the people is a sinner? What happens if the purifier is impure? We learn of God's wrath against them in this short narrative.

10:1-3 Now Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, each took his censer, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered unholy fire before the Lord, such as he had not commanded them.² And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. ³ Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord meant when he said,‘Through those who are near me I will show myself holy,and before all the people I will be glorified.’"

God said that he would show himself holy, and that he would be glorified. Now, there are some who believe that God only gets glory when he redeems people. But he also gets glory when he exercises his wrath.

Now, this portion of scripture is hard for us to bear. I mean, they were killed for burning the wrong kind of incense. And if that were all it was, it would seem so very wrong. But, it is in those seemingly non-consequential sins that man is so easily ensnared by. Humanity fell under a curse because Adam bit into a fruit. These were killed for offering unapproved incense. Uzzah died for touching the Ark.

But Adam didn't just eat the fruit. Adam disobeyed God, and brought a schism between heaven and earth. God told him what was going to happen, and Adam deliberately disobeyed God. Nadab and Abihu did the same exact thing. God told them how to do their job. And they did exactly what God told them not to do. Now, because the priests are a type of Christ, and are administering the sacrifices that are also foreshadowing Christ, this sort of insubordination cannot be tolerated. Beware of testing God, saying "will God really do what he said he would?"

Leviticus 1-7

We are now entering the third book of the Torah, Leviticus. Now, Leviticus is something of a mystery for Christians, and American Christians in particular. Leviticus deals with priestly duties, what to sacrifice and how to sacrifice it, who should offer the sacrifice, and what a person should sacrifice depending on their own individual needs. Which is perplexing to us. Unless you're a Catholic or an Eastern Orthodox, you may not understand the role of a priest. Most of our meat comes from the store, and we have never killed an animal, much less slaughter and dissect one. We are often concerned of animal rights, and the thought of killing an animal because we screwed up, may sound revolting to us. So, naturally, we are inclined to misunderstand Leviticus, and to not consider it because it may make us feel unsettled. Some, for a less noble reason, don't read it because it can be repetitive and repetitive. But I assure you, there is good, Gospel in this book.

There are 5 main divisions of the book of Leviticus.
I.   Ritual Sacrifices (1-7)
II.  Ceremony of Ordination of priests (8-10)
III. Laws regarding Legal Purity (11-16)
IV. Code of Legal Holiness (17-26)
V.  Redemption of Offerings (27)

The Role of a priest.

A priest represents God to the people, and the people to God. The Priest acts as a mediator. He brings the sins of the people to God, and asks for His forgiveness, and delivers God's forgiveness to the people. Note that it is not the priest who is forgiving sins. Only God can forgive sins, but that message of forgiveness is delivered through the priest. Now there are two kinds of Priests. Regular priests, and the High Priest. This correlates to the New Testament very well. In the New Testament, the High Priest is Jesus, and the other Priests are the ministers in the church.

Did I just say that your Pastor can forgive sins? In the Catholic Church, yes, the Priest has the ability to deliver God's forgiveness to the people. But not everybody is a Catholic. One way in which a minister delivers God's forgiveness to the people is through Baptism. Also, Pastors often intercede to God for their saints. Praying that God would have mercy on them, and that God would draw closer to them, and God hears the prayers of His ministers.

Now, there is a sense in which ALL of Israel is a priest, and by extension, all of the Church are priests. God says of Israel "And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." Exodus 19:6 Peter quotes these same words in his epistle, and applies them to the church. So there is a general priesthood of believers as well. There is a sense in which all of us are priests. The people of the world look at us, and see God. We can communicate God's teachings and love to the whole world, and they may come to God through our intercession. 

Confession: Part of what the Protestant reformation lopped off from the historical church was the practice of confession. Throughout church history, confession was regularly practiced. James writes "Confess your sins one to another." And undoubtedly  they confessed their sins to the priest when they offered the sacrifice, otherwise, how would the priest know what to sacrifice, and how to sacrifice it?

Concerning Confession, C.S. Lewis writs: It is not for me to decide whether you should confess your sins to a priest or not... but if you do not, you should at least make a list on a piece of paper, and make a serious act of penance about each one of them. There is something about the mere words, you know, provided you avoid two dangers, either of sensational exaggeration - trying to work things up and make melodramatic sins out of small matters - or the opposite danger of slurring things over. It is essential to use the plain simple, old-fashioned words that you would use about anyone else. I mean words like theft, or fornication, or hatred instead of "I did not mean to be dishonest," or "I was only a boy then," or "I lost my temper." I thing that this steady facing of what one does know and bringing it before God, without excuses, and seriously asking for Forgiveness and Grace, and resolving as far as in one lies to do better, is the only way in which we can ever begin to know the fatal thing which is always there, and preventing us from becoming perfectly just to our wife or husband, or being a better employer or employee. If this process is gone throiugh, I do not doubt that most of us will come to understand and to share these old words like "contrite," "miserable" and "intolerable."
Sacrifice:
And what else must be there for forgiveness? A sacrifice. At last we address the main subject of these first seven chapters. Sacrifice. Now these bloody sacrifices, serve a purpose. They show us the very real threat of death that sin causes. Imagine living in Ancient Israel, and every day you see sacrifices happen, and you know the reason for those sacrifices is sin. Sin brings death into the world, and the sacrifices were a constant reminder of that. But the blood of bulls and rams could not take away the sins of the world forever, but they merely foreshadowed what was to come, namely the perfect and spotless lamb of God, Jesus the Messiah. God the Father sent his Son into the world, with a purpose. And that purpose was to take the sin of the world upon him. Christ is unique in that He not only is the High Priest, He is the Sacrifice as well.


"Thus the priest shall make atonement on your behalf, and you shall be forgiven." Leviticus 4:31

Atonement. At-one. Atone. To Atone for sins is to bring back together, and to make a person "at one" with God. And this is what is accomplished in the death of Jesus Christ. Sin has marred our beautiful godlike image, and it has turned all of our desires inward, so that God is not first in our priorities, but we are. This separates us from God. But Christ's death brings atonement for our sins, and makes us One with God again. This Oneness is most displayed when one is filled with the Holy Spirit.

Lamb of God
You Take Away
The Sins of the
The World. - Agnus Dei.

Exodus 18-40.

This blog is a very very quick run though of the last 22 chapters of Exodus. Hold on to your seat belts.

The first thing that is noticeable in Chapter 18, is the origin of the Judges of Israel. Jethro sees Moses judging the people's cases all day, every day, and says that he is being exhausted. He offers him wisdom. Ready for it? YOU CAN'T DO IT ALL!

He advises Moses to make judges for the people of Israel, and they will judge each person, and the very difficult cases, will be brought to Moses. Which gives Moses another role. Moses is now officially, a Prophet and a Judge.

Jesus is also a Prophet and a Judge. Now, a person recently asked me why it is that I keep drawing these parallels between Moses and Jesus. And the reason for that is this. Moses prophesied that the Messiah would be like him. (He hasn't said that yet in the story yet though.)

The Rabbis claim that the Judges are their ancestors, and that each Judge appointed a successor, and that continues even to today. I'm not entirely sure how valid that is, but they look to this chapter and see their ancestral authority.

In chapter 19, God tells Israel their chosen purpose. God says "You have seen how I treated the Egyptians and how I bore you up on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now, if you obey me completely and keep my covenant, you will be my treasured possession among all peoples, though all the earth is mine. You will be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation."

God delivered Israel by his power, and now Israel belongs to God. People who have been delivered owe a debt to God. An unimaginable debt. We are not freed from slavery. We are still slaves. We are delivered from Egypt. We are now love slaves to the Almighty God. So put your ear to the door.

Exodus 20. The Ten Commandments / The Two Commandments.

In essence, you can break down the ten commandments into two commandments. The Pursuit of Godliness, and the Pursuit of Righteousness. Now many do not understand the difference. Godliness is to pursue a right relationship with God, and putting God before yourself. Righteousness is to pursue a right relationship with other people, and putting them before yourself. In fact, they are even in that order. The first four commandments relate to how we should honor God, and the last 6 commandments relate to how we should honor men and women.

But Jesus said it this way. 28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

From Exodus 20-40 deal specifically with various laws, each holy and righteous, and good. But above all, each in line with the first two commandments. It also deals with different tabernacle furnishings. A point of which I would like to touch on later.

Exodus also tells of the people's sworn loyalty and their actual practice. They swear to serve Yahweh, and Yahweh alone, but while Moses is up on the Mountain of God, they make a golden calf, and worship it. From then on, God compares them to an Ox when they are rebellious, referring to them as "stiff-necked."

Exodus 31:3, 35:21, and 35:31 describes individuals who are filled with the Holy Spirit. And they are gifted by the Holy Spirit. Now, so far, we have heard of people filled with the Spirit, it has to do with Prophecy. Joseph was able to prophecy, and to have dreams, and interpret dreams. But here, surprisingly for Protestants, people are described of being filled with the Holy Spirit for the express purpose of making Icons. The Tabernacle, and the Ark of the Covenant, the lamp stands, etc, were all Icons that were meant to be reminders of God's providence and were used in the worship of the Almighty.

Which leads us to a question. Protestants have been opposed to Icons used by our Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox brothers on the basis of Exodus 20 warning against idolatry and God's strict commandment not to make anything "in the sky above or on the earth below or in the water's beneath the earth." But this has to be harmonized with the Ark of the Covenant and the Bronze Serpent, and other icons that Israel made. Is it possible that the various icons that our brothers and sisters in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches use in prayer were actually made by people who were filled with the Holy Spirit, and that God used them for that express purpose? I think so.

Exodus 15-17

Victory Dance

Two books into the Torah, and we have just happened across the oldest portion of scripture.

Exodus 15 is perhaps the oldest portion of scripture. Why is that? Because it was sung besides the Red Sea, by a group of people, in an act of liturgy. This was likely written down long before the rest of the Torah. It contains some of the most "raw" revelation of God.

God is depicted as a warrior God. Israel sings his praises like children applauding their favorite super-hero. "He has thrown the horse and the rider into the sea!" "He is my Father's God" His "Right hand shatters the enemy." This God is the toughest God that could ever exist. This God split a sea in half by blasting it with His nostrils. There is no statement of Monotheism per se, but there is a view that he is the supreme God. He is the toughest God. He destroyed the Egyptian gods, He conquered Pharaoh, he delivered them from Egypt, and because of that, He is the best God.

The song boasts about how the inhabitants of Canaan have already been defeated. The song shows their true confidence in God. They know that if God delivered them from Egypt, then surely, God can give them the land that was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

But eventually...

The murmuring begins. "If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger."

It's funny how this happens almost immediately in the text. God is shown as faithful, and his people are shown as fickle. God demonstrates amazing power, they believe, they get a little hungry, and they doubt God's ability. God delivers them from this doubt by giving them bread and quail. He tells them to only gather for the day, but never for two days, unless it's the day before the Sabbath, then he would allow them to gather for two days. 

God is teaching his people to trust him. They are not to worry about the next day, but to believe in God's promise. God said that he would bring more Manna tomorrow. God oftentimes asks us to trust him for our sustenance. He has delivered us, and he will not let us go. He did not rescue us, He did not save us, He did not die for us, just to see us wither and die in the wilderness.

Now, Jesus said that He came from heaven, and compares Himself to the manna which fell in the wilderness, and tells us to eat His flesh. The body and the blood of our Lord is what sustains us. The Holy Communion is the pinnacle of Christian Worship. Through Holy Communion, we are able to stand at the feet of the Cross. We participate in an Eternal event. We encounter the crucified Lord, and take the position of John, at his feet.

The Murmuring Continues...

Essentially the same complaint occurs, except this time, the people demand water. Again they accuse the Lord of being incompetent. Apparently, Israel believes that God can deliver from Egypt, and from hunger, but not from thirst. It almost seems impossible to believe. Except if you put yourself in their shoes. In fact, if you were just entirely honest with yourself, you would acknowledge that you do this too. Imagine, walking, for days in the desert. No water. The sun beats down on your face, and you stagger around, and you look all around you, and in every direction all you see is sand. For all you know, you, and all your family, are wandering aimlessly.

But God delivers Israel again from their complaints. And He gives them water, and they are refreshed. But this leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of Moses. He names the river Massah and Meribah, which means Test and Quarel, and he writes, "The Israelites quarrelled and tested the LORD saying "Is the LORD among us or not?"

Exodus 17 and the Epistle of Barnabas

Recorded in Exodus 17 is the first war that Israel has to fight. Israel fights against Amalek. Moses, Aaron, and Hur go up to the mountain. When Moses' arms were raised, the people were victorious, when they dropped, the people would lose the battle. So Aaron and Hur stood beside Moses and lifted his arms up, so Israel would win the battle.

Now, Barnabas wrote an Epistle, and in this Epistle, Barnabas writes that this is a type of Jesus. That when Christians look to the cross, they are saved from their enemies, and that if Jesus' arms were never stretched out, there would be no victory over sin, death, and Satan.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Exodus 12-14

The Passover.

The Passover feast is the first in the liturgical calander of the Jews. In fact, it marks the beginning of the Jewish New Year. Now, there are certain rules for the Passover. These rules are meant to be reminders of how the Jews were delivered from Egypt. Among these rules was the unleavened bread. In the eating of unleavened bread, they remember that they did not have time to wait around for the yeast to rise, but they had to leave quickly, so they baked the bread without the leaven.

Another was that the lamb's bones could not be broken. Now Israel did not understand the meaning of this until far later. We see why the lamb's bones could not be broken from John. John writes that this was an allusion to Christ's death.

When a person was being crucified, they would choke on their own collar bone. When they wanted to take a breath, they would press up on their feet (that had nails in them) and pull up with their arms (that also had nails in them) and they would catch a quick breath, before going back down, and choking on their collar bone. This agonizing process could go on for hours, even days. But when the Romans wanted them to die faster, they would break the legs. When the legs were broken, they could not be pushed up on, and that person could not breath. Jesus however, died, before his legs could be broken.

The lamb's blood was applied to the door frame of God's people, and they were delivered from death. Death passed over, taking the first born from Egypt, but death passed over the Israelites. In the same way, Jesus was God's lamb, and His blood is applied to the saints. And when his blood is applied to the saints, they do not inherit death.

The Red Sea

After God's last plague, Pharaoh decides to let Israel Go. And God guides them to the red sea, with a pillar of fire by night, and a cloud by the day time. But Pharaoh changes his mind and pursues them to the sea. The people are terrified, and they call out to Moses, and accuse God, saying "did you deliver us from Egypt just so we could die here!?" But God tells Moses to put his rod over the sea. He obeys, and an east wind splits the Red Sea in half. They walk across on dry ground, and Pharaoh's armies are thrown into the Sea.

Many early Christians, including the Apostle Peter himself, saw this as a foreshadowing of Baptism. The individual is delivered from a sinful world, and inherit a new life. (Israel is delievered from Egypt, and starts a new nation.) The wickedness of the old life is washed away in the water. (The Egyptians were destroyed in the Red Sea.)

Now, there may also be some important parallels to point out between Moses and Jesus. So far, we have the following similarities.

1) Moses and Jesus both had to flee for their lives as infants. Kings were trying to kill them both.
2) Moses started his ministry after being in the desert for 40 years. Jesus started his ministry after being in the desert for 40 days.
3) Moses went to deliver Israel, riding on a donkey. Jesus went to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, riding a donkey.
4) Moses was rejected by his own people. Jesus was rejected by his own people.

There are more to come, for sure.

Exodus 6-11

God responds to Moses' stinging accusation. He assures that Egypt will not only let Israel go, but Egypt will beg Israel to leave, and in fact Israel will loot Egypt. But He offers something a little bit special to Moses. He offers him a revelation of himself. He says "I am Yahweh. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name Yahweh I did not make myself known to them."

That's a pretty big claim. God was going to give Moses a revelation that not even Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had! They knew God as the Almighty, but they did not know his true NAME. But that doesn't entirely make sense. From scripture, we know that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all called God Yahweh. 

What does Exodus 6:3 really mean? As for Exodus 6:3, I went into the original language, and I found that the Hebrew word "Lo" was there. The Hebrew word "Lo" is an interrogative particle. That means that the translation could be rendered "By my name Yahweh was I not known unto them?" Or, we could look at the definition of the name Yahweh that God gave Moses in Exodus 34:6-7. In other words, God was revealing something about his character that had never been seen by Israel before.

God does this by delivering Israel with 10 wonders. Now, God is not just waging war against Pharaoh. God is waging war against the gods that the Egyptians trusted in. God directly attacks multiple Egyptian gods, and conquers them, asserting his superiority.

The Egyptians worshiped the two gods named Khnum and Hopi. Khnum was the guardian of the Nile and Hopi was the spirit of the Nile. The Nile becomes the first victim of God's wrath. But Pharaoh's magicians were also able to turn water into blood, so Pharaoh refuses to let Israel God.
The second plague was the frogs. Their god Heqt would oftentimes appear as a frog. Yahweh shows that He controls the frogs, not Heqt. Yahweh turns their god against them. Heqt cannot stand before Yahweh. 

The biggest slap in the face came when God makes the sky dark. The darkness is so terrible, that the scripture describes it as "darkness that can be felt." He challenges the sun gods themselves. Horus, Re, Aten and Atum. He systematically goes through, and destroys all of their gods, and shows Pharaoh, the "god-king" that there truly is only One Almighty God, and He will deliver His people.

Lastly, I want to address this issue. Throughout this portion of scripture we see that God hardens Pharaoh's heart. What exactly does that mean? Some have argued that to harden Pharaoh's heart means that God made Pharaoh purposefully defiant. Others have said that God strengthened Pharaoh's resolve. Now, there is a very subtle distinction between these two positions. One is Calvinistic, and the idea being presented is that God gave mercy to Israel and delivered them, and God changes their hearts to one that is responsive to grace. But God shows His wrath to Pharaoh by making his heart irresponsive to grace. Whereas the later is Weslyan / Arminian. The thing being emphasized is that God was just allowing, or encouraging Pharaoh to do what he wants to do. The difference is very subtle, but it speaks volumes to God's character. Did God sovereignly decide to harden Pharaoh's heart to be unrighteous, or did God encourage Pharaoh in his own free will?

Exodus 1-5

Exodus is the second book of the Torah. It tells the story of Israel's deliverance from Egypt, and it focuses on one man. Moses. Moses' importance cannot be over-exaggerated. Moses wrote Genesis, and he also wrote the next three books of the Bible as well, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Here is where we see the origins of this incredible man. Without Moses, there would be no record of Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob. There would be no Judaism. There would be no Christianity. 

Why was Exodus written? Exodus was written so that nobody would ever forget what God had done for them. The traditions contained in Exodus is the central story of Judeo-Christianity. So much of the Bible relates back to Exodus. In the Hebrew Bible, God delivering Israel from Egypt, and the events in the Exodus, are alluded to in almost every book, and in the New Testament, oftentimes salvation is framed in such a way that Exodus is in view. Again, there is no over-exaggerating the importance and centrality of Moses and the Exodus narrative to the Judeo-Christian faith.

Now, Exodus doesn't just end with Moses and Israel coming out of Egypt. Exodus isn't just a narrative about being saved. But Exodus also deals with what it means to be delivered. It teaches what is expected of the people of God. It, along with the rest of the Torah, deals with the question, "how then should I live?"

"[Exodus] asserts that Israel exists as God's people only because of the gracious actions of the God who delivered them from oppression. And it also insists that their response to salvation be faithful obedience in the service of God's wider mission to bless all humanity." - The Wesley Study Bible.

The Story begins with a bad omen. A new King rises, and he doesn't know Joseph, and what Joseph did for Israel. All he sees is a great gathering of people, mightier than Egypt. He fears that one day, they'll figure out that they could revolt, and they could take Egypt. so he begins to oppress them, and force hard slavery on them, harder than it had ever been before. And still, the Israelites flourish. He then makes a command of such high atrocity, that it is unbearable to imagine. He commissions the midwives for a most unholy task. To murder all the male children as they are coming out of the womb. But the midwives fear God, and lie to Pharaoh, in essence saying "We never get there in time!" So he chooses to throw all these babies into the Nile River. But one woman who trusts God, sends her baby down a river in a basket.

This child is intercepted, and becomes a Prince of Egypt. But he also remembers his mother, and his people, and defends them when he can. One day, things go a little too far. He murders a man, and burries him in the sand when nobody is watching, because he was beating a Hebrew slave. When he is discovered, he runs away and starts a new life in Midian.

This is where he encounters God, in a fiery bush. God says that he has not forgotten Israel. Though they are going through a miserable time, he still remembers them, and it is now time for them to be delivered. He has heard their groaning, their crying, and he is going to take action, and Moses will be His mediator.

Moses is not so sure he likes God's idea. Moses feels unable to do what God wants him to do. Moses has more faith in his inability, than he does in God's ability. But God sets him straight. God makes the blind, and the seeing. God makes the deaf, and the mute, and the hearing and the speaking. God is the sovereign one who gives everybody their place in life, and God has called and created Moses for this role.

It's easy to tell God every reason why we don't qualify. It's easier for God to tell us why we don't qualify. But our being called has nothing to do with our abilities, but on God's desire to equip us for His will. And in this case, God equipped Moses with a partner. Aaron. God is an accommodating God.

God tells Moses that He is going to deliver Israel from Egypt with a "strong hand" and basically says "by the time I'm done with them, they'll be begging you to leave!" God was going to strike Egypt with all of his wonders. "Now Go!" He says "Tell Pharaoh to let my people go."

Moses delivers the message to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh does not appreciate God's message. He doesn't know Yahweh, and he doesn't care about His opinion, or His people. Instead, to spite Yahweh, he pushes even more work onto the Israelites. They suffer even more, and Moses ends this chapter with a stinging accusation.

"Since I first came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has mistreated this people, and you have done nothing at all to deliver your people."

Genesis 46-50

The end of the beginning. 

There is much to say, but at the moment I think I will only write about what is said of Judah.

Now, The promise of descendants is funneled through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, also called Israel. And the 12 sons of Israel fulfill the prophecy that Israel would be a great nation. Each son becomes a tribe, and that is important and good. But the specific covenant promise that interests me, is who is the Messiah?

So far we know that the Messiah is a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We know that he will crush the head of the serpent. We know that all the world is going to be blessed because of him, and we know that his birth will be supernatural. And now we know that he is a descendant from the tribe of Judah. The funnel has become more specific. From Abraham. From Isaac not Ishmael. From Jacob not Esau. From Judah, not his other 11 brothers.

The book ends with the beginning of all of Egypt trading their freedom for safety. Something that we all understand right now in America. I just hope it isn't as disastrous for us as it was for Israel back then.

Genesis 37- 45

Predestination

Question: What did the Presbyterian lady say when she fell down the stairs?
Answer: Glad that's over.

Now, as fun as it seems to be among American Evangelicals to make fun of the concept of predestination, it's a very biblical topic. Now, Romans deals with predestination, and so does Ephesians, but I think that the best way to see how predestination "works" is by reading the story of Joseph.

The story of Joseph is what convinced me of a Calvinistic understanding of predestination, namely that everything that happens, God intends it to happen for his own glory and purposes. Now, some may read that statement and say, "hold on there chap, what about free will?" to which I respond thusly: free will and predestination are no more contradictory than infallible books written by fallible men, or a person being both God and human.

So what about Joseph's story convinced me of individual predestination? After all, predestination never appears in the text. Well, let's count the variables that are necessary for Joseph's story to happen.

1) Joseph needs to make his brothers jealous enough to sell him into slavery. 2) Joseph has to be sold to Potiphar. 3) Potiphar's wife has to be attracted to him enough to try to seduce him. 4) Potiphar's wife would have to tell so many lies about her servants that Potiphar doesn't believe her, and throws Joseph in prison instead of killing him on the spot. 5) He has to be thrown in jail with two other men. 6) Both of those men have to be thrown in jail. 7) Those men needed dreams to be interpreted. 8) A famine has to take over the then known world. 9) Pharaoh needs to believe in Joseph's interpretation of the dream. Most of these things are completely and entirely out of Joseph's control. But Joseph says two things that would imply that God is the one doing the work, not him, not anybody else.

The first is: "And the doubling of Pharaoh's dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about." 41:32.God had prepared this famine. That famine was necessary and plays a big role in salvation history. Without that famine, Israel would never be enslaved by Egypt. And if they were never enslaved by Egypt, the whole message of scripture would be entirely different. This famine was part of God's plan to save the entire world through Jesus Christ.

The second is this: "You intended it for evil, but God intended it for good." Joseph is saying that the true force behind his brother's actions was God. Now, he does not deny that they sinned. He does not deny that their intentions were evil. But God had planned, and motivated their evil intentions for the good of the whole world. Joseph does not see a problem between God exercising his sovereignty and men exercising their free will. He holds them as non-contradictory.

Also, keep in mind that God had warned Abraham that his people would be enslaved by Egypt for 400 years. God had planned that to happen. And in Joseph's life, God set that plan into motion. Again, the ultimate goal of God's predestination was salvation for the elect.

Pneumatology

"Can we find anyone else like this - one in whom is the spirit of God?" 41:38

Growing up Pentecostal, I had believed that nobody was filled with the Holy Spirit until Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost. The infilling of the Holy Spirit is, by far the most exhilarating, amazing experience that anybody could have. And part of being filled with the Holy Spirit is to be used by the Holy Spirit. To be His instrument in bringing about change in the world, sometimes by miraculous means. Some of these gifts were healing, speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues, faith, knowledge, wisdom, dreams, and visions, among others.

But I am confronted by Pharaoh's confession of Joseph. Pharaoh believed that Joseph was filled with God's spirit, and that enabled him to interpret dreams and have prophetic dreams. And of course he's right. Joseph indeed was filled with the Spirit. So what does that mean for Joel 2:28-32 and Peter's sermon in Acts 2? Perhaps the idea isn't that the Holy Spirit is being poured out on people, but that the Holy Spirit was available to all of God's people, instead of a select few.

Genesis 33-36

So Jacob's name means "Heel Grabber." And he wrestled with God. And God changed his name to Israel. Which means "Wrestles with God." Jacob is seen as wrestling for everything. He wrestles with his brother. He wrestles with Laban for his wife. He wrestles with the sheep that he's keeping. He wrestles with his own faith in his family God. And now, he wrestles with God himself.

He prays a prayer that I find is quite moving because it reflects a major character change in Jacob. Instead of being a thief, and a conman, who at root, believes that he has been cheated in life, or that his life is more important than anyone else,  his prayer reflects that of a humble man, who would not seek to harm anyone. "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your kindred, and I will do you good,' I am not worthy of the least of ll the steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan; and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him; he may come and kill us all, the mothers with the children. Yet you have said 'I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of their number.'"

He first acknowledges that God has been faithful to his family. Which is a measure of gratefulness. He continues still with thanking him for his love and his faithfulness, knowing that he himself was not worthy of it. He is well aware that God has been so good to him, and that there was no way to be able to repay him. He attributes all of his success to God. He seeks to be reunited with his brother Esau, who he stole both blessing and birthright from. And he goes about it correctly. He does so with prayer.

That same night, God shows up, and wrestles him. Jacob refuses to let go of God until he gives him a blessing. So  God changes his name. Jacob actually wrestled with God, and left with only a limp. Now, of course, God could have destroyed Israel without even thinking about it. But this moment is where we see a real turnaround in Jacob He throws away all the idols in his family, and commits himself to worshiping Yahweh alone.

When he finally comes to meet his brother, he does so by presenting gifts, and humbling himself. He refers to his brother as "my lord" and bows to the ground before him. God has not only delivered Jacob from Esau's rage, but he has actually healed the broken relationship between Esau and Jacob. They embrace each other with tears, and joyfully speak of each other's family.

God is more than able to heal a family to the uttermost. That which has been broken, and shattered, God can put together again. He can mend broken hearts, and heal hurts.

But unfortunately for Jacob, pain was right around the corner again. Shortly after leaving Esau, his own daughter is raped by a rule of a local city. His sons are enraged, and avenge them. While the city was unprepared, and in pain, they went through the city and killed all of the soldiers. But Jacob knows that this did not heal anything. He understands that this will bring only more death, and more war. On top of all this, Israel's sons twisted the sign of the covenant, circumcision, into a trick to make their enemies vulnerable.

After this, even more heartbreak and pain comes his way when his beloved wife, Rachel, dies in childbirth. The son's name is Benjamin. Shortly after her death, his father dies. There is much sorrow in Jacob's life in these last few chapters. Esau, his brother, helps bury their father. Sometimes life can be like that. High heights, followed by low depths. But God is present through all of it.

The section ends with Esau's genealogy. Unfortunately, Esau married into the Canaanites.

Genesis 28-32

Okay, so, I have gotten fairly behind. I had a lofty goal, to read the Bible all in one year, and blog DAILY about my experiences and thoughts in God's word. Well, I've failed a bit. I'm about a month behind. But, If I continue to read 4 chapters a day I will be able to accomplish my goal. This is not an impossible feat. I must be diligent. I simply must be. 

Now, I am getting back on that "pony" with a quick post over my last reading. From 24-31. Now, alot happens here. We learn that Jacob is a decietful little bugger, and has well earned his name "heel grabber." Jacob is a sinner. He's a liar, and a bit of a thief, and that's for sure. But God has still chosen him for His purposes. One portion of scripture that I find very beautiful is where Jacob falls asleep, and he has a dream.

¹² And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. ¹³ And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; ¹⁴ and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed  in you and in your offspring. ¹⁵ Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” ¹⁶ Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!” ¹⁷ And he was afraid, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” - Genesis 28:12-17

This is the place where God calls Jacob into covenant on a very official level. The promised Messiah is going to come through him. In fact, all of the Jews are going to come through him. But that is obvious. Everybody knows about Yahweh being the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What people may not know is the connection between Jesus and Bethel. 

“Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” - John 1:51.

Notice the two underlined portions in Genesis and John 1. Jesus is claiming to be that ladder. Jesus is claiming to be the mediator between God and men. He is claiming to be the house of God, (Bethel) and the Gate of Heaven. This is indeed a bold claim for him to make. It is certain that Jesus did not believe Himself to be just any man. No. He saw himself as being present when God blessed Jacob. Jesus is our ladder to God.

Though there are many other things to take away from this portion of scripture, what is really important to take away are these two things. 1) That Jesus claims to be the only way to God. He does this by quoting a passage of scripture about a ladder between heaven and earth. And 2) that nothing a man can ever do can separate himself from God's loving call. God called This imperfect man, Jacob. And Jacob, even after he was called, committed many sins. He was still a thief, a liar, and a conman. But God would not allow him to slip too far away. In the next chapter, we see how God gets Jacob's attention.
Among many important things, Jacob gets married, twice, and this causes a lot of competition between Jacob's two wives. He was conned, in the same way that he conned others. Perhaps this is God's means of justice.

Genesis 21-24

    Finally, Isaac is born. The promise is beginning to be fulfilled. God had promised Abraham that his descendants would become a mighty nation. But Abraham had no children, and he wasn't getting any younger at 90 years old when that promise was made. But God made a promise, and God keeps his promises. Most importantly here though is the fact that God's promise to Abraham was also a promise of salvation for all the nations of the earth, and is in fact a Messianic prophecy. God said to Abraham "Through you, all the nations of the world will be blessed." And now, finally, after so many years of waiting, God gives Abraham the child of promise. Isaac.
     Of course this doesn't come without it's consequences. Abraham had once tried to fulfill God's plan by his own effort. His wife offered her servant Hagar to serve as a surrogate mother. But once Ishmael was born, Sarah became immediately jealous, and believed that Hagar felt superior to Sarah because Hagar could give birth to children, while Sarah couldn't. But now that Isaac was born, which opens a whole new can of worms.
     Sarah begs Abraham to kick Hagar and her son Ishmael out of the house. There is a lot of bitterness in Sarah, and she is having a hard time letting go. Abraham loves Ishmael and is very conflicted over what he should do, but God says to allow Hagar and Ishmael to leave, and promises that he will take care of Ishmael, and make a mighty nation from him as well. So Abraham has Hagar and Ishmael leave, and gives them supplies for their journey.
     During their journey, they run out of water. Hagar places Ishmael under a bush, and walks away, becuase she can't bear to see her son die. She weeps, but while she is weeping, God speaks to her. God tells her that He has heard the crying of her son, and that He had promised Abraham that they would be okay.
     So God blesses Ishmael, and He becomes a mighty warrior, and a great people come from him. Mohammad claimed to be a descendant of Ishmael, and the Muslim nations are descendants of Ishmael. It's possible that is true, although there is no biblical reference that I know of that proves that the muslim nations descend from Ishmael. Nevertheless, the Biblical text shows that even though God did not choose Ishmael for this purpose, God still blessed him in honor of Abraham, his father.

     Meanwhile back at the ranch, God tells Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. God had promised Abraham that he would bring him a son, and now, after 90 years, and banishing his other son Ishmael, God wants Abraham to take that sweet baby boy, lay him on a rock, and slice his throat, and burn him as a sacrifice to God. The text is emphatic that God knows how hard this is for him. God specifically says "Take your son, your only son, whom you love." Abraham loved Isaac as if he was an only child. His beloved child. Imagine the pain that Abraham had with just the request. Did he feel betrayed by God? Did he think that God was playing a sick joke?
      But Abraham obeys God. He takes him up the mountain top, and on the way, Isaac asks his father where the sacrifice was. Abraham says "God will provide a sacrifice for himself." He trusts God to provide a sacrifice instead of Isaac, and God does. Many Christian scholars through the centuries have compared this to the pain that the Father went through when His only beloved Son was sacrificed.
  
     Shortly after this, Sarah dies. Abraham is so very grieved. It is hard to imagine the grief that one must feel when one's spouse dies after so many years of living life together. Abraham desires to bury Sarah, his beloved wife, and everyone wants to help him so badly during this time of grief. One man even volunteers to give a burial site for Sarah for free, and insists that Abraham take it for free. But Abraham begs to pay for it. The grief that Abraham felt over her death must have been great indeed considering the fact that she was there for his whole life, and she was the one that God used to bring his promise to this world.

    While Abraham lay on his death bed, he comissions his servant to find Isaac a wife. What I find inspiring is that on his death bed, Abraham is still trusting God over all these years. He tells his servant to be sure that he does not find a wife from Ur. He wants his son to never go back to his old family, because God had told him that his children would inherit the land of Canaan. Even in his old age, Abraham clings to the promises of God. As a young man, I am inspired by the testimony of Abraham, and the elders around me who have lived their lives in service to God, truly trusting Him at His word.
   

Genesis 18-20

January 8th, 2013

Sodom and Gomorrah

There is a lot to take away from the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. This short story in scripture has so many moral lessons attached to it that it may be hard to touch on each one. I will write what the story of Sodom and Gomorrah tells us about the Justice of God, The Mercy of God, and the Wrath of God. It also speaks volumes of our relationship with God, and his relationship with his people.

The story begins with the LORD himself coming with two angels to visit Abraham. Abraham bows to the earth, and pleads that they would stay with him, and the LORD decides that he will eat with Abraham, but also mentions that he cannot stay long. Abraham is portrayed as rushing everywhere getting food ready. He rushes to his wife, and tells her to quickly make bread. He rushes to the calf, and tells the man to quickly butcher it. And after this is all done, he has a conversation with the LORD over his meal. (Which is amazing in and of itself. God actually ate.)

The LORD feels that he must tell Abraham what he is going to do with Sodom and Gomorrah. He tells him of their sinfulness, and his plans to exercise judgement. And Abraham intercedes with God that he would spare the whole city, if only 50 people are found there. God says that he wont destroy the city for the sake of fifty. Abraham says, okay lord, what if there's only 45? And God says, I won't destroy it for 45. Abraham continues to dwindle God down to 10 people, and God affirms that he would not destroy the city if there are 10 righteous people there.

Now this shows a couple things about our relationship with God. God really hears our prayers, and is legitimately concerned about how His people feel about His plans. Abraham's intercessory prayer is him begging God to be merciful. Abraham also has the ability to ask about God's moral character. "Should not the judge of all the world do right?"

This also shows that God is deeply affected by sin. God does not like when humanity is broken. He promised that he would never destroy the whole world again with the flood, but that does not mean that he will not punish cities, and even nations, who have completely been given over to sin's control. God is willing to exercise his wrath.

Which leads us to an answer to the problem of evil. If God is all loving, and all powerful, why does evil exist in the world? If God is loving but not capable to eliminate sin, then he is a weak God. If he is able but unwilling, then he is an evil God. So says the philosopher. What is God's response to this? "I destroyed the world in a flood, and saved a small group of people to start over again. But you messed it up again. If you really want me to deal with the sin problem, I suppose I could just destroy everybody." Even after the flood we see that human beings are still very sinful creatures who refuse to learn from their past errors, and refuse to submit to God, and we are worthy of God's wrath.

We also learn of the mercy and the justice of God. God refuses to destroy a city if there are 10 righteous people in it. He will not destroy the righteous with the wicked. So he will not unjustly punish the righteous for the sins that they did not commit, and he will show mercy on the wicked for the sake of the righteous.

After the conversation that the LORD has with Abraham, the two angels go to Sodom and Gomorrah, to find Lot. Lot invites them to his home, and the people of Sodom and Gomorrah form a mob and demand to see the men that Lot took in. They desire to rape them. Lot offers his two virgin daughters instead of the angels, but the mob refuses, and pushes up against the door. Lot pleads with them not to "do this wicked thing." But they call him a no good judgmental immigrant and keep pressing on the door. The angels pull Lot inside, and strike the people with blindness, and pull Lot, his wife, and his betrothed daughters out of the city.

Stop.

So Lot is called righteous right? Right.

So Lot tried to throw his virgin daughters out to a mob to be raped, right? Right.

So how is he righteous again? Good question.

Lot was clearly in the wrong, and he was commiting a sin by offering his daughters to a mob. But there is also a cultural element at stake here. In that time and place, a person who had a guest would do whatever he possibly could to keep his guests safe. Some were known to give away all of their food and money to people who would seek to harm their guests. This was part of what it meant to be hospitable in that culture. Also, throughout history, the percieved value of women has gone up and down, and unfortunately for Lot's daughters, this was a time in history that the percieved value of those women was low. Now, Lot was perhaps not the most righteous person in the world, but he was somebody who trusted God, and tried to fumble along in life during the time and place that he existed. Should we look at the actions of Lot to see the value that God places on women? No.

We should look at what God says in Genesis 1:26 to discern what God feels about women. "God said 'Let us make humankind in our image. In the image of God created he them, male and female created he them.'"

Continuing with the story, the Angels tell Lot and his family to run to the hills, but Lot makes a bargain with them that they should go to the nearest town, and the angel replies "Hurry, escape there, for I can do nothing until you arrive there." God was not willing to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of even one, marginally righteous person. This is why when preacher's say things like "Hurricane katrina was the wrath of God against New Orleans" I gawk, because that means that particulat preacher truly does not believe that there was a single, marginally righteous person who trusted God in the entire city.

Now, Lot and his family run away, but his wife looks back at the city, and turns into a pillar of salt. Jesus uses this event as an example of the coming wrath of God. There will come a time when the wrath of God will come again, and those who look back at the sinfulness of the world, either to rejoice over it's fall, or to long to return, will face that same judgement. Jesus uses this metaphor to tell people to be sold out to God, because nobody wants to be in his way when he decides to pour out his wrath.

This is a truly terrifying picture of God,  but who says that God is supposed to be safe. To be good and to be safe are two different things. C.S. Lewis writes of Aslan (the Christ-figure in the Chronicles of Narnia) thus:

'If there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than me or else just silly.'
'Then he isn't safe?' asked Lucy.

'Safe?' said Mr. Beaver. 'Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.'

Now what exactly was the wickedness of Sodom? Many people see the story of Sodom and Gomorrah as just a story that condemns homosexuality. Now, I want to be clear in saying this. I am not defending homosexual practices at all, but the fact that the men in the city were homosexuals does not mean that was why God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. And let's be clear. What the men of Sodom were trying to do was not "consenting sex between two same sex partners." The men of Sodom were trying to gang rape Lot's guests. That means that a huge group of men, got together, and predetermined to gang rape a couple of visitors to their town. That is just sickening.

Now, even though the men of Sodom were planning to gang rape the angels, that still is not the reason that God destroyed Sodom and Gamorrah. In fact, the Bible mentions Sodom and Gamorrah over 40 times, and never once in the context of homsexuality. Ezekiel 16:49-50 says "This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them when I saw it." The wrath of God was not poured out on Sodom and Gamorrah because they abused sex, but because they did not care about the people outside their city gates. This should be a chilling reminder to every American who lives high on the hog, but can never spare to give to those who are in need.

What I find ironic is the fact that Lot offers his daughters to be raped by the mob, but then later in this chapter, Lot's daughters get Lot drunk, and rape him. The reason that Lot's daughters rape Lot is because the men that they were going to marry refused to come with Lot and flee the city. They were destroyed along with the city, so Lot's daughters decide to get pregnant from their father to make sure that he has descendants later in life. It is possible that they did not expect the chance to get married again. Whereas Lot was once a very wealthy man, and could have given both of his daughter's very large dowries, now he was poor, as everything he owned was destroyed in Sodom. The girls' lack of dowries would severely lower their chance of getting married.

In Genesis 20, we find another sexual deboncle, but this one involves Abraham. Abraham goes to another king, of another land, and calls Sarah his sister again. Abimelech calls for her, and plans to have sex with her. But God warns him in a dream that if Abimelech does this, he would kill him. Abimelech defends his integrity and claims innocence. He says that he never intended to sin against God, and that it was Abraham's fault for being misleading concerning his marriage to his half sister Sarah. God says "Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart; furthermore it was I who kept you from sinning against me."

This sheds some light on the first time that Abraham did this. Because God warned Abimelech and Abimelech repented, and God knew he would repent, nothing happened. But God did not warn Pharaoh. It's possible that Pharaoh would have killed Abraham and taken Sarah as his own wife, as Abraham had feared, and that is why God did not warn Pharaoh like he did Abimelech.

God: concerned, angry, merciful, wrathful, and loving.