Ex. 39-40 - So that's that...

The readings - Day 31 - Exodus 39-40

Well would you look at that - the end of Exodus already...

And I've got to say, it seems to go out with a whimper rather than a bang, as these last two chapters are, with only a minor exception at the very, very end, more of the same schematic-recapping of the preceding three.

To be perfectly honest, there's not all that much here - the robes are done, and the rest of the priests' garments, and the tabernacle has all of its component parts finally put into place. Sort of.



What actually has been happening is that those component parts were designed and then constructed, but seeing as how the Israelites were nomadic at the time, it's only natural that their structures would be portable, and the tabernacle, it seems, was no exception.

What strikes me here is the monumental (pun intended) intentionality behind worship for the Israelites. The instructions on the assembly of the tabernacle are intense (intents?) and they have to do that every time they want to use the thing. Every month.

We more or less pooh-pooh at ceremony and ritual these days, but I think there's something special about it here. But then again, that's the whole point, isn't it?

I don't necessarily think this has anything to do with modern Christian worship, since (forgive me for mentally skipping ahead here) I think the outlandish ceremonial technicalities of worship got somewhat out of hand over the centuries and Jesus was partly trying to correct that, but I still think that there's something to the idea of holiness (set-apart-ed-ness) that they had in spades, and we lack in clubs.