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.
Showing posts with label Exodus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Exodus. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Ex. 36-38 - "It's okay, you've given more than enough to the church. You can stop now..."
The readings - Day 29 - Exodus 36-38
Going into this project, I knew that there would be some pretty seriously mundane sections as I plodded through the doldrums of the Old Testament (I can practically hear the shudders that might've emerged from the shocked faces of some of my more fundamentalist friends back in the day - if it weren't for the fact that a goodly portion of modern fundamentalists are also somehow convinced that the Old Testament is largely ignorable, that is...) but I hadn't pondered the possibility that there would be pretty seriously mundane sections that were basically word-for-word repeats of previous seriously mundane sections.
With that in mind, this post is probably going to be A) somewhat shorter and B) somewhat more meta than previous entries, since Ex. 36-38 is just that: a repeat and sort of summary of the stuff in and around Ex. 25 where God's issuing his specifications for the tabernacle and other religious accoutrements.
Going into this project, I knew that there would be some pretty seriously mundane sections as I plodded through the doldrums of the Old Testament (I can practically hear the shudders that might've emerged from the shocked faces of some of my more fundamentalist friends back in the day - if it weren't for the fact that a goodly portion of modern fundamentalists are also somehow convinced that the Old Testament is largely ignorable, that is...) but I hadn't pondered the possibility that there would be pretty seriously mundane sections that were basically word-for-word repeats of previous seriously mundane sections.
With that in mind, this post is probably going to be A) somewhat shorter and B) somewhat more meta than previous entries, since Ex. 36-38 is just that: a repeat and sort of summary of the stuff in and around Ex. 25 where God's issuing his specifications for the tabernacle and other religious accoutrements.
Ex. 33-35 - making up
The readings - Day 29 - Exodus 33-35
I had a fair number of expectations going in to this project, but needing to set aside the reading for a while until I stopped laughing was, if I'm honest, not on my list.
Then I started Exodus, chapter 33. Specifically, I arrived at verse 3.
That is how annoying the Israelites are. God doesn't trust Himself not to just destroy them all out of sheer frustration before He's carried out His own plan for them.
Amazing.
Turns out, the Israelites didn't find it all that funny, which I suppose is to their credit - they knew, sort of, what they'd done by this point, and seem to have had the glimmer of understanding regarding just how they'd manage to survive in the desert without a constant supply of food materializing in front of them every morning.
Luckily, here's another example of the sort of unique relationship featured in the Old Testament. Moses is in such a close relationship with God that the two regularly speak "as friends" according to the text.
From this relationship we get Moses directly interceding and changing God's mind, convincing Him to continue to be a physical presence with the Israelites,
I recently was involved in a discussion on Facebook about God, the existence of God, the ridiculousness of some attempts at disproving that existence and other things, when someone piped up with a series of random, unrelated and blatantly wrong points he felt it necessary to make, starting with the notion that the relational aspect of the Christian faith was a later innovation and wasn't actually part of the Bible.
As this passage, and the vast majority of the rest of scripture as well, proves, this is mercifully not the case.
I had a fair number of expectations going in to this project, but needing to set aside the reading for a while until I stopped laughing was, if I'm honest, not on my list.
Then I started Exodus, chapter 33. Specifically, I arrived at verse 3.
1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, "Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'To your descendants I will give it.' 2 "I will send an angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. 3 "Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, because you are an obstinate people, and I might destroy you on the way."
That is how annoying the Israelites are. God doesn't trust Himself not to just destroy them all out of sheer frustration before He's carried out His own plan for them.
Amazing.
Turns out, the Israelites didn't find it all that funny, which I suppose is to their credit - they knew, sort of, what they'd done by this point, and seem to have had the glimmer of understanding regarding just how they'd manage to survive in the desert without a constant supply of food materializing in front of them every morning.
Luckily, here's another example of the sort of unique relationship featured in the Old Testament. Moses is in such a close relationship with God that the two regularly speak "as friends" according to the text.
From this relationship we get Moses directly interceding and changing God's mind, convincing Him to continue to be a physical presence with the Israelites,
I recently was involved in a discussion on Facebook about God, the existence of God, the ridiculousness of some attempts at disproving that existence and other things, when someone piped up with a series of random, unrelated and blatantly wrong points he felt it necessary to make, starting with the notion that the relational aspect of the Christian faith was a later innovation and wasn't actually part of the Bible.
As this passage, and the vast majority of the rest of scripture as well, proves, this is mercifully not the case.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Ex. 25-32 - settling
The readings - Days 25-28 - Exodus 25-32
As it turns out, this wasn't a half-bad section to fall a bit behind on, post-wise. I'm glad that I managed to keep up with the readings every day, though, because slogging through these eight chapters in one go could bog a fella down.
Taken all together, and viewed from a bit of a more distanced perspective, this is a cool chunk of text.
As it turns out, this wasn't a half-bad section to fall a bit behind on, post-wise. I'm glad that I managed to keep up with the readings every day, though, because slogging through these eight chapters in one go could bog a fella down.
Taken all together, and viewed from a bit of a more distanced perspective, this is a cool chunk of text.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Ex. 22-24 - someones vs. somethings.
The readings - Day 25 - Exodus 22-24
This will be a comparatively short post tonight, because A) it's late, B) I'm not likely to get much sleep anyway and C) lists of laws are, for the most part, pretty dry stuff.
A few of them did stand out, however.
First off, despite what Christopher Hitchens would have had you believe, many (most, in fact) of these laws make perfect sense, and are both equitable and benevolent, despite being from The Bible.
This will be a comparatively short post tonight, because A) it's late, B) I'm not likely to get much sleep anyway and C) lists of laws are, for the most part, pretty dry stuff.
A few of them did stand out, however.
First off, despite what Christopher Hitchens would have had you believe, many (most, in fact) of these laws make perfect sense, and are both equitable and benevolent, despite being from The Bible.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Ex. 19-21 - woman, mountain... it's all the... same?
The readings - Day 24 - Exodus 19-21
Well, it had to happen. I'm not sure that I realized it started this early, but I guess we are halfway through Exodus now, so the law had to come in at some point.
We were all having such a nice time, too, what with our adultery, idol-collecting, mass murder, etc, etc...
Oddly enough (or maybe not even remotely oddly...) before we actually get codified law, we get an example of very bizarre interpretation of law by a judge (Moses, in this case).
Well, it had to happen. I'm not sure that I realized it started this early, but I guess we are halfway through Exodus now, so the law had to come in at some point.
We were all having such a nice time, too, what with our adultery, idol-collecting, mass murder, etc, etc...
Oddly enough (or maybe not even remotely oddly...) before we actually get codified law, we get an example of very bizarre interpretation of law by a judge (Moses, in this case).
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Ex. 16-18 - Makin' it RAIN! (only, awesomely enough, not)
The readings - Day 23 - Exodus 16-18
I firmly believe that there is something inherent about the ability of the Bible to stand up to translation. I think that the whole point, from the very beginning with God's promise to bless the entire world through Abraham's descendants, was that there should be no impediment to people's relating to God, and translation is a huge part of that. I think it's right that the Bible should be read in English, Spanish, Farsi, Japanese, Cree and everything else, because I think God's bigger than language differences and linguistic quibbles.
I firmly believe that there is something inherent about the ability of the Bible to stand up to translation. I think that the whole point, from the very beginning with God's promise to bless the entire world through Abraham's descendants, was that there should be no impediment to people's relating to God, and translation is a huge part of that. I think it's right that the Bible should be read in English, Spanish, Farsi, Japanese, Cree and everything else, because I think God's bigger than language differences and linguistic quibbles.
Ex. 13-15 - "...But what have you done for us lately?"
The readings - Day 22 - Exodus 13-15
Remember that thing about the main characters (heroes, sometimes) of the Bible often being so human it hurts just to hear about them? And how that tends to fly in the face of the weird theory that the Bible was written by the people (or their descendants) who "star" in it so that they'll gain something from it?
Yeah, that really starts to pick up here in Exodus. In Genesis, we had flip-flopping, faithless, gutless and/or shameful behaviour on an individual level, because that's the level that, by and large, Genesis worked on. Now that we're in Exodus and we've zoomed out to a more corporate, societal level, we start to get a handle on just how old that axiom about mob mentality ("to determine the overall intelligence of a large group of people, take the IQ of the stupidest people in that group and divide by the number of people present") might be.
Remember that thing about the main characters (heroes, sometimes) of the Bible often being so human it hurts just to hear about them? And how that tends to fly in the face of the weird theory that the Bible was written by the people (or their descendants) who "star" in it so that they'll gain something from it?
Yeah, that really starts to pick up here in Exodus. In Genesis, we had flip-flopping, faithless, gutless and/or shameful behaviour on an individual level, because that's the level that, by and large, Genesis worked on. Now that we're in Exodus and we've zoomed out to a more corporate, societal level, we start to get a handle on just how old that axiom about mob mentality ("to determine the overall intelligence of a large group of people, take the IQ of the stupidest people in that group and divide by the number of people present") might be.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Ex. 10-12
The readings - Day 21 - Exodus 10-12
This is a hard chunk of scripture to get through. Not that it's not a good read - if it were a Neil Gaiman novel, there'd be no problem, and it'd be captivating stuff. The problem is that God's still at His "I've made sure he'll say no, now go to the Pharaoh and tell him if he says 'no' you'll do _____" thing, which bugs me - not that that matters particularly, I know...
There are other things that I find somewhat interesting about the interaction between God and Pharaoh (through Moses and Aaron), but this thing with God seemingly forcing Pharaoh to keep Israel in Egypt...
Although now that I think about it, hardening Pharaoh's heart isn't precisely the same as forcing him to say no. It does make it more likely that he will, though. Or, at least, it makes it less likely that he'll feel compassion for the Israelites' plight and have that be the reason for their release.
However, there are loads of other reasons why Pharaoh could have (and probably should have) relented far, far earlier than he did. Even his servants thought so, and eventually actually summon the nerve (or just overflow with exasperation) enough to flat out tell him to let Israel go because this whole thing is destroying Egypt. They're right, of course, but Pharaoh will have none of it, so it comes down to one of the most painful-to-read passages in the Bible, best summed up in a single, horrifying line:
So, 430 years after Joseph welcomes the other sons of Israel to Egypt, they leave in the wake of horror, death and incredible destruction.
This is a hard chunk of scripture to get through. Not that it's not a good read - if it were a Neil Gaiman novel, there'd be no problem, and it'd be captivating stuff. The problem is that God's still at His "I've made sure he'll say no, now go to the Pharaoh and tell him if he says 'no' you'll do _____" thing, which bugs me - not that that matters particularly, I know...
There are other things that I find somewhat interesting about the interaction between God and Pharaoh (through Moses and Aaron), but this thing with God seemingly forcing Pharaoh to keep Israel in Egypt...
Although now that I think about it, hardening Pharaoh's heart isn't precisely the same as forcing him to say no. It does make it more likely that he will, though. Or, at least, it makes it less likely that he'll feel compassion for the Israelites' plight and have that be the reason for their release.
However, there are loads of other reasons why Pharaoh could have (and probably should have) relented far, far earlier than he did. Even his servants thought so, and eventually actually summon the nerve (or just overflow with exasperation) enough to flat out tell him to let Israel go because this whole thing is destroying Egypt. They're right, of course, but Pharaoh will have none of it, so it comes down to one of the most painful-to-read passages in the Bible, best summed up in a single, horrifying line:
30 Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead.
So, 430 years after Joseph welcomes the other sons of Israel to Egypt, they leave in the wake of horror, death and incredible destruction.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Ex. 7-9: Moses' school of witchcraft and wizardry
The readings - Day 20 - Exodus 7-9
You know what I find weird? How many people think that being Christian automatically precludes belief in ghosts, aliens, the paranormal, the occult, witchcraft and all those other things. Well actually, it's not that people think that that confuses me, but rather that people think that because so many Christians will tell them things like it.
Even if I didn't think it was just a waste of time to protest things like Harry Potter or Ouija Boards, and that all that ends up happening is you look a bit silly and are somewhat less likely to be taken seriously next time around, I sort of see it as a sign that Christians who rail against the existence of actual magic and powerful, non-Godly supernatural forces haven't really been paying attention to the Old Testament.
You know what I find weird? How many people think that being Christian automatically precludes belief in ghosts, aliens, the paranormal, the occult, witchcraft and all those other things. Well actually, it's not that people think that that confuses me, but rather that people think that because so many Christians will tell them things like it.
Even if I didn't think it was just a waste of time to protest things like Harry Potter or Ouija Boards, and that all that ends up happening is you look a bit silly and are somewhat less likely to be taken seriously next time around, I sort of see it as a sign that Christians who rail against the existence of actual magic and powerful, non-Godly supernatural forces haven't really been paying attention to the Old Testament.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Ex. 4-6 - Moses: the shy murderer
The readings - Day 19 - Exodus 4-6
Rightly or wrongly, there's a certain type of image that pops into your head when you hear about a guy whose on the run, being hunted down for killing a man as vengeance for an injustice.
Being so shy that you become a distinct irritant to the Creator of patience Himself usually doesn't fit in to this picture...
Rightly or wrongly, there's a certain type of image that pops into your head when you hear about a guy whose on the run, being hunted down for killing a man as vengeance for an injustice.
Being so shy that you become a distinct irritant to the Creator of patience Himself usually doesn't fit in to this picture...
Ex. 1-3 - Zooming out
But for all the carry-over from Genesis 50 to Exodus 1, there are some fairly significant shifts that happen in these chapters that mark Exodus as an entirely different entity than Genesis.
"Zooming out" is a pun I couldn't resist, but it also just fits with what's going on at the very beginning of the book. In Genesis, one main, overarching theme could be described as God's relationship with people: Adam, Cain, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob...
Exodus seems to be setting itself up, in a very clever way, as a story of God's relationship with a people: the people of Israel. By starting the book with a recap of the basic genealogy of Jacob, the author draws a direct line, without actually tracing direct lines, as it were, from the individual God-human relationships of Genesis to the corporate God-human relationship that will become the theme of... well, the rest of the Bible, really.
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