Posts
Exodus 35-40
Let's finish Exodus today so we can get to the infamous book of Leviticus this week.
I give you permission to skip from Exodus 36:8 to 38:20. It's just a rehash of God's plans for the tabernacle being written as the building of same.
The people collect material for the tabernacle and get top work building it. Then, Moses, Aaron and sons get to worshiping.
A visual depiction of the Tabernacle and Aaron's Garments
I'm a little disappointed with the way Exodus ends. It's a great saga of an escape from slavery. Of reuniting with your long lost god. Of having your god NOT kick your ass after he finds you cheating on him.
An observation. God seems to me like a father who abandoned his family then comes back years later and over compensates for his absence by being really nice to his kids. Then when they accept him back into the family, he becomes overbearing, bitter and wishes he had stayed away.
To have the book end with the first use of the tabernacle is kind of a let down. And the book of Leviticus seems to continue exactly where Exodus.
Thoughts?
Oh man, five chapter of P. I don't know if I can take it.
ReplyDeleteEphod. What the hell is an ephod. I don't know. Sometimes (as here) it's some sort of garment. Sometimes it's seems to be an "image".
Anyone notice they forgot to include the Urim and Thummin? They're mentioned in the tabernacle instructions, but there's no mention of them being placed on the breast-piece! Oops.
(Urim and Thummin are sacred lots, used to divine God's judgement. What they actually *were* is up in the air. Judging by 1st Samuel 14, there was a binary choice: God either said Urim, or Thummin. God's holy coin-flip!)
To have the book end with the first use of the tabernacle is kind of a let down. And the book of Leviticus seems to continue exactly where Exodus.
Yeah, the book divisions are pretty arbitrary. As I've said, I consider Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers to be essentially one unit.
Ugh. I'm not looking forward to Leviticus. 27 chapter of priestly law.
Ephod. What the hell is an ephod.
ReplyDeleteI assumed it was Zaphod's brother, Ephod Beeblebrox.
The Urim and Thummim made me think of Joseph Smith, founder of the LDS church. Before he started a religion, he was notorious as someone who would use dowsing rods, seer stones and other methods of divination to supposedly find water, precious metals and treasure. He had several sets of stones that he claimed had magical powers throughout his life, including a pair he called the Urim and Thummim. He supposedly found them buried in Pennsylvania with the golden plates that the content of the Book of Mormon was written on in Egyptian hieroglyphics and used the stones to translate the plates. I find the history of Mormonism really fascinating.
I for one am looking forward to Leviticus. I see it as the priestly school's contribution to the evolving idea of what constitutes proper religion and how Yahweh wants his worshipers to conduct themselves.
Well, now when I want to make my own tabernacle, I know where to go. Twice.
ReplyDeleteWhere did they get all this stuff to make everything???
"Where did they get all this stuff to make everything???"
ReplyDeleteI've assumed leftovers from the remaining plunders of Egypt that they didn't have to eat after the golden calf incident.
Speaking of golden calf, why would a people who witnessed a god using miraculous powers to fend off a powerful nation, suddenly decide that they could invent a new one? Did they believe their ancestor's invented God?
@Chasia "Did they believe their ancestors invented God?"
ReplyDeleteWell, that is what I believe about my ancestors.
I am going to start on Leviticus now because I have heard that it is good for insomniacs.
@Barbara, you did understand I meant in context with the story? ;-) That they melted down some gold that then happened to look like a calf. What did they think "pillar of fire was great, but our new god has the power of pareidolia!"
ReplyDeleteIt's a pretty silly swap.
@Bruce
ReplyDelete"An observation. God seems to me like a father who abandoned his family then comes back years later and over compensates for his absence by being really nice to his kids. Then when they accept him back into the family, he becomes overbearing, bitter and wishes he had stayed away."
No God was always with them. He never left them. Some think, as well as i do, that the book of Job comes before Exodus as in time line wise. This is the fulfilment of what God told Abraham what would happen (Genesis 15:13,14). God even says to Moses He has heard their cry (Exodus 2:23; Exodus 3:7) so the people still called out to God. Just because God doesn't give you the answer you want, doesn't mean He has abandoned you.
If He over compensated wouldn't He not punish them? It's like the parent that only gets the kid in the summer, they let them do whatever they want because they want the kid to love them. However they are doing more damage than good. Yet God here corrects them when they are in the wrong.
Those are my thoughts.
@Chasia
ReplyDeletePeople still do that today. You can explain things away to give yourself freedom to do what you want. These people come out of Egypt with the magicians doing there carny tricks so Moses must know some better tricks, so there really is no God. All that fire and smoke on the mountain must have been just grass on fire and Moses father-in-law speaking in the background by some elaborate amplification system. :-D
I have heard people in my own lifetime cry out for help, tell me they want to change, they get help and as soon as they are back on top they rush back into the gutter they desperately wanted to escape. It is a strange think people do. Return to what is familiar no matter how much it ruins your life. (Proverbs 26:11; II Peter 2:18-22)
@Susan
ReplyDelete"Where did they get all this stuff to make everything???"
From plundering Egypt before the Exodus. (Exodus 3:22; Exodus 12:36). They were also gifted people with making things from the animals around them.
I actually don't find it anti-climactic at all. The Israelites fulfill all of God's instructions, they build the tabernacle, put everything in its place, then watch as God comes down and takes residence. It's like God is finally completely *theirs* and now he can show them his presence and directly direct their actions. Everything is in place for the going forward into Canaan. (With just a little detour into priestly minutiae first.)
ReplyDelete@Edward,
ReplyDelete"so Moses must know some better tricks, so there really is no God"
You're sounding like a true skeptic there ;-)
@Helene,
"I actually don't find it anti-climactic at all."
Granted it is a highpoint in the story, but its repetition kills any sort of climax.
@Chasia,
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess I just take the repetition as a given and so it doesn't stand out as much to me. Even while I'm reading it I sort of mentally edit it out!