I'll be taking a break from this blog until Saturday the 8th because I'm going on a trip for work to New Orleans for relief work. See ya in a week!

The next few chapters of Leviticus focus on what is clean vs. what is unclean. I wish I knew exactly what this means. It's not good vs. evil; in fact there are somethings we are commanded to do (have sex and have kids) that make us unclean. I suppose it's things to us like not eating something from the floor and not peeing on the floor and washing our hands (washing is often one command in the process of becoming clean). Of course we have a bit more of a scientific basis but I'm sure they weren't any less confident in their standards. Here are some of the clean vs. unclean categories here in the middle of Leviticus:

Some animals are clean to eat and some are unclean and shouldn't be eaten (also their dead bodies are not clean to touch).
Having a kid makes a woman unclean.
Skin diseases make us unclean, and we need to be quarantined while we have the disease.
Moldy clothes are unclean.
Moldy houses are unclean.
Bodily discharges and sexual bodily discharges are unclean.

God tells them they need to stay as clean as possible. Becoming clean often involves washing yourself, waiting a period of time, and sometimes offering a sacrifice.

God, through Moses, gives Aaron specific instructions on how to do a once-a-year total atonement sacrifice for the nation of Israel's sins. Emphasis is put on not sacrificing somewhere besides the tabernacle (the implication being not to sacrifice to anyone but God) and not eating blood (here it is explained that this is where the life of a creature really is).

Response

Mainly I'm observing that the now formal relationship between God and Israel is serious business and he has high standards for them, not only to be moral and good but to stand out and be ceremonially clean. Other than that there's not much "special" in this passage. The next reading (blog hopefully coming this evening) should be interesting because it's more moral and has some death penalties involved. Thanks for reading!

An immediate and central observation about Leviticus is that it would be an utterly useless document without the book that came before it, Exodus. That's funny because my first observation about Exodus was that it needed Genesis to make sense. These three (so far) books are definitely all one cohesive story.

Leviticus takes place at Sinai, where Moses first met God, and where the Israelites eventually camped out, making a commitment and covenant in their relationship with God, getting the list of God's laws, turning away quickly, being forgiven, and building the tabernacle so that God can dwell among them. And now God is telling Moses more instructions.

Synopsis

The LORD gives Moses all kinds of instructions about making offerings to God at the tabernacle. The priests, the leaders, the community as a whole, and individuals all get their own specific set of exact instructions for how to make offerings. Also, these various groups are given very specific instructions on different kinds of offerings: grain offerings, fellowship offerings, sin offerings, guilt offerings, etc.

(An "offering" seems to be a cultural gift/worship for God in which an animal or grain is burnt up on an alter as to God.)

A few things stand out to me among the MANY details as I read these various specific instructions:
1. In each situation the person doing the offering does their part while the priest also does his part.
2. When done right, the offering makes an aroma that is pleasing to the LORD.
3. It is important that the Israelites don't eat fat or blood, and don't cook break with yeast.
4. The sacrifices must be very high quality animals / crops.
5. The sacrifices constitute as repayment to God for various wrongdoings the Israelites commit, including accidental sins. It seems the wrongdoings would be defined as breaking the law that God gives which is listed in Exodus.
6. It's important to follow the instructions to a tee.

So after all these instructions are given, Moses does exactly as God says, following orders to the tee in order to initiate / consecrate Aaron and his sons into the priesthood. They are told to stay in the tent for seven days. On the eighth day, the whole Israelite community gathers 'round, and Aaron does the first offering of each of the types, doing them exactly right, in order that God may appear before them.

And then an amazing thing happens: God does appear! The glory of The LORD appears and a fire comes out from him and consumes the offering. The crowd goes wild, cheering and falling on their faces in amazement and worship! It's awesome!!

Then two of Aaron's sons don't follow the directions and add fire and incense when they shouldn't have. God's fire burns them up. Moses tells their families to mourn them, and clarifies some of the instructions.

Response

These descriptions of sacrifices definitely seem foreign and in my opinion is the first spot where the Bible could truly seem "boring." However these details matter as demonstrated by Moses' sons death at the end of the section. The points that I numbered above are some of the points that are repeated over and over again.

However foreign it seems, however, that is not an excuse to miss the larger points being made: As God's people, Israel must serve God exactly on his terms and constantly using the offerings to atone for their breaking of God's laws. When this is done, it is quite awesome as God shows up at the end of the section.

Of course the story with Aaron's sons dying is difficult for me to read, as it seems like they shouldn't have to die for something like that. As I have said many times in this blog, I'm going to continue to let those thoughts stir and soak up more of the message of the Torah before I confront that more directly.

But here is one point that is clear from this story: Above things like family or life and death, it is the highest priority to obey God.

A commenter has directed me to two very helpful articles regarding evolution/Genesis that take the points I made and articulate them a lot more fully and with a lot more intellectual clout. I really enjoyed the articles and highly recommend them:

The Implication of the Human Genome Project on Modern Apologetics
An article investigating how we should interpret Genesis

Francis Collins is quoted for most of the first article. I saw him speak at Cosi Science Center in Columbus, Ohio and really enjoyed him.

The sequel's setup and a request from Moses
God made known through the plagues
God's power displayed in the rescue of Israel
God's provision, becoming his people, receiving the first laws
Instructions for a tabernacle for God to dwell in, Israelites worship an image
Moses asks God to forgive. The tabernacle is built triumphantly.
Thoughts on who God is so far.

The sequel to Genesis starts out with a lot of setup. Israel is now numerous but enslaved, a story about killing babies, Moses surviving the slaughter, God looking down and remembering his promise to Abraham, Isaac and Israel.

Then the action begins: Moses ends up an outcast but God meets him in the desert of Sinai. He tells Moses he will rescue the Israelites and give them great land but Moses is terrified and is afraid he won't be able to help. God tells him he will succeed and the sign of that will be that they will return to Sinai and worship God on Mt. Sinai.

Moses and his bro Aaron ask Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out to worship God and Pharaoh refuses, and in fact makes the Israelites' lives harder, so they complain to Moses who complains to God. At the same time, it's all going down just like God said.

God sends Moses to initiate 10 or so plagues in Egypt. This proves God's power and his love for Israel, solidifying Moses' faith in God. Pharaoh, however, is stubborn and even as Egypt is being destroyed by these plagues, won't let Israel go. Moses warns him that something terrible is coming.

God strikes down every firstborn in Egypt, sparing the Israelites, who had celebrated a festival and put the blood of firstborn livestock over their doors. This terrible event shakes Pharaoh to his core, who sends out Israel with God leading them by cloud/fire.

Pharaoh changes his mind and sets out after Israel (Moses trusts God while Israel panics), but God parts the sea for Israel to get through, while confusing Pharaoh's army and then bringing the sea down on them. Israel sings a beautiful song about God and his unparalleled love and faithfulness and power.

God provides for Israel in various ways, in battle, in food, in water and in health. Moses seems to have a complete trust in God while the Israelites are always complaining.

They arive at the desert of Sinai and Moses goes up to the mountain to meet God. God says that if Israel agrees to follow his law, they will be his people, he will show them favor and they will be in a special treasured relationship with him, which include him giving them the land he promised Abraham.

Israel agrees. The laws God give involved worshiping only God and not making an idol of him or any other god, treating each other justly and kindly, punishing violence, and celebrating certain festivals. Israel agrees to it all.

God then tells Moses all the instructions for a tabernacle Israel is to build. With the tabernacle God will be able to dwell among Israel.

But when Moses goes down the mountain, he finds Israel worshiping a cow made of gold. God is willing to start over with just Moses but Moses talks him out of it. There are lesser punishments, and Moses sends those faithful to God, the Levites, out to punish with death their family and friends who have turned away.

God insists he won't now travel with the Israelites.

Moses speaks with God regularly and asks him, as a friend, to PLEASE travel with Israel. God agrees and, at Moses' request, passes by where Moses is, covering only his face. He declares about himself his faithfulness, love, forgiving heart, power, just nature, etc.

Israel has a rare triumphant moment as the nation builds the tabernacle to EXACT specifications as worship to God. God then travels with them wherever they go as they move toward the promised land.

Wow! What a book! I found it to be very exciting. It is a direct sequel to Genesis and took God's plan from working with just a couple guys to setting off plans for a whole nation.

Not only did God free Israel and make his covenant with him, but he made him self known a whole bunch along the way. Moses comes to know and trust him through the plagues. He knows him as both God and best friend. Pharaoh and Egypt comes to know his power and punishment. Israel comes to know his power and faithfulness and love for them. Then, when they turn away from him, the end up knowing his forgiveness, and at the end of the book are being led by God through the desert.

I'd say those are the two main threads in this book: God historically taking Israel out of Egypt and kicking off their statehood while still in the desert, and God making himself known to the world, especially to Moses, Pharaoh, Egypt and Israel.

Exodus is behind us and that means it's time for another reflection article on a relevant topic. If you hadn't noticed it's been a few days since I last posted... That's because this topic is hard! I've been thinking and procrastinating for a few days on writing a blog about who Genesis and Exodus say God is.

I am not a Biblical scholar or an expert; I'm just a guy who spent the last couple weeks reading and taking notes on and reflecting on Genesis and Exodus, trying to see what they're really about. But here's what I see as far as who God is so far in these books.

1. God exists. This is not something that the Bible argues; on the contrary, it is taken for granted and therefore never discussed. In the world of Genesis and Exodus, God is the most real thing there is.

2. God is the unique, ultimate power of the universe, who is active in creating earth and humans and also active in guiding society along a path whose end we have not yet reached by the end of Exodus. He scoffs at and hates worship of any other god, an image of any other god, or even an image that is supposed to represent him. He is bigger than these things.

3. God is also active in directing the lives of individuals, such as Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses. He cares about them, blesses them, tells them what to do, and also brings them along in their relationship from a point of being unfamiliar with him and not trusting of him to being completely trusting and content with and confident in God. In fact he ends up a personal best friend with most of these people.

4. God has a plan. It is obvious God has a plan for all of history even in these first two books. He has a plan to make the world like it was when he first created it. We don't know how long this will take or how he will accomplish this. But it definitely has something to do with the Israelites. There is also a clue in Jacob's blessings of his sons that something important will come from Judah's tribe.

5. God has reasons. I am still struggling with whether I agree with them all, but God has reasons. He has reasons for destroying humanity with a flood, for destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, for sending the Levites violently after their friends. He also has reasons for all the other things that he does, which are inarguably good and loving and powerful (so far). He does not act haphazardly or randomly very often.

Don't worry, at the end of Leviticus I will discuss more what I think about some of these shocking differences between what we think is loving and caring and just and what the authors of the Torah think. But for a few more days I want to further familiarize myself with the adjectives that describe God. And no passage so far has seemed more critical than the following.

God, ready to destroy Israel and start over with Moses, has been talked out of it by Moses. Because Moses is God's friend, God listens. Then God asks to see "God's glory." God says that seeing his face will result in death, so he puts Moses in a cleft of a rock and blocks Moses' view while God's face is visible. This is what God declares as he passes by:

"The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation."

Wow. This the climax of Exodus, shows that God is an almighty loving being who not only cares but FORGIVES!, forgetting sin! Yet he is still just and punishes.

After this statement, and the Israelites triumphantly build the tabernacle to God's specifications, and he travels with them as the book ends.

If Genesis was about God beginning his plan to restore the world to harmony and order and goodness, Exodus is step one in this plan: Yes, creating a nation, but perhaps bigger than that, making himself known to these people. And these are the top things for God to make know: Yes, he won't forget to be just, but he loves and is loyal and patient and forgiving!

It is a triumphant anding and a hopeful message. I look forward to the next book, to see God continue his quest to restore earth.

(Note: As I said above, there are plenty of difficult passages to reconcile with God's statement about himself. I will discuss that in a few days, Friday or Saturday, after I finish Leviticus. This blog entry is a further attempt to completely understand what Exodus is saying about God before I begin to criticize or question it.)

Synopsis

So Moses heads into this tent he had put up and God comes down in the cloud and talks to him face-to-face like he would a friend. They have a discussion in which Moses, apologizing for the idol worship of Israel, asks God to stay with them and travel with them. God agrees to. Then Moses asks to see God's glory. This is when it really gets interesting.

God passes in front of Moses but doesn't allow Moses to see his face, or else Moses will die. This is all very intimate and reminds me of the more serious God-to-man scenes of Genesis. God declares as he goes by: I am compassionate, gracious, patient, loving, faithful, loyal, forgiving, and yet still just.

God goes over the covenant again, emphasizing especially the sabbath and festivals and not worshiping idols. After this experience, Moses face actually glows and he has to wear a veil so as not to scare everyone to death.

Now the Israelites bring their offerings to the Lord to build God's sanctuary so that may dwell among them. It is a triumphant part of the story because the Israelites are generous and give more than what is needed. Everyone follows God's instructions exactly when building what becomes known as the tabernacle. At the end Moses sets up the tabernacle and everything is done for God and by God's commands. From then on when the Israelites set out God is with them and leading them. This is the end of Exodus

Analysis

Whew! That's it for Exodus. Once again I'll be writing a couple more posts before I get to Leviticus. Over all Exodus is very much explaining how the Israelites came to be in covenant with God. But in that, he brings Moses from a place of incompetence to total trust in and friendship with God. Meanwhile, the nation of Israel is coming along very slowly but have moments of triumph and still have God being very faithful to them.

All the laws and commands God gives in this book is so that God can know the people and can dwell among them. I have to say it's a powerful and exciting book.