Well, I probably won’t really write about time. That, I suppose, will come another… later.
I could easily spend the whole page talking about Balaam… and perhaps I will more later.
I think there’s an immense discussion waiting to happen in considering Bezalel.
I believe I may have preached on the topic before, but that may have been a long time ago. Like Joseph, in whom was “God’s Spirit,” (P 85) But I’ll only make brief mention of the idea that God could commission someone with such incredible not and pronouncement, pomp and circumstance, for such a seemingly mundane task. ˇ

That is not to say that the adornment of the temple is unimportant, but I’m sure to the number of us who are so concerned with internal spiritual realities, and their pre-eminence over and above the external ritual and practice, it seems unseemly to place such a degree of importance upon the layering of gold and silver and costly fabrics and construction materials upon the tabernacle setting. Could this possibly have a modern day translation? Isn’t it, in fact, the very abundant wealth of churches in our country today that disgusts us at the display of extravagance? Not to mention the medieval excesses that still stand today as gold-layered altars and accoutrement within Roman churches in and throughout Europe. I have actually taught on this passage and suggested, alternately, that it may be possible (and yes, teaching at RIT, ironically enough for this present audience ~Gregory~ I actually used the example of software programming) that God could commission people within his divine community for very ordinary tasks that will be used to bring him glory. What about a website that the church will use to bring new people into the kingdom of heaven? Or engineers that will design a structure or creation that will display the glory of the King? Enough said, for now.
One topic I’ve taught on recently is: “there are no longer any rules but the rule of love” and I very much appreciate how Peterson translates “So, each person is free to follow the convictions of conscience.” (P 331) That said, that there are no religious ceremonies or rituals that we, as God’s proclaiming people, are obligated to follow, no rules we must keep, only guidelines that we have left. The fact is that human beings want to make lots of rules, for a vast variety of reasons, many of which are not very reasonable, but which end up being just all the more religious ceremony and ritual that can all too often, in the end, draw people away from the very point they wanted people to come to. Paul frees us from this with these words. Yet there is a greater standard to live by now, though, than the rules, which is the caution of the effect of our actions on others.
I don’t know if it’s been mentioned here before, but I still have very mixed feelings about the “holy destruction- men, women, and children…” (P 307). The fact that the Name considers it right and just that his people wipe out an entire nation, obliterating their existence from the face of the Earth disturbs me. I think I understand it, yet I still do not like it. The way that I have justified it to myself has been validated and affirmed for me, yet it still seems harsh, especially from a forgiving God who will redeem someone like me, a Jew who would have probably joined up with the skeptics or cynics who time and again were smitten by God with plague or destruction. The fact is, all children eventually become their parents. This is more and less true considering different cultures, especially western groups which send their children far away sometimes to start their own lives. But the contrast with ‘us’, more so even today still the eastern model, is a very close-knit family group that grows up and stays together, even in the same house, most of their lives, and whose children adopt the same mannerisms, personalities, and especially religious beliefs and practices of the parents. Especially in a culture where religion was so ritualized. If the Israelites had simply killed the men in battle, taken the women for slaves, and allowed the children to grow up, they would have certainly taken up the false gods of their parents, destroying the Israelites either through direct confrontation or ‘seduction’ to their false and idolatrous ways. The somewhat popular new film “One night with the King” illustrates that point well by making Gaius Baltar… I mean Haman, the child of the defeated Amalekites, who were not completely wiped out by Israel. He grows up then to hate and eventually attempt to destroy the Jews, nearly succeeding but for Esther’s intervention. Does that still justify the absolute destruction of a people? I suppose it must, according to God’s sense of justice.

P.S. I’m still waiting for a discussion on Romans 9…

Let the record show, Leviticus and i do not get along so well.

12/23/2008

Ohh boy Leviticus..

K, so i’m thinking about the writings of John, and now reading through Hebrews and trying to ‘get’ what’s going down in Leviticus. … How am i not supposed to be shaken and stirred up by this? I’m thinking, specifically about the people that Jesus was trying to reach. i think a TON of Christians today, know more about Jesus tirelessly trying to get the people, back then (who seemed stubbornly dense, when we isolate our MAIN understanding to the scriptures found within the Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), to listen and believe. Speaking from the perspective of a girl that’s gone to church, from womb on up to now, Jesus’ words weren’t something *i* struggled with accepting and these were things that we read as being DUH-obvious, why aren’t these people getting what Jesus is trying to bring to them?! i think i had a bit of a child-like view on it, to be very honest. i don’t say this as being necessarily bad…. i really don’t know what to make of it - either good or bad to be so naturally accepting.

Now, granted i haven’t read enough to make this sussing out anywhere near “full-spectrum”, but COME ON… how were the people of his day and time ’supposed’ to react to Jesus — especially the religous leaders? Granted they knew Jesus was supposed to come, and there were hints and obvious miracles … but hold up - can we talk about Leviticus? How about those rules and instructions? Y’know.. the ones that were extremely strict and specific to follow, lest they be SMITED off the face of the Earth? The ordination process’ and rules that the leaders of that time period had to follow and their responsibilities - not only for themselves and (is it the ground or my knees shakin’?) to God, but also for the sake of an entire community/congregation…. i don’t see a light-hearted, compassionate God in Leviticus. i see formulas and rules and strict regulations… can i just go back and bask in the laughter of Abraham and Sarah for a little longer?

We (Christians) get filled with beautiful parables like the prodigal son, who even though he’s gone terribly astray from God, is still welcomed back - slate cleaned - running into open-arms of absolute unconditional love. Leviticus - even though the people have been birthed from deliverance - seem to be in a state of NO MERCY. i’m raising my hand and fallin’ out of my seat to say, this is hard to take. And reading it next to Hebrews has me all sorts of topsy-tervy. The writer boasts of ‘get with the program of Jesus’ and ‘accept this gift of mercy’ and ‘don’t be like how those people back then were’ and i’m lost in a state of compassion and confusion for people who were once wandering in a wilderness, trying to follow - what to me, seems like - impossible rules to ‘please God’.

Before i even began reading Leviticus, i had angst with the intro. Specifically,

The first thing that strikes us as we read Leviticus in this light is that this holy God is actually present with us and virtually every detail of our lives is affected by the presence of this holy God; nothing in us, our relationships, or environment is left out. The second thing is that God provides a way (the sacrifices and feasts and Sabbaths) to bring everything in and about us into his holy presence, transformed in the fiery blaze of the holy. It is an awesome thing to come into his presence and we, like ancient Israel, stand in his presence at every moment (Psalm 139). Our Lord is not dwelling in a tent or house in our neighborhood. But he makes his habitation in us and among us as believers and says, ‘I am holy; you be holy’ (1 Peter 1:16, citing Leviticus 11:44-45; 19:2, 20:7).

After reading that, i wrote on the side, “this whole idea of God dwelling IN us, is hard to take @ this point in scripture. Not until Jesus comes, does this make more sense in my mind. After all, God even has them make a tent withe Holy of Holies for Him to dwell in, because He is infuriated by the stubborn ways of the people! ((Pg. 159!))

12/24/2008

I’m feeling quite emotional reading through Hebrews and Leviticus. Leviticus, i get this sick feeling in the pit of my stomache and, as Peterson puts it.. my knees get weak at the images and characteristics demonstrated of God. Question upon question pile up and form into monstrous frustrations in just trying to understand. Images get created in my head through reading, that are grim and rust-colored and there’s this unbelievable stench of sacrifice that accompanies them. And then Hebrews comes in and says that none of that matters anymore? Take off the old dead-skin sacrificial coat and put on the new. Get with the program people… yeah… ‘cept my knees are still wobbly and my insides are still churning, so this LIGHT being introduced makes me feel like a prisoner, who’s suddenly being stirred awake and delivered out of a dark, cold, musty cell. And i’m confused and elated and still shaken and…. emotional.

You would think since i know the story of Jesus so well, that this wouldn’t have such an effect on me… but it does. When i read Leviticus my senses are running around like crazy, trying to imagine what it must have been like. What it must have felt like. What it must have smelled like. By the end of just a few chapters, i’m immersed in things i cannot fully grasp at understanding, but feeling so awful from imagination.

*******

So that’s what i wrote before. i can’t help this… sensationalism. i understand why Peterson had those two books back 2 back because i see very clearly, the references that the writer of Hebrews is pointing to, directly from Leviticus. It hit me about halfway through that i don’t know who wrote Hebrews. My gut guess was Paul, but i just googled it, and i guess this is up for speculation only. If i had any idea who was hanging out with Timothy in Italy, that might help serve as a better clue.

Now, onto NUMBERS & ROMANS!
i adore the letters from Paul.

I’ve been lax in posting, more so out of time than lack of ink on the pages of my green Holy Book.

I spent some hours Friday at the Genesee Abbey.  Most of the time, before I went into the sanctuary to pray, was spent talking for a couple hours with Father Jerome about everything from controversial Roman doctrine (he was eager to debate, although we ended up agreeing on most everything we chatted about) to the teachings from Paul to Augustine to Calvin on predestination.  It is, as I am continually reminded and you both know, rather than a cold intellectual topic for me, as some things are, rather a deeply personal issue in resolving the call, or lack thereof on my life, in view of more recent circumstances.  To that end, Read the rest of this entry »

So i thought i’d be a little bored with EXODUS solely based on the fact, that i’ve heard it soverymany times prior, buhhht no. i think i have a different mind while reading through this stuff ‘now’ as opposed to years prior. It has had its ebbs and flows, but i think this hunger for God is fairly recent. And when i say ‘recent’ i mean within four years or so. It’s kinda like (i don’wanna say “swimming”; “riding a bike”; “walking”) pottery making.

i can have a great professor tell me the techniques. He can give me an outline of instructions and sufficient ‘if/then’ hypotheses. i can come up with tough questions about how everything works and the professor could give me precision answers. i could even watch someone else and study the moves they make while they’re throwing the clay. None of it matters until i sink my hands into the dirt. Getting back to a (better) older process of it, my outline won’t mean diddly until i use my feet to start kicking the wheel and my hands to try to straighten an ornery lump of mud in the middle of the spinning disc. Until i feel the amount of pressure and angle of my arms & hands and what amount of water is sufficient, there’s no amount of talked about/written out measurements that will get me to ‘get it’. i’m not a computer to be programmed, with formulas to make the process work. i can’t really know the art until i start to do it. And so what can we know about God without sinking in to His word? This is not to say God is *solely ‘found’ in the pages of a book, but we have it & people wrote it, for a reason; yes? And by “sinking in”, i do mean what Peterson outlines at the beginning of this book.

READ. THINK. PRAY. LIVE. This is way more than just reading through the Bible for me. I’m kickin’ the wheel and getting frustrated when the clay doesn’t feel centered. i’m asking the Holy Spirit to be the water source, because when the clay isn’t centered or there isn’t enough water, nothing further can form out of it - other than ornery mud spinning round and round. Sometimes, through the grace of God, i get it centered and start pulling up the clay into a pretty shape, but then my hand gets unsteady, something bumps into my arm or leg, or a fingernail will suddenly cut through the side of fragile clay walls. Or.. because i didn’t knead the clay enough prior to slapping it on the wheel, an air bubble will suddenly appear leaving a pock-mark, or… some foreign matter will emerge, making me have to stop everything and start all over again.

Yes. So EXODUS. (i feel no need for segway here) Moses’ patience with the people versus God’s patience (even with Moses, right from the get-go - aside from that weird bit, where God suddenly had the urge to want to strike him down) has been an interesting thing to take note of. That’s the underlying thing, but there’s way more than that. 

In DAY 027 [EXODUS 018-020 page 136], i immediately thought of Mt. Sinai like a volcano, which led me to a myriad of opinions that are out there, online about this very thing. Can i just say, that learning about the historical and geographical things that are listed in the Bible, would be absolutely fascinating! This subject matter is totally beyond my comprehension to naturally ‘get’. i sucked at history and geography in High School. BUT, if there were a field trip to go along with this stuff, i think i’d fall head over feet for learning it. Honestly, if i had more time, i’d dig&dig&DIG for more knowledge on this subject, in relation to scripture. i really think it makes everything come even more alive. That being said, i haven’t researched it much at all, but this link -> www.ldolphin.org/sinai.html is where i spent the most time. i haven’t read it all, but i rested on it because it’s contesting other peoples theories about the location of Sinai and whether or not it is or could have been a volcano.

It also peaked (pun intended) my interest because it talks about the Midianites and what sort of journey Jethro would have had to make, in order to meet up with Moses. In reading through, when Jethro all of sudden ‘pops in’ to visit with Moses, i was taken back some. i’ve always had this vague impression of thinking they are ‘wandering’ out in the wilderness, where no one can find them, unless they happen to bump into people along the way. But here comes Jethro, forming like the Cheshire cat on a tree limb, directly to where Moses is. How did he know? There’s no mapquest. Moses didn’t call him up and give him directions, go past the big trees, up the hill with the rocks, hang a right, until you see the smoking peak and meet me there at sundown. ?? Seriously. All we know from scripture here is that Jethro, “heard the report of all that God had done for Moses and Israel his people, the news that God had delivered Israel from Egypt..” (page134) then he decides to take a little trip to deliver Moses’ family to him. Not only that, but he sent some poor messenger ahead of him, like that sucker was supposed to know where Moses was.  

Logic says that, it - the path of the Exodus and their whereabouts - was just that well known. But still. Y’know this is only so hard to get, because (a) i’m directionally challenged; (b) i have a cell phone & email & have been traveling with people who have used GPS to rely on a computer system to tell them how to more proficiently get lost; (c) i have used gmaps and mapquest and (as creepy as it is) i know about satelites that take pictures from the sky that can pinpoint locations and FBI tracking devices that i can only dream about, but have to know they exist because i’ve seen the movies (:P). What do these people have, other than word of mouth (hello, have you ever played the telephone game?), the stars and nature and glory of God to direct them to one another? i am so far removed from having to rely on these sorts of things, that even trying to consider two people finding each other in the world, as it was back then, trips me up.

Earlier in the week I encountered the most befuddling passage yet in my reading. It was near the beginning of Exodus (24-26) on page 111 and the paragraph seemed to have little to do with the surrounding story. God was suddenly and inexplicably angry, about to short-circuit His stated plan that was just laid out for Moses.

On the journey back, as they camped for the night, God met Moses and would have killed him but Zipporah took a flint knife and cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched Moses’ member with it. She said, “Oh! You’re a bridegroom of blood to me!” Then God let him go. She used the phrase “bridegroom of blood” because of the circumcision.

I understand from Genesis the importance of circumcision as it being a sign of the covenant between God, Abraham and his descendants.  Yet the fact that Moses’ son was not yet circumcized doesn’t seem to be the sole cause of God’s anger here.  If it was, then why was it not enough for Zipporah to circumcise the son.  Why did she touch the foreskin to Moses’ member?  I feel like there’s something missing, like a paragraph of Exodus was lost somewhere over the years that helped to make sense of this piece.