Tag: old testament

Categories
Bible Study Exodus

Exodus | Chapter 40

The stage has now been completely set, the lights are humming, the crowd has gathered, it’s time to fire this beast up. God speaks to Moses and tells him it’s time to erect the tabernacle. This happens on the first day or the first month of the year, which seems very unlikely to accidentally coincide with when the Israelites actually completed all the work. More likely is they got it done some time before that and God waited to provide the instruction as to when to put it together so that it matched the start of the year.

They are kicking off the new year in worship (the same time of year of the Passover celebration as well). I know we’ve kind of traded it out for college football, but firing up the new year with a reminder of God’s presence among us and a right prioritization of worship as it begins anew seems like a pretty good call. Also, note that all of this was to be completed on that day, meaning it shouldn’t take more than a day to get set up. Remember, this was a mobile operation, whenever God moved the nation was to follow, including the tabernacle. And when they stopped moving, this thing had to be set up quick. So, we get a run through here to confirm the design was up to the task and indeed it was.

There’s nothing surprising about what occurs. All that God had them build, Moses sets up. It’s not just him, even though the text says he did it, Moses would have enlisted some Levites help him out with certain things (the ark of the testimony had to be carried with two poles and the multiple layers of cloth over the Holy Place are certainly too unwieldy for one man to wrangle on his own). In either case, all of it gets set up and anointed (cleansed) for use. This includes the priests (more detail to follow in Leviticus).

Over and over again we are given confirmation that Moses does as God commands. Everything is up to snuff and comes together without a hitch. And so Moses finishes the work.

Once it’s all up, the cloud, the manifestation of God’s presence among the people, covered the tent of meeting (now the holy of holies, not that little tent outside the camp) and His glory fills the tabernacle. What does that mean? Could be a lot of things but most likely it’s something akin to what happened to Moses’ face before in God’s presence, except that it is so expansive that it “fills” the tabernacle. Even without further detail, we should be confident that this is something physical that the nation can see.

But Moses isn’t allowed to enter. Why not? This seems odd, Moses has been in God’s presence numerous times. He’s been on Mt. Sinai, he’s been in the tent of meeting outside the camp, he was the one dude who was allowed to handle the 10 Words and put them in the ark. What gives here? It’s relatively simple, God has now come to reside there. And, like we discussed earlier with the bell on the priest entering the holy of holies, you don’t just walk into Yahweh’s house. This is not unlike a builder constructing a new house for one of ya’ll. Sure, as it’s being built the man has full access, can come and go as he pleases, is trusted to move put the walls up and move the furnishings around and otherwise oversee the project. But, once you move in, he doesn’t get the key anymore and he can’t just walk in whenever he wants. This is Yahweh’s residence, you can’t just walk in, even if you’re Moses.

Now, what we find happens a lot is that God’s cloud sits above the tabernacle, not in it, which allows the priests to go about their day to day business without an issue. And besides, most of the time this cloud was out in front of the people, leading them. Whenever the cloud left the tabernacle and headed out, the people followed. When it stopped, the people set up the tabernacle and lived life until the cloud moved again. All relationships that had been broken with their rebellion in the golden calf incident have been set back to right. Yahweh is their God and they are His people, and He has forgiven their transgressions and is going to lead them in the promise we were reminded of in chapter 1, the one made to the man Israel and his children. The land of promise yet awaits them.

Categories
Bible Study Exodus

Exodus | Chapter 38

As with the chapters that precede it, chapter 38 continues the historical record of the people of God fulfilling the commandments of God that were passed down to them through Moses. We’ve moved out into the items in the courtyard and both the burnt offering altar and wash basin are made as instructed. Interestingly here we get a detail of where the bronze is sourced, the mirrors of the ladies ministering at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

This is interesting in a couple of different ways. One, it speaks of a high quality of bronze to otherwise be previously used as a mirror (sourcing an alloy in this way might have at least been questionable and you can’t use some kind of junk ball alloy in the Lord’s area). So, this solves that. Also, we for the first time find out that there are ladies who worked outside the tent of meeting. It’s not clear what they did, although later we find that ladies continue to serve a role of the tabernacle/temple. In those cases they were likely helping with discarding some of the unneeded animal parts, assisting women who need a hand/help doing whatever they came to do, perhaps also bringing water (a lady’s job in nearly every ancient culture) and helping wash the priests clothes.

The court is also erected as specified and records are kept of all that was given to build the tabernacle (here called the tabernacle of the testimony, the place where God’s covenant with the people resides). The Levites keep track under the direction of Aaron’s son Ithamar. We also see Bezalel (tribe of Judah) and Oholiab (tribe of Dan) pop up again, a reminder, along with the offerings, that it takes everyone to pull together the tabernacle as God instructed.

The gold equals a little over a ton. The silver is nearly 4 tons. Note that the silver doesn’t come from a gift, it’s the ransom and matches what was laid out to pay in chapter 30 (those in the census, 20 years old and upwards).

Categories
Bible Study Exodus

Exodus | Chapter 34

In chapter 33, Yahweh is meeting with Moses in the tent of meeting outside the camp, His restricted presence a consequence of Israel’s recent golden bull/revelry idolatry action and its clear breaking of the covenant between them and Yahweh. God tells Moses to continue on the journey into Canaan, He will keep His promise, but due to their stiff-neckedness He can’t be close to them, lest they be destroyed. Moses pleads with God to go with them, and God mercifully agrees, they will get His mercy and confirmation of His presence.

So chapter 34 begins with Yahweh’s instruction for Moses to cut some stone and bring it up to Mt. Sinai, we need some new tablets to put the 10 words on. This is freakin’ fantastic news. God has decided to forgive the Israelites and to accept them again as His covenant people. This is no small thing, the previous covenant was broken, their idolatry had broken it. They have done nothing to earn its reinstatement, God’s mercy carries the weight here.

As expected, if you’re going to have a covenant, some things need to be in place. Much of what we see in this chapter is stuff we’ve seen before because we’ve gone through this process once already. But, it’s being started again and the terms of the covenant need restated, the promises re-established, and the copies of the words for each party put back into practice.

In v. 5, God starts to keep His promise from chapter 33.

The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6 The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Yahweh “stands” with Moses (these descriptions are necessary but fallible in that God isn’t likely “standing” or any other physical human behaviors. Understandably, our language and perception is limited in our ability to adequately speak to what God is actually doing). In either case, we should have the sense that God is revealing His presence to Moses, likely some sort of manifestation that confirms who He is without directly being a physical manifestation of God Himself (the idiom from chapter 33 of showing his back is used in Scripture to indicate the revelation of basically nothing at all.)

Repeated names usually indicates terms of endearment, so we could read v. 6 to be something like, “to you I am your dearest friend Yahweh”. What follows is a revelation of His ways, his character, things that describe His essence. And all of these are good news for Israel, both in their content and the fact that God is proclaiming it as part of the reinstatement of the covenant.

We’ve seen the phrase about visiting iniquity on children’s children before and, as then, we risk misunderstanding. The point is not that God is punishing children for the sins of their father. “Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin. (Deuteronomy 24).” The point here is that as sin continues throughout the generations, it will continually be dealt with. God is reminding His people that they can’t get away with something just because He already punished a previous generation for it. Which, perhaps with some difficulty, we must digest to understand that the fact that certain behaviors were exampled to us by our parents does not leave us unaccountable when those own behaviors show up in our own lives (think alcoholism, poor marriages, etc.)

Rightly, Moses’ reaction to the presence of God here is to worship. This is good. Then he formalizes the ask. Yes, we are a stiff-necked people, but please Yahweh, be You in the midst of us that we may be forgiven and yet be Your people.” Yahweh agrees. Then the restating of the covenant work begins again.

God makes promises about what He will do. Then He restates how they are to behave, with nothing really new here except a hyper focus on idolatry. We’ll notice this as we progress through the rest of the Torah, the “more” laws that follow are really extensions of behavior Yahweh has already laid out. They already know they aren’t supposed to have other Gods before Yahweh. Now, we find more specific instructions about tearing down Asherah poles, not engaging in interactions that bring the Israelites into temptation to do what they are clearly susceptible to when it comes to foreign gods. Also, no intermingling marriages (note that here, as elsewhere in the Bible, the restriction is never on mingling ethnicities, it’s mixing spiritual belief systems). And the primary concern was ladies coming from Canaan or elsewhere marrying fellas and the ladies having influence on the spiritual beliefs (which speaks to strong faith of ladies and their level of influence). Fellas don’t leave when they marry and Israelite ladies who marry outside of their camp aren’t a threat to the Israelites purity either, that’s why it’s focused just on foreign wives.

They need to keep the feasts, they need to Sabbath, they need to not sacrifice incorrectly. Like I said, not new, it needs re-established, reaffirmed. And the end result are the expected covenant documents, the 10 Words. (There is some debate that the 10 commandments here could refer to the instructions given in chapter 34, which do number 10. However, most agree we’re still talking about the original 10 Words here).

When Moses heads out, his face if shining. It’s almost as if there is now evidence of the glory of Yahweh physically visible without actually revealing Him physically. In fact, that’s exactly what we have. On the rock (Mt. Sinai) God has kept His promise and protected Moses from His actual manifestation (which would likely kill him, just like everyone else) and yet exposed Him to His glory and His name, just as promised in chapter 33. And, the people benefit from it also.

Categories
Bible Study Exodus

Exodus | Chapter 32

Chapter 32 represents a major shift in the Exodus narrative. Since arriving at Mt. Sinai, God has been laying the foundation of His covenant with His people, including what He will do for them, their purpose (a kingdom of priests), and how they are to live to properly reflect that purpose and the image of Yahweh, their covenant partner. As well, they are instructed how Yahweh is to be interacted with and worshiped, a necessary instruction to a group of people who, as a nation, had spent the last 400 years in an idolatrous, Egyptian culture. Through the extensive instruction around the construction of God’s dwelling among them and its consecration (cleansing for use) as well as the appointment and consecration of His dedicated servants, they are being taught about His character, His holiness, His absolute purity and how they may interact with it/Him relative to that.

And yet now, all will be put at risk. The scene opens as the people have been waiting for Moses’ return from the mountain as He was receiving instruction from Yahweh. In previous trips, Moses appears to have not been gone overnight so this extended period of time (40 days should not necessarily be taken literally, it’s an idiom like we might say “dozens” or “a great many”) causes them to react poorly. Perhaps we can understand the normal human response here, that in absence of a strong leader, folks not only begin to abandon their fealty to the leader but also to the ideals that leader held them to.

So, the people appear to go back to what they know and ask Aaron to create an idol for them (a direct rejection of commandments/words 1 & 2 which they did know about, it was shared with them back in chapter 24.) Aaron, completely abandoning any pretense of being the stand-in leader of this group of folks, caves and facilitates the making of an idol using the earrings from the women and children to overlay the top with gold. Most translations say he made a calf, but our impression from that is like a really young cow but it’s really meaning to get at a young but otherwise strong bull.

Next, Aaron declares that these are the “gods” who brought you out of Egypt and that tomorrow there will be a feast to Yahweh (remember, in most translations when you see LORD in all caps it’s referring to God’s personal name vs. the other times when the word for lord has a range of meanings from “sir” to “king”.) This is interesting, because Aaron has not made a new god and credited it with bringing them out of Egypt, he’s created a visible representation and called it Yahweh. In any other culture, this may not be an issue, but it is a direct rejection of not only God’s instruction in the 10 Words but also a rejection of His way of doing things. Part of His relationship with His people was a trust in His faithfulness, or put another way, faith in His faithfulness, in His presence. Idol construction was a refusal to do so.

The people make offerings to the idol but even in this we see distinctions about how God goes about things. Traditional idol sacrifice is on an altar in front of the idol to ensure that the god “sees” it so it may bless the people in response. Note that in the tabernacle, and later the temple, the altar is in the courtyard, separated and out of the line of sight of the Holy of Holies. Yahweh, of course, is aware of the sacrifices, He doesn’t need to “see” them. So we find here a continuation of the pursuit of something physical/tangible where God expects His people to act in faith and trust in Him.

God alerts Moses to the situation going on down below. They have corrupted themselves with very little provoking and have completely cast aside God’s commands. (Flashback to chapter 24 “When Moses went and told the people all the LORD’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the LORD has said we will do.”) What a disaster. Note, these people were still eating manna daily provided by Yahweh. They had only recently been part of hearing God’s voice, seeing his fire and cloud lead them through the wilderness. But they rejected God’s way of showing Himself to His people and instead landed on a man made idol who cannot speak, move, turn into fire, or any such other obviously cooler expressions of God-ness. God is right, they/we are a stiff-necked people.

God tells Moses to leave Him alone whilst he destroys the people and offers to make a new people out of the lineage of Moses. This is not a command, it’s rhetoric, God is expecting a response from Moses, who does indeed do so by “reminding” God of His promises to Abraham and the potential sullying of His name by the Egyptians who predicted such a destruction of the people. This is not, odd, by the way. We see other examples of God proclaiming what will happen with an expectation that a prophet of his will intercede (see Amos 7). And the concept of it being odd for God to change His mind isn’t a Biblical one, it’s an extrapolation of a theology that says all is already determined. It is perfectly within God’s prerogative to alter a course based upon a request from His people.

Note, though, that God is relenting from the wiping out of the people, not the consequences completely. They are not being acquitted (there will be some sword justice and a demonstrative plague). Moses heads back down with the two tablets with the Words on them (both tablets have all 10 Words, front and back. When you’re doing a covenant, both parties get a copy). God did the writing, that’s also cool.

Moses sees the rabble-rousing going on once he reaches the base of the mountain (not coincidentally, the place where the people meet and worship occurs). In reaction to the situation, Moses chucks both tablets to the ground and they break. This is not an irrational, out of control action by Moses out of anger (although he certainly is mad). What Moses threw to the ground was not a random object, it was the most priceless item in the whole world that represented the covenant terms between Yahweh and His people. Moses was openly and clearly demonstrating that what the people have done has broken the covenant. Now what? God has every right to walk away here. What will He do?

Moses gets down to business and first destroys the bull, burning it up (remember, made primarily out of wood) and then sprinkling the ashes into the water they all drink from at the base of the mountain. The impression shouldn’t be that he forced them to drink it as a punishment like right then and there. In general, the powder of the remains of the idol would be drunk by the people as they normally consumed the water, their body would process it, come out as waste, and it would be defiled and ruined for any future idol making.

Moses turns to Aaron, who responds pathetically. The impression that his hand was forced seems accurate, the people did appear to pressure him into it. However, he relented quickly and jumped on in. Also, his attempt to convince Moses that all he did was melt the gold and the young bull idol jumped out of the fire after fashioning itself would be comical if it didn’t represent such a cowardly act and pathetic defense.

Then follows the decision. Literally, the Hebrew is “Whoever for Yahweh, to me!” They are being offered the chance to repent. All of them? Yes, all of them. Immediately, the Levites join (certainly including Aaron, who is not so foolish as to not jump at the chance to publicly repent of his action). But not everyone joins. The instructions here aren’t for the Levites to kill everyone that wasn’t them, it was to go systematically through the camp and offer repentance on Yahweh’s behalf. Anyone that did not turn back go God was to be killed. Now, that seems harsh in our minds. However, if idolatry were allowed to continue, many people in ancient Israel would turn from saving truth to destruction. And given the role of Israel in the world, this was not acceptable. And remember, these folks were given the chance to repent, they simply refused.

Also note, this is specific to the Old Covenant. The New Covenant, the one based upon Jesus, does not allow for killing as a means of preserving truth.

The next day, Moses addresses the people and clearly calls out their sin and goes to Yahweh to speak of how it can be atoned for (“covered”). Moses lumps himself in with Israel in their sin, basically saying if this can’t be atoned for that he will go down with the ship. God does two things here. One, he stays faithful to the covenant and His promises. He instructs Moses to continue to lead the people to the promised land and will continue to go before them to lead them there. However, justice is still to come. A plague will be sent directly (not directly implying folks will die, could just be a sickness) but eventually there will be a punishment for this sin (that’s v. 35, most likely referring to the future event of the exiles from the promised land). Basically, it reads as a “for now, I will do x, but eventually y will come to roost.

Categories
Bible Study Exodus

Exodus | Chapter 28

We’ve established where God is going to “live” among His people (the tabernacle), how His place will be furnished (and what it will be used for), and what the area surrounding His house will be like. Now, the burning question of what those who are in God’s service are going to wear. This may seem of little consequence to us, but it shouldn’t be a foreign concept that clothing communicates status or office or responsibility. These duds will carry a significant duty, these are the servants of Yahweh we’re talking about, they must appropriately reflect that the work for the king.

First, though, we need to know the fellas who will wear these items. God calls Aaron and his sons to be the priests, an indication that this is not a job one can merely apply for or attain skills to get, nor purchase (yes, this will be attempted). These duties will be carried out by this man chosen by God, Aaron, and his sons and their sons and so on. And for them, holy garments are to be made (think clothes that set them apart, indicating their chosen service to Yahweh).

In the ancient world, vestments signified authority. There was no human king of Israel, Yahweh was it, so the High Priest (Aaron, at present) was the leader of the people and was wearing the types of clothing that would traditionally be reserved for kings in other cultures. Thus, we are prepared to see the High Priest as one who served Yahweh on behalf of the people of Israel, most often expressed in worship.

This plays out in the sacrificial system kind of like this. A guest doesn’t prepare food at another’s home, the homeowner does the preparation of the food and the guests join in eating it. Thus, in the logic symbolized by the meal-based sacrificial system, worshipers at the tabernacle were Yahweh’s guests and the priests were Yahweh’s servants, serving both the host and the guests. In the case of tabernacle worship, the guests brought the food not because it was theirs and they wanted to honor their host by contributing to the meal; it was not theirs, but they were bringing that portion of their harvest that had belonged to Yahweh from the beginning. By reason of having a meal together they were showing covenant relationship since it was not normal in ancient times for people to eat together unless they were allies.

Now the items. First up is the ephod. Easiest visual here is kind of like an apron or if someone took a sleeveless man-bruiser and turned it into a short dress (so, a covering from thigh to shoulder but not covering legs or arms). We should recognize the colors, it’s the same as the bottom layer ornate tabernacle covering and the curtains. Basically, dude should look like he belonged with the tabernacle because he did. There was to be an onyx stone on each shoulder, each carrying the names of 6 of the sons of Israel (Jacob). The engravings of the names were to be deep (when you see “signet” think “seal”. So, had to be deep like a seal would be to carry and press ink on a document). Point was, Aaron was carrying the representative nation on his shoulders, he was representing all of God’s people, and all of the people were in solidarity with him as he did his work.

The ephod itself, aside from being created using the same thread action as the tabernacle innards, was a pretty basic item. See, for example, in 2 Samuel 6 where the Ark of the Covenant is being taken back into the city and we see King David dancing in the streets in excitement around it. I had generally been under the impression that David was nude here, that’s why his wife Michal said to him, “How the king of Israel honored himself today, (she was being sarcastic), uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants’ female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!” However, he wasn’t naked, v14 says he was wearing a linen ephod. His wife was upset with him because she believes that he had embarrassed himself by dressing below his station, wearing just the ephod like a common man.

Next, a breast piece of judgment. Think of this like a giant, man-chest sized pocket (which contained the Urim and Thummim, more on that in a minute) and was decorated on the outside by another representation of the people/tribes, 12 precious stones. For each of the stones, one of the names of the sons of Israel was to be engraved, cut deep like the names on the onyx stones that are on the shoulders. (As an interesting digression, these are largely the same stones listed in Revelation 21 as being contained throughout the walls of the New Jerusalem. Still thinking through if there’s anything to that or not). The breast piece was attached to the ephod by blue lace tied between the rings of the ephod and the rings of the breast piece. Again, the point was for Aaron to represent the tribes in himself, what he was doing in the Holy of Holies was being done on behalf of everyone.

That leads to the Urim and Thummim, translated as “lights” and “darks” likely in reference to the colors of the rocks (or whatever they are) in the pocket that were used to discern the will of God. The Bible is never really explicit as to how these are used. It’s likely something akin to casting lots where a question is posed to God and the High Priest takes out a rock (either among two options or perhaps a bunch of rocks with either light or dark colors) and it is answered in the affirmative or negative based upon what was picked. So, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that someone would use this type of thing as a way to divine God’s will on something (in fact, we see folk casting lots to decide the replacement for Judas in Acts so, go figure).

However, before we get too far down this action, we should remember its notable absence as a reference to solve problems (meaning, it’s not popping up all the time with fellas going, “take it to the Urim!”) It most certainly wasn’t normal. It seems like it was an option, but we see God’s commandments as the primary source of guiding decisions, followed by receiving word from God from a prophet (also not frequent) and then petitioning God directly for response (even less frequent). It also wasn’t likely for personal matters, it was a need for guidance on corporate decisions. The issue, of course, with the Urim and Thummim, is that a rock, so to speak, would always come out and there would always be an answer. However, if it was being petitioned unfaithfully or without having gone through the other options (especially fealty to God’s commandments), it might be hard to discern whether the answer was actually guided by Yahweh.

Next, the robe. Worn under the ephod, it’s a blue rectangle with a whole in the middle for the head of the High Priest, hanging down likely around ankle length. At the bottom of the hem, there were pomegranate shaped tassels and gold bells. The bells, perhaps surprisingly, were necessary so that the priest “…did not die”. Again, seems odd to us, but consider how we’re to think of the tabernacle. One simply cannot invade Yahweh’s house (in this case, the Holy of Holies) without proper warning. Yes, this all seems like a show to us, but that’s probably because we’re prone to treating the presence of God as some kind of magical mist or some other silliness. If you believe that the Holy of Holies is where the presence of God actually resided (because it did), then you don’t just waltz in there. It wasn’t the priest’s house, it was Yahweh’s, and you best announce yourself before strutting in. The bells ensure you don’t forget. Obviously, it wasn’t necessary, but it was the symbolism relative to the covenant reality established by God for the benefit of the people.

Next, the turban with the gold plate on the front that reads “Holy to Yahweh”. The purpose of this seems to be a tagging of Aaron (or the High Priest in general) as the one who is to bring the sacrificial offerings, those being submitted for atonement of the sins of the people. Why is this a deal? How does the gold plate make the Israelites “acceptable to the Lord”? It’s a notion of intentionality, or doing something with conscience purpose. Religious rituals, Christian/Jewish ones specifically here, aren’t magic. You don’t take communion just by drinking wine, you don’t get baptized just because you were in a hot tub, and you’re not worshipping God just because you were sitting in a church with other folks who were doing so. All of these rituals require conscience faith, intent. The gold plate on Arron’s head was a reminder that Aaron’s actions on their behalf were done in faith for a purpose, to receive God’s gracious forgiveness of sins that they might be holy, making them able to serve Him as a “kingdom of priests, and a holy nation”.

The other priests (Aaron’s sons) get garments, they just aren’t as fancy (although, still noted as beautiful). Also, everyone who does the priest work gets linen undergarments (it’s not acceptable to expose your parts to anything holy to Yahweh). The forever statute for Aaron and his offspring isn’t limited to the underpants thing, it’s everything in this chapter related to how they dress, how they’re anointed, and what they represent.

Categories
Bible Study Exodus

Exodus | Chapter 26

On to the tabernacle, or “dwelling place”. Here we have the symbolic home of God’s presence among His people. It was to be situated in the middle of the Israelite camps (entrance facing east). So, although in battle or travel, God’s presence went before His people, when they were at rest, His presence was to be in the very center, residing among them. And when they moved, He moved with them and settled again where they did.

Chapter 26 provides instructions for the “building” itself, designed to be quickly assembled and disassembled, while also withstanding the elements, protecting the sanctity of the elements and proceedings within, and being up to snuff as a place where YAHWEH would reside. Broadly, it was a rectangle with two disproportionate rooms. The first room, taking up 2/3 of the tabernacle and being closest to the entrance on the east was the Holy Place, which was 30′ x 15′ x 15′ and contained a food/utensil table, the lampstand and an incense altar.

The remaining 1/3 was the Holiest Place or the Holy of Holies which was separated from the first room by an ornate curtain that did not have a door (the High Priest would have to move one of the poles to the side to enter. This was intentionally prohibitive). The curtain was wide enough and tall enough that it was attached to both the walls and the ceiling coverings so someone could not see past it from any angle. Unless you’re the high priest, it’s not your business. The ark of the covenant was in there and it was a cube (15x15x15).

Everything was held up by a series of ladder-like pole structures that sit upon silver bases, the poles covered in gold (a single ounce of gold can be hammered out to nearly 100 sq ft of covering so, although it seems like they would have needed a lot of gold for this action, it wasn’t all that much. And, they got some from the Egyptians anyhow). Only exception to the gold and silver here was for the poles that held up the curtain that covered the entrance, no gilding was required and the stands were brass or copper. They were farther away from God’s presence so didn’t require the extra bump in style (same will be true for the elements in the courtyard that surrounds the tabernacle.

The tabernacle had four coverings on it. One was a sweet, stylish cherubim-infused action that was the initial cover so that when you walked in the walls and ceiling had this ornate look to it. On top of that was goat hair, adding thickness and providing protection for the more delicate, stylish layer from the courser layers that were yet to come. To ensure covering, the goat hair layer was bigger than the style layer. On top of the goat hair layer was tanned ram skins. This adds weight and some protection from the elements (weight was important, you can’t have the Lord’s dwelling tumbling away). Finally, translations vary on the top layer but it’s quite likely the skins of sea cows (or dolphins or some other sea animal). This final layer provides waterproofing, protection from the sun, dew, frost, dust, and whatever else may come.

We should probably be careful not to look too far into the design elements. Just because God is specific doesn’t mean there is secret meaning to everything. Most of the design appears to be a combination of function (here’s why I need clasps and proper support and two rooms, etc.) and design (it’s gold because YAHWEH is a king, same reason why the fancy cloth faces in and the boring cloth faces out).

Finally, don’t miss the note in 26:30 that Moses appears to be privy to the whole design whereas this chapter is not hitting up every detail. Moses seems to know how things should look when they come out, there isn’t enough here in all instances to do that (some of the pole spacing, for example). The point is, God showed him what He wanted. The people weren’t creating something and offering it to God, God had designed something and was graciously inviting His people to be part of implementing it, much like how Jesus uses us today in being part of spreading the Good News of His Kingdom.

Categories
Bible Study Exodus

Exodus | Chapter 22

The laws continue. Interestingly, the covenant law has no prison system or confinement as a punishment, it always focuses on restitution. There are a number of possible reasons for this. Practically, it could be that they are a travelling group so setting up a permanent prison system might be quarrelsome. However, the Law was always intended to remain with God’s people and He well knew they were heading to a permanent land He promised. So, that isn’t all that compelling of an option.

Why else then? In this setup, compensation to the victim tends to be more generous and immediate than in a prison situation (where any awards or penalties are often not actually paid because the person is in prison making very little). Secondly, it requires the offender to deal with the person they committed the crime against directly and to face the effects of their crime on that person. On the other side, it allows an offender to live a productive life directly upon restoration. Finally, it doesn’t require public funds or effort to retain a system of provision and housing for criminals.

There are drawbacks, though. For one, the system can favor the wealthy as they can often more easily pay the penalties without having to commit to labor (contract out as a servant) to make restitution. Further, being able to lock someone up prohibits them from potentially committing the same crime again after restitution. Conversely, we should recognize that this was a law set that simply did not permit folks to go around doing the types of things we’re worried about people getting out prison to do again. Those folks generally died for their crimes. The risk of recidivism was zero.

In general, the laws point to a principle that says if you lose or by neglect cause someone to lose something, you have to make things right. There is also a recognition of intentionality, meaning the restitution was not as high if there was a sense of mistake or mitigating circumstances vs. something done maliciously, selfishly, or recklessly.

Also, remember that these laws were not intended to be comprehensive, just directional. They applied to men and women, and just because it doesn’t say there are punishments if you steal a donkey it doesn’t mean you skirt the law. The judges would apply principles from the law to the various situations that came about.

So, here we go. Man intentionally, blatantly steals an animal and sells or kills it, he pays back 5 (unless it’s a sheep, then it’s 4. Possibly because either oxen are more important or that sheep are more likely to go wandering and tempt a thief.) Either way, crime was intentional and blatant, 5:1 ratio.

Next, dude breaks into your house and you whack him and he dies. If it’s at night, no penalty. If it’s during the day, it’s a murder. During the day, you know the difference and are expected to cry for help, take evasive measures, talk him out it, whack to wound, all of the above. At night, you’re likely disoriented, can’t cry for help (your neighbors are sleeping), and can’t see very clearly. So, different reactions to the same incident. If the thief succeeds, he’s guilty and has to pay restitution (likely the 5:1 ratio discussed previously). If he can’t pay, he has to put himself into servanthood to get the cash to pay. (This largely only makes sense if the servant contract pays at least the bulk of the funds ahead of time and they are worked off, in effect, over the 6 years). If he hasn’t killed the animal and it can be taken back to its owner, it’s only a 2:1 payment instead of 5:1. Note that much of this is predicated upon the actual “cost” of the crime.

Next, if you can’t control your beast and it eats up another dude’s field, you have to give the best of your field to replenish it. This is 1:1, not the same thing as intentional human on human crime, recognizing the nature that sometimes beasts will be beasts and, although you have to make it right, it’s not a multiplied punishment. If a fire starts (this assumes it’s accidental) and you burn another dude’s grain stash, you have to pay for it.

On v.16, don’t be confused with the location of this one, it’s tied to the ones that follow it (social responsibility issues) not the ones preceding it (property issues). In general, remember that marriage is Biblically a formal covenant, the most important of all covenants between humans. The sign of that covenant is sex. So, if a couple engages in sex, they are basically acting as if they are married and the bride price has to be paid to the woman’s family. Note that this doesn’t mean they couple is required to get married, their “as if” marriage isn’t an actual marriage. Also, the law would be equally applied if a woman seduced a man or if they agreed on it mutually to do the dirty.

Also, don’t over crank on this concept of bride price. Modern ears hear it as something degrading to women, perhaps treating them as property, but an ancient Israelite wouldn’t have understood or thought of it in that way. In fact, it was seen as a protection for the bride, something that required a man to be serious, thoughtful, willing to go through the process of creating a full and formal arrangement that serves his interests, his future wife’s interests, as well as those of his extended family. The price was a sign of the commitment. For the most important of human covenants, it wasn’t to be treated lightly (remember, not only was there a bride price but the engagement was on the same level of commitment as marriage and generally lasted at least a year. They took marriage seriously, as God does.)

The next 3 laws that follow speak to a range of situations that require capital punishment. They aren’t really connected, they are likely to be speaking to a broad range of behavior that deserves punishment because it directs people away from Yahweh. God is always an evangelist, always seeking to rescue people from condemning sin. If you are trying to get in the way of that, expect fierce consequences. In general, sorcery and worship of other gods clearly runs the risk of pointing people to powers other than God. On the beastiality, not only are you someone who has no regard for godliness, but this also sniffs of practices allowed in other cultures fertility rituals. The capital punishment here seems fierce (and is something that is no longer the people of God’s prerogative under the New Covenant, Jesus, as the death penalty decisions now rest with secular government) but note what it is protecting, those who could be directed to worship something other than the true God.

The next set of laws ensure that the entire range of disadvantages, unprotected or easily mistreated folks in society are treated appropriately. Note that Yahweh Himself is the enforcer here, He will hear their cries and His wrath will come upon those who act in a discriminatory way. Sometimes I hear Christians complain that some in the modern church are focusing too much on social justice. I say that when God brings something up and then inserts Himself clearly and personally in the consequence, it seems unlikely that we are over-focusing on said issue (and I might suggest that we all have a ways to move in that direction).

If you’re going to lend money to a fellow Israelite, you can’t charge interest, not even a little. If you’re going to take collateral (which was allowed), you can’t take something a man needs to live (like his cloak or his goat or something like that). This is not exhaustive, have to use the sense God gave you. It takes effort to dull the Spirit and squash your conscience to not perceive when you’re turning the screws on a dude for your own gain.

Next, you can’t say whatever you want about God. In our society, we often mistake free speech (as a right) as if it is free from consequence or inconsequential in and of itself. That is untrue. Mind your lips, boys. Do not speak of God lightly or anything that is associated with Him. Same (and this may be even harder) goes for leaders of God’s people or, as Paul’s extension within Romans lays on us, even civil leaders.

Finally, give to God what belongs to Him. The first born’s are his. For humans, it doesn’t mean you are actually handing your son over to God, you have to redeem your boy’s life (generally a cost, monetary). The sheep and oxen, though, those will generally be sacrificed. Finally, don’t eat any scavenged meat.

Categories
Bible Study Exodus

Exodus | Chapter 21

There are some things at face value that seem troubling in chapter 21 but that I think they are resolved with proper context and understanding of language.

First, on slavery in the Bible. The terms generally in play here have a relatively wide range. There are various Hebrew words for servant, the most common being “‘ebed”. That word can mean worker, employee, servant or slave. All of these fall under the protections of Yahweh’s convenant, and often they all actually do represent the same situation. Similarly, the word for employer, ba’al, can mean boss, employer, master, or owner (and, apparently, foreign god). Even the word for “buy” like in 21:2 (“If you buy a Hebrew servant…”), can refer to any financial transaction related to a contract. For example, if one baseball team exchanges cash for a 3rd baseman named Ted, we might say that they purchased Ted. It doesn’t mean that the new team literally owns Ted and everything about him, but they do have exclusive rights to their employment as a 3rd basemen (and as such, would expect compensation of some sort if Ted were to go to another team or not fulfill his obligations to their team).

So, with that as a foundation, when the law was properly followed, folks who were servants/slaves/workers held their positions based upon a formal contract for a job that they signed up to perform. In return they would get room, board, and some kind of compensation (perhaps all up front, some little by little, or maybe all at the end.) The terms were generally 6 years (think of it like someone signing up for the military).

Other servant/slave situations might be foreign-born servants who were allowed to live indefinitely on the condition that they become permanent workers in Israel. As we’ll note, God’s covenant law often assumes that people knew what they were getting into when they started some kind of trouble (going to war) and so the consequences of coming out on the other side of that trouble with your life spared but your service bound to the man you tried to kill is entirely appropriate.

Also, servants who were born in the household of the boss who perhaps owe the boss something for their room and board who will be permitted to leave when what is owed is paid. Finally, there are various temporary employment situations, think day laborers.

For clarity, it’s worth explicitly stating that under no circumstances when you read “slave” or “slavery” in God’s law should you view it through the lens of people stealing other people out of their homeland and forcing them to do labor permanently. Although it happened in other cultures of that time (ah hem, the Israelites ended up in this position, they just happened to already be on foreign soil), God explicitly puts protections in place to ensure people are not treated like this. No one “belonged” to another person like that. They may have been bound by a debt or a contractual agreement, but it was under their own agreement. And they had the right to gain their freedom.

So, when v.2 says, “If you buy a Hebrew slave…”, don’t think purchase a person, think “when you enter into a contractual agreement with someone for them to serve and work for you at an agreed upon wage for no fewer than six years”. Makes quite a bit of difference, doesn’t it? And after six years he goes frees. Seems easy. But then comes the trouble, when there are a spouse and kids involved (although some of these will be gender specific, don’t get distracted that they use the masculine noun to orient many of these, women could be employers and servants, they could find a husband while a servant and have a similar issue, etc.)

v.4 sounds problematic, then, because it sounds like the owner is using the servant to raise more servants so he can “own” them. Again, we have to shake 18-19th century American issues from our context here. Think about what is happening. Man comes to work for farm owner, agrees to work for 6 years for given wage, etc. Two years later, woman comes to work for farm owner, agrees to work for 6 years for a given wage, etc. Man and woman fall in love, get married, have a baby. Tricky. Farm owner didn’t contract for woman to not work during that time, someone has to compensate farm owner for the lost work. (I know we don’t live in a world that keeps to this kind of consequence, we assume the farm owner should eat the cost because marriage and birth are good things. And they are good, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t cost the farm owner for it to occur).

Now, fast forward 4 years. Man has finished his agreement, he’s free to go. Is it right that the woman, who has two more years on her agreement with the farm owner, should just get to leave free and clear? And the farm owner has been paying the costs of feeding/housing the child. Should that be free too? The law says no, the farm owner needs to be paid back. So, man has a few options. He can wait it out, his wife will finish her contract in two years and everyone can live happily ever after. The bummer of this would be he wouldn’t be with his family or would have to pay room and board at the farm while working somewhere else.

Alternatively, he could find a job somewhere else and try to raise enough money to pay the balance to satisfy his wife’s contract. However, it might be hard to find a situation that pays enough to support himself as well as enough to make progress on buying out what his wife had committed to those fateful 4 years prior. Or, he could agree to continue to work permanently for the farm owner for the rest of his life, stay with his wife and kids, and keep earning wages and living there as he was doing before. And remember, the farm owner isn’t a ruthless plantation owner, he’s providing room, board, and contractual wages. And the law forbids mistreatment otherwise he has to let the servant out of the contract.

Now the second problems arises. Let’s say man agrees to work for farm owner permanently. What’s to keep him from just bailing at any time? This is a voluntary service on the man’s part but still requires a protection for the farm owner. So, they go in front of the town judges and express that they are making this commitment to each other. This is an important step, it protects the man to make sure he does not enter into this agreement rashly. Also, it protects him against an unscrupulous farm owner who might lie and try to keep someone beyond their initial 6 year agreement. On the other side, the action in front of the judges protects the farm owner from someone accusing him of not honoring the 6 year agreement (he’ll have witnesses that the man agreed to say permanently).

Also, the man is marked (with an awl on the ear lobe, the average 5 year old girl does it to pierce her ears, it’s not a brutal process.) This mark is understood so that if this man were to flee the farm owner for some reason, a future employer would know that this man was supposed to be in permanent employment to the farm owner. Also, it’s a reminder to the farm owner of the commitment he made to care and provide for the man on a permanent basis.

Now, on to v. 7 (sorry, I know these are long, but I’m hoping they will help us digest some of the stuff to come a little easier). Our situation, like Nathaniel noted, is not just a woman entering into a servant contract but one that combines service and marriage. The core issue is the price. The farm owner (we’ll keep him as our example master) would pay both the contract price and the bride price (they didn’t do dowry) with the intention of this woman fulfilling the contract obligations with intentions of also marrying her. Why do that? It’s possibly most relevant to the farm owner who is already married or perhaps widowed who is trying to ensure his estate goes to either the first wife or her kids. Yes, he still must provide and care for the second wife (these complications are why God’s design never was for polygamy. This tolerance comes within the context of toleration of human weakness in a considerable variety of areas. Jesus describes this covenant in those terms in Matthew 19:8. Without some means of accommodation to human frailty in any divine covenant, there can be no hope for humans to find acceptance with God, thus the importance of the forgiveness of sins in the New Covenant of Jesus).

If, for some reason, the farm owner decides he doesn’t want her as a wife (and they don’t consummate the marriage), he must allow her to be redeemed. Meaning, he’s not allowed to keep her around under false circumstances. If he doesn’t intend to keep her as a bride, she must be released at the end of the contract period or allow for the family of the woman to give the money back, redeeming her. He’s not allowed to negotiate a new bride price with someone else, he’s not to be trusted to do that because he didn’t honor his word to marry her or treat her faithfully.

The transfer of property rights notwithstanding, a second wife is not a “second-class” wife. She must be treated equally in the family to the way first wives were treated. Failure to do so would be sufficient grounds for the wife to be freed from her marriage and her service contract.

I won’t belabor the point on the rest of the chapter (unless you have a specific question) but I did have one more thing that jumped out. In v. 20, we have a situation where a man punishes a contracted worker physically. We recoil at this, of course. It’s not stated that the man’s actions are justified (the discussion assumes it isn’t, that’s why there is to be punishment or avenging going on). However, the end of the verse is difficult, “…but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two since the slave is his property (NIV).” Dang, that doesn’t sound good at all. Part of the confusion is the translation. The ESV is better, “…since the slave is his money.” The point is, for something that wasn’t enough to exact an eye for eye, tooth for tooth kind of thing, the impact is that the worker is down for some small amount of time. There is no point in asking the servant’s boss to compensate himself for the loss of his own servant’s labor. He already paid the price, his laborer can’t work (thus, the slave is his money). Again, the rest of the law protects the servant in excess of whatever this situation was, it’s not open season to be a violent jerk, it’s a recognition of the proper compensation (the assumption being that the laborer still gets paid).

Categories
Bible Study Exodus

Exodus | Chapter 17

The people continue the trek through Sin, following cloud and fire as they went (likely how we should understand that “…according to the commandment of the Lord” bit. They camp at Rephidim, just a bit further south and the last stop prior to Mt. Sinai. Wouldn’t you know it, there’s no water there for the people to drink. Given that they followed the fire and cloud to Rephidim and harvested free honey flakes from the heavens every morning since they left, you’d think these fellas would put two and two together and perhaps ask the Lord to provide for water (you know, like He’s already done once.)

But no, instead, they quarrel with Moses and demand to be given water to drink. In this, they ignore not only how God has provided but Moses’ entreaty just days ago that their beef is with YAHWEH, not him and Aaron. They persist nonetheless, once again protesting that they could have died of thirst in Egypt without all this travel and said among themselves, “Is the Lord among us or not?” This is outright foolishness. God’s patience with them is remarkable.

Even Moses gets in the act this round. Note how he protests to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” He’s losing his nerve a bit. I get it, but he’s not exempt from cloud, fire, honey flakes, magic water log, and free quail. He’s leading this circus, the person leading folks around has to hold the whims back as a good example.

Even in the face of all this, God provides. He instructs Moses to walk in front of the people and the elders of Israel with the same stick that turned the Nile to blood and strike a rock to get water to come out. This is a level up from taking existing water and making it sweet, this is a river flowing from a stone. The people need to see it. The elders need to see it. It goes done as the Lord instructed. Moses, though, doesn’t want them to forget how they’ve behaved and names the place both Massah and Meribah, which means “testing” and “quarreling” respectively.

Directly after this incident, Amalek attacks Israel at Rephidim. Perhaps, word has gotten around that a wandering band of Hebrew malcontents are ripe for the pickin’ on the outskirts of the desert. Moses instructs Joshua to find some fellas to go fight with Amalek (apparently it wasn’t a sneak attack). The sense is, Joshua may have a hard time rousting up qualified folks, but he’s the man to make it happen.

However, it doesn’t particularly matter, this will be God’s victory. Moses goes to the top of the hill at the battle, Nile/water stick in hand. Whenever he holds up the staff, the Israelites win. When he drops the staff down, they start to lose. Understandably, Moses’ arms get tired (he’s a human after all). On the bright side, Aaron and Hur hang around and help him hold up is arms (this has all the makings of a pamphlet for a men’s retreat).

And it works, Joshua overwhelms Amalek. The victory is obviously God’s, but often history attributes it to the leader, thus the attribution to Joshua. Afterwards, God has Moses record the victory for the annals and to keep it in the ears of Joshua. Just like the water from the rock, God’s intervention on His people’s behalf needs to be remembered (especially for a people so prone to forget things that happen right in front of them).

Moses builds an altar to commemorate the victory and proclaims a generational war with Amalek (rough times for him).

Categories
Bible Study Exodus

Exodus | Chapter 16

Although Elim sounds nice, the travel continues. Why not stay in Elim? Well, it’s neither the mountain of the Lord (Mt. Sinai) nor the promised land of Canaan for starters. More directly, though, the cloud and fire that leads them places ain’t staying in Elim. When the magic cloud and fire move, you pack up your goods and head out as well, twelve springs and seventy palm trees or otherwise.

They keep heading south (towards Sinai) and travel through the wilderness of Sin (Hebrew “Ciyn”, pronounced “seen”, unrelated, and not the same word, as “sin” being a transgression and separation from God). They are back in a desert and it’s been one month since they left Egypt. They have grumbled already against there being a lack of drinkable water, now the same complaint will arise due to lack of food. Before we are too harsh on them, these complaints are not completely without merit. The food and water issues are legitimate (otherwise God wouldn’t step in to remedy them). Even as they were overworked and deprived of the right to worship appropriately, lack of food or water was not mentioned as one of the issues in Egypt. Certainly, there is truth in the change of their situation here.

However, lest we be too easy on them, let’s not forget that they are following the aforementioned magic cloud on the daily. They have seen the mighty hand of Lord against the Egyptians, they have seen their first born spared, the nation that kept them as slaves send them out with jewels, a sea be held back to give them dry land to traverse it, and that same sea fall upon their hapless pursuers to close out God’s judgment against them. They had seen enough to know that Yahweh was the one true God, was more powerful than any ruler or god that might come up against Him, and that this one true God was with them and for them. And yet, here they are, grumbling.

Remember, they are a people in training. God was clear back in Exodus 6 that the Israelites weren’t simply being set free from Egypt, they were being brought to a new situation and identity, one in which they were to be the people of Yahweh, in His service. It is clear that they do not yet know how to do that. These times of testing are necessary so that God may demonstrate His faithfulness to them. Whereas the plagues and wonders in Egypt were aimed to ensure that the Egyptians knew who indeed was the Lord, these tests during the time in the wilderness will do much the same thing for the Israelites. Trust is not just a concept that can live within our mind, it must be acted upon, demonstrated. The Israelites will struggle, as we certainly do today, in putting complete faith in God for provision, trust in His way of doing things. In a nation where we are generally capable of providing for ourselves in almost every way, we must be cautious of not re-defining faith as purely a notional (shadow) concept.

God affirms this notion of testing in v. 4. After the people complain (insinuating that they might as well have died at the hand of the Lord in Egypt around pots of meat than at the hands of Lord’s lack of provision here in the desert), God tells Moses that He personally will provide bread to the people. This is a test as to whether they will walk in His law (torah) or not. Again, they are a people in training. God is showing His faithfulness so they will begin to trust Him in all that He is about to command them (following basic instructions on collections of free honey wafers will pale in comparison to the commands God will give them at Sinai and beyond).

Moses and Aaron receive the word from God and pass it on, but first they make sure it’s clear to the people that they are not worth grumbling at, the complaint is between the people and Yahweh. I don’t think Moses and Aaron are trying to deflect blame, instead they are trying to make sure it is clear that God is about to step in to solve (vs. Moses doing it, as they may have believed after the bitter water incident at Marah). This point is confirmed as Aaron is talking to the people and the “…glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud” in that moment. (The Lord has yet to provide such an exclamation point to any proclamations of mine.) Then God promises that they will eat meat at twilight and then bread in the morning. From this the people will know that Yahweh is the Lord their God. (This is interesting in that, back to chapter 6, God says they will know He is God when He gets them out of Egypt. Now the definition includes the provision action about to take place. There is a lot of grace and patience in this chapter that these people don’t particularly deserve.)

In the evening, quail show up and cover the camp. This is a one-time action that is a direct response to their grumbling about there being no food. And it’s not a meager amount, it covers the camp. The next morning, there is an interesting flaky substance on the ground that God has provided for them. The people see it and ask “what is it?” (Hebrew “man hu”, which is basically what they end up calling it (“manna”). Moses explains to them how it works. The Lord will provide it every morning and each person is supposed to gather what they can eat (an omer per person is the expectation), just enough for one day. Of course, there’s one in every crowd who thinks he is going to take advantage of the situation and tries to take extra, and the next morning it is covered in worms and had a stank on it. This makes Moses angry. As the sun gets hot, the manna melts. (It isn’t clear whether there are piles of manna-lick available for the animals at this point, I’m assuming there are.)

On the sixth day of the week, God provides twice the amount of manna for them (two omers each). He’s giving them the means to be able to rest. Moses tells them that the next day is a Sabbath (means “cease work”) so he gives them double the amount so they don’t have to collect any the next day. Unlike every other day, this double portion can be kept overnight without risk of worms and stank. Of course, there’s one in every crowd who doesn’t pay attention to the situation and some of them head out on day 7 looking to gather manna. God says He will give them rest and make sure provisions exist to ensure it and these wandering goons are out there the next morning trying to do more work. God is not pleased.

I’ll quote this in full as it remains important: “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and laws? See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” So the people rested on the seventh day.”

A few things. The Sabbath is a gift. This day of rest was foreshadowed in the rhythms of God’s creation and He is instilling it in His people now. (Note, this is before the official 10 commandments). Fellas, we need this. If your life does not permit a consistent pattern of rest, you’re taking a gift that God has crafted for you (one that you need) and throwing it back at Him. Not a wise move. Sure, you don’t have to open your birthday presents, but you’d be a damn fool not to. That’s what’s happening when you are rejecting a day of rest. Put the priority on it (I’m guilty as charged on this).

Also, don’t over crank on the “…let no one go out of his place…” business. The context here was the collection of the manna, not a general house arrest because it’s Saturday. The goal was to provide a day of rest that would not require them to do the work they had to every other day.

God commands that some of the manna should be kept over the generations as proof to the Israelites that God has provided for them. Ultimately, it will be placed in the Ark of the Covenant along with the 10 commandments and a stick (yet to come). At the end of the chapter, we’re told that the people of Israel are fed on this manna for 40 years. This is a non-Moses addition to the text, at the time he dies they are still being fed by the manna.

Broadly, I was struck (probably convicted) by a few things. One, God has set them up to have to completely trust in Him day after day after day. The food was there every morning but wouldn’t last the night. You couldn’t horde it, couldn’t keep it to make you more powerful or rich than the next man. You got just enough, the rest went to worms. I’ll reinforce what I said earlier, at our level of wealth our understanding of “trust” runs the risk of being just a thought exercise. What things need to be on the table in your life to truly trust in God with? There’s not a difference here, boys, we’re in training to be the people of God. Let’s not get stuck at the grumbling/hording manna level of maturity.

Also, God’s provision and patience is a mercy that is undeserved yet intentionally and thoroughly provided. He gives what His people need, even in the face of their complaints and accusations. And even the manna itself, in a world where available sweeteners are either dried/condensed fruit or honey (which had to be harvested in the wild, which most folks weren’t doing), what God provides to make daily bread is quite possibly the best thing they’ve ever tasted.

Finally, take the rest.