Category Archives: A. Beginning

Old Testament Beginning: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy

Year of Restoration (Leviticus 25)

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Bible Summary:

God tells Moses and the Israelites to rest the land of Canaan every seventh year instead of cultivating it. They can eat all the land produces, which will be enough since God will bless the land with a double harvest in the 6th year to last until the 8th year.

On the Day of Atonement each 49 years, Israelites proclaim the 50th year as the Year of Restoration, giving freedom to all people. All property previously sold is restored to the original owner or his descendants, and anyone sold as slave returned to his family. Land and slaves are sold fairly based on the number of years remaining to the next Restoration.

Exceptions:

  • Houses sold in walled cities can only be bought back for the first year, otherwise they become permanent property of the new owners.
  • Levites have the right to buy back any of their property at any time.

Other Considerations:

  • If a neighbor becomes poor, you must give him a job, eliminate interest on his loans, and sell him food without making a profit.
  • If you need slaves, buy foreigners who will be slaves the rest of their lives. But, if an Israelite sells himself, he is freed at the next Year of Restoration.

My Thoughts:

Restoration: Moses created the Year of Restoration so the Israelites would never be permanent slaves again like they were in Egypt.

Care for the poor: Moses puts into law how people are to treat the poor. God gives them dignity by having you give them a job instead of a handout.

Punishment under Moses (Leviticus 24: 10-23)

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Bible Summary:

A man with an Egyptian father and Israelite mother curses God while quarreling with another man. Moses puts him under guard until God tells him to have the people testify of his guilt and then the community stones him to death. God teaches the principle of a life for a life, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.

My Thoughts:

Effective Deterrent: These punishments were likely very effective at keeping people in line back then. They seem very extreme today.

I wonder if the term “curse” means the same now as then. Many people have incorporated foul words into everyday language. A curse was likely based more on the intent, like if someone yells or curses at you in anger.

Moses keeps the light on all night (Leviticus 24: 1-9)

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Bible Summary:

God tells Moses to command the people of Israel to bring pure olive oil to keep the lamps in the Tent burning all night each night, plus to make twelve loaves of bread to offer to God each Sabbath for all time to come.

My Thoughts:

Ceremony: As part of my son’s religious education, we visited a synagogue. I remember being amazed at how close their ceremony was to the Catholic Church. As I read the Bible, I realize that much of what Christians celebrate today came from the time of Moses, passed on from Jesus and his disciples to the church.

Religious Festivals (Leviticus 23)

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Bible Summary:

God gives Moses festival regulations. Normally you have six days to work and a seventh to rest and worship. He proclaims these festivals in addition to the Sabbath responsibilities:

  • Passover begins at sunset on the 14th day of the 1st month. For seven days only eat unleavened bread. On the 1st and 7th days worship and do not work, otherwise give an offering to God each day. The priest shall present the 1st harvest offering the day after the Sabbath as 1 burnt lamb, 4 pounds of flour mixed with oil, and 1 quart of wine.
  • Harvest festival begins 50 days after the 1st Sabbath. Each family presents another grain offering of 2 loaves of bread made from 4 pounds of flour with yeast. The community offers 7 lambs, 1 bull, and 2 goats as burnt offerings to God with the grain (bread) and wine. They present 1 goat for sin offering plus 2 lambs for the fellowship offering. During harvest, do not cut the edges and leave anything left for the poor and foreigners.
  • New Year Festival begins the 1st day of 7th month to observe a special day of rest and present a food offering.
  • Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) begins at sunset of the 9th day of the 7th month as the annual ritual to take away everyone’s sins and continues through sunset of the 10th day. Do not eat all day or God will put you to death. Gather to worship and present a food offering.
  • Festival of Shelters begins the 15th day of the 7th month for a week. Worship and do not work on the 1st day, take the best fruit to celebrate. The next 7 days, live in shelters and offer food. On the 8th day, worship, do not work, and offer food.

My Thoughts:

Celebrate: We learn one of the key things in life (and business), to take periodic breaks from the daily grind to celebrate and give thanks.

Holy Offerings (Leviticus 22)

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Bible Summary:

God commands Moses that priests are to treat the offerings sacred. Anyone ritually unclean that comes near the offering can never serve at the altar again. No one with skin disease may eat the offering. Priests who have touch a corpse, unclean person or unclean animal are unclean until evening and cannot eat the offering until they have bathed. Only priest family members may eat the offering. If anyone else does they must pay the priest the value plus 20%. The offering must also be a male animal with no defects and not obtained from foreigners.

My Thoughts:

Rigidness: I am beginning to understand how the Jews could despise Jesus for going against the rigid Laws of Moses passed down from God, including not touching a corpse (Lazarus), people with skin disease (lepers) and prostitutes.

Holy Priests (Leviticus 21)

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Bible Summary:

God commands Moses to tell Aaronite priests to be holy and not to take part in a relative’s funeral, except for immediate family, not to shave their heads or trim their beards during mourning. The High Priest is also not allowed to defile God’s sacred Tent by visiting the house of a dead person, even if it is his mother or father.

The priests may marry virgins, but not divorcées or earlier prostitutes. If a priest’s daughter becomes a prostitute, she must be burned to death for the disgrace. And, no descendant of Aaron with any physical defects may present the food offering.

My Thoughts:

Specific Laws: The Laws of Moses are becoming more and more specific. This is a natural response: something happens a few times, the issue gets raised to a higher-up, they do not want to deal with it any longer, so they set up a rule so lower-level management can handle the situation in the future. Each repetition gets finer and finer.

Do not commit murder commandment: I do not understood the circular logic of some of the Laws of Moses. How could a priest’s daughter be put to death for becoming a prostitute if the sixth commandment says not to commit murder? Who is allowed to execute the deed without going against this commandment and being subject to the same law and outcome?

God sets penalties for disobeying laws (Leviticus 20)

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Bible Summary:

God tells Moses to remind the people of Israel to obey His laws and sets the penalty of stoning to death for the following:

  • Worshiping other gods, specifically Molech. If the people will not stone the person, then God will turn against him and his whole family.
  • Consulting the spirits of the dead or seeking advice from someone who does.
  • Cursing your father or mother.
  • Committing adultery, incest, bestiality or homosexuality. Both involved are guilty.

My Thoughts:

Penalties: Stoning to death seems extreme but was likely a very effective deterrent. Some penalties today seem at the other extreme of too lenient.

Equal Commandments: This chapter shows how all God’s commandments were treated equally – worshiping other gods and cursing parents was just as bad as murder.

God’s list of do nots (Leviticus 19)

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Bible Summary:

God tells Moses to have people be holy, respect their mothers, fathers, and older people, and the Sabbath. He then gives them a list of nots:

  • Do not abandon God and worship idols.
  • During harvest, do not cut the grain at the edge of the field nor go back to cut the heads of grain that were left.
  • Do not go back through your vineyard to gather missed grapes; leave them for the poor.
  • Do not lie, cheat, or steal.
  • Do not make a promise in God’s name, if you do not intend to keep it.
  • Do not take advantage of anyone or rob him.
  • Do not hold back wages of someone you hired, not even for one night.
  • Do not curse a deaf man or put something in front of a blind man to make him stumble.
  • Do not show favoritism to the poor or fear the rich in legal cases.
  • Do not spread lies about anyone, and when someone is on trial for his life, speak out if your testimony can help him.
  • Do not hold a grudge against anyone, settle your differences so you will not commit a sin because of him, but love your neighbor as you love yourself.
  • Do not crossbreed domestic animals.
  • Do not plant two kinds of seeds in the same field.
  • Do not wear clothes made of two kinds of material.
  • Do not eat the fruit from a newly planted tree for the first three years, offer all the fruit to God in the fourth year, and then eat the fruit every year after.
  • Do not eat meat with blood still in it or after the second day after the offering.
  • Do not practice any kind of magic.
  • Do not cut the hair on the sides of your head, trim your beard, tattoo yourself, or cut gashes in you body to mourn for the dead.
  • Do not disgrace your daughters by making them temple prostitutes.
  • Do not go for advice from people who consult the spirits of the dead.
  • Do not mistreat foreigners. Treat them as you would a fellow Israelite, and love them as you love yourselves.
  • Do not cheat anyone by using false measures of length, weight, or quantity.

My Thoughts:

Is genetic experimentation bad?: I think Moses covered about everything in this list. The command to not cross-breed animals or plants was surprising. We have been cross breeding since Gregor Mendel created hybrid pea starting in 1856 (learn more about Gregor Mendel at Wikipedia).  But, it puts into question how far genetic experimentation should go? In the future you might choose your child’s looks – gender, eye color, hair, and build. Sure sounds like Hitler’s master race. I think God was cautioning against messing with nature and interestingly, coming from the Bible, natural selection.

Positive repackaging by Jesus: The “love your neighbor as you love yourself” in Leviticus was surprising. It sure sounds like Jesus, just without all the “nots”. Maybe he just repackaged the best ideas of the Old Testament with a positive spin? If so, good for us.

God forbids certain sexual practices (Leviticus 18)

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Bible Summary:

God told Moses to tell the people of Israel to follow His rules and commandments, including not having sexual intercourse with:

  • Any of your relatives – mother, sister, step-sister, half-sister, aunt, grand-daughter, daughter-in-law, or sister-in-law,
  • With your wife’s sister as long as your wife is living,
  • With a woman during her period,
  • With another man’s wife,
  • With an animal, and
  • No man is to have sexual relations with another man.

My Thoughts:

This Law of Moses is clear that incest, adultery, bestiality and homosexuality are forbidden by God.

Life of every living thing is in blood (Leviticus 17)

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Bible Summary:

God commands Moses to have the people of Israel only kill offering animals at the entrance to the Tent of God’s presence or they will no longer be considered one of His people. At all other times, they must only eat meat without blood still in it. “The life of every living thing is in the blood.”

My Thoughts:

Interconnectedness: “The life of every living thing is in the blood” touches on the idea that all things are interconnected, like when we eat vegetables and the living plant material becomes part of our body and blood. After animals die, their bodies decay into dirt, which is blown around by wind or carried for miles by water in rivers and streams. This dirt becomes part of the soil that grows the food we and farm animals eat, so a part of every living thing is in side of us.