Category Archives: A. Beginning

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

Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16)

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Bible Summary:

After Aaron’s sons die from offering unholy fire, God tells Moses how Aaron is to purify the people of Israel from their sins once each year. Aaron must take a bath, put on his priestly outfit, and bring two goats provided by the community for the offerings. He is also to sacrifice a bull for his family’s sins.

Aaron is to randomly choose between two labeled stones to decide which goat to sacrifice to God and which to send out to the desert to take away the people’s sins, ritually transferred to the “scapegoat”, with it.

My Thoughts:

Yom Kippur: This Day of Atonement is also known as Yom Kippur, the holiest day celebrated by the Jews each year. Learn more about Yom Kippur at Wikipedia.

Scapegoat: It is amazing how many phrases and ideas like “scapegoat” originated from the Bible. Scapegoats are innocent people set up to take the blame for someone else’s misdeeds, just like the innocent goat was set up to take away the sins of the people of Israel.

God gives rules about health issues (Leviticus 13, 14, 15)

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Bible Summary:

God gives Aaron and Moses rules about managing skin diseases. Anyone with a sore on the skin, boil, burn, spots, or are balding must visit the priest. The priest either isolates the person for a week for reexamination or deems the person unclean, and sends them to live outside the camp, uncombed and in torn clothes. Once the skin heals, the priest examines the person, deems them clean, and then conducts ritual offerings. The healed person washes their clothes, shaves their head, and then moves back into camp, though lives outside their tent for a week before being deemed completely clean.

God also provides rules about managing mildew. The people of Israel tell a priest if they find mildew on their clothes or in their house. Clothes are held and reexamined in seven days. If the mold spreads, they must burn the clothes. They must lock up a house with mildew for a week. If the mold spreads, they must replace the stones. If the mold persists they must tear down the house.

God also gives rules about men with discharge or semen and women during their periods.

My Thoughts:

Roles of the Priests: Priests were spiritual leaders, judges and even doctors in the time of Moses, examining patients and prescribing treatment.  They also ruled on heath care issues, like mildew management.

Quarantine: The priests quarantined diseased people outside the main community to stop the spread of the disease. Affected people were not exiled, but allowed to reenter the community once they become clean, unless the disease persisted like leprosy.

Do not hide your disease: I am sure afflicted people felt like outcasts back then and were very relieved when the symptoms cleared. Many cancer patients today distress over what people think about their baldness from chemotherapy and hide behind a wig. I understand no one wants pitied, but displaying your disease has two benefits: it shows you are fighting it head on and it let others know so they can pray for you. So, do not hide your disease, wear it like a medal so everyone can see how strong you are in the fight. This may seem easier for men, but I have seen many women, beautiful women, adorned with beautiful scarves. No matter what you decide, my prayers are with you!

God’s rules for women after childbirth (Leviticus 12)

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Bible Summary:

God gives Moses regulations for women after childbirth since they are ritually unclean for forty days after the birth of a boy and eighty days for a girl. They must not touch anything holy or enter the sacred Tent. After this purification period, they must offer a burnt sacrifice to the priest so God can take away the impurity. God provides for a lesser offering for women who cannot afford the standard one.

My Thoughts:

Male Dominance: Women are unclean during their periods, longer after childbirth, and even more so for having a daughter. This is only a small sign of the male dominance that continues to influence our world even today.

I wonder how many wars, deaths, drive-by shootings, business hostile takeovers, layoffs, and other aggressive behaviors will happen before women “put their foot down” and tell all the adult boys to play nice. Charitable organizations like Care and UNICEF focus on educating women around the world because they are more responsible and likely to make an impact on future generations, including their sons!

God lists animals that may be eaten (Leviticus 11)

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Bible Summary:

God gives Moses and Aaron a list of animals the people of Israel may eat and ones to avoid.

Animals they can eat:

  • Land animals with divided hoofs that chew cud, except camels, rock badgers, or rabbits.
  • Any fish with fins and scales, but nothing else in the waters.

Animals that must not be eaten:

  • Pigs, since they do not chew cud.
  • All animals with hoofs, except those with divided hoofs that chew cud.
  • All four-footed animals with paws.
  • These birds: eagles, owls, hawks, falcons, buzzards, vultures, crows, ostriches, seagulls, storks, heron, pelican, cormorants, or bats.
  • All winged insects, except those that hop like locust, crickets, or grasshoppers.
  • Small animals that crawl or walk on the ground, with four legs or more, including Moles, rats, mice and lizards.

Also, if you touch a dead animal, you must wash your hands and will still be unclean until the evening. If it comes in contact with your clothes, you need to clean them. If a dead animal touches a pot, clay stove or oven, it is to be broken and thrown away.

My Thoughts:

Cultures and Foods: It is interesting how different cultures eat or do not eat certain foods. The people of Israel were not allowed to eat pork, but could eat locust, crickets and grasshoppers. Today, the people in India do not eat cows since they consider them sacred and the people of China seem to eat about anything.

For what it is worth, I have eaten frogs legs, turtle soup, alligator, and rattle snake – and as the joke goes, they do all taste like chicken!

Hygiene: God taught the Israelites about hygiene, to clean after touching dead animals. This may have been in response to the dead animals and disease that killed many of the Egyptians. The ban on pork may also be due to an outbreak of trichinosis back then.

Moses ordains first priests (Leviticus 8, 9, 10)

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Bible Summary:

In front of the community, Moses ordains Aaron and his sons as priests using the exact rituals prescribed by God, including a ritual bath, the priestly garments, animal sacrifices, and placing ram’s blood on their right ear lobe, thumb, and big toe.

The next day, at Moses’ request, Aaron presents God separate sin, burnt, grain and fellowship offerings. Aaron finishes, blesses the people, and then enters the Tent of God’s presence with Moses. They return, bless the people, and God appears as dazzling lights. Suddenly, God sends fire that consumes the burnt offering. The people of Israel bow down to the ground.

Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu offer coals in fire-pans that are not holy, so God sends fire that burns them to death. Moses tells Aaron not to mourn his sons since he is holy, but to let the people mourn them.

Moses also tells Aaron the rules of being a priest: no alcoholic drinks before entering God’s Tent, they must distinguish between what is God’s versus general use and between what is clean and unclean, and they must teach God’s laws to the people.

My Thoughts:

Blaming bad things on God: Moses consecrates the priests and God is happy so He reveals himself as dazzling lights. The people bow in awe. Later, God burns Aaron’s sons to death over presenting the wrong fire pans. It sure seems this was an accident everyone blames on God. How easy it is to claim victory based on our own abilities, but to blame God when things do not happen as we would like?  Praise Him if you win and praise Him if you do not.  In the end, He will take care of you.

Right Dominant: Interesting that the right dominant aspect of society goes back to biblical times, as shown by the ram’s blood being placed on the right ear lobe, thumb on the right hand, and right big toe. Per Wikipedia, left-handers make up about 10% of the world’s population and four (maybe five) of the last seven U.S. Presidents! (See the “Politics” section near the bottom of the article for details).

Payments for Sins (Leviticus 3,4,5,6,7)

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Bible Summary:

God gives Moses detailed regulations for fellowship, unintentional sins (by the High Priest, the whole community, the ruler or one of the common people), sins, repayments, burnt, and grain offerings, including animals to offer and steps to take in each case. A guilty person must confess the sin and bring the required animal offering, which the priest will offer as sacrifice for the man’s sins.

Sins include witnesses not showing in court when summoned, someone touching anything humanly or ritually unclean, like dead animals, and someone making a careless vow. Repayment offerings are to include the repayment plus an extra 20 percent. And, if anyone eats the fellowship offering without being ritually clean will no longer be one of God’s people.

My Thoughts:

Chance for Redemption: God gives the people of Israel opportunities to make amends for their wrongdoing by making offerings to receive forgiveness for their sins.

Unclean: This is the first reference in the Bible to uncleanliness. Keeping food clean may be what saved them from the plagues that killed so many in Egypt. The unclean here sound like the Untouchables of India who handle the dead.

First Late Fee: God introduces the first late payment fee of 20%. Luckily it is only a flat fee now, unless you have a low balance.

Offering Grain and Bread to God (Leviticus 2)

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Bible Summary:

People offering grain to God must first grind it into flour and then place olive oil and incense on it before giving it to the priest. If the offering is bread, whether baked in an oven, on a griddle, or in a pan, it must be made without yeast. The priest is to burn part of the offering on the altar and then keep the rest. The people are also to offer the first grain of the harvest to God each year, salted to represent the covenant with God.

My Thoughts:

I never knew they had ovens, griddles and pans 3500 years ago in which to make unleavened bread. I guess I always knew about the brick ovens, but not the pans.

Bread: the offering of bread during the religious ceremony goes back to Moses?  I never really connected that.  This is so eye opening and interesting.

Salt Preserves: I believe the salt in the grain “preserves” the covenant with God just as much as it preserved the grain. Salt has been important to the history of humans for thousands of years. Next time you grab some food, look at the sodium content to see how much salt is in your food.

Rules for Burning Sacrifices (Leviticus 1)

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Bible Summary:

God gives Moses rules for the Israelites to follow when offering sacrifice. The animal – cow, sheep, goat or bird – must be without defects. Upon presentation at the entrance of the Tent of God’s presence, the man is to touch the animal’s head and the offering will be accepted as a sacrifice to take away his sins. The animal will be killed; the priest will throw the blood against the altar; and then they will burn the animal. The odor of this food offering is pleasing to God.

My Thoughts:

God through Moses establishes specific rules for the Israelites to live by, including sacrificing animals to Him. Sounds like the roasted beef smelled good!

Bible Translation: I never realized the Old Testament mentioned “take away his sins,” so I looked up Leviticus 1:4 in fifteen different Bibles at Bible.com plus Catholic.org and that language is never used. The most common translation is “make atonement for him”. This shows how different translations can add to the confusion of discussing the Bible.

Note: I am using the Good News Bible, Catholic Study Edition.

Exodus Summary

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Bible Summary:

A new King of Egypt is even harder on the Hebrew slaves. A compassionate King’s daughter takes in baby Hebrew Moses and raises him. Moses grows up, fights against an injustice, and flees the city. God sends him back to free the Hebrews with multiple plagues on the Egyptians, finally killing all their first-born sons while saving the Hebrews during Passover. The grieving King releases all the Hebrews in the morning, and they are given all of Egypt’s valuables. Later, the King changes his mind and sends his army after them. Moses parts the Red Sea, leads the Hebrews to safety, and destroys the Egyptian army with the water. The Hebrews celebrate until they run out of water crossing the desert. They complain and God provides water and manna. The Amalekites attack the Hebrews, but Joshua’s army prevails with God’s help through Moses’ staff.

With 2.4 million people, the Hebrews are the size of metro Pittsburgh, the 22nd largest city in the United States. With his father-in-law’s advice, Moses appoints judges to handle disputes. God reminds them He freed them from the Egyptians and lays down The Ten Commandments plus many of the civic laws we live by today, like how to handle destruction of someone else’s property. Moses spends forty days with God on Mount Sinai and comes down with the Ten Commandments on two stone tablets, but returns to find the people worshiping a gold calf. He smashes the tablets and has the Levites kill 3,000 people.

Later, Moses convinces God, despite the Hebrews behavior, to come with them on their journey. God has Moses set up the priesthood, first synagogue, Ark of the Covenant to hold the new tablets, a menorah, anointing oils and incense.

My Thoughts:

Jacob’s descendants grow to 2.4 million slaves in Egypt after 430 years causing a concerned King to try to reduce their numbers. The harsh treatment leads to Moses’ rise and God’s wrath against the Egyptians until they release the Hebrews. After a while, the Hebrews forget the miracles God did for them and begin to complain. God provides for them, but they lose faith after Moses is gone forty days to carve the Ten Commandments in stone, and then begin to worship a gold calf. God wants to kill them all and restart with Moses’ descendants, but Moses convinces Him to give them another chance. They build the first worship center and establish the priesthood to honor Him. God is pleased.

God calls Moses to help release the Hebrews. Moses reluctantly agrees. Sometimes God calls people to do great things. We need to be ready to take that call.

God did amazing miracles to release the Hebrews from slavery, but, having grown up believing in a loving God, I had a very hard time relating to a vengeful God that wiped out so many Egyptians and was ready to kill all the Hebrews and start again with Moses.  Maybe this was man’s interpretation of an incredible natural disaster that freed the Hebrews.

The Hebrews lose faith in God even though he continues to provide for them.  Think how hard it is for us to believe when times are tough, then try to imagine what it was like to be a slave, chased by the greatest army of the time, and almost dying of starvation and thirst.  The best mantra to pull the Hebrews out of their slave-mentality was telling them they were the “chosen ones.”

It is also amazing that Moses created the priesthood and many of the laws we live by today, 3500 years later.

 

People of Israel complete God’s Requests (Exodus 35,36,37,38,39)

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Bible Summary:

The people of Israel offer all the items God requested of Moses based on the census of 603,550 men twenty years and older, actually too much so that Moses had to ask them to stop. The men build the Tent of the Lord’s presence to house the tablets with the Ten Commandments, the Covenant Box, the table to offer bread to God, the Lampstand, the altar for burning incense, the altar for burning offerings, and the bronze basin. They also make the anointing oil, incense and priests garments, including the breast piece. When all is done, Moses blesses them.

My Thoughts:

Plan into action: A plan is only good when put into action. God plans out in detail what Moses is to have the people of Israel create and they put it into action.

Blessing: we are blessed when we fulfill what God asks of us.