Year 1, Day 77: Exodus 28

The Mundane Leads to Good Discussion

Exodus 28 is another fairly straightforward chapter.  I find it interesting in these chapters that while the information may be fairly bland, the blandness of the information makes great room for “rabbit trails” of theology.  I think it is good for us to be willing to pursue rabbit trails periodically.  So while I don’t wake up as excited to read these chapters of Exodus – at least not as excited as I was to read the chapters about the plagues and the exodus story – I am actually more excited about the theology being done because it is more conceptual and less explanatory.  I don’t know if that makes sense to anyone else’s mind today except my own, but I felt the need to get that out.  I guess it is amazing to me how God can take harmless and mundane chapters like this one and spin it into a deep theological pursuit.  Yeah God!

Twelve Tribes

As I read through Exodus 28 I was struck by something profound.  God tells Moses to inscribe the names of the 12 tribes onto the gemstones so that Aaron could bear them with him during his priestly service.  What is profound about this is the reason given: as a reminder (Exodus 28:9-12 – also note that most of Exodus 28:15-30 is related to a similar concept minus the actual inscribing of the names).  As a worship leader, I don’t do that – obviously.  I may wear an alb and a stole every Sunday, but I don’t carry any names with me.  And I began to wonder if I should.

Don’t get me wrong.  The last thing I need is another meaningless ritual for me to start worshipping rather than actually worshipping God.  So I’m not suggesting that I institute another meaningless ritual for the sake of doing ritual.  On the other hand, I think back to the interlude post that I did about a month and a half ago regarding prayer.  In fact, I am haunted by that post almost daily.  As a spiritual leader, maybe there is something to this “remembrance” piece that I am missing.

So I had a thought.   Who knows, maybe I was inspired by March madness brackets.  Here is my thought: I really need a spiritual “diverging radial diagram” {This is a reference for those of you who are familiar with Smart Art in Microsoft Word}.  Such a diagram would represent all the people with whom I am truly spiritually connected.  Each day – or week, or whatever routine I choose – I would carry that diagram into the sanctuary where I worship and simply remember those people before God.  {Since my definition of prayer is a lived experience and not just words I think or say to God, of course it would be a “remembering” in prayer whether formally or informally – hence the reference to the interlude post I made earlier.} 

I wonder if that is a practice that everyone could benefit from.  I’m not saying that we all have to show up to church every day and pray in the sanctuary for the people with whom we are spiritually tied.*  But then again, there would be nothing wrong with it, either!  But I do think I could benefit from regularly remembering those people to whom God has spiritually fastened me.  I think we all could benefit from such a practice – in the sanctuary of the church or in the sanctuary of our home or even in the sanctuary of our car/bus/train/etc.  There is something powerful about regular routine prayer and remembering those to whom we are connected.

A Little Deeper

As I reviewed what I had typed before moving on to the rest of the passage, another thought hit me.  What if each time I gathered for worship I took in this diagram and prayed for those people at some point during the service?  Perhaps it could work in the minutes before the service begins as a preparation for worship?  This idea would never work for me as I am never physically ready to begin worship until about 10 seconds before I walk in the sanctuary, which is about 15 seconds before it is to begin. 

Or perhaps it could work as a list of people I pray for during the prayers of the people when I give time for anyone in the community to lift up prayers for whomever they desire?  This might work for me, although I do have a list I’ve been using every week for the last 6 years.  

I’ll have to give this idea some thought, but it could really be a great idea for people who want to center themselves in prayer about their spiritual relations and who only have access to their worship space once a week.  But, it should be more about the pray and not about the actual space – see a few blog posts back for that conversation.  Anyway, I digress …

Breastplate

So let’s move on to the breastplate.  Aaron is to wear the breastplate every time he comes into the holy place of God.  You might ask why – I hope you do!  While I think much of the reason is for our sake as a tool for remembrance as I detail above, I also think back to the parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge found in Luke 18:1-8.  In that passage Jesus seems to be teaching us that God desires us to continually bring our prayer requests before Him.  Persistence is to be a part of spirituality!

Okay, we need to be honest about these Hebrew people.  They are going to try God’s patience time and time again.  You know, not unlike the ways that we continue to try God’s patience time and time again.  I wonder if God doesn’t have Aaron wear a representation of God’s people in two places as a constant reminder to Himself that although these people often actively go against His ways that they are still His people.  And as such, we should be praying persistently for God’s people for the same reason.

All of us – spiritual and non-spiritual alike – try God’s patience.  We should be praying for each other persistently in God’s presence for no other reason than as a reminder to God that we are still His people even when we try Him.  Of course, it isn’t that God will forget us – but because God wants us to do it.  God directs us to pray this way before Him.

In the end, combining this passage in Exodus with Luke 18 seems to have brought me to a conclusion.  I need to do a much better job of persistently praying for those with whom I am spiritually connected.  There’s just no other way to sugar-coat it.  I simply need to do a better job at it.  If God expected of it from Aaron as the worship leader of the Hebrews, then as God’s appointed worship leader wherever I am I think it is fair to say that God expects it of me.

Not Alone

As a final thought, do notice that Aaron is not established to do the work alone.  Aaron is given helpers – for the time being they are primarily his sons.  But these helpers are not to do anything they want.  They are to be trained – one might even say discipled.  They cannot do whatever they want, but they are to do it in the manner that God wants.  We should see this in our congregations as well.  The pastor should have assistants.  But those assistants need to be trained, too.

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*As a complete tangent, I learned something that I didn’t know up until yesterday.  Did you know that the typical Roman Christian worshipped God every day of the week during the first few hundred years of the church?  For example, the practice around 730 A.D. was that worship was held 7 days a week.  Most of those days it was just a simple prayer service to start the day.  But the typical practice of a Roman citizen who was Christian was to attend worship daily.  That blew my mind.

Year 1, Day 76: Exodus 27

Looking in the Less Than Obvious Places

Alright, so in my reading for today I have been challenged again much like I was challenged two days ago.  At first glance Exodus 27 seems to be a fairly innocuous chapter about the temple construction.  It is fairly straightforward and there is little action here, so let’s take the conversation in a little different direction.

As I was doing some reading, I came across an interesting concept.  While there were two altars in the tabernacle – the altar described here and the altar described in Exodus 30 – only one of those altars was for the burning of sacrifices.  The altar in Exodus 30 is solely for burning incense.  So if this is the only altar upon which to build sacrifices, we can get another image of Christ if we think about this in the right way.

Why did the Hebrew people offer sacrifices?  Ultimately, they did it because the Lord told them to do it.  But the fundamental purpose of the sacrifices was so that the sins of the people would be forgiven.  In other words, the altar was the means through which atonement was made.  With all those thousands of Hebrews wandering the desert, there was only one altar needed through which God would make atonement.

Do you see where I am going with this?  Again we are set up for the Christian understand of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross.  The Hebrew people needed only one altar through which all forgiveness was poured.  In the post-crucifixion era it makes sense that we only need one Christ, too!  All forgiveness is funneled through Christ, who was the one true sacrifice.  There are millions of people who rely upon that act, but only one Christ was needed to accomplish the task.  I think that is a pretty neat parallel between Christ and the altar of the tabernacle.

Just so we’re all clear, the altar described in Exodus 30 is for incense.  I didn’t want to leave anyone hanging with respect to the purpose of the second altar.

Divisions

Shifting gears … what follows is an idea that I am blatantly stealing from Warren Wiersbe’s books called Expository Outlines of the Old Testament.  I’m stealing it because it is the first time I read it and heard it – and I think it is pretty cool.  I haven’t thought it through the whole way, but it certainly warrants discussion, that’s for sure.  And while I am stealing the concept, I will endeavor to put it into my own words at least.

Notice that the description of the court of the tabernacle shows a clear division between the “common” area and a more holy area.  A person would have to pass through the linen “gate” spoken of in Exodus 27:16 to go from the common into the holy.  From other passages, we know that this inner more holy area is actually divided again into two more parts: the simple holy area where the priests attended and the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was kept.

Now, compare this to 1 Thessalonians 5:23.  Paul writes, “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  I actually use this passage as a benediction on some Sunday mornings.  But notice what Paul is saying here: the human is composed of three elements in spirit, soul, and body.  Today that concept sent me down a new path: Spirit and Soul?  Typically we speak of two parts (flesh/spirit).  But three parts?  To make matters worse, I’ve said that verse multiple times in the last few months and knew it had three parts, but it never really hit me until I was reading Wiersbe’s commentary on this passage.

Wiersbe suggests that as Paul writes 1 Thessalonians that Paul is actually thinking of the three-fold division of the tabernacle.  The outer courtyard is the body.  The holy “inner area” is divided up into two parts, just as Paul divides up our “inner person” into spirit and soul.  I think that is a neat concept – especially when you think that the outer curtain of the courtyard could be torn down without actually affecting the inner holy space.  In other words, the physical body can be destroyed without affecting the inner person (spirit/soul).

So let me push forward out of Wiersbe’s thought and make a few assertions of my own.  If the outer court was accessible to all, then it is also true with our bodies – or perhaps better said with this physical world.  Anyone that wants to can see my body.  They can reach out and feel my arms or my face if they need more proof of its existence than simple sight can provide.  But not all people have access to my spiritual inner person – my spirit and soul.  Not all people have that access because not all people want to be “holy” and be granted access.  Remember that holy means “separate” rather than “holier-than-thou.”

It isn’t that I am setting up walls that other people cannot break through.  But rather there are people in my life who are simply content accessing my “physical/worldly” nature and who don’t have the time or desire to access my spiritual nature.  There are people that would rather talk about the weather and the events of my life than about the plans that God has for me and the spirit that God is developing within me.  To make an analogy, most people are content having access to the courtyard and don’t really want to have access to my inner holy person.

The unfortunate thing is that the courtyard (my physical nature) only shows proof of my need for forgiveness.  My physical/worldly nature lets me and others around me down.  If the only thing that people do is interact with my physical/worldly nature, then they see me completely in my flaws.  And that is okay, but it is not truly who I am.

To return to the tabernacle, God dwelled most obviously in the inner holy area.  So it is with me.  If you want to really get a sense of God within me, then you must move beyond my physical person and get to know my inner person – my spiritual nature.  If you want to see God in me, you must be willing to come in from the outer courtyard.

Up until now, I have been intentional about developing that thought with me as the center.  Sorry if it comes of self-centered at first glance.  But the real truth in what I said over the last three or so paragraphs comes when I apply this thought to others.  The reality is that with most of the people I meet I am content interacting with their “outer courtyard.” 

I need to take my own advice.  The outer courtyard is necessary – it shows us where our flaws are.  But if I really want to make disciples, if I really want to understand God in that person, if I really want to see the heart of God Himself then I need to no longer accept only interacting with the “outer courtyard” of others.  I need to desire to pass through that linen “gate” and interact with their “inner person” – their spiritual being.

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Year 1, Day 75: Exodus 26

Help with the Tabernacle

Alright, with as on fire as I was yesterday, I will say that this passage has me a little underwhelmed.  So, let’s see what we can drag out of this passage today. 

Good old Warren Wiersbe comes through again!  Wiersbe asks the question in his commentary on this section: How does the command from God about including the images of the cherubim within the tabernacle coverings mesh with the command against making graven images found in Exodus 20?  God does tell us to not make images, yet here we have God telling the Hebrews to make images with cherubim and other things on them.

Ultimately, I think this is a good question to ponder at some depth.  What this question really brings us to think about is: what is more important – the action or the motivation behind the action.  Clearly there is nothing wrong with the Hebrew people having images of cherubim as a part of the tabernacle or else God wouldn’t have directed them to do it.  So then the real issue with images as a part of worship is the motivation behind them, not their presence.  We are not to make graven images for the point of worshipping them!

Graven Images

So what does that mean?  Is it okay to wear a cross (or some other holy image) as a reminder to worship God even though it is a “graven image?”  Absolutely.  Is it okay to treat that cross in such a way as if I worship it – for example, thinking of it as a lucky cross or thinking that my day will go better just because I am wearing it?  Absolutely not!  The cross can certainly be worn as a reminder for me to worship God as well as to help other people identify that I am a Christian.  But when it goes beyond that and becomes something that has “power” in my life such as a lucky charm or a talisman, then I have transgressed in sin.

To bring this back to the passage, suppose the Hebrew people started worshipping the cherubim images woven into the tabernacle curtains.  That clearly would be wrong.  But the fault wouldn’t be in the fact that there were images there, the fault would lie in the fact that the people approached the images with an incorrect intention.  Rather than the images reminding them to worship God, they would have begun to worship the images themselves.

Now keep in mind the very fine theological hair that I am splitting.  One of the reasons many followers of God do not have images is that it inherently prevents the worship of them.  I am certainly not condemning that practice.  If we are prone to worshipping the wrong things, then it makes sense that we take those things about which we are prone to getting into trouble and just get rid of them. 

But just because we might choose to do so doesn’t mean we should look down upon someone who can have an image and use it properly – such as we see God instructing the Hebrew people here in Exodus regarding the tabernacle.  Again, for me it goes back to the intent of the action being more important than the action.  Another way of stating this theologically is Joel 2:13 where Joel says “Rend your hearts, not your garments.”

The Dual Nature of the Tabernacle

To completely shift gears, here’s another interesting thought to ponder about the tabernacle.  Remember, this tabernacle is something that would move through the lifespan of the Hebrews.  The tabernacle was made of precious metals (gold, silver, etc) as well as wood.  We know precious metals are largely permanent.  Gold is gold and barring some nuclear reaction it will always be gold.  Wood, on the other hand, is much more prone to deterioration over time.  So here we have a single construct (the tabernacle) made of both temporary and permanent parts.  In some respects, sounds a bit like the dual natures of Christ (human and divine).  The tabernacle can easily be seen as a symbolic representation of what Jesus Christ literally is.

We must be a little careful about this, however.  The tabernacle could always be split apart into its permanent and temporary parts.  The gold and silver can be easily identified as can the wood.  This is not so with Jesus Christ.  We cannot – and should not – try to separate Jesus’ humanity from his divinity.  Whereas the tabernacle was one thing made up of two elements, Jesus is one thing representing the perfect fusion of two elements in order to create a completely huge new singular element. 

This is important, because people often try to speak of Jesus as having two-natures so that they can separate them.  This is just not the case and should be avoided.  So while we can see the tabernacle as a symbol of Jesus Christ – we must also be aware of the limits and pitfalls of such an analogy.

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Year 1, Day 74: Exodus 25

Tabernacle = Tent

Here in Exodus 25, we see that the Lord asks for a tabernacle.  I think we really miss out on how significant this is.  We think of God in the Old Testament and we primarily think of the Temple in Jerusalem as His dwelling.  But no!  That is the building that David asks to build and Solomon actually gets to build it.  When God asks for a building for Himself, He wants a tabernacle.  And what is a tabernacle?  Well, the word in Hebrew actually means a “large portable tent.”

Get ready for a rant.  I’m in a foul mood today, and when I am in a foul mood I tend to be blunt.  Who am I kidding?  I’m blunt to begin with.  When I am in a foul mood I get honest.  So I inform you of my honest evaluation beforehand, but make no apologies because I think the words that follow are true.

Why a tent?  Well, tents can be moved around. 

Why would the tent need to be moved?  The physical answer is because the Hebrew people were now at Mount Sinai and would be heading into Canaan.  But if we are satisfied with that answer then I think we really miss out on the spiritual answer.  God dwells in a movable large tent because God believes the His work is always on the move!  God is never static, so why on earth would we want a static place to worship Him?

Ouch.  That really hurts today.  If God doesn’t want a static place to be worshipped, then the only reason to have a static place to worship is because we want it.  We want it, not God!  That’s a pretty stark realization, to be honest.

Why do we want something static?  Well, again, because we would prefer to be comfortable in our faith life and we would rather not realize that our faith should really be on the move.  When we have a rigid building we can say “This is the space where faith happens in my life.”  We want a static place of worship.  We want routine.  We want … {gasp} … control.

God’s Agenda or My Agenda

What if we’ve screwed up God’s will for 3,000 years?  What if Moses got it right and David helped corrupt it back into the ways of the world?  Let’s face it, we know that while David had a great heart for God, he isn’t known for his wonderful discernment for making good decisions. 

What if by building our rigid structures for worshipping God we’ve actually been building places to limit God and instead to worship our need for control?  Again, ouch.  There are some really beautiful churches out there.  But are they monuments of faith?  Or are they monuments of human ingenuity displaying our ability to build something we want and perhaps God doesn’t really want?  Does our faith always happen within those grand places of worship or does faith happen in the personal expressions we have with one another?

So let’s go a little New Testament here.  Jesus went to synagogues, yes.  Paul, Peter, James, and John also went to synagogues.  But the word synagogue is composed of two parts.  The prefix “syn” means “with” or “together.”  {As in the word synergy – a bringing together of two distinct elements}  The other part of synagogue is the Greek word “agein” which means “to bring” or “to lead.”  So the word synagogue literally means “a place of coming together” or “a place of leading with others.”  Synagogue wasn’t originally a word used to describe a building – although it certainly became that.  In the same way the word “church” wasn’t meant to describe a building (or even the contents of that building).  It was a word used to describe who was gathered and the purpose for which they were gathered.

So when Jesus, Paul, Peter, James, John, etc go to synagogue it is really saying they went to do faith with one another rather than to say that they went to a specific place.  I think that is a very important understanding we should not miss.  We can do synagogue or church in the car, at a neighbor’s house, in our basements, at a restaurant, etc! 

But no, we too often get to thinking that the building is what is important.  Our building limits our scope.  Our building limits our perspective.  We get roped into thinking “Wow, we need more people on Sunday morning to help pay to keep this building running” when we should be thinking “I need to go talk to more people about their relationship with Jesus Christ.”  I think we have seriously screwed up our concept of faith, church, synagogue, etc.  God asks for a tabernacle that can go with us throughout our life and we give him a rigid temple – or church – in order to confine Him to a certain area in our life.

Okay, I think I’ve made my point – probably a little too sternly.  I guess I just look around and see far too many people concerned about the sustaining of their buildings and their traditions and not really caring whether the people around them are in a relationship with God or not.  So, I rant from time to time about it.

The Ark

As I read the next passage for the Ark of the Covenant, the same thought hit me.  What is special about the ark?  It can be moved!  It can be brought to wherever a physical demonstration of God’s presence was needed!  Again I can’t help but think about how portable this initial faith was designed by God.  I can’t help but think how we have worked so hard to establish ways of confining that blessed portability in our lives.

Giving Unto God

Before I end, let’s say something about the tabernacle and its contents that is different than portability.  Do you also see how it is made of the best of the best?  God had let the Hebrews plunder the Egyptians.  They had the best Egypt had to offer.  Now He asks for a bit of that back.  It is an expectation of trust and gratitude.  I think it is fair for God to ask for a portion of what He gives to us.  That doesn’t mean our churches have to be fancy, but it does mean that we shouldn’t be sloppy about it either.  God’s asks for a genuine presence, not an afterthought.

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Year 1, Day 73: Exodus 24

Another True View on Humanity

Exodus 24 talks to us about the covenant between God and the people – one that was specifically made before God gave them His physical copy of the Law.  I cannot help write sarcastically about the response found in Exodus 24:3.  It seems like I am not alone.  The commentaries that I read cannot help comment sarcastically about it either. 

The words “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do” might be satirically re-written to read: “The the words that the Lord has spoken we will do when it is convenient, when it makes sense, and when there isn’t a much more human way to accomplish what we want instead.”  The reality is that in only a matter of a few weeks these people will be worshipping a golden calf and not worshipping God.  It is really sad to say just how quickly we break our promises – even promises that we genuinely intend to make.

Please don’t hear me as continuing to pick on the Hebrews.  While I certainly am pointing in their general direction, I am not just picking on them.  I do the same thing that God’s Word illustrates them as doing.  I promise to stand true.  I promise to do whatever God wants.  Then I find my lazy hindquarters sitting on the bed browsing the internet or something else that distracts me from doing the will of God. 

So while I suppose that I am picking on them, I guess I am really more identifying with them.  How often have I said “Yes, God!” when really I am saying, “So long as it is on my terms and my agenda, Lord – and using my ideas and my ways, of course.”

Others Go Up The Mountain with Moses

For the life of me, I don’t think I have ever consciously read Exodus 25:9-11 before.  I know I have read the words, but these don’t sound familiar to me.  In total, 75 people go up to the mountain in God’s presence.

Here’s what is funny, though.  The people go up, having just been sanctified by the blood.  That’s important, by the way.  We are told that God doesn’t lay a hand on them.  But what is really strange is what they do.  They don’t fall onto their faces – out of fear or reverence – in worship as we might expect.  They eat and drink in the Lord’s presence.  What on earth is going on here?

Obviously, the Christian looks at this story and says, “I know!”  Of course we do.  When we are sanctified we recognize that worshipping God isn’t about fear and reverence as much as it is in being in relationship with the very presence of God.  It is about understanding who is creator and who is creation, and then living that reality out.  It is about understanding who is the meal-provider and who are the invited guests, and then living that reality out.  Absolutely God desires us to “fear Him.”  Absolutely God wants us to be reverent.  But above all else, God wants relationship.

What does relationship look like?  Well, it is communing with God.  It is what the people do here in this passage.  It is what Christ does with His disciples at the pinnacle of His life before He dies.  So while it may seem strange that these 75 people do not fall to their faces and hide from God, it actually does make brilliant sense.  Our God is a God who desires our relationship with Him.  He desires the fruit of that relationship be born in our relationships with others.

Joshua

The last thing I’d like to talk about is that it is Joshua what follows Moses up the mountain, not Aaron.  Even though Aaron is going to be the father of the high priestly line, Joshua is to be Moses’ successor. 

It is never too early to start mentoring another person in the faith. 

You never know when God will call that person into service.

We should equip people when the time is right. 

Joshua follows Moses up the mountain to begin to learn what it is like to be in Moses’ shoes.  Joshua continues to learn how to be a leader here in this passage.  All of us can do the same.  Every one of us can at the very least become a student of someone else’s walk with God. 

Some of us are even ready to take a Joshua under our wing.  The important part is to remember that we are called to become disciples like Joshua did here.  Eventually, we can all make disciples as Moses does here with Joshua.

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Year 1, Day 72: Exodus 23

The People Around You

I love the communal thrust of the first 9 verses in Exodus 23.  It’s really just good advice about getting along with the people around you.  Don’t fall into a bad crowd.  Don’t perjure yourself.  If you see something of your neighbors that has gotten away from them, bring it back and show that you care.  Don’t oppress the people who have come to live among you but don’t own anything of their own, for they have no ability to defend themselves and the oppressor will incur God’s wrath.

Holy Means Separate

The next ten verses are about holy festivals.  Did you notice the thrust of God’s law?  The verses say specific things, but the thrust of the law is to keep God’s stuff holy.  Remember that the word holy means “separate.”  God wants His worship days to be different than other days.  He wants His worship practices to be completely separate from the practices of other gods.  And He does want His generosity to be remembered up front and off the top by those who do truly follow Him.

Interacting With God’s Creation

Do you also notice the tie between the worship of God and the working of the land?  God is the God of creation.  God knows that when we work in His world we will get a better understanding of Him.  I haven’t thought this through a great deal, but it does make me wonder about a stereotypical person whose job is in a windowless cubicle.  If a person works in such a situation where they have little encounter with God’s creation and much encounter with humanity’s creation (internet, telephones, filing systems, man-made carpet, plastic desk chairs, etc.) how easy will it be for them to encounter God? 

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I’m not condemning that life style nor am I saying that God isn’t big enough to get to them.  But it does make it inherently more difficult and very much less natural.  I do think we should stop here for a moment and contemplate how important it is to get out and work with God’s creation – garden, care for the lawn, hunt, fish, enjoy a state park, manage a park trail, socialize with other human beings, whatever.  When we interact with God’s creation we are inherently interact with the stuff of God’s hands.  When we interact with the internet, TV, gaming consoles, etc we are inherently interacting with the work of human hands.  In the end, what do you want to spend your time doing?

Promised Land

The last 14 verses of this chapter talk about conquering the Promised Land.  Those of you who know the story, ask yourself how well the Hebrew people listened to this part.  Did they go straight into the land to conquest it?  When they did go into the land, how well did they succeed at driving out all the foreign practices that related to other gods?

In my estimation, this is the place where the Hebrew people fell hard.  They were unable to keep themselves holy (separate) in their worship of God.  They allowed their worship to become corrupted by the worship practices of other gods.  They did not listen when God asked them to be strong and faithful.

I’m not saying we should kick out all the non-Christians in America by any means.  The Good Lord knows that every theocracy (government ruled by religious elite) on this earth has failed.  What I am saying is that when it comes to our life, we need to be very clear who we worship and we need to listen to how God wants to be worshipped and followed.  What we want is nowhere near as important as what God wants.

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Year 1, Day 71: Exodus 22

Caution

I should say something to first-time readers of the Old Testament here.  We are now getting into a part of the Bible in which it will be difficult to stay current and up-to-date.  Resist the urge to buy into your thoughts that the “law is boring.”  This is usually the place where people who have the best of intentions get swept away, put the Bible down, and convince themselves that they aren’t able to read it and make sense of it – or perhaps even be interested in it.  So if this is your first encounter with the Law of Moses, trust me when I say that we’ve all been there before.  We’ve all thought those thoughts.  There is good stuff to be gleaned out of the Law of Moses.  It just takes some training to understand how to get it out.  But together we can find the pearls of wisdom that God has established for our communities of faith.

Law and Relationships

So let’s look here at Exodus 22.  The first fifteen verses are all about protecting personal property.  As I said in yesterday’s blog, God is setting up rules for stealing, but He is not condoning that stealing is acceptable.  Just because we have rules about how the thief is to repay the victim does not make stealing okay.  But it is a part of the darkness of humanity and we do need to deal with it.

Notice that within these laws God is sure to uphold good relationships.  There are rules about repayment so that the victim can feel vindicated but there are limits on the vindication so that the thief need not fear for his life. 

In fact, notice that God even desires to speak to this issue based on when a thief breaks into the house!  If a thief breaks in during the night – when help is out of reach – then the person defending their house is not to be held guilty if the thief should die at the homeowner who is defending his property and family.  However, if the thief breaks in during the day – when help could be summoned and evidence could be gathered – then the homeowner is to be held guilty should the thief die at the homeowner’s hands.  Even in the midst of crimes and self-defense the aspect of life and killing and communal relationships is a significant issue!

The rest of these fifteen verses are about various crimes and restitution.  Notice that in all cases restitution for personal loss is set at a monetary value (even if the currency be sheep, oxen, or grain).  God values life so much that life should not be taken except in response to an action that unjustly took a life.  Crimes of stealing and property loss are to be punished by financial restitution.  When the restitution has been paid, the crime is forgotten and done away with.

Social Justice Is Still About Relationships

The second half of this chapter deals with a topic that is commonly referred to as “Social Justice.”  Here we can see laws that with the exception of Exodus 22:18-20 are set up to protect people: virgins (v. 16-17), foreigners (v. 21), widows (v. 22-24), and the poor (v. 25-27).  God is very concerned with the oppressed and as He draws His people out of Egypt He wants them to know that they have no right to oppress anyone either – especially against people who are defenseless against the oppression.

Even More on the Law and Relationships

Let’s go back those who fornicate with the practices of other gods (v. 18-20).  You might find it odd that a verse about bestiality is sandwiched into the middle of a trio of verses about sorcery and worshipping other gods.  That’s largely because all three practices violate our relationship with God on a spiritual level rather than being a violation on a communal level (like stealing or arson might).

When people practice arts of magic, they are opening up themselves to a source of power other than God.  Magic – and any occult practice – is simply an attempt to accept another source of power than God.  It is fundamentally a denial of God’s providence and thus a denial of God.  The same is clearly true about worshipping other gods. 

The reason bestiality is sandwiched in between magic and idol worship is because bestiality was one of the main practices of those who worshipped other gods in addition to it being an attempt to “create” through some other means than the means which God gave to us – human procreation.  The act of sex is first-and-foremost an act of creation.  The natural product of sex is children – the creation of life.  God has ordained creation through this act as just.  Any attempt to mimic the divine power of creation outside of the God-ordained way of human sexuality (such as bestiality, sorcery, or idol worship) is simply wrong and a direct assault against God as the only one who has the true power to create.

As evidence of all of this, look at how this chapter ends.  Having just told the people to not oppress others as well as to not go against His divine power, God speaks to them about honoring Him.  Fundamentally, this second half of the chapter has much to say about our practices being a statement of honoring God.  When we oppress or try to circumnavigate God’s power we are fundamentally removing God from His position in our life.

See?  There is some good understanding that can come out of reading about the Law of Moses.  We will learn these tools together and begin to understand just how God’s law really does speak to us about relationships with Him and with others.

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Year 1, Day 70: Exodus 21

Slavery

Exodus 21 is often thought of as the slave passage.  All the time people take this chapter and lunge into the debate “does the Bible condone slavery?”  So … is slavery Biblically right or wrong?

Without going too far into it, we should note that the Bible does not condone slavery any more than it condones other aspects of humanity’s life such as divorce, polygamy, or anything else.  God realizes that human beings naturally have hard hearts.  People naturally want to be human beings who feel the right to take a slave, apply for a divorce, or have a polygamous relationship.  Just because people feel those needs doesn’t make it right.  Nor does having those needs inherently make them wrong in certain situations as we shall see. 

What the Bible is most interested in is creating and sustaining relationships.  That is why here in the passage it gives rules for slavery.  Of course God would prefer that we all consider each other a brother and sister – but some people will be unable to do so and will want to dominate over another person.  So there are limits as to how much the “evil and hard hearts of humanity” can be tolerated.  For people that felt the need to fulfill their human desire to take a slave, here we have God’s absolute limits.  But in no way should these verses be taken as though we must have slaves in order to follow God.

For the record, the same is true about divorce, polygamy, and just about any other “sin.”  God knows our hearts.  That is why He set up rules.  God would prefer every marriage be perfect and filled with a loving respect mutually shared between spouses.  But when that doesn’t happen, God gives us rules for how to properly deal with it.

God knows that people will want to lie, cheat, and steal, too – and God has given us rules as to how to manage those situations as well.  Just because we have rules as to how to deal with it doesn’t mean God intended those things to happen.  This portion of the Law of Moses is often best seen as a list of moral statues as well as a list of how to deal with people have taken our humanity too far away from God’s desire.

Humanity Makes Things Fun

In the end, I still come down onto this side of the debate: following God is about loving people and being in good spiritual relationships with them.  I don’t see slavery as being too much of a help for that.  I don’t see divorce or polygamy – or lying, cheating, and stealing, either.

But there are extreme exceptions where those things must be accommodated.  For example, is it really wrong for a homeless person to take a mold crusty of bread out of a garbage dumpster?  In most cases, probably not.  It is really wrong for a spouse being abused and suffering under marital infidelity to desire to terminate the ungodly relationship?  In most cases, no.  Is it wrong for a German family to lie to the S.S. squad about the family of Jews hidden in the crawl space below their dining room table?  Not likely.

See, isn’t humanity fun?  We can set up absolutes, but our own hard human hearts will always find out ways to make us break those absolutes or at the very least to muddy the waters.  This is just what it means to be a follower of God.  It means taking what God intended for a perfect world and applying it to a life that is full of imperfect people. 

Yes, I do in fact long for the day when we are in such communion with God that we can follow His ways as intended because they will all seem so natural.  Until then, though, we will do the best we can in balancing human sinfulness, repentance, forgiveness, justice, punishment, right, and wrong.

Grace

What is interesting in this section of the Law of Moses is that people who were subjected to the “ugly” sides of humanity are called out in a special protection under the law.  Slaves had to be released after the seventh year of service (v. 2).  Women forced into polygamous relationships could not be neglected (v. 10).  Unborn infants have rights to live or to be avenged (vv. 22-25)

Also notice that people who are wronged have divinely imposed limits to the retribution that they can seek.  Of course, if death occurs then those limits are steep (vv. 18-20).  I think this is another very important aspect of the law. 

The retribution had to fit the crime.  If a slave lost an eye, that eye buys him his freedom.  The slave had no right to kill the master over the injury because that penalty would have simply been too steep.  If a man is injured in a fight but he can get up and go back to work, he is to be given payment for lost time but no other punishment can be imposed upon the perpetrator.  I think it is important that we all understand that God’s law is set up so that the offense and the punishment are equitable.

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Year 1, Day 69: Exodus 20

One of the Most Famous Chapters

Yeah!  The Ten Commandments are here!  Yes, this is genuine excitement.  I love the Ten Commandments because there is just so much good stuff here.  In an interesting twist of fate – considering as much build up as I have given them in the past few days – I am actually not going to speak about them first.  It builds the tension, you know…

Response to God’s Presence By the People

What I am going to talk about first is the people’s response to God’s presence.  I quote from the ESV, Exodus 20:19-21: “And [the people] said to Moses, ‘You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.’  Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.’  The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.”  The people were afraid of God!

Now really, that shouldn’t shock anyone.  But it does disappoint me on a very deep level.  In a way, I think it truly points to the major problem with humanity – a problem I have been pointing to often in the past 40 chapters or so.  People will go to great lengths to convince themselves that there is no way that they can be in an intimate relationship with God.

So, we elevate our clergy.  We don’t want to lead worship.  We don’t want to pray in public.  We are so convinced that we will fail and either be humiliated or that God will smite us for not being perfect that we allow our fear to paralyze us.  Like the Hebrew people, when we actually see God at work we recoil and let someone else get close.

Today that really makes me genuinely sad.  Here the people allow their fear to erect a barrier between them and God.  Modern humanity is no different than ancient humanity.

I do realize that God had told Moses to make sure that they knew they could only get so close to the mountain.  But what we see here is that the people aren’t really even willing to get as close to God as God allows!  I can see that all through Christianity today.  We are content allowing ourselves to have a “safe faith.”  We only let ourselves get so close before we get consumed and paralyzed with fear.

A World Without Leaders

Imagine what this world would have been like without Moses and Aaron able to overcome their own fear?  What about the judges like Gideon (Judges 6-8) and Deborah (Judges 4-5) who also overcame their fear to do God’s will and draw close to Him?  Or even Samuel who ran to God when He beckoned Samuel as a child (1 Samuel 3)!  Or what about Peter who went out on water just to get close to Jesus (Matthew 14:28-29)!  Or Paul, who had persecuted the church, what if his fear of rejection would have kept him from ministry (Acts 9:23-30)?

Over the course of the last 3,500 years since Moses walked the earth, how many hundreds of thousands of people have allowed their fear to paralyze them into a “distant faith” with their God?  How many potential spiritual leaders haven’t risen up because of their fear?  As I said, it makes me sad today.

Back to the 10 Commandments

Okay, so let’s come back to the 10 commandments.  You can read them for yourself, so I won’t post them here.  But let’s talk a little about their importance and structure.  Notice how the first three (or four, depending on how you count them) deal with our relationship with God.  Our relationship with God is primary in the Law; it should therefore be primary in our lives, too.  The remainder deal with living in community with each other; therefore our relationships in community are also to be of vast importance as well.

Let’s also look at the difference here in the commandments between an absolute command and a treaty.  Often we live in the world of conditions.  “If you do ___, then I will respond by doing ____.”  This is not how the commandments are worded.  These are moral absolutes.  “You shall (or shall not) do ____.”  There is no arguing.  There is no weighing the consequences to see if the benefit is worth the cost.  There is only “do.” 

Essentially, the point of the commandments is this: Either do it, or deserve the death you will earn in disobedience.  There is not much grace here – other than the fact that God loved us enough to clue us in on how to live a grace filled life to begin with!  But there is also comfort in absolutes.  You know where you stand with absolutes.  At the very least, the 10 commandments are black and white.  Thanks be to God!

Fortunately, we can read these in the light of Christ.  It may be impossible to live in complete obedience.  Thank to Christ, we can still be in relationship with God without being perfect.

A New Testament Aside

Here’s an interesting tidbit of information.  Do you know that the commandment to honor the Sabbath is the only one of the 10 never mentioned in the New Testament as something that the followers of Jesus must do?  Yes, Jesus talks about it in Matthew 12, Mark 2, Luke 6, and John 5.  But those passages are all references to Jesus speaking to Israel. 

All the other commandments the followers of Jesus are explicitly told they must keep.  The Sabbath one is eerily left out.  Don’t get me wrong, I think it is good to honor God and have a day of rest.  So I’m not saying we should violate the spirit of the commandment.  But there certainly seems to be an indication that the specific day is not as important as the Old Testament writers asserted.  I can get into a theological rationale for this in the comments section if anyone desires.

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Year 1, Day 68: Exodus 19

Leading Up to the Law

On we go with Exodus 19.  I don’t know why, but I can feel the tension building up to Exodus 20 inside of me.  I guess Exodus 20 is one of those tremendously iconic passages in the Bible that the closer we get to it the more excited I get.  The more we see written witness to the human desire to disobey God, be short-sighted, and be self-interested the more I see evidence of our need for the Law.  But, that’s a topic for tomorrow.  On with Exodus 19!

Priesthood

First we come to God’s promise.  “Keep my ways, and you shall become to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”  I have two thoughts on this passage, running me in divergent paths.

First, this passage inherently brings me to the concept of the priesthood of all believers.  Notice that God is saying that if they will all keep God’s ways, then they can all be like priests to Him.  Yes, we know about the Levites as special priests.  Yes, we know about the line of Aaron as really special priests.  But what God is doing is really inviting the whole community to be like priests for Him!

To me, this shows just how much God wants us involved in His work.  He doesn’t want just a few people involved.  He doesn’t want us to pay money so that other people can be involved on our behalf instead of us.  God truly desires everyone to be spiritually involved!

Mission

This passage ultimately begins in a mission centered approach.  After all, why have priests with no congregation?  Think about it.  Let’s just say that God had gotten His wish and all the Hebrew people fell in such love with God’s ways that they all did actually become His priests in both spirit and practice.  Well, who then is the congregation?  What’s the point of having priests if there is no community that needs served? 

Ultimately, we see here that God’s desire for the Hebrew people is to become like priests.  This is to get them to realize that the world should be their congregation!  God’s plan is not for them to be the sole people in relationship with Him; rather God wants them to be priests into the world so that the whole world might be in relationship with Him.  This chapter is so mission centered that it is painful to understand just how poorly reality lived up to God’s desire.

Modern Application

Of course, this leads me to Christianity and today’s church.  Oh, how poorly we have screwed up just like the Hebrews of thousands of years ago.  We’re no better.  We think church is for us as members.  We think that “my religion should benefit me.”  We think “I should do what I personally discern I am called to do.”  We evaluate a trip on Sunday morning by “whether or not I got fed.”

Let it not be so!  The church isn’t for me or for you – we’re already beneficiaries of Christ’s salvation!  The church is supposed to be a launching point for the saved into the unsaved masses who desperately need God!  We are the church, and we are all its priests!  If we are all the priests, then our congregation really is the world. 

Oh, how we screw that one up.  We should not think “what do I want to do,” or “what can the church do for me.”  Rather, we should think “how can my involvement as a part of God’s church help propel me into being the priest I already am!  Oh, how we sell out God’s true desire with some cheap imitation of faith on such a regular basis. 

Before anyone thinks of this as judgmental, understand that as I write this I am thinking of myself first-and-foremost.  So, yeah it’s judgmental.  It’s judgmental of me most of all.  Oh, how I have sold out God’s true desire for my pathetic desires of “church.”

Into the Presence of God

The rest of this passage is about preparing the people to receive God’s presence as well as to receive God’s law – what we typically call the Law of Moses today.  Let’s spend a bit of time preparing ourselves for the law.  In Lutheran circles, we often speak of the three uses of the law.  So call me a heretic.  I think God has far more than three uses of the law.  Let’s look and see how God uses the law:

1. God will use the law to reveal His glory. (See Deuteronomy 5:22-28 if you like scriptural evidence)
2. God will use the law to reveal mankind’s sinfulness (See Romans 7:7 and 1 Timothy 1:9)
3. God will use the law to mark the Hebrews as His chosen people (See Psalm 147:19-20)
4. God will use the law as a standard for the godly life (See Deuteronomy 4:1)
5. God will use the law to prepare us for our need of Jesus Christ (See Galatians 3:24)

The law, therefore, is inherently good as it is given by God.  We typically think of the law as fulfilling purposes #2 and #4 from the above list, but there are other reasons to be grateful of the law.  As we prepare to likewise receive the law, let’s keep all five reasons that are listed above in mind.

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For the record, here is a brief summary of the Lutheran teaching of the three uses of the Law. 

The Formula of Concord (Found within the Book of Concord) lists three uses of the Law in Article VI. It states:

The Law was given to men for three reasons:

1. that thereby outward discipline might be maintained against wild, disobedient men [and that wild and intractable men might be restrained, as though by certain bars]
2. that men thereby may be led to the recognition of their sins
3. that after they are reborn … they might … have a sure guide according to which they are to regulate and direct their whole life

To summarize in plain English:

1. Use #1 is to curb ungodly behavior before it starts
2. Use #2 is to reveal ungodly behavior where it is already present
3. Use #3 is to be a roadmap to help guide the Christian into godly ways