Exodus 25-40, Leviticus 1-27 AKA 'The Other Bits'

How have you been?

I’ve been finding this time of year tough – I’ve had a cold and what I’m sure is a touch of Seasonal Affective Disorder. It’s been raining so much that I considered whether constructing an ark featured in my near future, and the strong gusts of wind we’ve been experiencing have been blowing around so many plastic bags, it keeps reminding me of American Beauty, and making me giggle. On the plus side, on the days when the glorious sun has come out (like today), it has felt like going from Kansas to Oz. I’ve been pondering quite a lot whether the tediousness of January and February are worth it for the sheer joy you feel when spring starts, which is hopefully just around the corner . . .

On a different note: OLD TESTAMENT - PLEASE WOULD YOU STOP GIVING ME SUCH A HARD TIME??

I keep waiting for this Bible project to get easy, but it just isn’t, y’all! I kind of thought now the drama of the plagues and the Israelites escaping Egypt was over, things would calm down, but it’s just non-stop drama, drama, drama (incidentally, ‘drama’ is one of those words that looks increasingly strange and made-up the more you write it. Try it).

We’re now into what I call “the other bit” of Exodus (i.e. the bit no one makes a movie out of) and Leviticus, which is the tedious fascinating list of instructions for constructing the ark and tabernacle and rules for worship. I have heard Leviticus referred to as the ‘Bible-In-a-Year widow-maker’, as it’s been the death of so many good intentions. So, in the spirit of laziness efficiency, I’ve reverted to the structure of bullet points to cover all the random shiz thrown up in this week’s reading of Exodus 25-27, Exodus 28-29, Exodus 30-32, Exodus 33-35, Exodus 36-38, Exodus 39-40, Leviticus 1-4, Leviticus 5-7, Leviticus 8-10, Leviticus 11-13, Leviticus 14-15, Leviticus 16-18, Leviticus 19-21, Leviticus 22-23, Leviticus 24-25 and finally Leviticus 26-27.

• Question (by me): Why does God care about gold and jewels when decorating the ark and tabernacle? Surely God doesn’t care about such petty things as material wealth?

Possible Answer (by The Internet): There are several schools of thought on this. Firstly, the temple was meant to be an (obviously inferior) earthly replica of the temple of Heaven, therefore would by nature be beautiful. Secondly, anticipating the fiasco of the golden calf, God acted on the Israelites needing a physical representation of Him for them to direct their worship at. It’s not that God cares about gold or jewels, more about creating a focal point and sense of awe in the Israelites when they come to worship.

But maybe God likes this kind of Gold??

• Question: Why does God direct the priests to wear such specific, fancy clothes? Isn’t that the opposite of everything Jesus, in his humility, came to stand for?

Possible Answer:  Again, this is partly about creating a sense of reverence in the Israelites, but could also be about the priests, as flawed humans like us all, not being holy enough to approach God on their own, but about holiness being bestowed upon them when they cover themselves in priestly garments. Sounds very similar to the way we can’t earn our way into Heaven by our own actions, but the covering of grace makes us holy enough to go into God’s presence, heh?

• Question: Isn’t punishing people who work on the Sabbath with death a bit over-kill, literally?

Possible Answer: In a way, yes. There is no doubt this is a severe punishment. But the ‘crime’ is less the action of working on the Sabbath, and more what that’s indicative of: not trusting God to provide. Remember, these are people who have eaten the very manna God created from Heaven, and the meat (quails) God provided them in the desert. For them to not trust God enough to take one day off a week from working is pretty insulting to God.

• Question: After the incident with the golden calf, God instructs the Levite priests to "Go back and forth through the camp, each killing his brother and neighbour (who had worshipped the golden calf)". How can I follow a God who would say that?

Possible Answer: I hear you. I hate this instruction, and it gives me serious pause for thought about the character of God, and whether this can be consistent with the God I want to follow (i.e. Jesus). However, this is about the Levites, holy priests, choosing God over their families and friends, and is consistent with Jesus saying in Mathew: “For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household”.

By the rest of His words and actions, we know that Jesus was one of the most compassionate people in history, therefore this comment seems disturbing and out of character. When we dig deeper, we see that it’s not in fact about encouraging people to take up arms against their own family, but it is saying that our relationship with God takes precedence over our relationship with our earthly families. Clearly, our first loyalty is to God, even over loyalty to our kin, and that if we follow God we may be persecuted by our own families and literally be on ‘different sides’ of the battle.

Tragically, if family members choose to follow other gods (the golden calf, paganism, science, success, atheism etc) this means there will be a metaphorical sword separating us from them. The punishment here is actually just a more violent and immediate symbol of the spiritual death that may befall us should we choose to turn away from God. It IS scary because God is making it clear these choices have serious consequences.

Adoration of the Golden Calf, by Nicolas Poussin

Still think it’s too harsh? Someone once quoted to me the following line from Scripture: “To whom much has been given, much will be expected”. These people had witnessed the parting of the Red Sea, they’d seen the mountain on fire when God spoke to Moses, and a cloud leading them onwards through the desert, yet still reverted to their old pagan ways. They had no excuse for not believing in God, and no excuse for turning away. The punishment for them is more demanding, because God had demonstrated His care for them so visibly. Initially I thought it seemed unrealistic that after such events the Israelties would forget so quickly. However, then I considered my own life and how quickly I forget gratitude, and revert back to old bad habits, and could identify with the foolish actions of the Israelites here.

• Question: Why are men valued at 5 shekels of silver and women at 3 shekels - does this mean God values women less?

Possible Answer: I am a feminist so this immediately got my back up. But after taking a few breaths and muttering “down with the patriarchy” several times (kidding) I considered the following viewpoint: This is not about God actually valuing men more than women. God laid down his life for each of us. He values us in more than mere monetary terms. This sum is specifically referring to people vowing their lives in dedication to God, and reimbursement in terms of lost labour in an agricultural society. Men could physically produce more valuable manual labour than women and are reimbursed accordingly, nothing more.

Moving on . . . .

As we progress through Leviticus we encounter various laws that all seem a bit silly, going on about clean and unclean foods with slightly random criteria, purifying rituals, and gems such as the command not to wear clothing woven of two types of material (that's a cotton-polyester blend ruled out then), and directions on how to trim your beard (that one’s for the fellas, I’m assuming). It all sounds a bit pointless and I’m not entirely convinced of the reasoning behind it. To sum up the various arguments I’ve read on the matter, it seems to be related to separating Israel from the practices of the other pagan nations around them, instilling self-control and discipline into their lives, and to emphasise the holiness of God and preparation needed to go into His presence.

Which I can pretty much accept until I come across the message that after childbirth women are unclean, and that they’re unclean for twice as long if they give birth to a girl as they are if they give birth to a boy. URGH, BIBLE, I GIVE UP TRYING TO UNDERSTAND YOU. *Decides that some of these rules were written by some ancient, sexist dudes and are not actually explainable at all . . .

I admit to not enjoying reading the Old Testament as much as the New, precisely because I don’t like all the bloodshed and punishments for breaking rules. But I have to say there’s some remarkably consistent themes that run through the entire Bible, all pointing to Jesus and the salvation He brings.

In these chapters God describes the method the Israelites should use for atoning for their own sin – taking a male animal without defect to sacrifice, with the priest placing his hand on the animal and ‘transferring’ the sin to it (in place of their own blood) by confessing the sin over it. No animal with a defect may be used, which is hugely symbolic of how only Jesus, who lived a perfect, sin free life, is holy enough to be a worthy sacrifice. Through His substitution, we gain forgiveness for our sins and gain His perfectness for ourselves, just as here the Israelites ‘swapped’ their sin for the perfectness of the animal being sacrificed (there’s a reason Jesus was called the lamb of God, people).  The cost is the same for rich and poor, as with Jesus.

There’s a huge emphasis in these chapters on all the rituals required to approach the tabernacle and the holy presence of God. In fact, if I had to make a sweeping statement about the themes of the Bible, it would be that it displays God’s two most central characteristics – holiness and love. Holiness, in that He is perfect and cannot tolerate sin or even be in its presence, is most explicitly displayed in the Old Testament, with its emphasis on humans failing to live up to the law, and the punishment by death for sinful behaviour. Love – displayed most explicitly in the New Testament - in that He loved humans enough to take on the punishment Himself, and through the death of Jesus abolished the need for rituals and atonement to approach Him (hence doing away with all the rules for clean and unclean foods and ritual purifying). These chapters in the Old Testament, therefore, display just how much Jesus accomplished when He did away with the need for a special temple, declaring that now the temple was ‘within us’.

But I could do with less of the sexist hooey.