Psalms 3: Psalm 119 - God's Law

So far, this blog has focused on the relationship between God and humankind as one driven by dialectical tensions - the difference between God's will and human action. In last week's post, I argued that these are the result of the covenant between God and his people, the Israelites; if the people obey God, they are ensured his divine protection. But as the story of Job demonstrated, sometimes it is difficult for humans to perceive that God is upholding his end of the deal. This is the topic we will discuss today in analyzing Psalm 119. What happens when God does not seem to fulfill the terms of his covenant with humanity?

We have the  promise and law causing a dissonance within Psalm 119. Both of these derive from the covenant between God and humanity, and both have discreet functions. The promise is asked to be remembered by God - it is God's terms of the covenant. The law, on the other hand, is required of the psalmist by God. The psalmist must uphold God's law in order to remain in good standing in the contract.

Psalm 119 features eight synonyms that all represent God's law:

• Law
• Decrees
• Way(s)
• Statutes
• Precepts
• Commandments,
• Ordinances
• Word

Of these, the reader must be careful with "way" and "word", as these do not always connote God's divine law. "Law" is something that is followed, but "word" and "way" can also represent what God promises - namely, deliverance from enemies. To further complicate the matter, in Psalm 119, the phrasing for both facets of God's law and God's promises is the same. The facet is generally given as "your ___" (e.g. your law, your decrees). Law and promise seem to be indistinguishable. As we shall see, however, the psalmist means something very particular when he is referring to law and promise, respectively.

Let's turn to some poetry for an example:

Remember your word to your servant, / in which you have made me hope.
This is my comfort in my distress, / that your promise gives me life.
(Psalm 119 49-50)

This poetic technique is known as chiasmus, in which similar terms cross one another. If we were to draw one line between "hope" and "comfort," and another between "your word" and "your promise," the result would look like an X. Hence, chiasmus, coming from the Greek Letter Chi (X). "Your word" and "your promise" link up synonymously, as do the ideas of hope and comfort in distress. In this instance, word refers to God's covenantal promise.

In the following example, however, God's word is synonymous with law:

Before I was humbled, I went astray, / but now I keep your word.
You are good and do good. / Teach me your statutes
(Psalm 119 67-68)

Two things indicate the connection between word and law. One is the parallel linkage of word and statutes. The other is the phrasing in verse 67: "Now I keep your word." The psalmist is the one who obeys God's will, which is the prime example of law.

The human-divine relationship is elucidated in verses 145-149, in which the psalmist shifts from law to promise, and then back to law:

With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O Lord.
I will keep your statutes.
I cry to you; save me,
that I may observe your decrees.
I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I put my hope in your words.
My eyes are awake before each watch of the night,
that I may meditate on your promise.
In your steadfast love hear my voice;
O Lord, in your justice preserve my life.
(Psalm 119 145-149)

Note that statutes are kept and decrees are observed by the psalmist. On the other hand, it is words that the psalmist puts his hope in, and God's promise that he meditates on. Laws are followed, but God's promise is contemplated, the source of hope and faith.

Words and promise are further clarified by what might be considered a synonym: steadfast love. This is an explicit term of the covenant: God's steadfast love for his people - even when they disobey him. Perhaps they are not given protection during times of apostasy. However, the covenant still exists, and God's people experience his steadfast love.

Verses 153 and 154 are parallel, yet not synonymous. Here, the second verse builds on the first, forming something of a crescendo:

Look on my misery and rescue me,
for I do not forget your law.
Plead my cause and redeem me;
give me life according to your promise.
(Psalm 119 153-154)

In succession, the psalmist is seen and rescued, his cause pleased, and his life redeemed. Interestingly, the language is all judicial, and serves to express both God's law and his promise. The psalmist is seen and rescued because of his adherence to the Lord's law. His case is pleaded and his life is redeemed because the Lord fulfills his promise. In judicial language, both parties are shown upholding their respective terms of the contract.

What can we learn from the psalmist's relationship with God? We know that obedience of God's law will result in protection from enemies. However, the faithful will at times have to request God's protection, as made amply evident in the song. God will, however, always act eventually, just as he did in Job. Of course, this analysis of God's relationship with humans assumes that an individual's relationship with God is personal. What we might need to consider for further analysis is the relationship between God and God's people as a group. After all, the initial covenant with Noah promised protection for all humanity, and subsequent covenants afford land and fertility for the offspring of a patriarch. It would appear that in the time of Israel's offspring, God protects the group as a whole. By the time of David, the Israelites live or die based on the actions of one individual, the king. Therefore it might be difficult to conceive of a communal relationship vis-a-vis a personal one. After the exile, there is no leader, so the question of individual autonomy versus that of the group remains open...

Until next time.

1 Kings 1-11: The House of Solomon

I just finished reading Tracy Kidder's House, and my timing could not have been more perfect for writing this post. The work of long-form journalism follows the creation of a house from lines on an architect's drawing through the building process to habitation by the the family. It has resonances of Moby Dick as the narrator takes the reader through little adventures along the way into the history of house building or the creation of lumber. Detailed lists are not uncommon. These lists memorialize the materials that go into the making of the house, and seem meant to astonish with their breadth. Moreover, Kidder seems to argue that a house is a product of many different people, and that this one in particular is a particular manifestation of the people who paid for it and lived in it, the Souweine family.

It is clear that Kidder consulted the bible in constructing his narrative; he quotes from and refers to it a few times. Surprisingly, though, there is nothing about Solomon. Solomon is one of the greatest builders in the bible, constructing the temple in Jerusalem.

Just as Kidder found it necessary to interweave the ideas of house and home, the biblical author, writing millennia earlier, presents us with the establishment of three different houses in the tale of Solomon:

1. The establishment of the "house" of Solomon, continuation of the "house" of David
2. The construction of the temple, the "house" of the Lord
3. The construction of the structure that will house Solomon, his physical house

Two houses are promised through the covenant between God and David in 2 Samuel 7. The first of these is the house of David - the metaphorical house of his familial rule of Israel. The second is the house of God - the physical temple to be constructed by David's son.

Moveover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with you ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever...Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.
2 Samuel 7.11-16

In effect God establishes a blueprint for the future of the Davidic line's rule over all Israel. But the metaphorical house of David, as it turns out, is to be built on contract. In House this means that the structure has a base price that changes as the architect fleshes out the features and design. In my biblical use it will mean there is a contract between God and the king of Israel that might prevent God's promise from being fulfilled if the king does not act in a suitable manner. Though the contract seems secure in the passage above, it is actually modified once Solomon begins his reign.

Creating David's House
The story of succession to David's throne, the continuation of the house of David, is one of political intrigue. David's son Adonijah wishes to make himself king, and is successful in gaining support. As primogeniture, he might believe he has a right to the throne. However, the bible tends to favor the youngest son and the one favored by the mother (like Isaac and Jacob). Solomon is the second son of Bathsheba, who loves him greatly (Bathsheba's first son died, which cleared David of his sin of adultery and in a way probably also cleared Bathsheba of sin as well). Therefore she and Nathan conspire to make Solomon king. The scene of trickery has resonances with the tale of Jacob and Esau, in which their father Isaac is old and blind, having to rely on other cues to (incorrectly) identify his son and deliver his blessing. Here, however, the son's physical presence is removed from the narrative entirely as Bathsheba and Nathan conspire together and remind David of an oath that he made that Solomon would succeed him. Whether this oath was actually made is a matter of debate. On the one hand, this oath is not mentioned in Samuel or Kings, and so might be a lie. On the other hand, there are a number of books mentioned in Kings that do not appear within the biblical canon and may exist no longer. In any case, Solomon is not active in seeking the throne; it is handed to him. Jacob, by comparison, is at least complicit in Rebekah's trickery as he acts to fool his father. The trickster characteristic that made Jacob so appealing was clearly not desirable to the biblical author of Solomon's story. In fact, the author (or composite of authors) of the King narrative is very careful to emphasize that neither David nor his son Solomon betray the present king and seek the throne. David does not kill Saul when he gets a chance because Saul is the Lord's anointed. Solomon does not sit on the throne until after his father's death. These are men chosen specifically by God to create his house. In this way, if no other, the house of David is pure.

Solomon's Housekeeping
King Solomon has some housekeeping to do after ascending the throne, just as his father David did in the early chapters of 2 Samuel. Solomon kills off dangerous characters that pose a threat to his throne, people like Adonijah, Hoab, and Shimei. In this way Solomon purifies his and his father's house.

1 Kings 4 reveals what we might call the "domestic" side of Solomon's reign: his 12-member cabinet of priests and officials, as well as 12 officials over the land, each of whom makes provisions for him one month out of the year. Under Solomon and his cabinet and officials, "Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea; they ate and drank and were happy" (1 Kings 4.20). His provisions are listed, revealing how Solomon keeps up with the great sacrifices for which he is acclaimed. His grounds and men are described in detail. These lists are an important part of biblical narrative, as we shall see. The biblical author in this capacity acts as a record keeper, recording in detail many different aspects of the king. This penchant for listing and describing in detail has already appeared in the bible many times, in particular in the instructions for and descriptions of the creation of the ark of the covenant and traveling tent of meeting in Exodus. These lengthy descriptions of materials and design have been recorded since the earliest days of writing, and continue up through modern classics like Moby Dick, House, and famously in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas:

We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a saltshaker half-full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers... Also, a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether, and two dozen amyls.

Sections of literature like these suggest the building process itself by providing an ordered bill of materials. The author, in describing how something is built, builds something him or herself.

Building the Temple
This need for making lists reveals itself most clearly in the creation of God's house, the temple. Solomon is able to build, argues the author, on the basis of God's covenant with David and the current peace in the land.

Solomon contracts the men of King Hiram of Tyre to cut down the cedars of Lebanon to be used in the creation of the temple. The biblical author shows us a bit of the economy that comes into place: Hiram provides timber and Solomon supplies him with food, as well as 30,000 of his own men, 10,000 each working one-month shifts. Meanwhile, Solomon's own men work in the hill country quarrying great, costly stones: 70,000 laborers and 80,000 stone cutters, besides 3,300 supervisors.

The temple as constructed in 1 Kings 6 is described in great detail with all its great stones and walls of cedar laid over with gold. It is furnished with cherubim and decorated with carvings of open flowers, palm trees, and cherubim. All is conveyed in a matter-of-fact fashion; the literature seems almost to be a technical manual, which in fact it might be or at least be based off of. The house of God is a solid, beautiful structure, adorned with great pillars and basins of bronze. In total the size of the temple is 90 feet long, 30 feet high, and 45 feet tall, with a porch out front that measures 15 feet long by 30 feet wide. It takes seven years to build the structure, which is blessed with a grand housewarming festival and sacrifices.

Solomon's palace takes six years longer than the temple to construct, but employs the same language and detailed descriptions of construction and materials. 1 Kings 10 offers an even fuller treatment of the house of Solomon, with his possessions listed in lavish detail.

Housing Matters
As Solomon builds God's house, the word of the Lord comes to him:

Conerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes, obey my ordinances, and keep all my commandments by walking in them, then I will establish my promise with you, which I made to your father David. I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people.
1 Kings 6.12-13

As the house of David is built on contract, as mentioned earlier, the Lord reserves the right to modify the contract at any time. The earlier contract with David was unconditional, but here a condition is placed upon God's promise. God will only dwell among his people if Solomon obeys the Lord. Of course, this immediately raises the dialectical tensions that run through the bible, the tensions between God's will and human action. Humankind has a tendency to undermine the will of God through exogamy and apostasy. And though Solomon prays to the Lord, who he sees inhabit the temple in a cloud, he has a soft spot for foreign women, who eventually turn him away from God. It is a shame, because with the completion of the temple comes a resting place for God and the covenant after so many years of travel. Solomon explains to the Israelites:

Now the Lord has upheld the promise that he made; for I have risen in the place of my father David; I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. There I have provided a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
1 Kings 8.20-21

Unfortunately, the establishment of a home for the covenant does not put the matter of faith to rest. Faith in God is something that the people of Israel will always struggle with. This wavering devotion will eventually lead to the destruction of the temple and dispersal of the Israelites. And yet the Lord will always remain metaphorically at home in the temple:

I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you made before me; I have consecrated this house that you have built, and put my name there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time.
1 Kings 9.3

I say the Lord remains in the temple metaphorically because Solomon is wise to note in his prayer:

But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built! Have regard to your servant’s prayer and his plea, O LORD my God, heeding the cry and the prayer that your servant prays to you today; that your eyes may be open night and day towards this house, the place of which you said, “My name shall be there”, that you may heed the prayer that your servant prays towards this place. Hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray towards this place; O hear in heaven your dwelling-place; heed and forgive.
1 Kings 8.27-30

God has a strange characteristic in which he is simultaneously comprehensible and ineffable. Though the smoke of God’s presence fills the temple, God does not really reside there. God’s home serves to metonymically connect the incomprehensible ideal of God with a fixed dwelling place. The temple helps to focus devotion to a God that defies logic, and Solomon himself seems to recognize this. Solomon even expresses some of the paradox himself, first claiming that the highest heaven cannot contain God, and then referring to God whose dwelling place is in heaven. Perhaps the dwelling place does not actually describe the abstract truth about God, but it is perhaps the closest concrete thing that humans are able to understand.

Bad Houses
As mentioned above, Solomon fails to keep his house neat and clean; he corrupts it by marrying foreign women. These women turn Solomon’s heart away from God, so that he evens builds “high places” (altars) that serve as houses for foreign gods. Solomon thereby breaks the covenant with God and nullifies the agreement they had. The house of David is to end. For the sake of David, it will not end during Solomon’s time. Rather, the kingdom will be wrenched from Solomon’s son so that he only reigns over one tribe, Judah. The man who will receive the other 10 tribes is Jeroboam, whose future is revealed when the prophet Ahijah tears his garment into 12 pieces and gives Jeroboam 10, to signify the tribes he will rule over.

Mere years after its establishment, the figurative house of David begins to crumble. The physical temple of God will be destroyed within a few centuries. Solomon’s personal house will surely be destroyed before then.

But the beauty of the bible’s portrayal of God is that even without these things, even without a temple to centralize worship, God continues to be a real presence that people feel in their lives. As some advocate today for the building of the Third Temple in Jerusalem, God – and the conception of God – is a force to be reckoned with, and amazingly is able to survive without a physical home on earth.

2 Samuel 1-10: Poetry, Christian Interpretation, and Quantum Physics

Last week's entry concluded with the deaths of Saul and his son Jonathan, and David killing the man who claimed to mercifully murder Saul.

Today I will focus on David's early campaign as king. I will go about it a little differently than normal. Let me know if you like it! Or hate it!

David's Lamentation: 2 Samuel 1.19-27
David's mourning over Jonathan takes the form of poetry, in fact a complete poem with a great deal of repetition. The repetition helps to clarify David's psychology. Let's take a look:

Your glory, O Israel, lies slain upon your high places!

How the mighty have fallen! 


Tell it not in Gath,

proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon;

or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice,

the daughters of the uncircumcised will exult.


You mountains of Gilboa,

let there be no dew or rain upon you,

nor bounteous fields!


For there the shield of the mighty was defiled,

the shield of Saul, anointed with oil no more.


From the blood of the slain,

from the fat of the mighty,

the bow of Jonathan did not turn back,

nor the sword of Saul return empty.


Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely!

In life and in death they were not divided;

they were swifter than eagles,

they were stronger than lions.


O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul,

who clothed you with crimson, in luxury,

who put ornaments of gold on your apparel.

How the mighty have fallen

in the midst of the battle!


Jonathan lies slain upon your high places. 

I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan;

greatly beloved were you to me;

your love to me was wonderful,

passing the love of women.


How the mighty have fallen,

and the weapons of war perished!

The formula "How the mighty have fallen!" serves to structure the poem, appearing at the beginning and end as well as in the middle. However, the poem truly pivots on the verses that mention both Saul and Jonathan: "The bow of Jonathan did not turn back, / nor the sword of Saul return empty. / Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely!" The poem begins with general lamentations for the glory of Israel, before focusing on the death of Saul. But David's mind isn't truly on Saul, for soon after the reference he includes Jonathan, before displaying his greater appreciation of Jonathan.

Over the course of the poem the formula: "X lies slain upon your high places" is repeated twice, opening first with Your Glory, O Israel and then with Jonathan, so that Jonathan is equated with the Glory of Israel, as opposed to his father, Saul. Of course, it is David and later his son Solomon that are the true glory of Israel, but David's sentiment exemplifies the great love he shared with Jonathan. Even with his emphatic defense of Saul, David appears to value Jonathan more. David is "distressed for you, my brother Jonathan," a sentiment that involves himself personally with Saul's son. On the other hand, David has the "daughters of Israel" "weep over Saul." As much as he supported King Saul, it was with Jonathan that David shared the truest friendship: "greatly beloved were you to me; / your love to me was wonderful, / passing the love of women." [For more on this type of friendship, read "Of Friendship" by Montaigne.]

Christian Interpretation of 2 Samuel 7
Christian interpretation of the bible is something I have steered away from thus far, but I just finished reading Hal Lindsey's The Late Great Planet Earth and feel the need to speak out if only a little on this phenomenon.

David has built a house for himself and expresses a desire to build one for the Lord as well. The Lord's response, given to the prophet Nathan in a dream, explores the literal and figurative meanings of house and place. His speech is excerpted below:

Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in?...I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. 

And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. 

Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 

I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings. But I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.

The Lord's speech represents a new iteration of the covenant of land and progeny, the patriarchal covenant that stretches back to Abraham. The old iteration of that covenant has been fulfilled: the land promised - Canaan - is now inhabited by the progeny - the Israelites. God's newly designated land will be Jerusalem, where the ark of the covenant will be kept. the promise of progeny is still "a great name," but that comes through one person: David's son Solomon. The old covenant being fulfilled, a new one is established. The spirit of both is the same, while the terms change. Of course, the Israelites are also still bound to the covenant of faithfulness to God established under Joshua.

God's emphasis on location is fitting in a conversation that centers around a house. David builds for himself a house without building a resting place for God. Yet God insists that he does not have to settle down just yet; David's progeny will take care of the house and its location. Not only will David not need to build a temple/house (literal) for God; God will in fact build a (metaphorical) house for David! What wordplay! [Does anyone speak Hebrew? Are the roots similar? Do both connote house?] The house the Lord will "build" for David is part of the promise of progeny. A great kingdom will be established through David's offspring. The new king will be a great man, his relationship with God like that between father and son. But God will not punish this man on his own. Instead, humans will inflict blows on him for his iniquity. Nevertheless, David's kingdom will be eternal.

That sounds like Solomon, right? David's progeny, iniquity, establishing God's house...The only place where the whole thing breaks down is at the very end, the establishment of the throne forever. The United Monarchy only lasted 5 generations.

Were you able to read that passage without thinking of Jesus? I wasn't. [Those two preceding sentences mimic the style of Hal Lindsey's book. You should check it out if you're still interested. Fair warning, though, it's a bit outdated.] Read enough prophecy and you will see Jesus everywhere. Who established an eternal kingdom on earth? Jesus! Who is an ancestor of David? Jesus! Who endured the blows of human beings? Jesus!

Despite these rather *ahem* remarkable findings, it is highly improbably that this section refers to Jesus. On its own, this is merely the story of God's promise to David of Solomon and a temple in Jerusalem. The problem is that the people who believe that the passage does point to Jesus are drawing from a number of different sources. Two interpretation issues come into play: Biblical inerrancy and metaphor.

God creates metaphor in this section by making the tangible idea of David's house intangible in the sense of the "house of David" - his line of successors. To a degree this gives the reader a license to interpret other things as metaphorical as well, such as the kingdom, which is taken by some Christian readers to mean the so-called "kingdom of heaven" that Jesus ushers in. The biblical inerrantist also has license to assume that the time of David's kingdom has not come yet because, well, the throne clearly was not established forever. By this reading the throne must be established in the future.

The biblical inerrantist has some problems to deal with as well, such as Saul's actions fulfilling most of God's promise. Also, God specifically states that David's son will be punished for his "iniquity" with "blows inflicted by human beings." Certainly Jesus was brutalized, but it definitely was not on account of any iniquity!

Occam's Razor, the idea that the simplest explanation for a quandary is the most likely choice, would seem to apply here. Why jump through hoops to prove Jesus when Solomon is a simpler explanation? Why forecast so far into the future when Solomon is a few years away?

If I haven't confused you enough, let me make one last attempt.

Context is key here. Suppose I was traveling along X road at Y speed in a car with mass Z. According to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, I would only be able to know either my momentum or my location at any given moment. In fact, this is not true. My momentum is given by the equation ZY and my location by X. So what happened?

It seems I have misapplied the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, which is applicable only at the quantum level. Context changes everything. If I am looking for a way to support my argument for Jesus, that is what I see. It might not be correct, and the way I apply laws may not yield a proper solution, but I can do it.

And because we are talking about something that no one can definitively prove either way [even if the author were alive, some would say the text could not be proven either way!] I am liable to believe whatever I like.

What do I believe? That a literary reading of the bible should acknowledge religious influences both inside and outside of the text. And so you have today's entry.

Joshua 23-24: The Settled Land

Joshua 23: Joshua Exhorts the People
Joshua 24: The Tribes Renew the Covenant / Death of Joshua and Eleazar

With the end of Joshua comes the end of a narrative that began way, way back in Bereshit (Genesis), the first book of the Hebrew bible. The promise of land and progeny that was made to Abraham has finally been fulfilled. And at the end of the chapter, in the penultimate verse, a plotline is ended that I completely forgot about. But you're going to have to read to the end of the post to find out what it is.

Today's scenes take place "a long time afterward, when the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their enemies all around, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years" (Josh. 23.1). We can feel the Joshua narrative starting to wind down. True, not all the land has been conquered. But Joshua's speech exhorting the people serves as a succinct summary of the events of the book that bears his name.

Joshua Exhorts the People: Joshua 23
The land is at rest and Joshua is old. He therefore starts to tidy up matters before he goes, starting with a recap of battle and ending (in the next chapter) in a renewal of the covenant.

YHWH Sabaoth, God portrayed as mighty warrior, is invoked four times throughout Joshua's exhortation, reminding the people that Israel's victory would not have been possible without God, because it is God that drove out the mighty nations before them.

And yet not all the nations have been cleared out. They still remain in the land and threaten to tempt the Israelites into apostasy. Israel receives a strong warning not to intermarry or fall into their ways, and if they remain faithful to God then God will continue to force these people out of the land. In the meantime, these people are given to Israel as part of a package deal; they are included with Israel's inheritance of land.

The biblical author tries to balance two contradictory ideas. There is the ancient myth (as in story, not falsehood) of Israel's might, which serves as a basis for Israel's divine right to the promised land. This is where the story of conquering all the tribes of the land comes from. This must be counterbalanced with the reality that the Israelites coexisted with foreign nations and had in fact done so for a long time. The way the biblical author solves this problem is by having God essentially say: "Here is what I promised you. It is not exactly as I promised you because I have not removed all your enemies yet. However, if you continue to obey me, these people will one day be gone and you alone (with the Gibeonites, perhaps shall inhabit the land." The conditionality of this agreement is especially important, because it is the tension between God and humankind that comprises the biblical story. If you want a twist in the biblical plot, just look for people disobeying the Lord's commands.

Joshua then switches gears into his own personal reflection, which then flares out to embrace all the people of Israel and remind them to follow the covenant of the Lord:

And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one thing has failed of all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you; all have come to pass for you, not one of them has failed. But just as all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the Lord will bring upon you all the bad things, until he has destroyed you from this good land that the Lord your God has given you. If you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which he enjoined on you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from the good land that he has given to you.
(Josh. 23.14-16)

The next logical step is to renew the covenant Joshua just invoked.

The Tribes Renew the Covenant: Joshua 24.1-28
Joshua gathers all of Israel to Shechem in order to recount (speaking through the words of the Lord) their collective history. Actually, if you're interested in a Clif Notes version of the biblical narrative up until this point, Joshua 24 would be an excellent place to look.

It goes down like this: Abraham is taken from beyond the River Jordan into Canaan. The Lord give him Isaac. The Lord gives Isaac two sons: Esau, who inhabits the hill country, and Jacob, who goes with his children down to Egypt. The Israelites (though they are not referred to as such here) are brought out of Egypt, where God has worked many miracles. The Israelites are pursued, and cry out to the Lord at the Red Sea. The Lord protects the people and helps them cross the sea. The Israelites live in the wilderness for a long time. They then conquer the Amorites and are blessed - not cursed - by Balaam. After crossign the Jordan, the Lord conquers a number of people on behalf of the Israelites. The land they have received is exceptional:

I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and towns that you had not built, and you live in them; you eat the fruit of vineyards and oliveyards that you did not plant.
(Josh. 24.13)

For all this, the Israelites are commanded to revere and serve the Lord, not the gods that their ancestors served beyond the river before Abraham, nor the gods of the Amorites.

The people respond that they will serve the lord, recounting very succinctly the history that the Lord just spoke through Joshua. Joshua warns that the Lord is holy and jealous, and will not forgive transgressions: "If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good" (Josh. 24.20). A second time the people promise to serve the Lord.

Joshua then tells the people that they are all witnesses among themselves. They agree. He tells them that they must put away all their foreign gods and "incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel." To this too they agree. The Israelites have devoted themselves to the Lord.

Joshua then makes a covenant with the people, writing the words he spoke in the book of the law of God. He erects a stone under the oak tree in the sanctuary of the Lord. The stone serves as a second witness against the people if they deal falsely with God.

Death of Joshua and Eleazar: Joshua 24.29-33
Joshua dies and is buried. The author recounts that Israel was faithful to God all the days of his leadership, and all the days of the elders that outlived him.

Here ends a plot line that began a very long time ago: The bones of Joseph, which he wanted to be buried in the promised land, are finally laid to rest at Shechem on a piece of land that Jacob bought from the children of Hamor, the father of Shechem.

Finally, Eleazar son of Aaron dies and is buried.

After the death of the old generation comes a new generation, which will be explored tomorrow as we begin our study of the book of Judges.

Joshua 20-21: Fulfilling Commandments

Joshua 20: Cities of Refuge
Joshua 21: Cities allotted to the Levites

Both of the chapters examined today are in fulfillment of older legislation from Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. It is a logical ending to the story of the covenant that started way back in Genesis with Abraham. Today we come very close to the end of that story, and indeed the biblical author speaks of the fulfillment of that Abrahamic covenant.

Cities of Refuge: Joshua 20
The cities of refuge, ordered in Numbers and Deuteronomy are now established in the promised land. Anyone who accidentally kills another may flee to the nearest city and be protected from the avenger of blood. After a trial, the accidental killer may return to the town in which the killing occurred only once the high priest that presided at the time of the killing has died.

The cities include:

1. Kedesh in Galilee (Naphtali territory)
2. Shechem (Ephraim territory)
3. Kiriath-arba (AKA Hebron; Judah Territory
4. Bezer (beyond the Jordan in Reuben Territory)
5. Ramoth in Gilead (beyond the Jordan in Gad Territory)
6. Golan in Bashan (beyond the Jordan in Manasseh Territory)

Cities allotted to the Levites: Joshua 21
The Levites receive their land, which includes the cities of refuge. Each town is surrounded by pastureland in fulfillment with earlier legislation.

Finally all the land has been doled out; the promise of the first divine covenant - the one of land and progeny - has been fulfilled.

Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to their ancestors that he would give them; and having taken possession of it, they settled there. And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their ancestors; not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.
(Joshua 21.43-45)

How long will this peace last? Not very long at all. But the Lord has indeed given Israel all that he has promised. It may have taken a few entire books to complete, but the original covenant of land and progeny, promised as far back as Abraham, has finally been fulfilled.

Joshua 6-8: Keeping a healthy relationship with God

Joshua 6-8: Keeping a healthy relationship with God

Joshua 6: Jericho Taken and Destroyed
Joshua 7: The Sin of Achan and Its Punishment
Joshua 8: Ai Captured by a Stratagem and Destroyed / Joshua Renews the Covenant

It would be a good idea to listen to what the Lord has said. Also, sit turns out Moses is the perfect role model for anyone who wishes to be a charismatic leader among the Israelites. After all, there was no one like him before and there will be no one like him after.

Jericho Taken and Destroyed: Joshua 6
The good news: the Israelites have holed the residents of Jericho within the fortified city. The bad news: the residents of Jericho are all behind an impenetrable wall. Fortunately, the Lord has handed Jericho over to the Israelites - and they will win it in a unique way. The Lord tells Joshya that the warriors should march the perimeter of the city once a day for six days, accompanied by priests bearing the ark and seven trumpets made of rams' horns. On the seventh day the priests will blast the horns and all the people will shout, causing the walls of the city to come down so that the people can attack.

The Israelites do this, and on the seventh day take all of the inhabitants of the city except for Rahab, who helped out the Israelite spies in Joshua 2. Before the trumpets are blown, however, Joshua commands the people to not take anything that shall go into the treasury of the Lord: silver, gold, and vessels of bronze and iron.

The people take the city, killing every living thing: "men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys. And of course, Rahab is spared by the very spies that she saved. The Israelites then burn the city, completely removing any trace of it. Joshua recites a short oath/poem cursing anyone who tries to rebuild the city.

The chapter ends on a high note: "So the Lord was with Joshua; and his fame was in all the land" (Josh. 6.27).

The Sin of Achan and Its Punishment Joshua 7
This first sentence of this chapter starts us off on a low note, in direct contrast to the last line of the previous chapter. The Israelites - all the Israelites - are said to have broken faith with the Lord in regard to devoted things. This breaking of faith can be traced back to one individual: Achan son of Carmi son of Zabdi son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah. He took some of the devoted things, and Israel suffers the anger of the Lord because of it. This information is privy to the reader only - and sets up a dramatic irony with the story that follows.

Joshua sends men to spy out the land of Ai. The men return with a report that Israel will need only two or three thousand to conquer the land. Three thousand men go, and are routed. Thirty-six Israelites are killed as they flee from the men of Ai. Now the Israelites' hearts melt and turn to water.

Joshua exhibits the traditional signs of mourning: he tears his clothes and falls on his face to the ground. He and the elders put dust on their heads. Then Joshua laments in a manner very similar to the Israelites as they complained in the wilderness:

Ah! Lord God! Why have you brought this people across the Jordan at all, to hand us over to the Amorites so as to destroy us? Would that we had been content to settle beyond the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned their backs to their enemies! The Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will you do for your great name?"
(Josh. 7-9)

...Joshua's a bit of a worrier, eh? He has lost 36 men in a battle that he should have won, but his thoughts turn to the utter destruction of the Israelites. His fear, in fact, is directed at God. Rather than wondering whether Israel has done any wrong, Joshua assumes God is inadequate in protecting his people - just as the generation in the wilderness assumed God was inadequate in providing for them.

The Lord command Joshua to stand up and informs him that Israel was defeated in battle because they have "transgressed my covenant that I imposed on them" by taking the things that were to be devoted to the Lord. This causes the Israelites to have great fear before their enemies. The Lord warns "I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you." The Lord then instructs Joshua on how to rectify the situation. The people are to sanctify themselves and come forward tribe by tribe. The Lord will choose a tribe, and from that tribe a clan, and from that clan a household, and from that household an individual. That individual is to be burned with all his possessions for transgressing the covenant of the Lord.

Sure enough, the next day Achan son of Carmi (household) son of Zabdi (family) son of Zerah (clan) is chosen from among the people. Joshua admits his transgression, and reveals that he has buried in his tent a beautiful mantle, two hundred shekels of silver, and a fifty-shekel bar of gold. Joshua sends messengers to the tent to verify. When this is found to be true, Achan is stoned to death - perhaps along with his family; the bible is not specific. Achan is to bring out all his possessions, livestock, and family, and "all Israel stoned him to death; they burned them with fire, cast stones on them, and raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. So who was it?

In any case, the stoning and burning is enough that the Lord turns away from his burning anger.

Ai Captured by a Stratagem and Destroyed: Joshua 8.1-29
The Israelites take Ai by a clever stratagem - but only after being told by the Lord that the city has been delivered into their hands. Israel breaks itself into groups: one croup (30,000 men in one tradition and 5,000 in another) waits in ambush to the west of Ai, while the other men along with Joshua remain in the valley to the north. The king of Ai attacks the group to the north, and when the Israelites make like they are being beaten and flee, the residents of Ai pour out of the city to pursue them. The Israelites that were waiting in ambush attack and burn the city while the men of Ai are fighting. Soon the men of Ai are surrounded by Israelites, and every one of them is killed, except for the king. The entire population of Ai - 12,000 people - dies that day. The king is hung on a tree and buried under a great heap of stones at the gates of the city.

Joshua Renews the Covenant: Joshua 8.30-35
Joshua builds on Mount Ebal the "altar of unhewn stones, on which no iron tool has been used" as the Lord had commanded Moses to write in the book of the law. Joshua is further connected with Moses in his next action: Joshua writes on stones a copy of the law of Moses. The people of Israel then stand in two formations between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, and the ark passes before them, carried by the priests, "as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel.

Afterwards Joshua reads the book of the law to the entire congregation, which has been perfectly copied from Moses' commands. This too reveals the striking parallels between Joshua as leader and Moses as leader.

One exception though: whereas Moses had a staff (befitting of a shepherd) that was able to guide and perform miracles, Joshua's object of leadership is a sword.

Deuteronomy 30: A gentler part of the covenant

- or -
Covenant at Moab, part II of II

Deuteronomy 30: God's Fidelity Assured / Exhortation to Choose Life

View the first part of this covenant in yesterday's post. This is to be the last covenant before the Israelites enter the promised land.

God's Fidelity Assured: Deuteronomy 30.1-10
If the people disobey God and are cursed by him and are driven out among foreign nations, there is still hope. The people simply need to remember the blessings and curses that God has set before them and return to the Lord. When the people return to the Lord with all their hear, the Lord will restore them and once again have compassion on them. Such is the devotion of the Lord to his people - as long as they are obedient, the Lord will love them.

That is, God maintains fidelity to God's people, even through the times when the people do not reciprocate.

After returning to God in their hearts, the people will physically return to the land of their ancestors and be more numerous and prosperous than their ancestors were. The Lord will circumcise Israel's hearts so they will follow him. The Lord will curse their enemies and those that took advantage of them.

Exhortation to Choose Life: Deuteronomy 30.11-20
One of the distinguishing features of God's covenant with God's people is that it is accessible. It is not difficult to follow because the people have all the terms. The biblical author writing the Lord's speech puts this sentiment about the covenant in beautiful prose:

It is not in heaven, that you should say, "Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?" Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?" No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.
(Deut. 30.12-14)

The choice, God says, is up to you. You can obey the commandments of the Lord and be blessed, or disobey and be cursed. The terms of the contract are quite explicit, and most importantly, are present. God will not act on a whim, but rather only as he is required to act by the choices God's chosen people make. And it is a requirement that God acts on. This is a contract that God must keep.

And so the covenant closes, with heaven and earth as witness to a contract that began with the patriarchs as an unconditional promise of land and progeny:

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
(Deut. 30.19-20)

Deuteronomy 29: A new covenant / textual unity

- or -
Covenant at Moab, part I of II

Deuteronomy 29: The Covenant Renewed in Moab

Note: Occam's Razor refers to the theory of William of Ockam that the most likely answer to a given problem is the simplest one. Keep that in mind for today's reading.

The Covenant Renewed in Moab: Deuteronomy 29

Something weird happens here. See if you can catch what it is.

(2) Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, (3) the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. (4) But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear. (5) I have led you forty years in the wilderness. The clothes on your back have not worn out, and the sandals on your feet have not worn out; (6) you have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink - so that you may know that I am the Lord your God. (7) When you came to this place, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan came out against us for battle, but we defeated them....

Notice anything peculiar about the above section? The narrator shifts from Moses to God! Verse 2 sets Moses as the speaker, and as for the actual speech part of the verses 2 through 3, the voice is ambiguous. It is just as easy to imagine God speaking those words as Moses. Applying Occam's Razor, we should assume this actually was spoken by Moses. Verse 4 is most likely spoken by Moses as well because the reference to the Lord would otherwise be in the third person. The Lord speaking of himself as the Lord is not unprecedented, but again for the sake of simplicity we should assume that Moses is speaking these words because there is no reason not to believe he spoke all the previous ones. Let us then apply Occam's Razor to verse 5. Verse 6 gets a little weird. The speaker in this verse is clearly YHWH: "I am the Lord your God." Why is this? Moses is not God. So why does the narrator shift? The answer is probably a mixing of traditions - a speech of Moses with a speech of God. But the problem could also be solved by assuming that the biblical author really wasn't paying attention and just threw in the clause "so that you may know that I am the Lord your God." If that is removed, the rest of the passage appears as a unified whole. With it, though, there are many questions about the composition of this section - questions we do not have the answer to. What is clear is that for the rest of the speech the speaker is Moses - the Lord never again appears to refer to himself.

The Lord makes another covenant with the Israel at Moab, though the people gathered include aliens, so probably they are part of the covenant too. It is a very inclusive covenant, including even the unborn. Now you don't even have to agree to a covenant to be held to it - you may simply be born into it.

Israel is told not to worship idols as the foreign nations did in Egypt. Anyone who doubts the command of the Lord - who thinks "we are safe even though we go stubborn in our ways" will suffer the wrath of the Lord. The curses written in Deuteronomy will fall upon them and their names will be blotted out from under heaven. All the curses promised yesterday will befall Israel if they are not faithful to the Lord. Those that come upon the promised land will see the destruction and understand that the Lord's people turned away from the Lord.

The warning section of the covenant ends with a maxim that calls for obedience by assuring Israel that there are things the Lord knows that they do not, and all they need to do is to obey:

The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to use and to our children forever, to observe all the words of this law.

We are not yet through with the covenant's renewal. Tomorrow we will examine the more positive aspect of the covenant: the assurance of God's fidelity, and the exhortation to choose life. Thus will end the re-establishment of the covenant.

Ex. 35.1-39.43

We return now to more laws and instructions. Actually, the laws and instructions are nearly the same as the ones that God gave to Moses - Moses is just reiterating them for the Israelites and Bezalel is building the tabernacle as instructed. I am just going to go over these briefly because I am really itching to get to Leviticus, which, of course, will be filled with more laws and instructions. So here, in brief, are the laws and Bezalel's construction of the tabernacle. They are rather formulaic, and I attempt to echo this with my own style.

Sabbath Regulations / Preparations for Making the Tabernacle / Offerings of the Tabernacle / Bezalel and Oholiab / Construction of the Tabernacle / Making the Ark of the Covenant / Making the Table for the Bread of the Presence / Making the Lampstand / Making the Altar of Incense / Making the Anointing Oil and the Incense / Making Altar of Burnt Offering (and Basin) / Making the Court of the Tabernacle / Materials for the Tabernacle / Making the Vestments for the Priesthood / The Work Completed

Moses assembles the congregation of the Israelites and tells them...

Sabbath Regulations: Exodus 35.1-3

Keep the sabbath on the seventh day. Those who work should be put to death. Do not kindle fire in your house on the sabbath.

Preparations for Making the Tabernacle: Exodus 35.4-19

Moses collects an offering of essential materials for the tabernacle. The skillful are called to construct all its elements.

Offerings of the Tabernacle: Exodus 35.20-29

The people withdraw to collect their offerings, spin yarns for the curtains, etc. Everyone who feels compelled to do so makes this freewill offering to the Lord.

Building the Tabernacle

Bezalel and Oholiab: Exodus 35.30-36.7

[For more on these two character, see the post on Exodus 31.] Moses tells the Israelites that God has filled Bezalel and Oholiab with the divine spirit, making them skilled craftsmen in every craft.

Moses then calls the two men and "every skillful one to whom the Lord has given skill and understanding" to construct the sanctuary (Ex. 36.1). Moses gives them the materials he has collected, but every morning people bring more, so much so that the workers tell Moses that the Israelites are bringing too much. Moses actually has to command that no one else is to make an offering - what they had already brought it enough.

Construction of the Tabernacle: Exodus 36.8-38

The tabernacle is made in accordance with God's instructions [see Exodus 26 for the specifics, or click on "Exodus 36.8-38 above]. The biblical author does not explicate exactly who constructs it. Exodus 36.8-9 indicates that many skilled workers participate, but Exodus 36.10 onwards simply uses the pronoun "he." Since the narrative seems to focus on Bezalel, I would venture to say the pronoun refers to him. The next chapter seems to confirm this.

Making the Ark of the Covenant: Exodus 37.1-9

Bezalel makes the ark of the covenant and mercy seat, complete with cherubim, according to the divine instructions.

Making the Table for the Bread of the Presence: Exodus 37.10-16

Bezalel makes the table for the bread of the presence as well as its vessels, plates, dishes, bowls, and flagons of pure gold.

Making the Lampstand: Exodus 37.17-24

Bezalel makes the lampstand according to the divine instructions.

Making the Altar of Incense: Exodus 37.25-28

Bezalel makes the altar of incense according to the divine instructions.

Making the Anointing Oil and the Incense: Exodus 37.29

Bezalel makes the anointing oil and incense according to the divine instructions.

Making Altar of Burnt Offering (and Basin): Exodus 38.1-8

Bezalel makes the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils according to the divine instructions. And then something different:

He made the basin of bronze, with its stand of bronze, from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
(Ex. 38.8)

Making the Court of the Tabernacle: Exodus 38.9-20

Bezalel makes the court of the tabernacle according to the divine instructions.

An Inventory

Yes, the bible is much more than stories. It is also comprised of building instructions, laws, history, and apparently inventories. One of these inventories appear here.

Materials for the Tabernacle: Exodus 38.21-31
The inventory is introduced:

These are the records of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the covenant, which were drawn up at the commandment of Moses, the work of the Levites being under the direction of Ithamar son of the priest Aaron. Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord commanded Moses; and with him was Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, engraver, designer, and embroiderer in blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and in fine linen.
(Ex. 38.21-23)

Ithamar is introduced here, and Oholiab is given a greater emphasis. Before Oholiab was simply a man who helped Bezalel. Here his resume is given.

Here is the inventory of materials used:
Gold: 29 talents, 730 shekels
Silver: 100 talents, 1,775 shekels

This is half a shekel for everyone counted in the census (which, actually, has not taken place yet): 603,550 men. A talent of silver was used for each of the hundred bases of the curtain. The 1,775 shekels of silver were used to make hooks.

Bronze: 70 talents, 2,400 shekels

The bronze was used to make the bases for the entrance of the tent of meeting, the bronze altar and grating and utensils, the bases around the court, the bases of the gat, the pegs of the court, and the pegs of the tabernacle.

Making the Vestments for the Priesthood: Exodus 39.1-31
The making of the vestments is described, alternating between the pronouns "he" (presumably Bezalel) and "they" (presumably Bezalel and Oholiab) in referring to the craftsmen.

The Work Completed: Exodus 39.32-43
The Israelites, having completed the construction of the tabernacle and all its parts and adornments as the Lord commanded, present their work to Moses. When Moses sees that the Israelites did their work just as God commanded, he blesses them.

Exodus 34.1-35

Moses Makes New Tablets / The Covenant Renewed / The Shining Face of Moses

Moses Makes New Tablets: Exodus 34.1-9

The Lord tells Moses to cut two new tablets on which the Lord will write the words on the destroyed tablets. Moses should come up the mountain the next day with the cut tablets, after ensuring that neither people nor flocks are on the mountain.

The next day the Lord comes down on Mount Sinai in a cloud and reveals himself in a scene that parallels yesterday's revelation. The Lord proclaims the name YHWH and passees before Moses, proclaiming:

The Lord, the Lord,
a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,
yet by no means clearing the guilty,
but visiting the iniquity of the parents
upon the children
and the children’s children,
to the third and the fourth generation.
(Ex. 34.6-7)

The poem echoes Commandment Two (Ex. 20.5-6).

Moses bows his head to the earth and worships, praying for the Lord to go with the stiff-necked Israelites and pardon their iniquity.

The Covenant Renewed: Exodus 34.10-28

God creates a covenant with Israel that echoes a lot of what God has already told Moses. The Lord first promises wonders (the same noun from Ex. 3.20) that have never seen before - which is impressive, because the marvels in Egypt were quite marvelous.

The Lord the commands that Moses listens to a new decalogue, a new set of ten commandments. This is a different version of the Ten Commandments. Ten is a very convenient, round number for laws. The commandments come from a hodgepodge of other commandments in Exodus. At least half of these appear in Exodus 23.

The Commandments:
One: Destroy foreign gods to prevent intermarriage.

God will drive out the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. This is the third iteration of such a promise, nearly identical to the first. The Israelites should not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land. They should tear down the altars, pillars, and sacred poles, as the Israelites will only worship the Lord, "whose name is Jealous" (a pun) (Ex. 34.14).

Making a covenant with the inhabitants is the first step down a slippery slope. The Israelites will be invited to the sacrifices, eat of the sacrifices, and take wives from them who will convert their sons.

Two: Don't make false idols.

Three: Keep the festival of unleavened bread in the month of Abib.

Four: All the firstborn animals belong to God, though the firstborn sons may be redeemed. No one shall appear before God empty-handed.

Five: Keep the sabbath, even in plowing and harvest time.

Six: Observe the festival of weeks, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the festival of ingathering.

Seven: Three times a year all the males shall appear before God, for God will give Israel Land and cast out the enemies.

Eight: Do not offer the sacrifice with leaven, and destroy the passover sacrifice leftovers before morning.

Nine: The best of the first fruits should be brought to God.

Ten: Do not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

One of these things is not like the others. 



Can you guess which one it is? The first nine commandments concern ritual practice and the obedience of God, and are at least related to God. Commandment Ten...Not so much. No explanation is given, and no explanation was given either in Ex.23.19. The problem is the mixing of a fluid of life (milk) with death. Purity was very important to the Israelites. But this command still has nothing to do with God directly. Rather, it is about ritual observance for the sanctity of purity.

The Lord tells Moses to write these words, which are part of the covenant between God and Moses and Israel. Moses is with the Lord on the mountain for forty days and forty nights [a symbolic formula meaning"a long time"], and does not eat (bread) or drink (water) during this time. He spends this time writing the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

But wait! The text would seem to indicate that what Moses writes down isn't THE Ten Commandments with the "Thou shall not kill" and "Honor thy mother and father." Well, yes. That is what Moses does. The original ten commandments were probably shattered when Moses threw the original stones. So what the heck are we doing following the new ones? And who wrote down the old ones anyway? [The answer used to be "Moses" but this is not a belief held by many biblical scholars today]. Well, don't ask me that. Ask your religious leader or a professor. Then let me know what that person says.

The Shining Face of Moses: Exodus 34.29-35

Moses comes down the mountain one last time to correct the botched entrance earlier in the golden calf debacle. He returns, tablets in hand, not knowing that his face shines with the shine that one can only get talking to God. Aaron and the Israelites fear Moses at first, but Moses calls them near and gives them the all the commandments the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai. Whether this includes his first commandment-receiving journey the author does not say.

Moses puts a veil on his face that he removes before speaking to the Lord (in the proto-tent of meeting - see yesterday's post). When Moses exits with commandments, the skin on his face shines, and Moses again puts on his veil.

Tomorrow: More laws. Sorry?

Exodus 32.1-35

The Golden Calf

Moses has been on Mount Sinai since chapter 24, when he left Joshua halfway up the mountain (Ex. 24. 13) and went up to receive instructions from God. When last we left Moses, he received two stone tablets from God. What follows is a story of parallel thoughts and actions

The Golden Calf: Exodus 32.1-35

Moses has been out of the picture for a whole eight chapters, and the Israelites are starting to get antsy. Just before Moses went up the mountain, the Israelites twice promised to obey the Lord's command. Now Moses their leader has been gone for a whole eight chapters! What are they to do? The Israelites gather around Aaron and say to him:

"Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him."
(Ex. 32.1)

It seems that God has disappeared along with Moses. The Israelites do not say that God brought them out of Egypt, as stated in the First Commandment, which the people of Israel have already heard: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me" (Ex. 20.1). Rather, it is Moses that brought the people out of Egypt, and as he disappears, so does the God associated with them.

The people should remember God, but the dialectical tension (the difference between God's desire and Israel's desire) prevails. The people here, having been rescued by God and having lost their leader, search for a new god - and a new leader.

For someone that has seen firsthand the power of God and been granted the ability to perform miracles, Aaron is quick to forget about the God of his brother. Perhaps he is just a pushover, because he quickly decides to create idols, disobeying Commandment Two.

Aaron tells the Israelite to collect gold earrings worn by the women and children - perhaps the same earrings that the Israelites took from the Egyptians as they left Egypt. Aaron melts down the gold and forms and image of a calf. He tells the Israelites, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" (Ex. 32.4). That is not a correct statement, but perhaps what it is the Israelites, who believe they have lost their leader in a thick cloud on a trembling mountain, wish to hear. Suddenly Aaron finds he is the greatest authority of the Israelites - quite a bit of power has suddenly been bestowed upon him. And, as Peter Parker would say (quoting his Uncle Ben), "With great power comes great responsibility."

Aaron continues to parody the true Lord and the rituals of Israelite religion, building an altar before the calf and declaring that tomorrow will be the festival of the Lord. The next day people offer burnt offerings and other sacrifices, eat and drink, and then "revel" (with a sexual connotation). The practice of Israelite worship, of course, is entirely free of sex.

The Lord tells Moses to return to the Israelites:

The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshipped it and sacrificed to it, and said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” ’ The Lord said to Moses, ‘I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.’
(Ex. 32.7-10)

The Lord's sentiment parallels that of the Israelites. Just as the Israelites divorce themselves from God and emphasize Moses' role in bringing the Israelites out of Egypt, God divorces himself from the Israelites, calling them "your people," and emphasizes as well Moses' role in leading the Israelites. Moses is caught in the middle as a negotiator between God, who is having trouble keeping his followers, and the Israelites, who are having trouble keeping faith in God.

Moses intercedes on behalf of the Israelites in a scene reminiscent of Abraham interceding on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah. The difference is that Abraham was essentially imploring God for the sake of Lot and his family. Moses implores God for the sake of all the Israelites, who have lost their way. He makes an appeal to reason, asking God why God would destroy the people that he just brought out of Egypt, thereby having the Egyptians to believe that God is an evil God. Moses then invokes the divine covenant of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel - the covenant of land and progeny. Moses' argument is strong enough that the Lord decides not to bring disaster on the people.

Moses goes down the mountain carrying the two tablets of the covenant, both written on both sides by the hand of God. He encounters Joshua who says that the noise is like the sound of war. But Moses knows better:

It is not the sound made by victors,
or the sound made by losers;
it is the sound of revelers that I hear.
(Ex. 32.18)

When Moses sees the calf and the people dancing, his anger burns hot (paralleling God's burning wrath). Moses throws the tablets from his hands, breaking them at the foot of the mountain. This symbolic action has Moses destroying the embodiment of the word of God in front of the people who have disobeyed God's commands. That is, the commands that have been broken figuratively by disobedience are broken literally into fragments of text because of the disobedience.

Unlike God, Moses punishes the Israelites for their sins. Moses burns the calf and grinds it into a powder, puts it in the water, and has the Israelites drink it

What follows is a conversation between Moses and Aaron that parallel the previous conversation between God and Moses. The role have been transposed: Moses, who as a representative of the people calms God, now is calmed by Aaron, who is the new representative of the people.

Aaron seeks to calm his lord's burning anger, bringing the dialectical tension into the forefront, which God did in God's conversation with Moses:

And Aaron said, ‘Do not let the anger of my lord burn hot; you know the people, that they are bent on evil. They said to me, “Make us gods, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” So I said to them, “Whoever has gold, take it off ”; so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!’
(Ex. 32.22-24)

That's Aaron, removing the blame from himself. The bible is laconic, but Aaron should not be presumed innocent due to a lack of detail. Aaron's defense obscures the fact that he created the calf himself, and characterizes him as a liar, or at least inconstant. With Moses gone, Aaron gave into the demands of the Israelites. With Moses back, Aaron blames the Israelites for their wickedness while removing blame from himself. Oh, and Aaron seems to have a problem maintaining order, and the narrator is quick to point out that this is to the derision of their enemies, who probably now see the Israelites as a depraved group of people going wild in the wilderness with no leader.

It's time for retribution.

Moses has all those on the Lord's side come to him at the gate of the camp. The Levite males gather around and Moses delivers a command from God (one that we never actually saw Moses receiving): Each man is to kill "your brother, your friend, and your neighbor" (Ex. 32.27). Whether these are singular or collective nouns, I cannot say. Each man might kill three men, or perhaps a greater number. Perhaps each man should only kill one other man, as indicated by the phrasing in verse 29 (below). In any case, 3,000 people fall that day. Moses says to the Levite men: "Today you have ordained yourselves (or "Today ordain yourselves) for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of a son or a brother, and so have brought a blessing on yourselves this day" (Ex. 32.29).

Like Abraham and Jacob, these men were tested with violence to prove themselves worthy of service to the Lord. Unlike Abraham, they did not have to kill. Unlike Jacob, they killed and did not wrestle. But clearly the connection between violence and faithfulness is established. The killings also may serve as an attempted action of mass purification, but this idea is not pursued by the biblical authors.

The next day Moses tells the people that they have sinned a "great sin." He goes up to the Lord to try to make atonement on their behalf. Moses pleads their case, and asks if their sin is not forgiven, that God should "blot me out of the book that you have written" (Ex. 32.32; a divine roll of the living is an ancient tradition to many middle eastern cultures). God replies that God [only] blots out the names of those who sin.

The Lord then commands Moses to lead the people to "the place about which I have spoken to you" (Ex. 32.34). The angel of the Lord will lead them. And God promises to punish the Israelites when the day comes to punish their sins.

The chapter ends with a dig aimed at Aaron:

Then the Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf—the one that Aaron made.
(Ex. 32.35)

The author seems to take Aaron to task. At first the author seems to reiterate Aaron's point of view, that it was the people that made the calf, but the author corrects this with the truth. Indeed it was Aaron that made the golden calf.

Tomorrow: Sayonara, Sinai.

Exodus 23.10-14.18

The Conquest of Canaan Promised / The Blood of the Covenant / On the Mountain with God

The Conquest of Canaan Promised: Exodus 23.20-33

In the comments to Exodus 20.22-22.15 Carlos brought up a wonderful question regarding laws about killing. If the Sixth Commandment forbids killing, and killing in cold blood is punishable by death, what are the implications for warfare. This will actually be addressed in today's reading, so read on my friends, read on.

God promises to send a (guardian) angel in front of the Israelites to lead them into the land the Lord has prepared for them. They shall not disobey him, "for he will not pardon your transgression; for my name is in him" (Ex. 23.21).

That is an interesting way of putting it - the Lord's name is what gives the angel authority. This is an early example of the power of the divine name. The angel's authority derives from the tetragrammaton YHWH.

If the people obey the angel, God promises to be an enemy to the enemies of Israel. Further, God promises:

When my angel goes in front of you, and brings you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, you shall not bow down to their gods, or worship them, or follow their practices, but you shall utterly demolish them and break their pillars in pieces.
(Ex. 23.23-24)

The first sentence promised the people in the promised land will be blotted out by God, the divine warrior. The second promises that the Israelites will destroy their opponents. But this is not a contradiction. The warfare that is to take place is guided by God. God as divine warrior will help the Israelites win their battles. Both will kill human beings, but because the killing is divinely sanctioned, there shall be no retributive action against the Israelites. Perhaps, even, the prohibitions against killing only apply to killing Hebrews. This would allow for the protection of slaves (who would have been Hebrews paying off debts) and put into context the passover prohibitions against outsiders taking part without circumcision. I'm considering this idea that the laws apply only to the Hebrews and the treatment of other Hebrews.

What does this have to do with literature? Well insomuch as laws can be viewed as pieces of literature, the interaction between individual laws and their various interpretations can be analyzed to learn a little about the unconscious or at least unstated views of the authors.

For worshipping the Lord, God will bless the Israelites' bread and water, remove sickness from them, prevent miscarriage and barrenness, and give everyone a long life.

The people the Israelites face will be thrown into confusion and flee before their pursuers. The Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites will be driven from the land by pestilence. But the people will be driven out slowly, so that wild animals do not populate the desolate land before the Israelites get there.

Israel's borders will reach from the Red Sea to the "Sea of the Philistines" (Mediterranean) and from the wilderness (of Negeb) too the Euphrates River.

The Israelites are to make no covenants between the foreign peoples and their gods. They shall not live in the promised land, because they will influence the Israelites to sin against God, "for if you worship their gods, it will surely be a snare to you" (Ex. 23.33).

The Blood of the Covenant: Exodus 24.1-8

The Lord tells Moses to come up the mountain with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders, and to worship at a distance. Only Moses is to come close to the Lord.

The Lord then tells Moses to go down to the people and tell them all the ordinances and words of the Lord [the contents of the last few posts]. Wen the people hear, they answer in one voice that they will obey the words of the Lord.

Moses writes down all the words of the Lord. In the morning he builds an altar a the foot of the mountain and erects twelve pillars to correspond with the twelve tribes. He has the young men prepare burnt offerings and sacrifice oxen offerings of well-being. Moses puts half of the blood in absins, and the other half he dashes against the altar. He takes the book of the covenant (which he just wrote, and which is probably parchment and not stone) and reads it to the people. The people agree to obey the Lord. Moses takes the blood in basins and dashes it on the people, saying, "See the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words" (Ex. 24.8).

The covenant is here reestablished in the blood of sacrifice on a new altar. The people agree to the new commandments of the Lord. But actually obeying the commands...Let's just say that is easier said than done.

On the Mountain with God: Exodus 24.9-18

Moses takes Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders up the mountain. [Envelope structure alert! See the opening of chapter 24, above.]

Then it gets a little weird. The God that is so coy, so careful not to reveal himself, appears to these men:

and they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there was something like a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. God did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; also they beheld God, and they ate and drank.
(Ex. 24.10-11)

God, for the first time in a long time, is anthropomorphic. God does not appear as an "angel of the Lord" or a cloud or darkness. God does not speak as thunder. Man is surely like God; God has feet and hands.

Immediately following this [different source alert!], Moses is again commanded to come up onto the mountain. He is to wait there for God to give him tablets of stone with the law and commandments for the Israelites. Moses sets out with his assistant Joshua and goes up the mountain. The elders are to wait until Moses' return, and Aaron and Hur are to settle disputes.

Moses goes up the cloud-covered mountain, the cloud a manifestation of the glory of the Lord. The cloud covers the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord calls Moses out of the cloud. Then the glory of the Lord appears like a devouring fire on top of the mountain.

Moses enters the cloud, and stays on the mountain a symbolic forty days and forty nights. Remember, numbers in the bible are not always literal. I could go on and on about the numbers in Revelation, which I wrote my undergraduate English Honors thesis on. But I won't. I'd be more than happy to respond to individual questions, however.

Exodus 19.1-19.25

The Israelites Reach Mount Sinai / The People Consecrated

The Israelites Reach Mount Sinai: Exodus 19.1-9a

From Rephidim, the Israelites enter the wilderness of Sinai and camp out in from of the mountain there. Moses goes up to God, who calls out to him from the mountain:

Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.
(Ex. 19.3-6)

The first part juxtaposes the Lord's potential actions against humanity, as just demonstrated with the Egyptians and Israelites: destruction versus salvation, taking life versus ensuring it.

The second part emphasizes how the Israelites may maintain their protected status. The protection introduced with the Egypt narrative is promised, if the Israelites satisfy the conditions of obeying God's voice and keeping God's covenant. God, for is part, is keeping his covenant. And though God listened to the voices of the people when they cried out in the wilderness, God reminds the Israelites that the world and all the people in it belong to the Lord.

The Israelites have the potential to be the greatest of the people of the earth, the priests closest to God. They will be a "holy nation," which does not necessarily mean religious, but certainly carries a connotation of "apartness." Holiness, for the Israelites, is an orthoprax matter, a matter of practice. The legal commands ahead will exemplify this but here is a quick example: kosher laws forbid mixing milk with meat - they must be kept separate. Likewise, circumcision is a mark that separates the Israelites from the other people of Canaan. For the Israelites, holiness is very frequently a matter of some sort of separation of God's people. That is really what God is talking about, anyway - keeping what is "other" away from the Lord's holy nation.

Moses calls together the elders and tells them what the Lord has said. They all answer as one that they will do as the Lord has commanded. Moses goes back to the Lord and reports the words of the people. The Lord responds that he will come to Moses in a dense cloud, so that the Israelites will hear when the Lord speaks to Moses and thereby trust Moses "ever after" (Ex. 19.9).

The People Consecrated: Exodus 19.9b-25

The Lord further tells Moses that the Israelites should consecrate themselves and wash their clothes, for in two days "the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people" (Ex. 19.11). No one is to go up the mountain - or even touch it. Those that do, animal or human, should be stoned or shot with arrows. Only when they hear a long blast of a trumpet may they go up the mountain.

The reason for all this security is that the people are impure and must be consecrated. Continuing with the theme of "holiness," there is to be no mixing of the sacred and the profane.

Moses goes down from the mountain. He consecrates the people, and they wash their clothes. Moses also commands that the men should not go near women. This command is made in order to maintain ritual purity. Again, there can be no mixing of sacred and profane. Intercourse, while it is not sinful, can cause a person to become impure because of the exchange of bodily fluids.

On the third day there is thunder and lightning and the Lord appears as a thick cloud on the mountain. The trumpet blasts so loud that the Israelites tremble at its sound.

Moses brings the people to the base of the mountain to meet God. Smoke curls around Mount Sinai, which is shaking violently. As the trumpet blasts become louder, Moses speaks with God, who answers in thunder.

The Lord then descends to the top of the mountain and summons Moses to the top. The Lord tells Moses to warn the people "not to break through to the Lord to look; otherwise many of them will perish" (Ex. 19.21). Even the priests must consecrate themselves.

Moses responds that no one is permitted up Mount Sinai; God himself made the command to "Set limits around the mountain and keep it holy" (Ex. 19.23).

The Lord then commands Moses to bring Aaron up, but that no one else should come up the mountain.

If you have been counting, Moses' journey back down the mountain represents the third time that Moses comes back down the mountain after speaking with God. That is a lot of back and forth.

Tomorrow: The Ten Commandments.