Judges 19: The Levite's Concubine / Gibeah's Crime
Sometimes stories repeat themselves in the bible with different characters and dialogue, sort of the same way the Romeo and Juliet is updated in West Side Story. Or maybe you're watching a movie where a white man is thrown into a group of natives and learns something about them while still leading them in some way. Is that Dances With Wolves or Fern Gully or Avatar?
In any case, these story types repeat. Today we will see a repetition of the Sodom story in the "Gibeah's Crime" section below.
The Levite's Concubine: Judges 19.1-21
This is the third time in three chapters that the biblical author informs us that these stories take place in the days "when there was no king in Israel." These stories all exemplify in one way or another the normative lawlessness at the time.
And that thing about the repeating stories? It also appears here, with a new spin on the courtship scene between Jacob and Rachel
A Levite living in Ephraim takes a concubine for himself from Bethlehem in Judah. At some point the concubine becomes angry with the Levite and leaves for her father's house. Four months later the Levite sets out to woo her back. The father-in-law is overjoyed to see him and detains him five days. The Levite tries to leave with his concubine, but the father keeps insisting for some reason or another on eating in drinking (the antithesis of the Jacob story, in which he had to work for his wife).
The man leaves late on the fifth day and finds himself at Jebus (Jerusalem). His servant asks to stop there, but the Leivte insists on continuing to Gibeah, a city inhabited by Benjaminites, not the non-Israelite Jebusites. Apparently it is better to stay with family when you are out.
Gibeah is rather inhospitable. No one takes in the Levite, his concubine, and his servant, though they need no food or wine. They resolve to spend the night in the square when a man comes and offers him his house, saying, "Peace be to you. I will care for all your wants; only do not spend the night in the square."
Gibeah's Crime: Judges 19.22-30
That night a perverse lot surrounds the house and demands to have sexual intercourse with the Levite, the guest in this man's house. The man, as a sign of hospitality, offers his virgin daughter and the man's concubine, indicating their order of importance: daughter, female guest, male guest. (Where the servant figures in, it does not say.) The men will not listen, so Levite grabs his concubine and throws her outside, presumably to save himself. (In a perverse way, he returns the hospitality of the man by not throwing out the virgin daughter instead/as well.)
The men outside "wantonly raped her, and abused her all through the night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break, they let her go. As morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man's house where her master was, until it was light." Besides the graphic (by biblical standards) depiction, the sheer length of this statement indicates the gruesomeness of the crime. Another important detail: the Levite is referred to the woman's master, though their relationship is man-concubine, not master-slave. Is it possible the biblical author's compassion for the woman has leaked into the writing?
The master awakes the next morning, finds his concubine lying at the door of the house with her hands on the threshold. She is at not only that literal threshold, but probably the threshold of death as well. If ever there was a symbolic, poetic description in the bible, this is it. But the Levite simply (coarsely?) tells his wife to get up so they can go. She does not answer. The author does not say if she is dead.
The Levite puts the concubine on his donkey and they head home. When the Levite arrives home, he uses a knife to cut his concubine limb from limb into 12 pieces, which he sends throughout Israel. It is to be delivered with this message: "Has such a thing ever happened since the day that the Israelites came up from the land of Egypt until this day? Consider it, take counsel, and speak out."
And there is speaking out, as we shall see tomorrow. And in the meantime we should dwell on the gruesomeness of the story - and the biblical author has given us many gruesome things to consider. Which is most disturbing - the homosexual tendencies of the men of Gibeah, the woman's treatment by the men of Gibeah, the Levite's treatment of his wife at the threshold, or the message sent limb by limb to the tribes of Israel?
Showing posts with label Levites. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Levites. Show all posts
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
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:
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.
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:
- Kedesh in Galilee (Naphtali territory)
- Shechem (Ephraim territory)
- Kiriath-arba (AKA Hebron; Judah Territory
- Bezer (beyond the Jordan in Reuben Territory)
- Ramoth in Gilead (beyond the Jordan in Gad Territory)
- Golan in Bashan (beyond the Jordan in Manasseh Territory)
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.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 21.43-45)
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Numbers 18-19: The place of Levites and priests in society
Numbers 18: Responsibility of Priests and Levites / The Priests' Portion / The Levites' Portion
Numbers 19: Ceremony of the Red Heifer
Yesterday's reading closed with the Israelites fearing for their lives after the violent deaths of those who approached the Lord where only priest should tread: "We are perishing; we are lost, all of us are lost! Everyone who approaches the tabernacle of the Lord will die. Are we all to perish?" (Num. 17.12-13). Today's reading offers a response clarifying the roles of the priests and Levites as the Israelites wander in the wilderness.
Responsibility of Priests and Levites: Numbers 18.1-7
The Lord directly tells Aaron that he and his sons shall be held responsible for offenses committed by the priests. The Levites are added for offenses connected with the sanctuary - probably meaning that if a Levite goes near the sanctuary, he will die. The Levites are to serve the priests in the day-to-day tasks of ministering to God and the people, actions connected with the tent. However, they may not approach the utensils of the sanctuary or the altar, otherwise the Levites, Aaron, and Aaron's sons will all die. Duties of the sanctuary and the altar are the responsibility of the priests only.
God declares Aaron's priesthood to be a gift, and the Levites to be a gift as well. But Aaron and his sons must be diligent in their priestly duties to avoid death.
The Priests' Portion: Numbers 18.8-20
The Lord declares to Aaron that he and his sons are in charge of the sacrifices, and for that reason receive the leftovers of the most holy offerings (grain, sin and guilt), whether bread or grain or animal.
Elevation offering belong to all of Aaron's family, the women included.
The best of the wine and grain and the first fruits also belong to the entire family, as well as every devoted thing to the Lord and the firstborn of all creatures (except for the firstborns of humans and unclean animals, which are redeemed).
In exchange for this means of sustainment, Aaron and his family are not allotted land, and their possessions are to be shared with all the Israelites.
The Levites' Portion: Numbers 18.21-32
Likewise, the Levites receive no allotment of land or inheritance. They survive on the tithes of grain and wine from the Israelites. These tithes are in turn tithed and given to God. That is, they are given to the Aaronite priests for their own use. (As if the Levites were not angry enough already!) The best of all the tithes is given over to Aaron and his sons. The rest is "payment for you service in the tent of meeting" (Num. 18.31). To profane the holy gifts is to invite death.
In contrast to what is stated above, the Lord explicitly commands Aaron that the Levites will bear responsibility for their own offense. Huh.
Ceremony of the Red Heifer: Numbers 19
Now that that is all cleared away, it is time to lay down some commandments. Oh yeah.
The Lord commands that the Israelites bring a red heifer to Moses and Aaron. The red heifer is to be without blemish or defect and a yoke must never have been laid on it. The heifer will be given to the priest Eleazar, who will slaughter it outside the camp. Eleazar will take some of the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the tent of meeting. The heifer should then be burned by another, and the priest will throw cedar, hyssop, and crimson material on the fire. The priest and the one who burns the heifer must then wash their clothes and body. They may reenter the camp, but will remain unclean until evening.
A clean person is to take the ashes and deposit them in a clean place outside the camp. The ashes will be used in the water for cleansing. This person too shall wash his clothes and will be unclean until evening.
What follows are commandments regarding the water for cleansing.
Anyone who touches a dead body will be unclean seven days. They will purify themselves on the third and seventh day with the water of cleansing, and become clean. Those that do not will be cut off from the Lord. If a person dies in a tent, every person who enters the tent as well as the tent itself must be cleansed with the water.
Learn More
The red heifer will feature more prominently into later stories. Just you wait.
The red heifer, it is said by some, is a requirement if the Third Temple of Israel is to be built. See more on the history and modern implications of the red heifer at the Temple Institute web site. [The Temple Institute is an organization in Jerusalem whose long-term goal is to "do all in our limited power to bring about the building of the Holy Temple in our time."]
For more on the contemporary fundamentalist Christian take on the red heifer, check out The End of Days by Gershom Gorenberg. It takes a look at religion and politics inside and outside of Israel, exploring the tensions, similarities, and differences between them. Though written before September 11, 2001, its look at religious fundamentalism in the Middle East and America is indispensable.
Numbers 19: Ceremony of the Red Heifer
Yesterday's reading closed with the Israelites fearing for their lives after the violent deaths of those who approached the Lord where only priest should tread: "We are perishing; we are lost, all of us are lost! Everyone who approaches the tabernacle of the Lord will die. Are we all to perish?" (Num. 17.12-13). Today's reading offers a response clarifying the roles of the priests and Levites as the Israelites wander in the wilderness.
Responsibility of Priests and Levites: Numbers 18.1-7
The Lord directly tells Aaron that he and his sons shall be held responsible for offenses committed by the priests. The Levites are added for offenses connected with the sanctuary - probably meaning that if a Levite goes near the sanctuary, he will die. The Levites are to serve the priests in the day-to-day tasks of ministering to God and the people, actions connected with the tent. However, they may not approach the utensils of the sanctuary or the altar, otherwise the Levites, Aaron, and Aaron's sons will all die. Duties of the sanctuary and the altar are the responsibility of the priests only.
God declares Aaron's priesthood to be a gift, and the Levites to be a gift as well. But Aaron and his sons must be diligent in their priestly duties to avoid death.
The Priests' Portion: Numbers 18.8-20
The Lord declares to Aaron that he and his sons are in charge of the sacrifices, and for that reason receive the leftovers of the most holy offerings (grain, sin and guilt), whether bread or grain or animal.
Elevation offering belong to all of Aaron's family, the women included.
The best of the wine and grain and the first fruits also belong to the entire family, as well as every devoted thing to the Lord and the firstborn of all creatures (except for the firstborns of humans and unclean animals, which are redeemed).
In exchange for this means of sustainment, Aaron and his family are not allotted land, and their possessions are to be shared with all the Israelites.
The Levites' Portion: Numbers 18.21-32
Likewise, the Levites receive no allotment of land or inheritance. They survive on the tithes of grain and wine from the Israelites. These tithes are in turn tithed and given to God. That is, they are given to the Aaronite priests for their own use. (As if the Levites were not angry enough already!) The best of all the tithes is given over to Aaron and his sons. The rest is "payment for you service in the tent of meeting" (Num. 18.31). To profane the holy gifts is to invite death.
In contrast to what is stated above, the Lord explicitly commands Aaron that the Levites will bear responsibility for their own offense. Huh.
Ceremony of the Red Heifer: Numbers 19
Now that that is all cleared away, it is time to lay down some commandments. Oh yeah.
The Lord commands that the Israelites bring a red heifer to Moses and Aaron. The red heifer is to be without blemish or defect and a yoke must never have been laid on it. The heifer will be given to the priest Eleazar, who will slaughter it outside the camp. Eleazar will take some of the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the tent of meeting. The heifer should then be burned by another, and the priest will throw cedar, hyssop, and crimson material on the fire. The priest and the one who burns the heifer must then wash their clothes and body. They may reenter the camp, but will remain unclean until evening.
A clean person is to take the ashes and deposit them in a clean place outside the camp. The ashes will be used in the water for cleansing. This person too shall wash his clothes and will be unclean until evening.
What follows are commandments regarding the water for cleansing.
Anyone who touches a dead body will be unclean seven days. They will purify themselves on the third and seventh day with the water of cleansing, and become clean. Those that do not will be cut off from the Lord. If a person dies in a tent, every person who enters the tent as well as the tent itself must be cleansed with the water.
Learn More
The red heifer will feature more prominently into later stories. Just you wait.
The red heifer, it is said by some, is a requirement if the Third Temple of Israel is to be built. See more on the history and modern implications of the red heifer at the Temple Institute web site. [The Temple Institute is an organization in Jerusalem whose long-term goal is to "do all in our limited power to bring about the building of the Holy Temple in our time."]
For more on the contemporary fundamentalist Christian take on the red heifer, check out The End of Days by Gershom Gorenberg. It takes a look at religion and politics inside and outside of Israel, exploring the tensions, similarities, and differences between them. Though written before September 11, 2001, its look at religious fundamentalism in the Middle East and America is indispensable.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Numbers 16-17: Why narrative strands don't necessarily matter
Numbers 16: Revolt of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram
Numbers 17: The Budding of Aaron's Rod
The HarperCollins Study Bible offers the following footnote for Numbers 16:
I will try to tell the narrative as completely as possible, but the important part is the message.
Revolt of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram: Numbers 16
Korah (a Levite), along with Dathan and Abiram (both Reubenites) gather 250 Israelite men and confront Moses [or Moses and Aaron]. They tell Moses: "You have gone too far! All the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. So why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?" (Num. 16.3).
There are actually two separate and contradictory arguments here. The first is an argument for a sort of theological communism. Because God resides in the tent of meeting among all the Israelites, all the Israelites deserve equal access to him. The second argument, which runs contrary to the first, is that the Levites should have as much access to God as Moses and Aaron because they have been declared separate from the rest of Israel. The first argument equalizes all the Israelites. The second only equalizes the Levites with Moses and Aaron.
Moses responds to the second argument (argued by Korah, as it concerns the Levites only) with a test. The next morning, Korah and his company of 250 are to light censers (trays that hold coal on which incense are burned). The one that the Lord has chosen will then become apparent. Moses then rebukes the Levites for their pride, asking, "is it too little that" God has set them apart so that they may serve him. They are in a favored position, and yet they want more.
Moses then responds to the first argument by calling for Dathan and Abiram (who made this argument because they are members of the lay people and therefore would believe in equality for all). They respond using the same phrasing Moses used to rebuke the Levites: "Is it too little that" Moses brought the Israelites out of Egypt to die in the wilderness. In their estimation, Egypt is "a land flowing with milk and honey," why not then return? Clearly they have forgotten about their oppression.
Angered, Moses tells the Lord to pay no mind to the offering of the people that doubt the Lord.
The next day, the people gather before the tent of meeting and God appears in a pillar of cloud. The Lord speaks to Moses and Aaron, telling them to step aside so he may consume the congregation. Moses and Aaron intercede on behalf of the people a la Abraham: "O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one person sin and you become angry with the whole congregation?" (Num. 16.22). The Lord changes his command, telling Moses that the congregation should get away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram stand at the entrance to their tents along with their wives and children [this shows that God's wrath extends to the children of sinners]. Moses stands before them and declares that the congregation will know that the Lord sent Moses if the men and their families are swallowed up by the ground and they go down alive to Sheol [not hell, but a shady underworld].
As soon as Moses finishes speaking, the ground "opened its mouth and swallowed them up" along with their families and household goods [the passage of Numbers 16.31-33 mentions only Korah, though the spirit of the story would have the others swallowed up as well]. The earth closes up over where they stood. This thoroughly freaks out the congregation, which does not respond by acknowledging Moses as their leader, but rather by running away fearing they too will be swallowed up. That seems to be a pretty rational response, actually.
Meanwhile, the 250 men [probably Levites, as they are actually allowed to handle the censers] offering incense are all consumed by the fire of the Lord, a la Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu. The moral of the story seems to be obey God and Moses.
Interestingly, the censers are purified by the blaze, as the sacrificers become the sacrificed and sanctify the censers. The holy bronze censers, consecrated in the fire of the Lord [comprised of the burning of unfaithful men] are hammered out as a covering for the altar. This serves as a reminder that only the descendants of Aaron, the priests, may offer incense before the Lord.
What follows is one of the tensest cinematic moments of the Bible.
The next day there is backlash as the Israelites accuse Moses and Aaron of killing the people of the Lord. The two turn around and find God has appeared in the form of a cloud in the tent of meeting.
God has had it with these people.
God tells Moses, "Get away from the congregation, so that I may consume them in a moment." At this Moses falls on his face, as a way of begging the Lord not to do so. Moses tells Aaron to quickly take incense into the congregation, because God has cast a plague on them. The plague has already begun by the time Aaron gets there, and people are dying all over the place. Aaron makes atonement for the people with the incense. "He stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stopped" (Num. 16.48). A vengeful God, however, has killed 14,700 by the plague, in addition to those who died along with Korah and the 250 burned improperly offering incense.
The Budding of Aaron's Rod: Numbers 17
There is one final display of Aaron and Moses' divinely-granted leadership, a response to the first argument above. The Lord tells Moses to get a staff from each ancestral house and write each man's name on the staff. Aaron's name is to go on Levi's staff (having already proved his authority over them). The staffs are placed before the Lord in the tent of the covenant. The next day, Aaron's is discovered to have sprouted, a symbol that Aaron is divinely chosen.
God attempts to use the staff as a deterrent against rebellious Israelites: "Put back the staff of Aaron before the covenant, to be kept as a warning to rebels, so that you may make an end of their complaints against me, or else they will die" (Num. 17.10).
As today's reading has shown, however, constancy is hard to come by. And if the congregation always has something to complain about. Having lost the battle for equality, they mourn, "We are perishing; we are lost, all of us are lost! Everyone who approaches the tabernacle of the Lord will die. Are we all to perish?" (Num. 17.12-13. The answer is no. If the people stay away from the tabernacle and allow the Levites to perform their sacrifices, no one will die.
Numbers 17: The Budding of Aaron's Rod
The HarperCollins Study Bible offers the following footnote for Numbers 16:
"In this section on the revolt of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, there is some mixing of traditions: the complaints are against Moses or Aaron or bother; the complaints are about secular or sacred leadership; either Levites or Reubenites or even the whole community are the rebels; the rebels are swallowed whole or burned by fore from the Lord."Yikes! That's quite some weaving! But keeping track of the myriad strands keeps us from realizing what the author is truly trying to say: that the Israelites are wary of leadership, wayward in their faith of God, and generally disobedient. And really, the biblical author could be saying this about humankind in general. There will always be the dissenters and the people that think they could do it better. But in the biblical narrative, we are shown that there is a supreme leader - the Lord. And if the Lord is not obeyed or the Lord's intermediaries are not obeyed, tragedy will strike the guilty. With few exceptions (see Job) the bible is fairly straightforward in this respect: Obey God and all is well. Disobey God and all is not well. Yet it is the obedience and disobedience that drive biblical narrative. Dialectical tensions between God and the Israelites - the tensions between divine will hand human freewill - ensure the lively narrative we know.
I will try to tell the narrative as completely as possible, but the important part is the message.
Revolt of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram: Numbers 16
Korah (a Levite), along with Dathan and Abiram (both Reubenites) gather 250 Israelite men and confront Moses [or Moses and Aaron]. They tell Moses: "You have gone too far! All the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. So why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?" (Num. 16.3).
There are actually two separate and contradictory arguments here. The first is an argument for a sort of theological communism. Because God resides in the tent of meeting among all the Israelites, all the Israelites deserve equal access to him. The second argument, which runs contrary to the first, is that the Levites should have as much access to God as Moses and Aaron because they have been declared separate from the rest of Israel. The first argument equalizes all the Israelites. The second only equalizes the Levites with Moses and Aaron.
Moses responds to the second argument (argued by Korah, as it concerns the Levites only) with a test. The next morning, Korah and his company of 250 are to light censers (trays that hold coal on which incense are burned). The one that the Lord has chosen will then become apparent. Moses then rebukes the Levites for their pride, asking, "is it too little that" God has set them apart so that they may serve him. They are in a favored position, and yet they want more.
Moses then responds to the first argument by calling for Dathan and Abiram (who made this argument because they are members of the lay people and therefore would believe in equality for all). They respond using the same phrasing Moses used to rebuke the Levites: "Is it too little that" Moses brought the Israelites out of Egypt to die in the wilderness. In their estimation, Egypt is "a land flowing with milk and honey," why not then return? Clearly they have forgotten about their oppression.
Angered, Moses tells the Lord to pay no mind to the offering of the people that doubt the Lord.
The next day, the people gather before the tent of meeting and God appears in a pillar of cloud. The Lord speaks to Moses and Aaron, telling them to step aside so he may consume the congregation. Moses and Aaron intercede on behalf of the people a la Abraham: "O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one person sin and you become angry with the whole congregation?" (Num. 16.22). The Lord changes his command, telling Moses that the congregation should get away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram stand at the entrance to their tents along with their wives and children [this shows that God's wrath extends to the children of sinners]. Moses stands before them and declares that the congregation will know that the Lord sent Moses if the men and their families are swallowed up by the ground and they go down alive to Sheol [not hell, but a shady underworld].
As soon as Moses finishes speaking, the ground "opened its mouth and swallowed them up" along with their families and household goods [the passage of Numbers 16.31-33 mentions only Korah, though the spirit of the story would have the others swallowed up as well]. The earth closes up over where they stood. This thoroughly freaks out the congregation, which does not respond by acknowledging Moses as their leader, but rather by running away fearing they too will be swallowed up. That seems to be a pretty rational response, actually.
Meanwhile, the 250 men [probably Levites, as they are actually allowed to handle the censers] offering incense are all consumed by the fire of the Lord, a la Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu. The moral of the story seems to be obey God and Moses.
Interestingly, the censers are purified by the blaze, as the sacrificers become the sacrificed and sanctify the censers. The holy bronze censers, consecrated in the fire of the Lord [comprised of the burning of unfaithful men] are hammered out as a covering for the altar. This serves as a reminder that only the descendants of Aaron, the priests, may offer incense before the Lord.
What follows is one of the tensest cinematic moments of the Bible.
The next day there is backlash as the Israelites accuse Moses and Aaron of killing the people of the Lord. The two turn around and find God has appeared in the form of a cloud in the tent of meeting.
God has had it with these people.
God tells Moses, "Get away from the congregation, so that I may consume them in a moment." At this Moses falls on his face, as a way of begging the Lord not to do so. Moses tells Aaron to quickly take incense into the congregation, because God has cast a plague on them. The plague has already begun by the time Aaron gets there, and people are dying all over the place. Aaron makes atonement for the people with the incense. "He stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stopped" (Num. 16.48). A vengeful God, however, has killed 14,700 by the plague, in addition to those who died along with Korah and the 250 burned improperly offering incense.
The Budding of Aaron's Rod: Numbers 17
There is one final display of Aaron and Moses' divinely-granted leadership, a response to the first argument above. The Lord tells Moses to get a staff from each ancestral house and write each man's name on the staff. Aaron's name is to go on Levi's staff (having already proved his authority over them). The staffs are placed before the Lord in the tent of the covenant. The next day, Aaron's is discovered to have sprouted, a symbol that Aaron is divinely chosen.
God attempts to use the staff as a deterrent against rebellious Israelites: "Put back the staff of Aaron before the covenant, to be kept as a warning to rebels, so that you may make an end of their complaints against me, or else they will die" (Num. 17.10).
As today's reading has shown, however, constancy is hard to come by. And if the congregation always has something to complain about. Having lost the battle for equality, they mourn, "We are perishing; we are lost, all of us are lost! Everyone who approaches the tabernacle of the Lord will die. Are we all to perish?" (Num. 17.12-13. The answer is no. If the people stay away from the tabernacle and allow the Levites to perform their sacrifices, no one will die.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Numbers 3
Levite Day!
Sons of Aaron / Duties of the Levites / Census of the Levites / Redemption of the Firstborn
The Levites were sort of glossed over in the previous two chapters because they function separately from the twelve tribes. As we will see, the Levites serve a ritual function for the Israelites.
Sons of Aaron: Numbers 3.1-4
The chapter kicks off with a brief genealogy of Aaron and Moses "at the time when the Lord spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai" (Num 3.1). This specific detail helps to set the location - or at least remove the reader in time and space from the revelation on Mount Sinai.
Aaron's sons are Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Nadab and Abihu died for making an offering incorrectly back in Leviticus 10. They left no children. Eleazar and Ithamar, however, continued to serve as priests, assisting their father.
Duties of the Levites: Numbers 3.5-13
The Lord tells Moses to gather the Levites. A distinction is then made between the Levite Aaron and his descendants and the rest of the Levitical tribe. The tribe will perform duties for Aaron in front of the tent of meeting. They will perform ritual functions and be responsible for the upkeep of the tabernacle. However, the Levites will not be priests.
The Lord then tells Moses that he accepts the Levites as substitutes for the firstborns that are to be consecrated to God. This dedication of the firstborns (and substitution of the Levites) is explicitly linked to the killing of the firstborns in Egypt. God states:
Census of the Levites: Numbers 3.14-39
The Levites were ignored in the census covered yesterday, but today their own census is taken.
The census is taken by ancestral houses (the sons of Levi), which are broken up into clans (the sons of the sons). The heads of the ancestral houses are Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
Redemption of the Firstborn: Numbers 3.40-51
The firstborns are all to be enrolled, even though the Levites serve as substitutes for them. And remember God's commandment that all firstborn humans and livestock are to be given to God? Well, the Levites' livestock is to serve as a substitute for those livestock that were to be sacrificed! That is pretty convenient. And it turns the Levites into a very symbolic people. They are people utterly devoted to God. Indeed, they represent all the firstborns. Their cattle exist simply so other cattle do not need to be sacrificed to God.
There just so happen to be 273 firstborns among the Israelites who have no Levites to substitute for them. That is, the firstborn Israelites outnumber the Levites. These firstborn Israelites are to be redeemed at five shekels apiece. The money is given to Aaron, presumably for the preservation of the sanctuary. The system is interesting. It is based on the arbitrary belief that each firstborn must be dedicated to the Lord, and that the Levites may redeem them. The rest of the money is a sort of a tax, therefore, for the number of firstborns being out of balance with those taking care of the sanctuary. This truly is government at work.
Sons of Aaron / Duties of the Levites / Census of the Levites / Redemption of the Firstborn
The Levites were sort of glossed over in the previous two chapters because they function separately from the twelve tribes. As we will see, the Levites serve a ritual function for the Israelites.
Sons of Aaron: Numbers 3.1-4
The chapter kicks off with a brief genealogy of Aaron and Moses "at the time when the Lord spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai" (Num 3.1). This specific detail helps to set the location - or at least remove the reader in time and space from the revelation on Mount Sinai.
Aaron's sons are Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Nadab and Abihu died for making an offering incorrectly back in Leviticus 10. They left no children. Eleazar and Ithamar, however, continued to serve as priests, assisting their father.
Duties of the Levites: Numbers 3.5-13
The Lord tells Moses to gather the Levites. A distinction is then made between the Levite Aaron and his descendants and the rest of the Levitical tribe. The tribe will perform duties for Aaron in front of the tent of meeting. They will perform ritual functions and be responsible for the upkeep of the tabernacle. However, the Levites will not be priests.
The Lord then tells Moses that he accepts the Levites as substitutes for the firstborns that are to be consecrated to God. This dedication of the firstborns (and substitution of the Levites) is explicitly linked to the killing of the firstborns in Egypt. God states:
The Levites shall be mine, for all the firstborn are mine; when I killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the firstborn in Israel, both human and animal; they shall be mine. I am the Lord.Rather than requiring compulsory service of the firstborns that have been consecrated for the Lord, the Levites in effect redeem the firstborns, in some ways they are similar to the scapegoat, taking on some symbolic aspect of a feature of a group of people.
(Num. 3.12-13)
Census of the Levites: Numbers 3.14-39
The Levites were ignored in the census covered yesterday, but today their own census is taken.
The census is taken by ancestral houses (the sons of Levi), which are broken up into clans (the sons of the sons). The heads of the ancestral houses are Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
- Gershon's sons: Libni and Shimei.
- Kohath's sons: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
- Merari's sons: Mahli and Mushi.
The Levite census reports males one month old and upward. Contrast this to the census of the other twelve tribes, which counted males of fighting age, 20 and up. The Levites do not have to fight, and therefore all their males are counted. The census results also list the location where the ancestral house is to camp, as well as the responsibilities of the group, pertaining to specific parts of the sanctuary. Below are the results of the census:
Gershonites
Members: 7,500
Leader: Eliasaph son of Lael
Camp to the west of the tabernacle
Kohathites
Members: 8,600
Leader: Elizaphan son of Uzziel
Camp to the south of the tabernacle
Merari
Members: 6,200
Leader: Zuriel son of Abihail
Camp to the north of the tabernacle
Moses and Aaron and Aaron's sons are to camp to the east, in the most desirable position. Eleazar son of Aaron is to be chief over all the leaders and all those responsible for the sanctuary.
The text states the census comes to 22,000, but in fact the total should be 22,300. I'm not going to quibble over 300 people.
Redemption of the Firstborn: Numbers 3.40-51
The firstborns are all to be enrolled, even though the Levites serve as substitutes for them. And remember God's commandment that all firstborn humans and livestock are to be given to God? Well, the Levites' livestock is to serve as a substitute for those livestock that were to be sacrificed! That is pretty convenient. And it turns the Levites into a very symbolic people. They are people utterly devoted to God. Indeed, they represent all the firstborns. Their cattle exist simply so other cattle do not need to be sacrificed to God.
There just so happen to be 273 firstborns among the Israelites who have no Levites to substitute for them. That is, the firstborn Israelites outnumber the Levites. These firstborn Israelites are to be redeemed at five shekels apiece. The money is given to Aaron, presumably for the preservation of the sanctuary. The system is interesting. It is based on the arbitrary belief that each firstborn must be dedicated to the Lord, and that the Levites may redeem them. The rest of the money is a sort of a tax, therefore, for the number of firstborns being out of balance with those taking care of the sanctuary. This truly is government at work.
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