Tag: Levites

A God Of Minute Detail

~ AlienCG ~ Leave a comment

Joshua Chapters 3 & 4

God loves unnecessary details. It’s time for Joshua to lead Israel across the Jordan, and this is no small task. It involves the Levites carrying the ark of the covenant to the center of the River so that God can dry it up. Then stones have to laid in specific spots, them the people can finally cross. The reason it takes two chapters is because most of the first one is describing how it needs to be done, then the rest is the action being carried out in the same detail.

I understand this repetition in oral tradition, but is it necessary in written form? I suppose it’s hard to change early on, much like, early TV dramas in the 50s. The actors still played their parts as if they were on a stage or the radio. the Bible is oral tradition written down directly. It’s also from sources that were songs or lyric poetry.

Anyway, the twelve stones that were taken by each of the tribes were laid on land to explain this crossing. I guess Joshua couldn’t just outstretch his arms and part the Jordan like Moses did in Exodus.

Deuteronomy Chapters 26 & 27

~ AlienCG ~ Leave a comment

Here we are, the last chapter of laws Oh, there’s still eight more chapters of blessings, curses, warnings and the death of Moses. Oops, sorry, spoilers. I have to say, the laws have been … excessive. Anyway, on to the final law.

This law is no different than the rest of the offering and tithe laws that we’ve seen. There is the matter of reminding the people that God brought them out of Egypt and is giving them a land that is already occupied and under the control of… checks notes…uh, Egypt. I did learn from a friend of mine that the offerings were consumed by the Levite priests since, as we found out in previous chapters, they receive no allocation or inheritance The other thing I notice in this section is the constant refrain throughout, leading me to believe that this is a song or poem.

Finally, we get to the section titled, “Concluding exhortation”. To sum up, God has agreed to be their God and the Israelites have agreed to be his people and follow every statute, commandment, and ordinance and he will elevate his people above all nations. I should really ask my friend what the differences are between statutes, commandments, and ordinances. I know, I can Google it, but I prefer to talk to friends.

I decided to knock out the next chapter because it’s fairly short and mostly review. It starts with Moses telling the people to set up large, plaster-covered stones when they first enter Canaan. They are to write every word of all these laws on them. That’s a lot of words to write. Then they have to build an altar and make a burnt offering to the Lord.

What I find funny here is that there is no prescribed offering. Every other time a command for an offering is made, there is an exhaustive description. This time around, bupkiss. Also, they were expected to write every word of the law on those stones from memory, unless there was somebody writing it all down.

The final section is twelve curses which is just the Levites cursing anyone who doesn’t follow eleven randomly selected laws follow by cursing anyone who doesn’t follow all the laws. They could have saved time and their voices.

OK, I thought about including Chapter 28, but it’s long. I’ll save it for the next post.

Deuteronomy Chapters 18 & 19

~ AlienCG ~ Leave a comment

The first part of this chapter deals with priests and Levites who have no inheritance are entitled to food and fleece from those offering sacrifices. they are also allowed to minister in Jerusalem if they leave their town.

The next section warns against child sacrifice, divination, sorcery, augury, or anything else that might be considered occult practice. This means that Good already broke his own rule when he commanded Abraham to kill Isaac. If that’s not a child sacrifice, I don’t know what is. Also, the test of an unfaithful wife in Numbers 5:11 sounds like divination or sorcery. The thing I’m noticing here is this is a prohibition against occult practices because it’s abhorrent to God, but he’s not ordering death for practitioners of these foreign lands.

Back in Exodus, the Israelites couldn’t bear to hear the voice God directly, so he made Moses a prophet. Now Moses is getting old and God will appoint a new prophet. The next prophet will be Joshua.

22 If a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.

Bibles, Harper . NRSV Bible with the Apocrypha (p. 462). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Basically, it seems like the people have to wait five minutes, five hours, or five years to see if the prophet spoke truthfully in the name of the Lord. That’s about right.

Chapter 19 starts off with a review of sanctuary cities and the command to create three more when they take over the land of Canaan. These are cities that, if a man accidentally kills another, he can seek refuge in one of these towns and be safe from a potential revenge attack. There, the case will be settled by the Levites and judges. Of course, an actual murderer will be tried, dragged out of town, and killed.

14 You must not move your neighbor’s boundary marker, set up by former generations, on the property that will be allotted to you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.

Bibles, Harper . NRSV Bible with the Apocrypha (p. 464). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Translation: Don’t be greedy. That’s it. That’s the section.

This chapter concludes with the law about witnesses. It starts off reiterating the two witness rule from Chapter 17, which I went into a little rant about there. Then there’s the law concerning a witness who attempts to falsely accuse someone of wrongdoing. If the witness is in fact found to be a false witness, he will punished in the way that he intended for the accused. The chapter ends with…

21 Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Bibles, Harper . NRSV Bible with the Apocrypha (p. 464). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Numbers Chapters 35 & 36

~ AlienCG ~ Leave a comment
Get it? Huh? Keep reading

Chapter 35 starts out with God telling Moses to command the Israelites to give the Levites towns to live in and land for pastures for their livestock. The rest of this section is dedicated to describing the dimensions of the lands they are to be given.

The Bible is supposed to be, according to pastors, preachers, and apologists, a book of wisdom that is timeless and should be used as a guide for life. Why the hell are the exact measurements of land given to a tribe that doesn’t exist anymore important? Just asking.

The next section deals with cities of refuge, or could I also say, “sanctuary cities”? See what I did there? The Israelites are to designate three cities on either side of the Jordan to serve as a refuge, or a safe space (see what I did there, too?) for anyone who kills someone without intent.

The next section talks about murder and blood revenge. Murder is any time a weapon is used to strike someone and death ensues. Also, if someone is pushed out of hatred or throws something from a hiding place or strikes someone out of enmity, then they are also a murderer. The murderer will be put to death by the avenger of blood. If there is no premeditation or enmity, then the congregation will judge between the killer and the avenger. The killer will be sent to the refuge city until the high priest dies, but if the killer leaves the city and the avenger finds him and kills him, no punishment or guilt will be incurred. Once the high priest of the city dies, the killer may return home.

The rules for the death penalty are pretty strict, and if you read my November 18 post, you know how I feel about the death penalty. Basically, If you murder someone, you die. No ransom, no sanctuary, no nothing. Murder equals death.

Chapter 36 talks about the marriage of female heirs. This harkens back to Chapter 27 when the daughters of Zelophedad received their father’s inheritance. Well, now I guess we have to get it back in the hands of a man. So, it seems that if they just marry whoever they want despite the tribe, then their inheritance will follow. Moses commands that the daughters can marry whoever they think is best…provided that who they marry come from their father’s tribe. The daughters marries their cousins (the sons of their father’s brothers).

That’s it. Numbers is done. Stay tuned, because Deuteronomy is next.

Numbers Chapter 26

~ AlienCG ~ 1 Comment

This book loves it censuses. God orders Moses to take a census of those Israelites who are twenty years and older and able to go to war. It also a review of sorts, reminding the reader that the company of Korah rebelled against God and they were swallowed up by the earth. But Korah’s sons lived. We’re also made to recollect that Nadab and Abihu offered the wrong kind of fire to God and died. Every tribe is mentioned and a the number of able bodies given. I wonder if that’s why this book is called Numbers? Anyway, I did the math and it is correct.

The chapter ends stating that the numbered tribes will receive land based on the number in each and the bigger the number, the more land they get. The Levites were not included, likely because they are not warriors or something.

Reading in the Oxford Bible Commentary, the numbers of Israelites has not changed since the beginning of the book despite God striking down a lot of people with great vengeance and furious anger. Obviously, the people have been fruitful and multiplied this whole time.

Numbers Chapters 17 & 18

~ AlienCG ~ Leave a comment

First off, let me chuckle at the title of the first section of Chapter 17:

The budding of Aaron’s rod

OK, it’s out of my system now. Anyway, quick summary of Chapter 17 is that God wants to stop all the complaints of the Israelites toward Moses by choosing the staff of one of the leaders of the twelve houses, including Aaron who will represent the House of Levi. God will do this by causing one of the staffs to sprout. Gee, I wonder who will win. Obviously, Aaron’s is the chosen staff.

So, I have a problem with these two chapters because it gives away the game. Moses and Aaron were already the defacto leaders of this group and were the only ones who God “spoke” to and who had access to the tent of meeting. So they could have set this all up like a parlor trick in order to keep their hold on power.

In Chapter 18 God tells Aaron that, as the one responsible for the sanctuary, he and his Levite brothers have the right to eat the offerings of the people because they are holy. These offerings include the first fruits of the harvest, the best animals, and shekels of silver (obviously they won’t eat those). They are told that only they are to approach the tent of meeting and that anyone else that approaches will die. That’s a good way to keep people away, by issuing a stern warning and a threat of death.

Numbers Chapter 6 through 8

~ AlienCG ~ Leave a comment

This chapter deals with the consecration of Nazirites, which are those who take a special vow to the Lord. They must abstain from any product of the grapevine, whether it’s alcoholic or not. They must also not cut their hair (I can’t let my hair grow much longer than an inch, so I’m out) and they cannot defile themselves by going near a corpse. That is, even if it’s a family member. This is the time of their consecration. Of course, all of this ritual is accompanied by, what else, animal sacrifices. You can’t do anything in the Bible without grilling up a living creature.

Once the consecration period has ended, the Nazirite comes to the tent with an offering of a lamb, a ewe, and a ram along with some unleavened bread because you need the carbs, a grain offering, and a drink offering to wash it all down. The Nazirites shave their heads at the entrance to the tent of meeting and the priest places the hair in the fire under the offering for a lovely addition of flavor. I’ll pass on dinner, thanks.

Chapter 7 is a long litany of offerings over the span of twelve days in order to dedicate the altar. It’s a lot of animals being burned on the altar along with a lot of silver and gold. Basically, the whole chapter is a really long “12 Days Of Christmas”.

Chapter 8 starts off about lamps and a lampstand for the altar, but then goes into the consecration of the Levites. It’s not as complicated as the Nazirite consecrations and it doesn’t involve animal sacrifice. Levites are to serve in the tent of meeting from aged 25 to 50. Once they hit 50, they can only assist.