Monday, November 26, 2012

Pinky Swears and Heart Crosses:  The Cold, Hard Truth
Numbers 30

Moses covers vows in this chapter... and you likely won't be surprised to find that they're a tad (a lot) sexist.

So if you're a man when you take a vow to the LORD (swear to God?) or pledge an oath... you gotta follow through.  Do everything you say.

If you're a woman, same deal...unless you still live at home.  When your dad hears your vow, he can say- nope, not gonna happen and you're relieved from your vow.  If he doesn't speak up, the vow stands.

Or, if you are married.  When your husband hears your vow, same result.  If you make the vow before getting married, once you're married your husband can nullify the vow.

Widows and divorcees are treated like man in relation to this law.

Beyond the sexism, the message here is that vows are sacred.  This concept isn't foreign to our culture- our courtrooms demand swearing on a bible, we vow to tell the truth "so help us, God".  I even had a student "swear on the bible" to turn an overdue speech to me posthaste (those were his words, not my requirement... and the speech was never turned in... religion major, go figure).  We also use the concept of oaths regularly in less official contexts.  Promising something somehow means more than just affirming.

Moses here doesn't tell them not to make oaths- just don't make them lightly.  If you pledge- you better follow through.  Jesus later removes the loophole- don't pledge, just be honest to start with.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Nothing Says "Festival" Like Killing Your Livestock
Numbers 29: 12-40

We're still in rerun city.  Moses rehashes the particulars of the Festival of Tabernacles.  You can read our previous (and no less scintillating) discussion of it here:  http://chiphall.blogspot.com/2010/03/table-or-booth-leviticus-23-33-44-five.html


This time through, Moses gives a little more detail (much less scintillating) about the particulars of each day's sacrifice schedule.  Each day features a number of bulls, rams, lambs, and a goat to be sacrificed, as well as grain offerings. Each day the burnt offering requires one fewer bull as part of the requirement, but on the eighth day it jumps from seven bulls to only one.

Maybe the message here is that God is saying with each sacrifice, you get a little closer to being ok - a little more sin is wiped away.  However at the end of the week, they are still required sacrifice, perhaps expressing the futility in wiping the slate clean.  You can't sacrifice enough to undue your sin- your humanity.  It takes the sacrifice of Jesus for that.

I'm not really happy with this interpretation as these sacrifices are burnt offerings and not sin offerings- maybe it's just God saying, you're wiping out your livestock- and while I appreciate the gesture- you need to have some left at the end of the week to be able to survive.

Either way- God is concerned with our well-being.  And that should be a comforting thought.