My Journey Through Sacred Scripture: Reading The Bible Front To Back

Deuteronomy 18 - The Promised Prophet

2012-01-28T19:21:00.000-08:00

"The Lord thy God will raise up to thee a PROPHET of thy nation, and of thy brethren, like unto me: him thou shalt hear." (Deuteronomy 18:15)

And so we have another instance of Moses foretelling the coming of Christ, one of the earliest mentions of the Messiah. One of the most fascinating aspects of the Old Testament is this continuous thread that weaves in and out of the narrative of a great Prophet that is to come in a future age. It is a wonder of the Word that never fails to captivate me. There were already some monumental references to Christ in the Book of Genesis, and now again, as we near the end of the Pentateuch, we have a blatant reference to a future great Prophet, one who the people are instructed to listen to and be prepared for. It is debated, of course, whether these allusions are meant to indicate the Person of Jesus Christ or are just a broad reference to any of the prophets that eventually rose up in the midst of the Jews. But I find in the arguments of those in favor of the former theory a logical explanation that demonstrates these as obviously Messianic references for a number of reasons. First, in the passage quoted from Deuteronomy above, Moses says this Prophet will be "like unto me." Only Jesus Christ, when compared to the other prophets of the Old Testament, can be thoroughly compared to Moses. Moses was a lawgiver, as is Christ; Moses was the chief of God's people, as is Christ; Moses was a mediator, as is Christ. None of the other prophets, as great as they were, fit all of those qualifications so exactly. Secondly, the Messianic references are always in the singular. We know there were many Old Testament prophets, so why not refer to the coming of prophets rather than prophet? Could it be that that is because of the, as my commentary puts it, "eminent dignity" of Christ? He is the only Prophet worth mention. He is the greatest Hope of the people, and therefore He is referred to frequently to maintain that Hope. There is also an interesting connection in the verse above to an event in the New Testament. The verse concludes with the words, "him thou shalt hear." This sounds a lot like another instruction from God in direct reference to Jesus Christ: "This is my beloved Son, hear him" (Luke 9:35). It's unbelievable, but here is God centuries before sending His Son, telling His people to "hear him" when he arrives!

But before I conclude, I do not mean to say that God could not have also meant to refer to the general prophets in the verse above. Much of the Old Testament does operate on two or more levels. In Deuteronomy 18 God is instructing His people not to take part in the profane activities of the pagans who will be living near them. This leads to verse 15 in which He promises a prophet. Along with this being a reference to Jesus Christ, God could be referring to the help He'll provide His people as they strive for holy perfection by sending prophets along the way who will keep the way straight for them. I don't think the meaning must be one way or the other.

Deuteronomy 17 - Of Kings and Authority

2012-01-21T21:00:00.000-08:00

Deuteronomy 17 brings up a lot of significant topics. First is the mention of a moral authority for the Jews, a central judge that would be the end of the line on difficult issues. The idea of a central authority is at the core of Catholicism, wherein the Church, founded by Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit, provides the definitive interpretation of the Law and the Scriptures. So it is interesting to see its forerunner here in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 17:9-11 says, "And thou shalt come to the priests of the Levitical race, and to the judge, that shall be at that time: and thou shalt ask of them, and they shall shew thee the truth of the judgement. / And thou shalt do whatsoever they shall say, that preside in the place, which the Lord shall choose, and what they shall teach thee, / According to his law: and thou shalt follow their sentence; neither shalt thou decline to the right hand nor to the left hand." God very clearly does not leave it up to personal judgment. It is clear that when it comes to the Law, to foundational morals, each man and woman must follow that which is taught by the highest authority in the land. The Law is found in the Bible, yes, but when it comes to issues that men disagree on, what then? The Bible, from the oldest books of the Torah through the New Testament, was written through the use of human language, and thus, even though it is inspired, it is subject to imperfections and confusions. When one of these confusions arise, God does not leave us to blindly figure it out for ourselves. If He had done so, His Law would be unrecognizable before long. Instead he provides a teaching authority. Now, the central authority found in the Old Testament is far inferior to that which we have today. It was imperfect the way the Law was imperfect, prior to the coming of Christ. Now, the Magisterium of the Church provides the definitive authority on faith and morals and Scriptural interpretation. The only thing that can now lead men astray is pride (combined with the promptings of the evil one).

The second topic of significance that intrigued me in Deuteronomy 17 was the mention of a king. It has been said that God didn't intend on men being led by kings. In God's perfect plan, kings were not needed. Furthermore, kings (as God well knew) led to wars, greed, power and pride in men. But man in his fallen state, God conceded, would be best to follow a virtuous king. So God provides instruction on how a king ought to be. As we know from history, not every king was virtuous, and the kingship came with all the foreseeable problems. But when a king was virtuous, and ruled by God's law, the people benefited. One interesting verse in Deuteronomy 17 says that "Thou mayst not make a man of another nation king, that is not thy brother" (Deuteronomy 17:15). The Jews famously broke this commandment when Herod became their king around the time of Christ. Fascinatingly, though, this was all foretold. In Genesis 49:10 it is written, "The sceptre shall not be taken away from Juda, nor a ruler from his thigh, till he come that is to be sent, and he shall be the expectation of nations." The scepter was taken away from Juda's line when Herod assumed the throne, which occurred when the "expectation of nations," Jesus Christ, was sent to save the world. The Word never ceases to amaze me.

Deuteronomy 15-16: Statues

2012-01-21T13:19:00.000-08:00

Since Deuteronomy is, as its name suggests, a second telling of the Law, there isn't a whole lot of new information in this book to comment on. Every now and then, though, there is a verse or two that includes an interesting statement, or a rephrasing of a statement already made in an earlier book. The issue of idolatry obviously is a pressing one, especially in these early books of the Bible. Idols have been condemned, as well as graven images of, in particular, animals. Yet, some graven images have been not just allowed but ordered! The cherubs holding the divine seat of God upon the Ark are obvious examples. And, though it is an example from before Mosaic times, Jacob in Genesis 28 erected a stone monument to God to glorify Him. The reason I mention all of this is because the very last verse of Deuteronomy 16 states, "Neither shalt thou make, nor set up to thyself a statue: which things the Lord thy God hateth." This is a strongly worded verse and one that I think deserves a close look. There is a divide within Christianity over the role or lack thereof that images should take in the practice of the Faith. Catholicism obviously permits images, many denominations of Protestantism do not. And though it appears that Deuteronomy 16:22 states resolutely that statues are forbidden, one must apply it within the greater context of the Bible before coming to that conclusion. I've already mentioned the images that have been permitted, namely the graven cherubs of the Ark. But there was also the brazen serpent. Clearly the issue of statuary, or images, is not black and white. Furthermore, we must look at what the law is directed. Most of Deuteronomy, thus far, has been concerned with the Israelites not falling into the same errors as the pagans around them. The Chanaanites, as we know, worshiped idols, material objects, animal statues, stone gods and so forth. This is what must be condemned. Not just a statue, but a statue that is worshiped as itself a god. The English translation of Deuteronomy 16:22 uses the word "statue," but in Hebrew the word is matseba, which means "pillar," or "monument." So the true meaning of the word is not just a visual representation of someone (which is really all a statue is), but instead a much more significant, solemn structure meant to play some sort of ceremonial role. Statues as used by the Church today are not what is meant by "statue" in Deuteronomy 16:22. To quote my commentary, "statues and pictures may be very instructive and commendable." A statue of a saint, or Mary, or even Jesus, can be used to increase devotion to God, to remind us of those who walked in the way of the Lord, to instruct us in our Faith. The furthest thing from our mind when gazing upon a statue is idolatry, as if the statue itself were a living god. I bring this issue up because it is after all rather significant. My commentary also says that "this subject is of such vast importance, the accusation of idolatry is of so black a nature, that it deserves to be accurately and frequently refuted."

Deuteronomy 13-14: Lawful to Ink?

2012-01-13T23:30:00.000-08:00

I have often heard people mention verses in the Bible that seem to condemn tattoos. The most famous of these verses is probably Leviticus 19:28: "You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh, for the dead, neither shall you make in yourselves any figures or marks." However, the glaring words in this verse are "for the dead." Even if it at first seems to be a reference to tattooing, it becomes clear when viewed in context that what is condemned is hopeless grief. At that time, among many pagan nations, grieving took on many, sometimes elaborate, forms. Cutting oneself to cause bleeding was one way to express your sorrow over the death of a loved one. Marking yourself with symbols of the gods was another. In Deuteronomy 14:1 the law on cutting is mentioned again: "You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness for the dead." Here it gets even more specific, as cutting off one's hair is a very ancient form of mourning. So, essentially, God is here telling the Hebrews, don't grieve like the people around you who put on dramatic displays and carry on with their hopeless wailing. God wants His people to always have hope, even when sadness is all-consuming. Nowhere in either the Leviticus verse nor the Deuteronomy verse is tattooing, on its own, condemned. If someone got a tattoo out of grief and despair, these verses might then be more applicable. Some commentators, though, think these verses indicate something more about the time they were written, specifically that self-made cuttings and signs on the body refer to pagan customs, especially those devoted to Egyptian gods like Isis and Osiris. All of Deuteronomy 13 and 14 is devoted to Israelite exceptionalism, meaning that the Israelites were forbidden from partaking in the lowly, barbaric rituals of their pagan neighbors; they were to remain above all that. So if some pagans cut themselves when a loved one died, the Israelite could do no such thing. The issue of tattoos in today's society is a much different thing. Again, the main message here is Hope. Have hope, don't despair. A verse from the First Epistle to the Thessalonians says it all: "And we will not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are asleep, that you be not sorrowful, even as others who have no hope." (1 Thessalonians 4:12)

Essentially, St. Paul here says that we have hope, we believe in Christ and His Resurrection, as well as the resurrection of all the dead, and so the ones "asleep" will rise again and we ought not despair over the dead the way the non-believers do.

Deuteronomy 10-12: An Abominable Offense

2012-01-09T14:43:00.000-08:00

"When the Lord thy God shall have destroyed before thy face the nations, which thou shalt go in to possess, and when thou shalt possess them, and dwell in their land,
Beware lest thou imitate them, after they are destroyed at thy coming in, and lest thou seek after their ceremonies, saying: As these nations have worshipped their gods, so will I also worship.
Thou shalt not do in like manner to the Lord thy God. For they have done to their gods, all the abominations which the Lord abhorreth, offering their sons and daughters, and burning them with fire." (Deuteronomy 12:29-31)

"Thou shalt not give any of thy seed to be consecrated to the idol Moloch." (Leviticus 18:21)

I once again must remark on this. I find it amazing that anyone would characterize the Canaanites (and other pagans of the region prior to the Jewish takeover) as innocent, victimized people who were unjustly murdered by God. The whole distortion of God as a ruthless murderer is simply an unsophisticated look at the situation. The Canaanites clearly were living lives of severe corruption and scandal, breaking left and right natural laws. The most detestable of their crimes was the ritualistic murder of their children. In Leviticus it is written that children were sacrificed to a god named Moloch by means of incineration. In Deuteronomy the god's specific name isn't repeated, but it is mentioned that the Israelites must not copy the practices they will find in Canaan, among these the deplorable sacrifice of children. This child sacrifice to Moloch goes beyond standard human sacrifice that we find in ancient cultures throughout the world. The fact that it is innocent babies being voluntarily given up to be murdered makes the whole thing infinitely more revolting. It was unfortunate that the Canaanites had to be destroyed, and there is no evidence that God did so joyously, but their acts were of a nature that they could not be allowed to continue. The Canaanites had to answer for their crimes, and hopefully some were saved in the end. God had to purge the region, which had been mired in iniquity for ages. The overall situation was much more layered and complex than a simple act of wiping out an unsuspecting and innocent nation. Again, it's unfortunate that it happened at all, but it says more about man's weakness than God's cruelty.

On a final note, it struck me in a rather profound and painful way that the murder of innocent children is not something for which the Canaanites can claim sole credit. Abortion has become such a scourge in our land that the comparisons to the ancient practice of sacrificing babies are hard to ignore. It will probably sound harsh and extreme to bring this up, but sometimes when something hits close to home it is all the more difficult to hear. Satan found a way in ancient Canaan to have people kill their babies through the guise of a ritualistic and necessary sacrifice to a fake god. Today, Satan has found a way again to have people kill their babies through the guise of "reproductive rights" and court mandated rulings, i.e., societal acceptance. It is just as abhorrent and evil in both cases.

Deuteronomy 9 - Humbled

2012-01-01T23:48:00.000-08:00

I'm really amazed at how thorough and point-by-point these lessons in Deuteronomy are. Well, I guess I shouldn't say "amazed." I mean, there is nothing more monumental than the great mercy God is here showing the Israelites by granting them this land of milk and honey. If they are allowed to just walk in without any words of wisdom, they would go about it all wrong. So what we have here in these opening books of Deuteronomy are lessons, instructions, item by item, reminders, anything and everything that can be told to the Israelites so that they may be good stewards of the land. They have been reminded of the Law, how they are to act; they have been reminded of how they got here, their flight out of Egypt, their long journey through the desert; and now they are being reminded of each and every time they have murmured or transgressed or rebelled against the Lord. Deuteronomy 9 really puts the Israelites in their place. God specifically reminds them that it is not because of their goodness that they are getting the Promised Land, it is because of the sinfulness of the pagans living there now. Deuteronomy 9:5 says, "For it is not for thy justices, and the uprightness of thy heart that thou shalt go in to possess their lands: but because they have done wickedly, they are destroyed at thy coming in." God also reminds them of how close they came to their own destruction after the incident with the golden calf. It was because of Moses's supplications and his sacrifices that they were spared. All these warnings are made in an effort to humble the Israelites. Humility is really what they need to remain in God's favor once in the Promised Land. Humility is really what we all need to remain in God's favor even today.

Deuteronomy 8 - Beware Self-Glorification

2011-12-30T16:55:00.000-08:00

Deuteronomy 8 seems to be centered around the idea of thankfulness. It's been quite the build-up as we get closer and closer to Israel's entrance into the Promised Land. In Deuteronomy we find God's final words, His last attempt to prepare the Israelites for life in their land of reward. In Chapter 8 God is essentially saying to His people, don't forget Me, don't forget why you're here, don't credit yourselves for this land that is now your home. The last statement is what really spoke to me. Deuteronomy 8:17 says, "Lest thou shouldst say in thy heart: My own might, and the strength of my own hand, have achieved all these things for me." What a profound and relevant verse! Pride is the great sin, and the one most difficult to self-diagnose. It's such a common human weakness to take personal credit for the good things in our life. Even before the Israelites entered the Promised Land, God knew they would be overcome with pride once there and would forget God and praise only themselves for the good things in their lives. And so it is today, as we, with society's approval, often give ourselves the most congratulatory praise for "our" achievements. We disregard God and revel in our own prideful self-contentment. Forgetting God could very well be one of the worst things we could do, for imagine giving a child everything and having that child not even acknowledge you for an instant and instead praising himself. Instead, God loves humility. Just as we would love that child to show us a humble gratitude. The Israelites would go on to forget how to be humble and it took God Himself in the Person of Jesus Christ to remind all of humanity once again what humility is in the most awe-inspiring way possible.

Deuteronomy 7 - A Plan Divine

2011-12-30T00:32:00.000-08:00

In Deuteronomy 7 we read of what's to come. The Israelites are nearing their inevitable entrance into the Promised Land, which means conflict with the Canaanites, as well as other peoples living in the region. This historical event is often used by detractors as justification for their unbelief. How could God allow such slaughter, they ask. It may seem at first that what is being done by God is nothing more than outright murder and destruction of an innocent people. Some say that they can't believe in a God that would do such a thing, allowing innocent women and children to perish. But there are problems with reducing the conflict with the Canaanites to such a simplistic moral judgment. The situation is much more complicated than that. For starters, we weren't there to know the details of what transpired. We are told bits and pieces of how the Canaanites lived, and it wasn't according to either God's Law or Natural Law. We don't even know what, if any, dealings the Canaanites may have had with God. All we know is that God was displeased with them. We also know that God had chosen the Israelites and had hoped they would be as a shining example of His Goodness by their behavior on earth. Their reward for following His commands was the land of Canaan, the Promised Land. Lessons abound in both God's dealings with the Canaanites and with the Israelites. What to do in the latter's case, what not to do in the former's. And, really, at the end of it all, we can't pretend to know God's Divine Plan. Why such a horrible thing had to happen is beyond us. What is true, though, is that the violence and generality of the conflict tends to get talked up a great deal more than the passages that "soften the blow." There are of course violent passages that describe the slaughter and destruction of the Canaanites, the lack of mercy to be shown them. It was a thing of violence, no doubt. And the generalities are always cited. That all the women and children were to be killed, that no one would be left alive. Closer examination reveals a different sort of conflict, though. Below is a sampling of verses that seem to fly in the face of those who would have God declare that everyone be destroyed:

"And when the Lord thy God shall deliver [the Promised Land] into thy hands, thou shalt slay all that are therein of the male sex, with the edge of the sword,
Excepting women and children, cattle and other things, that are in the city." (Deuteronomy 20:13-14)

"If thou go out to fight against thy enemies, and the Lord thy God deliver them into thy hand, and thou lead them away captives,
And seest in the number of the captives a beautiful woman, and lovest her, and wilt have her to wife,
Thou shalt bring her into thy house: and she shall shave her hair, and pare her nails,
And shall put off the raiment, wherein she was taken: and shall remain in thy house, and mourn for her father and mother one month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and shalt sleep with her, and she shall be thy wife." (Deuteronomy 21:10-13)

The point being that the real situation was much more nuanced. An entire people were not totally obliterated. They were defeated, yes, and their defeat was their punishment, and the reasons for their punishment cannot be fully understood by us, though partially. In the midst of the carnage were men acting or not acting in accordance with God's Law. The destruction would be great, which is why we find such hard-to-take passages describing the death that would await the Canaanites. But mercy could be found in individual circumstances, and it pleased God. A Canaanite woman could very well find herself in God's favor as a new member of His chosen people. And mercy could be found in the midst of the carnage. If the Canaanite culture of idolatry and hedonism were allowed to endure, it would infect the Israelites without a doubt. The action had to be severe.

Deuteronomy 5-6: "Sleeping and Rising"

2011-12-26T23:38:00.000-08:00

"And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart.
And thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them, sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising." (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)

I found this particular passage rather profound. Following Chapter 5 in which the Ten Commandments are reiterated, God actually stresses here that we are to have these "words" (the sacred commands) on our hearts even as we sleep! Now, the first thought one might have is, that is impossible. We can't control what we think about in our sleep! Is God asking for the impossible here? Or, perhaps we ought to analyze a bit further what this statement could imply. Most of us believe that, to an extent, we can control what runs through our minds as we slumber. Usually our dreams consist of interpretations of actions or thoughts we've experienced throughout the day. What we've been doing, what we've been thinking about, will many times end up in our nocturnal musings. If we never think about God throughout the day, or never do anything in His honor, chances are pretty slim that He will make an appearance in our dreams. However, if we constantly pray to Him, constantly do things to honor Him, constantly have Him on our minds, chances are high that our dreams will be divinely turned. This I believe (as well as most commentators) is what is implied in Deuteronomy 6:7. God has not issued these sacred Commandments to be ignored or only thought of from time to time. They are to be at the forefront of our minds always. The Jews understood this and so would actually go to great lengths to never forget these commands -- they would attach them to their foreheads! While I don't think such a step is necessary, we can learn from their zeal. Many Christians think of God only once a week, at church on Sunday. Six days a week God is far from our minds as we are consumed with work, family, TV, sleep, and other various activities. Then on Sunday we suddenly turn our minds to God, reunite with Him, act like we've never forgotten Him, when in fact for six days we have. From this verse in Deuteronomy I have learned my own lesson. God needs to be placed back in His proper position at the top of my priorities. A quick word to the original hearers, the Israelites, again echoes through the ages to land upon the ears of an unworthy follower, and its power, its profundity, is no less than on that day thousands of years ago. It moves, it inspires just the same.

*I have been away for a while, but that is because I've been letting other, less important things run my life. I hope that God's words in Deuteronomy 6 leave a lasting impression. If so, I can resume my reading of the Word and plow straight ahead!

Deuteronomy 4 - A More Beautiful Point of View

2011-04-08T11:08:00.000-07:00

The sentimental tone that I noticed at the very outset of Deuteronomy seems to intensify in Chapter 4. Moses is pleading at this point that his fellow Israelites follow the Commandments and do not fall again into idolatry. Many things from Exodus and Numbers are repeated in this chapter, but as it says in my commentary, it is relayed with "a more beautiful point of view." Moses, now at the end of his life, is exhorting the people gently, with almost a sadness in his voice (for, possibly he knows that they will ultimately fail in keeping God's commands). Chapter 4 reads almost like an inspirational speech. And this becomes especially poignant when one imagines the setting. Moses is speaking to the people, behind him is all of the Promised Land, from the flowing waters of the Jordan across the hills and valleys all the way to the sparkling and vast Mediterranean! The people no doubt are bursting with excitement over the prospect of calling such a beautiful place home. But, Moses, being the great prophet that he is, knows better. He knows that even though a beautiful land awaits them, the people could easily lose it if they fall back to their old sinful ways. A few verses capture this idea vividly. In fact, these verses read almost like an actual prophecy (which in all likelihood they are), for we know now that the people did lose the Promised Land during the Babylonian Captivity, and, again, during the 1st century Diaspora. And, just as is indicated in verse 31, God in His Mercy allowed the Jews to return to the Promised Land after their captivity just as He will allow their eventual conversion and redemption at the end of the world. Here are the verses in full:

"I call this day heaven and earth to witness, that you shall quickly perish out of the land, which, when you have passed over the Jordan, you shall possess. You shall not dwell therein long, but the Lord will destroy you,
And scatter you among all nations, and you shall remain a few among the nations, to which the Lord shall lead you.
And there you shall serve gods, that were framed with men's hands; wood and stone, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
And when thou shalt seek there the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him: yet so, if thou seek him with all thy heart, and all the affliction of thy soul.
After all the things aforesaid shall find thee, in the latter time thou shalt return to the Lord thy God, and shalt hear his voice:
Because the Lord thy God, is a merciful God: he will not leave thee, nor altogether destroy thee, nor forget the covenant, by which he swore to thy fathers." (Deuteronomy 4:26-31)

The significance and profound vision contained in these verses should be obvious, as it continues to hold relevance for the Jews even today.

Deuteronomy 3 - The Bed of Og

2011-04-07T19:35:00.000-07:00

Giants were not just fabled beings written about in the early chapters of Genesis. Even unto the days of Moses and the wars of the Hebrews prior to their entrance into the Promised Land, giants existed. And even unto the time of a young David. These giants were simply men of a large stature, but of course their scale has at times been exaggerated. Suffice it to say that men of frightful proportions roamed the land and their defeat by the Israelites demonstrated that with God's power we may even slay giants.

In Deuteronomy 3 we hear of one of the more famous of these giant men, Og. Og is mentioned also in Numbers, but here in Deuteronomy we learn of an interesting fact. Deuteronomy 3:11 reads: "For only Og, king of Basan, remained of the race of the giants. His bed of iron is shewn, which is in Rabbath of the children of Ammon, being nine cubits long, and four broad after the measure of the cubit of a man's hand." Nine cubits apparently works out to be about 13 feet in length, and so this would indicate that Og was at least 12 feet in height! Of course these small details are inconsequential to the ultimate meaning of the text, which, again, is meant to show God's might even in the face of earthly power. Og's "bed," which some scholars believe was actually his sarcophagus, is a tantalizing bit of minutiae. I find it even more interesting that Moses even indicates where this bed can still be seen ("in Rabbath of the children of Ammon"). My commentary includes an interesting side-note. It says that Alexander the Great would have beds made for his troops extra large, so that the inhabitants of the region he was conquering would think his army was comprised of giants and be fearful. I suppose a similar thing could have occurred with Og's bed, but we'll never know, at least not in this life.

To get back more on track to what really matters in this book, I want to also mention the utter heartbreak I felt toward the end of the chapter, when Moses relays God's pronouncement that he will not be allowed to enter the Promised Land. I mentioned in an earlier post that Moses's tone in Deuteronomy is much more melancholic than in previous books. He writes with a sadness, perhaps a sadness for the loss of his people and for his own loss. The sins of the people prevented them from entering the Promised Land, and Moses's shortcomings would prevent him as well. In Deuteronomy 3:25 it seems that Moses is still hopeful that he may yet be able to pass over the Jordan. But the Lord responds to Moses, "Go up to the top of Phasga, and cast thy eyes round about to the west, and to the north, and to the south, and to the east, and behold it, for thou shalt not pass this Jordan" (Deuteronomy 3:27). I could feel the utter sorrow Moses must have felt at that moment! He can gaze out over a most beautiful and bountiful land, but he cannot enter. That promise has been made to Joshua. Moses encapsulates the Old Law, and the Old Law can only get us so far in reaching God in heaven. Joshua represents the New Law via his figuring of Jesus Christ, and it is the New Law which will allow us passage into God's dominion in heaven. In the end, of course, Moses enters the eternal Promised Land, as we see him described during Jesus's Transfiguration. His temporary sorrow here on earth when barred from Canaan must now seem as nothing as he enjoys forever the Beatific Vision of God. He is now in eternal bliss!

Deuteronomy 2 - Eastern Mediterranean Maneuvering

2011-04-07T13:09:00.000-07:00

There is a lot captured in Deuteronomy 2. It is essentially a retelling of the various altercations the Israelites underwent during their wandering in the desert, but it seemed to me that Moses includes here many more details that were left out before. The overall picture painted in this vivid chapter is one of a very active and dynamic region. From Egypt to Gaza to Canaan to the Euphrates and even up into Asia Minor and across the sea to Cyprus, there is constant activity, constant movement, constant interaction (sometimes peaceful, sometimes not) between the various peoples. And into the middle of this Eastern Mediterranean "storm" the Israelites entered.

It was the historical places and people mentioned in Deuteronomy 2 that captivated me the most. We read of Ar, the grand Moabite city, the riches of which we can only imagine. Moses even mentions the Philistines, who of course begin to play a more important role in the history of the Jews once the latter is established in the Promised Land. (Interestingly, the actual first mention of the Philistines is way back in Genesis 10:14). It is speculated that the Philistines actually originally came from the island of Cyprus, a fact I find interesting as it indicates the amount of traveling and movement these ancient people were capable of.

There is even mention in Deuteronomy 2:23 of Cappadocia and the Cappadocians. It is said that the Cappadocians invaded southern Canaan, including Gaza, and expelled the Hevites. This struck me as fascinating since the Cappadocians are a people from Asia Minor, who dwelt in the vast center of modern-day Turkey. I had no idea that they had ventured down into the valleys of the Canaanites and conquered such notable cities as Gaza! As Biblical scholars testify, the Cappadocians were a foreign people, descendants of Noah's son Japhet, and thus a long way from home on the shores of the southeast Mediterranean!

The Bible is so full of remarkable history. It is a sacred text meant to edify, but in it is captured, perhaps unintentionally, a fascinating history of the eastern Mediterranean. It is amazing to read about the world at the time of Moses. It wasn't a vacuum that the Israelites wandered in; it was a vibrant, tumultuous, and real world full of diverse cultures, ancient histories, and all the war and peace still found in modern society.

Deuteronomy 1 - From a Father to a Son

2011-04-07T10:11:00.000-07:00

And so begins the final book of the Pentateuch. On the surface it would seem that Deuteronomy would just be a repetition of all that had been said in the previous books of the Torah. However, right away in Chapter 1 I found there to be a distinct difference in this book. And the difference seems to be in the tone. As I understand it, the Book of Deuteronomy is comprised of sermons given by Moses to the people in the final days of his life. Thus, the tone of Deuteronomy is one of sentimental supplication. There is almost a melancholy in the words. Moses has seen the iniquity of the people he has helped to save, and he wants more than anything for them to reach their ultimate salvation symbolically captured in the earthly Promised Land. He speaks to them as a father would to his son. He cares for them, he loves them, he does not want harm to come to them. And therefore he pleads, he exhorts, he prays that they will follow the Commandments and be the people God wants them to be.

Two verses in particular capture this tone well:
"And in the wilderness (as thou hast seen) the Lord thy God hath carried thee, as a man is wont to carry his little son, all the way that you have come, until you came to this place.
And yet for all this you did not believe the Lord your God." (Deuteronomy 1:31-32)
Here Moses demonstrates the fatherly love God has towards His children. God protected the Israelites in their travels by miraculous means, and yet they still murmured and dissented! And thus Moses is saddened, and rightly so. There is repetition in Deuteronomy as Moses relays the incredible events that have transpired in getting the Israelites to Canaan. However, it is not plain repetition but rather like a wise old man looking back on his life and highlighting the most important events so that future generations will never forget. May we never forget!

Concluding Thoughts on Numbers

2011-04-06T13:19:00.000-07:00

The Book of Numbers is filled with a variety of events. After reading Leviticus, which is a very "specialized" book (being exclusively concerned with the Levitical Law), the Book of Numbers seemed to meander and give a little "taste" of several different issues facing the Israelites during their journey. There is a unifying theme, of course. During the entire length of Numbers one thing remains clear: the people of Israel are wandering in a vast wilderness. Exodus gives us the beginnings of this wandering, and after a brief digression in Leviticus, Numbers resumes the journey for us, taking us all the way to the very border of the Promised Land. Numbers also reemphasizes for us the ultimate meaning of this epic wandering. The people of Israel have sinned, they have been ungrateful, and they have blatantly turned their backs on the covenantal law established on Sinai; and thus they have been resigned to a life of desolation as they have proven themselves unworthy of entering the Promised Land. God makes it clear that these wandering people will not enter Canaan, which shouldn't surprise us after we see example after example of their decadence in Numbers.

But of course it needed to be so. We would have no example to turn to for our sinful behavior if the Israelites had been perfect angels on their march to Canaan and allowed to enter right away. Instead, they exhibit all the same weaknesses we suffer from today. And we can learn from their experiences. God does eventually allow the subsequent generations of Israelites to enter the Promised Land; He does show us His Mercy by giving the people numerous chances to correct their behavior; and He does, ultimately, open up the Promised Land of heaven to each and every one of His children through His Son's sacrifice. So the account of the Exodus is not a tale of despair, but rather a solemn example of human frailty and the ultimate necessity of God's Mercy.

Of the several events relayed in Numbers, a few of the most profound were the failings of Aaron and Mary, Moses's siblings, the account of Balaam, and Joshua's appointment as Moses's heir. Aaron and Mary, questioning Moses as they did, showed that even from on high humans can fail. Overcome by the poison of pride, Aaron and Mary began to wonder why it was that Moses seemed to be getting special treatment. This is a profound example for all of us, as the feeling of prideful "deservingness" is something that plagues most of us. Numbers also captures the death of Aaron and Mary, as they significantly (and just as with Moses) are not allowed to enter into the Promised Land.

Balaam's story is fascinating and one of the highlights for me in Numbers. The idea of a pagan prophet being overcome by God's Power is a poignant illustration of the utter ineptitude of polytheistic paganism. The account also helps us see God's ultimate plan laid out for the Israelites concerning the Promised Land.

And Joshua's ascension previews for us his upcoming role as the great leader of the people and the one to actually break open the gates of Canaan, just as Jesus (whom Joshua prefigures) breaks open the gates of heaven! In many ways, Numbers in general is a "prequel." It points forward to the great events to come, but stops just short of getting to them. We even read of the beginning of the distribution of land among the twelve tribes, as Ruben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasses are given land just east and outside of the designated Promised Land.

And thus as Numbers concluded, all I could think of was "what's next?!" And next is Deuteronomy. I now begin the final book of the Pentateuch! The Law will be proclaimed one last time as definitively as possible. And after that, the people will enter their land and the history of the Jews will officially begin. I anticipate (and pray for) a wealth of illumination to come my way as I travel through the dense precepts captured in the great Book of Deuteronomy.

Numbers 36 - King and Priest

2011-04-04T13:09:00.000-07:00

I have officially concluded my reading of the Book of Numbers! I will soon be posting my final thoughts on this book, which took me an entire year to complete, but I first wanted to mention some brief observances of the last chapter of Numbers.

Numbers 36 is primarily concerned with an issue arising out of the tribe of Manasses -- that of an inheritance concern. Moses expounds upon the Law by declaring that the Israelites are to marry only within their tribes to preserve each tribe's inheritance. It was a straightforward chapter, though what caught my attention was a footnote for verse 8. Numbers 36:8 reads, "And all women shall take husbands of the same tribe: that the inheritance may remain in the families." The footnote mentioned that this rule did not apply to the Levites since they did not possess an inheritance. Thus, the connection made by the commentators is that it shouldn't be a surprise that Elizabeth, of the tribe of Aaron, should be related to Mary, of the tribe of Juda. As the Levites weren't bound by the law described in Numbers 36, they could marry outside of their tribe. I had always heard of Mary being of David's (and thus Juda's) line, and thus Jesus, symbolically, was from a kingly line. But now this adds another element. Since Mary was related to Elizabeth, who is of the Levitical line, Jesus, technically speaking and symbolically of course, is both of the kingly line of Juda and the priestly line of Aaron! In God's Eternal Wisdom, He caused His Only Son to be born via a line of kings and priests, as Christ is the King and the Priest!

Numbers 34-35: Sanctuary

2011-04-02T21:23:00.000-07:00

As I get ever closer to the end of Numbers, the Israelites get ever closer to entering their Promised Land. Great battles must still be fought with the Canaanites, but in Numbers 35 Moses and his brethren begin thinking beyond those battles to a time when they will be firmly established in Canaan. I got the sense that, for the first time, the Israelites could begin to formulate laws appropriate to life in the city. For forty years they had been a wandering, nomadic people, setting up tents and camps in the vast deserts between Egypt and the Holy Land. And now, suddenly, they could begin to contemplate a structured existence within fortified walls. The thought of it I'm sure brought joy to their hearts.

One of the main topics of Numbers 35 is the idea of asylum within the cities of the Levites. I found this quite interesting as it is evidently the beginning of the whole idea of a sacred space being a safe-haven, or sanctuary, for the exiled, down trodden, or wrongly charged. This was a firmly established rule in Christendom throughout the Middle Ages and even into the Early Modern Period. A church was meant to be a sacred place, a sanctuary for those in need, a place of healing, and above all a place not to be confused with temporal and secular structures and institutions. A church, as a house of God, (and symbolized by the cities of the Levites in Numbers), is meant to be a place associated with the world beyond; a place that acts as a link to heaven for those of us still on earth. I think the idea of sanctuary (or asylum) is wonderful and it's disappointing to see its application decline so in recent history. It's a very Biblical concept and ought to be promulgated perpetually by the Church.

One other interesting thing from Numbers 35 is the law that someone utilizing sanctuary in a Levitical town cannot leave or seek his freedom until the death of the High Priest. According to some scholars, this is meant to show how our freedom and release is dependent upon the death of Christ (whom the High Priests symbolized). We cannot go "home," that is, to our eternal home of heaven, until Christ performs His fulfillment of the law upon the cross, which of course has occurred.

One more chapter to go in Numbers!

Numbers 32-33: Stations of the Desert

2011-03-17T18:41:00.000-07:00

Today is the feast day of the great Saint Patrick. On this day I will officially end the longest hiatus I've taken from this blog since I began it back in April of 2009. My last post was in early December of 2010, which means for about three and a half months I have not directed my mind towards Sacred Scripture, a fact that I am ashamed of. Beginning this Bible-reading endeavor was meant to keep me motivated, and though by and large it has done this, I still suffer from lapses of determination in which I allow other facets of my life to gain superiority over a much greater facet -- reading the Word. The good news, at least, is that I've never once questioned this endeavor nor come close to giving up on it all together. Even during my lapses, in the back of my mind I know that I have a job to do, one that is more important than most of the other activities in my life. That job consists in striving to understand Scripture, become knowledgeable of it, and, hopefully, to gain graces from the mental meditations the Word inspires. We are now in the season of Lent, and I knew I could not let another day, especially during this time of year, go by without turning to the Word. I hope and pray that any future hiatus will be a brief one, and that my reading from here on out will be much more focused and much more steadfast.

I am still on the Book of Numbers, which I began nearly a year ago in March of 2010. When I left off, the Israelites were on the very doorstep of their promised land. They had been skirmishing with the locals, and still showing ingratitude towards the One Who led them through the desert. Now, in Numbers 33 we get a summary of sorts of the entire journey from Egypt to Canaan. Every stop along the way, every town or city or camp, is mentioned by name. It's fascinating to read about the journey in one brief chapter like this. It reminds the reader just how far the Children of God had come, through what obstacles they had to endure, through what sins they committed. The journey from Egypt was a miraculous one. And it was a symbolic one. Many Biblical scholars say that each station, or stopping point, mentioned in Numbers 33 is representative of a certain sin or struggle that we have to endure on our own journey through life. The Israelites could not have gone straight from the slavery of Egypt to the milk and honey of the Promised Land. Such a radical transition would have left them unappreciative, unworthy, untransformed. Instead, God leads them on an epic, 40-year odyssey that indeed transforms them. They still suffer from ingratitude, but this is because they do not cease being human. As humans they can never completely be worthy of the Promised Land -- it is only God Who can unlock those gates and through His eternal Mercy allow them to enter. But they can still transform themselves, better themselves, and please God to allow them to enter into His domain. So it is with us. We must undergo a transformation, which is why we must endure this life, with all its obstacles and temptations. If God had created us and then instantly placed us in heaven, we would have no concept of what it means to love God or what it means to suffer or sacrifice to obtain a good. In fact, we wouldn't even know good, because we wouldn't have ever known evil. The suffering we endure in this life (and the suffering endured by the Israelites in the desert) prepares us for a place in which we will know goodness and happiness, that is heaven (symbolized by the Promised Land of Canaan).

Numbers 28-31: Preparing the Stage

2010-12-04T10:05:00.000-08:00

The stage is being set. After pronouncing Joshua to be his official successor, Moses spends a few chapters basically reviewing ordinances that had already been proclaimed. He reiterates what sacrifices are to be made and the festivals that are to be observed. Some think that during the 40 years spent in the desert, many of these sacrifices and feast days were not observed simply because it would have been impractical. But now that the Israelites had arrived at the threshold of the Promised Land, Moses needed to reemphasize the importance of these ordinances and the fact that they must be followed once they entered their permanent home. There is also, in Chapter 30, a reminder of the importance of oaths. And then, in Chapter 31, we come to a significant altercation the Israelites had with the Madianites. God calls for "revenge" to be taken on the Madianites for drawing the Israelites into sin. The battle that is fought is seemingly short and quite decisive, as the Hebrews lose not one man, and nearly all the Madianite soldiers are killed. Even Balaam is destroyed, which concludes the life of an evil prophet. The Israelite army is proving to be quite formidable, but it is an army guided by God. All impediments are being removed; any obstacle, be it an army or a prophet, that would prevent the Israelites from entering the Promised Land is being handled by God through His people's army.

What all this demonstrates is that entering the Promised Land is not a thing done lightly. Just as entering heaven is no light matter. In both cases, battles must be fought, temptations overcome, obstacles hurdled, evil resisted. The Israelites, though they're having military success, are finding that entering the land that is theirs is taking longer than they expected. What matters, though, is that they persevere. Just as with our spiritual journey in life -- it is going to be a struggle, a battle even, and we may lose at times, but all that matters is that we persevere, that we get up to fight another day.

Numbers 27 - Joshua's Rise

2010-11-26T15:49:00.000-08:00

"Moses did as the Lord had commanded. And when he had taken Josue, he set him before Eleazar the priest, and all the assembly of the people,
And laying his hands on his head, he repeated all things that the Lord had commanded." (Numbers 27:22-23)

"These they set before the apostles: and they, praying, imposed hands upon them." (Acts of the Apostles 6:6)

"Neglect not the grace which is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the imposition of the hands of the priesthood." (1 Timothy 4:14)

In this chapter we see the transference of leadership from Moses to Joshua (spelled Josue in the Douay-Rheims). I bring up the other verses above because they show the significance of external ceremonies, e.g., the laying on of hands. It wasn't enough for Moses just to tell Joshua he was now in charge; as instructed by God, Moses had to physically lay his hands upon him as well as bring in the witness Eleazar. So it is still when priests are ordained (as well as with other ceremonies). The laying on of hands is a necessary and significant part of the ordination process.

With Joshua's accession we come to a critical point in the history of the Israelites. Moses has reached his end. God has told him that he will not enter the Promised Land, which must have come as quite a devastating shock. But did Moses throw a tantrum or rebel against God because of this? Of course not! He meekly accepted his fate and immediately turned his attention to making sure his people were left with a worthy leader. I think it is also significant that Moses chose Joshua who is not a direct relation to him. Moses made his choice based on merit, not heredity. I think we can take this as a model. Hereditary succession (though perhaps permissible at times) is not the ideal way to choose a leader. Much like the pope is chosen by careful deliberation using a criteria of character and holiness, Moses demonstrates to us that the responsible thing to do is pass on authority to the one most wise and worthy. And so the Israelites are handed over to Joshua just before making their grand entrance into the Promised Land.

Numbers 26 - A Martial Census

2010-11-24T22:51:00.000-08:00

East of the Jordan, with a war looming, the Israelites number themselves, again. Before making their fateful entrance into the Promised Land, it seems they need to take stock of who they've got. This is the second time in the Book of Numbers that we have seen a detailed census take place (hence the name of the book). It strikes me as significant that these numbers seem so precise, so labored over. Names, tribes, families are all taken into account. This very well could be simply to see what their fighting forces would look like. How many men would be bearing arms as they cross the Jordan to claim what is theirs? But what it does essentially is add to the historicity of these books. We don't see these types of things occur in ancient myths and legends from other cultures. The tribe of Zabulon had 60,500 fighting men. This seems like a plain and simple historical record, much like a parishioner count from a medieval church.

As would be expected, the number of Israelites had dwindled some since their last census 38 years earlier when they first started their sojourn through the desert. Many men had died, either by natural causes or by the several punishments that the Israelites brought upon themselves by means of their incessant disobedience. Yet, some particular tribes enjoyed an increase in population. At the risk of getting too "statistical," I thought I'd list the increases and decreases that each tribe underwent during their wanderings in the desert:

The tribe of Ruben originally numbered 46,600. They lost 2,870 men so they now number 43,730.
The tribe of Simeon originally numbered 59,300. They now number 22,200, which means they lost 37,100! This tribe lost more men than any other. Is there a significance there?
The tribe of Gad originally numbered 45,650. They lost 5,100 men so they now number 40,550.
The tribe of Juda originally numbered 74,600. They gained 1,900 people, so that they now number 76,500. A prosperous tribe, and the one Jesus would be born into.
The tribe of Issachar originally numbered 54,400. They also gained men. They gained 9,900 to now number at 64,300.
The tribe of Zabulon originally numbered 57,400. They gained 3,100 to now number at 60,500.
The tribe of Manasses originally numbered 32,200, a small tribe. But they gained 20,500 men! Which gives them an immense increase to reach 52,700 men!
The tribe of Ephraim originally numbered 40,500. And they lost 8,000 men, leaving them with 32,500.
The tribe of Benjamin originally numbered 35,400. They added 10,200 men to reach 45,600.
The tribe of Dan originally numbered 62,700. They added 1,700 men to reach 64,400.
The tribe of Aser originally numbered 41,500. They enjoyed an increase of 11,900 to reach 53,400.
The tribe of Nephtali originally numbered 53,400. They, however, lost 8,000 men so that they now numbered 45,400.

These were impressive numbers, especially for a wandering people. One can see why the local kings were so unnerved by the arrival of this massive body of people to their lands, and why Balac wanted them cursed. And yet, amazingly, virtually all of these people would be barred from entering the Promised Land. Their infidelity to the One True God would catch up to them, and in the end their imperfections kept them out of a promised place. Not even Moses could bring the people into the Holy Land. That job was reserved for one who stood for Christ, Joshua. And we come to that next.

Numbers 25 - Zeal

2010-11-13T16:39:00.000-08:00

This chapter packed a punch. Amazingly, the Israelites have again fallen into idolatry and its accompanying vices, i.e., fornication. It seems that there is no end to the failings of God's people. Yet, as I thought of these things, I instantly caught myself pointing a finger, when the finger should really be pointed at me. The Israelites, I must remember, represent all of us; and their journey through the desert is a figure for our journey through life; and their failings in the desert is a figure for our failings in life; and all the second-chances they are given by God is a figure for the forgiveness we are given when we fail. It shouldn't seem so crazy that the Israelites fell back into idolatry so many times when we count up the number of times we have sinned against God. It's frustrating, though, to read about a people so near to their promised land, and yet they still can't stay true to God. But, of course, we are all so near to the promises God has made to us through His Son Jesus Christ, and yet we still find a way to fall short. It doesn't matter that the Israelites are at the border of Canaan, or that we are near the gates of Heaven -- we are weak creatures, and it is only God's mercy that allows us the possibility of eternal life.

The central event of this chapter, though, is the actions of the priest Phinees. The Israelites have fallen into a depraved state of idolatry and fornication (as they intermix with the Moabites and Madianites), and Moses and the judges and priests are of course worried and agitated by this crisis. What Phinees does is quite shocking, but we must remember to keep his action not only in context but in view of God's divine plan for His future Church. For what Phinees does he does out of a zealous love for God. His act of killing two fornicating sinners is done at an acute moment in the history of the Israelites. The people as a whole are abandoning the Law that Moses instituted; they are sinning in the face of God; they are dismissing God, forgetting Him, blaspheming Him. Zambri (the man Phinees kills) is even so upfront about his evilness that he openly enters a woman's tent with obvious intentions in sight of Moses and the priests praying at the Tabernacle! The affront here shown to God is shocking and drastic. Phinees can hardly believe his eyes and is so overwhelmed with a zeal for defending God that he is driven to administer a fatal punishment right then and there. Phinees's action is not exactly to be copied by us, but his zeal is. This was a time when capital punishment was practiced widely in all societies, and for reasons that we are of no authority or expertise to question, God allowed it for those people at that time. The account of Phinees is no doubt though meant to show us the mindset of a true soldier of the Lord. We are to react in defense of our God when He is attacked. But as we have been instructed by Jesus, we are to do this mildly. We must admonish the sinner with love. We must mix Phinees's zeal with a true charity when we are defending our Lord. And so God has allowed us the opportunity to learn from Phinees's harsh actions.

Numbers 24 - "A Star Shall Rise"

2010-11-11T17:33:00.000-08:00

Numbers 24 continues the prophecies of Balaam. And what prophecies they are! Reading the words in this chapter really gives a sense of a person enraptured by God. Balaam's prophecies are both grandiose and poetic. To give an example: "How beautiful are thy tabernacles, O Jacob, and thy tents, O Israel! As woody valleys, as watered gardens near the rivers, as tabernacles which the Lord hath pitched, as cedars by the water side" (Numbers 24:5-6). I was stunned by the beauty of this language. This is spoken by a man who is not even associated with the Hebrews. Balaam is a pagan mystic, basically, and yet God is using him as an outside figure looking upon His children and foretelling their fate. I had no idea, though, the gravity of his prophecies that would come later in the chapter. After Balac tries to silence Balaam, the Mesopotamian prophet can't help but continue to speak God's words. And in verse 17 he drops a bomb: "I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not near. A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall spring up from Israel." I immediately assumed this verse was about the Messiah, Jesus Christ. A quick glance at my commentary solidified my assumption. Balaam is indeed seeing a vision of the future Christ. However, his vision as a whole also deals with the coming of the king David, who will smite the Moabites. But there are clear-cut signs pointing to Jesus as the eventual king who will subdue all nations, not just the Moabites. Balaam even prophecies the eventual destruction of the Jews, and many of the other nations of area, when he says, "They shall come in galleys from Italy, they shall overcome the Assyrians, and shall waste the Hebrews, and at the last they themselves also shall perish" (Numbers 24:24). In short, no nation will survive. In the end, Christ the King will overcome all the peoples of the earth. Wow, what a prophecy! It is even theorized that when Balaam says that he "shall behold him, but not near" that he is referring to the Christ Child as seen through the eyes of the Magi; literally that Balaam sees Jesus in the manger through the eyes of men who came from the east, just as he did. Balaam's vision in this chapter is obviously quite grand, and it would take books to deconstruct it and try to understand every word. In basic terms we have a scene here wherein a worldly, pagan king, Balac, wants a particular people destroyed, only to find out through a prophet that said people are highly special, and that they will not be defeated, and that a king shall rise out of their midst who will destroy Balac's people, and eventually an even greater king will arise, the Son of God Himself, out of Isreal, who all nations will bow to, unto the end of the world. Spectacular.

Numbers 23 - The Obstinacy of Balac

2010-11-11T15:05:00.000-08:00

Numbers 23 is a very structured chapter of the Bible. It consists in three instances of Balac prompting Balaam to curse the people of Israel. Each time Balaam is given a divine instruction to not curse Israel, but to bless them instead. This of course frustrates Balac, who is bent on ridding his land of Moab of these newcomers, the Israelites. Balac's behavior is very illustrative of human stubbornness. He will not listen to the proclamations uttered by God (through Balaam) and continues to obstinately try to get Israel cursed. He wants to hear only what he wants to hear. If Balaam had returned to issue a curse instead of a blessing, Balac would have been overjoyed. How often is it the case with us, that we will only listen to God when He is telling us things we want to hear. And when He has things to say that we don't necessarily want to hear, we often ignore Him, or modify His message so that it is more in line to what we wanted in the first place. Such a thing is not how we are to abandon our will and adopt God's. Your will, God, but not mine.

One other interesting thing about this chapter is its reference to a strange creature whose identity translators to this day are not sure of. In Numbers 23:22, Balaam prophecies that, "God hath brought [Israel] out of Egypt, whose strength is like to the rhinoceros." The Hebrew word for what is translated as "rhinoceros" is ream. Apparently some translators think ream is the unicorn, while there is a theory that it is actually the Arabian oryx. It apparently signifies a beast with a horn, though I think of those possible creatures, the rhinoceros fits best, as it is notably the largest and strongest of these real and fictitious animals. It's fascinating to wonder what creature Moses had in mind when he originally wrote this verse. One has to think of the animals that were known in that region at that time. And if ream does signify the unicorn, perhaps that legendary creature's myth goes back farther than we thought.

Numbers 22 - Enter Balaam

2010-10-11T19:12:00.000-07:00

This was a remarkable story. The first time I read Numbers, which was over six years ago, I must have rushed through this section without retaining much, for I don't remember anything about a prophet and a talking donkey! But sure enough, in Numbers 22 we meet Balaam, who is a soothsayer of suspect motivation. He is a prophet sure enough, for he acknowledges the One True God, but he seems to be influenced by worldly greed and ambition. I found his story truly interesting.

The Israelites, by this time, are advancing quickly toward the Promised Land. They have entered the land of Moab, and have obviously caused the Moabite king, Balac, to become concerned. Balac summons Balaam to curse the Israelites so that they can be defeated and sent away from his lands. This proves that Balaam was a respected diviner of his time and place. But Balaam is instructed by God Himself not to curse the Israelites. What happens next is a lesson for all of us. What are we to do when we must choose between God's will and our will? God's will is that Balaam not curse the Israelites. Balaam's will is that he curse the Israelites so that he may receive famed reputation and the riches promised by Balac. Balaam chooses his own will and is thus taught a lesson. Riding his donkey toward where the Israelites are encamped, Balaam is stopped by an angel, though only his donkey can actually see the celestial creature. After this happens a few times, Balaam becomes angry with his donkey and strikes him! And then, in an amazing miracle, God allows the donkey to speak to Balaam, asking why he is striking an innocent creature. I was astonished at this passage. The only other instance of a speaking animal in the Bible is the serpent in the Garden! The nature of this miracle is quite debated. Some scholars think the donkey didn't really speak, only that Balaam perceived him to. While others think that if God wanted a donkey to speak, he very well could do so. Either way, the point was made, and Balaam was humbled. He then could see the terrifying angel standing in his way with a sword drawn. The chapter ends with Balaam still heading toward the Israelites with Balac's men, but we now believe he has different intentions than to curse God's people.

Numbers 21 - The Brazen Serpent and a Lost Book

2010-08-20T16:49:00.001-07:00

As I expected, things are really beginning to move now. The narrative is starting to speed up, and the Israelites have begun their strategic march through the inhabited regions that border the Promised Land. They are stirring up conflicts left and right, though so far their victories have been quick and easy. The central feature of Numbers 21 seems to be the brazen serpent, a serpent sculpted of brass and set on a standard, which, according to God's command, was to heal the Israelites who had been bitten by venomous snakes. It's interesting to note here that we have yet another example of God calling for a graven image to be constructed for the benefit of the people. Just like with the cherubs on the ark, the Bible makes it clear that a graven image can be a beneficial thing. It becomes a problem only when people misuse it, e.g., begin to worship it as if the object itself were divine. Apparently, King Hezekiah, centuries later, faced this problem, and was forced to destroy the brazen serpent that had dated back to Moses's time.

Another interesting thing about the brazen serpent is that, strangely enough, it has been seen as a traditional symbol of Christ. One wouldn't think that a snake, usually associated with Satan, would represent Christ, but the symbolism is actually rather remarkable. First of all, there is the physical symbolism, as the snake was to be set upon a standard, so that it almost looked like the creature was hanging upon a cross. But, more so, the symbolism lies in the fact that the brazen serpent maintains the image of the vile creature without its actual poisonous qualities -- just as Christ came in the form of a human (a vile creature in comparison to God's perfection) but without the sin (the poison) that exists in the rest of us. Also, the brazen serpent was meant to heal, just as Christ is our Healer. I found this to be one of the more fascinating symbols of Christ.

The one other thing I found interesting in this chapter is in the following verse:

"Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord: As he did in the Red Sea, so will he do in the streams of Arnon." (Numbers 21:14)

"The book of the wars of the Lord"? I immediately stopped at those words. Moses seems to be referencing some other book here! Mysterious things like this always fascinate me. What is this book he could be referring to? Is it something even more ancient than the Torah? Is it a contemporary book? My commentary basically says that the jury is out on this one. It appears to be a lost book, something the ancient Israelites knew of, but would be lost before future generations ever could read it. Scholars disagree, however, on the authorship of the mysterious book. Some think it was written by Moses himself, about his skirmishes with the Amalecites found in the Book of Exodus. Others think someone else wrote the book of the wars of the Lord, and Moses is simply referencing it here. It's amazing to wonder about the texts that used to exist, that we know only fragments about, but which will have to remain lost to mankind until the end of days. Perhaps in the next life we will be knowledgeable of these mysteries.

Numbers 20 - The Death of Aaron and Miriam

2010-08-19T13:17:00.000-07:00

Numbers 20 relays the deaths of Moses's siblings, Aaron and Miriam. And it seemed to me that this chapter begins to set the tone for the shift in narrative that is approaching. After years and years of sojourning through the barren desert, enduring the people's seditions and murmurings, Moses and all the children of Israel reach the outskirts of the Promised Land. It is very obvious to the reader that there is only one thing that can happen next -- the entering of this Holy Land by God's chosen people. Yet, I've always found it fascinating that God did not intend for Moses to enter this Land himself. Moses, a figure unlike one the world had ever seen, had been doing God's work for quite some time; he had assisted in God's plan to free the Israelites from the bonds of Egypt; he had worked miracles in the desert in order to convince the multitude of God's divine plan; he established the Law that would change the world. And yet he was not admitted entrance to God's Promised Land. And neither were his siblings, Aaron and Miriam.

I think what's so fascinating about this is the symbolism. Moses, Aaron, and Miriam represent, clearly, the Law, the priests, and the prophets of the Old Testament. These things could get the people only so far. They could not, of themselves, open the gates of the true Promised Land.... heaven. Only one person could do that -- Jesus Christ. Therefore, the Old Law and all its accouterments was meant only to bring the people to the brink of the Promised Land, and the New Law, i.e., Jesus Christ, was meant to spiritually and physically lead us into the Promised Land in full glory. The symbolism is immense, especially when one considers the fact that Joshua, the illustrious figure who would physically lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land, is a symbol of Christ. Therefore, we begin to see this immense symbolism play out with the deaths of Aaron and Miriam in Numbers 20. Moses's siblings, though noble and virtuous, cannot enter the Promised Land. They will have to join their deceased brethren and await the coming of Christ from a place not of this world.

Numbers 19 - The Red Cow

2010-08-08T18:55:00.000-07:00

Numbers 19 describes a curious ceremony in which a red cow must be immolated as a sin offering, burned, and then its ashes mixed with water to cleanse the unclean. When I read through the chapter the first time, I didn't quite see the point of it. I figured it was an action ordained by God because the people had sinned and needed purification. But there were so many inexplicable details involved in this sacrifice (for instance, why a red cow?) that it had me scratching my head. And, interestingly, I've come to realize that there isn't a lot of explanation in the Old Testament (at least not in the Pentateuch). The Law is laid down, the instructions given, and the ultimate point of it all is left unsaid (not that the people were left completely in the dark, but no one really analyzed what was going on). For me, this leads to one of the most convincing arguments for typology or supersessionism (or whatever other fancy name is out there). When one looks at the Mosaic Law equipped with the New Law given by Christ, one suddenly sees a complete picture, replete with explanations, reasonings, and rationales. It would be as if we were walking around at night in pitch black and suddenly we are given night-vision goggles and everything around us is visible. The Bible gives us no indication that the Israelites understood the ultimate meaning of the rigid code they were told to follow by Moses (in fact, their constant murmuring is indication that they didn't enjoy following something they didn't understand). But for us, living in the age after Christ has fulfilled the Law and illuminated it for us, we can see why the Jews had to do what they did, why the Law was filled with so many seemingly unimportant details, why, for instance, it had to be a red cow! Because it was all pointing to Jesus Christ! When one realizes this, there is no longer a pointless verse in the Old Testament. Every action is symbolic, is a figure for what is to come. The way was being prepared, even as far back as the days of Moses.

The reason I had to touch on the symbolism of the Old Testament is because this particular chapter, Numbers 19, which was originally obscure to me, was illuminated when I realized it was all symbolic. The red cow is Jesus Christ.

"Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee a red cow of full age, in which there is no blemish, and which hath not carried the yoke:
And you shall deliver her to Eleazar the priest, who shall bring her forth without the camp, and shall immolate her in the sight of all." (Numbers 19:2-3)

Christ was sacrificed when He reached the "full age"; He had "no blemish," for He was sinless. He was taken to the High Priest, was led outside the city, and was crucified "in the sight of all." And the parallels continue. The immolation of the red cow was to expiate the sins of the people, as was the sacrifice of Christ. My commentary says, "Thus we perceive the meaning of many things which to the Jews were veiled in shadows." Again, all things were pointing toward Christ. Whether or not Moses knew this is debatable. There are hints in the Bible that he knew vaguely of Someone Who was to come at a later age to save the children of Israel. Alas, it must for now remain as a mystery of faith.

Numbers 17-18: Set Apart

2010-08-06T22:05:00.000-07:00

These were some relieving chapters. As a reader, it seems the Israelites have been wandering through the desert for an eternity. And for the majority of their journey they have been murmuring and complaining to Moses. As we saw in Numbers 16, a big part of their discontent is the preferential treatment they see given to Moses and Aaron. Korah tried (and failed) to lead a rebellion against Moses. And the rest of the people couldn't understand why the Levites should be the only ones who could conduct worship, or approach the sanctuary, or receive the first fruits. But God sets this all straight in Numbers 17 and 18. Speaking through Moses, He lays down once and for all the sacred role He wants for the Levites. No one approaches the tabernacle but a priest! No one offers oblations but a priest! No one shall get the best of the oil or the wine but a priest! God wants a certain number of His people set apart.

This, of course, caused me to think of the role of the priest today. Priests of the New Law, just like the Levites of the Old Law, adhere to a completely different set of guidelines. One of my favorite verses from these chapters is this one: "And the Lord said to Aaron: You shall possess nothing in their land, neither shall you have a portion among them: I am thy portion and inheritance in the midst of the children of Israel" (Numbers 18:20). How beautiful! The priest shall have no possessions because he possesses God Himself! One begins to see here just how elevated and sacred God intended His priests to be. This verse also makes me think of the great Saint Francis of Assisi, who kept no possessions and kept himself wholly and completely reserved for God. Unfortunately, through the ages many priests have lost sight of this sacred role of theirs. And when a society's priests begin to accumulate wealth or desire material things, the society itself crumbles. Conversely, when a society's priests live for God alone and forsake the world, the society prospers, in that it enjoys God's favor. Jeremias 31:14 reads, "And I will fill the soul of the priests with fatness: and my people shall be filled with my good things, saith the Lord." It is true that priests enjoy a special place among God's people, but they must sacrifice much in their lives. My commentary notes that when a man decides to become a priest, one of the first steps toward his ordination is a ceremony in which the bishop cuts off a piece of his hair in the form of a cross while the priest-to-be recites Psalm 15:5: "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance, and of my cup; it is Thou that wilt restore my inheritance to me." This of course is a direct reference to Numbers 18:20. I find this to be a beautiful image: the young candidate renouncing the world and all its wealth and possessions, land and commodities, so that he may possess the Eternal One alone. Awesome. Once again we find a direct parallel between the Old Law and the New.

Numbers 16 - The First Schism

2010-08-04T18:40:00.000-07:00

It's interesting how one small chapter in the Bible can contain so much significance. Numbers 16 tells the story of Korah (spelled "Core" in my translation) and his sedition. This was a very powerful chapter in that it deals with the ever-present problem of schism and rebellion within a religious system. In a way it was almost relieving to read about a problem that seems so modern yet existed as far back as we can trace religion. It shows that men have always behaved the same. It shows that significant events involving schism, such as the Protestant Reformation, were not unusual or unprecedented. Moses himself had to deal with this issue! Heresies, rebellion, inner strife, and, most of all, man's pride can be seen in Korah's sedition.

It always starts with pride. Korah's main contention was that he couldn't understand why Moses got to be the ultimate authority among the Hebrews in the desert. He questioned Moses's authority, an authority that was granted by God! Korah also questioned Aaron's role as High Priest. (It's interesting to note that Korah himself was a Levite and thus was of the priestly order of the Israelites. Likewise, Martin Luther was a Catholic priest before his defection). Korah, once he had acquired followers, thus created a schism within the hierarchy established by Moses via God's commands. He created a fissure, a rift (making his death by earthquake quite symbolic) among the people of God.

One could say that it was a trying time for the Israelites, and especially for Moses and Aaron. The people had been murmuring for quite some time. They wanted to return to Egypt, they found the desert too unforgiving, they thought they were being led astray, led to their deaths. Of course Moses became a sort of target for all this malaise. As the authority among the people, Moses came to be despised by some of the more grumbling Israelites. And Korah grew the most audacious by calling his authority fraudulent! In another striking similarity, just as Luther preached that every man was his own priest, Korah criticized the highly hierarchical nature of the Levitical priesthood by saying that every man ought to possess the sanctified role that the Levite priests enjoyed. Numbers 16:3 says of Korah and his followers: "When they had stood up against Moses and Aaron, they said: Let it be enough for you, that all the multitude consisteth of holy ones, and the Lord is among them: why lift you up yourselves above the people of the Lord?" The answer to this question is obviously simple: because God said so. What other motive could Korah have had than Pride? Korah believed his own ideas to be superior to the established system God had ordained. And God dealt with him swiftly.

It's safe to say, based on Numbers 16, that God isn't interested in ambitious innovators. The order that God establishes among His people, whether it's the organization of the twelve tribes of Israel or the institution of the Catholic Church, is never going to be flawless because it is run by men. God may initiate the system, but man must carry it out, and man is flawed. Some people see this imperfect system as somehow opposed to God and therefore they take it upon themselves to create a new system. Korah establishes for us a what-not-to-do example. Korah's rebellion caused thousands to perish and created havoc among the Israelites as they struggled on their journey to the Promised Land. Rebellion also caused a war in heaven when Lucifer tried to question God's authority. And rebellion continues to cause strife among God's people, as thousands of schisms plague Christians today. Obedience and humility alone can prevent all of these divisions. Korah had neither of these things.

Numbers 15 - The Great Sin

2010-07-29T11:14:00.000-07:00

"The soul that committeth any thing through pride, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, (because he hath been rebellious against the Lord) shall be cut off from among his people." (Numbers 15:30)

In Numbers 15 we see the sin of Pride being highlighted. This sin, which has been called the Great Sin, is often the gateway to other, lesser sins. As C.S. Lewis puts it, "it was through Pride that the devil became the devil." Lewis also says that Pride "is the complete anti-God state of mind." It is through Pride that men reject God, that they convince themselves that they don't need God, that God doesn't exist because their superior intellect tells them so. In Numbers 15 we see an illustration of a man giving in to his Pride: the children of Israel see "a man gathering sticks on the sabbath day" (Numbers 15:32). This verse comes right after Moses has laid down the laws for dealing with sins of ignorance. Moses next gives an example of a willful sin -- a sin of pride. It is implied that this man willfully broke the sabbath laws by doing servile work. As usual, the Word is terse here, but we can assume that this man knew the sabbath laws but broke them because he thought them either too severe or quite foolish. In his mind there was nothing wrong with gathering sticks on the sabbath. He elevated his mind above God's. Humility, the opposite of Pride, would have told him to submit to the law even if he saw no point in it. But this man was not humble. His Pride was his downfall, and his punishment was severe. He was stoned to death. My commentary notes that God seems to always punish most severely when an example needs to be set, such as with Adam and Eve, Cain, and the Sodomites. Numbers 15 clearly demonstrates the grave danger of the sin of Pride. Even in the New Testament, it is written that "that servant who knew the will of his lord, and hath not prepared, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes" (Luke 12:47). The key phrase here is "knew the will of his lord." Breaking laws out of ignorance is to be forgiven, but to willfully break a law is to risk severe punishment.

C.S. Lewis writes so brilliantly on the sin of Pride, that I must include some of his thoughts here:

"There is one vice [Pride] of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves."

"According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride."

"A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you."

"Pride always means enmity -- it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God."

Numbers 13-14: The Insolence Of Man

2010-07-27T20:30:00.000-07:00

"As I live, saith the Lord: According as you have spoken in my hearing, so will I do to you.
In the wilderness shall your carcasses lie. All you that were numbered from twenty years old and upward, and have murmured against me,
Shall not enter into the land, over which I lifted up my hand to make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephone, and Josue the son of Nun." (Numbers 14:28-30)

Thus was the fate of those men and women who distrusted God, turned their backs on Him, and relied more on their own "prowess" to sustain themselves. In Numbers 13 and 14 the Israelites are brought to nearly the gate of Canaan, to what would be their Promised Land. Scouts are sent out to survey the land and bring back information, but the news of the people dwelling there is too much to bear for most of the Israelites. It seems to claim the land promised them by God, they will have to fight and defeat giants and men of superior arms. In an act of cowardice, the men openly proclaim that it would be better to return to Egypt! (Though, seeing as they only survived their journey through the desert because God fed them with manna, one wonders how they thought they'd survive a return journey to Egypt!).

This really was a sad couple of chapters. It was sad in a literal sense because it's hard to see such lack of faith, and yet understandable because they were simply weak humans like all of us. And it was sad in a symbolic sense because this still goes on today, and it's not easy to think about the number of people who may be denying themselves the opportunity to live in eternal bliss with God simply because of a refusal or lack of faith. They'd rather trust in themselves than God. The Israelites didn't like the plan God had laid out for them; they thought it foolish, dangerous, unenjoyable. It's easy to think the same things today. God's plan is usually not the easiest plan, or the most pleasurable plan; but it's the plan that leads to life everlasting. Would that more would trust in it.

Numbers 12 - On The Dangers Of Murmuring

2010-06-28T11:23:00.000-07:00

It's been almost three months since my last post. The long break was unintentional but almost unavoidable as well, for I found myself burdened by coaching duties, preparing for the end of the school year, and, most recently, welcoming to the world a niece, who was born just six days ago. Life's events piled up and I lost sight of my Bible-reading. I haven't posted since the day after Easter, and with no posts in May I didn't want to let June go by without anything either. So last night I made it a priority to sit down with the Holy Book and continue where I left off.

And so I read Numbers 12, which is a little chapter about a big event. Moses's siblings, Mary (Miriam) and Aaron, begin to murmur against Moses for reasons that are debated. The passage reads as follows:

"And Mary and Aaron spoke against Moses, because of his wife the Ethiopian,
And they said: Hath the Lord spoken by Moses only? hath he not also spoken to us in like manner?" (Numbers 12:1-2)

Some scholars think Mary and Aaron were angry because Moses had married an outsider (an "Ethiopian"). Others think Mary and Aaron were angry with Moses because he had "put away" his wife and so they were defending Sephora. But what is clear from verse 2 is that there was jealousy involved, as Mary and Aaron felt that Moses was getting special treatment by means of his privileged relationship with God. Throughout the Pentateuch there is a notion of murmuring as a significant human defect. God bestows innumerable blessings upon His people and yet they always seem to thank Him my murmuring or complaining about such trivial things. It seems to be most prevalent whilst the Hebrews are wandering the desert. There is constant murmuring that Moses has to deal with (and now even from his own siblings!). This has to be symbolic of the murmuring we are all guilty of in life. For if the desert wandering of the Israelites is symbolic of our wandering years here on earth, then the grumbling and complaining of the Israelites is symbolic of our thankless behavior as we go through life.

There is an even more interesting symbolism going on in Numbers 12, though. According to many of the early Church Fathers, the whole episode of Mary and Aaron's murmuring can be seen as allegoric of Christ's mission on earth. Moses, who is a figure of Christ, takes to wife an "Ethiopian," an outsider, who can be seen as representative of the Gentiles. Mary and Aaron, who represent the synagogue, murmur against Moses for this act, just as the Jews murmured against the idea of Gentile salvation. In Numbers 12 Mary is punished with disease for her insolence, just as the Jews were punished by the destruction of their city, as Christ had prophesied. Moses is described as meek in Numbers 12, and the same description can be applied to Jesus. Moses compassionately chose the Ethiopian, just as Jesus, through His infinite compassion, extended His saving grace to ALL men by His death and resurrection.

Numbers 10-11: We Gleefully Run to the Slavery of Sin

2010-04-05T15:16:00.000-07:00

O how fickle we are! The Israelites have hardly begun their march toward the Promised Land when they begin to complain. They are tired of Manna, they long for the decadent food they had in Egypt.... when they were slaves! Initially this amazed me. Why would the Israelites, who had been overjoyed at their release from bondage, want to go back to the shackles simply for the earthly delight of eating flesh?! But my amazement subsided when I realized that we all do this whenever we desire to sin. Through baptism (just as the Israelites were "baptized" through the waters of the Red Sea) we have been released from the slavery of sin, but as we walk with the Lord through the journey of life, how often do we tire of living piously? How often do we get urges to return to our former, sinful ways? We forget completely the utter miracle involved in our escape from sin, how much the Lord did for us in releasing us from the bondage of iniquity, and we want to go back to our old ways for such trite reasons as slothfulness or gluttony or lust! So the Israelites, being gluttonous for flesh instead of the plain Manna, actually wanted to return to the land of their enslavement! God answers their complaints with more meat than they could handle. He gives them millions of quails, which subsequently bring a plague among them. We must be careful what we ask for. The lesson of Numbers 11 is a memorable and profound one.

Numbers 7-9: The New Passover

2010-04-03T22:16:00.000-07:00

Today is Holy Saturday. Yesterday our Lord paid the ultimate price by giving up His life for us; His body was laid in a tomb, and today we solemnly dwell on His passion and death. But we also eagerly await tomorrow, Easter Sunday, the day of His glorious Resurrection.

Coincidentally, my Bible reading today (Numbers 7-9) included a reminder of the importance of the Israelites' continuing to observe the Passover. We know from Exodus that the feast of the Pasch was introduced while God's people were still enslaved in Egypt. Now, His people being free and sojourning through the desert, God reveals the extreme importance of the Passover commemoration as the Israelites march toward their Promised Land. So what's the coincidence? The Christian Holy Week is the fulfillment of the Jewish Passover celebration. One of the most loaded statements Jesus Christ ever made was His last on the cross: "It is consummated" (John 19:30). What was consummated? Everything! The entire Old Law was immediately fulfilled, whilst the New Law was instituted. Everything that was foreshadowed in the Old Law was, at that moment, brought into the light, that all might know the true meaning behind God's past covenants. Part of this was the Passover, which, now that the events of Holy Week were finished, could finally be understood for what it really was -- a prefiguring of Jesus Christ's sacrifice. There is no possible way that the similarities between Passover and the events of Holy Week could have been either coincidental or man-made. Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, just as the paschal lamb was being selected for sacrifice; Jesus died on Good Friday, just as the paschal lamb was being killed; not a bone of Jesus's body was broken, just as not a bone of the paschal lamb could be broken; Jesus's blood saved the world, just as the blood of the paschal lamb saved the Israelites from death. Of course I cannot possibly capture the full scope and splendor of the connection between the Passover and Holy Week with my measly words (it has been described much more eloquently by more able writers than I). I only mention it here because it never ceases to affect me profoundly. The alignment of Christ's death to the Passover is one of the most truly remarkable aspects of Christianity. No one but God could have planned it that way!

Numbers 6 - For Greater Sanctity

2010-04-02T15:00:00.000-07:00

Reading the Old Testament is enlightening in so many ways. But probably the most rewarding thing about it is seeing just how foundational it is. This is probably an obvious point to many, but I suppose I was just too ignorant to see it before. The customs and traditions we see in the New Law have their origins in the Old Law. The idea of consecrating oneself to God can be traced back to the earliest books of the Bible; one case in point being the Law of the Nazarites found in Numbers 6. I didn't know much about the Nazarites, but their sanctification process sounds like the classic ascetic model. Anyone who wants to achieve greater sanctity through a more zealous lifestyle has the option of abstaining from worldly pleasures and making a solemn vow to be consecrated to God as a Nazarite, for a temporary period, or for the rest of his life. Historically the Nazarites are a pretty significant part of Judaism. I hadn't realized this, but Saint John the Baptist was a Nazarite (though seeing that he secluded himself in the desert, fasting and abstaining from worldly comforts, it should have been obvious to me). Saint Paul was even supposed to have taken a temporary Nazarite vow. I find it truly special that God allows these special provisions to be made for those who need to do more to live for God. Today of course we have many ascetic-like options for those who, in the past, may have been inclined to become a Nazarite. Monasteries and convents house these pious individuals. And even for those who desire to make a more temporary change of lifestyle, there are retreat houses where one can walk much closer to God for a certain amount of time to re-charge their soul. Reading about the ancient Nazarites truly makes me feel like part of a Divine plan that transcends time and space -- for I see a relationship between God and man back then that looks strikingly familiar to how many people approach Him now. (I'm not saying that nothing has changed, but God is still a God that requires reverence and devoutness). For thousands upon thousands of years, God has been inspiring men and women to leave the things of this world behind and devote everything to Him. The thought of it is stirring.

Also of significance in Numbers 6 are the short benedictions at the end of the chapter. These priestly blessings are as beautiful as they are brief:

"The Lord bless thee, and keep thee." (Numbers 6:24)

"The Lord show his face to thee, and have mercy on thee." (Numbers 6:25)

"The Lord turn his countenance to thee, and give thee peace." (Numbers 6:26)

It seems that God Himself always gives us the best words to say. These words uttered by the sons of Aaron had to have been of great comfort and joy to the people of Israel. Indeed, they must still fill us with hope today!

Numbers 5 - The Waters of Jealousy

2010-04-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

As I've progressed through the Pentateuch, there have been a few times when I've come across an enigmatic practice or an unusual law. There is such a thing in Numbers 5 when Moses describes the prescription for wives suspected of adultery. The so-called "trial of jealousy" is something quite foreign to us today. And I readily admit that it is things like this that can throw someone for a loop if he or she isn't reading the Word faithfully. The trial, which calls for the woman to drink a "bitter water" to test if she is an adulteress or not, can be interpreted several ways. I think it's important, first off, to note that nowhere in Sacred Scripture is this practice actually described as taking place. This is not to say that it didn't take place, but perhaps the idea of it was more important to remain in the Word than the actual description of any particular woman enduring it. Secondly, it must always be held in mind that these practices as described in the Old Law were specifically suited for the Israelites of Moses's time. They very rightly sound odd to us. And thirdly, for the same reason that death seems to be the primary punishment for transgressors of the Law, the trial of jealousy was meant to be severe to discourage adultery among men and women. I think when Paul writes that "the letter killeth" in 2 Corinthians 3:6, this trial of jealousy is an example of what he is talking about. The Old Law was both imperfect and quite harsh. It suited the ancient Israelites, but was never meant to be permanent. If God chose to reveal Himself in these ways back then, we must be careful not to judge. It is at least comforting to know that the Old Law provided an opportunity for the innocent woman to be exonerated, in contrast to other ancient laws that honored the accusations of a jealous husband and called for the death of the woman without trial.

Numbers 2-4: Due Order

2010-04-02T09:02:00.000-07:00

In Numbers 2:17 it is written, "Every one shall march according to their places, and ranks." This seems to sum up all of these early chapters of Numbers. God is basically assigning every person a place in the events that are about to unfold. There are those who will be fighting, and among these there are those who will march out in front, and those who will bring up the rear; there are those who will be in charge of the tabernacle, and among these it is broken up into various orders, pertaining to the various elements of the tabernacle. But cannot Numbers 2:17 be applied to us all, at any time in history? God calls each and every person to a different thing, to have a different role in life. Some people may think they got the short end of the stick, but if it is what God called you to do, it ought to be accepted with a sort of proud humility.

In keeping with this theme, Numbers 3 and 4 stress the sacred roles of the Levites. This is a tribe truly set apart. God literally says, "the Levites shall be mine" (Numbers 3:12). In this sense, the spirit of the law is upheld today in the Christian priesthood. Priests (and all who enter the religious life) give their lives to God in as literal a sense as is possible here on earth. They separate themselves from society (the degree of which depending on their order), they devote their life's work to ministering to God and none other. The rest of us are forced to split our time between worldly concerns and spiritual ones; whereas a monk in a monastery has the good fortune of giving 100% of his time to God. The Levites were the forebears of these religious men and women.

Lastly, in Numbers 4 we are reminded of the total sacredness of the Tabernacle of the Covenant. We begin to see the breakdown of the orders within the Levitical priesthood (foreshadowing the various orders within the Christian priesthood). The Kohathites, the Gershonites, and the Merarites each are given a specific list of duties concerning the transportation of the Tabernacle. I can't help but feel the true and utter holiness attributed to the Tabernacle while reading Numbers 4! A skeptical materialist would probably scoff at such a notion, but I get the sense that the Tabernacle was radiating with a spiritual aura, and that just to be near it would fill a person with extreme reverence and awe. Reading about how crucial was the transportation of the Tabernacle across the desert made me think of the event in the First Book of Paralipomenon when the Israelites attempted to transport the Ark on a measly ox-cart. As a result, Uzzah was struck dead. I wonder why no one thought of what is written in the Torah, that no one but the Levites might transport the Ark. The Israelites must have lost sight, temporarily, of just how sacred were these items. In a modern context, many Christians today have lost sight of the sacredness of the Holy Eucharist. Just as only the Levites could touch the Tabernacle and what was sacred within it, only a priest may open the tabernacle and touch the sacred host within. With the modern allowance of communion in the hand, we risk the fate of Uzzah.

Numbers 1 - Preparing for War

2010-03-28T19:12:00.000-07:00

There isn't a whole lot of content in Numbers 1, but there is a definite shift in "tone." As I mentioned in my last post, Leviticus seems to be a great big "pep-talk" in which God is instructing His people on how to live and how to worship Him before allowing them to take Canaan from the Pagans. Then, in the first chapter of Numbers, suddenly the troops are being assembled! It is clear what is coming, and that is war. The people have the Law, they have a new covenant, and now the only thing left to do is march toward the Promised Land and claim what God has given them. It begins.

Concluding Thoughts on Leviticus

2010-03-27T18:52:00.000-07:00

On this beautiful spring day, I have finished the Book of Leviticus. Quite unlike Genesis and Exodus, Leviticus is primarily concerned with one thing.... worship. Now that the children of Israel have been freed from slavery in Egypt, now that they have received a new covenant from God via Moses on Mount Sinai, and now that they are on the verge of being led into the Promised Land, the question is, how can they repay God? We do begin to see what exactly that repayment should look like in Exodus, but in Leviticus it is meticulously described. As is implied by the name of the book, the Levites are the focus of Leviticus -- how they should look, how they should act, how exactly they are to offer sacrifices to the Lord. Leviticus captures the essence of the Mosaic Law, that is, the form of divine worship. Now that the new covenant has been established, what will the sacrificial worship look like? We know from reading the Bible that people have been using sacrifice to worship God since virtually the beginning. There is a prayer in the Mass that captures this idea perfectly. As we ask God to accept our sacrifice, we pray: Supra quae propitio ac sereno vultu respicere digneris; et accepta habere, sicuti accepta habere dignatus es munera pueri tui justi Abel, et sacrificium patriarchae nostri Abrahae, et quod tibi obtulit summus sacerdos tuus Melchisedech, sanctum sacrificium, immaculatam hostiam ("And this deign to regard with gracious and kindly attention and hold acceptable, as You deigned to accept the offerings of Abel, Your just servant, and the sacrifice of Abraham our patriarch, and that which Your chief priest Melchisedec offered to You, a holy sacrifice and a spotless victim"). In the words of Martin Mosebach, "Abel, the shepherd, had made a burnt offering of the firstlings of his flock and their fat on the altar of sacrifice; Abraham had been prepared to sacrifice his son and, then, sacrificed a ram in his place; Melchizedek, who was not of the race of Abraham, sacrificed bread and wine." Mosebach is here showing the "evolution" of worship from Adam's son until just before the Mosaic Covenant. Leviticus gives us the next stage of this "evolution." The divine sacrifice is now more lofty than ever, as there is now a permanent priesthood given to the Levites. There is now a tabernacle, an ark, a house of God. Aside from shifting the Divine Presence from the Tabernacle to the Temple, sacrificial worship would remain largely unchanged until Jesus Christ would come to establish Himself as the eternal sacrificial Victim. And that is why Leviticus is so important -- it establishes a foundation for Jewish worship that will set the stage for all the books of the Old Testament that follow.

Worship is the core of what we need to do here on earth. The Commandments begin by telling us to love God before moving on to how we should love our neighbor. Therefore, as worship is our primary vehicle for loving God, it should be rightly appreciated and understood. Continuing the "evolution" analogy, if the nature of worship began with Abel's primitive sacrifice, and then moved on to the Levitical sacrifices, we know that sacrificial worship will continue to advance closer to the perfection God envisions. Bernard O'Reilly writes that "God so ordained it that the Jewish ritual and worship should be a preparation for the Christian liturgy." I found this to be ever so true while reading Leviticus. So much of what is described in this section of the Pentateuch foreshadows the future sacrificial worship of Christians, with Christ as the sacrificial Victim. The concept of atonement, the blood, the incense, the vestments, the Holy of Holies, the veil, the Divine Presence, the bread, etc., all point towards Christian worship. Yet that is not the end. For the "evolution" will continue when this world no longer exists, and then we (if we are so fortunate) will see worship perfected in heaven. O'Reilly further writes, "what God commanded to be done on earth is only the shadow, the preparation, and the foretaste of what takes place in the Heavenly City above, in that divinest of sanctuaries, where He receives unceasingly the worship of Angels and Saints, and in return eternally pours out on them the flood of His blissful love." Worship here on earth, even the Holy Mass, cannot compare to what is waiting in heaven.

Lastly, though I've focused on worship, Leviticus contains a lot of moral precepts as well. It is very instructional. I get the sense that it is a (pardon my lack of reverence) pep-talk given by God to His people before allowing them to lay claim to the Promised Land. In Numbers we see the people resume their journey toward Canaan. In Leviticus there is almost no forward movement, no narrative. It is simply didactic. What good would it have been to allow the people to inhabit the Promised Land with no instruction on how they are to live? In Leviticus God lays it all out there, putting extra emphasis on how His people are to live distinctly different lives from the pagan nations around them. I move on next to the Book of Numbers.

Leviticus 26 - "I Will Make Your Sanctuaries Desolate"

2010-03-27T13:53:00.000-07:00

This was quite a prophetic chapter! God reveals all the ways He will reward those who follow His Commands. And He also reveals the ways He will punish the transgressors. It was the latter that really struck me. The descriptions of the nature of these punishments goes on for over twenty verses, and they seem to be all things that have since come to pass. Leviticus 26:17 says, "I will set my face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you." This very thing has happened to the Jewish people numerous times, most notably in our own modern period. Leviticus 26:25 says, "I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge my covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies." Many believe these prophecies were fulfilled during the Babylonian Captivity, but I don't see any reason why they couldn't have been broad prophecies pointing towards events beyond the captivity. In fact, what was the Diaspora but a great exodus by the Jewish people "into the hands of [their] enemies"? It is said further, "I will destroy your high places, and break your idols" (Leviticus 26:30). This prophecy was most definitely fulfilled when the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD. This is followed by even more foreshadowing of the Jewish Diaspora and even the eventual natural transformation of the Holy land: "I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed" (Leviticus 26:33). It is well known that the Promised Land is described as a land "flowing with milk and honey" in the Old Testament. But, as we all know, it is now a land mostly stripped of its fertility. And just to strike the point home, God declares with finality, "You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy's land shall consume you" (Leviticus 26:38). The Jews will be cast out of the Holy Land and the land will be given its Sabbath, the Sabbath the Jewish people didn't give it. It will lie fallow as it was meant to be every seventh year, a law the Jews did not faithfully follow.

Another thing that came to mind while reading this chapter is that the language isn't as harsh as it appears on the surface. The list of God's punishments is frightening to fathom for sure, but no punishment is set forth without a reason. In Leviticus 26:27-28, God says, "If you will not for all this hearken to me, but will walk against me: / I will also go against you with opposite fury, and I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins." All that is being said here is that God will respond to us in the same manner we respond to Him. If we love and adore Him, we can be confidant He will do the likewise to us. If we walk against Him, He will walk against us. And thus I am always puzzled when people react to, for example, natural disasters with the attitude of "how could a loving God do this?!" Look at how we as a collective people treat God. We deny Him, we blaspheme Him, we persecute Him.... we walk against Him. And so He has gone against us with the same fury we have gone against Him!

Leviticus 24-25: Just Price and the Jubilee

2010-03-18T18:13:00.000-07:00

It is written: "When thou shalt sell any thing to thy neighbor, or shalt buy of him, grieve not thy brother." (Leviticus 25:14)

"Grieve" here can be translated "deceive not." Therefore, God is telling His people, "when you buy and sell with each other, do not deceive each other." Chapter 25 of Leviticus is almost entirely about the seventh year Sabbath and the fiftieth year jubilee. But throughout the chapter is also a reminder of the charity we are to show one another in imitation of the love God has toward us. It's really a beautiful chapter of the Bible. God's Mercy exists in each of its words.

There were many standout verses, but verse 15 really struck me, mainly because it seemed to indicate an early version of Christian Just Price Doctrine and the concept of Distributism. Just Price Doctrine was, until very recently, something unknown to me. Growing up in a "celebrated" Capitalist system, it had never occurred to me that there could be anything unethical about, for example, selling something for more than it's worth, or buying something for less than it's worth. But that seems to be what God is saying in Leviticus 25:14! We are not to deceive our brother when buying or selling with him. If we have a car that is officially valued at, say, $4,000, and we find some sucker who buys it from us for $6,000, we have effectively stolen $2,000 from him! For this to be the case, the buyer must be completely unaware of the car's actual worth -- he must think he is paying a fair price. That is Just Price Doctrine, and I had no idea it can be traced back to the Torah!

An even worse abuse of Just Price is when a seller takes advantage of a buyer's situation to maximize his profits. For example, at an outdoor event it is over one hundred degrees and only one person is selling bottled water. The seller knows that people will pay almost anything to keep from dehydrating, so he charges $5 for water that is valued at $1.50. This is an abuse that is rampant in a capitalist society. Capitalists see it as smart business, but God sees it as thievery. The just thing to do would be to charge each person $1.50, the fair and agreed-upon value of the water.

The other side of the coin is when a buyer gets a "great deal" on some item. Perhaps a seller is trying to get rid of an old vinyl album. The seller may not know the actual worth of the album and so he sells it for a measly $2. But if the buyer knows the actual worth to be, say, $50, and buys it for $2 without telling the seller (then brags to all his friends about the "steal" he got), that buyer has stolen from the seller! It amazes me that American society doesn't acknowledge these things as offenses. They are deceptions. They are not examples of "loving your neighbor."

All that aside, I found the whole concept of the jubilee and the seventh year Sabbath to be profoundly wonderful and a prime example of God's Mercy -- specifically the idea of releasing all slaves every fiftieth year, and forgiving all debts. What a brilliant way of preventing man from ever getting too haughty! The jubilee shows man who is really in charge. In case any man may think he owns another man, God sets in straight on the jubilee, and the servant is released and the slave owner is reminded of God's authority. No wonder the jubilee has been poorly observed among some of the more worldly Jews throughout history -- to the power-hungry and greedy it is a nuisance!

The same goes for the Law that states that on the seventh year Sabbath all fields shall lie fallow. This requirement does two things. On the one hand, it forces the people to rest on the seventh year -- no tilling the fields, no harvesting or reaping. People are forced to turn their minds to God instead of their work, which God desires. Secondly, and more importantly, it is a test. Leaving all the fields fallow on the seventh year requires a great deal of faith in God. It forces the people to trust in God's Providence, to believe that He will provide food for them during the Sabbath year.

I am almost done with the Book of Leviticus, and after such a careful reading, I can say I never knew the Law would be so intricately rich!

Leviticus 21-23: Holy Days

2010-03-13T20:27:00.000-08:00

It was comforting to read about the many holy feasts the Jews were instructed to keep. God obviously desires certain days to be kept holy, for Moses makes special mention of this in Leviticus 23. The feast days encompass the whole year, from the Passover of the spring to the Atonement of the fall. These holy days are the precursors of the Christian feast days that have been a part of western culture for two millennia. Just as the earth experiences a natural cycle of seasons, the feast days provide humans a refreshing cycle of regeneration. These holy days are gifts from God -- they provide us with rest and nourishment, and they can be quite invigorating, both spiritually and physically. They also help us to remember what is ultimately important. It is far too easy to let our daily lives start to seem like the focus of our lives, but when an important holy day comes around, we are forced to put our daily lives on hold and contemplate God, an activity that, if left to our own devices, we would perform far too infrequently. I for one enjoy the feast days immensely, and I am very grateful for them. I know those ancient Jews, wandering through the harsh desert, had to have been overjoyed at the institution of these special days. It is one more instance of God's never-ending Mercy.

(In keeping with the theme of this post, I'd like to make mention of today's Christian feast day in commemoration of Saint Roderick. Roderick was a priest who lived in Spain in the 9th century at a time when Christians were severely persecuted by the Muslims. His own brother converted to Islam and betrayed Roderick by violently attacking him and dragging him through the streets. Roderick was imprisoned because of his Christian faith and endured much suffering at the hands of the Muslim rulers. He was eventually beheaded along with other captured Christians. Today I pay homage to St. Roderick for his bravery and immovable faith.)

Leviticus 20 - A People Removed

2010-02-20T11:34:00.001-08:00

Leviticus 20 starts out by re-emphasizing the prohibitions laid out in Leviticus 18. All unnatural lusts are condemned; and what was most striking to me was the attention given to abominable relations between humans and animals. This was obviously an issue that needed to be dealt with, for this is its second mention in the Bible. It's one of the most gruesome and dark practices that people are capable of, and it shows quite blatantly the nefarious tendencies of a Godless society. Herodotus, the famous Greek historian of the 5th century BC, who is in no way associated with the Bible, also described this abominable practice among the pagan peoples. So we have much evidence that it went on (and still does in many cultures today). Some of the Greek myths point to the practice as well, such as Leda and the swan (pictured above). When one really starts to realize what the Godless pagan societies were like, it becomes so clear that the Judeo-Christian Law is the Law, perfectly aligned with the Natural Law, and meant to pave the way to a more God-like society. Without this perfect Law, we are left with floundering philosophies of nothingness. To give an example, the "celebrated" philosopher Peter Singer, who is famous for his work on animal rights, has actually gone so far as to demonstrate the conditions under which sexual relations with animals is not wrong! That's where we're headed, folks. If we continue down a Godless path as a society, we're only going to come full circle, and we'll be right back to where we started: a lustful, worldly, hedonistic people, much in need of a Law to set us straight.

Leviticus 20 ends with some profound verses explaining the reasons behind the Law, and what God wants from His people. These are verses initially directed toward the Jewish people, but they resound with a timelessness that transcends specificity. The following verses refer to all of God's people, which as we know, with the coming of Christ, include people of all nations and ethnicities. These are eternal words that all of Christendom should hear:

"Keep my laws, and my judgments, and do them; lest the land, into which you are to enter to dwell therein, vomit you also out." (Leviticus 20:22) [The "land" of course being heaven.]

"Walk not after the laws of the nations, which I will cast out before you; for they have done all these things, and therefore I abhorred them." (Leviticus 20:23)

"You shall be holy unto me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be mine." (Leviticus 20:26)

I love that last verse, "I have separated you from other people, that you should be mine." What a clear statement of God's Divine Plan. All the rules and regulations are important, because they are outward indicators of our separation from other people (the "other people" being those not wanting anything to do with God). We belong to God; He claims us as His own. Yet He has given us a choice: do we remain with Him, or do we flee? I think a scene from the New Testament (John 6:68-69) illustrates this beautifully. After many of Jesus's disciples decide to follow Him no more, He says to the twelve Apostles, "Will you also go away?" And in response, Peter says something every Christian has probably thought at one time or another: "Lord, to whom shall we go?" What sincere words! For if we don't go with God, our only other option is nothingness. And that nothingness leads to hopelessness. Nietzsche, that famous philosopher of nothingness, literally went mad at the end of his life. No thanks.

Leviticus 19 - Judging and Loving

2010-02-11T21:44:00.000-08:00

This was an all-encompassing type of chapter. At times it seemed to mirror the Ten Commandments. Other laws were repeated as well, such as the procedure for a proper sin-offering. But what struck me were a couple of passages that seemed to foreshadow the New Law given us by Jesus. For one, Leviticus 19:18 tells us to "love thy friend as thyself," which of course sounds nearly identical to Christ's words. Further along, Leviticus 19:33-34 says, "If a stranger dwell in your land, and abide among you, do not upbraid him: But let him be among you as one of the same country: and you shall love him as yourselves." It is not hard to see, then, that the Bible truly has only one Author.

I also noticed in Leviticus 19:15 that God says, "judge thy neighbor according to justice." This instantly made me think of the all-too-common situation in which a person will be criticized for a certain wrongful action and the criticized will respond with, "you can't judge me!" or "stop judging me!" Many people (almost always non-Christians) hear Christ's famous words "Judge not, that you may not be judged" (Matthew 7:1) and mistakenly apply it to all situations. The Church is clear about this, and tells us to "admonish the sinner," for we are obligated to help our fellow brothers and sisters to enlightenment in Christ. We cannot falsely judge, or vainly judge, or judge out of spite, or make eternal judgments. But, according to God Himself, we must "judge... according to justice."

Lastly, another interesting passage in this chapter of Leviticus reads: "Thou shalt not sow thy field with different seeds. Thou shalt not wear a garment that is woven of two sorts" (Leviticus 19:19). Without denying the literal meaning of these laws, it seems pretty clear that there are higher moral meanings embedded in these words (as most commentators have mentioned). This seems to be God calling us to avoid schisms and heresies. As my commentary notes, "The sowing of different seeds tends to impoverish the soil." God desires unity among His people, and the more "sects" or "branches" of His followers there are, the more "impoverished" is His Church. There is no doubt that a unified fold would not only be more pleasing to God, but it would be more awe-inspiring to the worldly nations, and more inviting.

Leviticus 18 - The World Outside of God, Part II

2010-01-28T20:25:00.000-08:00

"You shall not do according to the custom of the land of Egypt, in which you dwelt: neither shall you act according to the manner of the country of Chanaan, into which I will bring you, nor shall you walk in their ordinances." (Leviticus 18:3)

Leviticus 18 further clarifies how people were living outside of God, building upon what began to be revealed in Leviticus 17. Of course, this isn't brand new information. In Genesis we learn of, for example, the Sodomites and their atrocious practices. It was probably pretty commonplace for the ancient Israelites to be aware of what was going on outside their circle. And it appears it was a constant concern that too many of God's chosen ones were being drawn to the pagan lifestyle of the surrounding nations. It's clear that the people outside of God, the Egyptians, the ancient Canaanites, and so on, represent the world. And it is also clear that God does not want His people to be of the world. He wants them to be a holy nation, set apart from the worldly nations around them.

Leviticus 18, on the surface, is nothing but a long list of forbidden marital and sexual practices. It is directly stated that the mentioned acts and customs are practiced by the pagan nations, to which my commentary elaborates: "The Persians married their own mothers, daughters, and sisters [and] the Egyptians took their sisters to wife." God makes it clear that those acts are condemned. They are in violation of the natural law, which is why it is stated: "For all these detestable things, the inhabitants of the land have done that were before you, and have defiled it. Beware then lest in like manner, it vomit you also out, if you do the like things, as it vomited out the nation that was before you" (Leviticus 18:27-28). The imagery in this passage is striking. According to Haydock's notes, it is as if the "earth [is] sick and disgusted with the crimes of its inhabitants." The natural law was violated so heinously that the earth (which is subject to the natural law) became disgusted and "vomited" out the evil-doers.

It is interesting what is going on here. For on the one hand, God clearly declares these corrupt marriages as a violation of a natural code, yet on the other hand, He repeatedly states throughout this chapter, "I am the Lord your God." After many of these ordinances, instead of explaining why a man can't marry his sister, or his step-mom, or his daughter (etc.), He simply says, "I am the Lord your God," as if to say, That is all you need to know. As God, He has a right to make laws and He doesn't have to explain His reasons to us. It is somewhat like a father telling his child "No." The child may want an explanation, but the father may simply reply, "because I said so." Of course, the father does have a reason why he said no, but he doesn't tell his child the reason because maybe the child wouldn't understand or isn't mature enough to appreciate the decision made by the father. So when God tells us "no," who are we to demand a reason why?! However, as previously mentioned, God does leave us with a vision of the earth spitting out those who break the natural law, and so we can get a peak at the severity of such a transgression.

Lastly, there is an enigmatic reference in Leviticus 18 to possibly another known demon of the ancient world, Moloch. After reading up on it, it appears Moloch was possibly a "deity" that demanded children as sacrifice. It is debated, though, just how this was done. Some think living human children were consumed in the flame dedicated to Moloch, while others think the children weren't killed in the ritual, just "passed through" the flame in a sort of initiation rite. At any rate, we see here another glimpse of the horrors of the world outside of God. And the children of Israel are specifically told not to partake in any of these sacrifices that were going on around them. It is also interesting that Moloch (or his concept) seems quite like the deity known as Saturn. Saturn (and his counterparts) was worshipped throughout the pagan lands of that day, and he was known for devouring his children. The images of Moloch are likewise those of a monstrous god consuming children. Could it be the work of a singular evil force? Just something to ponder.

Leviticus 17 - The World Outside of God

2010-01-27T15:07:00.000-08:00

I'm always intrigued when I come across a verse in Scripture that seems to hint at what the world was like outside of God's chosen people. Why did the Israelites strive to be "set apart"? Why did God give them a Law that so profoundly differentiated them from the surrounding nations? What was so bad about these pagan gentiles?

One telling sign is just how alluring the lifestyle of the pagans was. Throughout the Torah God is constantly reminding His people not to do the things that the pagans are doing. The biggest temptation was that of idolatry and all it encompasses. Idolatry seems to be the defining feature of the world outside of God. And it came in many forms: worship of graven forms, worship of natural things, worship of living people, etc. It also consisted in deplorable practices: fornication on a massive scale, human sacrifice, violent rituals, drunkenness, etc. One need only read a handful of Greek myths to understand this. The world outside of the camps of God was one in which demons ran free, soaking up the attention they were given. It was a world of debauchery, licentiousness, and overindulgence. No wonder God's people were constantly defecting to the other side!

The passing mention in Leviticus 17 says that the children of Israel "shall no more sacrifice their victims to devils, with whom they have committed fornication." This brief reference to paganism says quite a lot. For one, it implies that the children of Israel were guilty of sacrificing to devils, at one time at least. It also hints at the abominable sexual practices of the pagans (which will eventually be addressed in Leviticus). The true and historic pagan lifestyle is often downplayed in our society (perhaps because it reminds us too much of our Godless society today?). But viewing it as it was makes the Law given by God shine even brighter (which it should). God's law-filled light scares away the devils and puts an end to their abhorrent practices. The exact same thing can be said of our society today, if only we would let His light shine.

One last note, returning to Leviticus 17:7. I found it interesting that the "devils" in this verse comes from the Hebrew word sehirim, which is sometimes translated as "goats" since the word implies "hairy ones." And it is thought by some scholars to more specifically imply the pagan satyrs, or goat-men, found in Greek mythology and revered and worshiped by the Egyptians in the area near the Israelites. It is entirely possible that God is here condemning the worship of a Pan-like god. I am always fascinated when different historical worlds intersect like this.

Leviticus 14-16: The Scapegoat

2010-01-22T18:07:00.000-08:00

As a fan of etymology, I was delighted to discover in Leviticus 16 the origin of our word "scapegoat." In these chapters of Leviticus we read of the institution of the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur. I knew little about the origin of this holy day. In fact, the first time I read Leviticus I must have been completely ignorant of the fact that Yom Kippur is even mentioned. But this time around (taking my time, of course) I was able to dwell on each stipulation and command regarding this special day, which was to be "an everlasting ordinance" on "the seventh month, the tenth day of the month" (Leviticus 16:29). The central feature of Yom Kippur, obviously, is atonement -- a day to have the sins of all the Israelites expiated. The way in which this is to happen was fascinating to me. And now we come to the issue of the "scapegoat." The high priest was to select two goats, one to be sacrificed to God, and one to release into the wilderness. The latter, through translation, came to be known as the "scapegoat," for on it were placed all the sins of God's people, so that when it was released into the wilderness and left to be devoured by wild beasts (or pushed off a precipice, as some think), so went the people's sins, and thus they were atoned. I found this remarkable practice wonderfully symbolic. But what is more, there is an even more profound symbolism going on here. For what did Jesus do but act as our scapegoat?! All of our sins were placed on Him! And through His Passion (as the scapegoat met a violent end in the wilderness) we are atoned! Yom Kippur is simply a sign of things to come. It is an imperfect day of atonement; whereas what happened on Good Friday was a perfect atonement for the sins of all of mankind!

Leviticus 12-13: A Recurrent Theme?

2010-01-22T10:51:00.000-08:00

Leviticus 12 and 13 really start to delve deeper into the issue of cleanness/uncleanness. Leviticus 13 especially drives the point home concerning the issue of leprosy. And I thought it appropriate to stop briefly to reflect on the significant role that this particular disease plays in Sacred Scripture.

Leprosy is mentioned several times in both the Old and New Testaments. What I've come to learn is that it is not by accident that this disease figures prominently in the Word. Of course there are literal reasons, the main one being that leprosy was a reality of life in that part of the world at that time in history. It being a reality, a harsh one at that, it needed to be addressed in the Law, thus the Levitical ordinances concerning how to deal with a leper. But it is dealt with in an entirely different manner in the New Testament, wherein it is typically mentioned in regard to healing and repentance. That is because leprosy in Scripture was given as a sign of the damage caused by sin. Sin does to our soul what leprosy does to our body. Leprosy is symbolic of sin, and once viewed this way, its references in Scripture take on a whole new, vastly more significant meaning. This is not to be misunderstood to mean that particular lepers in Scripture were guilty of particular sins. A leper does not signify guilt of a particular sin, but leprosy signifies sin in general. This is why leprosy is always mentioned along with the need for lepers to see a priest. And also why Christ was such a healer of leprosy, as He is the reason our sins are forgiven.

(I'd also like to begin mentioning, every so often, certain saints on their feast days. Today is January 22, the feast of Saint Vincent of Saragossa. This incredible soldier of Christ was martyred in about the year 300. He was imprisoned and tortured because he was a Christian, and was told he would be released only if he would cast Scripture into the fire. He refused and was thus killed. It's important to acknowledge those men and women who died defending the Word of God. I sit comfortably in my home reading from the Bible without fear of punishment because of those saints who died defending God and His Word! Today I pay homage to Saint Vincent.)

Leviticus 11 - Animals

2010-01-18T16:18:00.000-08:00

I've always had an affinity for the animal kingdom. As a child animals fascinated me, and to an extent they still do. We learn so much about the natural world from observing them, and they are a testament to the sheer beauty and majesty of God's creation. And so when I reached Leviticus 11 and saw the long list of animal species, I naturally became excited. Here we find the part of the Law that dictates what a Jew may or may not eat. Here are the clean and unclean animals. I found the variety and detail of the list fascinating. Even from a purely secular, scientific perspective, this list would be quite interesting, in that it documents the types of animals that were familiar to the Israelites living in that region of the world thousands of years ago.

The list of clean animals was surprisingly short. It basically boiled down to one criterion: Any animal that "hath the hoof divided, and cheweth the cud among the beasts you shall eat" (Leviticus 11:3). This of course refers to cattle and the like. (One interesting interpretation I read remarked that the divided hoof represents "discretion between good and evil," and the chewing of the cud represents "meditating on the law." Therefore, if an animal doesn't have/do one of those things, it is unclean.) There are a few exceptions, mainly fish and some insects. But what was truly fascinating was the list of unclean animals. As I said, this was a surprisingly varied and detailed list. I feel the need to include it here. The list of unclean animals specifically mentioned by name in the Book of Leviticus are as follows: camel, cherogrillus, hare, swine, eagle, griffon, osprey, kite, vulture, raven, ostrich, owl, larus, hawk, screech-owl, cormorant, ibis, swan, bittern, porphyrion, heron, charadrion, houp, bat, weasel, mouse, crocodile, shrew, chameleon, stellio, lizard, and mole. As you can see, there are many unfamiliar animals in this list. But apparently the reason is that there were some animals whose identity couldn't be known for sure, and so they were left untranslated from either Greek or Latin. The first to catch my eye was the "cherogrillus," which some say may be a rabbit or a hedgehog or even a porcupine. The "griffon" mentioned is a large type of eagle, not the mythical creature. A "porphyrion" is thought to be a pelican, while the "charadrion" is either a heron, a parrot, or a peacock.

My commentary gives four reasons why God mandated that only certain animals were to be eaten:
1. To exercise the people in obedience and temperance
2. To restrain them from the vices of which these animals were symbols
3. Because the things here forbidden were for the most part unwholesome, and not proper to be eaten
4. That the people of God, by being obliged to abstain from things corporally unclean, might be trained up to seek a spiritual cleanness

There seems to be a continual emphasis on separation and distinction of the Israelites in regard to the surrounding gentile nations. They really strove to be set apart from these "outsiders." And according to the Mosaic Law, God Himself sought to set them apart. For in Leviticus 11:44 and 46 He says, "Be holy, because I am holy." As God's chosen people it was extremely important for the Jews to be set apart or "holy" among the nations. And God very clearly required a visible distinction, including how they worshipped and what they ate. They weren't invisibly different from the gentiles; they were visibly different. It seems God always requires this of His people, even still; as Christians are to be visibly distinguished among the people of the world by their good deeds and the glory they show to God. According to St. Basil the Great, when God told Adam and Eve, "Increase and multiply, and fill the earth" (Genesis 1:28), He wanted them (mankind) to fill the earth with visible good works, so that by their actions God would be known to all. Therefore, when gentile nations would see the Jews so obediently and temperately following a strict dietary code, they would see the work of God in His people (for God requires obedience and temperance, both of which are healthy for the soul).

Leviticus 10 - "Strange Fire"

2010-01-17T23:30:00.000-08:00

"And Nadab and Abiu, the sons of Aaron, taking their censers, put fire therein, and incense on it, offering before the Lord strange fire: which was not commanded them." (Leviticus 10:1)

Just as God favored Abel's sacrifice over Cain's, we see in Leviticus 10 an example of an unworthy sacrifice to God. Aaron's sons took it upon themselves to basically play by their own rules, using a strange fire during sacrifice and essentially ignoring God's commands. They became infamous examples for us of just how much God wants us to stick to His ordinances.

I think anytime we see someone creating his or her own rules of worship, we see an example of what Nadab and Abiu did. God laid it all out for us -- there is no reason for anyone to come up with something new. He wants us to approach Him in a certain way. He was very specific with Moses on how exactly the Israelites were to worship Him (anyone who has read the Torah can attest to this!). So it therefore is quite outrageous that Aaron's sons disregarded God's very specific commands during worship. Leviticus moves along in a steady stream of rules and guidelines, but for this one chapter at least, God stops to show us what awaits those who pay no attention to those rules and guidelines. It is a striking lesson (especially given the horrible death that befell Nadab and Abiu), but it is probably meant to show us the severity of the crime. Are we following God's commands when we approach Him? Or are we making up our own rules?

Leviticus 9 - "Do This"

2010-01-15T21:31:00.000-08:00

"Moses said: This is the word which the Lord hath commanded: do it, and his glory will appear to you." (Leviticus 9:6)

"... And the glory of the Lord appeared to all the multitude:
And behold a fire coming forth from the Lord, devoured the holocaust, and the fat that was upon the altar: which when the multitude saw, they praised the Lord, falling on their faces." (Leviticus 9:23,24)

Notice the action required of God's people. "Do it," the "it" being the proper sacrifice offered to the Lord; and the glory in the form of fire from heaven was the sign that God was pleased in His people's action. Over and over in Scripture we read of commandments and promptings; calls to action. In reference to His Body and Blood, Jesus said "Do this for a commemoration of me" (Luke 22:19). I am thankful that God has given us a well lit path to follow, with many signs along the way, saying "do this" and "do that." How can anyone say "I am lost"?

Leviticus 6-8: Consecrated to God

2010-01-08T20:03:00.000-08:00

I've never witnessed in person the consecration of a bishop, but I'm sure it's a magnificent ceremony. I know a little of what it entails: the laying on of hands, the use of holy oils (unction), the presentation of the miter, etc. But, after reading up on it (and as I suspected), I learned the ritual is quite intense and detailed. Oaths are taken, prayers are said, hymns are sung, the crosier is blessed and presented, gloves (in reference to Jacob's blessing) are worn, the Gospel is recited, and so on. It's a four-part ceremony that really stresses the significance of the bishop's role. Every word that is spoken during the consecration ceremony, every gesture, every movement that is made, is all meant to signify something. And so, why, in the middle of reading Leviticus, have I stopped to comment on the consecration of Christian bishops? Because the consecration of Aaron, the high priest, in Leviticus 8, reminded me almost exactly of an episcopal consecration ceremony. Or, to put things in proper order, the episcopal consecration should remind us of the anointing of Aaron. For example:

"[Moses] put also the miter upon [Aaron's] head: and upon the miter over the forehead, he put the plate of gold consecrated with sanctification, as the Lord had commanded him." (Leviticus 8:9)

"He took also the oil of unction, with which he anointed the tabernacle, with all the furniture thereof.
... And he poured it upon Aaron's head, and he anointed and consecrated him." (Leviticus 8:10, 12)

"And after he had offered his sons, he vested them with linen tunics, and girded them with girdles, and put miters on them, as the Lord had commanded." (Leviticus 8:13)

This of course is only a snapshot of the entire elaborate ceremony found in Leviticus, but it shows the undisguised parallels between the two rituals. I'm not an authority on this matter by any means, but I'm sure this is no accident. The Levitical priests and the bishops of the New Law share very similar functions; that is, to oversee and guide the people of God, to keep them always walking with God, to protect Doctrine and Truth, and to keep all things holy. No wonder, given the importance of their role, a deeply dignified and holy ceremony was needed for their consecration to God.

Leviticus 3-5: Admission of Sin

2009-12-31T13:07:00.000-08:00

In these first few chapters of Leviticus we learn of the many different types of offerings that could be made at the tabernacle through the priests -- burnt offerings, peace offerings, and offerings for sin. There really isn't a whole lot revealed to us here, mainly just straightforward instruction on the exact procedure for sacrificing a victim. I did find it interesting, however, when it came to the how and why of atonement for sin. What we see, essentially, in the ancient Book of Leviticus is a precedent for the sacrament of penance. In Exodus we are given the Law -- the list of rules to live by. But what if we should break one of those rules? We begin to see the answer to that question in Leviticus. The Law, as handed down to Moses from God, requires a lot from the transgressor. It's not enough for the sinner to think to himself, "I'm sorry," and move on. He or she must procure a sacrificial victim, must approach the altar of the tabernacle, must tell his or her sin to the priest, and then must cooperate in the sin offering ritual, to be fully expiated and reconciled with God. Leviticus 5:5 says, "Let him do penance for his sin." It is only by implication from the text in Leviticus that we know a full confession had to be made by the sinner. For it is written, "He shall offer of the flocks a ram without blemish to the priest, according to the measure, and estimation of the sin; and the priest shall pray for him, because he did it ignorantly: and it shall be forgiven him" (Leviticus 5:18). Therefore, the sacrificial victim depended on the nature of the sin, and there was no way for the priest to know what type of victim was necessary unless a confession had been made. Further clarification, though, is made once and for all in Numbers, when it is said of the children of Israel: "When a man or woman shall have committed any of all the sins that men are wont to commit .... they shall confess their sin" (Numbers 5:6-7). And thus we see the spirit of this Levitical Law still enacted today in our God-given gift of the sacrament of penance.

Leviticus 1-2: On the Nature of Sacrifice

2009-12-30T09:25:00.000-08:00

After reading the first two chapters of Leviticus, a couple of questions came to mind. The main one is what, in the end, is the significance of the Levitical priesthood? And the other question actually concerns an enigmatic figure from Genesis, Melchisedech the priest.

Concerning the Levitical Law my commentary notes: "The laws which [God] enacts, are such as suited the Jewish people: they were not able to rise all at once to perfection; but these laws guide them, as it were, on the road." From this quote I gather that the detailed Law we read of in Exodus and Leviticus and the rest of the Pentateuch is really only relevant to the ancient Jews. That it was an imperfect law that was meant to be temporary until Christ brought the new and fulfilled Law. But is this completely true? I wonder why these books of Levitical Law have remained part of the canon of Scripture, then, if they no longer hold relevance. Well, the obvious answer must be that they do still hold relevance, and my quest now is to understand how they do. For starters, my commentary further notes that "if we confine ourselves to the letter, we may say these precepts are not good, and carnal (Hebrews 7:16), but if we consider the spirit, we shall confess that they are excellent, and spiritual (Romans 7:14; 2 Corinthians 3:6)." That distinction between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law, I think, is going to go a long way in explaining many things I am about to read in the Book of Leviticus. And I think the confusion that arises in distinguishing what is the letter and what is the spirit leads to many problems of interpretation that we hear of today.

The other question, regarding Melchisedech, is something that I will probably return to many times while reading Leviticus (and throughout the Bible as a whole, probably). It appears that there are two significant priesthoods contained in the Old Testament -- that of the Levites and that of Melchisedech. We are obviously given a large amount of information concerning the Levitical priesthood, but we are told nearly nothing about the order of Melchisedech. And yet, as we've been told, the Levitical priesthood was imperfect and temporary. And the order of Melchisedech seems to be more aligned with the perfect and eternal priesthood ushered in by Christ. We are told in the Epistle to the Hebrews that "if then perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law) what further need was there that another priest should rise, according to the order of Melchisedech and not be called according to the order of Aaron?" (Hebrews 7:11). At this point, I'm simply bringing the topic up, and I plan to return to it as I progress through Scripture. I just find the person of Melchisedech, who sacrificed using bread and wine rather than a bloody animal, truly interesting and captivating.

Concluding Thoughts On Exodus

2009-12-28T22:44:00.000-08:00

The second book of the Bible was quite illuminating. I had never known that so much of the Mosaic Law could still be found in trace elements within Christian tradition. For me, and possibly for others, there had been an assumption that the Old Testament was full of foreign things that had little to do with Christianity today. What I failed to see was the big picture. The Old Testament and the New are part of a larger whole. They must be viewed together as part of the same Divine plan. Concerning the events described in Exodus, my biblical commentary mentions that "the laws prescribed by God to His people, the sacrifices, tabernacle, etc., were all intended to prefigure the Christian dispensation." Biblical scholar Bernard O'Reilly further says that "the law ... given to Israel on Mount Sinai, together with the detailed legislation concerning the chosen people's religion and government, all foreshadowed the more perfect Law to be given by Christ to His church and for the benefit of the whole world. Equally typical and prophetic of the sacraments and graces of the New Law were the manna, the water from the rock, the brazen serpent, and, indeed, all the incidents of the people's life during the forty years' wandering in the wilderness. / The whole of Exodus must be read in the light of Christian revelation to be understood and appreciated."

To throw even more light on this issue, I feel I must include some passages from Scott Hahn's book Reasons to Believe. I must credit Hahn for being the first to truly show me that the Bible as a whole contains a Divine plan of epic proportions the likes of which the average Christian is completely unaware, and it all hinges on the covenantal relationship between God and man. And one cannot even begin to understand God's covenants without studying the Old Testament. Therefore, concerning the Book of Exodus, this is what Scott Hahn has to say:

"Exodus, ... the biblical narrative describing Israel's liberation, everywhere echoes the Genesis narrative of creation. Israel is delivered through water as a new creation. The cloud of divine presence covers Mount Sinai for six days before God calls Moses, on the seventh day, to enter the cloud and receive the blueprint for God's dwelling (Exodus 24). God's instructions appear in sevens, again like His work of creation, and His seven commands conclude with ordinances for observance of the seventh day, the Sabbath. The making of the priestly vestments and the building of the tabernacle recall the creation narrative. In both, the work proceeds through seven stages (which, in Exodus, conclude with 'as the Lord commanded Moses'). Moses beholds his handiwork, as God did in Genesis, and blesses it (Exodus 39:43). As God 'finished His work,' so Moses 'finished the work' (Genesis 2:1-2; Exodus 40:34). And as God rested on the seventh day, blessing and hallowing it, so when Moses finished his work, the divine presence filled the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34).
With the Exodus, God restored a royal priesthood, a priestly kingship. He declared Israel to be His 'peculiar possession above all people ... a priestly kingdom and a holy nation' (Exodus 19:5-6).
Nevertheless, just as the Israelites received Adam's vocation, they also perpetrated an Adam-like fall from grace. And just as the original fall had resulted in exile and de-consecration of the royal-priestly figure, so too did Israel's idolatrous worship of the golden calf. God disinherited His people, pointedly telling Moses that they are 'thy people, which thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt' (Exodus 32:7). In defiling itself through ritual rebellion, Israel, like Adam, had become unfit for the divine vocation. And never again does the Old Testament use the royal-priestly title of Exodus 19:6 to describe the people of Israel.
Still, on the strength of His covenant with their father Abraham (see Exodus 32:13), God spared Israel and permitted the tribes, eventually, to enter the promised land. So God's people experienced, again, a partial restoration."

I move on now to the Book of Leviticus. I'm wading now waist-deep in the Law and moving into even deeper waters. Leviticus is going to prove even more challenging, especially in light of the fact that many detractors today love to quote from its pages regulations which to the modern mind sound outrageous. I'm looking forward to this next stage of the journey.

Exodus 39-40

2009-12-27T23:00:00.000-08:00

Exodus is finished, and before I post my final thoughts I figured I'd comment one last time on my impressions of the tabernacle and ancient Jewish worship. Essentially Exodus is a book split in two. The first half of the book is very storylike and sequential (meaning that it reads like an epic poem or a fast-paced narrative). But the second half of Exodus suddenly grinds to a halt and we are met with a barrage of rules, instructions, and regulations. The second half of Exodus is essentially an inside look at a very important conversation that took place between God and His prophet Moses. The action-packed events of the first half culminate in a mass of people alone in the desert waiting for something to do next. And this is when Moses's real purpose comes into play. Of course leading his people out from slavery and into freedom was an extremely significant accomplishment. But the events of the first half of Exodus in and of themselves don't tell us much. We see God's wonders, which is awe-inspiring, but in the second half we see God's plans, which is what pertains to us today. So now that the Hebrews are free and in the desert, what's next? What's next is precisely how they should live their lives if they are to remain in God's favor. How they are to worship, how they are to behave, how they are to approach their Lord. Many people, especially today, like to pretend that these things don't really matter; that anyone should be able to behave any way he or she likes; that anyone should be able to approach the Lord in any way, shape, or form. If there is anything I've learned from the Book of Exodus, it's that God is a meticulous God. He prefers one way to another way. And though the particular details of worship may have changed with the coming of the New Law, God Himself does not change.

Exodus 35-38

2009-12-26T18:35:00.000-08:00

Not much to report at this point. Chapters 35, 36, 37, and 38 almost exclusively deal with the construction of the tabernacle, and therefore each detail is basically a repetition of the instructions given back in Chapters 25-30. In fact, my commentary notes that these last chapters of Exodus may be summed up by the simple declaration: "The workmen did all according to God's prescription."

The one thing I did find new and interesting, though, was in Chapter 38 when Moses mentions certain "women that watched at the door of the tabernacle" (Exodus 38:8). I referred to my commentary for clarification, and it appears that it was a custom for very pious and devout women to simply "watch" or pray and adore at the entrance to the tabernacle, thus worshipping God over and above what was required of them. We see evidence of this custom in the New Testament when the child Jesus is presented at the Temple and Luke tells us of a woman named Anna who "was a widow until fourscore and four years: who departed not from the temple, by fastings and prayers serving night and day" (Luke 2:37). Thus a tradition which established itself very early on (almost immediately upon the construction of the tabernacle) and continued with the construction of the Temple, even today can be seen in the practice of Eucharistic adoration. Anna is described as "serving night and day," just as men and women during adoration can spend entire nights with the Divine Presence of our Lord. These women mentioned in Exodus are excellent examples for us of faithful and passionate followers of God, giving their all for Him by simply offering their presence at His dwelling place.

Exodus 34 - Broken Laws and Horns of Light

2009-12-22T13:40:00.000-08:00

Many theories have been put forth as to why the tablets of the Law had to be destroyed and re-made. There is the surface reason, of course, that Moses destroyed the first tablets in a fit of anger over the people's fall into idolatry. But usually the Bible operates on many levels, and it seems a strange case that there had to be a "do over" when it came to God's written Commandments. One theory is that the second tablet wasn't as sacred as the first. The reason for this theory is that in Exodus it appears that God Himself writes the Commands on the first stone, while Moses writes it on the second, thus making the latter imperfect. Since the people blew it concerning the first tablet, they get a lesser version for the second. Another theory is that the breaking of the first Law symbolizes the coming of the Messiah and the fulfillment of the Old Law in favor of the New. This does make sense symbolically. God gave Moses a written covenant, a certain way for the people to act, they disobeyed, and so a new covenant had to be made. The exact same thing can be said for the need for Jesus Christ to come and give us the New Law. There is another theory, however, that I had never heard of and which I find the most interesting. It speaks of God's Mercy and how much we are in need of it based on how frequently we break His covenant with us. The first tablets God gives to Moses contain the pure Covenant, written by the finger of God, to provide the people of God a brand new start, a new beginning for a chance to walk with the Lord -- this is our baptism. When we are baptized we are given a Law to follow of which we had before been ignorant. We are new and pure and given a glorious opportunity to walk with the Lord. But, who can remain pure? We are human, thus we are fallen, and we will, at some point or another, break God's covenant by sinning, just as the Israelites broke the Law by worshiping the golden calf. The Law is destroyed, the covenant shattered, just as Moses shattered it upon the ground. What now? Are we forever doomed and cursed to remain barred from God's Law? By the Mercy of God, no! God, in His infinite compassion for us, re-writes the Law and allows us to return into it. The stone tablets are reconstructed, the Law is re-written upon it, and the Covenant is made new again. After we are baptized and we sin, thus damaging our pure souls, God gives us the sacrament of Penance, which allows us to re-purify our souls back to the baptized state. In essence, when we sin we smash the stone commandments upon the ground, and when we confess our sins with true repentance, God re-constructs the stone commandments which we willfully destroyed and lets us try once again to walk with Him. And that is why His Mercy is perfect and infinite.

One last note about Exodus 34. In this chapter we read of Moses's transformation; how he came down from Mount Sinai after spending forty days and forty nights in prayer and fast, conversing with the Lord, with a new appearance. There has been some confusion over the centuries over what exactly this new appearance of Moses looked like. The verse in my translation reads: "And when Moses came down from the Mount Sinai, he held the two tables of the testimony, and he knew not that his face was horned from the conversation of the Lord" (Exodus 34:29). Some other translations read as follows:

"When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord." (New International Version)

"When Moses came down from Mount Sinai carrying the two Tablets of The Testimony, he didn't know that the skin of his face glowed because he had been speaking with God." (The Message)

"When Moses went down from Mount Sinai carrying the Ten Commandments, his face was shining because he had been speaking with the Lord." (Good News Translation)

It seems clear when looking at other translations that what is meant by this verse is that Moses's face was illuminated somehow ("radiant," "glowed," "shining"). The word "horned" must be then a very literal translation, and it is commonly believed that what is meant is that his face was sending forth rays of light like horns. Whatever the specific translation may be, the fact remains that Moses's conversation with the Lord was so special and so enlightening that it literally transfigured him.

Exodus 33 - Moses the Prophet

2009-12-22T11:46:00.000-08:00

The conclusion of Exodus is rapidly approaching, and I'd like to make sure I mention, before I'm through, how I've been made aware what a special place Moses holds among the Old Testament prophets. I knew, of course, that Moses is one of the most dominant figures of the Old Testament, but until I really closely read the Chapters dealing with his communications with God atop Mount Sinai, I didn't quite grasp the gravity of it. In Exodus 33 we see Moses and God in intimate conversation. It is written in Exodus 33:11, "And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man is wont to speak to his friend." Amazing! What a privilege was granted to Moses! The next few verses seem to deal with this theme of "the face of God." It's an interesting subject to ponder. My commentary makes sure to mention that Moses didn't actually see the true face of God, as it is written in Exodus 33:20, "Thou canst not see my face: for man shall not see me, and live." And St. Paul tells us "that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9). And we know that in heaven God has prepared for us the beatific vision, and so it is not something a man here on earth can experience. But in saying that God spoke to Moses "face to face," it is supposed that He spoke familiarly with him, in a more personal way than He has ever spoken with a mere man.

Exodus 32 - Prayers of Mediation

2009-12-21T23:47:00.000-08:00

Exodus 32 is of course one of the most famous chapters in this book. It is full of intense emotion and suspenseful action. The people fall back into idolatry; Aaron aids them in their sin; Moses comes down to find this abomination; God is furious; the Commandments are destroyed; Moses shatters the golden calf; God wants them all killed; Moses pleads on the people's behalf; many are killed anyway; Moses asks pardon on behalf of the people. It is clear that the worship of the golden calf, the specific event described in Chapter 32, is no light matter. It is a heinous violation so offensive to God that He nearly calls for the extermination of His people. In fact, upon first reading this chapter, I found a lot of its content hard to take. Why was God's fury so great? Why does He want everyone (save Moses) killed? And then, after Moses successfully pleads for God's mercy, why does He sanction the killing of 23,000 of the guilty? These are perplexing questions. It may be enough to say that simply reading a synopsis of this troubling event as captured in Exodus does not do enough to allow us to see the utter grievousness of the situation. The people forgot God. And what makes it worse, they forgot Him after He had saved them from the Egyptians, rescued them from slavery, kept them alive in the desert with manna, and gave them water from a rock to drink. But what's more, this allows us to see the sheer power of a mediator's prayers. Moses throws himself before the Lord and pleads for God's mercy so that the people may be spared. And God listens. This is the essential lesson of Exodus 32. Think of how much each of us has probably offended God every time we forget Him. God has given us His only Son (our Manna, our Water from the Rock), and we constantly slip into an idolatry of materialism and worldliness, utterly neglecting our Lord. Who mediates for us? Well of course Jesus Christ is the Great Mediator, and Mary and the saints especially pray for us, but there are men and women here on earth who pray for us incessantly, night and day, every day. Those who have devoted their entire lives to praying for mankind. Monks, nuns, friars, ascetics, hermits, postulants, and any religious who have and are praying that we may be saved, that God will not enact His rigid Justice, that He will act only with sparing Mercy. We must honor these men and women and think of them often and pray for them. (Sadly, some Christians and non-Christians think that the people who devote themselves to the religious life are a waste on society, that they contribute nothing. How little then is understood of their purpose!) God reveals to us in Exodus 32 that He listens to prayer, that He will relent on behalf of an earnest plea for mercy. Moses fell prostrate before God and devoted himself to prayer so that the general people would be saved; and, again, in monasteries, abbeys, cloisters, friaries, and priories across the world, men and women are lying prostrate before God in quiet prayer and contemplation so that we may be saved. The thought of it is awe-inspiring and humbling.

Exodus 31 - A Sabbath Reminder

2009-12-21T12:04:00.000-08:00

In this brief Chapter of Exodus, God finishes His lengthy list of instructions to Moses and gives the command to put into action all that He has said. And I think the central issue in Exodus 31 is that, after appointing a specific person to oversee the construction of the tabernacle, God reminds His people of the commandment to "keep holy the sabbath day." Obviously the building of the tabernacle, along with the construction of the ark, the altars and tables, the vessels, and the making of the vestments, is going to be a time-consuming, laborious, toil-inducing job. So God, in His infinite Mercy, makes sure to remind everyone that, even though they are about to be hard at work with this project, they are not to forget about the sabbath -- in other words, they are not to forget about God. And this led me down a train of thought.

In a previous post I had written about the Third Commandment, and how I feel that today we are in violation of it due to our obsessive work "ethic" and our lack of observance of the Lord's Day, a day to rest and contemplate our God. Exodus 31 demonstrated to me the immense importance of this command. God wants a specific day devoted to Him! If we blow right through the week without giving Him that, we violate His Command!

This may be a topic I've discussed to death, but I truly feel that our modern work-obsessed culture is completely counter to what God wants from us. We've developed a societal mindset that industriousness and busy-ness are the pinnacle of human goodness. Where did we come up with this?! I recently read a great article by Edwin Faust called "The Day I Retired," which is all about this screwed-up, work-first mindset. Faust brought to my attention an essential fact of human existence that puts "hard work" in its proper perspective. At the outset of human life on earth, as captured in the Book of Genesis, God uses work and labor as a punishment for Original Sin! God says to Adam, "Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee, that thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work: with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life" (Genesis 3:17) [italics added]. And further: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth out of which thou wast taken" (Genesis 3:19) [italics added]. There are two things we can take from this: 1) that we are forced to labor and toil as punishment for the fall of man, and 2) that God's original plan must not have included all this labor and toil. In a perfect world, as God envisioned it, we would be freed from the bondage of work and we would be able to contemplate our Maker and enjoy His Goodness and Mercy all the days of our lives. That is what ought to be held in high regard; not the backwards-thinking mindset of today.

I'm not trying to argue that we ought not to ever work or work hard. I know that we must provide for our families and ourselves. Work is necessary. But is it necessarily a virtue to let it take over our lives? Is it such a good thing to work sixty hours a week, weekends included, and therefore leave little to no time for Divine contemplation? If so, where is the Biblical evidence for this? So far, all I've read in the Bible stresses the necessity of a day of rest to forget about work, for work is simply a punishment for our fallen nature. In the Faust article, in order to show the hopelessness that work-obsession leads to, he makes mention of one of my most favorite Henry David Thoreau lines: "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation." Faust elaborates: "Recall that desperation comes from despair, which is the loss of hope. Hope in what? In God. Men cannot be sustained by a hope that is not theological." Faust also quotes Shakespeare: "There is a memorable line in Shakespeare's Othello in which the villain Iago describes his duplicity by saying: 'I am not what I am.' How many of us might say the same?" In our society we are defined by what we do for work. How nonsensical! If work is our punishment, why should we be proud to define ourselves by it? For most of us, when defining ourselves by our jobs, we may accurately reply, "I am not what I am." I am a teacher, but teaching does not define me. What defines me is that I am a creature of God, and I don't teach for a living, but my living consists of making my way back to God in heaven. I must teach for the time being because our fallen nature has necessitated it, but it's not what I live for. If we live for our work, where does that put God?

Exodus 29-30: Sacred Incense

2009-12-19T10:45:00.000-08:00

Truly one of the most enlightening things about reading Exodus so far has been the discovery of all the similarities between worship then and worship now. This is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to gain from reading the Word in its entirety: a more adequate understanding of God and His dealings with man. Based on the total meticulousness of the descriptions of the tabernacle, the ark, the priests' vestments, and the form of worship, it is clear that God wanted something particular from His people. This cannot be glossed over. The essence of worship is to adore God, then and now. And of course the fundamental difference with our worship today is that Jesus Christ has taken the place of the sacrificial lamb; but, there are many facets of the old worship that are still used today because God has revealed them to be good. In Chapters 29 and 30 we learn of some of these things, in particular the burning of incense. Anyone who has been to a High Mass knows that incense plays a big role in Christian worship (just as it did for the ancient Israelites). Simply put, the burning of incense symbolizes our prayers ascending to God. There are some beautiful Biblical passages to illustrate this. Psalm 140:2 says, "Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight; the lifting up of my hands as evening sacrifice." And Apocalypse 8:4 says, "And the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God, from the hand of the Angel." Incense provides a beautiful symbol for the prayers offered during Mass. During the Offertory prayers of the Mass, the Holy Spirit is invoked, and the blessing of the bread and wine includes this prayer: "Incensum istud a te benedictum, ascendat ad te, Domine: et descendat super nos misericordia tua" (May this incense blessed by You, arise before You, O Lord, and may Your mercy come down upon us).

Exodus 28 - "For Glory and for Beauty"

2009-12-15T22:18:00.000-08:00

And so the parallels continue. Exodus 28 describes the appearance of the vestments to be worn by Aaron and subsequent priests. The level of detail is daunting, but, again, whilst reading through this chapter I couldn't help but think of the beautiful and ornate vestments still worn today by priests and bishops. The continuity remains; the Old Law illuminates the New. Among the reasons for God's requirement for so elaborate a vestment was this succinct declaration: "For glory and for beauty" (Exodus 28:2). Why should priests wear such lavish and showy vestments? For glory and for beauty! This is the worship of God we're dealing with here. My commentary mentions that "these prescriptions of God, which seem to us so minute, had a more sublime and mysterious meaning." It's easy to brush off things such as what a minister of God ought to wear -- it may seem, on the surface, as an unimportant issue. But in Wisdom 18:24 it is written, "For in the priestly robe which he wore, was the whole world: and in the four rows of the stones, the glory of the fathers was graven, and thy Majesty was written upon the diadem of his head" [italics added]. I loved the fact that the priest needed to have the words Doctrine and Truth inscribed on the rational before he could enter the sanctuary to worship. How gloriously symbolic! Doctrine and Truth: Urim and Thummim: Illumination and Perfection. These are the things necessary, even today, to piously approach the Lord.

Exodus 27 - "The Light of Men"

2009-12-09T12:42:00.000-08:00

"That a lamp may burn always,
In the tabernacle of the testimony, without the veil that hangs before the testimony." (Exodus 27:20-21)

Here is yet another parallel between the appurtenances of the Old Covenant's altar and that of the New. In the previous chapter Moses speaks of the tabernacle and the veil and the Holy of Holies, all things found still on today's altars. And now it is revealed that a lamp of eternal light must always remain lit to signify the Divine Presence of our Lord. And so it is today, on every altar around the world, a sanctuary lamp (colored red) hangs eternally lit to make known the Divine Presence in the Eucharist. And of course light itself plays a significant role in the Word. Paul tells us to "cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light" (Romans 13:12). St. John, in his beautiful opening to his Gospel, speaks of Jesus as "the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it," (John 1:4-5) and that He "was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world" (John 1:9).

Exodus 26

2009-12-04T08:21:00.000-08:00

"And the veil shall be hanged on with rings, and within it thou shalt put the ark of the testimony, and the sanctuary and the holy of the holies shall be divided with it." (Exodus 26:33)

I haven't much to comment on concerning this chapter, as it was entirely made up of straightforward instructions on the building of the tabernacle. But all throughout, the only thing I could think of was how alike the descriptions are to our modern-day tabernacles on our altars. And so the revelation I received upon this reading was in the complexity of the interconnectedness between Old Covenant and New. Jesus didn't come and wipe the slate clean; He came to fulfill, or complete, the Law. He didn't come to declare the Ten Commandments void (for example); He came and said, "If you love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15). He came to set us straight. And so it is only fitting that His Divine Presence be surrounded by the same appurtenances that housed Him in the Old Covenant. Our tabernacle today, therefore, has a veil separating us from the Holy of Holies, just as described in Exodus. Altars often have figures of angels on either side of the tabernacle, much like the cherubim of the Ark. Above you can see the tabernacle in the lower center portion of the picture, veiled and reverently housing the Divine Presence of God. For remember, concerning His people, God Himself said, "Make me a sanctuary, and I will dwell in the midst of them" (Exodus 25:8). By His Mercy, He still does today.

Exodus 25 - Graven Cherubs

2009-11-27T21:22:00.000-08:00

I remember well the first time I read Exodus how endless the reading became once I reached the instructions on the building of the Ark of the Covenant. But now I'm seeing it differently. The length and detail of the instructions given to Moses should tell us something -- the information was of the utmost importance. Every item, every direction, had a purpose. It was symbolic and yet real. Everything was geared toward complete reverence. The color of the linen, the dimensions of the table, the number of candles, etc. God knows (of course) that we are physical beings as well as spiritual ones, and so he specifically caters to both our aspects. The ceremonial aspect of worship is much needed, as we are moved by our senses, not just our minds. Our soul is satiated by the spiritual nature of adoring God, but our body is satiated by the ritualistic nature of worship -- thus the meticulous attention to detail when describing how the Ark of the Covenant ought to appear and function. For this was the sanctuary that was to house the Divine Presence of God; its physical image mattered a great deal.

And one other issue of note: in Exodus 25, part of God's instructions on how to build the Ark contained this demand: "Thou shalt make also two cherubims of beaten gold, on the two sides of the oracle" (Exodus 25:18). Cherubims are angelic beings, and so this required crafting figures of gold to be part of the adornments used during worship. In essence, God was calling for graven images. Yet, God had just finished telling Moses that the people are forbidden to create graven likenesses, right? Well, I think Exodus 25 shows us that God's command against graven images was not a condemnation of all images. Keeping within the context of the First Commandment (as I had previously written about), God forbids us to create likenesses of strange gods for the purpose of worshipping them. Clearly God doesn't intend for these golden angels on the Ark to be worshipped; He requires them because of their symbolic power. Statues of saints and angels today still hold this symbolic power. The golden Cherubim were meant to support the presence of God and turn the eyes of the Israelites upwards to heaven. Pictures, sculptures, and images of Mary and the saints are meant to serve the same purpose.

Exodus 24 - By His Blood

2009-11-27T10:00:00.000-08:00

"And taking the chalice he gave thanks: and gave to them, saying: Drink ye all of this.
For this is my blood of the new testament which shall be shed for many, for the remission of sins." (Matthew 26:27-28)

"And having taken the chalice, giving thanks, he gave to them, and they all drank of it.
And he said to them: This is my blood of the New Testament, which shall be shed for many." (Mark 14:23-24)

"In like manner, the chalice also, after he had supped, saying: This is the chalice, the new testament in my blood, which shall be shed for you." (Luke 22:20)

"Then Moses took half of the blood, and put it into bowls; and the rest he poured upon the altar.
And taking the book of the covenant, he read it in the hearing of the people: and they said: All things that the Lord hath spoken, we will do, we will be obedient.
And he took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and he said: This is the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words." (Exodus 24:6-8)

I've long been well aware of the significance of the Blood of Christ, but until now I had not known that Jesus, when consecrating His Blood at the Last Supper, was deliberately referencing the ancient words of Moses in Exodus 24. And putting these things together makes everything clearer. It makes perfect sense: Moses (in Exodus 24) is pronouncing God's new covenant with His people, which they promise to obey (and they of course eventually break that promise), and he does so using the blood of the sacrificial victim; and Jesus, using His own blood (for He is the new and everlasting sacrificial victim), pronounces the new covenant with His people, and therefore He alludes to the old covenant to demonstrate to us God's Divine Plan, and the eternal (and historical) workings of the Father. Learning more about God's covenants with His people has been one of the most rewarding aspects of reading Scripture. I'm realizing more and more how pivotal these testaments are. They are the foundation of our Faith.

Exodus 23 - Tradition

2009-11-21T21:55:00.000-08:00

In Exodus 23, one verse in particular stood out to me. It's a verse that seems to speak in opposition to much of what has happened to Christianity in modern times. It's a verse that decries softening, diluting, and diminishing the Truth in the name of "political correctness." Surely, there's nothing political about the Truth! It is what it is. It cannot be changed. We must conform to it, it cannot conform to us. That verse is Exodus 23:2, and it reads:

"Thou shalt not follow the multitude to do evil: neither shalt thou yield in judgment, to the opinion of the most part, to stray from the truth."

What eternal and righteous words! And yet we are so guilty of violating this command. How many times have we heard of a Christian, or a group of Christians, "changing" God's Law to fit some sort of modern practice or lifestyle. Things such as divorce, birth control, and usury (to name a few), all once out-and-out condemned, are now sanctioned by many Christians. Why? Could it be they are following "the multitude," yielding "in judgment, to the opinion of the most part"? Those things just mentioned are clearly not permissible based on what Scripture says. But it is the scourge of Modernism contaminating the minds of many Christians today. We are clearly straying from the Truth. God, Who exists in all times and places, has denounced the bending of rules, the changing of rules, and the "altering" of principles, even in our own day. We've allowed our modern culture to determine which of God's Laws we will follow and which we'll disregard. The result is moral chaos. We've strayed so far from Truth we've lost sight of it.

Exodus 22 - Is Usury Lawful?

2009-11-21T09:42:00.000-08:00

No! It is not. So says Scripture. Once again we have an instance of a God-given Law being conveniently ignored. Throughout much of history usury has existed and even flourished, but nothing compares to the excessiveness of usury in our own day. Usury has become (especially in America) not just tolerable, but downright celebrated! We've somehow gotten to a point where usurers, or people able to profit from lending, are seen as savvy and industrious citizens. They are champions of the business world. They write books and talk on TV shows. Yet, they are blatantly violating God's Law, and no one seems to care. Exodus 22:25 says, "If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor, that dwelleth with thee, thou shalt not be hard upon them as an extortioner, nor oppress them with usuries." And to paraphrase that famous Roman Cato: "What is usury but to kill a man." It's an unnatural thing. Usury is an abuse that perverts civil law the same way murder does natural law. It is clearly condemned by God, and Jesus Christ reiterates and reaffirms this most basic principle when He says, "Do good, and lend, hoping for nothing thereby: and your reward shall be great" (Luke 6:35). In other words, "Lend, hoping to gain nothing by it." Instead of trying to flimsily justify our modern practice of lending with (exorbitant) interest, why don't we live by Jesus's simple words? It comes down to avarice, pride, and materialism. These are sins that afflicted mankind then and even more so now. Lending money has become such an unfeeling business that there is no charity involved in the exchange whatsoever. A person or a company does not lend to someone in need because it is the charitable thing to do; they lend to increase their own profits, and thus they deny themselves the great reward that Christ promises.

And to all those who criticize the Mercy of God, Exodus 22 provides some great verses on His kindness and empathy. I've always heard that the Old Testament depicts a vengeful God who deals harshly with His people (and in some instances this is true), but I've come across several verses so far that display God's Mercy, the same Mercy that will eventually become Incarnate in the Person of Jesus Christ. For instance, God says:

"You shall not hurt a widow or an orphan.
If you hurt them, they will cry out to me, and I will hear their cry:
And my rage shall be enkindled, and I will strike you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless." (Exodus 22:22-24)

Obviously in this passage we also see an example of God's Justice in dealing with those who harm the less fortunate, but the very fact that God reserves a place in His Law for the protection of those less fortunate indicates a merciful God. And it is stated further:

"If thou take of thy neighbor a garment in pledge, thou shalt give it him again before sun-set.
For that same is the only thing, wherewith he is covered, the clothing of his body, neither hath he any other to sleep in: if he cry to me, I will hear him, because I am compassionate." (Exodus 22:26-27)

"Because I am compassionate"! God Himself tells us of His Mercy. Need we second-guess Him?

Exodus 21 - "Eye for Eye"

2009-11-15T18:20:00.000-08:00

Exodus 20, in the form of the Ten Commandments, covers "the sum of all the natural law" (Haydock). And the Ten Commandments can be even further summarized by the words of Christ: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind" and "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Matthew 22:37,39). Now, moving on to Exodus 21, we see God shifting His focus to "laws directing the civil conduct of the Israelites" (from Haydock's notes). What order the Lord uses to instruct us! He moves so gracefully from laws applicable to all men of all times to laws more narrowly directed toward the people of Moses's time.

The long list of civil laws listed in Exodus 21 may seem quite harsh to the modern reader, but like many other things found in the Bible, a contextual analysis is needed to avoid confusion. There is a lot of mention of crimes punishable by death, which, again, may seem harsh. But we must remember that all ancient societies used capital punishment rather freely. What's more interesting actually is in the rather respectable treatment of slaves. I found it interesting that slave-owners were quite restricted in how they could deal with their slaves, especially considering the fact that most ancient societies allowed harsh treatment (even murder) of slaves by their masters. Moses makes it clear that God's Law does not allow such a thing. Instead, even a slave must be treated equal under the Law (Job 31 gives a great example of the virtuous man's mindset of this time concerning equality). The famous saying, "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Exodus 21:24), may as well seem like a severe way of handling transgression, but viewed in the context of history, it was a practical way to lessen lawlessness -- life was often tumultuous and rife with peril, and the laws therefore had to deal harshly with anarchic tendencies among certain people in an attempt to bring order to society. Thankfully, as we begin to move closer to a fuller understanding of God and His Laws, we are able to move away from such brutally rigid rules. We will never see God's Perfect Order here on earth, but we can get closer to it as we get closer to Him.

Exodus 20:12-26 - Gerizim or Hebal?

2009-11-14T11:29:00.000-08:00

The next seven commandments don't quite call for in-depth analysis, as they are forthright and plainly spoken:

"Honour thy father and thy mother, that thou mayst be long-lived upon the land which the Lord thy God will give thee.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house; neither shalt thou desire his wife, nor his servant, nor his hand-maid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his." (Exodus 20:12-17)

Yet, even though these commandments seem clear enough, there has nonetheless arisen confusion over the Ninth and Tenth Commands particularly. Apparently, by the time of Christ most Jews chose to ignore or misinterpret the last two commandments, believing that an evil thought was not sinful until it was put into action. But this seems simply nonsensical. Why would God forbid us to "covet" and "desire," and include these as part of His Law, if the thoughts, in and of themselves, were harmless? And if He has already declared that we are not to "steal" or "commit adultery," why would He tell us we are not to "covet thy neighbor's house" nor "desire his wife," if these latter two commands were essentially the same as the former two? It seems clear to me that Commandment Six and Seven are completely different from Commandment Nine and Ten. Six and Seven are laws against external action, while Nine and Ten are laws against internal thoughts. And Christ Himself even clarifies this for us when He declares, "that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:28).

The last thing I'll mention about Exodus 20 is that an interesting disparity was brought to my attention of which I had heretofore been unaware. Apparently, after the Tenth Commandment (verse 17), in some ancient copies of the Bible, including the Samaritan, Arabic, and Syriac versions, there exists five verses which instruct the people to write the Ten Commandments on stone and erect an altar to God on Mount Gerizim. Many Bible scholars, including Benjamin Kennicott, conclude that the Jews possibly could have deleted these verses because of their dislike of the Samaritans and the fact that Mt. Gerizim is a holy site for Samaritans. Though other scholars, such as Antoine Augustin Calmet, believe that it was the Samaritans who doctored the text and inserted Gerizim into Exodus 20. The five "missing" verses in Exodus 20 can actually be found in Deuteronomy 27, where instead of Mount Gerizim, the people are instructed to house the Law and build an altar on Mount Hebal. Kennicott, and others, say that Hebal could have been inserted in place of Gerizim. Obviously, this is something we can probably never truly get to the bottom of (and I am certainly not any sort of authority on
Bible history to be able to cast my opinion in the mix). It's simply an intriguing issue to ponder, and ultimately it doesn't affect the meaning of the Word nor our salvation.

Exodus 20:7-11 - The Day of the Lord

2009-11-09T18:21:00.000-08:00

Here we have the Second and Third Commandments. On the Lord's Second Command, I would just like to share a great quote I read by Philo the Jew: "Those who swear often, diminish their credit among the wise." It should be obvious why taking the Lord's name in vain is sinful, but, as Philo states, it doesn't make one look too wise, either.

The Third Command is one to which we modern Christians, for the most part, have turned a blind eye. It is clearly stated to us, "On the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work on it..." (Exodus 20:10). Yet, the idea of Sunday (the Christian sabbath) as a rest day is becoming more and more foreign to us. It's only been a generation or two since stores were actually closed on Sundays, and now such a thing is nearly unheard of. We've allowed our "Americanism," that is, our role as consumer, supersede our role as follower of Christ. Writer and professor Michael Foley has said that "man is meant for something far higher than being a mere consumer or producer." And Sunday allows us to see just that. The Catechism states that the Sabbath "is a day of protest against the servitude of work and the worship of money." Even if we ourselves don't perform any servile work on Sunday, how many of us still contribute to the excessive commerce that occurs on the Lord's Day? But for whatever reason we tend to think ignoring this particular Commandment is acceptable. Foley, who has written a great article about the sacredness of Sunday, says that "a proper observance of the Lord's holy day ... is a life-transforming experience that gives new meaning to our existence." Another great commentator on the importance of Sunday is the brilliant philosopher Josef Pieper. Foley, referencing Pieper, notes, "the modern doctrine of 'total work' has left little room for a genuine celebration of Sunday." Pieper's book Leisure: the Basis of Culture is evidently one of the best treatises on the significance of taking a break from the "rat race" (I haven't read it yet, but I have just ordered my copy and I can't wait to dig into it!). We should be viewing our sabbath as a gift from God, a chance to give all our time and thoughts to Him, instead of the world. All week long it's easy to keep so busy that we hardly spend a few minutes contemplating God (some people keep busy specifically to avoid thinking of such things!), but on Sunday we are given an entire day to do nothing but contemplate God. We should be overjoyed at such a gift! And, to wrap it all up, we must stop treating the Sunday obligation as a thing we do if we have the time. It is the Third Commandment. If God felt so nonchalant about His day, He wouldn't have instituted it as a command etched in stone for the duration of mankind's existence on earth! Yet we sure are nonchalant about it.

Exodus 20:1-6 - The First Command

2009-11-07T07:07:00.000-08:00

For the first time I'll be breaking up a chapter into verses, out of necessity. I've reached the Ten Commandments, and they require a more thorough analysis. Studying the First Commandment, which is often condensed to "I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt not have strange gods before Me," was enlightening. It has been the source of much confusion over the centuries, but, after reading about it and contemplating it, in the end it appears to be a pretty straightforward, unequivocal commandment. It can be broken down into three steps: 1) Don't reject Me for other gods; 2) Don't create likenesses of these other gods; and 3) Don't worship these likenesses of other gods. Somehow or another, over the centuries, these steps have been muddled and misconstrued so that now some Christians think that the First Commandment forbids creating likenesses of, not strange gods, but the true God! But that is never even hinted at in the First Command! From the outset it is clear that the issue at hand is the people's constant tendency to resort to idolatry, which is the worship of physical things. And if you look at the historical context, idols almost always came in the form of animals, whether it be birds, mammals, or sea creatures. Thus, we have God's direct condemnation in Exodus 20:4: "Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth." It is important to note that this command comes directly after the proclamation, "Thou shalt not have strange gods before me" (Exodus 20:3). That verse sums up the First Commandment, and then God gets more specific, citing the crafting of idols and the worship of them. All of this is directed toward and in reference to strange gods. Therefore, in Exodus 20:5, God specifies, "Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them." What is "them"? The idols (Exodus 20:4). What idols? The idols of strange gods (Exodus 20:3). This may be over-analyzing to a degree, but I feel the need to stress the simplicity of this command. I can't fathom that some Christians stretch this issue so far as to condemn the creation of any likeness or image, whether it be a sculpture or a painting or some other benign representation of a saint, Mary, an angel, or Jesus Himself. Granted, many Christians don't necessarily condemn the simple creation of these things but what they perceive to happen with these things, that is, the worship of them. But if this truly is what some Christians think, then they are plainly misinformed. Further, the Christian who thinks an image of, say, a saint is worshipped, must logically conclude that up until the 16th century, all Christians were idolaters! It's a viewpoint way off the mark, and it has no solid basis in Exodus 20:1-6, which is the direct denouncement of worshipping strange gods. Christian art, whether an ornate painting or a simple statue, is made to remind us of our ultimate duty to God, and I can personally testify that it does a good job of that. Some may say that we shouldn't need reminders to keep us focused, but they are forgetting the fallen nature of man. Look at how frequently, in these early books of the Bible, the people of God fell away and began to worship false gods. Moses gives to us a once-and-for-all condemnation of that practice. And we've since created beautiful and moving works of art to keep us on the right track, lest we fall away yet again. (As an end note, modern Christians may not fear falling into the sin of adoring and serving, say, a golden cow, but we surely should fear falling into the sin of adoring and serving the physical things of this modern world -- materialism is the new idolatry. We revere the television and cars and houses and clothes, etc., the way our ancestors revered the golden calf: we've put these superficial things on a higher pedestal than God Himself.)

Exodus 19

2009-11-02T22:32:00.000-08:00

I'm at the point where Moses has been summoned to the top of Mount Sinai. Chapter 19 is very much a scene-setting chapter -- it dramatically paves the way for the famous chapters following which cover the Ten Commandments. I am anxious to reach this upcoming section of Exodus, for I'm sure an in-depth look at the Commands of God will reveal powerful truths. But, all the same, Chapter 19 had some great revelations. For one, it continues to emphasize the role of Moses as mediator. It also begins to clarify the role of the priests in the social order that is quickly forming among the Hebrew tribes. The Lord says that Israel shall be a "priestly kingdom" (Exodus 19:6), and that the "priests also that come to the Lord, let them be sanctified" (Exodus 19:22). It is clear that Moses stands apart from his people as God's chosen intermediary, but next in line are the priests (an ancient model of the Church should at this point be apparent). A hierarchy is forming, being guided by the direct voice of God. And up next will be one of the most specific and focused set of rules ever given to a people -- a revolutionary example of order and law. Up next are the Ten Commandments.

Exodus 17-18

2009-08-30T18:06:00.000-07:00

In these verses we are given a powerfully symbolic image: that of Moses, hands outstretched (prefiguring the image of a cross), intermediating on behalf of his people to God above. Moses's gesture, hands apart and raised, therefore is extremely ancient, and still used today to express our reverence and adoration of God, to pray, to worship Him.

I found it quite interesting in Exodus 18 how Jethro basically laid out a complete political structure for the people of Israel. Again, we see a progressive, slow-and-steady shift from a tribal, nomadic people to a hierarchical, law-abiding (of course not always), ordered people. And this gradual shift is taking place just as the people's understanding of God is likewise progressing. Jethro lays out a political, social structure that we still see today: the national-regional-local system of control. He therefore makes it possible for Moses to concentrate on more pressing issues, to focus on the laws of God and administering them to the people; while lesser disputes and concerns can be handled by the appropriate magistrate. It's a system that may seem so simple and obvious to us, but someone had to think of it for the first time. From here on out the social structure of the people of Israel will be much more complex; and yet the revelations from God will likewise begin to grow in complexity. The age of the Prophets is not too far off.

Exodus 16 - Manna and the Bread of Life

2009-08-01T18:35:00.000-07:00

"This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat." (Exodus 16:15)

"Our fathers did eat manna in the desert, as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen, I say unto you: Moses gave you not bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is that which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life to the world.
Then they said to him: Lord, give us always this bread.
And Jesus said to them: I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me, shall not hunger." (John 6:31-35)

And so we have, in Exodus 16, an overt precedent for the establishment of the Eucharist, the Lord's Supper, the Body of Christ as the Bread of Life. As the Lord fed and sustained the children of Israel during their sojourn through the desert with manna, so He has done the same for us -- only the desert now is life, and He knows we need something to sustain us spiritually as we sojourn through this desert, which has hardships at every turn. And so He has given us Himself! "I am the bread of life" (John 6:35). The Body of Christ is our manna.

Previously I had written about the fact that God has gradually revealed Himself to His people. He has also gradually given them a more precise code of conduct. Not only do we begin to see the establishment of rules and guidelines, feasts and memorials, but we now have this idea of needing constant nourishment from God Himself. The rules help to keep us reminded of God's presence, but this nourishment (symbolically represented by manna) keeps us connected to God. The manna kept the Hebrews focused on their goals of reaching the promised land of Chanaan. Being continuously nourished by the Body of Christ keeps us focused on reaching the Promised Land of heaven.

Exodus 13-15: Ancient Poetry

2009-07-30T18:12:00.000-07:00

After the breathtaking events captured in Exodus 14 (it's obviously the parting of the Red Sea I speak of), we are suddenly met with a burst of song: The Canticle of Moses. After experiencing the total awe-inspiring power of God, the children of Israel are compelled (rightly so) to triumphantly sing God's praises. The whole Canticle is so full of glorious praise, it's hard not to feel the unbridled jubilation of the Hebrew people while reading it.

According to Origen the Canticle of Moses is the most ancient piece of poetry! And what is so fascinating is that this song, this vibrant poem, is still today triumphantly sung! Churchmen the world over (monks, priests, bishops, missionaries, etc.) sing the Canticle of Moses (among other Old Testament canticles) weekly during Lauds.

Here is a sampling:

"Who is like to thee, among the strong, O Lord? who is like to thee, glorious in holiness, terrible and praise-worthy, doing wonders?
Thou stretchedst forth thy hand, and the earth swallowed them.
In thy mercy thou hast been a leader to the people which thou hast redeemed: and in thy strength thou hast carried them to thy holy habitation." (Exodus 15:11-13)

Exodus 7-12: Agnus Dei

2009-07-28T11:53:00.000-07:00

As fascinating as it was reading about each of the ten plagues that God unleashed on Egypt, it was Exodus 12 and the explanation of the Paschal Lamb that really caught me. The paschal lamb as a symbol for Christ is obviously as old as the hills, but digging deeper into this sacred symbolism reveals an amazing depth to the comparison. In Scripture, the Jews are so instructed: "On the tenth day of this month let every man take a lamb by their families and houses" (Exodus 12:3). "And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; and the whole multitude of the children of Israel shall sacrifice it in the evening" (Exodus 12:6). The "month" spoken of in Scripture is the Hebrew month of Nisan, which coincides with our March-April period. And as my commentary states, "[Christ] came to Jerusalem on the 10th day of Nisan, on Sunday. He gave himself to his disciples on the evening of the 14th." The comparison continues when the Hebrew people are instructed to take the blood of the sacrificed lamb "and put it upon both the side-posts, and on the upper door-posts of the houses, wherein they shall eat it" (Exodus 12:7). The blood of the lamb shall be their salvation, as the Blood of Christ is ours. So much more could be said about this fascinating association of the paschal lamb and Jesus Christ, but I just wanted to at least make mention of it here.

Exodus 6 - Mysteries of the Name

2009-07-27T16:38:00.000-07:00

"And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: I am the Lord
That appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, by the name of God Almighty: and my name ADONAI I did not show them." (Exodus 6:2-3)

Instead of posting my musings as usual, I'm going to quote verbatim my commentary on Exodus 6:3, the famous verse in which God reveals His name to Moses. In a previous entry on Genesis 32, I had commented on the fact that God apparently had withheld His name from the ancient Patriarchs, and that He seemingly reveals Himself only gradually. Still, His actual "name" (I'm sure the term name is quite limiting in that we're dealing with the Supreme Being here, Who doesn't need a "name" in the sense that you and I do) is forever lost to us due to reasons revealed in the following passage from my Biblical commentary:

"The name which is in the Hebrew text, is that most proper name of God, which signifies his eternal self-existing being, which the Jews, out of reverence, never pronounce; but instead of it, whenever it occurs in the Bible, they read Adonai, which signifies the Lord: and therefore they put the points or vowels, which belong to the name Adonai, to the four letters of that other ineffable name Jod, He, Vau, He. Hence some moderns have framed the name Jehovah: unknown to all the ancients, whether Jews or Christians: for the true pronunciation of the name, which is in the Hebrew text, by long disuse, is now quite lost. This name was first clearly revealed to Moses, that he might have confidence in his special protection and love. To know one by his name, is to treat him with familiarity and distinction. The pronunciation of the name of God might be known to Abraham, etc. but it was not so fully explained, nor the power and excellence of it declared in such a stupendous manner, as it was to Moses. Or perhaps Moses made use of this name in the history of the patriarchs, because he wrote his account of them after this revelation. The Septuagint always put Kurios, "the Lord," instead of the ineffable name; and our Savior and his apostles , citing texts where it occurs, follow their example. Philo informs us, that it was death to pronounce it out of the temple; and since that was destroyed, it has never been heard. Galatinus, who wrote in 1518, is supposed to have invented the word Jehovah, the year after the pretended reformation began. St. Jerome explains the ten names of God, but never reads Jehovah."

Obviously this doesn't even begin to answer all the questions. But I think it adds to the discussion, and hopefully creates questions worth pursuing.

Exodus 3-5

2009-07-25T09:08:00.000-07:00

"And you shall lay upon them the task of bricks, which they did before; neither shall you diminish any thing thereof, for they are idle, and therefore they cry, saying: Let us go and sacrifice to our God.
Let them be oppressed with works, and let them fulfil them; that they may not regard lying words." (Exodus 5:8-9)

Thus speaketh the Pharaoh after learning that the Hebrews want to be set free. In these chapters of Exodus (3-5) the central event is obviously God speaking to Moses via the burning bush. But I just want to quickly focus on a parallel I noticed between our society today and the Pharaoh's words above. For when Moses (through Aaron) requests that the Hebrew people be released so that they may properly sacrifice to their God, the Pharaoh decides that the Hebrews obviously are too idle, that they don't have enough work to do, since they're sitting around thinking of crazy things like leaving Egypt so they may sacrifice to their God. In a much more conniving way, our culture today doesn't take kindly to idle-ness. We are a culture of work work work. And surprisingly enough, by working ourselves to death we've left little to no time for properly sacrificing to God. In fact, we work so much we've left no time to even think about Godly matters: the meaning of things, the broad questions, the ponderings of life. There's a reason the Church prescribes holy days: we need time to dwell on spiritual things. Holy days are a chance to put aside everyday work and focus on God. But today even secular "holy days" (i.e., vacations) are limited to practically nothing (Americans take the fewest amount of vacation days compared to every other country in the world; in one study, Americans took on average 13 days of vacation per year, compared to 42 taken by Italians!). The point? If we are only ever working, when do we have a chance to think? And if we're never thinking, how are we contemplating God? The Pharaoh knew exactly what he was doing -- shut them up by making them work more! Well, I'd say today we are effectively shut up, for I don't see anyone complaining that we don't have enough time to give to God.

Exodus 1-2

2009-07-22T17:42:00.000-07:00

And so begins the saga of Moses. Right away, learning of the meaning behind Moses's name was enlightening for me. I never knew that it literally signifies "saved out of the water." Quite interesting; and quite symbolic of the institution of baptism.

It's kind of crazy that Moses kills an Egyptian, but I suppose (as many commentators say) that God allowed that act to occur to show that Moses was to be the one to save his people from their afflictions at the hand of the Egyptians, because no one else was stepping up: "And when he had looked about this way and that way, and saw no one there, he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand" (Exodus 2:12). He looked about for help as the Hebrew slave was being beaten by the Egyptian (as all the Hebrews were being oppressed by the Egyptians), and when he saw no one he realized that he needed to take it upon himself to help this man (as he helps all the Hebrews by delivering them). We also must remember that this killing of the Egyptian was done earlier in Moses's life, and therefore he had yet to hear God's voice instructing him to deliver the Hebrews.

Concluding Thoughts On Genesis

2009-07-20T11:37:00.000-07:00

Genesis is completed! It took a while, but I'm glad I spent so much time with it, for even though it is my third or fourth reading of Genesis, it's been by far the most illuminating. I discovered so much more in this Book than I ever knew was there. I dwelt much more on the later chapters, whereas before I tended to focus on the early chapters and skim through everything else. Adam and Eve still captured my attention, but Jacob and Joseph enthralled me like never before.

I came to understand something more about Genesis -- its place amongst the other Books of the Bible. Obviously it is most famous for its Creation account, but it goes so far beyond that. It lays the foundation. It is where the "desire of the everlasting hills" is first revealed to us! "Genesis, from the end of the third chapter to its close, is but the history of [the] immortal Hope, and the other books of the Pentateuch do but describe the national institutions, political and religious, by and through which this Hope was to be preserved undimmed among the universal darkness of Heathendom, till the Star of Bethlehem warned Israel that the Light of the World was come."*

The people we meet in Genesis, with all their failings and worries, their weaknesses and mutinies, might otherwise give in to despair had they not been given a Hope. For imagine a world in which Adam falls and no Hope is given afterwards! Such a world would be one of constant gloom and unhappiness. But God in His Eternal Mercy gives the world a glorious Hope in the figure of His Son. And this Hope guides the chapters of Genesis. All eyes point toward the Promised Light. Many men lose sight of this ultimate Hope (as today they still do), but we have holy men to thank (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) for keeping that Hope alive.

And now I embark on the rest of the Pentateuch, which sometimes reads like a rulebook. Though I now understand better why so many rules needed to be established. For, doubtless, men feared that future generations may lose sight of the Hope Who was revealed to the people written of in the Book of Genesis. Men, most notably Moses, realized that our fallen nature makes it too easy to drift away from the Truth, and therefore we need guidance and direction in the form of Rules to ensure we stay the course. But first, there are the extraordinary events captured in the Book of Exodus, which I turn to next.

*Bernard O'Reilly

Genesis 49 - "The Desire of the Everlasting Hills"

2009-07-17T16:04:00.000-07:00

I have a feeling this could get a bit lengthy. :)

It's almost as if the entire Book of Genesis is building to a great crescendo, and in Chapter 49 it all culminates in a climactic explosion of revelation and prophecy. I speak of Jacob's blessings of his twelve sons. So much is revealed in this chapter. It almost takes several readings to truly grasp it all. And of all the prophecies told throughout Genesis, this one is by far the most revealing. We are given not only a more unambiguous announcement of the coming of the Messiah, but we are even told when, and under what circumstances, He will come! I was in a state of amazement while reading Jacob's prophecies, for it is so clearly Jesus Christ he speaks of.

I will begin with a brief statement on Ruben, Jacob's eldest. I found the treatment of Ruben saddening (though Jacob's reasons obviously were valid). Ruben virtually is denied a blessing at all from his father, and he is essentially told that he is a great disappointment and left to go his way. Ruben's progeny will be slight and unassuming.

Simeon and Levi are addressed next, and what Jacob has to say only hints at the great revelations to come. Jacob is clearly angry at these two sons "because in their fury they slew a man" (Genesis 49:6). Now what is interesting is that Simeon and Levi will be the forebears of the Jewish scribes and priests, and it was via the councils of those high and mighty scribes and priests that Jesus Christ was condemned to death.

And next we have Juda. Here Jacob gives his lengthiest blessing, for it is through Juda's line that famously great things will happen. Jacob begins by revealing the prosperity that Juda's posterity will enjoy, that they will be great kings (e.g., David and Solomon). Essentially, it is said that Juda's line will rule over the lines of all the other sons, and this does in fact happen. But then, interestingly, Jacob says that "the sceptre shall not be taken away from Juda, nor a ruler from his thigh, till he come that is to be sent, and he shall be the expectation of nations" (Genesis 49:10). This verse ought to make anyone stop in his tracks! Suddenly Jacob is speaking of a person who is to be sent? and this person is the "expectation of nations"? These are loaded statements. But what is most revealing (and what should be most troubling to Jews) is that Juda's sceptre has been taken away! The tribe of Juda has long since lost power in the Land of Israel, and the losing of that power can be traced back precisely to the time of Christ, just as the prophecy revealed. In fact, it was Jacob's prophecy (among others, of course) that led people living in the years just before Christ's coming to be expecting His appearance! This is verified not only by St. John, but by the gentile historians Suetonius and Tacitus. I find this all quite fascinating, and I would be curious to know how Judaism reconciles Jacob's prophecy.

Verses eleven and twelve must be quoted in full:
"Tying his foal to the vineyard, and his ass, O my son, to the vine. He shall wash his robe in wine, and his garment in the blood of the grape.
His eyes are more beautiful than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk."

Through His Body and through His Blood, the Jew and the Gentile shall be united. To whom else but Christ could these verses allude?

After running through more blessings, Jacob comes to Joseph, his most special son. Though not given as lengthy a blessing as Juda, Joseph's blessing does go on for several verses. And once more does Jacob allude to a Figure Who is to come. And this time he utters a poetic phrase that has become renowned through the ages: "The desire of the everlasting hills" (Genesis 49:26). I've heard this epithet for Christ before, but I've never really pondered it in its context. It's such a beautiful expression. What I hadn't known is that the prophets and patriarchs of the Old Testament were known, in a spiritual sense, as the everlasting hills. This of course gives the epithet a whole new, and more important, meaning.

All of Genesis 49 reads like a poem. Each son is given a powerful message, beautifully uttered by the dying Jacob. For the sake of brevity I focused mainly on the blessings of Juda and Joseph, but there can be a treasure trove of truths found in almost every verse of this profound chapter. For example, even young Benjamin's brief blessing can be seen as a prefiguring of the apostle Paul, who belonged to the tribe of Benjamin.

But I better stop there. :)

Genesis 48 - The Younger Shall Prevail

2009-07-16T19:35:00.000-07:00

In Genesis 48 we see yet another example of a younger sibling being favored over the older. I don't mean to harp on this theme, but I can't help but find it significant. It would be one thing if such an event happened only once in Scripture and later scholars tried to make more out of it than they should. But in Genesis alone this favoring of the younger one seems to happen over and over and over. It happened with Abel, with Isaac, with Jacob, and with Rachel. And now in Genesis 48 we see Ephraim, the younger, earning Jacob's favor over Manasses, the older. Something is trying to be said. A message is being symbolically conveyed. It seems to me more than a coincidence that the later Church of Christ can be likened to a younger sibling of the more ancient Jewish faith. Obviously the Jews of the time before Christ could not have seen it this way, but Someone Who can see All Time would be more than able to plant the seed of an idea, to foreshadow the significant events ahead, ages before mankind could understand those ideas more fully. We can now see that God was foretelling the blessing He would bestow on His Son's Church, as opposed to the older synagogue. I also don't think it a light matter that Jacob emblematically forms a cross with his arms as he blesses Ephraim and Manasses.

Genesis 46-47

2009-07-15T17:39:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been quite a while since my last entry. June was such an eventful month that I never had a free moment to post anything. I'm slowly creeping towards the close of Genesis; and I'm hoping to pick up the pace now that things are starting to settle down.

Just one quick observation after reading Genesis 47: as the people of Egypt are selling their possessions, and ultimately their freedom, to the king in exchange for protection against the famine, I couldn't help but have in mind our current American economic situation. In Genesis 47 we see that the people's loss of liberty is a gradual process. First they must exchange their sheep, ox, cattle, etc. for food. Then they must sell their land. And ultimately they must sell themselves in order to eat and feed their families. This process took years, and some may say they had no choice. I see today the gradual selling off of our liberties to our increasingly powerful government as a striking reenactment of what happened in Egypt thousands of years ago. Jacob's progeny became slaves of the state, eventually prompting them to flee the region altogether. As we, today, become slaves of the American state, what exactly will our Exodus be like?

Genesis 45

2009-05-30T14:16:00.000-07:00

Wow. The foreshadowing comes on thick in this chapter. There have already been subtle clues that Joseph prefigures Christ, but it was all laid out when he reveals himself to his brothers. Seeing their shock and grief, he tells them, "Be not afraid, and let it not seem to you a hard case that you sold me into these countries: for God sent me before you into Egypt for your preservation" (Genesis 45:5). Could not this exact statement be applied to what Christ did for us?! We may be inclined to lament and torment ourselves over the scourging and crucifixion of Christ caused by our sins, but Jesus Himself would say to us, "let it not seem to you a hard case... for God sent me before you... for your preservation." And Joseph says further, "God sent me before, that you may be preserved upon the earth, and may have food to live" (Genesis 45:7). Is not Christ Himself food for us to live?! According to Him, He is! These connections and portents never fail to astound me -- they don't pop up haphazardly here and there, they maintain a continuous presence throughout the narrative of the Old Testament until they are fully realized in the New. In Joseph's account, he was sent by God to preserve his people from the earthly famine then plaguing the land; and on a much larger scale, Jesus was sent by God to preserve all of humankind from the even greater plague of a spiritual famine then and even now sweeping the land.

Genesis 44 - The Expiation of Juda

2009-05-30T12:24:00.000-07:00

I had written previously about how, especially in Genesis 38, Juda comes off as a sinful, wayward figure. Well, he has quite redeemed himself now in Genesis 44. After Joseph's contrivance to bring his brothers back to Egypt and specifically to keep Benjamin there with him, Juda delivers an impassioned plea to allow Benjamin to return to Jacob in Canaan. I found his speech powerful and full of remorse. It is yet another example that the way to approach God is through humility. Juda openly admits that he has sinned in the past, yet pleads for mercy from Joseph:

"What shall we answer my lord? or what shall we say, or be able justly to allege? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold, we are all bondmen to our lord, both we, and he with whom the cup was found." (Genesis 44:16)

Nowadays, the general attitude is "what did I do to deserve this?!" or "why is God punishing me?!" When we ought to be saying "I completely deserve this and more" and "God has every right to punish me." Juda understood this, and for it he was rewarded.

Genesis 40-43

2009-05-30T11:35:00.000-07:00

Time to get back on track. I left off in the middle of the Joseph story. Genesis is drawing to a close and I'm very anxious for Exodus.

As I stated when I began reading about Joseph's travails, this section of Genesis is set apart by its appeal to the emotions, its very human element. There are of course some moving, emotional moments in Genesis prior to Joseph entering the scene, but its usually more subtle. We are taken along on Joseph's long sufferings, his rises and falls. He is persecuted for his gift, ridiculed by his brothers, victimized by devious people, elevated to lordship, but also thrown in the dungeon. He evokes raw pathos from the reader. When Joseph first encounters his brothers after more than twenty years of estrangement, they don't recognize him, though he does them, and in the middle of speaking with them "he turned himself away a little while, and wept: and returning, he spoke to them" (Genesis 42:24). One can feel how the plethora of emotions must have been churning in Joseph's stomach as he faced the brethren he loved and who betrayed him. Again, later when his brothers bring Benjamin to Joseph, he sees his youngest, dearest brother and must flee the room "because his heart was moved upon his brother, and tears gushed out: and going into his chamber, he wept" (Genesis 43:30).

For these reasons, many Biblical scholars readily note that the story of Joseph marks a shift in the narrative of Genesis. The story of Exodus has already begun.

An Intermission: What's Going On in Genesis 6?!

2009-05-16T12:53:00.000-07:00

I'd like to take a brief break from Joseph and backtrack to Genesis 6. I came across a strange observation recently concerning a couple of seemingly perplexing verses. Here they are:

"The sons of God seeing the daughters of men, that they were fair, took to themselves wives of all which they chose." (Genesis 6:2)

"Now giants were upon the earth in those days. For after the sons of God went in to the daughters of men, and they brought forth children, these are the mighty men of old, men of renown." (Genesis 6:4)

The interpretation I read recently (which is an age-old interpretation apparently) is that the "sons of God" were not men of the earth, but were creatures of a supernatural nature, possibly angels. And these angels came down to earth to mate with the human "daughters of men." And that they produced a frightening hybrid offspring called the Nephilim. Many Bibles translate Nephilim to the slightly more generic "giants." Well, I found this interpretation to be pretty over the top. It seems to be an example of hyper-literalism. It does have some textual basis, since apparently some copies of the Septuagint use words indicating not "sons of God" but "angels of God," leading some people to believe that actual angels descended to earth to mate with women (and most interpreters say these were actually fallen angels). The problem is that these interpretations seem to be derived from the pagan myths in which gods commonly mate with mortals to create hybrid beings. It is not Biblical in any sense. For starters, angels don't possess the bodily means to take it upon themselves to accomplish such an act. Angels don't have bodies the way men do. And furthermore, the giants, or Nephilim, alluded to aren't necessarily monsters or other such chimerical creatures like some interpreters assume. The Nephilim seem to have grown in legend as time has gone on, so that they are now thought of as quite fearsome, mythical beings.

What most level-headed interpretors believe is that the "sons of God" were the descendants of the pious Seth, while the "daughters of men" were the descendants of the impious Cain. Seth's heirs, originally at least, were close to God and lived in accordance with Him, while Cain's heirs, being exiled, were worldly and prone to evil ways. Eventually the heirs of Seth lost their ways and began to marry whomever they liked, which led to mingling with the heirs of Cain and producing an offspring that was now prone to paganism. The "giants" alluded to do not necessarily imply hulking ogres twenty feet tall. It could simply be a references to a race of men maybe a foot or two taller than the average human at the time. These things, of course, cannot be known completely. But what's most important is to take the passage in its proper context. The purpose of Genesis 6 is to set up the scene for the Flood, which is coming in the very next chapter. Therefore it was important to state how far mankind had strayed from God. The antediluvian period was filled with men who did whatever they pleased. Evil men roamed the earth. Almost no one lived in any sort of pious, obedient manner. The situation was so dire that something as catastrophic as the Flood was needed. And therefore we have the "strange" language of Genesis 6: "sons of God," "daughters of men," "giants," "Nephilim." It was a crazy world before the Flood.

Genesis 39

2009-05-12T19:53:00.000-07:00

Here we read of a time-worn tale: Joseph's spurning of the advances of his master's mistress. Joseph seems to be the pinnacle of principled characters found in the Book of Genesis. He is an ideal model for virtuous living. In fact, (if I may quote my commentary) Joseph, in this chapter alone, demonstrates the four cardinal virtues: "Prudence, in keeping out of the company of his mistress; Justice, in regard to his master; Fortitude, in bearing with all sorts of hardships, loss of character, etc.; and Temperance, by refusing to gratify the most violent of all passions, at an age when it is the most insidious and ungovernable."

Interestingly enough, Joseph's story proved quite universal in theme and effect. In yet another example of the existence of a universal set of virtues, we see this same cautionary tale repeated in other cultures at other times in history. Two notable examples are the Greek myths of Hippolytus and Bellerophon, both of whom resist the sexual advances of a woman who then goes on to falsely accuse them of either rape or abuse of some sort. But by far my favorite tale of this nature (after Joseph's of course) is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. This medieval poem may not be an exact replica of the Joseph account, but it definitely has the temptation scenes, with Gawain playing the role of the virtuous and gallant knight who doesn't dare sin by sleeping with his master's wife, a conspiring woman who relentlessly tempts him three times. If you haven't read this amazing piece of literature, I highly recommend it.

Genesis 38

2009-05-09T17:47:00.000-07:00

This was quite an eventful chapter. The figure of Juda is highlighted, and many thoughts and questions came to mind while reading about his conduct. Juda, at least initially, was not a good guy. He seems to be the ringleader in the scheme to sell his brother Joseph into slavery, and we learn that he keeps the company of prostitutes (at least on one occasion), which leads to his being deceived by his daughter-in-law Thamar. And all this while I'm wondering why, of all Jacob's sons, Jesus decides to be born of this particular line! But the answer is quite simple, for by choosing a progenitor prone to sin (but who does eventually repent) we see Jesus Christ's humility and "tender regard for sinners" (Haydock). He doesn't choose a line full of inhumanly perfect people (for what could that do for us?!), but chooses people just like us, weak and tempted by sin, to whom Christ extends His mercy.

At the same time, a powerful dichotomy is going on. For while Juda is caving in to temptation by cavorting with a harlot, Joseph is concurrently in Egypt triumphantly resisting the temptations brought on by his master's wife. God so mercifully gives us figures such as Joseph, whose example we must try to follow.

Genesis 37 - "Behold the Dreamer Cometh"

2009-05-09T10:29:00.000-07:00

I've come to the account of Joseph and his brothers, which, in my opinion, is the most powerful and profound story in Genesis. Obviously earlier accounts in Genesis, such as the Garden and the Flood, are much more intriguing and full of mystery. But the story of Joseph has a human element that makes it much more emotive than any other story in Genesis.

One of my favorite lines is when Joseph's brothers see him approaching and they derisively say, "Behold the dreamer cometh" (Genesis 37:19). To me, that line captures the mood of this chapter and the entire Joseph saga. On one hand we have the sincere Joseph who can't help the dreams he's been having, and on the other hand his brothers who naturally feel offended by them. One can feel the innocence and purity of Joseph being juxtaposed with the hate and envy felt by his brothers. I was particularly moved by Jacob's reaction to his son's apparent death: "Tearing his garments, he put on sackcloth, mourning for his son a long time.
And all his children being gathered together to comfort their father in his sorrow, he would not receive comfort, but said: I will go down to my son into hell, mourning" (Genesis 37:34-35). The "long time" referred to would be twenty-three years! It would be that long before Jacob heard news of his son being still alive. Also interesting is the mention here of "sackcloth." Apparently this is the first ever mention of using such a garment to represent sorrow or mourning. Of course wearing sackcloth, or hair-cloth, would later be used by ascetics and monks to demonstrate humility.

And lastly, the parallels to the life of Christ are quite apparent throughout this account. The most obvious one in Genesis 37 is when Joseph is betrayed and sold by his brethren for some silver coins. Once again we have a prefiguring of Jesus Christ.

Genesis 33-36

2009-05-08T20:41:00.001-07:00

In reading the history of the descendants of Esau I made a few minor discoveries. One is that I never realized that the one and only Job was of the line of Esau. He is even apparently mentioned by name in Genesis 36:33 -- "And Bela died, and Jobab, the son of Zara, of Bosra, reigned in his stead." I don't think it is unanimously agreed that this Jobab is the same Job, but it seems to make sense historically.

And I found it quite interesting how the genealogy of Esau proceeds from semi-nomadic people (as Jacob and Esau were) to familial tribes, to a sort of aristocratic government, to eventually full-fledged kings. When I read things like this I am reminded of the historical nature that lies at the heart of Scripture. We know through the study of history that that is how man's governing of himself (especially in that region of the world) evolved. The Bible simply confirms this. And of course we see the same thing with the descendants of Jacob later on, when Moses leads a wandering people through the desert, who eventually go on to lead tribes by overseeing judges, and eventually all-powerful kings.

Genesis 32 - The Name of God

2009-04-29T20:50:00.000-07:00

The story of Jacob is full of many astounding events. Jacob wrestling the angel, who stands for God, is probably greatest among them. But what I found most interesting about this episode is what happens after. For once the wrestling match is over, Jacob asks the man (whom he knows to be God), "Tell me by what name art thou called?" (Genesis 32:29). But God does not give an answer. Again I allude to the metaphor of the puzzle. Obviously this is one piece of the puzzle that God does not yet want to reveal. It is not until Exodus 6:3 ("...my name ADONAI I did not show them.") that God points us to Himself in a more specific way, by means of His Sacred Name. Throughout Genesis we know that there is One Supreme God Who is worshipped by Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and others. But we also know that most people worshipped many other gods. The One True God, to most people living in the days chronicled in Genesis, was just one of many gods. Very few understood Him to be the only God. When we start to learn clues as to the name of the One True God, we see a definite elucidation of monotheism. The issue of God's name has always fascinated me. I'm sure I'll be writing more on it as I go.

Genesis 32 - Guardians of the Provinces

2009-04-29T20:33:00.000-07:00

When reading Scripture, we often get glimpses of what our world is like beyond that which we can see. When Jacob finally leaves the eastern lands of Laban, of Mesopotamia where he has been living for many years, and enters into the land of his fathers, Chanaan, he is greeted by glorious angels. He called the place where he saw the majestic beings "the camps of God" (Genesis 32:2). It is apparently understood that every region here on earth, every province, every land and its people, is given an angel who acts as its guardian; as each of us as individuals has a guardian angel, so each country on earth has its own guardian angel. It is specifically revealed that the angel Michael is given special charge over the land of Chanaan and its people: "...at that time shall Michael rise up, the great prince, who standeth for the children of thy people" (Daniel 12:1). Even in the New Testament, St. Paul is greeted by one of these heavenly sentinels standing guard over a country of the earth: "And a vision was shown to Paul in the night: A man of Macedonia standing, and beseeching him, and saying: Pass over into Macedonia, and help us" (Acts 16:9). How awesome to think of these great angelic warriors protecting our homelands from on high!

Genesis 29-30 - Rachel and Leah

2009-04-28T21:05:00.000-07:00

These chapters cover a lot -- Jacob's marriages, the births of nearly all of his numerous children, the drama that results from his complex network of wives, his method of escaping the employ of Laban to return to his homeland, and so on. But what caught my attention was the interesting relationship between Jacob and his wives Rachel and Leah. My commentary makes mention of yet another symbolic representation going on here: the synagogue is Leah and the Church of Christ is Rachel. It is written in Genesis 29:30 that Jacob (as a figure of Christ) "preferred the love of the latter (Rachel) before the former (Leah)." As in the case of Isaac blessing the younger Jacob rather than the older Esau, a pattern seems to be developing, wherein the newcomer seems to "win out" over the more established figure.

Genesis 28

2009-04-27T21:21:00.000-07:00

Jacob's vision! A great ladder connecting the heavens to the earth, with angels upon it ascending and descending! Again I have stumbled upon some profound connections. As I said in my preface, as one advances through Scripture, it seems God keeps adding pieces to a puzzle. In Genesis 22 we saw Isaac clearly representing the self-sacrifice that Jesus Christ would one day endure for us. And now in Genesis 28 we see God granting Jacob a vision of something terribly mysterious. A ladder? What could be the purpose of that? Well, several theories have been put forth, but the one that is most common and with which I agree, is that the ladder represents the Son of God, the Great Mediator. Now, Jacob doesn't seem to see the ladder and immediately think, "The Son of God!" But perhaps the vision wasn't only for Jacob.

We know that it is through the line of Abraham-Isaac-Jacob, through their posterity, that Jesus would be born. Therefore it is pertinent that God would give Jacob this vision of a ladder, a gateway to Heaven, to show that the Way is to come through Jacob's line. The specific verse in Genesis (28:12) is as follows:

"[Jacob] saw in his sleep a ladder standing upon the earth, and the top thereof touching heaven: the angels also of God ascending and descending by it."

In a very interesting connection, Jesus, thousands of years later, speaks in very similar terms: "Amen, amen, I say to you, you shall see the heaven opened, and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man" (John 1:51). On another occasion, Jesus again speaks in terms of a "way," a "passage," a "mediation" of sorts between the Father and the Son: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). Jesus clearly is the ladder that connects heaven and earth, God and us. Jacob's vision may have been multi-dimensional, with the more complete meaning meant to be revealed at a much later time.

Further Musings on Genesis 1-27

2009-04-25T09:45:00.001-07:00

Some more thoughts on these first chapters before I move forward.

To Biblical scholars and other experts of Scripture (and probably to a great many who don't fit into those categories) this may seem like an obvious point. But it was just made clear to me that Isaac seems to prefigure Christ in more ways than one. In fact, the entire patriarchal triumvirate of Abraham-Isaac-Jacob can be seen as a microcosm of God's infinite design. Abraham's fatherhood is stressed as much as Isaac's sonship is. The account of Esau and Jacob foreshadows the split which results in Jews and Christians parting ways. Jacob's twelve sons, the twelve tribes of Israel (cf. the twelve Apostles), spread out and go forth. But what I want to focus on is Genesis 22, the famous chapter in which Abraham is instructed to sacrifice his beloved son. The parallels to Christ throughout this chapter are so unconcealed that I couldn't believe it was only dawning on me now. There are a couple key elements to this story that I was heretofore ignorant of: one is the fact that Isaac carried his own wood up the hill where he was to be sacrificed, and the other is that Isaac was actually much older than I had ever imagined. Most artistic depictions of this event show a very young Isaac, some even portraying him as an infant child. But the fact is that Isaac was much older, probably around 25 years of age. Whereas I had always imagined that Abraham never told his son what he was about to do, I now see that Isaac had to have known full well what was about to happen to him.... and Isaac voluntarily went through with it anyway! This is an amazing change of perspective for me. If Isaac was a strapping 25-year-old, and Abraham a feeble old man of over 100, then the son could have easily resisted his father and ran from this horrifying thing that was about to happen. But he didn't. He laid down upon the wood and willfully offered himself up for the sake of his father! (See what I mean about unconcealed parallels?!) The other tidbit of information that previously eluded me was the fact that Isaac carried the means of his death to the place of his death, exactly as Christ would do thousands of years later -- before they went up to the place of sacrifice, "[Abraham] took the wood for the holocaust, and laid it upon Isaac his son" (Genesis 22:6). Isaac carried the wood to his death, just as Christ carried the cross. Abraham allowed this to happen to his son, just as God the Father allowed His beloved Son to be sacrificed.

Genesis 1-27

2009-04-23T09:25:00.001-07:00

I read the first twenty-seven chapters of Genesis over the course of the last six months (from the autumn of 2008 to the spring of 2009). Obviously, I took my time with it. I'm hoping to pick up the pace from here on out.

I've always enjoyed reading Genesis. It contains some of the Bible's most memorable accounts. To me, it's the utter mystery of the stories contained in Genesis that is the most captivating. I'm enthralled by the epic and dramatic narratives describing God's earliest dealings with His people. Of all the books of the Bible, it is probably Genesis that is the most enigmatic; it is steeped in the most mystery. For instance, the account of Adam and Eve really only hints at what happened in those first days. We are given a few tantalizing bits of information, and the rest is left in the fog of history. But the bits we are given provide a world of intriguing possibilities -- God references the institution of marriage; He speaks of a woman and her seed (Mary and Jesus); He is thought by some even to have appeared to Adam and Eve, after their fall, in the Garden in the form of the Second Person of the Trinity (this may sound crazy, but remember Jesus's words, "Before Abraham was made, I am" (John 8:58). What occurred in those "ante lapsum" days in the Garden of Eden? I can't think of a more intriguing thing to ponder.

It's interesting to read about the different covenants God makes with each successive figure (Adam, Noah, Abraham, etc.). It's as if He keeps adding pieces to a puzzle, and we see an increasingly clearer picture as we read. By the time we reach the story of Abraham, we start to see the beginnings of God's design. And I think that's one of the most fascinating aspects of Genesis. (Of course the picture won't come near to completion until the Redeemer makes the ultimate sacrifice on the cross.)

The Book

2009-04-22T17:21:00.000-07:00

The Bible I will be using for this undertaking is the Haydock version of the Douay-Rheims. The Douay-Rheims is of course one of the oldest English translations of the Bible (and my personal preference -- though I readily admit it is not the only good translation in existence). In the early 19th century, an English priest by the name of George Leo Haydock decided to compile an extensive number of renowned Biblical commentators and assemble an edition of the Douay-Rheims that would be an invaluable resource to all English-speaking Christians. His work is quite laudable. He went directly to the writings of the early Church Fathers, as well as Christianity's best Biblical scholars over the centuries (and even some non-Christian historians and commentators) and painstakingly compiled his comprehensive commentary. The Haydock version was further enhanced in later years by other Biblical scholars. The copy I own happens to be an exact replica of an 1852 edition.
In all, Father Haydock referenced over 200 commentators. It's quite an impressive assembly, too. The diverse company of scholars includes (and this is a minute sampling) Richard Bristow, Epiphanius of Salamis, John Ernest Grabe, Juda Hakkad, Thomas Aquinas, Jacobus Pamelius, Louis-Sebastien Le Nain de Tillemont, Michael Servetus, Bernard of Clairvaux, Theodore Beza, Augustine of Hippo, Antoine Augustin Calmet, Desiderius Erasmus, Pierre Daniel Huet, Denis Petau, Anselm of Canterbury, Isidore of Seville, Cyril of Alexandria, John of Damascus, Charles Francois Houbigant, Pope Leo I, John Chrysostom, etc., etc., etc.

The commentary often takes up more space on the page than the actual Biblical text. It will make for laborious reading, but the constant edification I'll be receiving will likely be motivation enough. Reading what such learned minds throughout the centuries had to say about Sacred Scripture will doubtless prove to be an enlightening endeavor.

I now embark!