Remind me again, Deuteronomy

I am halfway done Deuteronomy and am finding it less stimulating than the other books. I think it is because the book is a reminder for Israel about the lessons it has learned, it is less full of the drama of the learning of the lessons! So maybe I am compensating for the absence of ups and downs in the lives of Israel by creating ups and downs in my own life... there's some food for thought (and prayer).

Moses explains the law to Israel in Moab in the 11th month of the 40th year of wandering, just before the new generation of Israel is to enter Canaan. He retells the story of their journey from Mt. Horeb to Canaan, the appointing of the judges to help Moses rule Israel with the Word and the refusal of the Israelites to enter Canaan after the scouts returned. What is the purpose of retelling the story of their journey? It seems twofold. The first reason is that it is a completely new Israel, the new generation that survived the 40 years of wandering is a new nation that is entering Canaan. Israel needs to know its history, to understand that their way of life and the traditions they have come from their dynamic relationship with God (ie. Sleeping in Booths for 8 days during the Feast of Booths is because when God freed the people from Egypt they slept in booths in their first encampments). Understanding that history and the present are cause and effect is important for the new generation of Israel that they may carry the laws and traditions forward in their truest sense, as sacred acts of praise in recognition of God’s faithfulness to His chosen. The second reason for the retelling, I think, is to warn Israel against making the same mistakes once Moses is gone. Moses has always been a generous and dedicated servant of the people and of God. Moses on many occasions pleaded with God to be forgiving and lenient with Israel, Moses was a peacemaking intermediary; perhaps he is worried that without his presence the people of Israel will slide backward under the rule of Joshua of Nun and anger the Lord. I can see how Moses would fear this, in my own mind I would be worried that the new Israelites would repeat the same mistakes on the verge of entering Canaan and be forced to wander again for another 40 years or have plagues sent down that wipe them out just when they are on the verge of realizing God’s will and returning to their Promised Land. Deuteronomy may be Moses’ way of letting go of his service to Israel after so many years; with advice, warning and suggestions.

Deuteronomy 1:31 “and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place”. Such a powerful message! This reminds me of Psalm in which God knits us together in our mothers’ wombs, that he brings us to where we are, that he knows us through and through and that he will remain with us as we walk ahead. In times of trial God is with us as a loving father, God carries us through times of joy and success also, lifting us up in our everyday lives. In the context of the journey of the Israelites, God as a loving and chastising father had brought them to the borders of Canaan through the exodus from Egypt and from the darkness they had there. They were brought to the point of realizing God’s will for their lives but balked because their faith wavered and fear won out. They then wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, balking and grumbling all along the way; learning painfully and slowly to trust God as a nation. In my own life, I have taken leaps of faith, trusting that God had a plan for my life, that the Lord carries my all the way until I reach the present moment. It is my duty as His daughter to pursue His will for me regardless of my fears, it is my responsibility to rely on Him and my faith to guide me rather than the fears that always present themselves at the brink of change. With these moments I should look to my past and trust that the Lord has guided me gently and persistently to each moment and to let that cement further my trust in Him that He will guide me on ever growing closer to Him. My question at these times of fearful doubt then changes from “Should I do this?” to “How can I do this to the best of my ability?”. In reflecting back to Numbers and the discipline shot through with love, it is a comfort and a confirmation of God’s grace to see here in the retelling that the Lord is indeed a loving father, not bloodthirsty, not unreasonable.

In Deuteronomy 3 Moses talks about his own feelings about being forbidden to cross the Jordan into Canaan. So interesting that this comes up here, in the speaking of one human being to other human beings while in the first instance there was no account of Moses' feelings (perhaps because at that time it was a human being speaking with God). He talks about pleading with God for his own life, for the opportunity to cross in to Canaan and guide the people in the Promised Land. Moses explicitly says that the Lord refused him because He was angry with Moses because of the behaviour and grumbling of the Israelites. In the first version of these events, Moses simply states the facts; it is written as receiving instructions and cause and effect. Here Moses lets the people know he was deeply saddened and affected by having to bear the consequence of their actions. Moses plead with God for his own life and was refused, and yet he continues to serve Israel until his dying day. It makes me sad thinking that Moses is so disappointed to not be able to cross into the Promised Land. I suppose he will be able to see the Israelites enjoying the land of milk and honey, but I do wish that there was a Hollywood ending for Moses on some level. That the orchestra would crescendo with trumpets and high-pitched strings as he sets his foot on the long-awaited soil of Canaan, that he is laid down on soft moss and blossoms in his very old age to die under the sky of a covenant fulfilled surrounded by the grateful and free nation of Israel. However, I guess it's good that God is far more concerned with keeping His promises and justice than with neatly packaged dramatic endings or else we may have been wiped out long ago!

Moses warns Israel against straying from God’s law. They are to add nothing, take nothing away and ensure that they are passed down from generation to generation. Moses warns that they must be vigilant or they will not be allowed to cross into Canaan nor will they be allowed to live and prosper there. Moses reiterates the importance of the Ten Commandments and the memory of a God that is so devoted to them and loves them so much that He descended Himself to a mountain shrouded in cloud and fire to deliver them to His chosen people. It is incredible that God descended HIMSELF to guide his people both on the mountain and in pillars of fire and smoke. Do any of these new Israelites remember that day? Had any of these Israelites been alive? Did they hear the story from their parents and grandparents and chalk it up to a fabulous yet abstract event? Moses is trying to make this real again for people who did not witness it. Moses is trying to convey the immensity of the Ten Commandments and how they were given to the people. We would do well today to remember the lengths to which God went to love and guide his people, but we should remember it in a real and practical way. The heat, sound and smell of the fire and smoke, the anticipation waiting for Moses to return with the sacred tablets, the texture and weight of the tablets and the texture and weight of the commandments they held. Real events that real people beheld in awe and wonder. Also, real events that some of the people failed to recognize as sacred and who suffered retribution for it; so Moses is concerned for his Israelite brothers that without bearing witness to the physical event, they again will fail to see the importance of the Commandments and suffer for it.

Deuteronomy 6 is all about the greatest commandment. Deuteronomy 6:5 – “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might”. Moses reminds the people to stay faithful to the Lord and to the commandments when they are comfortable in the Promised Land. He reminds them to fear God when they are enjoying the luxuries of ready-built and fortified cities, homes and agricultural lands; for these gifts all come from God. Moses also asks the Israelites to teach their children about the history behind all of their traditions and statutes so that they will maintain reverence throughout their generations. This is scripture telling us about our own natures, that we rely on God when we are uncomfortable, distressed or in danger and we grow complacent when we are content. God is asking us to steel against that dynamic, Moses is warning us that it is a dangerous to turn away from God once our prayers have been answered. This is echoed in Deuteronomy 11; Moses warns his people not to turn away from the Lord and not to ignore His commandments lest they perish in the land. God will send rain when rain is needed, with make the land fertile and productive and will ensure they thrive in the new land. Coming from a farming family I can see how this would be an incredible promise of security. Too much rain, too little rain, rain at the wrong time can all destroy yields and entire crops. For us in the 21st century we can go to the grocery store for food and the bank for a loan, the Israelites have no such luxury. Their livelihoods, food security and the strength of their nation (both in cohesion of the tribes and the nation and Israel’s ability to fend off attack from other nations) depends on the productivity of the land. A few bad years of weather and a prosperous nation can be destroyed. God himself gives evidence of this in the book of Exodus when He sends Jacob the dreams about how to prepare the land and people of Egypt for the seven years of famine. Without that preparation, Egypt would have perished long before the seven years were over. Moses emphasizes the importance of the commandment to love God with all your heart, soul and mind and to serve Him; this is important above all else for the nation of Israel.

Deuteronomy 12 Moses instructs Israel about the manners and places in which Israel is to worship God. God will choose a place for them to worship once they cross over the Jordan into Canaan. As Israel moves into the Promised Land they are to destroy every altar of worship there, Moses goes so far to stipulate that they must find every altar under every tree and wipe them out. At the beginning of the chapter Moses states that once Israel reaches the Promised Land they can no longer each do as they please in worship, but that they must all follow the same worship rules and worship and sacrifice in the same place. The theme of setting aside the holy as separate has been strong throughout the first five books of the Bible and these instructions about worship seem to be in line with it. However, I wonder if it has another more pressing motive. The Israelites will finally be moving into their own land where they alone will live, worship and thrive. Do they need to be set apart from others while in this new land? Probably not. What is most important now is that a nation that has been wandering and displaced for more than a generation come together to settle down in a land that will pose very different challenges to the community. Nearly all of the generation that new a stationary life before the exodus is dead, the people that remain have only known migration and war, they have only known the life of a refugee challenged by other nations and chastised often by God. It will be, I think, exceptionally challenging for these nomadic people to settle down into a calm life of harvest, prosperity and the multiplying of the nation. How will God prevent his resistant grumbling children from fighting over their inheritance? From wanting to expand the borders of the Promised Land through further wandering and war? The combination of the human tendencies of wanting more and doing what one knows best is a real and tangible threat to Israel’s success in the Promised Land. God has stipulated borders to the new land, He has stipulated who shall inherit and how much, He has stipulated laws regarding worship and conduct. If Israel falls out of God’s stipulations into it’s own human hands (as it often does), they would be turning away from Him again, putting their own desires before His. This would undo the 40 years of learning in the wilderness, this would put the nation and the Promised Land in jeopardy. Recalling from an earlier chapter Moses teaching that if Israel turned away from God in the Promised Land that they would be destroyed and enslaved by other nations, they would perish and be driven from the land where the Land would enjoy a Sabbath in their absence. Worshipping and sacrificing in the places that God stipulates is the hub of building community with reverence for the Lord and for each other. Coming together on a regular basis in praise and remembrance of their journey to the promised land, their trials along the way and the lessons they’ve learned is a far better prophylaxis against disobedience, idolatry and resistance than any fiery snake or threats of future discipline could be.

Moses also teaches that the people should all come to offer and worship in the same place, but if it is too far for them, they may choose another place. God gives them an alternative to create communal worship centers if they must. He knows that without special provisions for people who cannot make it to worship He will lose some of His chosen people. God also allows hunting of deer and gazelle and that all, clean and unclean alike, may eat of it. This is a breakthrough as well, He knows His people crave meat (recall the quail meat and the plague at the grave of craving) and that while someone is unclean the inability to eat meat after so many years of manna may cause more grumbling. He is not willing to risk losing His nation over something so small as a meat craving. People remain clean often for 7 days, women who have just given birth remain unclean for 30 or 60 days. At last these people can eat meat while they are unclean; imagine the importance of venison to a nursing mother! Again we see God loving His children in a practical way, and caring for their daily particular struggles.


May we always hold sacred the real experiences we and our brothers and sisters have with God, May we share them with one another in community through praise, worship and honest conversation, May we love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind and soul that we may serve Him in times of doubt, fear and frustration. Amen.

God is a Feminist

I have finished the book of Numbers! I can hardly believe it! It has been such an interesting exercise to walk along with the whiny Israelites in the wilderness (I think I might be whiny if I had to wander 40 years too) through their trials to the arrival at the promised land of Canaan. The themes that really stood out for me in this book were the ingratitude of humans for the love and devotion of God, the steadfast nature of God's love for us and that God is practical as well as ethereal in His love for us. The end of Numbers is so rich, the depth of scripture was immense and so I hope you prepare yourselves for this long email.

Numbers 20 opens with the death of Miriam in Zin in Kadesh. Then in Meribah, Israel grumbles against the Lord that there is no water to drink that that they and their cattle will die. They again whine that they should return to Egypt! God tell Moses to strike a rock at Meribah with his staff and water will flow for the people; he does and they have water. But because the people grumbled against Him and Aaron and Moses didn’t stand up for God as holy in front of them, God will make Aaron and Moses die before they reach Canaan. This is a bit confusing for me, the death penalty for Aaron and Moses. I do understand that to die is to be reunited with God in heaven (so that it may also seem a reward) but here it is clearly meant as retribution. This may teach us about the standards that God has for us; He is dissatisfied with one incident with Moses and Aaron after more than 40 years of faithful service. Human beings understand where they may lack the energy to fight yet again with the tiresome whining of the Israelites, but not God. God expects our best day in and day out, expects dedication and staying true to the important principles He sets out.  On the other hand taking Aaron and Moses from the people is also a punishment for them. The Lord promises to take their real, tangible, beloved and trusted servants/priests/conduits to God from them. Does God mean to teach them about the loss he feels when they turn away from Him? By killing Aaron and Moses He may teach them the loss of a beloved and how it feels to be turned away from in the relationship between God and man without actually turning away Himself. Will the loss of Aaron and Moses (or the anticipation of the loss) teach the Israelites what it feels like to be turned away from?

In Numbers 22 Balak, son of King Zippor of Moab, saw mighty Israel on the plains of Moab and fears that Israel will “lick them up as the ox licks up the grass of the field”. Moab feared victorious Israel and so Balak sent out elders of Moab and Midian to a diviner called Balaam and asked him to curse Israel. God forbids Balaam to go with Moab and Midian, and Balaam sides with Israel. Even though Balak sends money, riches and princes, Balaam stays faithful to the Lord. God then sends Balaam as an agent amidst the princes of Moab and Midian, that he may go with them but always stay faithful to the word of God. The Lord becomes angry that Balaam went out on his donkey to meet up with the princes of Moab and Midian and sends down an angel to be Balaam’s adversary. Balaam’s donkey sees the angel of the Lord in the path ahead of them twice and tries to turn away, Balaam refuses to let her. The third time she sees the angel she lies down in the road and this angers Balaam greatly as he is blind to the presence of the angel and thinks that his donkey is being disobedient. Balaam strikes the donkey with his staff to chasten her and the Lord speaks through her mouth saying “Why have you struck me? Why do you not trust me, your old servant who has been faithful to you for many years?” The Lord opens Balaam’s eyes to the angel, he is astonished and repents; the angel commands Balaam to go with the princes of Balak but only as an agent of God. Both God and the angel emphasize here that Balaam was loath to listen to the warnings of God coming to him through his trusted donkey. What lesson is there here? Perhaps that God speaks to us through our surroundings and we must always be open to hearing His voice and noticing His will around us. The word of God comes to us from the most unlikely places; God does not choose the most glorious, prestigious or glamorous route to deliver his message, He chooses the most direct route. God will use our lives to communicate His will and His love for us through the everyday things of life that He has created around us. This story also tells me that God is insistent in his messages to His children; if at first we cannot see His messengers, if we can’t hear His word and know His will, He will eventually open our eyes to His will through an undeniably powerful and present messenger. Again, this story illustrates that God first shows faithfulness to us so that we may be unwaveringly faithful to Him. Balaam shows his unwavering faith by arriving to Balak and declaring unflinchingly that he comes only with the word of God on his lips.

Numbers 25 tells the story of Israel in Shittim and how they were with Moab women and gave over to idolatry of the Moabite gods. The Lord was angry and commanded Moses to hang all of the chiefs of the people in the sun. A man of Israel (Zimri) brought a Midianite woman (Cozbi) to worship in the temple of God, Phinheas (son of Eleazer, grandson of Aaron) killed the couple to avenge the sin against God. Because of this, God gave him the covenant of peace because he turned his jealousy on Israel that God would not wipe them out. Phinheas and his sons are given the perpetual priesthood. This for me illustrates the inside-outness of the Old Testament. The progressive feminism and humanity of Leviticus, a book that is often seen as oppressive and the root of religious discrimination; the copious blood spilled in war and sacrifice by God and for God, merely drops shed in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers compared to the elimination of everything with the flood in Genesis. Here Phinheas has spilled the blood of two sinners that the rest of the congregation be saved. This is an incredible thing; that God is watching his people for spontaneous acts of faith, for organic manifestations of God’s will, love and jealousy, that if those acts are present, they mean more to him than vengeance. This is so powerful! Pulling this forward into my own life, does this mean that if I act according to God’s love and His word in my heart, it will be enough to redeem not only my life but the lives of others around me? Will serving Christ by volunteering in a soup kitchen bring grace to people who have abandoned God as they eat? Will acts of kindness, shared prayers and blessings bleed from our community of Salt and Light into the people around us and let light into their lives as well? In my mind, the radical and revolutionary concept of “contagious grace” could do more to change the way we interact with our families, communities, nations and the whole of humanity in general than any plague or punishment. Think of how it would turn the caste system of India on it’s head, that positive grace is what can be transmitted rather than bad karma. As always, though, such a powerful concept is a double-edged sword in that it can in the same way sanction honour killings, vigilantism and “holy wars”. Phinheas murdered two people in full view of God and the nation of Israel and was rewarded the covenant of peace and perpetual priesthood. The “jihad” or “crusades” version of this beautiful and life-giving story speaks volumes to the ability of human ignorance and zeal to combine and create an incredibly powerful force for destruction in the defense of God. Oh how completely our free will can mislead us, all the while assuring us we are in full service and compliance of God’s love. Thousands of years later the gap between the two seems impossible to bridge, perhaps the lesson here is that we must always fall in alliance with God’s love rather than God’s jealousy. The Old Testament is a bloody and vengeful book on the surface, but shot through with the passionate and constant love of God for His people, we can choose to focus on the blood that was shed (and that is shed in this world) or we can choose to focus on the love that God is desperately trying to show to a people that refuse to open their eyes to Him; as Christians, I believe it is our duty to live in love rather than jealousy.

The daughters of Zelophehad come to Moses after the census and ask for an inheritance as their father died in the wilderness and he had no sons. The Lord grants inheritance to the daughters of all men who have no sons at the time of their death. If a man has no children, his inheritance will go to his brother. This is incredible! A daughter here is considered of equal (or indeed) more importance to a particular family line than her own uncle (an older man with perhaps more social standing). This underscores for me the idea that the prices for women and the rules about impurity outlined in Leviticus and Numbers are indeed emanicpatory; if God will go this far for the rights of a woman to maintain standing and hold importance in her own family, why should he have made rules in previous books to oppress his daughters? God is a feminist! Another example of God's practicality in His love for us.

In Numbers 32, the tribes of Reuben and Gad ask the Lord and Moses for land in Gilead because it is perfect for raising livestock. Moses is angered at first because it is reminiscent of their forefathers that did not want to ender Canaan (the forefathers that precipitated the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness). The tribes of Reuben and Gad promised to send soldiers into Canaan with the rest of Israel and that they would not inherit in Canaan; their inheritance of land would be in Gilead, East of the Jordan. This pleased Moses and the Lord and was granted. This is more evidence that God cares for the particular case of each of His people. The people of Reuben and Gad asked God for something that would lead to their prosperity and happiness, they promised to follow the will of God and serve Him as he required and their request was granted. Petition is a common form of prayer, asking God for things that will contribute to our prosperity and happiness, to our health and the health of our families and communities. This is a lesson for all of us, to be frank with God and ask Him for what we need. To serve Him to the full extent that we can regardless of the answer to the prayer, to have faith that if we come to Him as His children He will hear us and extend a loving hand toward us with His answer. It is also a lesson that we are allowed to pray for practical things. Many people (whether they are new to prayer or not) feel selfish or foolish praying for material or practical things; houses, cars, clothing, a new refrigerator, bus tickets, lunch. The tribes of Reuben and Gad did not petition God for enlightenment, forgiveness, increased spirituality; they asked for land and water to sustain their livestock,11 which was both livelihood and food for them. God saw this as good and granted them their request. God created us to live here on earth in service to Him, we need food, shelter and other practical things to live here; we may need a car to travel to minister to others, to work for financial sustenance or for mobility. God wants us to have what we need; although what we need is often different that what we think we need or what we want. The provision of what we need rather than what we want is re-inforced in Numbers 34, the Lord defines boundaries for the promised land. Again He is setting out rules, there are always “boundaries” with the Israelites. This is important in that God is choosing a particular destiny for His people in a particular place. He is not following the human instinct to be ruler of all, His people are to serve ordinarily in a limited place, the physical boundaries of the promised land are an earthly manifestation of the importance God places on distinguishing His chosen as separate, but also humility as a way of life.

In Numbers 35, the inheritance in Canaan is divided between the tribes and the Levites get a special division of inheritance. 48 cities will be given to the Levites, 42 regular cities and 6 cities of refuge for the “manslayer” (a man who kills another without intent). 1000 cubits of pastureland will be given to the Levites around every city. Larger tribes will give more cities and smaller tribes will give less (God loves equitable sharing!). I wonder what kind of places the cities of refuge would be? They are to be refuge for the manslayer until he can stand trial for his crime in front of the congregation. An acquitted manslayer must live within the city of refuge until the high priest dies, the he can return to his own land. If he leaves the city before that time, an avenger of his crime can kill him without penalty, but only if the revenge killing occurs outside the city walls. These cities would be populated with people dispossessed of their families and their land, who are alienated from their tribes and without a network of social and financial support. They are called cities of refuge, but it seems to me that it would be a city of refugees. How would one go about buying or owning property there? What would the living conditions be there? Many people would be there temporarily, many for a long-term but not permanent stay. Would their family be allowed to visit them there and bring them material and spiritual support? With there being only 6 cities in the entire land of Canaan, would they be able to travel there to visit them? If there was a long distance to travel to these cities of refuge, how many manslayers would actually make it there and how many would be killed by avengers en route? It makes sense here that the cities of refuge would belong to the Levites, a tribe of people who have been chosen by God and who have heard that call to minister to and serve His people. The Levites here are trusted to bring the displaced, scared, pursued and persecuted to safety and to care for them. This is reminiscent (minus the manslaughter part) of the refugee family that St. Andrew’s-Wesley is bringing to Vancouver. Jenette has been keeping me posted on the progress with that ministry (thanks Jenette!) and this passage and my own imaginings about what the conditions of a city of refuge would be like, reminds me of their journey, that they are finally able to leave their city of refuge (refugee camp) and come to a new city with a new life. St. Andrew’s-Wesley has heard the call of God to respond to and minister to God’s people, as part of the body of Christ here on Earth we are His chosen people too.

May we know the love of God in the ethereal and the practical elements of our lives, May we strive to be vessels of "contagious grace", May we as God's children come together in worship and praise of Him and seek to hear His word from the most unlikely messenger. Amen.

Numbers! Numbers! Numbers!

Happy Valentine's Day! I am halfway through numbers this week and am wishing I had more time to reflect on the book. My wife had warned me that it would be dry and boring, but delving into the context has proven to be a rich exercise in "pseudo-experiential" learning for me.

In Numbers 3 the Lord has taken the Levites for Himself instead of the first born of the nation. With the Passover in Egypt, the Lord consecrated for Himself all the firstborn of the nation (of human and beast), now, He is saying that the Levites will act as his consecrated firstborn. The Levites are to protect and minister to the Holy Tabernacle and the Tent of Meeting. The Levites were all enumerated and listed according to clan, but they were numbered as all males over one month of age rather than over 20 years. This distinction is interesting; are they treated differently because they now belong to the Lord? Are they expected to survive longer because there work is not labour or war?

Numbers 4, God outlines the duties of all the men ages 30-50 of the Levites who will come to serve in the Tabernacel and the Tent of Meeting. The duties of each man in each clan are described at length. God lovingly provides instructions to keep the peace between the clans of Levi while performing their new tasks. This is also akin to being called by name by the Lord; He has specified a place and tasks (a purpose), for each man. I imagine a great deal of empowerment would come with having your daily tasks and life’s work blessed in such a way. To know that God sees you specifically and has acknowledged you by His word is incredible.

Saturday's readings were Numbers 11-13; what a day! These two chapters are filled to overflowing with texture and depth of feeling, it was a blessing to be able to savour them on the 3 hour bus trip back from Guayaquil to Machala with my Dad.

Israel grumbles and the Lord’s wrath burns among the as fire. They cry for the fish and meat of Egypt and complain about the manna sent from God. Complaining about gifts sent directly from God seems so ungrateful to me. However, we as humans still do it on a daily basis! I am guilty of “my thighs are too fat”, “my Spanish is not good enough” and “my feet are too big” among many others. These things are all miraculous gifts from God, my strong legs and mobility, the capacity to speak and interact with others, a sure-footed grip on the Earth beneath me.

Moses is at his wit’s end with Israel and with God. He pleads with God to give him favour in His sight and kill him now so that he may be rid of the burden of Israel. He asks God, “Why me? Why must I bear this burden? I am not their creator, why must I provide meat when there is none?” Again this sounds like ungrateful complaining to me; Moses is the chosen spokesperson for God in the world! When Moses cries to God for relief he is an old man of nearly 90 years and he has borne the responsibility for Israel for a long time, an exhausting feat for a man half his age.

The Lord gives Moses 70 consecrated elders to aid him in bearing the burden of Israel, this tells me to look to my brothers and sisters in Christ when I am in need and to trust that if they consecrate themselves (ie. are true hearted) they will help me bear my burdens whether through witnessing, accompanying, serving or supporting.

God gives them meat to eat; He hears the cries of Israel and of Moses. This is a case of “be careful what you pray for” in that God promises that He will make them eat meat for a whole month until meat comes out of their nostrils (I love the blunt language in the Bible, it at times can be so humourous)! The Lord sent quail from the sea for the people to eat and sent down a plague on them as they ate. The place that this happened was named “The Grave of Craving” because it was the craving the people had for meat that lead to their deaths. For me, this speaks to my own experience with addiction and in general to yearning for material things. Israel grumbles for the comfort of food, of the familiar taste of meat and for a change of pace from eating manna for two years. Their complaining and grumbling and suggestions that they ought to return to Egypt where there was fish and meat; they are ready to return to slavery and to reject the emancipation through the Lord for meat. Is this idolatry? Wanting to put meat and taste before the Lord, does this amount to worship? Is the plague at the grave of craving justified? It is a heartbreaking story of a loving God who has persevered with His people since Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whom he has emancipated, cared for, forgiven, lead, fed, blessed and loved; and the people who grumble against Him, turn away from Him and outright reject him for something as trivial as the taste of meat.

The Lord put some of the Spirit that was on Moses onto 70 elders to help him, they immediately began prophesying in the tent of meeting and then stopped. But Eldad and Medad were two elders who did not come to the tent of meeting but stayed in the camps and started prophesying because the Spirit was also transferred to them. A witness to their prophesies came to Moses worried and asked Moses to stop them doing it. Moses responded that he wished all God’s people to be prophets, that it would make a stronger Israel. Two things come to mind here; with the spirit of God on someone, would they never grumble or turn away? They surely would be more faithful and steadfast. The second thing is in regards to incarnational theology and the different character of God in the Old and New Testaments. As the spirit descends on the elders they prophesy and are united with God, incarnational theology tells us that the spirit of God is in us all, that the indwelling Christ burns within us. Is this why God is more loving in the New Testament than in the Old?

Numbers 6 finishes with this blessing:

The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Leviticus done!

I have finished the book of Leviticus! I had imagined a slog through laws and specificities that don't apply in our day and age; I was pleasantly surprised to be very wrong about that! The book of Leviticus was an interesting journey through cultural norms, spiritual truths and human tendencies. I had to keep in mind that Leviticus is the word of God delivered to a people who have gone astray and who need strict guidance to mend their ways. Each law and rule was delivered to them in love, in the hopes that they as a people could redeem themselves and turn toward God their Father and live in prosperity and peace with Him. At times (what with all the stoning, burning and death penalties) it was difficult to keep this perspective as a 21st century lefty Canadian, but it was a good lesson in trying to read between the lines of what is clean and what is unclean, why women are worth only half as many shekels as men are and the laws for selling land and keeping Jubilee years. In the middle of the book I had an epiphany of sorts... these laws may only be oppressive to me because I already enjoy a blessed life of peace, prosperity and freedom (standing on the shoulders of toiling giants of years, centuries and millenia past). Perhaps, the cultural and societal norms of the day were far more oppressive than the laws that God is setting out for his people. Although they are regimented and complicated, they may be less harsh than the norms that prevailed at the time. This, in light of Leviticus 12 in which God specifies rules and purification rites around menstruation and child birth, may even be seen as emanicpatory in a number of ways. God describes women as being unclean during menstruation and for a period after childbirth. After the time of uncleanness, a woman can make offerings and purify herself and thus enter back into community and society actively. It occurred to me that perhaps in the people of Canaan and Egypt, this wasn't necessarily possible for common women. If women are seen as unclean in general, and thus second-class citizens, the opportunity that God brings to them to purify themselves and re-enter society and community and centers of worship in a full and meaningful way is revolutionary! I would have loved to have had a biblical anthropologist/sociologist (I'm sure they must exist!) to chat to while I was reading this book. Even the passage in Leviticus 27 that values women as half as much as men is revolutionary if at the time of the passing down of the laws women were valued as one tenth of a man.

Leviticus 13 is all about leprosy, quarantine and banishment of lepers from the camp. This is a public health pronouncement, but is there some internalized phobia as well? Does God not want his exemplary people to be associated with disease this early in their adolescence? People fear disease, so God gives instructions about how to tell serious disease apart from the normal human condition. Does God allow for the banishment of lepers because he knows his grumbling people; that they may not endure with Him if they are forced to live with what they fear in their spiritual adolescence?

Lev 14 talks about the purification of a leprous person after they have been declared clean. They have to shave and bathe and make their way slowly back into their homes in various stages of shaving and bathing and living outside their tent and making sacrifices. This long process may be the result of God knowing the fear of illness that human beings carry. To have a man who once was leprous thrust back into the family tent after being declared clean may be a difficult adjustment for the extended family to make. I suppose that tents held entire extended families and that in bringing a previously suspected leprous person back into that environment quickly may trigger dissent in the family unit. God, understanding the human mind and tendencies to fear, alienate, fight, instate hierarchy and harm the weak may have given instructions for a longer process so that the human mind and soul might have time to recognize the need and humanity in the suspected leprous person (rather than just the suspected leprosy) before he is reintroduced into the family. People are always unclean until the evening. I like the idea of a new day beginning in the evening and as each new day begins, so there is a new beginning for a person who has sinned. Each day we turn toward the Lord we have a chance at a clean slate.

Interestingly there is a guilt offering required for the cleansing of a leprous person. This makes me wonder about the cultural perceptions of leprosy at the time. Was there a stigma of guilt around a person that has leprosy? This law again may be seen as oppressive or emanicpatory. In Vancouver, a person with leprosy is not seen as guilty. However, addicts and homeless often are. If these people were given a path by God, an act they could perform that would, in the minds and hearts of all surrounding them, free them of the stigma of guilt, imagine what that would do for social programs in this country. If everyone believed that people were homeless or addicted because of circumstance not because of personal fault, and if the afflicted could show that through the sacrifice of a bird, would we not have more social housing? More mental health services? The sacrifice of a bird for a guilt offering by the leper is perhaps another way that God brings the pseudo-marginalized and stigmatized back to the community.

The Day of Atonement held particular power for me. I am a huge fan of second chances and new life through God. Aaron laying his hands on the head of the goat and confessing all the sins and transgressions of the Israelites, transferring them to the animal and sending them away from the community was reminiscent of the baptism of a nation. At my own baptism, I felt the redemptive and transformative power of God change me, change my heart and align my spirit with His will; I can only imagine how powerful it would be to experience, as a nation, that transformative love and the grace of a second chance at a joyful life of service to God.

Lev 26 God speaks to the people of Israel about the rewards for obedience. He promises bounty of the field and vine, harvests in an order to sustain the people and avoid any hunger. He promises that they will live a peaceful existence, vanquishing their enemies and having lots of children. He promises to make his dwelling among them and live with them. Disobedience, He promises panic, wasting disease, fever and heartache. Their enemies will eat their harvests and their enemies will vanquish them, God will turn His face away from Israel. He promises an increasingly horrible existence (eating the flesh of their own sons and daughters and living as slaves in their enemies land, while their own land lies desolate and enjoys its Sabbath). He promises that they will perish among the nations for three verses and then finishes with a promise of redemption through confession and atonement. Through amends the Lord will remember his covenants with Jacob and Isaac and Abraham and not utterly destroy Israel. God closing the book of laws with another reminder of the power of His love, His faithfulness to the covenant He made with the patriarchs of Israel and his undying forgiveness if it is sought through free will is such a beautiful thing. He spends the book directing, proscribing, warning, chastening and He ends with a reminder that it is all done in endless love for His children and that He knows they will falter, He knows they will turn away at times and sin, and He wants us to know that he will always provide a way back to Holy.

Through the revolutionary and transformative love of God, may we seek to emancipate our brothers and sisters here on earth, may help our hurting people rather than judge them, may we witness the redemptive power of God through our acts and thoughts and may we always find the Christ-lit path back to holy in the most unlikely places. Amen.