Leviticus chapter 16

After reading chapter 16:

*After the deaths of Nadab and Abihu, Yahweh told Moses to tell Aaron that he couldn't come into the most holy place, were the ark was behind a curtain inside the tabernacle, whenever he wanted. He had to follow a special procedure first. He must wash and put on special clothes and underwear. He was to sacrifice a bull to atone for his sins. Then he takes a censer with fire and incense into the part of the tabernacle tent where the ark is. The smoke from the fire will keep him from seeing the lid of the ark, called the atonement cover, or he would die. Even though he can't see it because of the smoke, he is to sprinkle some of the bull's blood on it. No one but Aaron is allowed in the tabernacle during this ritual. (Why couldn't Yahweh give these instructions to Aaron himself? Who is really in charge here? )

*Then Aaron is to take  two goats to front of the tabernacle. One goat is to be sacrificed as a sin offering for the sins of Israel. Again, he takes its blood behind the curtain where the ark is and sprinkles the goat's blood on the lid. This is to atone for the sins of the Israelites for the most holy place.Then he repeats the blood sprinkling procedure for the tabernacle itself, and again for the altar, to cleanse it from the uncleanness of the Israelites.

*The second goat is the "scapegoat." Aaron puts his hands on its head and confesses all the sins of the Israelites over it. This transfers the sins to the goat. Then it will be sent out into the desert. After that, Aaron goes back into the tabernacle, takes a bath and changes to his regular clothes. Then he sacrifices a ram as a burnt offering and  burns the fat of the sin offering. The people who help with the scapegoat and the disposal of the remnants of the sacrifices must wash themselves and their clothes afterward.

*All this is to be done on the 10th day of the seventh month every year. It is the day of atonement, a lasting ordinance. It will also be considered a sabbath day, an enforced day of rest.  Whoever is current high priest is the official  who performs the duties described. It will clean the Israelites' sin slate for the year, in a manner of speaking.

*I find the whole thing depressing. Why would an eternal, omnipotent, benevolent, purely spiritual, God make a tribe of desert nomads perform such elaborate bloody rituals for him, or else? Sin and uncleanness are abstract concepts not concrete things. People don't walk around with actual piles of sins on their shoulders, that disappear when some animals are killed. Sins can't be transferred from people to goats. Notice that first the Israelites had to be told how unclean they were, then they were given a way to get rid of the uncleanness. God is giving them the medicine for the sickness he invented. He still does this for christians today.

*One way religious people get around the obvious wierdness of all these laws and rituals is to claim that they have metaphorical significance that trumps the literal meaning. If that is so, the text certainly gives no indication of it. Also, the death threats for non compliance appear to be quite literal.

Leviticus chapter 10

After reading chapter 10:

*Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, slipped up. They seem to have put the wrong kind of incense on the fire. This was forbidden in Exodus 30:9, but God had not said the penalty was death. Even so, fire came out of the presence of the lord and consumed them. Moses had no sympathy for them or Aaron and basically said, "I could have told you this would happen." Aaron was speechless. Two of Aaron's cousins were called to carry the bodies outside the camp.  Aaron and his sons were not allowed to mourn their loss. They must stay at the entrance to the tabernacle or they would die too. Lovely. With friends like God, who needs enemies? No grace, no mercy, no empathy. Pure obedience was all that mattered. They did what they were told.

*Interesting tidbit: In verse 3, Moses gives a direct quote from Yahweh as justification for Nadab's and Abihu's deaths. However, that quote is nowhere else in previous scriptures! Not only that, it doesn't say anything about God killing people, unless there is a subtle implied threat.

*Then, like nothing happened, God proceded to tell Aaron that he and his sons were not to drink fermented beverages of any kind. They were also required to teach the Iraelites all the decrees given through Moses. Moses told Aaron and his sons to eat the grain offering that was leftover from the offerings to the lord. They and their family members were also to eat  the priest's portions of the meat offerings. Moses got mad when he found out they hadn't eaten the meat from the goat of the sin offering. Aaron seems to have felt that it would have been inappropriate for him to eat it after what had happened that day. That satisfied Moses.

Exodus chapter 28

After reading chapter 28:

*We are told that Aaron, and his sons Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar are to be the priests. The preists are to have special costly garments made for them to wear, a tunic, robe, ephod, breastplate, sash and turban. They will probably have the finest clothes of all the Israelites. Why does God need priests?

*Next, there are instructions for the construction of the ephod. On each of the gold filigree shoulder pieces of the ephod, there is to be an onyx stone engraved with the names of six tribes of Israel.

*Next are instructions for the breast plate. It will have twelve different colored precious stones, each engraved with the name of one of the tribes of Israel. They are to be set in gold filigree. Aaron will wear the breastplate whenever he enters the holy place. (The special room in the tabernacle with the ark and God hovering over it.) The Urim and Thummim , apparently some kind of stones used for divination, are also to be put on the breastplate to help Aaron make decisions for the Israelites. Why can't Aaron just ask God straight out? Why the necessity for hocus pocus?

*There are additional instructions for the ephod and the robe. The robe is to have bells on its hem, so that the sound of the bells will be heard when Aaron enters the holy place and when he comes out, "so that he will not die." God needs a warning, or he will kill if surprised? That doesn't sound very god-like.

*We also have instructions for the turban Aaron is to wear. It must have a gold plate engraved with the words " holy to Yahweh."  Somehow this gold plate insures that the Israelites sacrifices will be acceptable to God. Aaron will bear any guilt associated with the sacrifices. That doesn't seem fair, does it?

*Next are more instructions for the construction of the tunics, sashes, and head bands to be worn by Aaron's sons. These will give them dignity and honor, and make them look wealthier and more important than other Israelites. Aaron's sons are to be consecrated as priests by anointing and ordaining, because those things magically make a person holy.

*Last, but not least, the priests must wear special underwear before they can enter the tabernacle. Or they might incur guilt and die. Because going commando is just wrong. It is so wrong that priestly underwear is a lasting ordinance.

Exodus chapter 24

After reading chapter 24:

*Moses told the Israelites all the laws that Yahweh had made and, with one voice, over a million people agreed to obey God. Then Moses wrote down everything God had said. What did he write it on? What did he write with? In what language did he write?

* The next morning,  Moses built an altar and set up twelve stone pillars to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. Some bulls were sacrificed and blood splashed on the altar. Then Moses read the book of the covenant aloud to the people. Though how they could all hear it is a mystery. Also, is this the same thing he just wrote or something different? Again,  the people all agreed to obey. Then Moses spritzed the people with blood from the sacrifice. All the people? Or was this just a symbolic flinging of blood into the crowd? While Moses was sprinkling the blood, he announced that it was the blood of the covenant. Wait a minute, where did the bulls come from? I thought the Israelites had run out of food and were complaining because they had lots of meat back in Egypt. Wasn't that the reason for the quail and manna? Had someone been holding back animals that could have been eaten?

*Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu (Aaron's sons) and seventy elders approached the mountain and saw God! This is supposedly the same God the New Testament tells us no one has ever seen. He must have looked like a person because he had feet and his feet were standing on pavement made of lapis lazuli. The people who saw God had a feast, presumably eating the meat from the bulls that had been sacrificed. Everyone else probably had to make do with manna.

*Then God asked Moses to come up the mountain and get some tablets of stone on which would be written the law and commandments. Moses took Joshua with him and told everyone to wait til he came back. Aaron and Hur would be in charge. Moses went up on the mountain and waited for six days while the cloud with God in it settled on the top of the mountain. To the people below, it looked like there was a fire on the mountain top. It sounds almost like a volcano. On the seventh day, Yahweh called Moses and Moses entered the cloud zone. He wasn't seen again for forty days and forty nights.

Edited.