Mark part twenty three

We are at Mark 13:5. Jesus is going to give a speech about the signs that will happen when the temple is about to be destroyed. It is probably a retroactive prophecy. Here are the various signs:
1. People who are not Jesus claiming to be Jesus or the messiah/christ.
2. Wars and rumors of wars.
3. Earthquakes and famines.
4. Flogging of the disciples of Jesus. (That's who Jesus is talking to, and he says "you." It would be wrong to say this applies to future christians in general.)
5. Arrests of disciples of Jesus after they preach the gospel to all nations and their appearance before governors and kings.
6. Betrayal by family members.
7. Hatred of the disciples because of Jesus. (Again, he says "you.")

When they see the  "abomination that causes desolation standing where it does not belong" they must escape Jerusalem, not stopping for anything. (There is no consensus as to what abomination of desolation means.) It will be a time of great distress and not safe for the weak. However, that turmoil will not last long, "for the sake of the elect." Here, the elect could be Jews, who traditionally considered themselves Yahweh's elect, or Jesus's disciples. It is not clear here specifically who the elect are. However, if this was written after Paul wrote and preached, it may be referring to Paul's teaching in Romans chapter 11. There, the elect are a "remnant chosen by grace," not Jews, but gentiles.

The disciples are to be aware of the possibility of false christs and false prophets who will try to perform signs and miracles to deceive them. After the distress (the 70CE fall of Jerusalem?), "the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken." Jesus is quoting a passage from Isaiah 13:10. Its context is a supposed prophecy against Babylon, which in the symbolism of the New Testament book of Revelation, is equated with Rome. However, Mark seems to be equating it with Jerusalem/Israel. If one was living in Rome at the time, it might also be an apt description of the 79CE eruption of Vesuvius. That would make the original date of Mark even later.

The earliest Biblical symbolism of sun, moon and stars, is in Genesis, where Joseph dreams about the sun, moon, and stars bowing down to him. The sun and moon represented his parents. The stars represented his brothers. The sun= Jacob= Israel= the Jewish nation. The sun is also a universal symbol for a king or divine ruler. The moon represents his consort. The stars/constellations/heavenly bodies are the divine children. Notice that there are twelve zodiac constellations and twelve tribes of Israel. There are also twelve disciples. This may not be a coincidence. All of this is my speculation.

In verse 26, the author makes Jesus say that at "that time men will see the son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory." This never happened, unless we are missing a record of it. The son of man is supposed to send his angels to gather his elect. Either this is metaphor for something like apostles teaching to the gentiles or it is meant to be literal. In that case, it didn't happen.

Jesus goes on to say that the above signs will let the disciples know when the destruction of the temple will occur. Then he says "this generation will not pass away until all this things have happened." That seems quite straightforward to me. That generation has passed away, so these things must have already happened right?  Jesus continues on to say neither the angels nor the son know the exact time of these coming events, only the father (god). Clearly then, Jesus is not god.

Mark part ten

We are at Mark 6:7.  Jesus is travelling around teaching. He also sent his disciples out to teach in pairs, giving them the authority to cast out demons. They also performed faith healings. Jesus gave them specific instructions which sound like a religious commitment to poverty, similar to other mendicants throughout history. They were to take no food, no money, and no extra clothing with them. They were to rely on the hospitality of the townspeople, performing a kind of curse if they were not welcomed. ("Shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them.")
Basically, they became a kind of "holy" beggar. Their message was that people should repent, but repent of what?

Jesus started to become well known and King Herod heard about him. This is not the Herod (the great) that was supposedly king when Jesus was born, but Herod Antipas, a son of Herod the great. Some people were saying Jesus was John the baptist resurrected, that's why he could do miracles. (Was John the baptist also known for miracles?) Remember, Mark has Jesus's ministry starting after the death of John. This is all significant because this Herod was responsible for John's death. John the baptist had told Herod it was not lawful to marry his brother's wife, Herodias, so Herod had locked him up. Herodias was enraged, and cooked up a sneaky plot. With her daughter's help, she tricked Herod into executing John and bringing his head to her on a platter.

Herodias had an interesting family. Her parents were first cousins. Her father was killed by  her grandfather, Herod the great, when she was a child. She was married to her father's half brother Philip, then divorced and married to her other half uncle, Antipas.

Here we have the book of Mark's secular anchor in time. The events are now taking place after Herod took up with Herodias and before Herod was in a war with his first wife's father, in 36 CE. Herod was exiled in 39 CE because of the war. Herod had divorced his first wife to marry Herodias. John the baptist was supposed to have been beheaded after that. Jesus started preaching after John's death. Herod's first wife's father declared war on Herod as soon as he had his daughter safely back home. Common christianity says Jesus died around 33 CE. I think if Jesus lived and taught at the time Mark said he did, that date may be a little off. What do you think?

We are at Mark 6:30. After the apostles have been out teaching, they reported back to Jesus. They all tried to meet in a solitary place, but were recognized and followed by a crowd. So, Jesus began to teach the crowd. Along about dinner time, the apostles advised Jesus to send the people away to get something to eat. Jesus said, "you give them something to eat." The disciples were shocked that Jesus would ask them to spend the amount of money it would take to feed all the people. When Jesus asked how much food the disciples had on them, they replied, "five loaves and two fish."

Jesus had the people sit down in groups of hundreds and fifties. He looked up at the sky and gave thanks. Then he broke up the food and had the disciples distributed it. Everyone got enough to eat and there were twelve baskets full of leftovers. (Magic number alert) "The number of MEN who had eaten was five thousand." Because only men count. Get it? Did you notice that one hundred times fifty is five thousand?

More to come.

The apostles part five and wrap up.

11)* Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus: Matthew 10:3

No other book mentions any Lebbaeus

*Thaddaeus: Mark 3:18

Only Matthew and Mark mention Thaddaeus

*Judas son of James (NIV): Luke 6:15, Acts 1:13
*Judas (or Jude) the Brother of James (KJV): Luke 6:16, Acts 1:13, Jude 1:1

Was it son or brother?!! Which James?!! Is this the same person as Thaddaeus? Christians assume it is, because otherwise there is something wrong with the different apostle lists. Jesus had brothers named Judas and James. (Matthew 13:55) Was this another brother of Jesus? This Judas of James is not mentioned by Mark or Matthew. John 14:22 speaks once of a Judas "not Iscariot." Paul doesn't mention this person. Jude and Judas are actually the same name. So, since the book of Jude begins with a greeting from Jude, the brother of James, it is assumed the book was written by the apostle aforementioned.

More about Thaddaeus

12)* Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus: Matthew 10:4, Mark 3:19, Matthew 26:25, Matthew 27:3, Luke 6:16, Luke 22:48, John 12:4, John 13:2, John 18:2,3, 5, Acts 1:16,25
*Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve: Matthew 26:14,16,47, Mark 14:10, 43, Luke 22:47, John 6:71,
*Judas Iscariot, son of Simon: John 6:71, John 12:4, John 13:2, 26, 29,

John is the only book that speaks of Judas as the son of Simon. The question is Simon who? Paul does not mention Judas. Kind of strange, don't you think?

More about Judas Iscariot

13)*Matthias, Judas's replacement: Acts 1:23,26

Matthias is not mentioned anywhere else. More about Matthias.

*How many of each of the twelve are specifically named in New Testament books, generously interpreted:
Matthew-12, Mark-12, Luke-12, John-7(Peter, Andrew, Philip, Nathaniel, Thomas,  Judas-not-Iscariot, Judas Iscariot) Acts-13, Galatians-2 (Cephas/Peter and John), 1st Corinthians-1 (Cephas/assumed to be Peter), 1st Peter-1 (Peter), Jude-1 (Jude/assumed to be Judas/ Thaddaeus), Revelation-1(John)

*Number of times the phrase "twelve apostles" or "Twelve disciples" or "the twelve" is specifically mentioned:
Matthew-8, Mark-10, Luke-8, John-4, Acts-1, 1 Corinthians-1, Revelation-1

I find it fascinating that the only two of the twelve that Paul mentioned by name are Peter and John. The James he mentions is considered to be Jesus's brother. Adding: I have caught a couple of mistakes and fixed them, mostly with chapter and verse numbers. So, I expect that I may not be precise with all my figuring, but I tried to be as accurate as possible.

Heaven part twelve

Here we are again, back in heaven. As we go to Revelation chapter 15, we see there is a temple in heaven called the "tabernacle of testimony." Seven shining angels come out of the temple with seven plagues. Those four strange creatures with all the eyes and wings, that were said to be near the throne of god, give the angels seven bowls filled with god's wrath. The temple was filled with smoke  from the glory of god and no one can enter. The angels release the plagues in the next few chapters.

In chapter 19, there is a white horse in heaven whose rider is "the word of god," obviously a reference to the christ. The armies of heaven are following him. An angel stands in the sun and yells to all the birds to come feast on the flesh of all people. There is a great battle which the christ wins, of course. The birds feast, Satan is thrown into the abyss, and the christ reigns for 1,000 years. After the thousand years, Satan is released, there is another battle, and Satan's army is defeated by fire from heaven. Satan is thrown into the lake of fire, the judgement of the dead happens, then chapter 21 introduces us to the author's vision of the new heaven and new earth.

The old heaven and old earth are gone and there is no longer any sea. The holy city, a new Jerusalem comes down out of heaven from god, like a bride dressed for her husband. . The personage  sitting on the throne (Yahweh?)  says, "I am making everything new....It is done. I am the alpha and the omega...." (I thought the alpha and omega was supposed to refer to Jesus?)Everyone who overcomes will inherit the spring of the water of life, and he will be their god, and they will be his son. (No women?)

The new Jerusalem coming down from heaven is said to be shining with the glory of god. That's funny, in chapter 15, the glory of god was smoke. The holy city gleamed like a precious jewel or crystal.. "It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel....The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the lamb." Do you see why some Christians today are obsessed with Israel and Jerusalem?

The holy city was 12,000 stadia (1,400 miles) long, wide, and HIGH! The wall was 144 (12x12) cubits thick. "The wall was made of jasper and the city of pure gold...The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every precious stone"  in twelve layers. The twelve gates were made of twelve single pearls. The streets were of pure gold. There is no temple, god and the lamb are its temple. There is no sun or moon, god and the lamb are the light. The gates will never shut because it will never be night. Nothing impure will ever enter it, only those whose names are written in the lamb's book of life.

The river of the water of life will flow from the the throne of god and the lamb (they sit on the same throne? ) down the middle of the great street. "On each side of the river stood the tree of life." What? Does the tree straddle the river? Or are there two trees of life? The tree is bearing twelve crops of fruit, one crop each month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations. There will be no more curse. The throne of god and the lamb will be in the city and his servants will see him and his name will be on their foreheads, and they will reign forever and ever. Revelation ends with a warning that anyone who takes words away from this book of prophecy will have his share in the tree of life and the holy city taken away from him.

Well, well, well. That was interesting. Did you see all the times the magic numbers seven and twelve were used? Do you think this description of the new Jerusalem was meant to be taken literally? If it is metaphorical or symbolic, what exactly does it represent?Did you notice that the saved don't go up to heaven? They go to live in the holy city, which comes down to the new earth. God and Jesus come down to earth with the holy city. Everything glows with an eternal light. No sun, no moon. Who is left in heaven? All the multitudes of angels?

Lakes of fire and burning sulfur or brimstone

Let's look at some of the terms associated with the wrath of god and punishment after death. First the lake of fire, aka the second death.  This phenomenon is found exclusively in Revelation chapters 19, 20, and 21. The rest of the authors of the bible appear to be unaware of its existence. Wikipedia suggests that the lake of fire in Revelation is directly related to the fire of gehenna mentioned by Jesus. However, gehenna is not mentioned in Revelation and it does not have any history of being referred to as a lake.

Fire is mentioned as an instrument of god's wrath so many times in the Old Testament that I don't have the time and inclination  to go over every instance. It is often paired with sulfur, which is called brimstone in the KJV. Brimstone or sulfur appears seven times in the Old Testament. 1. In Gen 19:24 it rains down on Sodom and Gomorrah. 2. Deut. 29:23 refers again to Sodom and gomorrah. 3. Job 18:15 talks of fire and sulfur at the home of a wicked man. 4. Psalm 11:6 says "on the wicked he (god) will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur. 5. Isaiah 30:33 says a place called Topheth has been prepared for the king with a large pile of firewood, ready to be set aflame by the breath of the lord, which is like a torrent of brimstone.

Pause there. Apparently Tophet is associated with the valley of Hinnom or Gehenna. I did not know that. Besides the mention in Isaiah, Jeremiah also refers to it a couple of times, in chapters 7 and 19, and says it is a place of foreign gods, or Baal, where innocent children were burned as sacrifices. 2nd Kings 23:10 says it was where children were sacrificed to Moloch.

Back to brimstone in the OT: 6. Isaiah 34:9 speaks of a day of god's vengeance when Edom's streams will be turned into pitch and the dust into burning sulfur. The fire will not be quenched night and day, its smoke will rise forever. This is in the midst of a quite bloody diatribe against all "the nations." 7. Ezekiel 38:22 says god will rain hail, and burning sulfur on the armies of Gog and many other nations. Apparently Gog isn't actually a real place or group of people. It may be a metaphor for enemies of god. The rain of sulfur must be metaphorical too. You can't rain real sulfur on a metaphor.

In the New Testament, the only sulfur/ brimstone not in Revelation is in Luke 17:29. Which is just referring to Sodom and Gomorrah.

A sulfur passage in Revelation we did not cover yet is found in chapter 14. There we find the lamb, presumably jesus, standing on mount zion with 144,000 people who had his name and god's on their foreheads. Then there is a kind of heavenly musical concert which only the 144,000 can hear. These people are special. They are men who have never "defiled" themselves with women, which made them pure. (Good grief!)  I guess saint Peter won't be one of them, since he was married. They had never lied and were blameless. 144,000 perfect men? Excuse me while I laugh. These perfect men were purchased and offered as firstfruits to god and the lamb. Hmm. Sounds like human sacrifice to me. Revelation chapter seven tells us that the 144,000 are twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Next in chapter 14, an angel flies around the earth proclaiming the hour of judgement has come. A second angel yells that Babylon the great has fallen. A third angel says that anyone who has worshipped "the beast", who is not Satan,  will drink the wine of god's fury and will be tormented with burning sulfur IN THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY ANGELS AND THE LAMB! "And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever." There will be no rest for them. Lovely imagery, huh?

Ephesians chapter 1, part 2

Starting at verse 15:

*Paul tells the recipients of the letter that he gives thanks for them continually because of the faith he heard they have. If this is a chain letter, how does he know what churches will be reading it and what their faith level is? Why does he say he "heard" about their faith, when he is supposed to have lived in Ephesus?

*Let's look at the scriptures that mention Paul in Ephesus (in Turkey). First, Acts 18: There Paul is said to have arrived in Ephesus with Pricilla and Aquila. He went to a Jewish synagogue to reason (argue?) with the Jews. He was asked to stay but left, saying he would be back, if it was God's will. He sailed back to Caesarea, which is in Israel, then travelled from there to Antioch, Galatia and Phrygia, and made his way back to Ephesus. It appeared to be in God's (Paul's ) will after all.

*While Paul was gone, a Jew named Apollos, from Alexandria (in Egypt), who knew only the baptism of John, arrived in Ephesus.  He was very knowledgable in the scriptures and began to speak boldly in the synagogue. Pricilla and Aquila were still in Ephesus and took Apollos to their home to "teach him the way of God more adequately." I find it interesting that Apollos seems to have had no idea about Jesus, the crucifixion, or the resurrection, just John the baptist and his practice of baptism. This would be at least two decades (NT timeline) after the death of Jesus. Why hadn't Apollos heard "the good news" before?

*Apollos went to Corinth, which is in Greece. Meanwhile, Paul took the road through Turkey and arrived back in Ephesus. There he found some disciples. These disciples had not been there his first visit? Disciples of whom? These disciples had never heard of recieving the holy spirit and the had been baptised with John's baptism for repentence, not the baptism into the lord Jesus. Okay, what is the difference between one dunking in water and another? -Belief in Jesus and the magic words recited when it is performed. Plus, it helps if Paul puts his hands on you so you can get the elusive Holy Spirit along with the ability to speak in tongues. Twelve men recieved the spirit this way. Ooh. Do you suppose that the number twelve is significant here? There were twelve tribes of Israel after all.

*According to Acts, Paul spent three months in Ephesus speaking in the synogogue, arguing about the kingdom of god. Some of them (Jews) refused to believe him. Good for them. So, Paul left with his disciples and had daily discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. "This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord." However, not one of them wrote a single word about Paul or the new teachings. There are no contemporaneous writings about this revolution in religious thought, from that time or region That seems a little odd to me.

*It is even more odd that there are no extrabiblical records, when Acts says that extraordinary miracles were performed through Paul. (Acts19:11-12). Some Jews tried to exorcise evil spirits by invoking the name of Jesus. The evil spirits knew the difference between them and Paul and beat the Jews up. Naturally, this caused some consternation among the inhabitants of Ephesus, not to mention terror. Believers came out of the woodwork and confessed their past associations with sorcery. Then there was a public scroll burning of extremely valuable magic texts. Too bad Paul didn't just simply tell them their magic books had no power to do anything, evil or good. But he couldn't do that, could he? He had set himself up as having powers greater than  theirs.

To be continued.

Judges 19

After reading chapter 19:

*Here we have another odd story beginning  with the assertion that in those days there was no king. A Levite from the hill country of Ephraim had a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. She ran away from him back to her father's house. The Levite went to Judah with a servant and two donkeys to get her back. The woman's father got the Levite to stay there for three days by plying him with food and drink. He wanted to leave but was convinced to stay another day with more eating and drinking. The father tried the same tactics again the fifth day, but the Levite finally left late in the day with his concubine and servant. They travelled toward Jebus where the Jebusites lived, supposedly another name for Jerusalem. However, there appears to be plenty of doubt that the Jebusites ever existed outside the pages of the Bible.

*The Levite's servant wanted to stay in Jebus, but the Levite didn't want to stay among non- Israelites. Instead, they went to Gibeah in Benjamin. When they got there, they sat in the city square waiting to be offered hospitality for the night but none of the Benjaminites invited them home. That evening an old Ephraimite who lived in Gibeah saw them and offered them room and board for the night.

*While they were eating and drinking, some wicked men of the city surrounded the house, pounded on the door, and demanded that the visitor be brought out so they could have sex with him. Sound familiar? Just as in the story of Lot, two women are offered to the men instead, the homeowner's virgin daughter and the Levite's concubine. Why didn't the homeowner sacrifice his own body to save his guest from the unwanted attention? It seems obvious that the women were considered less valuable and more expendable. The men would not listen to the homeowner, so the Levite sent his concubine out to the wolves. She has no Angels to save her. This story makes me so angry. It continues with the concubine being raped and abused all night. At daybreak she makes her way back to the house and falls down dead on the threshold. The next morning, as the Levite is leaving, he sees his concubine laying there and orders her to get up because it is time to go. How cold can you get? Even though it is a story, I wish she could get up, so she could spit in his face and vomit all over him.

*The Levite loads his dead concubine on a donkey and heads home. When he gets there, he cuts up his concubine into twelve pieces and sends the pieces to the twelve tribes of Israel. This event was the subject of much consternation, with people exclaiming that something must be done, people must speak up. What I wonder is which part or parts were they upset about? Was it the Levite's behavior, or the behavior of the men of Gibeah? Is this supposed to prove a king was needed in the land?

Joshua chapter 4

After reading chapter 4:

*The whole nation of Israel has finished crossing the Jordan and they are again told to pick twelve men, one from each tribe. This time they are told why. The men are commanded to go back to the middle of the river, where the priests are still standing with the ark, and each pick up a large stone. They are to bring the stones back to their camp. The stones are to be a memorial of the river crossing. Joshua took the stones and set them up. Supposedly, they were still there at the writing of this book, which would have been hundreds of years later.

*The priests stayed in the middle of the river till all the Israelites were out. Then they took the ark to the other side while everyone was watching. As an aside we are told that 40,000 armed men of the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half tribe of Mannasseh had also crossed. Plus, Yahweh exalted Joshua and he became just as revered to the Israelites as Moses had been. Do you remember that Moses had been downright hated at times? The author of Joshua doesn't seem to remember.

*Again, we are told that the priests came out of the river with the ark. There are so many redundancies in scriptures, many in odd places, that it is becoming easy to understand why many scholars think that they were composed by multiple authors and kind of smooshed together. Anyway, as soon as the priests set their feet on dry ground (Wait. We had been told that the river bed was dry ground while the priests had the ark there. ) the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, at flood stage as before. Except now, the floods should have raged out of control after being held up for long enough to let hundreds of thousands of people pass. Apparently this was a peaceful flood.

* On the tenth day of the first month (the day the passover lamb was to be selected, Exodus 12:3) the people went up from the Jordan. They had to go up because the Jordan is in a  Rift Valley. They camped at Gilgal on the east side of Jericho. The Wikipedia article on Gilgal is very interesting. Essentially, it is not clear where this may have been. Again we are told Joshua set up the twelve stones, but now it appears they were set up at Gilgal. Again, the Israelites are told what the stones mean: Yahweh did to the Jordan what he did to the Red Sea. According to the Gilgal article, this story may be the author's attempt to explain a Neolithic stone circle.

Numbers chapter 31

After reading chapter 31:

*After a brief intermission, laying down some religious and social rules, Yahweh tells Moses to take vengeance on the Midianites, who used to be Moabites, presumably for the crime of inviting them to other god's BBQs and showing the men a good time. So, 12,000 men, 1,000 from each tribe, were sent into battle, along with Phineas, the son of the high priest, the same guy who had run a spear through the Midianite woman and Israeli man. They fought against Midian and killed every man, including Balaam, the guy with the talking donkey.

*The Israelite army burned the Midianite towns and camps, after they plundered them. They took their spoils, including the women and children , back to the Israelite camp. Moses was upset, because it was the Midianite/Moabite women who had enticed the Israelite men. He ordered all the sexually active women killed. The reason given for this was that they were following Balaam's advice on how to turn the Israelites away from Yahweh. This is very strange because chapters 22-24 clearly show Balaam speaking on behalf of  Yahweh and the Israelites, and blessing them. There is no mention of him giving any advice for turning the Israelites away from Yahweh.

*Moses also ordered the killing of all the boys, but gives no reason. Then, he says the Israelite army can save all the virgin girls for themselves, we can guess the reason. The fighting men who had killed, and the captive virgins, were to remain outside the camp for seven days, to be "purified." The thought of this makes my blood run cold. All metals, were to be passed through a fire and washed with holy water, for cleansing. Everything that couldn't be passed through a fire was just to be washed with the water of cleansing.

*Next, Yahweh told Moses to count all the people ( the girls) and the animals that were captured and divide up the spoils. Half for the fighting men, half for the rest of the community.  From the soldier's share, one out of every 500, of the girls, cattle, sheep, goats, and donkeys was to be given to the priests, um, the lord. From the community share, one out of every 50. We are given the numbers for each of the kinds of animals and the virgins, because this is the book of numbers after all. There were 32,000 females divvied up that day.

*After the distribution of the spoils, the commanders of the army told Moses that not a single fighting man had been lost. Incredible. They also had gold to give to the priests, um, the lord. Of course Moses and the priests accepted the gold on Yahweh's behalf, and the soldiers had some left over for themselves, naturally.

Numbers chapter 17

After reading chapter 17:

*Now, Yahweh tells Moses to get a staff from each of the heads of the twelve tribes. The Levite staff is to be inscribed with Aaron's name. The staffs would be placed in front of the ark of the covenant and the staff of god's chosen person would sprout. So, that was done and the next day, guess whose staff sprouted. Not only had Aaron's staff sprouted, but it had gone through the whole growing cycle in one night, budding, blossoming, and producing almonds! Then Moses came out with all the staffs and showed the leaders of the tribes their staffs.

*Aaron's staff was put back in front of the ark of the covenant as a reminder to the rebellious, so they would not die.  I don't know how it would have been a reminder if they couldn't look at it, because that area of the tabernacle was off limits. It surely wasn't put there so they couldn't examine it and maybe see that it wasn't the same staff as the day before. Moses would never do something like switch the staff for a tree branch in the middle of the night.

*The Israelites were in despair. Can you blame them? They were just as much enslaved now as they had been in Egypt, maybe more. Intellectual and emotional enslavement can be just as devastating as physical enslavement.

Numbers chapter 16

After reading chapter 16:

*Now we read about an uprising in the camp. A Levite, some Reubenites, and 250 community leaders charge Moses with being too big for his britches. Moses tells them they are the ones that have gone too far and God will prove it by making clear who is holy and who isn't. The men complain of being treated like slaves by Moses. Moses wants to know what the Levites have to complain about, don't they get special important work to do? Then Moses got angry and told God not to accept their offering. Like the king of the universe takes orders? Well, apparently he does.

*The dissidents are told to meet in front of the tabernacle the next morning with censers of burning  incense. They did, and God told Moses and Aaron to get out of the way because he was going to destroy the 250 mutineers. Moses and Aaron made a token protest then told the people who weren't involved to stay way back.

*Then Moses speechified about how if the men died a natural death, that would mean Yahweh had not sent Moses to take them out of Egypt and Moses was a liar. But, if a weird new phenomenon happened, like the earth splitting open and swallowing the men and their belongings,  that would mean God did send Moses. Lo, and behold, guess what happened! The ground split opened and swallowed Korah the Levite, his friends, and all their belongings,  alive. The 250 community leaders were then blasted by fire from God.

* According to Yahweh's instructions, the men's censors were salvaged from their charred remains, beaten into sheets, and used to overlay the altar. This was supposed to serve as a reminder to the Israelites that no one except Aaron and his sons should bring incense befor the lord, even though Moses was the one that told those 250 guys to bring the incense in the first place.

*More people became very unhappy with Moses and Aaron because of the deaths. Who can blame them? A group gathered in front of the tabernacle  again. God threatened to put an end to these people as well. Moses told Aaron to hurry up and put incense and coals in his censor then go stand in the midst of the people to make atonement for them. Apparently a plague had already begun to hit them. Aaron stood between the living and those who had died from the plague and managed to stop the plague with sheer willpower and incense. Even so, 14,700 people died, another nice round number for the book of Numbers. Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tabernacle.

*So, this chapter makes it very clear that Moses is Yahweh's right hand man and whatever he says goes, or else. I wonder how many nightmares it gave the young children who heard it read for the first time? Did it instill a lifelong determination never to get on Yahweh's bad side by disregarding Moses's words? Also, exactly what was this atonement thing Aaron did to stop the plague? What kind of plague starts and stops that quickly? Did you notice that the digits in 250 add up to seven and the digits in 14,700 add up to twelve? Coincidence? Plus, that weird new phenomenon sounds  a lot like an earthquake. I don't know about you, but I'm a little tired of this Yahweh and his heavy handed ways.

Numbers chapter 13

After reading chapter 13:

*Now that the Israelites are in the desert of Paran, Yahweh tells Moses to send twelve men, one from each tribe, to go explore the land lof Canaan. This land was currently being occupied by people who had no idea that Yahweh was giving the Israelites their land. All twelve men are specifically named.

*Moses told the men to go through the Negev and into the hill country to scope out the land and the people. They were told to report on the civilizations and crop growing conditions. It was grape season so they were told to bring back a sample. What if the  land was barren and infertile, would the Israelites have rejected Yahweh's gift? Would we be reading this story today? Since historical  evidence suggests that the Israelites may have actually been long term natives of that land, this story is probably more like nationalistic propaganda.

*Some of the places the men travelled that we haven't covered before included Rehob and the Negev. When they reached the valley of Eshcol, a place that supposedly still exists, though I could not find much information about it. They took a sample of the crops growing there. Two of the men carried a cluster of grapes on a pole between them. This doesn't necessarily mean the grapes were large and heavy, it may just have been their way of keeping them from getting bruised. The men explored for 40 days, a very biblical length of time.

*They went back and reported to Moses that it was a great land " flowing with milk and honey." Caleb confidently suggested they take the land right away. The other men that had gone were leary of the inhabitants and said they saw Nephilim, or Anakites, who were supposedly of great size. They made them feel as small as grasshoppers.

Numbers chapter 7

After reading chapter 7:

*Now, we read about the gifts that each of the twelve tribes gave to the service of the tabernacle, after it was consecrated and anointed.

- First, the tribal leaders donated a total of six covered carts and twelve oxen. These were given to the Levite clans to transport the tabernacle equipment. The Gershonites got 2 carts and 4 oxen, the Merarites got four carts and eight oxen. The Kohanites didn't get any. They had to carry all the most holy stuff themselves, on their shoulders.

-Then, for the dedication of the altar, the twelve tribal leaders each brought offerings, one tribe a day for twelve days. The tribe of Judah was first. I'm guessing that is significant, since we will find that tribe taking a lead role later in the bible narrative. Each tribe brought the exact same offering and we are given 11 word for word, repetitious descriptions of it. It amounted to a quantity of silver and gold dishes, a grain offering, and a number of sacrificial animals. I still wonder why they needed manna if they had that many animals and the means to feed them, not to mention the grain offerings.

*Not only are we told the exact offering of each tribe, but we are also given the total amount of all the offerings at the end of the chapter. This really is a book of numbers.

*The last verses tell us that Moses entered the tabernacle to speak to Yahweh and he heard a voice come from between the cherubim above the cover of the ark. At least that is what we are told, there were no actual witnesses. We don't get to hear what Yaweh said til chapter 8.

Edited.

Numbers chapter 2

After reading chapter 2:

*This chapter explains how the twelve divisions of the Israelites were to set up camp. Three divisions each at the sites east, west, north and south of the tabernacle.

-In the eastern section, the leader would be the tribe of Judah. With them would camp the tribes of Issachar and Zebulun. When camp was broken, they would set out first.

-In the southern section, the leader would be the tribe of Reuben. With them would be the tribes of Simeon and Gad. When camp was broken, they would set out second.

-The tabernacle would be in the middle of the camp and the Levites would camp around it. They would set out in the same order in which they set up camp. We are not told what order that is.

-In the western section, the leader would be the tribe of Ephraim. With them would camp the tribes of Benjamin and Manasseh. They would set out third.

-In the northern section, the leader would be the tribe of Dan. With them would camp the tribes of Asher and Naphtali. When camp was broken, they would set out last.

The numbers from chapter one are repeated and tallied again. We are  told the Israelites did what God  told them.

Numbers chapter 1

After reading chapter 1:

*Back in Exodus 40, the tabernacle was finished and set up on the frst day of the first month, of the second year in the desert. Now, in Numbers, it is the first day of the second month of the same year. Moses has a private conversation with Yahweh in the tent of meeting, which we will assume is the tabernacle. So, apparently, Leviticus took place in between these times. God tells Moses that he and Aaron are to take a census of all the male Israelites twenty years and older who are able to serve in the army. The heads of the clans were to help them.

*Each person counted registered his ancestry by clan and family. Every single name was supposedly written down, one by one. Twelve clans of Israel were counted, those of Reuben, Simeon, Gad, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun,  Ephraim and Manasseh (sons of Joseph), Benjamin, Dan, Asher, and Naphtali. The Levites, the clan of priests,  were exempt from service in the Army because they had the special privilege of taking care of all the tabernacle stuff. Nice work, if you can get it.

*The numbers of fighting men in each clan are almost miraculous, they all end with zeroes. All but one end with two zeroes. No odd numbers. Each clan has between 32,000 and 75,000 men. Together they total 603,550. My study bible suggests that the total population, including women and children should have been in excess of 2 million persons, twice the population of Austin, Texas. They all travelled and camped in the desert together for many years and left no trace of their existance. Amazing feat.

*Whenever the Israelites camped, they were to set up their tents in divisions according to their clans. The Levites were to set up their tents around the tabernacle. Only Levites could participate in the setting up and dismantling of the tabernacle. If anyone else came near during this process, they wiould die. They were to literally keep it all in the family.

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.

Genesis chapter 22, part 3

At the end of the chapter we have an update on Abraham's brother Nahor who was married to their niece Milcah. Nahor and Milcah had eight sons. Nahor had four more sons by his concubine, making a total of twelve sons. Ishmael was said to become the father of twelve rulers. (Gen. 17:20) and we know there will be 12 sons born  to Jacob in the future. They will become the twelve tribes of Israel. Number patterns are fun.

One of Nahor's sons, Bethuel, became the father of Rebekah, who will marry Isaac in chapter 24. So, Isaac will marry his cousin's daughter, who also happens to be another cousin's (Milcah's) granddaughter. But, hey, his father was married to his half  sister, so what's the big deal? We will call this story "All in the Family."