Imagine, if you will, that I start to run a coffee shop. Not one that sells cups of brewed coffee. One that sells packs of freshly roasted coffee beans, to be ground at home and turned into a cup of the very best.
Here’s the price label on a 250g bag of single-origin, know-the-farmer-personally, roasted-yesterday Guatemala.
“Price: £5.
For those who cannot afford £5, the price is £2.
Those who cannot afford £2 may pay £0.50.”
What a funny kind of shop I would be running.
Hmm. Not sure.
It’s often been said that the golden calf is a breach of the 2nd commandment, rather than the 1st. That is: It’s not worshipping another God. It’s worshipping the right God in the wrong way – by use of images. In support of this is Aaron’s declaration: Behold, your God who brought you out of the Land of Egypt.
But I wonder.
The contrast between Moses up the mountain and what goes on as the people below get bored is striking.
I find Genesis 19:14 one of the most sobering, and scary, verses in the whole Bible.
“So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, ‘Up! Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city.’ But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.”
Tragic
But surely that’s just the Old Testament, right?
Baffled by Leviticus? Struggle to see how it is a part of the Christian Scriptures?
David Field has posted a blogpost entitled Leviticus – an eight para intro which introduces, summarises and gives to us the book of Leviticus in just 8 paragraphs.
The last paragraph of David’s 8 shows us how the book points us to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, and ends in praise to that God.
Enjoy David’s summary. So enjoy the book of Leviticus. So enjoy the God of whom it speaks.
A risky thing to claim – that we should expect to fight and lose.
Numbers 14: The people are judged for what? Deciding the enemies are too mighty to be beaten.
That was then. Since then the enemy has been beaten. Dare we risk angering the Lord in a similar way?
Exodus says 600,000 (rough numbers). So does Numbers. Some modern scholars try to say it can’t be that simple.
Arguments too and fro will be many – but may I note the contribution that Numbers 3 ought to make?
Note to self.
There is a debate when it comes to Exodus 12-13: Do the firstborn Israelites inherently belong to God, or do they belong to him because of the Exodus? From memory, Peter Enns goes for the former, but I could be wrong about that.
Numbers 3:13 - (I have all the Levites by substitution...) "...for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the firstborn in Israel, both of man and of beast. They shall be mine: I am YHWH."
Isn’t penal sub lovely.
Lev 9:24: “And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.”
Exodus 23:1-3: You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice, nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit.
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