The first half of the book of Leviticus describes many different kinds of sacrifices and offerings that the people were to make in Old Testament times. It describes circumstances under which they were to be offered. Who was to offer them. Exactly how it had to be done. And so on.
Here are a few quotations.
Before you read this post, see my post yesterday about a funny coffee shop you could imagine me running…
“What conclusions would you draw, if you saw such a price label, about my intentions in selling this particular coffee?”
Let me suggest a few.
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?
Yes, I’m back in Jonah 1 again!
What happens if we take the view that Jonah represents Israel?
Psalm 88 has been a huge comfort to me over the years, as I know it has to many other Christians. There is something paradoxically comforting in the presence of such a black Psalm in the Psalter. A Psalm that truly records life as we feel and experience it, without embarrasment, without contradition to the other Psalms that step back to see life from God’s perspective.
There is, of course, much debate over the title.
“A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. To the Choirmaster: According to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.”
(The Book of the Twelve is another name for the “Minor Prophets”, Hosea – Malachi).
Peter Leithart has an illuminating post on the unity of these 12 books entitled Book of the Twelve.
Think Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel.
Think Isaiah 40-46.
Then read the story that appeared on the BBC News website today, entitled Hindu gods [sic.] get summons from court.
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