I'm so tired today. I don't know if I'm battling a cold, fatigue, or both. I had a horrible sleep last night. I woke up feeling like I had been beaten the night before, and as if my head was being compressed by a vice. I managed to get some work done today, and I had the chance to go see the Bodies exhibition. Interesting.
I read about the manna and quail today, God's food for the wandering Israelites while they were in the desert. Every morning, they woke up to see a fresh coating of manna on the ground. It says in Ex. 16:31 that it tasted like honey. I thought to myself, "Hmm... land of milk and honey? We've got the honey, but where's the milk now?" There was manna everyday, and people could have only enough for the day, otherwise it would go bad. God gave them only what they needed for the day, and if they tried hording it, it went bad. He wanted them to rely solely on Him. They took a bunch of it and stuffed it in a jar to show future generations. They kept it in front of the "Testimony", which I'm assuming is something similar to a record of all that was happening to them at the time. Later, I think they put the jars of manna in the Ark of the Covenant with the Ten Commandments tablets.
The people have been traveling in a desert for three days, and they are understandably thirsty. They are going to stone Moses if he doesn't get them water. So, God tells him to meet Him by the rock at Horeb, strike the rock with the staff that he used to spread the Red Sea waters, and then water gushed out enough to serve the people. So a rock represents both the harbinger of death and the source of life. The only difference is whether and how the LORD is involved and what He wills.
Next, Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, comes to visit Moses, bringing Moses' wife and kids. Jethro is "delighted" at how Moses is walking with God. That was cool. Moses had apparently been trying to manage all of the civil disputes among the people so Jethro helps Moses set up an hierarchical judicial system with Moses acting as sort of a Supreme Justice.
Chapter 19 contains what I think is the first female metaphor used to describe God that I have seen so far in Scripture. In verse 4, He says, "You yourselves have seen what I did in Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself." In the notes of my study Bible, it says that this description is most like the female golden eagle. Hooray for signs of God's female nature!
The Ten Commandments are described in chapter 20.
1. No other gods.
2. No idols.
3. Do not misuse the name (which I think means something more like "the honour, prestige, history, reputation, and legacy) of the LORD.
4. Remember the Sabbath by keeping it holy. No work on the Sabbath for anybody.
5. Honour your father and mother, so that you will live long in the land the LORD has given you.
6. Don't murder.
7. Don't commit adultery.
8. Don't steal.
9. Don't lie.
10. Don't covet another person's things or wife (which I will extend to spouse/partner)
Though it's filled with course language, I couldn't help but keep thinking about George Carlin's take on the Ten Commandments. My personal reaction to the Ten Commandments is underwhelm-ment (I can make up words because it's my made up blog). If God was the source of everything good, why couldn't he have given the Israelites advanced ethics like Aristotelian, utilitarian, deontological, or virtue ethics. Why didn't God use principles like Christ did (love, holiness, and justice)? Why are these laws so barbaric if they came from God? My guess is that they are so barbaric because they probably didn't come from God. They are probably simplified versions of what God actually said. Just my guess. Given that they were probably living in a time and place where philosophy and science hadn't been invented yet, then they would have little basis or few tools with which to understand these laws.
ANYWAY! I digress.
The barbaric laws continue in chapter 21. Here, slavery as an institution is legitimized, as "the Lord said to Moses." I have a feeling that, again, Moses and others wrote these laws to confirm the cultural beliefs and practices of the time under the name of God in order to create stability in the group. Let's face it. A crowd of thirsty and disgruntled people in a desert are not going to take lightly to massive social changes that would disrupt what little they had in the way of the life they knew. My only problem is this: They were slaves in Egypt, right? They knew the injustice of the system. Sure, the Egyptians were harsh with them from time to time. But it was the institution of slavery that was detestable. Even if the Egyptians were nice to the Jews, wouldn't it still be a detestable practice? Why then, were the Jews dragging slaves around?
Barbaric law 1: If you beat your slave and kill her, you should be killed by stoning, but if she manages to survive the beating or revive after a couple of days, then you are "not to be punished... since the slave is [your] property." I just can't imagine God thinking like that. That sounds like the logic of an ancient shepherd, not a loving and just God. Interestingly, the only passage I could find with the phrase, "eye for eye, tooth for tooth" was if a man strikes a pregnant mother and there is "serious injury" (Ex. 21:22-25). Does "serious injury" mean the miscarriage of the baby, death of the mother and baby, or just a bruise or a couple of broken bones? I don't know.
One law that made me giggle was as follows: "If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull must be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the bull will not be held responsible. If, however, the bull has had the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull must be put to death." (Ex. 21:28-29)
"A habit of goring" made me giggle for some reason." It sounds like a Monty Python sketch in the making.
I'm tired.
1832 pages to go!
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