Today, I finished reading Exodus. Two books down. 64 to go! Today was the end of the story of the Tabernacle construction. I think it was interesting to see how God had to go through the entire construction instructions again. It was like he was saying, "OK, you didn't get it the first time. Let's try again."
In chapter 38, it describes the total amounts of the precious metals used. Though it gives the weights in talents and shekels, I was able to come up with some current estimates. Using my hasty detective skills, I found a talent or pound to modern ounce converter online, looked up the current value of gold, silver, and bronze in U.S. dollars, and came up with some modern equivalent estimates of the amount of value that went into the tabernacle.
Gold: @ ~$1354 USD/oz x ~2143 lbs (29+ talents) = ~$47.5 million USD
Silver: @ ~$23.31 USD/oz x ~7545 lbs (100+ talents) = ~$2.8 million USD
Bronze: @ ~$5.63 USD/oz x ~5310 lbs (70+ talents) = $ ~$0.5 million USD
So by my crude calculations, the equivalent of over $50 million dollars went into just the fine metals of the Tabernacle, not to mention the woods, the fabrics, the leathers, and other materials. Desert wanderers they may be, but poor as a nation of ~500 000 people, they were not. Interesting.
It seems like the end of Exodus is all good news. Finally, the people are turning to God and obeying his commands. I find this interesting: It says many times near the end that "Moses... did just as the LORD commanded." Even though most of the work was probably done by others, Moses was the one who seemed to finalize and/or legitimize all of the completions of the work set out for Israel. I feel that some narrative work is at play, but I also think that it is a way of demonstrating that, in the end, Moses fulfilled his duty to the LORD. In Exodus 40:33 it says, "... Moses finished the work." That reminds me of Paul in 2 Timothy 4:6 when he says, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race."
I love how Exodus ends. "Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted form above the tabernacle, they would set out; but it the cloud did no lift, they did not set out- until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during their travels" (Exodus 40:34-38). What an experience that would be! God was completely unknowable in those times. He was truly ineffable. God was cloud and fire, powerful and uncontrollable, terrifying but harmless to the people he loved. He would be who he would be.
I think Leviticus is going to be a challenging read. I started it today, but it just talked about how to sacrifice bulls, lambs or goats, and pigeons or doves. Because so much of it is black and white and controversial and narrow-minded, I am going to have a hard time not being really offended and judgmental of this book. Why was menstruation or nocturnal emission or marital sex considered "unclean"? These things bother me, along with other things like the condemnation of gay people.
I really like what a pastor told me, and I have taken it to heart as I read this Bible. He wrote to me, "Let the Scriptures offend you, stun you, comfort you, disconcert you, and teach you....."
1807 pages to go!
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