They say the Devil is in the details, but I would have to disagree.
Anyone, spending even the briefest of moments perusing the book of Exodus would be compelled to notice the intense level of details God imparts to Moses regarding something as small and simple as a snuff dish or a curtain rod!
-Exodus 29:20. Of great curiosity to me is why the right ear, thumb, and great toe had to have blood sprinkled on them to consecrate Aaron and his sons to be priests in the new tabernacle.
-Exodus 30:23-24 gives the recipe for making the holy ointment to be used in the tabernacle and the Holy of Holies... and it was apparently a big recipe! It calls for, by my best calculations, 37.5 POUNDS of spices and about five LITERS of olive oil! That's a lot - but then, God called for a lot of holy ointment usage.
I also find it interesting that God explicitly states this ointment is NOT to be used or poured on human flesh because it is holy.
-Exodus 30:38 carries the commands for the holy ointment a bit further by commanding that no "rip-off" scents be made; nothing that even smelled a little like the holy ointment was to even be attempted.
-Exodus 31:2, 6 seems to indicate that only two men did all the actual building and making of things for the tabernacle. I see many people made the fabrics, threads, etc., but it appears only the two men Moses named actually did all the work for the building of the tabernacle
-Exodus 32:23 paints Aaron in a rather silly light (or guilty, as the case may be). When accosted by Moses to give account for what he had done with respect to the golden calf, Aaron not only blamed the people for demanding and idol, but said that after he had thrown all their gold into the fire, "there came out this calf." What?!
-Exodus 32:19 is yet another example of Moses losing his temper and ruining something God had for him. In Egypt, he killed a man in his anger, putting a forty-year hold on God's plan for releasing the Israelites. On Mount Sinai, Moses' fury at the Children of Israel was revealed as he broke the tables of the new law, just given and engraved BY GOD.
Later, Moses' anger would eventually be his undoing when he struck a rock instead of speaking to it. For this mistaken choice, Moses would never get to set foot in the Promised Land.
-Exodus 33:1-3 tells just how angry with the Children of Israel God was; He sent an Angel before them in lieu of being with them Himself. Why? He was so angry with them, He seemed to think He might just kill them all for their stiffneckedness and flip-flopi-ness. It seems His Angel was a good solution; the people would be led, God would not have to endure their heels.
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2 comments:
I really, really like walking through the bible with you. Have you I told you that?
In regards to your point about only the two men building things - my reading indicated that, although they were the two singled out by God (and thus Moses) for KNOWING how to do everything, they were also anointed as teachers. So they not only knew what to do, they knew how to explain it to others as well. On a side note, this answers my question about whether Moses should have hearkened to Jethro about being a judge. In the same way, Moses taught others how to judge (after ensuring they were of sufficient purity and character).
I think Moses and Aaron were great examples of the best and worst of their own people. They truly had faith, but when the going got tough they often crumbled. Ultimately these two had their heart set on God, as far as I can figure at least, which is why they remained in their positions of authority for so long.
It also paints Joshua in a rather fascinating light. Maybe I missed something - but Joshua is never spoken poorly of, is present much of the time that Moses speaks to God, performs missions for Moses, and ultimately winds up replacing Moses. He has a pretty amazing testimony.
I agree with your observation about the angel as well. I find it interesting too - the people had basically been using Moses as the "go-to" guy when seeking judgements and stuff for so long that when they were called up
Just a thought about Moses & his sins ~ I've been reading "A House For My Name" by Peter Leithart and he views the killing of the Egyptian not as murder but justifiable protection. That Moses struck the Egyptian as the Egyptian was striking the Israelite; it wasn't to punish Moses that the Exodus was postponed, but because Israel was not ready to follow Moses just as the Jews were not ready to follow Jesus... I'm not sure what I think about it, it's not what I would have gotten just from reading it myself, but it's an interesting perspective.
(I've also heard that it wasn't really a punishment for Moses to die before entering the Promised Land - after all he got to go to heaven instead!)
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