Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 30:26-30

26 And thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the congregation therewith, and the ark of the testimony,

27 And the table and all his vessels, and the candlestick and his vessels, and the altar of incense,

28 And the altar of burnt offering with all his vessels, and the laver and his foot.

29 And thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy: whatsoever toucheth them shall be holy.

30 And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office.

The anointing oil was to be used to anoint every element of the tabernacle. The ark, the table of shewbread, and the candlestick on the interior; the altar of burnt offering and the laver on the exterior. Not only these, but even the tabernacle itself, as well as the priests who worked there. All were to be anointed with this oil without exception.

To me this speaks of the universal permeation of God through all the world, made possible by the atoning sacrifice of Christ that brought His spirit into the heart of all creation. Just as this oil was to be sprinkled everywhere, upon the holy places, the most holy places, the altars of offering, the candlestick of light, the table of nourishing bread, the lives of the men that worked for God, so too God is found in the holy, the most holy, the offering, the light, the nourishing, and the lives of all mankind. “He is above all things, and in all things, and is through all things, and is round about all things; and all things are by him, and of him, even God, forever and ever,” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:41).

None of the work done in the tabernacle or in our lives today would be of any efficacy if God was not in it all. God is the standard to strive for, but He is also the activating agent that makes the striving possible. God reaches for God, God raises God, and we are raised with Him.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Invited Blessings

In my study of the Old Testament, I have been reviewing all of the labor and rituals that the Israelites had to observe in order to secure the Lord’s promised blessings. They had to build a holy place where the Lord could reside, they had to give the best of their flocks in offerings, and they even had to give up a portion of their people for a priest class. Also, everything had to be prepared according to a very specific design, and in the right order, with some rituals repeated a precise number of times.

In the end, the Israelites did secure the blessing of the Lord’s presence, and all others that followed. After all of their labor He accepted the house, and “a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Exodus 40:34).

So, does that all mean that accessing God and His blessings is based upon making specific sacrifices and following a specific recipe? In my experience, not exactly.

I would say that I have clear instruction for what I need to do to invite God’s presence into my life generally, but not so much for specific blessings that I might want. This creates an interesting contradiction where I feel His presence, but often cannot achieve the transformation that I desire. Take for example my desire to treat my body as the temple of God that it really is, or my wish that I could better maintain my stamina for the works I feel He has called me to do, or my struggle to let go of the anger and bitterness that I hear Him asking me to lay on the altar.

I hear you Lord, but I don’t know the way.

Further complicating things is the fact that I believe most of God’s blessings are never guaranteed, at least in this life. He might bless me with a sudden passion for always doing the right, or He might consider it wise to let me struggle so that I become stronger. This same uncertainty applies on a larger scale, too. I believe that those who rely upon the Lord have more blessed lives on the whole, but that does not mean that any specific blessing is guaranteed for any specific individual. And we must not forget that in dark times, being a believer has actually meant being more persecuted and afflicted on the whole.

There is no formula that if you do X and Y, then you must receive Z.

Sometimes that is hard for me to accept, but at the same time I realize that if this wasn’t the case, then there wouldn’t be grace. If I knew exactly what levers I had to pull to get exactly what outcomes I wanted, then my path would be in my hands and not the Lord’s. There would be no room for Him to lead me into something I never considered before. There would be no falling to my knees overcome by gratitude when I receive a gift that I don’t feel worthy of.

When we do good, it only invites blessings. If they come, what they are, and how many of them is out of our hands. Each one that comes to us is an unpredictable miracle. Thus, all we should concern ourselves with is making ourselves into a better vessel, then leave it up to God to decide how to fill it.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 29:45-46

45 And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God.

46 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the Lord their God.

To conclude this chapter God makes the very special promise that He will dwell with the Israelites, a constant presence in the midst of them. God will not only be some outer concept, but their own neighbor, living in a house that the community had prepared for Him, somewhere that they could go and visit throughout the year.

God further promises that the people will know that He is, indeed, their God, even the same one that brought them out of Egypt with such tremendous power and miracles. That seems to suggest that they will see such power and wonders coming from the tabernacle that they will be able to identify the presence there as the same that had been within the pillar of smoke and fire. We will hear how this promise is fulfilled at the very end of Exodus, in chapter 40.

This brings us to the end of the preparations for the priests. There yet remains two more furnishings for use in the tabernacle, however. We will hear the details of them in the next chapter.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 29:42-44

42 This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord: where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee.

43 And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory.

44 And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the priest’s office.

The Israelites would make a continual offering to the Lord, morning and night, and now God promises that He will respond by coming to the doorway and speaking to them directly. He states that He “will meet with the children of Israel,” and that His glory will sanctify the tabernacle, the altar, and the priests.

This is the overlap of two worlds, a special place where man and God would be in the same place at the same time. These are precious portals between heaven and earth, very rare and only ever attained by the condescension of God Almighty. We may have our spiritual experiences, but they are generally invisible and immeasurable, occurring only on a spiritual plane that resides within us. What makes these world-overlapping moments so special is that they are times where the things of Heaven are physically and tangibly perceptible by the denizens of the Earth.

Records of such special worlds-overlapping moments including Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Moses at the burning bush, and the voice of God at Jesus’s baptism. Of course, the greatest of all the world-overlapping events was the entire life of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

As I said, these moments are very rare, and I think it is fair to say that most people live their entire lives without experiencing this sort of occasion even once. It may well be that there will not be any such large overlapping moment until the second coming. Suffice it to say, if ever such a moment does occur in your life, be sure that you attend to it!

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 29:22-28

22 Also thou shalt take of the ram the fat and the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right shoulder; for it is a ram of consecration:

23 And one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of the unleavened bread that is before the Lord:

24 And thou shalt put all in the hands of Aaron, and in the hands of his sons; and shalt wave them for a wave offering before the Lord.

25 And thou shalt receive them of their hands, and burn them upon the altar for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour before the Lord: it is an offering made by fire unto the Lord.

26 And thou shalt take the breast of the ram of Aaron’s consecration, and wave it for a wave offering before the Lord: and it shall be thy part.

27 And thou shalt sanctify the breast of the wave offering, and the shoulder of the heave offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of the consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons:

28 And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’ by a statute for ever from the children of Israel: for it is an heave offering: and it shall be an heave offering from the children of Israel of the sacrifice of their peace offerings, even their heave offering unto the Lord.

After the sprinkling of blood, the best parts of the ram would be placed in the hands of the priest, as well as a bread, a cake, and a wafer, and they would be waved in the air. At the same time, there was also a heave offering, which is not described, but mentioned in retrospect by verse 27. The right shoulder was apparently held by the priest and heaved upward.

It also says in verse 25 that all of these items were placed upon the altar and burned for a sweet savor to the Lord, though in verses 26-28 it sounds instead like these parts were given to the priests for their allowance of food. So were the items burned on the altar, or given to the priests? I can see two possibilities:

  1. The “receive them” in verse 25 is not calling for the totality of the wave and heave offering. Perhaps only the fat, caul, and kidneys were burned upon the altar, while the breast and shoulder and breads were left for the priests.
  2. All of this first offering, which was meant for the sanctification of Aaron and his sons, was burned upon the altar, but every heave and wave offering thereafter would be given to the priests.

With either interpretation, this offering seems to be establishing the unity between God and the priest. Because the priest went through the rituals of giving up his sins, dedicating his life to the good, and receive the purification of the anointing oil and blood, now the Lord will share from His own altar with the priest. Now that the disciple has been sanctified, he is invited to share in the meal that is laid on God’s table.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 29:19-21

19 And thou shalt take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram.

20 Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of his blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about.

21 And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons’ garments with him.

Now the second ram is sacrificed. This one is neither a sin offering nor a burnt offering, but something new. The first two sacrifices took the essence of the animal and gave them to God, whereas this one has its essence directed towards the priest. This time the blood is being placed upon the ear, thumb, and toe, and then mixed with oil and sprinkled all over them. In the following verses we will learn that the meat of the ram would also be given as a meal to the priests.

It seems clear that the first two sacrifices represented what man brought as an offering to God, and now we are starting to hear what God brings back as an offering to man. With the first two sacrifices we saw represented how man must give up his sins and dedicate his life to the Lord, and now in today’s verses we see a symbol of God sacrificing his own son, Jesus Christ, that his divine blood might purge away our sins and make us holy.

No man is sufficiently pure from his efforts alone, there must also be the touch of the divine to make him truly sanctified. The sacrifices that the man makes are simply to make himself a ready receptacle to the receiving of God’s spirit, which comes as an act of grace. This is therefore a covenant, a sacred bond that goes both directions between God and man, with expectations and requirements for each.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Paradoxical Gospel

One of the most intriguing elements of the gospel is its reliance upon seeming paradoxes. The only way to save your life is to lose it. Christ overcame the world by letting himself be defeated by it. We only find the strength to overcome our vices when we admit defeat and surrender to Jesus. We are saved by grace, but that salvation is then evidenced by our works. In our relationships with our fellow man we are supposed to return good for evil.

It is a fascinating concept, and perhaps one day I will do a more in-depth study as to why this pattern of paradox is so prevalent in the gospel. One reason that is apparent to me now, however, is that it allows God to hide His path in plain sight. Consider the last example in the above paragraph, which is that we are to return good for evil. Jesus was absolutely clear on this point. Here are his words in Matthew 5:44:

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.

Returning kindness for cruelty goes against our human nature. It seems completely illogical. It only seems consistent that we would do good to those that do us good, and evil to those that do us evil. In the spirit of fairness, we would at least need to hurt our enemies just as much as they hurt us, and then perhaps we could build a new, more positive relationship since we were back on even ground.

But that isn’t what Christ commands us. He commands us to love even while we are the one at a disadvantage. It isn’t logical and it isn’t natural, but it is a surefire way to experience a slice of heaven here on earth. Genuinely forgiving an enemy brings a buoyancy and cheerfulness to the heart that defies all reason. And so, the evil suffered was actually the potential for good, a beautiful blessing in disguise.

And this is no secret. All of these counter-intuitive, paradoxical behaviors that unlock the greatest joy have already been laid out before us. The proliferation of the Christian gospel has made it so that all of us know that turning the other cheek will make us walk hand-in-hand with God. We all know the way, but few there be that take it because it requires us to go against our own nature and embrace the paradox.

This combination of free knowledge, but paradoxical requirement means that no one will join God by accident, but everyone that sincerely wants to join God may do so. It is an ingenious solution that allows God to save every soul that really wants it.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Is the Old Testament God Evil? – The Forest Through the Trees

This study has been an interesting journey. I had to dive into the arguments, the reasons, and the details to discover that the answer to my questions was not in any of those. I want to say a few more words about where I am settled today, and this will conclude my study.

Yesterday I spoke about this problem of getting stuck on the details, trying to use rational logic to argue about was originally an emotional reaction. I don’t expect that I will ever stop feeling sad and troubled whenever I think of the children that might have been slain by the Israelite soldiers via a command from God.

I can acknowledge that my conception of God is probably mistaken, and that some part of what is written may have been lost in translation before I read it, and that I don’t fully understand the context of Canaan at the time, and I certainly don’t understand the transition from this life to the afterlife. Thus, I might only feel troubled due to the limitations in my understanding, but so deep are my limitations that I don’t expect to fully overcome them in this life, and so I expect to always feel troubled.

But that doesn’t break my faith and trust in God, because this troubling is but one part in the rich tapestry of experiences that I have had with him. If anyone ever comes to me with questions on these passages, I will probably talk with him about it for a while, but at the end I expect I will say something to the effect of, “it doesn’t do to fixate on the tree at the expense of the forest.” I would advise this person to keep reading his Bible, to read all of it, and to then step back and consider the entire picture. Paul’s famous words to the Corinthians comes to mind.

1 Corinthians 3:12- For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

As I read all of the chapters in the Bible, and not just fixate on one or two, my consciousness lifts above the isolated details, and I become aware of an over-encompassing spirit that is in and through it all. And I must confess that that spirit is undeniably one of goodness, one that loves and cares for the people of this earth, one that stives over thousands of years to reclaim a fallen people, one that is worthy of devotion and discipleship. I should not lose sight of the good in that overarching spirit by obsessing over the small part that I don’t understand.

So, in conclusion, yes, I am still troubled by the command for the Israelites to kill every man, woman, and child of the Canaanites, but I am not going to fixate on that troubling to the severance of my connection to the overwhelming spirit of good I find in God’s word. Because I know that God is good, I am sure that when I finally understand all the parts that I do not now, that I will be at peace and in awe of it all.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Is the Old Testament God Evil? – Mind vs Heart

I have spent the past several days reviewing the common defenses that are made for God having commanded the Israelites to destroy the Canaanite nations. I found some of the arguments more compelling than others. However, even the ones that had strong points were not so convincing that I lost all discomfort for these passages. I find what remains for me is a sense that God was justified to have commanded these actions, but I still wish He wouldn’t have. The more that I delve into the details, the more I realize that the problem isn’t in the details.

I think this is a common mistake when raising and addressing issues related to God. We are dealing with a matter of spiritual unrest and are trying to resolve it in intellectual terms. We too often assume that our feelings are invalid if we cannot express it as a logical argument. Therefore, the critic will experience negative feelings towards these verses and will give logical arguments against them. The defender of these verses will respond in kind by providing logical rebuttals. Even if those rebuttals are sound, they will do nothing to convince the critic, because the logic wasn’t where the problem began. It isn’t the critic’s mind that needs to be converted, it is the heart.

Thus, my response to all of the defenses that we have covered thus far is, “yes, you have some good points, and maybe it all makes sense in my head…but I still just feel sad about it.” In my next post I will try to take a different approach to addressing these concerns. I think it is time we took the matter to a higher level of consciousness. I wish to make an appeal, not the to mind, but to the Spirit. We will see how that goes tomorrow.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Is the Old Testament God Evil? – Response to Common Defenses #3

I have been examining God’s command to slay the entire population of a nation, and in my last post I responded to the defenses that suggested such an action was justified, and that God has the moral right to do such a thing. I concluded that such an argument makes sense to me when viewing the destruction of a wicked nation as a whole, but when zooming in to the level of individual children being destroyed, it is still uncomfortable.

Today we will look at another category of defense for these verses, which argues that the destruction of these innocents may actually have been an act of mercy. Here are two examples of that line of reasoning.

  1. From the eternal perspective, death is simply an awakening from a painful dream into glory.
  2. When a nation becomes truly depraved, their own children suffer most. Some of these children were already being killed in pagan sacrifices, and those that lived were fixed on a path of corruption. Cutting this misery short was an act of mercy.

This line of argument is taking a common principle of life and extending it to the extreme. We all know that there are things that are unpleasant, that no one wants to go through, and which under normal circumstances would be wrong to subject another person to; yet we also know that there are exceptions to this principle when it prevents the person from experiencing greater harm, or when it is a step towards greater joy.

For example, under normal circumstances it is wrong to shove another person, and wrong to advise a person to cause themselves pain. But what if you are shoving the person out of the way of a charging horse? Or what if you are encouraging someone to go through painful physical therapy so that they can walk again. Because your underlying intention is good, and because the intended outcome is good, it actually becomes an act of kindness and love to shove and to encourage painful exercise.

An important realization here is that at first thought we might think it is fundamentally wrong to cause someone pain, but clearly that isn’t the case. If all I hear is that someone caused another to feel pain, I still don’t actually know whether that person did something good or bad. Causing pain is not objectively wrong. The intent to harm is.

But does this reasoning extend all the way to death? It is more challenging for us to see the ultimately good consequence that might follow death, because for us death is the end. We do not see anyone receive any positive consequence that comes after having passed through it. Of course, we’ve all been told that there is the potential for experiencing a terrific good after death, but that is something we can only imagine for now. The degree to which death disquiets us is a metric for just how real heaven is in our minds.

Summary)

If these things are true, then it is understandable why from God’s perspective His consignment to death might be an act of great mercy, but why it seems cruel from ours. Our view of the exchange is being halted in the middle, just long enough to see the hard part of the bargain, and none of the good return.

A stronger testimony of the afterlife might improve my outlook on these passages, but I still have a lingering concern. Even if God has great enough rewards to make up for any type of death, why not subject the innocent to the most peaceful demise imaginable? Why not make all the infants die peacefully in their sleep, as opposed to by the sword? I’ll keep these questions in mind as I continue with this analysis.