Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 17:1-7

1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 

2 Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them; This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, saying, 

3 What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp, 

4 And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an offering unto the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord; blood shall be imputed unto that man; he hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people: 

5 To the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them unto the Lord, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest, and offer them for peace offerings unto the Lord. 

6 And the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savour unto the Lord. 

7 And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations.

The first few verses might seem a little strange. What does God mean that a man must not kill any of his livestock? Wasn’t one of the purposes of these animals for eating? As we get to verse 5 it starts to become clear. God is not forbidding the slaying of these animals in general, but specifically the sacrificing of them in any other place than the tabernacle and to any other subject than Him.

God is specifically calling out patterns of decentralized idolatry. Decentralized, because He is describing the people killing their sacrifices individually, and out “in the open field.” Centralized idolatry would be more like what we hear in the time of Ahab and Jezebel, where specially ordained priests of Baal would perform offerings unto the false state religion. Centralized idolatry was also abominable, of course, but it seems that at this point in time what the Israelites struggled with more was individuals trying to make bargains with idols on their own.

This feels particularly relevant to our society today, where faith has again become decentralized. People constantly speak of being “spiritual, not religious,” making up their own personal doctrines, and remaking God in their own image. People today believe in a false dichotomy. They are correct that part of our walk with God will always be individual, that our discipleship will be our own, but none of that is incompatible with also submitting to God’s centralized church authority. Belonging to a church, recognizing authority, participating in orthodoxy, and then also acting as an individual from our own conscience is the balance that God has always expected His people keep.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 10:1-2

1 And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not.

2 And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.

3 Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.

We have gone for a while without hearing of any rebellion from the Israelites, but sadly that streak comes to an end. Nadab and Abihu offer “strange fire” to the Lord, which clearly seems to mean some sort of idolatrous ritual.

I should note that not all commentators agree on that point. Some suppose that “strange fire” merely means the fire didn’t come from the correct place (the outer altar) or was offered at a wrong time in a ritual. However I see two pieces of evidence that make idolatry more likely. First is that the word used for “strange” is זָרָ֔ה (zarah), the same that is used when referencing “strange gods.” Secondly, is that later in this chapter we will see an actual minor error in ritual observation, and it does not incur any penalty. The severity of God’s punishment suggests a more serious infraction.

And that punishment certainly was severe! It is one thing to be slain by the Lord, to collapse dead in a moment, but Nadab and Abihu were consumed by miraculous fire! This was obviously an unforgettable lesson to the Israelites of the seriousness of their offense. Clearly God was not merely displeased, He was furious, and the dramatic execution calls to mind the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

But that is not all. The verses that immediately preceded these described divine fire of the Lord consuming the meat offering, accepting it in miraculous fashion. Well now Nadab and Abihu were the ones being consumed by divine fire, this time out of rejection. It is two sides of the same coin. It is something we have seen a few times already in the books of Moses: God’s glory purifies and God’s glory destroys. God’s judgment exalts the righteous and God’s judgment decimates the wicked. God’s words empower the campaign of the truthful, and God’s words breaks the schemes of the liar. God is great and God is terrible. All of our works, all of our offerings, all of ourselves are offerings to the Most High, consumed in His fire either to joy or to fearful destruction.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 34:15-17

15 Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;

16 And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.

17 Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.

What God says here about the tendency to make a covenant with idolatry has been an eternal challenge of God’s people. When Paul wrote to the church in Corinth thousands of years later, he still had to continually remind the people to not mix their faith with false gods. For convenience or politeness, the people would partake of the culture around them, even when doing so violated their exclusive commitment to the Lord.

Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled (1 Corinthians 8:7).

We must not make the mistake of dismissing these verses decrying idolatry as irrelevant to us today because we do not carve our false gods out of wood anymore. There are still many false gods and vain obsessions all around us, and many the disciple is deceived to think that they can both be a Christian and partake in the world’s folly. We commit idolatry when we show fealty to the prevailing societal trends, even though they contradict God’s laws. Many that would follow the Lord stumble to the ideals of sexual and identity perversion.

God is also very right to identify the trojan horse of family members and spouses that we become devoted to, who then seduce us into unworthy concessions. I know many the brother and sister who watched the world celebrating that which God has called sin, and they stood boldly against the perversion, but then their spouse convinced them of the need to be “tolerant” of the evil, and by-and-by they lost their way.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 34:11-14

11 Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

12 Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee:

13 But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:

14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

As part of the Lord re-extending His covenant to bring Israel into the Promised Land, He now describes all of the enemies that currently dwell in that land, whom He will drive out to make space for His chosen people. God then warns the Israelites against making any sort of liaison with those people. The Canaanites had been marked for destruction because of their perversions, and anyone that became confederate with them would be linking themselves to their doom. Instead, the Israelites were commanded to remain firmly apart, and to tear down any of the false gods that they came across.

While the Lord did not specifically bring to mind Israel’s recent offense, these instructions must have been a timely reminder for how fundamentally they had betrayed their covenant to Him with the worship of the golden calf, taking a step towards the same idolatry of the Canaanites. In that one act they had broken God’s first two commandments. Indeed, the supplanting of God with any other ideal is the first of all wickedness. If the first and great commandment is to love the Lord with all of your heart, then the first and great sin must be to replace Him with something else.

Thus, God says in verse 14 that He is a jealous God. He is necessarily an exclusive God, one that must permeate all of our lives and not be mixed with alternative beliefs. Indeed, He cannot be mixed with alternative beliefs, for once one tries to mix, they have already cast aside God.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 32:5-6

5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the Lord.

6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

The idolatry of the Israelites bore yet another similarity to God’s tabernacle in that both required animal sacrifice. We have already discussed the symbolism of the offerings to be made to the Lord in the tabernacle and how they represented the people giving up their sins, devoting their passions to the Almighty, and submitting their lives to His purpose.

Assuming that the animal offerings to this golden idol carried the same symbolism, then they were giving their passions, their energies, and their very lives to something evil. Anyone that has dabbled in a life of sin knows that you cannot just have it on the side, totally separate from the rest of your life. Many have tried, but to maintain the course of sin we must progressively lay on its altar the very best of ourselves, including the love and energy that we had intended to withhold from it.

It is interesting that the Israelites would be so forward in admitting that this was the aim of their idolatry. I think most of us are caught unawares by the cost of sin, having only entered into vice because we assumed it wouldn’t take so much from us. Not for the first time, it appears to me that the Old Testament takes all that is subtle, invisible, and spiritual today, and makes them immediate, real, and physical.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 23:13

13 And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.

Once again the Lord reiterates the importance of not worshipping other gods. Today’s verse take it a step further, though, forbidding even the utterance of those other god’s names. This might seem an extreme measure to take, why would even the names be forbidden to the people?

I believe this commandment recognizes the incredible power of words. Psychologists have noted that only when something is named can it become a fully realized concept in our minds. When it has no name it is only a vague, unformed notion, with a name it starts to become real. It is our natural tendency to try and name every reality and concept, turning them into a concrete abstractions so that we can fully grapple with them in our minds. But some of these beasts would be better left sleeping.

Imagine if after the Israelites left Egypt they never again mentioned the names of Ra and Horus. The concept of those Egyptian gods would have gone extinct among them within a generation. Imagine if they had never spoken of Baal or Ashtaroth, how much harder would it have been for those Canaanite gods to gain sway in their hearts.

Of course, the complete obliteration of a perverse idea would require universal cooperation. Even if the Israelites stopped themselves from uttering the names of foreign gods, they were still a part of the world, with neighbors and trade partners, and it would be inevitable for them to hear many strange things in that association, just as every Christian today learns from society all manner of inappropriate practices and beliefs. Even with that acknowledgement, though, we can do what we can to censure our own minds, tongues, and homes, and that does make a difference. Those who leave the depraved things unsaid leave no room for those seeds to take root and blossom, whereas those who give voice to perversions in their private, intimate settings are the most likely to abandon the Lord for foreign fruit.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 22:18-20

18 Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.

19 Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death.

20 He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed.

We now shift back to a series of rapid-fire laws, which feel more akin in tone to the ten commandments. In fact, in tomorrow’s verses we will hear the Lord speak in the first person, making promises of divine punishment for transgressors of certain laws.

All of the crimes mentioned in today’s verses carry a death penalty. Two of them have to do directly with forms of idolatry. The witches mentioned in verse 18 were female mystics who would use strange mutterings and sell enchantments as an alternative to relying upon the Lord, and obviously anyone sacrificing to a god other than the Lord was abandoning the true faith to pursue false deities. The other commandment that warrants a death penalty, having sexual relations with a creature, might have also been related to pagan rituals.

But why do these commandments warrant the law’s ultimate punishment? Why the death penalty as opposed to a fine or expulsion? We have already seen some death penalties, but they were reserved for the most extreme transgressions against other people. In every one of today’s laws, however, they are transgressions against God and nature. The target of the offense, I believe, is the reason for the harsh penalty.

Of course, there are those who choose to interpret the Old Testament’s strong punishments upon the heretics as evidence that God is insecure and narcissistic. If God is the Supreme Being of the universe, then why does He get so bent out of shape when we mock him? I think that these arguments are erring on the side of making God too personified. Not to say that it is wrong to think of God in a personified way, but that shouldn’t be the only way we conceive of our creator.

God is also synonymous with truth and right and good. Perhaps it becomes easier to understand the harsh penalties given in today’s commandments when we think of God in these more abstract terms. The people being described in these verses are acting in defiance of truth itself. They are trying to destroy the truth, to pervert it, to replace it with a lie, and it is hard to imagine a faster way to bring suffering and destruction to a people than declaring war directly on the truth itself. The laying of lies and idolatry at our foundation corrupts things at such a fundamental level that it can claim far more lives and souls than any other crime, hence the strong motivation to cut that trend off immediately.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 49:22-24

22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:

23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:

24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)

Things slow down again as Jacob moves on to Joseph. He is described as a fruitful bough, which is certainly justified by how he has become a life-giving source of food and nourishment to all the land. Jacob extends the imagery by saying Joseph is a “bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall.” This well brings a constant source of nourishment to the bough, such that it thrives with abundance.

And the well, of course, is a symbol for living water, the spiritual refreshing that comes by being rooted in God and His gospel. This is a symbolism that we will see many times, trees that grow alongside rivers in the desert, immune to their harsh environment because they exist in a different reality from it, constantly nourished by cool, life-giving water. Surely that was Joseph when he was sold as a slave. It was a hostile environment all about him, but he was preserved by the grace of God within.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 49:19-21

19 Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.

20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.

21 Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.

We start getting through the blessings for Jacob’s sons at a rapid pace now. Gad is described as being in conflict, at first giving way but ultimately prevailing. Given that the tribe of Gad would settle itself on Israel’s eastern border, right next to the hostile nation of the Ammonites, they were likely the first target in many invasions. But in the end, the Ammonites would be overcome, just as the prophecy suggests.

Asher is foretold to be a nation of bakeries and exports. Its description suggests that it will not just produce what is necessary for life but will have abundance enough for delicacies and surplus.

Interestingly, Gad and Asher were the sons of Zilpah, but their fortunes are described in between that of the sons of Bilhah, Dan and Naphtali. Perhaps the sons of Zilpah were born between the ones of Bilhah?

Naphtali is said to give goodly words. One of his descendants would be Barak and possibly also Deborah, who would be a general and a prophetess that banded together to free Israel from the rule of the Canaanites. And after this victory the two of them composed a song of rejoicing together, being at least one fulfillment of Jacob’s prophecy.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 49:16-18

16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.

17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.

18 I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord.

We now move from the sons of Leah to those of Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid. Dan, it is stated, would also be a leader among the Israelites. He would not have a dynasty, such as Judah, but it would have moments of rule, nonetheless.

The most famous descendant of Dan would be Samson, the mighty warrior, who would indeed judge Israel for twenty years, fulfilling the promise made in verse 16. Samson would also fulfill verse 17’s promise in how he constantly stirred up trouble for the Philistines, who at the time ruled over Israel. We will never hear of Samson at the head of the army, rather his actions would be individual, striking out at the Philistines randomly, when moved by passion, thus making the comparison to a venomous adder very apt.

Unfortunately, Dan also proved to be a poison to Israel itself, integrating idolatry into their entire society after the death of Samson. Perhaps it was the specter of this grave evil which would afflict Israel for generations that led to Jacob’s exclamation in verse 18 that he waits for the salvation of the Lord!