Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 4:13-21

13 And if the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done somewhat against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty;

14 When the sin, which they have sinned against it, is known, then the congregation shall offer a young bullock for the sin, and bring him before the tabernacle of the congregation.

15 And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock before the Lord: and the bullock shall be killed before the Lord.

16 And the priest that is anointed shall bring of the bullock’s blood to the tabernacle of the congregation:

17 And the priest shall dip his finger in some of the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord, even before the veil.

18 And he shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar which is before the Lord, that is in the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall pour out all the blood at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

19 And he shall take all his fat from him, and burn it upon the altar.

20 And he shall do with the bullock as he did with the bullock for a sin offering, so shall he do with this: and the priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them.

21 And he shall carry forth the bullock without the camp, and burn him as he burned the first bullock: it is a sin offering for the congregation.

The last verses described how the sin offering would apply to a priest who sinned. Now it describes how the same process applied when all the congregation would sin. The chapter will continue with this pattern, describing how the pattern applied to a ruler that sinned and to a common Israelite that sinned.

The message here is clear. All are under the law of the Lord. It is not a different set of rules for leaders or priests, groups or individuals. God’s commandments were the great equalizer, just as pertinent to the king as to the beggar in the streets. All would fall short at some point, and all would be expected to make an offering then. As we will see, the exact animal sacrificed could vary, but it was still the same sacrifice and the same ritual for all.

It may seem a remarkable thing for all of the congregation to go astray at once. But as we will see later in the Bible, there were times when the people would go off worshipping false gods and then return to the proper worship of the Lord. There was also the time when book of the law had been lost and forgotten, then rediscovered during temple renovations. When it was read to King Josiah, he realized how the entire people had unwittingly gone astray and restored the rituals and commandments of old. While the record does not explicitly mention the performance of a sin offering, one would expect that it occurred, as it was specifically prescribed for just such an occasion.

SacrificeEligible oblationStepsExplanation
Sin offeringBullockSacrifice for sin
The same performance for an individual, community, priest, or leaderAn equal path to God for all
Hands placed on head, slaughteredAnimal takes the place of us
Blood placed on horns of the altarA heartfelt plea to the Lord for mercy
Fat and kidneys burned on altarCleansing our behavior and desire
Skin, dung, and flesh burned beyond the campThe sinful behavior purged out of us

Full table.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 34:31-32

31 And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them.

32 And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him in mount Sinai.

Just as God had given the commandments anew to Moses, Moses gave them anew to all of Israel. And, to their credit, this time the Israelites had not become restless and gone astray. The previous time Moses had been gone for forty days and nights, that was long enough for them to be unsure of his fate, and to demand that they be led by someone (or something) new.

It occurs to me that maybe the reason that Israel went astray was not so much that they thirsted for sin as that they could not tolerate the silence. As the Preacher observed in Proverbs 29:18, “where there is no vision, the people perish.” So long as Moses and the word of God was present, the people knew what they were following and what they were about. But when there was no voice for a time, no vision before them, then perhaps the Israelites were anxious to be led by something, even if it wasn’t the right thing.

We do the same thing today. Yes, we have the word of God with us, but many of us crave direct communion. We miss our savior, and we want him to return to dwell with us personally. But first we have a long time down here on our own, and many of us crave direction so much that we are tempted by the voices of society’s whims, just for the comfort of following something close and near. A great test for the Israelites, and for all of us, is whether we will hold the first instruction through the long dark while we wait for the next. Yes, we can follow, but can we also wait?

Israel had not been able to the first time around, and as part of their reunification with God they were given this chance to try again. Being able to succeed where they had before failed was the true measure of their growth and change.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 45:21-23

21 And the children of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way.

22 To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment.

23 And to his father he sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she asses laden with corn and bread and meat for his father by the way.

Joseph had shown favoritism to Benjamin when he hosted all the brothers for a meal, and at the time I had wondered whether this was only to test whether the other sons of Jacob would feel jealous. But now, with every guise and pretense discarded, he continues to show Benjamin a special preference, giving him a wealth of silver and five times the clothing that he gave to the other brothers. Obviously Joseph’s own life was incredibly deprived for a very long time, and perhaps his indulgence of Benjamin was a form of giving to his past self all the things he never had.

He also sends a great gift to his father, twenty donkeys weighed with the spoil of Egypt, including the life-sustaining grain that is in such short supply. Finally the entourage is ready to return to Canaan and come back with all the brothers’ households and their father.

Or rather, it is ready except for one thing. Joseph has some final parting words to his brothers that I find very intriguing. We will examine them tomorrow.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Influence and Persuasion- Luke 15:18, 20, Hosea 3:4-5

I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:
Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.

COMMENTARY

I have sinned against heaven, and before thee
The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a sacrifice
I have just recounted how God is committed to preserving our agency, and because of that has given us the very power with which we all abandon Him. And at times I find that very incredulous. Of course we will go astray if given so much freedom! The scriptures are full of stories of people that did exactly this: Adam and Eve, Cain, Judas, King David, and Samson to name a few. Each of these people used their agency to depart from God. Each of them were near to him, but then they chose to leave.
And this pattern is inevitable. So long as we have no reason to stray we will stay, but all of us do have reasons to turn faithless at some point or another. And then we have verses like the above. Verses of people lost and far from their God.

And he arose, and came to his father
Afterward shall the children of Israel return
But it is shortsighted to suggest that that is the end of the story. For every tale of departure is open to a sequel of return. And while some will not come back, many do. And so the scriptures also have stories about Jonah, Peter, Saul turned Paul, Alma the Elder, Alma the Younger, and the Israelites when they rebuilt the temple and committed to follow the Lord anew.
And when people come back to God, they do it with that same freedom that they used to leave Him in the first place. The freedom that is given and preserved by God. They do not return because He made them do it, they do it because they chose to. And this was His intention all along.
When I feel cynical that all the world will forever abandon God I realize that He has greater faith in humanity than I do! Where I hold doubt in my brothers and my sisters and myself He believes. Where I believe that one who is lost is lost forever He says, “let us wait and see.”