Posted on by Abe Austin

A Misunderstanding of Freedom

Two Kinds of Freedom)

At first glance, Genesis Chapter 38 seems like a strange anomaly in the Biblical record. It interrupts the narrative of Joseph right after he is sold into Egypt to tell the sordid tale of Judah’s family. Its plot unfolds like a trashy soap opera, culminating in Judah’s own daughter-in-law seducing him and conceiving twins. Once the chapter ends, we are whisked back to the main story of Joseph, just in time to hear about his experience in Potiphar’s house.

Genesis Chapter 38 only makes sense when it is viewed in the context of that broader narrative involving Joseph. I do not think it is a coincidence that it is placed right after Joseph is cast into slavery, and right before he rejects the advances of Potiphar’s wife and is cast further down into prison. His narrative and Judah’s provide a perfect contrast. On the one hand, Judah is physically free, but a slave to his immorality. On the other hand, Joseph is physically captive, but still the master of his own soul. Thus, the record is presenting two kinds of freedom and two kinds of slavery, and implicitly asking the reader, “which of these is truly free?” The correct answer, of course, is that Joseph is truly free, for though he is a slave an in prison, he is free in his inmost parts, while Judah is not.

Of course, the story is not presenting physical captivity as a good thing, mankind is meant to strive for all layers of freedom, but if a man wishes to be truly free, he must at the very least be the master of his own self. Any man who does not have moral control over his own appetites is fundamentally a slave, no matter the rest of his situation.

A Modern Misfocus)

Today, in our western culture, we have a great commotion of perceived shackles and demands for freedom. On the one hand, the white male is accused of still reaping the benefits of historical slavery and patriarchy, enjoying a higher freedom than women or most other races. On the other hand, we hear of blue-collar workers, predominantly white males, sick of being society’s punching bag for decades, sick of having their strings pulled by society’s elites. And then there are conspiracy theories that even those elites are for the most part powerless, their votes and influence bought and paid for by blackmail and bribery, shadowy corporations directing things from behind the scenes.

Everyone, it seems, isn’t as liberated as they would hope to be, and the majority of public discourse is set on the pursuit of freeing one class or another. It is an obsession that I believe our ancestors would find laughable, given that we are the freest people that the world has ever known. We are fighting over the slimmest margins of injustice, many of which are imagined, and we show no appreciation for the fact that our ancestors gave everything for just a fraction of the liberty that we now enjoy. Without devolving into complete lawless anarchy, we are about as free as it is humanly possible to be.

Or, at least, we are free physically. Spiritually and morally, though? We are a society that is absolutely enslaved to our appetites, to our devices, to our distractions, to our immorality, to our self-justification, to our anger and pride. We are simultaneously one of the freest and most enslaved people the world has ever known; and our focus for liberation is in completely the wrong area.

To Be Truly Free)

Perhaps we are so obsessed with our perceived injustices because our spirit accurately identifies that something is holding us down, but our heavy-lidded eyes can’t see past the physical to realize it is our lack of moral will. We settle on the assumption that it must be a physical shackle simply because we lack the imagination or the courage to consider a spiritual one. We are, therefore, a modern-day Sisyphus, doomed to an eternal effort that never achieves anything.

If we truly cared to be free, the great commotion of our time would be one of spiritual ministry. We would seek to convict the world of its sin as an act of kindness, waking up all to their true taskmaster, and the true liberation from it. We would strive as a community to abandon our shrines of distraction and learn how to rise to a collective moral mastery.

Then, and only then, we would be truly free.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus Summary

My study of Exodus began just over two years ago. It’s been a long journey, and I have thoroughly enjoyed it all. To put it simply, the book is a titan of spiritual and ethical wisdom. My main finding was that the book takes the symbols and spirit of Genesis and begins to concretize them in law and ritual. It is the start of the conceptual becoming physical, of God becoming flesh.

Exodus still has some vestiges of the old legends, but overall, it isn’t as supernatural as Genesis was. It is, in fact, a necessary complement to Genesis. It shows the world becoming more like the one that we see today. Yes, strange powers and manifestations of the divine are still somewhat expected, but we are ramping down, and eventually every intervention of the Almighty will become unique and miraculous.

To quickly summarize the events of Exodus, we began with the death of Joseph, the last of the patriarchs, then launched hundreds of years into the future, at which point the Israelites were slaves to the Egyptians. When Pharaoh tried to kill all the new males Moses was saved, and he was able to grow into a privileged position. As an adult he observed the plight of the other Israelites, and he tried to help them, but his effort ended in failure. His heart was in the right place, but he was insufficient to the task, so he fled into the wilderness instead, lived an entire life there, and presumably had no intentions of ever returning to his people.

It was at this moment, however, that God performed His first act of intervention. He called Moses to go back to the Israelites and free them. This time Moses would be successful, because this time he would not function in his own power, but in the power of the Lord. Moses took some convincing, but ultimately, he returned to Egypt, where he performed many miracles and raised many plagues, each symbolic of the evil and sin that the Egyptians had given themselves over to. This sequence of events became an epic battle between the pride of Pharaoh and the power of God. This, of course, was a type for all mankind who will cleave to their own ways to the bitter end. Ultimately, God won the contest by exercising His power of death upon both the firstborn and armies of Egypt. This, at last, broke Egypt’s grasp on Israel, and the chosen people went free.

In the second half of the book, Israel took its journey into the wilderness. The people faced adversity with the lack of food and water, but their response to this was inappropriate. Rather than seeking relief from the Lord in humility, they threatened to abandon Him. They even went so far as to create a false idol and raised a rebellion against the Lord.

In spite of all this, God continued to strive with the people, humbling them, and delivering his law by degrees to them. Only after these were properly received, He also gave them the command to build the tabernacle. It was a large task, but the people accomplished it beautifully, and in the final chapter we read how God’s presence came to dwell personally in that house, becoming a permanent fixture in the Israelite community.

This book has taken us on a grand two-part journey. First, we fell into slavery and sin; then we returned back to the Lord through miracle, repentance, and covenant. We have gone down to the deepest depths, even those of the Red Sea, then up to the highest heights, even those of Mount Sinai. This story is a recreation of fundamental archetypes that were first laid out in Genesis, such as the fall of Adam and Eve, the acceptable offerings of Abel, the consuming of the wicked in the flood, the deliverance of the righteous in Sodom and Gomorrah, to only name a few. This story takes those archetypes and adds itself to them, becoming the template for many more stories that will follow in the Biblical record.

What an epic experience this has been! I’m sad to leave it behind, and admittedly I’m unsure that I’ll be able to recognize as much richness and meaning in the following books of Moses. I’ve been surprised before, though, so I will proceed with my Old Testament analysis, picking up the book of Leviticus after a short break. During that break I will post various essays and in-between messages, probably extending for a week or two before returning to my scriptural analysis.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Why Did Peter Deny Jesus?

This Easter season I’ve been thinking about Jesus’s final week, culminating in his crucifixion and resurrection. One point that has stood out to me is Peter’s behavior on the night of Jesus’s arrest. Let us look at two moments from that evening:

  1. When Jesus’s captors arrive in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter boldly leaps forward and cuts the ear off of one of them. He does this, even though Jesus and the disciples were almost certainly outnumbered and under-armed. It seems that if Jesus had not intervened, Peter’s actions would likely have gotten himself killed.
  2. After Jesus diffused the situation and surrendered to his arrest, Peter followed, waiting in the courtyard of where Jesus was being held. There he was recognized three times as one of Jesus’s followers, and each time denied it. It seems that he did this to preserve his life, to not get himself killed.

So why would Peter shrink from death in the latter case, but charge headlong toward it in the first?

I’ve always assumed that it was because Peter was acting in the heat of the moment in the first case. It may not have even crossed his mind that this could get him killed, he was just overcome with passion and acted without thinking. But during the arrest and the interrogation of Jesus, Peter had time for reality to set in, allowing him to truly feel the weight of the danger he was in, and his growing fear led him to lie.

That could certainly be the case, but as I’ve thought about it, I’ve realized that there could also be another explanation for his differing behaviors.

Another Theory)

Going back to the arrest at the Mount of Olives, what if Peter was actually fully aware that he was putting his life in jeopardy, and he was doing it deliberately? What if he was willing to sacrifice himself to give Jesus and the other disciples a chance to escape? If that were the case, then it must have been a great shock when Jesus instead rebuked him and peacefully submitted to the arrest. Jesus would have crushed the sacrifice he had been trying to make.

Now consider the second instance, where Peter lingered in the courtyard outside of Jesus’s interrogation and denied that he knew Jesus. In this case, there was no heroic rescue to be achieved by telling the truth. The only reason to admit that he was a follower of Jesus would be for the principle of the matter, to show that he would rather die than deny his master. Just because Peter might have been willing to die for some things, but not for others.

If this is the case, then Peter both proved great depth in his commitment, but also discovered even deeper depths that he was not yet ready for. He may have learned that his cause was not actually the same as Jesus’s, and that while he was prepared to die for his cause, he was not yet prepared to die for Jesus’s. He may have learned that it isn’t enough to be willing to give some sacrifice to the Lord, he needed to be willing to give the right sacrifice.

In either case, whether Peter’s initial fire cooled, or whether he was only willing to die for Jesus under certain circumstances, the tradition states that he did grow beyond his failing, that he did eventually die a martyr’s death, not on his own terms, but on the terms that were given him.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 40:35-38

35 And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

36 And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys:

37 But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up.

38 For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.

God’s presence was so powerful that not even Moses was able to enter into it. It was a place of overwhelming divinity and majesty. God’s glory being described as an occupying cloud and fire calls to mind both His presence upon Mount Sinai and the pillar that led the Israelites across the Red Sea and protected their retreat from the Egyptians.

We are further told that God’s cloud was used to signal the movements of the Israelites. While the cloud remained, they lived in their tents, and when the cloud removed, they journeyed further into the wilderness. So, too, we today must pay attention to God’s spirit to know our own comings and goings. There is an appropriate season for all things, and we look to the Lord to know which season we are in now.

There is an interesting implication in the cloud remaining over the tabernacle all the time that Israel was camped. That would mean that the priests were performing their duties within this cloud, and those that came to make an offering would literally pass into the physical domain of the Lord, being encompassed by His glory, as if they were now a part of His body. What a supernatural and symbolic experience that must have been!

This also suggests that God’s glory could preside in varying degrees of intensity. It was evidently too consuming for anyone to enter at the time of dedication, but it must have tamed down somewhat to permit entry afterward. We are able to endure some of the Lord’s majesty now, perhaps some of us to greater degree and some of us to lesser. We hope to one day be transfigured to the point that we can survive the full strength of His infinite glory.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 40:34

34 Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

It has been a long time to get to this point, but here we have the final step in the creation of the tabernacle. After weeks of planning and months of labor, after verifying and recording the correctness of all that was done, the Israelites have finished their work and turned it over to the Lord. Now, the Lord, in turn, descends, and His presence sanctifies the place. God takes the man’s vessel and makes it holy, which is a transformation that man could never effect on his own. Up until this point the tabernacle was just a beautiful building, but thanks to the Almighty’s touch, it is now divine.

This moment also calls to mind the story of Cain and Abel, and their offerings to the Lord. In this moment, Israel has made a good offering, like Abel, and God had respect to it. Recall that this wasn’t the largest offering that could have been made, Moses turned away Israelites who were trying to contribute more. The offering didn’t need to be the grandest, it just needed to be right, and the Lord has shown in this moment that it was.

This is a transformative moment in the history of the world. Once the earth was a paradise and God seems to have walked it in the flesh. After the fall of Adam and Eve, though, a separation was made. God ceased to have an abiding presence on the earth and became primarily a voice from heaven. He may have made the occasional appearance to Abraham or to Moses in the burning bush, but these were isolated moments, He still did not live among man. Now all of that changes. For the first time since the Garden of Eden, God has a home among the community, a constant presence among mankind. Heaven may still be God’s native dwelling place, but now a part of Him is able to be with the Israelites always.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 40:30-33

30 And he set the laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and put water there, to wash withal.

31 And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet thereat:

32 When they went into the tent of the congregation, and when they came near unto the altar, they washed; as the Lord commanded Moses.

33 And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the hanging of the court gate. So Moses finished the work.

The final element of the physical structure of the tabernacle was the water basin, which led directly to the preparation of the men who would serve there as priests. Interestingly, not only Aaron and his sons washed their hands and feet, but also Moses. Similarly, we heard in yesterday’s verses that he offered the first offerings upon the golden and brazen altars. Moving forward, we do not hear of him continuing to function in the role of the priest, but it seems that in this first instance he did.

My assumption is that Moses performed these rituals as the first priest, so that he could then transfer that authority and responsibility to Aaron and his sons. As has been previously discussed, it was as if Moses were the Lord, Himself. He was God’s approved representative, so he alone he was authorized to function in these sacred rituals. But after having once functioned in that role, and thus claimed them, he could then pass them on to others that the Lord had chosen: Aaron and his sons.

This idea is echoed by what verse 33 states: that “Moses finished the work.” Obviously, many hands were involved in the labor of creating the tabernacle, but all of them were only able to perform this service as an extension of Moses, who was the extension of God, Himself. Everything was fulfilled under the stewardship of Moses, and now he could hand its continuation to those who would remain after he was gone.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 40:20-29

20 And he took and put the testimony into the ark, and set the staves on the ark, and put the mercy seat above upon the ark:

21 And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the veil of the covering, and covered the ark of the testimony; as the Lord commanded Moses.

22 And he put the table in the tent of the congregation, upon the side of the tabernacle northward, without the veil.

23 And he set the bread in order upon it before the Lord; as the Lord had commanded Moses.

24 And he put the candlestick in the tent of the congregation, over against the table, on the side of the tabernacle southward.

25 And he lighted the lamps before the Lord; as the Lord commanded Moses.

26 And he put the golden altar in the tent of the congregation before the veil:

27 And he burnt sweet incense thereon; as the Lord commanded Moses.

28 And he set up the hanging at the door of the tabernacle.

29 And he put the altar of burnt offering by the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation, and offered upon it the burnt offering and the meat offering; as the Lord commanded Moses.

As mentioned recently, this description of the tabernacle’s parts is different from every run-through that we’ve had thus far. This time, in addition to hearing all of the items and their placement, we are also hearing each of their functions being exercised. The Ark of the Covenant is a container, and so the testimony is now placed into it. The table is to hold the shewbread, and so now the bread is baked and placed thereon. The candlestick is to provide light, and so now its lamps are lighted. The golden altar is for offering incense, and so now the incense is burned upon it. The brass altar is for animal sacrifice, so now a meat offering is made.

Everything is fulfilling its purpose, filling the measure of its creation, made complete by being allowed to do the thing that it was made to do. Everything in God’s world has a purpose and a function. Plants and animals, mountains and valleys, fire and water, gravity and buoyancy, soil and sky. None of these are just an adornment, they all are made to serve a necessary function. Their systems combine to make life, complexity, and beauty possible.

And if such is true for the tabernacle and all the earth, surely it is true of us as well. We are made for a purpose. Fulfilling that purpose is the difference between merely existing and truly living. It takes us from saying, “I just am,” to “I am for a reason.”

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 40:18-19

18 And Moses reared up the tabernacle, and fastened his sockets, and set up the boards thereof, and put in the bars thereof, and reared up his pillars.

19 And he spread abroad the tent over the tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent above upon it; as the Lord commanded Moses.

The verse here says that “Moses reared the tabernacle.” However, it seems certain that some of these tasks would be beyond the capacity of a single man alone, particularly one in his eighties. Indeed, the very first step involved lifting and placing fifteen-foot boards into their sockets, and after they were all placed, massive coverings had to be run over the top of them! It seems that today’s verses must mean that Moses oversaw the rearing of the tabernacle, and so the responsibility for it is attributed to him.

Interestingly, this would mean Moses assuming the role of a divinely sanctioned foreman. Israel had just come from a land where they labored as slaves, under the direction of wicked masters. Now they labored voluntarily, for a Lord who had redeemed them, under the guidance of an overseer who had risked everything to secure their freedom. They still served, but the nature of that service was fundamentally changed from evil to good.

Also, this final act of rearing the tabernacle would complete Moses’s responsibility to see that all was done as the Lord has instructed. He had already confirmed that the parts were made correctly on an individual basis, now he would verify that they were put together correctly also. After that, direct responsibility could be handed over to the priests.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 40:17

17 And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up.

The tabernacle was fully established on the first day of the new year. This was the beginning of Year 2, the Israelites having reset their calendars when God broke the pride of the Egyptians and led His people out of the land. Thus, the Israelites had been on this sojourn for exactly one year. The feast of the Passover would be happening in just over a week, the first one since Israel’s liberation, and the tabernacle would be ready for that holy day.

I assume that it took a few months for the Israelites to travel through the wilderness and reach Mount Sinai. Once there, we know that the process of obtaining the Lord’s law took two periods of forty days each, so nearly three months, and construction on the tabernacle began after that. Thus, I would assume that at most the Israelites had only half a year to complete construction on the Lord’s dwelling. It may have been considerably less. That seems like a remarkably short time for such a large and complex undertaking, but somehow it was accomplished.

Thus far, we have heard God’s initial description of the tabernacle to Moses, Moses’s retelling of those instructions to the Israelites, the work of the Israelites in creating each part, and the presentation of the completed elements to Moses. Thus, we have run through all the different elements of the tabernacle four times already, and now we will do so for a fifth time to describe how Moses had each element assembled for the full construction. This description will be a little different, though, as we will hear function and life being instilled into each component along the way. Bread will be placed for the first time on the table, fire lit for the first time in the lamp, incense offered for the first time on the incense altar, and so on. At long last, it is all coming alive.