52 Weeks in the Word - Week 5
Greetings Readers! Over the past four weeks we have completed reading through the first two books of the Bible. To date, we have read and discussed a variety of unique topics.
Our apologies for no video this week. We were out of town, and our audio / visual team (AKA Georgia) was busy studying when we arrived home. And... we were a bit too tired to form intelligent sentences, too.
This week some of you have shared some interesting information to help us better appreciate the reading about the Tabernacle and the Ark. This aided in our understanding of how we can see Jesus and the Gospel message in this week's reading. Spoiler alert - it all points to Christ!
If you have not already watched the videos shared or read the article about Moses and destroying the tablets, check out the comments from Week 4 here.
Here are just a few of the ways people mentioned seeing Christ or the Gospel from this week's reading:
- The Table of the Showbread in the Tabernacle - Jesus is the bread of life.
- The lampstand - Jesus is the only source of light... the light of the World
- The Ark of the Covenant with the Mercy seat, showing Jesus is above the law.
- God gave detailed instructions to Moses for the Tabernacle and the Ark. He also empowered people with the ability or talent to carry it out. Lesson here - When God gives us a task to do, He will also enable us to see it through.
- There is meaning behind Moses breaking the tablets the 10 Commandments were written on by God. It was more than just Moses being angry.
- Reading the Old Testament helps us understand the message of the blood on the Cross.
In Leviticus 18: 21 the phrase "pass through the fire to Molech" is found. I did a little research and found in Matthew Henry's Commentary a brief explanation I will share.
ReplyDelete"A law against that which was the most unnatural idolatry, causing their children to pass through the fire to Moloch, Lev_18:21. Moloch (as some think) was the idol in and by which they worshipped the sun, that great fire of the world; and therefore in the worship of it they made their own children either sacrifices to this idol, burning them to death before it, or devotees to it, causing them to pass between two fires, as some think, or to be thrown through one, to the honour of this pretended deity, imagining that the consecrating of but one of their children in this manner to Moloch would procure good fortune for all the rest of their children. Did idolaters thus give their own children to false gods, and shall we think any thing too dear to be dedicated to, or to be parted with for, the true God? See how this sin of Israel (which they were afterwards guilty of, notwithstanding this law) is aggravated by the relation which they and their children stood in to God."
Evidence concerning Moloch worship in ancient Israel is found in the legal, as well as in the historical and prophetic literature of the Bible. In the Pentateuch, the laws of the Holiness Code speak about giving or passing children to Moloch (Lev. 18:21, 20:2–4) and the law in Deuteronomy speaks of "passing [one's] son or daughter through fire" (18:10). Although Moloch is not named in the Deuteronomy passage, it is likely that his cult was the object of the prohibition.
ReplyDeleteThe author of the Book of Kings speaks about "passing [one's] son and daughter through fire" (II Kings 16:3 [son], 17:17, 21:6 [son]). II Kings 23:10 speaks about "passing [one's] son or daughter through fire to Moloch." Some scholars interpret the phrase lә-haʿavir ba-esh, as a reference to a divinatory or protective rite in which children were passed through a fire but not physically harmed. However, the same phrase lә-haʿavir ba-esh is found in an unmistakable context of burning in Numbers 31:23.
Other biblical texts refer to the sacrifice of children. Psalms 106:37–38 speaks of child sacrifice to the unnamed idols of Canaan. In prophetic sources, Jeremiah 7:31 and Ezekiel 20:25–6 speak disapprovingly of sacrificing children to Yahweh (for the "bad statutes" referred to by Ezekiel, see Ex. 22:28–29; but see Friebel); Jeremiah 19:5 speaks of sacrificing children to Baal; Ezekiel 16:21, 20:31, 23:37, 39 of sacrificing children to unnamed divinities; as does Isaiah 57:5. In none of these is there a mention of Moloch. Only in Jeremiah 32:35 is Moloch mentioned by name and there he is associated with Baal.
Israel was punished for following these practices later on as well. They would place infants on the heated arms of the idol to sacrifice them.
Why was Aaron chosen as priest instead of Moses? Here are the following responses:
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand, it was God's decision to do this. Since we assume that he won't make a mistake, it was the right thing to do, even if we wouldn't understand it.
On the other hand, it makes sense: if we look at how much work Moses had to do with the people, and how much time it took him, that even his father-in-law Jethro advised him to divide the work between several shoulders.
-and then we see how long Moses was with the Lord and how much time he needed to fulfil the spiritual leadership ministry,
then he would not have had time to carry out all the sacrificial rituals that the Lord God had prescribed very precisely over many chapters.
The sacrificial and priestly service of Aaron and his sons alone was a full-time Job
Here is another response about Aaron...
ReplyDeletealso, from the Jewish Midrash (Copies of Jewish Rabbinical Commentaries) we get this: A midrash tells us that during the seven days when Moses was at the burning bush each day he pleaded with God to send someone else (which we know from the Torah text). In the end of the midrash, God informs Moses that because of his unwillingness to take on the task during those seven days he will not be permitted to ascend to the priesthood. Rather, it is Aaron and his descendants who will become the priests. However, for seven days, when the Mishkan is dedicated, Moses will be allowed to perform the priestly functions, but not after that.
Moses’ reaction to what might be perceived as a punishment is to rejoice over the good fortune of his elder brother Aaron. After all, Midrash tells us, one reason why Moses is reluctant to take on the leadership role is because he is afraid that Aaron will be jealous that his younger brother is the leader of the people. However, God informs him that Aaron will rejoice at seeing Moses and hearing that he is to lead the mission to Pharaoh, and indeed he does. For this Aaron is rewarded; let “that same heart that rejoiced in the greatness of his brother [have] precious stones (the priestly breastplate) set upon it.”
And so Aaron rejoices at God’s choice of Moses as leader and Moses then rejoices at the choice of Aaron as high priest, even though the Midrash portrays this as Moses’ punishment for not being eager to go on God’s mission. Nevertheless, when Moses is given the instructions on how to build the Mishkan he tells God in a Midrash that he is ready and able to serve as priest.