(Exodus 26:1 - 26:37)
You should make for the framework of the Tabernacle 10 curtains of finely loomed linen, woven with yarn dyed blue, purple, and scarlet and skillfully decorated with the images of Cherubim. The length of the curtains should be 42 feet by 6 feet wide, with each curtain of the same dimensions. Five of the curtains should sewn together with the other five also sewn together. Attach hooks of blue yarn on the outside curtain of each set. There should be 50 hooks on outside curtain of the first set matching 50 hooks on the inner curtain of the second set. There should be 50 golden clasps by which to fasten the hooks of the curtains so that they may form a single tented enclosure.
Also, you need to make 11 curtains of goat hair to cover the top of the Tabernacle. Each curtain should be 45 feet long and 6 feet wide, each curtain being of the same dimensions. Five of the curtains should be joined together and the other 6 joined, with 3 feet of the latter set folded over double at the entrance to the Tabernacle. On the edge of first set of curtains there should be 50 hooks and 50 hooks on the second set. Make 50 bronze clasps to connect the hooks from each set, making a single covering. The extra material, a half curtain in length, should hang over the rear of the Tabernacle. The extra 18 inches on the first curtain and the extra 18 inches on the last curtain should hang over the sides of the Tabernacle to cover it. As an additional protective covering for the roof of Tabernacle you should lay down tanned sheep skins and, over them, fine goat leather.
Make a framework for the Tabernacle out of red acacia wood. Each framing panel should be 180 inches high by 27 inches wide. There should be two dowels at the bottom of each panel. Every board should be prepared in this manner. On the side of the Tabernacle facing south there should be 20 panels and for them 40 plinths of silver, 2 plinths for each panel into which the 2 dowels may be inserted. On the north side there should be 20 more panels with 40 plinths of silver, 2 for each panel. There should be 6 panels for the rear of the Tabernacle facing west. Two panels should be used for the corners in the rear of the Tabernacle. They should be doubled, separated at the bottom, but joined at the top at with a single ring. Both corners should be prepared this way. There should be 8 panels with plinths of silver, 16 in number -- 2 plinths under the first panel, 2 plinths under the next panel, and so on.
You should make crossbars of red acacia wood, 5 to support the panels on the north side of the Tabernacle frame, 5 for the south side, and 5 for the west side, at the rear of the Tabernacle. The middle crossbar, positioned half way up the height of the panels, should stretch from one end of the frame to the other. The panels should be overlaid with gold and fitted with rings of gold by which to attach the supporting crossbars, which should also be overlaid with gold.
You should thus set up the Tabernacle according to this pattern, shown to you on the mountain.
You should make a veil of finely loomed linen, woven with yarn dyed blue, purple, and scarlet and skillfully decorated with the images of Cherubim. It should be hung by rings of gold around four posts of red acacia wood, which should be overlaid with gold and set into plinths of silver. Place behind the veil the Chest of Records. This veil, hung under the clasps of the Tabernacle curtains, will serve to separate the Sanctum from the Inner Sanctum. (You should put the lid on the Chest of Records when you place it in the Inner Sanctum.) The table should stand on the north side of the Tabernacle outside the veil, opposite the menorah on the south side.
There should be a screen at the entrance to the Tabernacle. It should be of finely loomed linen, woven with yarn dyed blue, purple, and scarlet and skillfully decorated with the images of Cherubim. It should be hung from gold rings and supported by 5 posts of red acacia wood that are overlaid with gold and set into 5 plinths cast of bronze.
Notes
1. This detailed explanation of the design of the Tabernacle (though almost indecipherable in the early translations) is at least refreshingly literal and specific. The basic design was scarcely unique in its time. In all ancient religions, there are always devotional objects and vessels and an inner sanctum to which only the priests have access. The major difference is that instead of having a statue or idol of a god in the inner sanctum, its place is taken by the Chest of Records. But the idea that the god, either physically or in spirit, visits the inner sanctum to commune with his (or her) priests and devotees is preserved.
2. Some translations refer to the post plinths as being of brass. We define brass as an alloy of copper and zinc. Brass was not manufactured until Roman times. Bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, for whom a whole age takes it name, is more likely meant here. However, it is not that cut and dried. Bronzes, in ancient times were made with a variety of copper alloys, including what we would refer to as brass. Brass, though, was not intentionally made or regarded as a distinct metal until times A.D.
3. The building of the Tabernacle required sets of skills the Israelites certainly would not have had during the days of Abraham and Jacob. Expertise in carpentry, cloth making, sculpture, and metalworking may have been acquired by the brick-making slaves in Egypt. Apparently a number of Hebrews must have been something other than slaves, that is, if the Tabernacle described was actually built by Moses’ exiles. There is, however, a considerable body of opinion that asserts the Tabernacle detailed in Exodus is not at all the primitive Tabernacle of Moses’s time, but refers to one of a much later period, perhaps even to the Solomonic temple. This is likely since it just doesn’t seem possible that 2nd millennium B.C. Hebrews would possess the know-how, the skills, the technology, the materials to craft the building and the devotional objects described. Nor is their condition as desert nomads and exiles conducive to such an enterprise. And it always must be remembered that the Books of Moses were compiled from more than one source many hundreds of years after his time and, therefore, contain much that is anachronistic and added to the narrative at a later date.
4. Cherubims, whose statues adorn the lid of the Chest of Records, are also to be depicted on all the Tabernacle's drapery. This is one of the few instances in which anthropomorphic artistic representations are sanctioned by the Hebrews and by Jehovah -- assuming that the Cherubim were being depicted as humans with wings. It is unclear how the images were to be put on the cloth. Embroidery had not been yet developed.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Instructions for the Making of Devotional Objects
(Exodus 25:1 - 25:40)
Jehovah addressed Moses with these instructions:
Speak to the Israelites and prevail upon them to pay tribute to me. You are to receive offerings from those who want to give willing from the heart. These are the gifts that you may accept: gold, silver, and bronze; yarn dyed blue, purple, and scarlet; garments of fine linen and goat hair; tanned sheep skins and fine leather; red acacia wood; olive oil for lamps; spices for fragrant incense and anointing oil; onyx stones and other precious gems that can be set in the priest's vestments and breastplates. And they should construct a sanctuary for me, the Tabernacle, so that I can live among them. The Tabernacle, as well as the furnishings and vessels within it, must be built it in accordance with the pattern I will give you.
You must build a chest of red acacia wood, 45 inches in length and 27 inches in width and height. Overlay it inside and out with pure gold and attach a molding of gold all around it. Make four gold carrying rings and fasten them on each leg, two on each long side. Staves of red acacia wood covered with gold may be inserted into them in order to bear the chest. The staves, once inserted into the rings, should remain there permanently. Inside the chest you will stow the records I will give you.
You must build of gold a lid for the chest, 45 inches in length by 27 inches in width. You should make two statues of cherubim wrought of beaten gold. They should be attached to the lid so as to seem a single piece of work, with a cherub on one end and another on the other end. With their spreading wings they should cover the lid; they should face each other, turned inward. The lid should be placed on top of the chest that will contain the records I will give you. It is between the two cherubim on top of the chest that I will commune with you, speaking to you from above and conveying to the Israelites my will.
You should also make a table of red acacia wood, 36 inches in length, 18 inches wide, and 27 inches high. Overlay it with pure gold and make a gold molding around its edge. A raised crown three inches high should be attached around its entire edge. Make four carrying rings and attach one in each corner just above the four legs of the table. The rings should be fitted close to the rim and be positioned to hold staves. These staves should be made out of red acacia wood and overlain with gold and used to carry the table.
Plates and incense dishes, and cups and bowls from which libations are to be poured should also be made out of pure gold. Upon the table should be set out loaves of bread. These should be before my presence at all times.
You should make a menorah of pure gold. It should be of beaten gold with its base, its shaft, its cups and outer ring decorated with buds and petals all of one piece. From the base there should extend six branches, three from one side and three from the other. On the branch there are to be three cups resembling almond blossoms, with an outer ring of buds and petals. Each of the six branches should be similarly adorned. Likewise, on the central shaft of the menorah there are to be three cups resembling almond blossoms, with an outer ring of buds and petals. Where each pair of branches joins the central shaft there should be an outer ring of leaves made of one piece with the branch. This should be the same for each of the six branches. And the outer ring of leaves and the branches should be of one piece with the shaft.
You should make seven oil lamps for the menorah, positioned to light the space before it. Its wick trimmers, snuffers, and trays should also be of pure gold.
To make these items, 75 pounds of gold will be required. In crafting all these things be sure you follow the design that I gave you on the mountain.
Notes
1. Jehovah surely craves stuff (gimme, gimme, gimme!)-- and nothing but the best. The luxurious items he wants donated will turn out to be the things needed to built his Tabernacle and its furnishings and objects of his worship. Why a people wandering in the desert and scarcely finding enough to eat and drink should be forced to give up all their wealth in order to pander to the vanity of their god seems irrational. This kind of behavior, though, enriching the church while the poor starve, is common through history.
2. Jehovah orders the construction of a fancy gold chest and it has to be made just so. You wonder whether he really bothered to make all these precise instructions, or if the objects were made at some later date, and then their construction sanctified by asserting that all was done at Jehovah's behest. Indeed, one may reasonably conclude that all the laws and religious customs of the Hebrews were established by Moses later, or over a period of time, or that they came into being at a later date in Hebrew history, rather than codified and set in stone, either literally or figuratively, when Moses was on the mount. Provided that Moses did have communion with an exalted, superhuman, or divine being we are calling Jehovah, it really seems unlikely that such a being would obsess with dictating such detail in regard to custom and law. It is worth remembering that the Jehovah who visited Abraham had nothing at all to say in regard to law or morality and only a little concerning ritual. (Jehovah did demand a human sacrifice of Abraham, but such offerings and forms of worship were not set forth as being unique -- just the standard practice expected by all the ancient gods.) If, for instance, observance of the Ten Commandments were such a vital part of Jehovan worship, why weren't they given to Abraham -- or Noah -- or Adam?
3. The chest, which I am calling the Chest of Records, is most familiarly called the Ark of the Covenant, an ark, of course, being a vessel, a container, this one containing, among other things, the stone tablets upon which the Ten Commandments were inscribed. The lid of the chest is usually referred to as the Mercy Seat, the Propitiatory, or the Oracle, since Jehovah is supposed to sit on it (or hover above it) and pass judgment or pronounce prophecies. The sanctuary, a sort of portable tented compound where it is housed, is called the Tabernacle. (I have used it for lack of anything better.) The priests' breastplate, in which twelve gems were to be inset, is called the Rational, and the upper vestment, the Ephod. Creating special names endows all these things with importance and dignity, but it also obscures what they really were.
4. Red Acacia is a 20-30 feet tree native to Egypt, called in many texts shittem or sittem. Its wood is very hard and was used by the Egyptians for coffins.
5. Jehovah's insistence upon gold for all his paraphernalia is not surprising. Gold has always been valued for its beauty and for the fact that it never tarnishes. One wonders where these former slaves got so much gold. Were they mining gold in the Sinai (there is still gold there), or did they steal sufficient quantities from the Egyptians? The amount of gold needed to make the chest, table, menorah, etc., 75 pounds, equals one talent, the largest weight denomination in ancient times.
6. The statues of the Cherubim on the lid of the chest are to be depicted with wings. It is not clear exactly what the Cherubim were, save that they served Jehovah, perhaps as a kind of guard force. There is no reference to them actually having wings. However, if they came from the sky and flew in the sky, albeit in a vehicle, what better way to symbolic portray that than with wings? (A similar idea -- our pilots generally wear on their chests medals or insignia with wings.)
7. The menorah lamp stand here described has seven branches, while the more familiar Chanukah menorah has nine. As a lamp, it burned olive oil. Candles were not used at all before 400 AD.
Jehovah addressed Moses with these instructions:
Speak to the Israelites and prevail upon them to pay tribute to me. You are to receive offerings from those who want to give willing from the heart. These are the gifts that you may accept: gold, silver, and bronze; yarn dyed blue, purple, and scarlet; garments of fine linen and goat hair; tanned sheep skins and fine leather; red acacia wood; olive oil for lamps; spices for fragrant incense and anointing oil; onyx stones and other precious gems that can be set in the priest's vestments and breastplates. And they should construct a sanctuary for me, the Tabernacle, so that I can live among them. The Tabernacle, as well as the furnishings and vessels within it, must be built it in accordance with the pattern I will give you.
You must build a chest of red acacia wood, 45 inches in length and 27 inches in width and height. Overlay it inside and out with pure gold and attach a molding of gold all around it. Make four gold carrying rings and fasten them on each leg, two on each long side. Staves of red acacia wood covered with gold may be inserted into them in order to bear the chest. The staves, once inserted into the rings, should remain there permanently. Inside the chest you will stow the records I will give you.
You must build of gold a lid for the chest, 45 inches in length by 27 inches in width. You should make two statues of cherubim wrought of beaten gold. They should be attached to the lid so as to seem a single piece of work, with a cherub on one end and another on the other end. With their spreading wings they should cover the lid; they should face each other, turned inward. The lid should be placed on top of the chest that will contain the records I will give you. It is between the two cherubim on top of the chest that I will commune with you, speaking to you from above and conveying to the Israelites my will.
You should also make a table of red acacia wood, 36 inches in length, 18 inches wide, and 27 inches high. Overlay it with pure gold and make a gold molding around its edge. A raised crown three inches high should be attached around its entire edge. Make four carrying rings and attach one in each corner just above the four legs of the table. The rings should be fitted close to the rim and be positioned to hold staves. These staves should be made out of red acacia wood and overlain with gold and used to carry the table.
Plates and incense dishes, and cups and bowls from which libations are to be poured should also be made out of pure gold. Upon the table should be set out loaves of bread. These should be before my presence at all times.
You should make a menorah of pure gold. It should be of beaten gold with its base, its shaft, its cups and outer ring decorated with buds and petals all of one piece. From the base there should extend six branches, three from one side and three from the other. On the branch there are to be three cups resembling almond blossoms, with an outer ring of buds and petals. Each of the six branches should be similarly adorned. Likewise, on the central shaft of the menorah there are to be three cups resembling almond blossoms, with an outer ring of buds and petals. Where each pair of branches joins the central shaft there should be an outer ring of leaves made of one piece with the branch. This should be the same for each of the six branches. And the outer ring of leaves and the branches should be of one piece with the shaft.
You should make seven oil lamps for the menorah, positioned to light the space before it. Its wick trimmers, snuffers, and trays should also be of pure gold.
To make these items, 75 pounds of gold will be required. In crafting all these things be sure you follow the design that I gave you on the mountain.
Notes
1. Jehovah surely craves stuff (gimme, gimme, gimme!)-- and nothing but the best. The luxurious items he wants donated will turn out to be the things needed to built his Tabernacle and its furnishings and objects of his worship. Why a people wandering in the desert and scarcely finding enough to eat and drink should be forced to give up all their wealth in order to pander to the vanity of their god seems irrational. This kind of behavior, though, enriching the church while the poor starve, is common through history.
2. Jehovah orders the construction of a fancy gold chest and it has to be made just so. You wonder whether he really bothered to make all these precise instructions, or if the objects were made at some later date, and then their construction sanctified by asserting that all was done at Jehovah's behest. Indeed, one may reasonably conclude that all the laws and religious customs of the Hebrews were established by Moses later, or over a period of time, or that they came into being at a later date in Hebrew history, rather than codified and set in stone, either literally or figuratively, when Moses was on the mount. Provided that Moses did have communion with an exalted, superhuman, or divine being we are calling Jehovah, it really seems unlikely that such a being would obsess with dictating such detail in regard to custom and law. It is worth remembering that the Jehovah who visited Abraham had nothing at all to say in regard to law or morality and only a little concerning ritual. (Jehovah did demand a human sacrifice of Abraham, but such offerings and forms of worship were not set forth as being unique -- just the standard practice expected by all the ancient gods.) If, for instance, observance of the Ten Commandments were such a vital part of Jehovan worship, why weren't they given to Abraham -- or Noah -- or Adam?
3. The chest, which I am calling the Chest of Records, is most familiarly called the Ark of the Covenant, an ark, of course, being a vessel, a container, this one containing, among other things, the stone tablets upon which the Ten Commandments were inscribed. The lid of the chest is usually referred to as the Mercy Seat, the Propitiatory, or the Oracle, since Jehovah is supposed to sit on it (or hover above it) and pass judgment or pronounce prophecies. The sanctuary, a sort of portable tented compound where it is housed, is called the Tabernacle. (I have used it for lack of anything better.) The priests' breastplate, in which twelve gems were to be inset, is called the Rational, and the upper vestment, the Ephod. Creating special names endows all these things with importance and dignity, but it also obscures what they really were.
4. Red Acacia is a 20-30 feet tree native to Egypt, called in many texts shittem or sittem. Its wood is very hard and was used by the Egyptians for coffins.
5. Jehovah's insistence upon gold for all his paraphernalia is not surprising. Gold has always been valued for its beauty and for the fact that it never tarnishes. One wonders where these former slaves got so much gold. Were they mining gold in the Sinai (there is still gold there), or did they steal sufficient quantities from the Egyptians? The amount of gold needed to make the chest, table, menorah, etc., 75 pounds, equals one talent, the largest weight denomination in ancient times.
6. The statues of the Cherubim on the lid of the chest are to be depicted with wings. It is not clear exactly what the Cherubim were, save that they served Jehovah, perhaps as a kind of guard force. There is no reference to them actually having wings. However, if they came from the sky and flew in the sky, albeit in a vehicle, what better way to symbolic portray that than with wings? (A similar idea -- our pilots generally wear on their chests medals or insignia with wings.)
7. The menorah lamp stand here described has seven branches, while the more familiar Chanukah menorah has nine. As a lamp, it burned olive oil. Candles were not used at all before 400 AD.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Moses Upon the Mountain
(Exodus 24:1 -24:18)
Jehovah invited Moses, "Come up and present yourselves to me, and bring Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and the 70 elders of Israel -- but they must worship me only from a distance. You alone may approach me. The others must stand back, and the rest of the people may not come up at all.”
When Moses came down from the mountain, he communicated to his people the ordinances and instructions Jehovah had given him, to which the people responded unanimously, "We will abide by all that Jehovah commands us to do!"
Moses wrote down all the pronouncements of Jehovah. He got up early in the morning to construct an altar at the foot of the mountain. He also erected 12 standing stones, one for each of the 12 tribes of Israel. He had the young men of each tribe prepare burnt-offerings and peace-offerings of calves to Jehovah. Moses drained half the blood from the sacrifices into some basins and sprinkled the other half upon the altar.
Holding the scroll upon which he had written the contract with Jehovah, Moses read it aloud to the people. They all responded, "All that Jehovah has asked of us we will obediently do!" Moses then sprinkled blood from the sacrifice upon the people and proclaimed, “May this blood sanctify the contract you have made with Jehovah."
Moses then went back up the mountain, accompanied by Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the 70 elders of Israel. They actually saw the god of Israel! He stood upon a surface that shone like lapis lazuli, blue and brilliant as when the sky is very clear. Jehovah did not strike down the elders of Israel. No, they were permitted to glimpse their god, and to eat and drink in his presence.
Jehovah told Moses, "Climb the mountain. Come up and visit with me. I will give you stone tablets inscribed with my laws and commandments so that you may teach them to your people.” Moses set out with his right-hand man Joshua to go up the mountain and meet with Jehovah. Before leaving, he advised the elders, "Wait here until we return. Aaron and Hur are with you. If any matter arises, refer it to them."
Moses ascended the mountain. A thick cloud covered the summit as Jehovah's vehicle made a landing on it. The cloud enshrouded the peak for six days. On the seventh day, Jehovah summoned Moses into the cloud. Jehovah's vehicle then made a fiery takeoff from the top of the mountain -- which the people of Israel could see from below. (When Moses had gone into the cloud, when he had gone to the top of the mountain, he was absent for 40 days and nights.)
Notes
1. Nadab and Abihu were the two oldest sons of Aaron. Hur, from the tribe of Judah, was mentioned earlier as a companion of Moses. (The Bible has little to say about him, although other Hebrew literature speaks about him extensively.)
2. The construction of an altar probably involved little more than arranging a few large stones, since Jehovah had already prohibited the use of dressed stones. The standing stones for each tribe of Israel are referred to, in most translations, as columns or pillars, but that would imply that there were dressed and finished stones fashioned into a certain shape. Rather they would have resembled the standing stones familiar in neolithic monuments like Stonehenge. However, the stones were probably not of any great size, for the text gives the impression that Moses, an 80 year-old man, raised them during a morning's work. Even if greater manpower was employed, one would think they still would have been of modest size, a few feet high perhaps.
3. The sacrifice and the sprinkling of blood, an offensive and disgusting sight, can only suggest to the modern reader a pagan, if not satanic rite.
4. Moses is writing down the words of Jehovah. But how? There were only two types of writing in the Middle East during the 2nd Millennium B.C. Neither employed an alphabet. In Mesopotamia, the Hebrew's ancestral homeland, soft clay tablets were inscribed with a wedge-shaped stylus to produce cuneiform writing. The tablets could be hardened by firing. In Egypt there was hieroglyphic writing upon papyrus scrolls. Moses, educated as an Egyptian, would have been literate (unlike the vast majority of the Israelites), and may have had the talents of a scribe who could have written in hieroglyphs or in a simplified, cursive form known as hieratic. There was a hieratic script known as Proto-Sinaitic that was used by the Semites in Egypt. (It is considered a precursor of the Phoenician alphabet that evolved centuries later.) Moses may have used it. --- One should keep in mind that the Israelites, at this point, did not speak Hebrew, a language not yet developed, but rather a dialect of Aramaic, an important language in the Middle East for many centuries. Moses, of course, would have been fluent as well in Egyptian.
5. When Jehovah is seen by his people, he is standing on some sort of floor, surface, pavement, mat? It is described as being of a jewel-like blue stone that most translations refer to as a sapphire. This is inaccurate: sapphires, that is, gems of blue corundum, were unknown until the days of the Roman Empire. It is more likely that lapis lazuli, also a brilliant blue, is meant. It was a stone used a great deal by the ancient Egyptians.
6. A cloud covers the holy mountain for six days. One gets the impression that the mountain is so high that it is in the clouds, but this is obviously not the case since it has been shown that the "mountain" was, of necessity, of very modest height. The cloud could have been vapor or smoke from the Jehovan airship. It could have been a smoke screen to prevent the Israelites from viewing the craft and what might be going on around it. Another possibility is that the cloud could have been an antiseptic mist to protect Jehovah and his people from earthly micro-organisms. On the seventh day, flame is seen, most likely owing to the Jehovan vehicle taking off. Moses goes up to the mountain and is gone for 40 days and nights. It is preposterous to assume that he spent all that time leaning against a rock or crouching in the dirt listening to Jehovah pontificate. It seems more likely that he, after waiting around for six days, entered Jehovah's vehicle and departed in it -- where? into space, to another planet, to some other place on earth, who can say? Unfortunately the text, which claims to have been written by Moses, does not give anything like a first person account. And it is certain that the authors of Exodus didn’t really understand what they were writing about. But it seems fairly clear to an objective and informed modern that Moses was an extraterrestrial contactee or at least was communing with an advanced human (or humanoid) from outside his own society.
7. One may reasonable conclude in deciphering the narrative presented here, that Jehovah was using the mountain as his base of operations. He was stationed on the top of the mountain for a period of time when, at this point, he was communicating with Moses. His aerial vehicle, spaceship, whatever, was not there at that time. He was perhaps there alone and didn’t need his ship or companions. When he invited Moses for what would be a protracted visit, he summoned his ship to return and it landed upon the summit. For six days, for whatever reason, it was surrounded by a cloud -- mist, smoke, vapor? Then, on the seventh day, with Moses aboard, Jehovah’s ship took off in a fiery blast-off witnessed by the gathering of Israelites at the foot of the mountain.
Jehovah invited Moses, "Come up and present yourselves to me, and bring Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and the 70 elders of Israel -- but they must worship me only from a distance. You alone may approach me. The others must stand back, and the rest of the people may not come up at all.”
When Moses came down from the mountain, he communicated to his people the ordinances and instructions Jehovah had given him, to which the people responded unanimously, "We will abide by all that Jehovah commands us to do!"
Moses wrote down all the pronouncements of Jehovah. He got up early in the morning to construct an altar at the foot of the mountain. He also erected 12 standing stones, one for each of the 12 tribes of Israel. He had the young men of each tribe prepare burnt-offerings and peace-offerings of calves to Jehovah. Moses drained half the blood from the sacrifices into some basins and sprinkled the other half upon the altar.
Holding the scroll upon which he had written the contract with Jehovah, Moses read it aloud to the people. They all responded, "All that Jehovah has asked of us we will obediently do!" Moses then sprinkled blood from the sacrifice upon the people and proclaimed, “May this blood sanctify the contract you have made with Jehovah."
Moses then went back up the mountain, accompanied by Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the 70 elders of Israel. They actually saw the god of Israel! He stood upon a surface that shone like lapis lazuli, blue and brilliant as when the sky is very clear. Jehovah did not strike down the elders of Israel. No, they were permitted to glimpse their god, and to eat and drink in his presence.
Jehovah told Moses, "Climb the mountain. Come up and visit with me. I will give you stone tablets inscribed with my laws and commandments so that you may teach them to your people.” Moses set out with his right-hand man Joshua to go up the mountain and meet with Jehovah. Before leaving, he advised the elders, "Wait here until we return. Aaron and Hur are with you. If any matter arises, refer it to them."
Moses ascended the mountain. A thick cloud covered the summit as Jehovah's vehicle made a landing on it. The cloud enshrouded the peak for six days. On the seventh day, Jehovah summoned Moses into the cloud. Jehovah's vehicle then made a fiery takeoff from the top of the mountain -- which the people of Israel could see from below. (When Moses had gone into the cloud, when he had gone to the top of the mountain, he was absent for 40 days and nights.)
Notes
1. Nadab and Abihu were the two oldest sons of Aaron. Hur, from the tribe of Judah, was mentioned earlier as a companion of Moses. (The Bible has little to say about him, although other Hebrew literature speaks about him extensively.)
2. The construction of an altar probably involved little more than arranging a few large stones, since Jehovah had already prohibited the use of dressed stones. The standing stones for each tribe of Israel are referred to, in most translations, as columns or pillars, but that would imply that there were dressed and finished stones fashioned into a certain shape. Rather they would have resembled the standing stones familiar in neolithic monuments like Stonehenge. However, the stones were probably not of any great size, for the text gives the impression that Moses, an 80 year-old man, raised them during a morning's work. Even if greater manpower was employed, one would think they still would have been of modest size, a few feet high perhaps.
3. The sacrifice and the sprinkling of blood, an offensive and disgusting sight, can only suggest to the modern reader a pagan, if not satanic rite.
4. Moses is writing down the words of Jehovah. But how? There were only two types of writing in the Middle East during the 2nd Millennium B.C. Neither employed an alphabet. In Mesopotamia, the Hebrew's ancestral homeland, soft clay tablets were inscribed with a wedge-shaped stylus to produce cuneiform writing. The tablets could be hardened by firing. In Egypt there was hieroglyphic writing upon papyrus scrolls. Moses, educated as an Egyptian, would have been literate (unlike the vast majority of the Israelites), and may have had the talents of a scribe who could have written in hieroglyphs or in a simplified, cursive form known as hieratic. There was a hieratic script known as Proto-Sinaitic that was used by the Semites in Egypt. (It is considered a precursor of the Phoenician alphabet that evolved centuries later.) Moses may have used it. --- One should keep in mind that the Israelites, at this point, did not speak Hebrew, a language not yet developed, but rather a dialect of Aramaic, an important language in the Middle East for many centuries. Moses, of course, would have been fluent as well in Egyptian.
5. When Jehovah is seen by his people, he is standing on some sort of floor, surface, pavement, mat? It is described as being of a jewel-like blue stone that most translations refer to as a sapphire. This is inaccurate: sapphires, that is, gems of blue corundum, were unknown until the days of the Roman Empire. It is more likely that lapis lazuli, also a brilliant blue, is meant. It was a stone used a great deal by the ancient Egyptians.
6. A cloud covers the holy mountain for six days. One gets the impression that the mountain is so high that it is in the clouds, but this is obviously not the case since it has been shown that the "mountain" was, of necessity, of very modest height. The cloud could have been vapor or smoke from the Jehovan airship. It could have been a smoke screen to prevent the Israelites from viewing the craft and what might be going on around it. Another possibility is that the cloud could have been an antiseptic mist to protect Jehovah and his people from earthly micro-organisms. On the seventh day, flame is seen, most likely owing to the Jehovan vehicle taking off. Moses goes up to the mountain and is gone for 40 days and nights. It is preposterous to assume that he spent all that time leaning against a rock or crouching in the dirt listening to Jehovah pontificate. It seems more likely that he, after waiting around for six days, entered Jehovah's vehicle and departed in it -- where? into space, to another planet, to some other place on earth, who can say? Unfortunately the text, which claims to have been written by Moses, does not give anything like a first person account. And it is certain that the authors of Exodus didn’t really understand what they were writing about. But it seems fairly clear to an objective and informed modern that Moses was an extraterrestrial contactee or at least was communing with an advanced human (or humanoid) from outside his own society.
7. One may reasonable conclude in deciphering the narrative presented here, that Jehovah was using the mountain as his base of operations. He was stationed on the top of the mountain for a period of time when, at this point, he was communicating with Moses. His aerial vehicle, spaceship, whatever, was not there at that time. He was perhaps there alone and didn’t need his ship or companions. When he invited Moses for what would be a protracted visit, he summoned his ship to return and it landed upon the summit. For six days, for whatever reason, it was surrounded by a cloud -- mist, smoke, vapor? Then, on the seventh day, with Moses aboard, Jehovah’s ship took off in a fiery blast-off witnessed by the gathering of Israelites at the foot of the mountain.
Jehovah's Plans for Conquest
(Exodus 23:20 - 23:33)
I will assign to you one of my lieutenants who will conduct you safely to the land I have prepared for your people. Respect him and do what he says. Don't oppose him, for he will not brook disobedience, as he is under my orders. If you will faithfully follow what he bids you and abide by my instructions, I will be an enemy to your enemies and do battle with those who attack you.
When my lieutenant leads you into the land of the Amorites, the Hethites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites (all of whom I will expel and annihilate), you must not adore their gods or serve them. Do not adopt their forms of worship. Tear down their altars and smash their idols! If you worship Jehovah as your only god, he will bless you with ample food and drink and banish sickness from among you. There, in this land, your women will never be infertile or suffer miscarriages. I will see to it that you all live long and full lives.
Ahead of you, I will instigate a reign of terror. I will throw into confusion the peoples that stand in your way, and all your enemies will take flight in fear. Before your arrival, I will afflict the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hethites with pestilence. However I will not drive them all out in a single year, in case the land would become a wasteland overrun with animals. I will expel them gradually until your numbers have increased until they are sufficient to take full possession of the land. The boundaries of your country I will establish as extending from the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea to the Palestinian shore of the Mediterranean Sea, from the desert of the Sinai to the Euphrates River of Mesopotamia. I will deliver into your hands the native inhabitants, and you will chase them out. Make no treaties with them or with their gods. And do not allow them to remain in your land, for they will induce you to reject me and lure you into worshiping their idols.
Notes
1. The person referred to as the one who will guide the Israelites to the Promised Land is usually translated as "angel," but this is very misleading, as angel only means messenger, in the sense of emissary or agent. I have used here the word "lieutenant" as it seems more fitting in this context, since the "angel" is to fulfill a military function in driving out the native inhabitants from the land the Israelites are to occupy. The lieutenant has his orders from Jehovah with the implication that he has little latitude in interpreting them and no power to pardon Israelites who fail to follow his orders.
2. Again, in the promise to destroy or expel all those who inhabitant the lands Jehovah has promised to the Israelites, we detect Jehovah's relish for the use of destructive power, mass murder, and ethnic cleansing. To him, people who are not his "chosen people" have no rights, sometimes not even the right to exist, but seem to be merely vermin to be exterminated to make room for his crew of primitive nomads. Some universal God he is!
3. Jehovah's greatest fear seems to be that the Israelites will worship other gods. It’s his primary concern. He is constantly harping on the subject and seems to be the only god in the ancient world so hung up on receiving exclusively devotions. The Israelites (like modern Islamic jihadists) are not taught to respect other people's beliefs and forms of worship -- quite the contrary: they are commanded to destroy the altars and idols of other religions. Jehovah is ever at war with other gods. If the ancient gods were extraterrestrial beings, one might easily conclude from Jehovah's animosity toward his fellow deities that he was a reviled outcast, a rebel, even -- and this is suggested by his sociopathic behavior -- an exiled criminal.
4. Jehovah, like a politician, makes promises he can't possibly fulfill, such as when his people get settled in the Promised Land nobody will get sick and no woman will be barren or have a miscarriage. Everybody will live a long and healthy life. Yeah, right.
5. Many translations, particularly the older ones, have the Hivites et al afflicted with “hornets.” The Hebrew is uncertain here, but if the meaning is really “hornets, then it is probably not meant literally. When we say “raining cats and dogs” we don’t mean that tabbies and calicos, poodles and pit bulls are actually falling from the sky. It is likely that “hornets” is used figuratively and means pestilence or terror. I have chosen the former, since terror has already been mentioned and would be redundant, (although, in fairness, redundancy is very common in the Bible). --- That hornets would be employed as a weapon of war to expel a large population from a fairly vast country is scarcely practical -- and patently ludicrous. Would the hornets all drop dead as soon as the Israelites show up? (Biblical translators so frequently seem to abandon all common sense when faced with what they are deluded into thinking is holy scripture!)
I will assign to you one of my lieutenants who will conduct you safely to the land I have prepared for your people. Respect him and do what he says. Don't oppose him, for he will not brook disobedience, as he is under my orders. If you will faithfully follow what he bids you and abide by my instructions, I will be an enemy to your enemies and do battle with those who attack you.
When my lieutenant leads you into the land of the Amorites, the Hethites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites (all of whom I will expel and annihilate), you must not adore their gods or serve them. Do not adopt their forms of worship. Tear down their altars and smash their idols! If you worship Jehovah as your only god, he will bless you with ample food and drink and banish sickness from among you. There, in this land, your women will never be infertile or suffer miscarriages. I will see to it that you all live long and full lives.
Ahead of you, I will instigate a reign of terror. I will throw into confusion the peoples that stand in your way, and all your enemies will take flight in fear. Before your arrival, I will afflict the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hethites with pestilence. However I will not drive them all out in a single year, in case the land would become a wasteland overrun with animals. I will expel them gradually until your numbers have increased until they are sufficient to take full possession of the land. The boundaries of your country I will establish as extending from the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea to the Palestinian shore of the Mediterranean Sea, from the desert of the Sinai to the Euphrates River of Mesopotamia. I will deliver into your hands the native inhabitants, and you will chase them out. Make no treaties with them or with their gods. And do not allow them to remain in your land, for they will induce you to reject me and lure you into worshiping their idols.
Notes
1. The person referred to as the one who will guide the Israelites to the Promised Land is usually translated as "angel," but this is very misleading, as angel only means messenger, in the sense of emissary or agent. I have used here the word "lieutenant" as it seems more fitting in this context, since the "angel" is to fulfill a military function in driving out the native inhabitants from the land the Israelites are to occupy. The lieutenant has his orders from Jehovah with the implication that he has little latitude in interpreting them and no power to pardon Israelites who fail to follow his orders.
2. Again, in the promise to destroy or expel all those who inhabitant the lands Jehovah has promised to the Israelites, we detect Jehovah's relish for the use of destructive power, mass murder, and ethnic cleansing. To him, people who are not his "chosen people" have no rights, sometimes not even the right to exist, but seem to be merely vermin to be exterminated to make room for his crew of primitive nomads. Some universal God he is!
3. Jehovah's greatest fear seems to be that the Israelites will worship other gods. It’s his primary concern. He is constantly harping on the subject and seems to be the only god in the ancient world so hung up on receiving exclusively devotions. The Israelites (like modern Islamic jihadists) are not taught to respect other people's beliefs and forms of worship -- quite the contrary: they are commanded to destroy the altars and idols of other religions. Jehovah is ever at war with other gods. If the ancient gods were extraterrestrial beings, one might easily conclude from Jehovah's animosity toward his fellow deities that he was a reviled outcast, a rebel, even -- and this is suggested by his sociopathic behavior -- an exiled criminal.
4. Jehovah, like a politician, makes promises he can't possibly fulfill, such as when his people get settled in the Promised Land nobody will get sick and no woman will be barren or have a miscarriage. Everybody will live a long and healthy life. Yeah, right.
5. Many translations, particularly the older ones, have the Hivites et al afflicted with “hornets.” The Hebrew is uncertain here, but if the meaning is really “hornets, then it is probably not meant literally. When we say “raining cats and dogs” we don’t mean that tabbies and calicos, poodles and pit bulls are actually falling from the sky. It is likely that “hornets” is used figuratively and means pestilence or terror. I have chosen the former, since terror has already been mentioned and would be redundant, (although, in fairness, redundancy is very common in the Bible). --- That hornets would be employed as a weapon of war to expel a large population from a fairly vast country is scarcely practical -- and patently ludicrous. Would the hornets all drop dead as soon as the Israelites show up? (Biblical translators so frequently seem to abandon all common sense when faced with what they are deluded into thinking is holy scripture!)
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Other Ordinances
(Exodus 22:16 - 23:19)
If a man seduces a young woman who is not yet betrothed and has sexual relations with her, he is obligated to marry her and pay the bride price. If the father adamantly refuses to sanction the marriage, then the man must still pay him an amount equivalent to the customary bride price.
Women who practice sorcery should not be permitted to reside in the community.
Anyone who has carnal intercourse with an animal should be executed.
Anyone who makes a sacrifice to any god other than Jehovah should be thoroughly ostracized.
Do not maltreat a foreign immigrant or persecute him (for you were once foreign immigrants in the land of Egypt).
Do not exploit any widow or orphan, for if you do so in any way, and they voice the slightest complaint, I will hear it; my righteous wrath will be aroused, and with a sword will I strike you down, making your wife, a widow and your children, orphans.
If you lend money to any of my people who are poor, do not take advantage of them by acting like a loan shark and charging interest on the loan. If, for instance, you take a debtor's cloak in pledge, you must restore it to him by the end of day, for, being poor, his cloak may be the only blanket he has to cover himself when he sleeps. Indeed, if the poor have cause to complain to me, I will listen to them, for I am compassionate and merciful.
Do not disrespect your judges, or speak evil of your rulers.
Do not delay from sacrificing to me the harvested grains of the field and the juice of your wine presses. The first born of your sons are owed to me as well. And it must be the same with your cattle and sheep. The first-born male calf or lamb may remain with its mother for seven days, but on the eighth day, it must be sacrificed to me.
To me, you are holy men; therefore, do not defile yourself by consuming the meat of predated animals: feed it to the dogs.
Do not testify to confirm falsehoods or perjury yourself to aid an evildoer. Do not be swayed to follow the majority when it is in the wrong or allow it to pressure you into subverting justice by repeating its lies. Nor should you, on the other hand, display undue favoritism to the minority.
If you encounter a steer or donkey going astray, even though it may belong to an enemy, you should steer it back on its proper way. And if you see a donkey belonging to someone who hates you crouching on the ground, collapsed under the weight of its load, you should not pass by and ignore it, but help it on its feet.
Do not prevent the poor man from seeking justice. Reject trumped-up charges. Do not sentence to death an innocent, blameless man, for I will not pardon such miscarriages of justice.
Do not take a bribe, for bribes blind the eyes of the wise and pervert the judgments of the just.
Do not persecute the foreign immigrant, for you know his lot and can sympathize with his plight, having been foreign immigrants yourselves in Egypt.
You should plant your fields with grain and harvest it for six years, but, on the seventh year, leave the crop unharvested so that the needy of your people may eat from it. (The animals may feed on the leavings.) Deal likewise with your vineyards and olive groves.
Labor for six days a week and take a holiday on the seventh day, so that your cattle and donkeys may have a rest and so that the slaves and the resident aliens may be refreshed.
Heed all the words I have spoken to you. Never swear by other gods or even utter their names.
Three times a year you should celebrate feasts to honor me. You should observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Then you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib when you departed from Egypt. (Do not appear before me with empty hands!) You will also celebrate the Feast of First Fruits, when what you have planted first bears fruit, and the Harvest Feast, when, at the end of the year, the harvested grain is brought in from the fields and stored.
Thus, three times a year all your males must participate in these religious rites dedicated to me.
(You must not mix the blood of my sacrificial offerings with unleavened bread, or save any fat till the next morning. The choicest fruits of the harvest you should bring to the altar of Jehovah your god. Do not boil a kid in his mother's milk.)
Notes
1. In this series of ordinances we see some of the first inklings of Jehovah's compassion -- for the poor and needy, for widows and orphans, for foreign immigrants. And there is expressed an almost Christian sympathy in aiding the poor and the needy, even one's enemy when his livestock goes astray or when his overburdened donkey needs a helping hand. Also, there is an emphasize on Jehovah's animosity to other gods and his insistence on getting his due, no work on the Sabbath, and, of course, his beloved animal sacrifices.
2. In Hebrew society dowries were not paid by the bride’s father, rather a bride price was paid to the bride’s father by the husband.
3. The oft-sited King James Version passage, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," which seems to mean that witches should be killed on sight, is, at best, misleading. The text is not clear, but “live," I would suggest, does not here mean "exist," but rather "reside." This is not an exhortation to execute witches or sorcerers, but rather a prohibition against them living among the Hebrews. If the commandment meant that witches were to be executed, surely the text would have been phrased like similar passages enumerating capital crimes.
4. What happens to someone sacrificing to a god other than Jehovah is not clear. It does not say that he should be put to death, but “devoted” whatever that might mean. Many translations say “utterly destroyed.” But what is the distinction between destroyed and being executed? My guess is that the person would be ostracized, a terrible punishment in ancient societies.
5. Here is the first reference to a prohibition on the charging of interest on loans. From later passages it will be clear that the ban is not universal, a reasonable, non-usurious is permissible on loans to the wealthy or to foreigners, but not to fellow Israelites who are poor and needy. The Bible, in both testaments, is rather hard on money lenders. (It is somewhat ironic then that Jehovah’s chosen people became notorious in later times for being usurious money lenders.)
6. The three feasts are given several names in various translations. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is, of course, Passover. The Feast of First Fruits would later be called the Festival of Pentecost or Shabuoth. The Harvest Feast, later called Festival of Tabernacles, is now celebrated as Succoth.
If a man seduces a young woman who is not yet betrothed and has sexual relations with her, he is obligated to marry her and pay the bride price. If the father adamantly refuses to sanction the marriage, then the man must still pay him an amount equivalent to the customary bride price.
Women who practice sorcery should not be permitted to reside in the community.
Anyone who has carnal intercourse with an animal should be executed.
Anyone who makes a sacrifice to any god other than Jehovah should be thoroughly ostracized.
Do not maltreat a foreign immigrant or persecute him (for you were once foreign immigrants in the land of Egypt).
Do not exploit any widow or orphan, for if you do so in any way, and they voice the slightest complaint, I will hear it; my righteous wrath will be aroused, and with a sword will I strike you down, making your wife, a widow and your children, orphans.
If you lend money to any of my people who are poor, do not take advantage of them by acting like a loan shark and charging interest on the loan. If, for instance, you take a debtor's cloak in pledge, you must restore it to him by the end of day, for, being poor, his cloak may be the only blanket he has to cover himself when he sleeps. Indeed, if the poor have cause to complain to me, I will listen to them, for I am compassionate and merciful.
Do not disrespect your judges, or speak evil of your rulers.
Do not delay from sacrificing to me the harvested grains of the field and the juice of your wine presses. The first born of your sons are owed to me as well. And it must be the same with your cattle and sheep. The first-born male calf or lamb may remain with its mother for seven days, but on the eighth day, it must be sacrificed to me.
To me, you are holy men; therefore, do not defile yourself by consuming the meat of predated animals: feed it to the dogs.
Do not testify to confirm falsehoods or perjury yourself to aid an evildoer. Do not be swayed to follow the majority when it is in the wrong or allow it to pressure you into subverting justice by repeating its lies. Nor should you, on the other hand, display undue favoritism to the minority.
If you encounter a steer or donkey going astray, even though it may belong to an enemy, you should steer it back on its proper way. And if you see a donkey belonging to someone who hates you crouching on the ground, collapsed under the weight of its load, you should not pass by and ignore it, but help it on its feet.
Do not prevent the poor man from seeking justice. Reject trumped-up charges. Do not sentence to death an innocent, blameless man, for I will not pardon such miscarriages of justice.
Do not take a bribe, for bribes blind the eyes of the wise and pervert the judgments of the just.
Do not persecute the foreign immigrant, for you know his lot and can sympathize with his plight, having been foreign immigrants yourselves in Egypt.
You should plant your fields with grain and harvest it for six years, but, on the seventh year, leave the crop unharvested so that the needy of your people may eat from it. (The animals may feed on the leavings.) Deal likewise with your vineyards and olive groves.
Labor for six days a week and take a holiday on the seventh day, so that your cattle and donkeys may have a rest and so that the slaves and the resident aliens may be refreshed.
Heed all the words I have spoken to you. Never swear by other gods or even utter their names.
Three times a year you should celebrate feasts to honor me. You should observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Then you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib when you departed from Egypt. (Do not appear before me with empty hands!) You will also celebrate the Feast of First Fruits, when what you have planted first bears fruit, and the Harvest Feast, when, at the end of the year, the harvested grain is brought in from the fields and stored.
Thus, three times a year all your males must participate in these religious rites dedicated to me.
(You must not mix the blood of my sacrificial offerings with unleavened bread, or save any fat till the next morning. The choicest fruits of the harvest you should bring to the altar of Jehovah your god. Do not boil a kid in his mother's milk.)
Notes
1. In this series of ordinances we see some of the first inklings of Jehovah's compassion -- for the poor and needy, for widows and orphans, for foreign immigrants. And there is expressed an almost Christian sympathy in aiding the poor and the needy, even one's enemy when his livestock goes astray or when his overburdened donkey needs a helping hand. Also, there is an emphasize on Jehovah's animosity to other gods and his insistence on getting his due, no work on the Sabbath, and, of course, his beloved animal sacrifices.
2. In Hebrew society dowries were not paid by the bride’s father, rather a bride price was paid to the bride’s father by the husband.
3. The oft-sited King James Version passage, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," which seems to mean that witches should be killed on sight, is, at best, misleading. The text is not clear, but “live," I would suggest, does not here mean "exist," but rather "reside." This is not an exhortation to execute witches or sorcerers, but rather a prohibition against them living among the Hebrews. If the commandment meant that witches were to be executed, surely the text would have been phrased like similar passages enumerating capital crimes.
4. What happens to someone sacrificing to a god other than Jehovah is not clear. It does not say that he should be put to death, but “devoted” whatever that might mean. Many translations say “utterly destroyed.” But what is the distinction between destroyed and being executed? My guess is that the person would be ostracized, a terrible punishment in ancient societies.
5. Here is the first reference to a prohibition on the charging of interest on loans. From later passages it will be clear that the ban is not universal, a reasonable, non-usurious is permissible on loans to the wealthy or to foreigners, but not to fellow Israelites who are poor and needy. The Bible, in both testaments, is rather hard on money lenders. (It is somewhat ironic then that Jehovah’s chosen people became notorious in later times for being usurious money lenders.)
6. The three feasts are given several names in various translations. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is, of course, Passover. The Feast of First Fruits would later be called the Festival of Pentecost or Shabuoth. The Harvest Feast, later called Festival of Tabernacles, is now celebrated as Succoth.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Laws Concerning Assault and Property
(Exodus 21:12 - 22:15)
If one assaults a man and the man dies as a result, then the perpetrator should be executed. If the assault was accidental and occurred by mischance, then I will establish a place of exile to which the perpetrator may be banished. However, if a man kills his neighbor intentionally and with premeditation, he should be executed, even if he must be dragged from my altar.
Anyone who strikes his father or mother should be executed.
Anyone who abducts a man and holds him as a slave or sells him should be executed.
Anyone who curses or speaks disrespectfully of his father or mother should be executed.
If there is a quarrel and a man strikes another with a stone or with his fist so that he is laid up in bed, but does not die, and is eventually able to get up again and walk about with a staff, then the man who committed the assault will not be punished, save that he must pay the victim's medical expenses and restitution for work lost. A master striking his male or female slave with a rod, causing his death will be punished for a crime, but if the victim recovers after a day or two, there will be no penalty, for the slave is his own property.
If, in the course of a brawl, a man accidentally strikes a pregnant woman, resulting in a miscarriage, but no other harm, then the perpetrator will be subject to damages, whatever the husband requires as determined by a judge. But if the woman is injured further or dies, then the punishment must match the injury -- a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, a cut for a cut.
If a master puts out the eye of a slave, male or female, he should free the slave in compensation. Also, if he knocks out a slave's tooth, then he should free him in compensation.
If a bull fatally gores a man or a woman, then the bull should be stoned to death and its meat left uneaten, but the owner of the bull will not be subject to punishment. However, if the owner was well aware that the bull was habitually aggressive, neglected to pen or restrain it, and it killed someone, then not only the bull, but the owner should be put to death. However, the man’s life may be spared if some financial compensation is agreed upon. Whether the goring was of a son or daughter makes no difference. However, if the bull fatally gores a male or female slave, then the owner must pay the master of the slave 30 shekels of silver, and the bull shall be stoned to death.
If a man opens or digs a well and neglects to cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into it and dies, then he must reimburse the owner for the value of the animal, although he may keep the carcass.
If one man's bull injures a bull belonging to another man so that it dies, the live bull will be sold and the two owners will divide the proceeds, as well as sharing the dead bull. If the owner was well aware that the bull was habitually aggressive and neglected to pen or restrain it, then he must pay for the dead animal or replace it, although its carcass will be his.
If a man steals an ox or sheep, kills it or sells it, he must reimburse the owner with five oxen for one ox stolen, four sheep for one sheep stolen.
If a thief is caught breaking and entering and is beaten and killed, the killer shall not be punished. However, if this occurs during the daylight hours, then charges should be brought against the killer. As for the thief, he must make restitution for what was taken, but if he lacks the financial resources to do so, then he will be sold into slavery to cover the cost of the goods stolen. If stolen livestock be found in his possession alive, then, whether ox, sheep, or donkey, each must be restored to its owner along with an additional animal in compensation.
If a man allows or lets loose his livestock to wander into another man's field or vineyard and graze there, he must make restitution from the best of his own fields and vineyards, according to the assessed loss.
If someone starts a fire and it spreads to the brush, burning down grain stacks, standing crops, or even an entire field belonging to someone else, then he who started the fire must make good the losses.
If a man has a friend safeguard for him some goods or property, and they are stolen, the thief, if caught, must pay double the amount of the goods stolen. If the thief is not apprehended, then the man in whom the goods were entrusted must be brought before one of Jehovah's judges to swear that he did not steal them.
In all cases of disputed ownership, whether involving a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any livestock, an article of clothing, or any lost property whose ownership is contested, the parties may present their cases before a judge of Jehovah, and whomever the judge rules against, that party must pay the owner double the worth of the object.
If a man has his neighbor keep for him a donkey, an ox, or a sheep, or any livestock, and the animal dies, is injured, or strays away with no one seeing it, then the neighbor must swear an oath by Jehovah that he did not cause harm to the man's livestock. The owner must accept the neighbor's oath and not take legal action against him. However, if the animal was stolen from him, then the neighbor who kept the animal must make restitution to the owner. On the other hand, if the animal was predated by wild beasts and the neighbor produces the carcass as evidence, then he is not obliged to make restitution.
If a man borrows an animal from a neighbor and that animal is injured or dies when the owner is not present, he will be liable to make restitution to the owner. However, if the owner is present, he is not obligated to do so. And if the animal was hired for working, the rental fee is sufficient compensation.
Notes
1. Several legal principles are established by the laws set out here concerning murder and assault. Manslaughter, killing someone unintentionally is a lesser crime than murder and demands a punishment not of death, but of exile. This, however, includes accidental death, which they deal with more severely than we do. (In modern law accidental death is punished only if negligence is proved.) Kidnapping and enslavement is established as a capital crime. Offenses against one's parents are severely punished: to assault or even curse a parent is punishable by death. Generally, assault seems to be more of a civil than a criminal manner. The assailant is not punished, save he must pay medical expenses and reimburse his victim for time lost, (after which everything is OK, so long as the victim can hobble about on a cane, crutch, staff, whatever.)
2. A significant principle is set out concerning pregnancy and the legal status of the fetus. The killing of an unborn child is not defined as murder, but merely as destruction of private property, as one who causes a miscarriage is only required to make restitution to the father of the child (and not to the mother, who, of course, was merely the property of her husband). Therefore, under biblical law, one may conclude that the fetus is not regarded as a person in the legal sense. --- It should be mentioned, though, that since the Hebrew here is rather ambiguous, some translations have the mother giving birth prematurely rather than miscarrying. But context favors the latter interpretation. It seems unlikely that damages would be demanded merely over a premature birth.
3. In this section we have the first appearance of the phrase "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." It is the most obvious and rudimentary principle of justice. It will be noted, though, that in regard to theft, as well as other matters, it seems as if "two eyes for an eye" is more the prevailing tenet. The competing concept, "two black eyes don't make one white one," has not yet appeared.
4. Laws governing the treatment of slaves seem contradictory. You cannot kill your slave, but it is apparently all right to beat him up, since, if he consequently can't work, that's the master's loss. (There is no concern for the harm done to the slave as a human being.) However, if the master knocks out a tooth or eye, he has to free his slave.
4. A modern principle of law, the distinction between house breaking (occurring during the day) and burglary (occurring at night), is hinted at here. Illegal entry into an abode has always been regarded as more serious when that crime occurs at night, when the owner is apt to be asleep and unable to resist entry or defend himself. As in modern law, the home owner (or, in this case, probably the tent owner) has a right to kill someone breaking in at night, but may not do so to a trespasser during the daylight hours.
5. Livestock that commit crimes are subject to execution. It is unclear whether this is merely the prudent destruction of a dangerous beast, or punishment for a moral failing on the part of the animal. At any rate, it is clear that owners must be reasonably responsible for the actions of the livestock they own, a not insignificant concept.
6. Offenders who are unable to pay fines for their wrongdoing are to be sold into slavery to cover their debt. (Enslavement for debt has a long history and was common up to comparatively modern times.) Here, enslavement is not the punishment for the crime, but a punishment for penury. (Is it not the universal condition that the poor man has to pay dearly for his missteps while the rich man is nearly always able to buy his way out of trouble?)
7. An oath sworn to Jehovah is here established as a conclusive statement of fact. (To violate that oath would be against one of the Ten Commandments.) Trust is the cornerstone upon which civilization is held together; placing absolute trust in a man's oath was as important to ancient society as honoring the contract is to our society.
8. In regard to the laws about goring bulls, many translators (apparently, strictly city men) use the word ox. “Ox” was originally used to refer to all male and female bovines; “oxen” would be synonymous with “cattle.” Modern usage, however, restricts the use of “ox” to a mature, castrated male bovine used as a draught animal. Steers, or, less commonly, bullocks, are castrated male cattle raised for beef. Bulls, on the other hand, are uncastrated males used for breeding (or fighting) purposes. Oxen, as we now term them, are fairly placid; it’s the bulls who are notoriously aggressive and do most of the bovine goring, as bullfighters will attest.
9. Thirty shekels of silver would be about 12 ounces (maybe), in today's money, from $250 to $400, depending on the current market. Of course, the reference is only to a weight of silver. Currency, that is, coinage, had not been invented yet. Consequently, money, when used in the text, is done so in a figurative sense.
If one assaults a man and the man dies as a result, then the perpetrator should be executed. If the assault was accidental and occurred by mischance, then I will establish a place of exile to which the perpetrator may be banished. However, if a man kills his neighbor intentionally and with premeditation, he should be executed, even if he must be dragged from my altar.
Anyone who strikes his father or mother should be executed.
Anyone who abducts a man and holds him as a slave or sells him should be executed.
Anyone who curses or speaks disrespectfully of his father or mother should be executed.
If there is a quarrel and a man strikes another with a stone or with his fist so that he is laid up in bed, but does not die, and is eventually able to get up again and walk about with a staff, then the man who committed the assault will not be punished, save that he must pay the victim's medical expenses and restitution for work lost. A master striking his male or female slave with a rod, causing his death will be punished for a crime, but if the victim recovers after a day or two, there will be no penalty, for the slave is his own property.
If, in the course of a brawl, a man accidentally strikes a pregnant woman, resulting in a miscarriage, but no other harm, then the perpetrator will be subject to damages, whatever the husband requires as determined by a judge. But if the woman is injured further or dies, then the punishment must match the injury -- a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, a cut for a cut.
If a master puts out the eye of a slave, male or female, he should free the slave in compensation. Also, if he knocks out a slave's tooth, then he should free him in compensation.
If a bull fatally gores a man or a woman, then the bull should be stoned to death and its meat left uneaten, but the owner of the bull will not be subject to punishment. However, if the owner was well aware that the bull was habitually aggressive, neglected to pen or restrain it, and it killed someone, then not only the bull, but the owner should be put to death. However, the man’s life may be spared if some financial compensation is agreed upon. Whether the goring was of a son or daughter makes no difference. However, if the bull fatally gores a male or female slave, then the owner must pay the master of the slave 30 shekels of silver, and the bull shall be stoned to death.
If a man opens or digs a well and neglects to cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into it and dies, then he must reimburse the owner for the value of the animal, although he may keep the carcass.
If one man's bull injures a bull belonging to another man so that it dies, the live bull will be sold and the two owners will divide the proceeds, as well as sharing the dead bull. If the owner was well aware that the bull was habitually aggressive and neglected to pen or restrain it, then he must pay for the dead animal or replace it, although its carcass will be his.
If a man steals an ox or sheep, kills it or sells it, he must reimburse the owner with five oxen for one ox stolen, four sheep for one sheep stolen.
If a thief is caught breaking and entering and is beaten and killed, the killer shall not be punished. However, if this occurs during the daylight hours, then charges should be brought against the killer. As for the thief, he must make restitution for what was taken, but if he lacks the financial resources to do so, then he will be sold into slavery to cover the cost of the goods stolen. If stolen livestock be found in his possession alive, then, whether ox, sheep, or donkey, each must be restored to its owner along with an additional animal in compensation.
If a man allows or lets loose his livestock to wander into another man's field or vineyard and graze there, he must make restitution from the best of his own fields and vineyards, according to the assessed loss.
If someone starts a fire and it spreads to the brush, burning down grain stacks, standing crops, or even an entire field belonging to someone else, then he who started the fire must make good the losses.
If a man has a friend safeguard for him some goods or property, and they are stolen, the thief, if caught, must pay double the amount of the goods stolen. If the thief is not apprehended, then the man in whom the goods were entrusted must be brought before one of Jehovah's judges to swear that he did not steal them.
In all cases of disputed ownership, whether involving a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any livestock, an article of clothing, or any lost property whose ownership is contested, the parties may present their cases before a judge of Jehovah, and whomever the judge rules against, that party must pay the owner double the worth of the object.
If a man has his neighbor keep for him a donkey, an ox, or a sheep, or any livestock, and the animal dies, is injured, or strays away with no one seeing it, then the neighbor must swear an oath by Jehovah that he did not cause harm to the man's livestock. The owner must accept the neighbor's oath and not take legal action against him. However, if the animal was stolen from him, then the neighbor who kept the animal must make restitution to the owner. On the other hand, if the animal was predated by wild beasts and the neighbor produces the carcass as evidence, then he is not obliged to make restitution.
If a man borrows an animal from a neighbor and that animal is injured or dies when the owner is not present, he will be liable to make restitution to the owner. However, if the owner is present, he is not obligated to do so. And if the animal was hired for working, the rental fee is sufficient compensation.
Notes
1. Several legal principles are established by the laws set out here concerning murder and assault. Manslaughter, killing someone unintentionally is a lesser crime than murder and demands a punishment not of death, but of exile. This, however, includes accidental death, which they deal with more severely than we do. (In modern law accidental death is punished only if negligence is proved.) Kidnapping and enslavement is established as a capital crime. Offenses against one's parents are severely punished: to assault or even curse a parent is punishable by death. Generally, assault seems to be more of a civil than a criminal manner. The assailant is not punished, save he must pay medical expenses and reimburse his victim for time lost, (after which everything is OK, so long as the victim can hobble about on a cane, crutch, staff, whatever.)
2. A significant principle is set out concerning pregnancy and the legal status of the fetus. The killing of an unborn child is not defined as murder, but merely as destruction of private property, as one who causes a miscarriage is only required to make restitution to the father of the child (and not to the mother, who, of course, was merely the property of her husband). Therefore, under biblical law, one may conclude that the fetus is not regarded as a person in the legal sense. --- It should be mentioned, though, that since the Hebrew here is rather ambiguous, some translations have the mother giving birth prematurely rather than miscarrying. But context favors the latter interpretation. It seems unlikely that damages would be demanded merely over a premature birth.
3. In this section we have the first appearance of the phrase "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." It is the most obvious and rudimentary principle of justice. It will be noted, though, that in regard to theft, as well as other matters, it seems as if "two eyes for an eye" is more the prevailing tenet. The competing concept, "two black eyes don't make one white one," has not yet appeared.
4. Laws governing the treatment of slaves seem contradictory. You cannot kill your slave, but it is apparently all right to beat him up, since, if he consequently can't work, that's the master's loss. (There is no concern for the harm done to the slave as a human being.) However, if the master knocks out a tooth or eye, he has to free his slave.
4. A modern principle of law, the distinction between house breaking (occurring during the day) and burglary (occurring at night), is hinted at here. Illegal entry into an abode has always been regarded as more serious when that crime occurs at night, when the owner is apt to be asleep and unable to resist entry or defend himself. As in modern law, the home owner (or, in this case, probably the tent owner) has a right to kill someone breaking in at night, but may not do so to a trespasser during the daylight hours.
5. Livestock that commit crimes are subject to execution. It is unclear whether this is merely the prudent destruction of a dangerous beast, or punishment for a moral failing on the part of the animal. At any rate, it is clear that owners must be reasonably responsible for the actions of the livestock they own, a not insignificant concept.
6. Offenders who are unable to pay fines for their wrongdoing are to be sold into slavery to cover their debt. (Enslavement for debt has a long history and was common up to comparatively modern times.) Here, enslavement is not the punishment for the crime, but a punishment for penury. (Is it not the universal condition that the poor man has to pay dearly for his missteps while the rich man is nearly always able to buy his way out of trouble?)
7. An oath sworn to Jehovah is here established as a conclusive statement of fact. (To violate that oath would be against one of the Ten Commandments.) Trust is the cornerstone upon which civilization is held together; placing absolute trust in a man's oath was as important to ancient society as honoring the contract is to our society.
8. In regard to the laws about goring bulls, many translators (apparently, strictly city men) use the word ox. “Ox” was originally used to refer to all male and female bovines; “oxen” would be synonymous with “cattle.” Modern usage, however, restricts the use of “ox” to a mature, castrated male bovine used as a draught animal. Steers, or, less commonly, bullocks, are castrated male cattle raised for beef. Bulls, on the other hand, are uncastrated males used for breeding (or fighting) purposes. Oxen, as we now term them, are fairly placid; it’s the bulls who are notoriously aggressive and do most of the bovine goring, as bullfighters will attest.
9. Thirty shekels of silver would be about 12 ounces (maybe), in today's money, from $250 to $400, depending on the current market. Of course, the reference is only to a weight of silver. Currency, that is, coinage, had not been invented yet. Consequently, money, when used in the text, is done so in a figurative sense.
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