Reading the Law

(Deuteronomy 31:9 - 31:29)
Moses wrote down the law and delivered it to the Levite priests who were in charge of Jehovah’s Chest of Sacred Records and to the Israelite elders.  Moses charged them, “Every 7 years, in the year that debts are canceled, during the Festival of Tabernacles when all the people of Israel appear before the altar of Jehovah your god at the designated place of worship, you should publicly read the law in their hearing.  Assemble the entire population, men, women and children, as well as foreign residents of your towns, so they can listen and learn to revere Jehovah your god and carefully follow the details of the law.  Do this so that your children who are not familiar with the law, may hear it and learn to revere Jehovah your god.  Do this as long as you dwell in the land you are crossing the River Jordan to occupy.”

Jehovah then told Moses, “The time has come for you to die.  Call Joshua and come to the entrance to the Tabernacle so that I may instruct him.”  And so Moses and Joshua presented themselves at the Tabernacle.  Jehovah manifested himself within the Tabernacle as an elongated cloud standing before the entrance to the tent.

Jehovah spoke to Moses.  “You are about to pass over and join your ancestors.  After you are gone, these people will begin to worship alien gods, the gods of the land to which they are going.  They will betray me and violate the contract I have made with them.  My ire will then be aroused against them.  I will abandon them.  I will conceal myself from them.  And they will be devoured.  Many misfortunes and disasters will fall upon them and when that happens they will say, ‘These disasters have befallen us because Jehovah is no longer among us.’  At that time I will surely hide myself from them, because of the great evil they have done by worshiping other gods.

“Now write down the words of this song.  Teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it, so that it may serve as my testimony against the people of Israel.  For after I have brought them to the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I swore I would give to your forefathers, and when they have have eaten their fill and have grown fat, they will turn to other gods and worship them, disrespecting me and breaking my contract.  But when disasters and calamities will overtake them, this song will remain as a testimony against them, for it will not be forgotten by their descendants.  Even before I am to bring them into the land I swore to give them, I have been made aware of the inclinations of these people.”

So, on that very day, Moses wrote down the song and taught it to the Israelites.

Jehovah charged Joshua the son of Nun, “Be brave and strong, for you will lead the people of Israel into the land I swore I would give them.  I will be at your side.”

When Moses had finished writing down in a book the entire body of law, he gave this order to the Levites who were in charge of carrying the Chest of Sacred records: “Take this book of law and place it inside Jehovah’s Chest of Sacred Records so that it may remain there as a testimony against the people of Israel.  I know how stubborn and rebellious you are.  If you are rebellious to Jehovah while I am alive and still among you, how more rebellious will you be after I am dead.  Now convene all the tribal elders and officials so that I may speak with them directly and call upon the heaven and the earth as a witness.  For I am aware that after my death you will corrupt yourself and act contrary to the ways I have commanded you.  In the future, evil will befall you, because you will have done what is evil in the sight of Jehovah, arousing his ire by your actions.”

Notes
1. Again it must noted that Moses could not have written down the law, since there was no alphabet and no writing except for cuneiform and hieroglyphics.  It is always assumed and it is certainly inferred that Jehovah’s law was written down in Hebrew, but it would be many centuries after Moses before that could become possible.  It is also unclear whether a written record of every utterance, every law and statute, is to be housed in the Chest of Sacred Records, which is thought of as a receptacle for the Ten Commandments, traditionally both the Moses tablets and the broken pieces of the tablets Jehovah gave him.  It also should be noted that if a record, a book, refers to a stone tablet and not, say, a papyrus scroll, there is a storage problem.  (How many stone tablets could the chest contain?  Its outside dimensions were 45 x 27 x 27 inches.)

2. The record of the law exist only as a rebuke to the Israelites it seems and not a positive inspiration or a guide for behavior.  Jehovah seems to maintain a threatening, adversarial relationship with his Chosen People and expresses no confidence in their loyalty.  (He of course knows what is in their hearts and also presumably knows the future.)  One repeatedly asks, if the Israelites are so unworthy and so faithless, why did Jehovah pick them as his Chosen People?  Was it because other peoples already had gods to represent them and national god of the Israelites was an open post, so to speak?

3. And again we are reminded that the ultimate sin, the greatest evil, is not any sort of moral depravity, but merely deserting Jehovah and worshiping other gods.

4. Moses doesn’t really pass muster as a successful leader.  He was barely able to control his people in his lifetime and he despairs that his will and wishes will be followed after his death.  He apparently has little faith in Joshua, who is his successor.  (One gains the impression here that Joshua will be much more of a military than a spiritual leader.)  No Mosaic dynasty has been established.  In fact, there is no mention of Moses’ sons, Gershom and Eliezer; they disappear from the chronicle.  Did they die?  Perhaps they were unworthy in character, although that hardly seems disqualifying, judging from past history of the Hebrews in which all manner of scoundrels, mass murderers, cheats, and adulterers were exalted.  Perhaps they were unworthy owing to the fact that their mother, Sephora, was a Midianite, a Hebrew, but not an Israelite.

5. Jehovah appears in the Tabernacle as he is wont, manifesting himself as an elongated cloud.  This is a better translation, I think, than “pillar of cloud,” since a cloud does not have a defined and delineated shape and, therefore, can only approximate the shape of a pillar or column.  An elongated cloud would veil Jehovah’s form, if he was a humanoid.  Why he hides himself is a manner of conjecture -- to create a mystique? to conceal an appearance that humans would find repellent?  (In Exodus it is asserted that Jehovah does have a physical and humanoid form.  Moses is allowed to view him from the rear.)      

First Fruit Offerings and Tithes

(Deuteronomy 26:1 - 26:19)
“When you have entered the land Jehovah your god is giving you as an inheritance, when you have taken possession of it and settled in it, then you should take the first fruits of the crops you harvest from the land Jehovah your god is giving, put them in a basket, and take them to the place that Jehovah your god has designated as a place of worship.  Present yourself to the officiating priest and tell him, ‘I proclaim to Jehovah your god that I have now entered the land he has swore to our ancestors that he would give us.’  The priest will then accept the basket from you and place it upon the altar of Jehovah.

“You must then declare before Jehovah your god, ‘My ancestor was an Aramean nomad who went to live as an alien resident in Egypt.  When he arrived, his family was small, but it would become a large and mighty nation.  The Egyptians, though, maltreated us and made our lives miserable, subjecting us to hard labor.  We appealed to Jehovah, the god of our ancestors.  He heard our cries and saw our toil, our misery and oppression.  With his might and power Jehovah produced horrendous acts of terror, miracles and wonders and brought us out of Egypt.  He led us to this place and presented us with this country, a land flowing with milk and honey.  Now I bring to you the first fruits of the land that you, Jehovah, has given us!’  Set down the basket on the altar of Jehovah your god and prostrate yourself before it.  Afterwards you, along with the Levites and the foreigners living among you, may make merry and celebrate the bounty Jehovah your god has bestowed upon you and your household.

“When you have finished paying the tithe on all your produce in the third year (the year of the tithe) and giving it to the Levites, the resident aliens, the orphans, and widows so that they may eat their fill in your towns, then you shall declare before the altar of Jehovah your god, ‘I have removed the sacred portion from my house and according to the instructions of your commandments, I have given it to the Levites, the resident aliens, the orphans and widows.  I have not deviated from any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten any of them.  I have not eaten any of the tithe while I was in mourning, or removed any of it while I was ritually impure, nor have I made an offering of it to the dead.  I have obeyed Jehovah my god.  I have done all you have commanded of me.  Look down from Heaven, your holy habitation, and bless your people Israel and the country you have given us as you promised our ancestors you would do, a land flowing with milk and honey.

“Jehovah your god commands you this day to follow these decrees and regulations and to obey them faithfully with all your heart and soul.  You have declared here today that Jehovah is your god, that you will follow his ways, keep his commandments and statutes, and heed what he tells you.  And Jehovah has declared to you that you are his people and will be his treasured possession as he has promised and that you must obey all his commandments.  If you do, he will set you above all the other nations he has created.  He will grant you praise, honor, and fame.  You will be a nation that is sacred to Jehovah your god, as he has promised you.”

Notes
1. Here Moses reiterates briefly the story of the Israelite people.  That Jehovah freed the people from bondage is always the rationale for the necessity of the Israelites obeying everything Jehovah tells them.  They have, in fact, traded one master for another.  Instead of being a servant of the Egyptians, they are servants of Jehovah.  It is moot question which was the more demanding taskmaster.

2. The tithe (always a tenth of the harvest) was given every third year to the Levite priests, with some to go to the indigent, widows and orphans and foreign residents.  One wonders what happened to the needy on non-tithe years, did they starve?

3. The quid pro quo of Jehovah’s relationship with the Israelites is restated -- follow all my laws, do what I tell you to do, worship me as a god, and I will shower all manner of benefits upon your nation.  Jehovah is in many respects like the lord of the manor and Israelites, serfs.

4. This concludes Moses sermon/speech to the Israelites.  It is amazing a dying man was capable of delivering such a long speech, especially since he was so oratorically challenged that he needed someone else (Aaron) to speak for him.  The speech, as has been noted many times, included anachronistic references and advice that the Israelites would not need for hundreds of years.

Communal Atonement for an Unsolved Murder

(Deuteronomy 21:1 - 21:9)
“If, when you have settled in the land Jehovah your god is giving you, you find someone dead in the fields and it is not known who may have killed him, your elders and judges should come out into the field and measure the distance from it to nearby towns.  The elders of the town nearest to where the man was slain should take a heifer, one that has never been worked or worn a yoke, and lead it into a valley that has never been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream.  There, in the valley, they should break its neck.  The Levite priests should should be present, for Jehovah your god has charged them to minister to him and to make blessings in his name, as well as to settle with their pronouncements all disputes and all matters involving assaults.  All the elders of the town nearest to where the man was slain should wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, and they should proclaim, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes witness its shedding.  Accept, O Jehovah, this atonement for your people, Israel, whom you, Jehovah, have redeemed, and do not hold your people guilty of shedding the blood of an innocent person.’  The murder will then be atoned for and you will have purged yourself from the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you will have done what is right in the eyes of Jehovah.”

Notes
1. An apparently murdered corpse is found in a field.  No one knows how he came to be killed.  This is what should then transpire.  But it seems the instructions here foster some jumping to conclusions.  What if it is unclear whether the dead man was murdered or died as a result of an accident?  How can those examining the body know whether the man was murdered, or was killed in an honest fight or by someone acting in self-defense?

2. This section illustrates the concept of collective, communal guilt.  Modern thinking would place the blame on the murderer alone and not on a community that was totally ignorant of the crime, even to the extent of not knowing whether the murderer was even a member of the community.  The sacrifice of the heifer seems strictly primitive, witch-doctor stuff conforming to the dictate that blood must be atoned by blood, that a murder must be atoned by another murder (even if it be that of an animal), and that guilt must be washed away with blood.  (Indeed, there seems to be no offense of Jehovan law that cannot be put right be killing some poor animal.)

3. No provision seems to be made for Israelites living in areas where there would no valley with a stream running through an untilled field.  They would not be able to properly perform the atonement ceremony and apparently would be forever guilty of a crime they did not commit and had no knowledge of.     

Provisions for Priests

(Deuteronomy 18:1 - 18:8)
“Take note that the Levitical priests, that is, the entire tribe of Levi, receive no allotment of land along with the other tribes of Israel.  Instead, the priests and Levites consume the food sacrifices dedicated to Jehovah: that is their portion.  They do not share in the inheritance given to their fellow Israelites; Jehovah himself is their inheritance, as he promised them.

“From those who sacrifice a bull or a sheep, the priests' share is the meat from the shoulder, the cheeks, and internals organs.  You must also give to the priests the first fruits of your grain, your new wine, and your olive oil, and the first shearing of wool from your sheep, for Jehovah your god has chosen them and their descendants, from out of all the tribes of Israel, to stand before the altar and minister in Jehovah's name for all time.

“If a Levite leaves a town in Israel in which he is living and goes to place chosen by Jehovah for his worship, then he may minister there in the name of Jehovah along with the other Levites who are already serving Jehovah there.  He may also partake of their share of food offerings, (regardless of what he may have realized from the sale of family property).”

Note
1. This reiterates the rights and privileges of the Levites, but also mentions another, the right of a Levite priest to leave one of the Israelite towns set aside for his tribe and become a priest in one of the Jehovan places of worship.  One wonders how this would work in practice.  It would be as if Catholic priests were allowed to go to any parish they wished and be allowed to officiate.  Wouldn't this result in chaos?  Wouldn’t this result in an over abundance of priests at more desirable places of worship?  One assumes that the high priest, the descendant of Aaron, would have authority over all matters affecting the tribe, but here there no provision to create the hierarchy necessary for the exercise of that authority or a protocol put in place for the delegation of his powers.

Towns for Levites and Cities of Refuge

(Book of Numbers 35:1 - 35:15)  
While the Israelites were camped on the plains of Moab by the River Jordan across from Jericho, Jehovah told Moses, "Command that the Israelites give the Levites towns in which to live from their inheritance of land.  Also give them pasturage surrounding the towns.  The Levites must have their towns to live in and pastures for their cattle and other livestock.  The pastures given to the Levites must extend 1000 cubits from the town wall in every direction.  With the town at the center, measure, on each side, east, south, west, and north, 2000 cubits.  This will comprise the pastureland for the town.

"Among the towns that you grant the Levites should include the 6 cities of refuge, to which a person who has killed someone by accident may safely flee.  In addition to them, the Levites should be given 42 towns.  In all, 48 towns, with surrounding pasture lands, should be given to the Levites.  These towns will come from the land granted to the other Israelite tribes.  The larger tribes will give more towns to the Levites, the smaller tribes, fewer. Each tribe will be obliged to give in proportion to the amount of land it owns."

Jehovah told Moses, "Instruct the people of Israel that when they cross the Jordan into Canaan, they must designate certain cities as sanctuaries where those who have killed someone accidentally may find refuge.  These cities will furnish protection from those who may wish to exact vengeance and execute the inadvertent killer before he may be tried by the community.  Designate 6 cities of refuge for your people, 3 east of the Jordan and 3 west of the Jordan in Canaan.  These cities may be used not only by Israelites, but also by resident aliens or traveling merchants; anyone who accidentally kills someone may seek refuge there.

Notes
1. All the tribes are obligated to set aside towns for the use of the Levites, whose population, therefore, will be sprinkled throughout the lands occupied by the Israelites.  One assumes that they will be needed locally for religious duties, and also that they will constitute a separate population beholden to the hierarchy of their own tribe, rather, one supposes, like the medieval Catholic priesthood. 

2. Although the account is confusing, if not contradictory, it seems the layout of the Levite towns and pasturage was this, an allotment of land 4000 cubits (6000 feet) square with a town 2000 cubits (3000 feet) square in the center.  Outside the town is the pastureland, surrounding the town at a distance of a 1000 cubits (1500 feet).   This may seem good "on paper," but it makes no allowance for growth.  And is every Levite town to be exactly the same size?

3. The necessity for the cities of refuge reveals the conflict at that time between primitive traditions of personal revenge, honor killings, and blood oaths on the one hand and the institution of a national justice system based upon codified law on the other.  The cities of refuge are needed to forestall the hot-blooded seekers of vengeance, so that the legal system can have time to pass judgment.  Replacing revenge with justice, substituting the aggrieved individual or family acting as an avenger with a communal body objectively determining guilt and inflicting punishment according to law, is a huge advancement in human history.  The Hebrew concepts of justice, though, were not unique, but would have acquired by the Israelites from their contact with the Babylonians and later, the Egyptians, both of whom developed credible legal systems a millennium earlier.

4. While there is proportionality in where the Levite towns are to be located, more among the larger tribes and fewer among the smaller tribes, there is no such proportionality in placement of the cities of refuge: 3 cities are to be located west of the River Jordan and 3, east of the river, where there are only 2 1/2 tribes.  Was more trouble to be expected from those rowdy and restive Reubenites? 

Instructions to the Levites

(Book of Numbers 18:1 - 18:32)
Jehovah then told Aaron, "You and your sons and members of the Levite tribe are to be responsible for offenses concerning the Sanctum, but you and your sons alone are responsible for offenses involving the priesthood.  So you may bring in your fellow Levites, members of your ancestral tribe, to join you and assist you when you and your sons minister before the Inner Sanctum.  They may perform duties for you in the Tabernacle, but must have no contact with the sacred furnishings of the Sanctum or the altar.  If they do, both they and you will die.  They are to assist you in the maintenance of the Tabernacle and any work that needs to be done there, but no unauthorized person may come near you.  You yourself are to officiate in the Sanctum and before the altar, so that my wrath may never again be vented upon the Israelites.  It is I who have chosen your fellow Levites from among the Israelites to be your assistants; I present them to you as a gift that they may dedicate themselves to Jehovah and serve in the Tabernacle.  But it is you and your sons, as priests, who will perform the rituals at the altar and the priestly duties behind the veil of the Sanctum.  The priesthood is proffered to you as a privilege.  Any other, unauthorized person that violates the Sanctum will be put to death.

Jehovah also told Aaron, "I have given you charge of the offerings made to me, all the sacred gifts from the Israelites, and make them over to you and your sons as a perpetual share.  You are to be allotted a portion of the sacred offerings that are not burned.  That portion of the sacred offerings, whether they be grain offerings, sin offerings, or guilt offerings, will be considered holy and belong to you and your sons.  Consume it as a holy offering.  Every male in your household must eat it.  You must regard it as holy.  Also belonging to you are all the sacred offerings of the Israelites that are raised and waved above the altar.  I give these as a perpetual share to your sons and daughters.  Everyone in your household who is ritually pure may partake of them.  And I give to you all the finest olive oil and new wine and grain that are the offered to Jehovah as first fruits of the harvest.  All the first fruits of the land offered to Jehovah will thus belong to you.  Everyone in your household who is ritually pure may partake of them.

"Everything in Israel given over to Jehovah belongs to you as well.  Whether human or animal, the firstborn issue of every womb offered to Jehovah is yours, but the firstborn of every human and the firstborn of every ritually impure animal you will redeem.  They should be redeemed when they are a month old, the redemption price being 5 silver shekels (a shekel weighing 20 gerahs, according to the weights of the Sanctum).

"But you must not redeem the firstborn of a cow, a sheep, or a goat, for they are holy.  Dash their blood upon the altar, burn their fat into smoke -- a burnt offering creating an aroma pleasing to Jehovah.  Their meat, though, belongs to you, just like the breast and right thigh that are raised and waved above the altar as offerings.  All the offerings the Israelites make to Jehovah I make over to you, with your sons and daughters, as a perpetual share.  This a permanent and unbreakable contract between Jehovah and you and your descendants."

Jehovah said this as well to Aaron, "You will have no legacy of land, nor will you any share in real property.  I am your share, your legacy among the Israelites.  To the Levites I have given all of Israel's tithes in recompense for serving and ministering in the Tabernacle.  From now on the Israelites must not approach the Tabernacle; for this offense they will suffer death.  It is the Levites who are to serve in the Tabernacle and they must answer for any offenses made against it.  This will be a permanent law, in force throughout the generations: the Levites will have no allotment of land among the Israelites, because I have given them as their share the tithes the Israelites present to Jehovah as sacred offerings.  That is their share and that is why I have said, ‘They have no allotment of land among the Israelites’.”

To Moses Jehovah then said. "Tell the Levites that when they receive from the Israelites the tithes I have given to you as your share, they should set aside a portion of it as an offering to Jehovah -- a tithe of the tithe.  Jehovah will consider this as a harvest offering like the first grain from your threshing floor or the first juice from your wine press.  You must therefore present a tenth of the tithes you receive from the Israelites as sacred offerings to Jehovah.  From the tithes received you must turn over Jehovah's portion to Aaron the priest.  You must reserve for Jehovah the best and the holiest of the offerings you receive.  Tell the Levites that when they present this best part it should be treated like an offering from the threshing floor or the wine press.  You Levites, you and your households may eat the remainder anywhere you wish, for it is your recompense for serving in the Tabernacle.  You will not considered guilty of any offense by accepting the tithes of Jehovah, if you turn over the best portion to the priests.  But take care not to profane the holy gifts from the the people of Israel -- on pain of death.

Notes
1. Much of Jehovah's instructions to the Levites have already been recorded in Leviticus, but we have seen that redundancy is pretty common in the biblical texts, likely owing to the fact of their being compiled from multiple sources over a period of time.

2. The god-priest arrangement presented here is a standard one.  The god authorizes the priesthood to represent him to his worshipers.  The priests are rewarded with the sacrifices that are offered to the god.  They invariably defend their prerogatives and the uniqueness of their role.  And they are able to justify everything they say and do as being the will of the god, since only they are able to communicate directly with the divine and, therefore, may define that will.  The arrangement has always been a racket, and throughout history few have been the priests that have not exploited it.  Here, as part of the deal, the Levites do not get a piece of the Promised Land along with the other tribes, because their share is the priesthood itself -- more than ample compensation.  This is attested to over and over again as if members of the priestly class, who are writing the texts, have a continual need to confirm and justify their position.

3. It is never quite clear how the punishment of death is enacted against those who violate the Sanctum, that is, go anywhere near it.  Does Jehovah personally strike them down as he did the supporters of Korah or, earlier, the sons of Aaron?  Is there something deadly about the Chest of Sacred Records itself?  Or is the violator merely apprehended by the priests and executed in some conventional manner?

4. One wonders how onerous and unpopular might have been the provision that the priests claim all the firstborn.  Your wife has her first baby, you have to pay the priests 5 shekels.  Your dog has a puppy, you pay the priests 5 shekels.  You cow has a calf, you have to take it to the priest so he can slaughter and eat it.  Isn't that a bit much?  And, since the firstborn is considered the most desirable, what effect might it have had on the breeding stock when every firstborn animal was always being killed?

5. The Sanctum shekel would be about .8 ounces, that makes the price of redemption of 5 shekels (2 ounces of silver) about $32 (as of this writing).  
 

Consecration of the Levites

(Book of Numbers 8:5 - 8:26) 
Jehovah commanded Moses, "Separate the Levites from the rest of the people of Israel and make them ritually pure.  To do so, sprinkle purifying water on them, then have them shave all the hair from their bodies, and wash their clothes, thus cleansing themselves.   Have them bring a young bull and a grain offering of choice flour mixed with olive oil, as well as a second bull for a sin offering.  Assemble the entire community of Israel and bring the Levites to the entrance to the Tabernacle.  When the Levites are brought before the altar, it is the Israelite people who will sacrifice them: Aaron will present the Levites as an elevated offering from the Israelites at the altar of Jehovah, that they may be prepared to serve him.  The Levites will then seize the bulls, designating one as the sin offering and the other as a burnt offering of atonement to Jehovah.  The Levites will stand before Aaron and his sons and be presented by them as an elevated offering to Jehovah.  In this way the Levites will be set apart from the other people of Israel.  They will be mine!

"After the Levites have been purified and presented as an elevated offering, they will then minister in the Tabernacle.  They have thus been given totally to me, for I have claimed the Levites as substitutes for the firstborn sons of Israel.  All the firstborn of the Israelites, whether human or animal, belong to me.  I have laid claim to them ever since I struck down all the firstborn of the Egyptians.  But I accept the Levites in place of the firstborn sons of Israel.  From among the people of Israel, I have assigned the Levites to be the assistants to Aaron and his sons, to serve in the Tabernacle on behalf of the Israelite people and to make the requisite sacrifices of atonement so that no affliction may befall the Israelites when they approach the Sanctum."

And so Moses, Aaron, and the entire community of Israel dealt in this way with the Levites, following meticulously the instructions concerning them Jehovah gave to Moses.  The Levites cleaned themselves and washed their clothes.  Aaron presented them as an elevated offering before the altar and made sacrifices of atonement to purify them.  Afterwards, the Levites entered service in the Tabernacle and assisted Aaron and his sons.  What Jehovah had instructed Moses concerning the Levites was indeed accomplished.

Jehovah also instructed Moses, "This shall apply to the Levites: when they have reached the age of 25, they will enter into service at the Tabernacle, but when they are 50, they must retire from active duty and minister no more.   After retirement, they may continue to help their fellow Levites with their work in the Tabernacle, but they may no longer officiate themselves.  This restriction must be observed when assigning duties to the Levites."

Notes
1.  Remembering from the census that Levite males numbered 22,000, it beggars belief that the described ceremony could have taken place.  It seems logistically impossible.  For instance, the Levites are instructed to stand before Aaron.  Are 22,000 men to stand before Aaron?  Possibly a few dozen Levites could have been consecrated in a day, but, at that rate, it would have taken a year to consecrate them all.  A larger batch could have been handled, maybe, but how many people can squeeze into the Tabernacle compound? And how would the Israelites have had sufficient livestock to accommodate all those sacrifices?  Over and over, we see that the numbers in Numbers are preposterously inflated.

2.  Bathing, shaving the body, and washing the clothes symbolize the act of spiritual purification.  Linking physical cleanliness and spiritual purity, a natural connection, was not unique to the Hebrews: for instance, the custom of priests regularly shaving all the hair from their bodies was practiced by the Egyptians.   There are, however, just as many cases in which holiness is connected with a rejection of physical needs and hygiene and a contempt for appearances, not washing, not wearing clean clothes, not shaving or cutting the hair.  We have just seen that the Nazirites were forbidden to cut their hair.

3.  We are reminded that Jehovah will strike down or afflict with a plague anyone who approaches his Inner Sanctum, where the Chest of Sacred Records is housed and where his voice speaks to Moses.  But making certain sacrifices will apparently protect the people from this fate.  Is Jehovah ever vigilant and zaps any intruder who appears, or is some automatic mechanism at work here?  Is the Chest of Sacred Records, which, for what we know of it, is only a wood box covered with gold, somehow dangerous?  If so, how would a priest be shielded from its lethal power merely by making a sacrifice?  Why, if Jehovah were God and he wanted to protect his space, would he not simply throw a little force field or something around the Inner Sanctum and let it go at that?  Or is this all an empty threat, like a "Violators Will Be Prosecuted" sign?

4.  A Levite would begin officiating at the age of 25, apparently after he had acquired sufficient experience and maturity.  A retirement age of 50 is very reasonable, one of the most credible numbers in Numbers.  By 50, most Levites would be dead.  People really didn't live to be a hundred-and-something years old in those days; the average life span was probably about 25 years, and, for those who had reached adulthood, life expectancy would only have been around 45 years.  The duties involving slaughtering livestock may have been too demanding for an older man, and a senior might have a senior moment and forget some of the finer points of a ceremony and end up being struck down dead by Jehovah.  Apparently though, this mandatory retirement age did not apply to Aaron, who was supposedly already in his 80’s.  Was he grandfathered in?  (In the movies the biblical high priest is invariably a white-bearded ancient -- not correct, it seems.)

Duties of the Levites

(Book of Numbers 4:1 - 4:49)

Jehovah then instructed Moses, "Record by their families and clans the names of all members of the Kohathite branch of the Levite tribe who are 30 to 50 years of age and able to serve in the Tabernacle.  The work of the Kohathites at Tabernacle is the custodianship of sacred objects.

"When camp is broken, Aaron and his sons will take down the veil that surrounds the Inner Sanctum and with it cover the Chest of Sacred Records.  Over the top of it they must lay a cloth of fine leather and over that, a cloth of blue.  Then insert into the Chest of Sacred Records its carrying staves.  Then put a blue cloth over the Showbread table, over its dishes, cups, and utensils used for drink offerings and the Showbread itself that is always displayed on it.  It should be covered with a cloth of scarlet and one of fine leather.  Afterwards, the carrying staves should be inserted into the table.  Next they should cover with a blue cloth the Menorah, its lamps, wick trimmers, trays, and the jars of olive oil that are its fuel.  These and all its accessories should be wrapped in fine leather and placed on a carrying frame.  Spread a blue cloth over the gold Incense Altar and cover it with fine leather.  Then insert the carrying staves into the altar.  The remaining furnishings of the Sanctum should be covered with a blue cloth, wrapped in fine leather, and placed on a frame for carrying.

"They must clean the ashes from the Sacrificial Altar and cover it with a purple cloth.  All the utensils used at the altar, the fire pans, forks, shovels, and basins, should be covered with the cloth, then wrapped in fine leather, and placed on a frame for carrying.  Afterwards the carrying staves should be put in place.

"The camp will be ready to move when Aaron and his sons have completed covering all the articles of the Sanctum.  As the camp sets out, the Kohathites will carry the afore-named objects, but they must not touch the sacred objects themselves, or else they will die.  But these are the things from the Tabernacle that the Kohathites are responsible for transporting.

"Eleazar, the son of Aaron, will be responsible for the oil of the Menorah, the Sacred Incense, the daily grain offering, and the Anointing Oil.  Moreover, he will be in charge of the entire Tabernacle, including the Sanctum and its sacred objects."

Jehovah warned Moses and Aaron, "Do not let the Kohathite branch of the Levite tribe perish!  So that they may be protected from being killed, Aaron or one of his sons must accompany the Kohathites whenever they enter the Sanctum and assign each man a specific task or object to carry.  No Kohathite must be allowed to sneak into the Sanctum in order to gaze upon the uncovered sacred objects, even for an instant.  Anyone who does so will be killed!"

Jehovah also instructed Moses, "Record by their families and clans the names of all members of the Gershonite branch of the Levite tribe who are 30 to 50 years of age and able to serve in the Tabernacle.   As a part of their duties the Gershonites will be entrusted with carrying the following objects: the curtains of the Sanctum, the covering to the Sanctum, including the fine leather outer covering that goes on top of it, the screen before the Sanctum entrance, the curtains that surround the Tabernacle courtyard,  the curtains for the Tabernacle entrance, and all the cords and other equipment necessary for installing the curtains.  Such are the items the Gershonites will be responsible for.  Aaron and his sons will supervise the Gershonites, whether it involves transporting objects from the Tabernacle or other tasks, and they will assign to each Gershonite worker the load he is to carry.   These are the Tabernacle duties that the Gerhsonites will be responsible for and in them they will be personally directed by Aaron's son Ithamar.

"Now record by their families and clans the names of all members of the Merarite branch of the Levite tribe who are 30 to 50 years of age and are eligible to do work related to the Tabernacle.  Their sole duty at the Tabernacle will be to carry the framework of the Sanctum, its crossbars, posts, and plinths, and the posts for the walls of the Tabernacle courtyard, with their plinths, tent pegs, ropes, and all related equipment.  Each man will be assigned an object to carry.  These are the Tabernacle duties that the Merarites will be responsible for, and in them they will be personally directed by Aaron's son Ithamar."

Moses, Aaron, and the other tribal leaders recorded by their families and clans the Kohathite branch.  The list comprising men from the age of 30 to 50 and able to serve in the Tabernacle numbered 2,750.  This was the result of the census of Kohathites able to serve in the Tabernacle conducted by Moses and Aaron in accordance with the instructions of Jehovah.

They also recorded by their families and clans the Gershonite branch.  The list comprising men from the age of 30 to 50 and able to serve in the Tabernacle numbered 2,630.  This was the result of the census of Gershonites able to serve in the Tabernacle conducted by Moses and Aaron in accordance with the instructions of Jehovah.

They also recorded by their families and clans the Merarite branch.  The list comprising men from the age of 30 to 50 and able to serve in the Tabernacle numbered 3,200.  This was the result of the census of Merarites able to serve in the Tabernacle conducted by Moses and Aaron in accordance with the instructions of Jehovah.

Moses, Aaron, and the tribal leaders completed their census of the tribe of Levi by their families and clans, of those from 30 to 50 years of age and able to serve in the Tabernacle and work in its transportation.  Their number totaled 8,580.  After their names were recorded, as Jehovah had instructed Moses, each was given a specific task to carry out and told what he was to carry.  And so the count was performed in accordance with the instructions Jehovah had given Moses.

Notes
1.  While Aaron and his descendants have the privilege of being priests, the rest of the Levite tribe, as has been said before, are reduced to being holy roustabouts, beasts of burden.  The work force is highly supervised; tasks are those a moron can perform.  Aaron and his sons have all the authority and those who work for them in the Tabernacle are decidedly just menials.

2. The objects to be carried when camp is broken and the portable Tabernacle is disassembled would require the labor of dozens or scores of men, not thousands.  There are only so many objects to carry.  How could the Tabernacle find work for 8,580 men?  It seems that consistently the numbers in Numbers are inflated by about a hundred times.

3.  Ordinary objects become sacred when touching or even looking at them causes death.  Jehovah is apparently so proprietary he will kill anyone that even breaths upon what he regards as his property.  But it is not clear what happens to the violator.  Is he suddenly burned up, struck by a lightning bolt, or does he merely drop dead.  Or, is the person arrested, charged with a crime, and executed?

Redemption of the Firstborn

(Book of Numbers 3:40 -3:51)

Jehovah then instructed Moses, "Now make a census of all the firstborn sons of Israel a month old or more and make a list of their names.  Let the Levites be substitutes for all the firstborn sons of Israel and let the Levites' livestock be substitutes for the firstborn livestock of the entire nation of Israel.  Thus says Jehovah."

And so Moses conducted a census of all the firstborn sons of Israel, as Jehovah had commanded him.  Counting the names of the firstborn sons a month or older, the total came to 22,273.

Jehovah then instructed Moses, "The Levites will be substitutes for the firstborn of Israel and their livestock substitutes for the livestock of Israel.  The Levites belong to me.  Thus says Jehovah.  However, to redeem the additional 273 firstborn of Israel, those exceeding the 22,000 Levites, collect from each of them 5 pieces of silver, each equal to a shekel (that is, a shekel determined by the priest's weights, which is equal to 20 gerahs).  Give this silver to Aaron as the price for the redemption of the extra firstborn sons."

Moses thus collected the silver for the redemption of the firstborn sons of Israel above the number redeemed by the Levites.  The amount of silver collected was 1,365 pieces, with each piece being equal to a shekel by the priest's weights.   On behalf of those firstborn sons of Israel, Moses presented this silver to Aaron and his sons, as Jehovah had commanded.

Notes
1.  Jehovah claims the entire tribe of Levi as his property, his slaves, forced to dedicate their lives to his worship.  The justification for this is curious.  Jehovah murders all the firstborn Egyptians in order to compel the Pharaoh of Egypt to free the Israelites from their bondage.  Then, as payment for his "good" deed,  he demands that the Israelites give to him all their firstborn, livestock and human.  Instead of requiring the firstborn males to be human sacrifices on his altar, he allows the debt to be satisfied by his being given one of the tribes of Israel.  The numbers of Levites and the number of firstborn among the entire people of Israel are roughly equal.  But Jehovah will not be cheated or shorted.  The  273 firstborns that the Levites do not cover must be paid for, literally. 

2. To Jehovah the life of a human being is worth 5 shekels, two ounces of silver, at present market values, about $32.  However, in Leviticus a man is worth ten times as much as a votive offering.

3.  The silver that Jehovah demands in payment for the firstborn is given to Aaron and his sons.  Yet another money-making racket for the priests!  (The 1,365 pieces of silver would amount to about  $8700 in current money, although, of course, it is difficult to know its real buying power in ancient Hebrew society.)

4.  The male population of Israel of an age to bear arms is reported to be over 600,000.  The entire number of firstborn males is more than 22,000.  Hasn’t anyone noticed that these numbers are rather askew?  They only make sense if every couple had 30 or 40 children.

5.  It is not explicit what happens to the livestock belonging to the Levites and, therefore, belonging to Jehovah.  Are they all destined for the Sacrificial Altar? 

Sale of Land

(Leviticus 25:14 - 25:34)
 "When you sell land to any of your own people, or buy land from them, do not cheat one another.  When you buy land from a neighbor, the price should be based upon the number of years since the last Jubilee Year.  The seller must take into account the number of years until the next jubilee.  The more years there are until the next jubilee, the higher the price, the fewer the years, the lower the price.  The reason for this is that the person selling you the land is actually selling a certain number of harvests.   Show respect to your god by not cheating each other.  Thus says your god Jehovah.

"Observe my statutes and obey my decrees and you will live securely in the land.  The land will produce bountiful harvests, you will be able to eat your fill and live in security.  But you might ask, 'What will we eat on the seventh year, since we are not allowed to plant or harvest crops during that year?'  Rest assured that I will so bless your fields on the sixth year that the land will yield a crop that will last for three years.  When you plant your fields in the eighth year you will still be eating the large crop from the sixth year. (In fact you will still be eating it when the new crop is being harvested on the ninth year!)

"You cannot sell the land permanently, for it belongs to me; you live upon it only as a resident alien would.  When land is purchased, the right of the seller to buy it back must be honored.  If one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and is forced to sell a piece of family property, a close relative should have the opportunity to reclaim it for him.  If there is no family member to do so, but the original owner acquires enough wealth to buy it back, he may do so from the person he sold it to, after figuring a discount for the number of years to the next Jubilee.  In this way, the original owner may return to his land.  If, however, he cannot afford to pay for his land, it must remain with the new owner until the next Jubilee Year.  At that time the property will revert to the original owner, who can live again on his own land.

"Anyone who sells a dwelling in a walled city has the right to reclaim it up to a full year after the purchase.  During that year he has the right to buy it back, but if it is not bought back within the year, then the sale of the dwelling will become final.  It will become the permanent property of the buyer and not to be returned in the Jubilee Year.  However, a dwelling in a village, that is, an unwalled settlement, is to be treated like any other property in the countryside.  It may be bought back anytime by the original owner and must be returned to him in the Jubilee Year.

"Members of the tribe of Levi retain the right to buy back any house in the towns belonging to them.  Real estate sold by the Levites or property in the towns belonging to them must be returned to them during the Jubilee Year, since the property in their towns are their sole inheritance in Israel.  The pastureland around the Levite towns may not be sold at all and is their permanent possession."

Notes
1.  Laws concerning the disposition of land seem absurd to promulgate at a time when the migrant Israelites own no land and will not do so for several decades.  But the chickens are being well counted before they hatch and the far-sighted Jehovah is supposedly establishing the ground rules long before the game is to be played. (Pardon the mixed metaphor!)  It must be reiterated that Levitical law was obviously not established with a divine wave of the hand on Sinai, but evolved over many generations, many hundreds of years.  To give custom and human-devised law authority, it is made out to be the command of the national deity -- standard practice among ancient and primitive societies.

2. Jehovah guarantees that there will be good harvests on the sixth year so that on the seventh year the land may lay idle.  Really!  Jehovah will apparently continually manipulate and manage the weather to benefit the Israelites and that bountiful harvests are assured if the Israelites follow his will.  The idea that God (or, more commonly, the gods) actively controls climatic conditions and that every "act of God" is divinely ordained is an old one.  For it has always been difficult for man to acknowledge that the venting of Nature's wrath, a drought, a flood, a hurricane, or a tornado, is simply a purposeless, random event.  A companion to this view is that the righteous, those favored by the gods, will be rewarded with good fortune: crops yields are in direct proportion to the piety of the farmer.

3.  Property and land ownership was regarded differently in Hebrew society than it is today.  Firstly, all the land belongs to Jehovah.  No one else can really own the land.  (This is not conceptually dissimilar to monarchial nations where the crown technically owns all the land.)  In most cases, an Israelite merely holds purchased property for a period of time, but families do seem to have permanent ancestral rights over certain tracts of land.  It is to be assumed that upon settlement in Canaan there will be allotments of land to tribes, clans, and families, rather the way William the Conqueror divided up England after the Conquest.  Any sale of these allotments will be more like a leasing agreement with the land reverting to the original owner after a period of time, here, by the advent of the Jubilee Year that occurs every 50 years.  The original owner has the right to terminate at his discretion what is tantamount to a lease.  The difference, though, between this arrangement and a lease is that here the "leasee" must make the entire payment up front.  In modern terms, it would work like this:  Pete wants to expand his farm and would like to plant wheat on a tract of land owned by Joe.  He is willing to pay $1000 a year for the land.  That's OK with Joe.  Since it’s 12 years until the next Jubilee Year, Pete must fork over to Joe $12,000.  He can then farm the land for 12 years.  At the end of that time he must give it back to Joe.  If Joe decides he wants the land back after 6 years time, he has the right to rescind their agreement, but he must give Pete $6000 to get his land back.  If he can't afford to do so, he has to wait until the Jubilee Year when it will be returned to him without charge.  This was an agrarian plan not without merit.  It prevented the disenfranchisement of the poor and the creation of a permanently landless and, therefore, restive and disgruntled class of people, yet it did not impede those who were ambiguous, hard-working, and savvy from acquiring wealth.  Ownership of land has been a sticking point in many, if not most societies, ancient and modern.  Special problems are created when the indigenous population owns all the land, but is idle, while hard-working, ambitious immigrants are barred from owning property, or, when the ambitious immigrants buy up all the land and leave the indigenous people landless and destitute.  The Hebrews found an admirable way of avoiding these extreme situations.

4.  We see this early on in the history of civilization a difference between the city and the country/small town.  Final after a period of a year are sales of dwellings in cities (in ancient and medieval times, any settlement that had a wall around it), unlike the sale of dwellings in towns, or of farmland and pastures.  Cities have always attracted immigrants, foreigners, merchants, and travelers, a turnover of a diverse population.  Different rules had to be in force.  This is also due to the fact that city-dwellers probably didn’t own farmlands or pastures upon which they could subsist.  The prosperity of even these ancient cities would depend upon the ability of its inhabitants to buy and sell freely, to transfer property and real estate.

5. The Levites, the tribe from which the priests of Jehovah come, would not receive the same sort of land allotment the other tribes did.  They could, therefore, claim special, compensatory privileges.  They made sure that they could, since it is they who are writing the rules, as is evidenced by the name of this book.

Instructions for Priests

(Leviticus 21:1 - 22:33)

Jehovah told Moses to give the following instructions to the priests: "A priest must not make himself ritually impure by touching the dead body of a relative.  Exceptions are made for family members, a father, mother, son, daughter, brother, or a spinster sister whom he supports because she has no husband.  However, he should not make himself ritually impure on account of someone who is only a relative by marriage.

"Priests should not shave their heads, shape the edges of their beards, or make cuts in their flesh.  They must set themselves apart as holy for their god and not profane his name.  They are the ones who make the sacrifices of food to Jehovah, sustenance for their god, and they, therefore, must remain holy. 

"Because they are holy to their god, priests must not marry a woman who has defiled herself by being sexually promiscuous or who has been divorced from her husband.  Treat the priests as holy because they furnish the food for your god.  Consider them holy, for I, Jehovah am holy.  It is I who makes you holy.  If the daughter of a priest defiles herself by being promiscuous, she has defiled her father's holiness and should be burned to death.

"The High Priest, the leader among his fellow priests, the one who has had the anointing oil poured over his head and who has been consecrated to don the sacred vestments, must not, during mourning, leave his hair disheveled or wear tattered clothing.  He should not make himself ritually impure by attending to a dead body, even if it be that of his mother or father.  He should not leave the Tabernacle compound for this purpose (and, therefore, defile it), for he has been made holy by the anointing oil of his god.  Thus says Jehovah. 

“The High Priest may marry only a virgin and never a woman who has been widowed or divorced, or one who has defiled herself by being promiscuous.  The virgin he marries should be from his own tribe, so that his offspring will not be disrespected by it.  Thus says Jehovah, who has sanctified him." 

Jehovah also instructed Moses to tell Aaron, "None of your successors down through the generations may present food sacrifices to Jehovah if he has any kind of defect.  No one who has a defect should approach the altar, that is, someone who is blind or lame, who has a disfigured face or a deformed limb, a broken arm or leg, who is a hunchback or a dwarf, who has an eye disease, skin sores or scabs, or has damaged testicles.  No successor of Aaron the priest who is to present food offerings to Jehovah should have any defect.  If he has a defect, then he must not come near the food offerings to his god.  He may, however, eat the sacrificed food, even the most holy offerings.  Yet, because of his defect, he may not enter the Inner Sanctum or approach the altar, for that would profane my holy places.  Thus says Jehovah, who makes them holy."

Moses conveyed these instructions to Aaron and his sons and to all the people of Israel.

Jehovah also told Moses to instruct Aaron and his sons, "Take care in handling the sacred offerings the Israelites consecrate to me so as not to profane my holy name.  Thus says Jehovah.

“Tell them that if any of your successors down through the generations touches these sacred offerings that the Israelites have consecrated to me while he is ritually impure, that person should be removed from the priesthood.  Thus says Jehovah.  None of Aaron' successors who is infected with tzaraath or has any bodily discharge that renders him ritually impure should eat of the sacred offerings until he has been declared ritually pure.   Also, if he becomes ritually impure by touching a dead body or by having an emission of semen, or by touching bugs or vermin that might make him impure, or by being exposed to a person who has, for any reason, become ritually impure, then that person will be ritually impure until evening.  He may not eat from the sacred offering until he has taken a bath.  After sunset he will be ritually pure again and may eat from the sacred offerings, for this is his food.  But he must not eat anything that has been found dead or has been killed by wild animals, and so become ritually impure because of it.  Thus says Jehovah.

"The priests are to officiate in such a way that they do not violate my instructions.  They will be killed if they are guilty of treating them with contempt.  Thus says Jehovah, who has made them holy. 

"No one not belonging to the priest's family may partake of the sacred offerings.  Even guests or hired workers in the priest's household may not do so.  However, slaves purchased by the priest or slaves born in the priest's household may eat his food.  If the daughter of a priest marries someone other than a priest then she may no longer eat from the sacred offerings.  But if she becomes a widow or is divorced and has no son to support her and returns to live in her father's home as she did when she was young, then she may eat her father's food again. Otherwise, no one outside the priest's household is allowed to eat it.

"If a man unintentional eats a sacred offering, he must make restitution to the priests for it, plus an additional 20%.  The priests should not allow the sacred offerings presented to Jehovah by the people of Israel to be defiled by being eaten by unauthorized persons, bringing guilt upon them and requiring them to pay compensation.  Thus says Jehovah, who makes them holy."

Jehovah told Moses to speak to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites and toinstruct them, "If any of you, whether an Israelite or a resident alien, makes a sacrifice of a burnt offering to Jehovah, either to fulfill a vow or voluntarily, to be accepted the sacrifice must be of a male animal without defect,  a bull, a ram, or a billy goat. Don't offer an animal that has any defect, because it won't be accepted on your behalf.  When anyone brings from the herd or the flock a peace offering, whether to fulfill a vow or voluntarily, the animal offered for sacrifice must be perfect; it must have no defect of any kind.  You must not offer an animal that is blind, crippled, or injured, or which has warts, sores, or scabs.  Such animal must never be offered as a burnt sacrifice to Jehovah.  You may, however, as a voluntary offering, present cattle or sheep that are deformed or stunted, but not in fulfillment of a vow.  If an animal has been castrated or has damaged testicles, you should not offer it to Jehovah.  You must never do this in your own country and you must not accept such animals from a foreigner to offer as a sacrifice to your god.   Such animals will not be accepted on your behalf, since they are defective and deformed."

Jehovah told Moses, "When a calf, a lamb, or a kid is born it should remain with its mother for seven days.  By the eighth day it will acceptable as a food sacrifice for Jehovah.  However, whether it be an animal from the herd or the flock, an animal and its mother should not be slaughtered on the same day. 

"When you make a thanksgiving offering to Jehovah, be sure that the sacrifice is properly conducted so that it will accepted on your behalf.  You must eat all of it on the day it is made and not leave any till morning.  Thus says Jehovah.

"Honor all my commandments and follow them.  Do not profane my holy name so that I may be regarded as holy among the Israelites.  I am the god that makes you holy.  I brought you out of Egypt so that I might be your god.  Thus says Jehovah.   

Notes
1.  This excerpt from the priest's rule book is illuminating in several ways.  Firstly, there is a reiteration of the concepts of ritually purity which were, one would have thought, already exhaustively elucidated.  The High Priest must observe higher standards than the ordinary priest, that is, he must never allow himself to become ritually pure.  For instance, unlike a common priest, he is forbidden to attend the dead body of his father, because to do so would made him ritually impure.

2. Illness and injury, defect and deformity not only subtract from the worthiness or ritual purity of a priest they render an animal ineligible for sacrifice in most cases.  While it is understandable that Jehovah wants the best and that his people should want to give him the best, there is a suggestion here that physical imperfection is connected to or caused by moral failings.  The impression is given that in Hebrew society the disabled were looked upon with disfavor and discriminated against.  Indeed, many Christian societies believed that disabilities are punishments from God.

3.  It is interesting that a priest's slave could partake of the sacred food of his master when guests or hired workers were not allowed to do so.  At least the slave had some perks, even if he was only considered property.

4. Another interesting point is that priests are to marry only within their own tribe (Levi).  If they do not do so the children will disgrace the tribe simply because they are partly of some other extraction.   And the “mixed race” children would apparently not be accepted by the tribe.  Racial purity seemed to have been as important to Jehovah as it was to the Nazis.

5.  Priests of Jehovah are not allowed to shave their heads or shape their beards, this being to distinguish them from Egyptian and Canaanite priests.  There is probably no other reason for such a grooming code.  As is seen throughout the books of Old Testament, Jehovah is ever intent upon separating himself from other gods and establishing ceremonies and customs of worship that will set his people apart from their neighbors.  He has a bone to pick with his fellow gods.  He resents them and is in competition with them and does all he can to show them up.  He strives to create a system of worship and a priesthood that will be superior to those of these rival gods.

6.  An animal and his its mother should not be slaughtered on the same day - a respectful piece of etiquette to be sure, perhaps a sop to ancient animal rights advocates.  It’s nice the Israelites placed some limits on the wanton killing of animals for religious purposes.

6. Jehovah here claims legitimacy as Israel's god based on his releasing the Israelites from their bondage and bringing them out of Egypt (into the desert!), and not referring to his earlier relations with Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, etc. (Probably because that Jehovah was a different chap altogether!)  The statement is very suggestive.  It's as if he was not a god before that time, but merely claimed the position after he had, in his eyes, earned it.  Jehovah is rather like a white man who goes to live with a primitive tribe and, after wowing the people by performing some wonders made possible by the knowledge he has and the technology he has access to, sets himself up as a god and lays down laws for his worship.

The Golden Calf

(Exodus 32:1- 32:35)

When the people of Israel noticed that Moses was such a long time coming down from the mountain, they came as a group to Aaron.  They told him, "Get busy and craft an idol that can be a guide for us.  As for this Moses who led us out of Egypt, who knows what's become of him."

Aaron replied, "Well then, pluck the golden rings from the ears of your wives, your sons and daughters and bring them to me."

And so the people removed their earrings of gold and brought them to Aaron,  He collected them and molded the molten gold into the image of a calf.  The people proclaimed, "Let this represent your god, people of Israel, the one that has brought you out of Egypt!"

When Aaron saw the people's favorable reaction, he proceeded to build an altar before it and made the announcement: "Tomorrow will be a festival to our god!"

The people rose early the next day and made burnt offerings and peace offerings to the god.  They sat down to have a feast and to partake of drink, then rose to make merry with revelry.

Jehovah advised Moses, "You'd better get down there to your people, for those you have led out of Egypt are debasing themselves.  How quickly have they strayed from the course I have laid out for them!  They have made for themselves a calf of beaten gold, have worshiped it and made sacrifices to it and have even proclaimed, 'This represents the god that led us out of Egypt." 

He continued to address Moses, "These people have shown themselves to be a stubborn lot. ... Leave me alone, for I’m so angry at them that I am going to put an end to them.  I will instead create a mighty nation from your descendants.”

Moses implored with Jehovah, his god, "Why be so angry at your people, those you brought out of Egypt with your power and glory?  Are you going to let the Egyptians say, 'He freed them only to trick them into going into the mountains where he could kill them and wipe their race off the face of the earth.'  Please, hold your temper.  You must change your mind about committing this grievous wrong against your own people.  Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and what you swore to them, that you would make their descendants more numerous than the stars in the sky and that you promised them a land that would forever be a legacy for their posterity."

And so Jehovah relented and did not follow through with the threatened calamity against his people.

Moses, leaving Jehovah, returned from the mountain carrying in his hands the two tablets that were inscribed with Jehovah's law on both sides, front and back.  These tablets were created by Jehovah himself and the writing engraved on the tablets was in his hand.

When Joshua heard the commotion and the sound of people shouting in the Israelite camp, he told Moses, "It sounds like a war going on down there in the camp."

Moses disagreed.   "No, it doesn't sound like the cry of those victorious in battle or those fleeing from an enemy.  Rather what I hear sounds like --- singing!"

When he came near to the camp he was able to catch sight of the calf and the people dancing around it.  Moses became so furious at this, he flung down the tablets and smashed them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.  He then overthrew the calf his people had made and consigned it to the flames.  He crushed the gold into powder, sprinkled the powder into water, making the people drink it.

He demanded of Aaron, "What did the people do to you that you committed such a heinous act?"

Aaron replied, “Now, let not my master be angry.  You know the people, they're always bent upon making mischief.  They said to me, 'Make us an idol that we may be a guide for us.  As for this Moses who brought us out of Egypt, who knows what has become of him.'  And I asked of them, 'Who of you has any gold?'  They brought me gold, I melted it down, and the result was that calf."

Moses observed that the people had become unruly and undisciplined, for Aaron had made them so, an object of mockery to their enemies.  Standing before the entrance to the camp he proclaimed, "Who is on Jehovah's side?  Let him come to me!"  All the Levites gathered to his side.  Moses told them, "This is the will of Jehovah.  Let every man strap a sword to his side and make his way from one end of the camp to the other.  Every man must kill his family, his friends, and his neighbors.”

The Levites did what they were ordered by Moses and on that day 3000 men were slain.  Moses assured them,  “You have proved your dedication to Jehovah today, even at the price of your brothers’ and sons’ lives.  May the blessings of Jehovah be upon you!”

On the following day Moses announced to his people, "You have sinned greatly.  I am going to go up to Jehovah and find if there is any way I can atone to him for your crime.

When Moses returned to Jehovah, he said to him, "My people have committed a great sin against you, they have made themselves an idol of gold to worship --- but I beg that you forgive them.  And if you refuse to do so, you may remove my name from the book you have written."

"It is those who have sinned against me that I will remove from the book," Jehovah answered.  "But go now and lead the people to the land I told you about.  My airship will guide the way for you.  The people will be punished for their sin when the time comes.”  (And Jehovah did hold the people accountable for the calf that Aaron had made.)

Notes
1. The Israelites, who have given up on Moses and figure he will never come down from the mountain, seemed to have been totally lacking in patience (not to mention other virtues).  The decision to reject Moses and craft an idol to worship seemed to have been made precipitously and without recorded dissent.  Aaron, expressing an atrocious lack of faith in his brother, was quick to abandon him and cast his lot with the rebellious people.  This is a confirmation that Moses was never really regarded as a true Israelite, a leader they really knew and had confidence in.  Aaron readily sided with his people against his brother, the brother who had been raised as an Egyptian and whom he had not seen for 80 some years, (if we take the account literally).  The people followed Moses only when Jehovah was making miracles at his request.  This is a good example of "what have you done for me lately."  A few weeks without miracles and the Israelites are ready to throw Moses overboard or rather, off the mountain.  This is a tale of ingratitude and faithlessness on an epic scale.

2.  It is remarkable (if not impossible) that Aaron was able to so quickly craft the statue of the calf.  The gold from the earrings would have to have been melted.  To do so, he would have needed a kiln that produced a temperature of 1947 degrees Fahrenheit.  (Had such an item been packed on the back of a donkey when the Israelites made their hasty exit from Egypt?)  Aaron could have poured the molten gold into a calf-shaped mold, or he could have cast gold sheets that could have been nailed onto a wooden frame or statue of a calf.  Although the text suggests the former, the latter seems the most likely.  A solid gold calf of almost any size would have been of prohibitive weight.  Gold, being highly malleable, can be beaten very thin and is easily worked.  Still, to make the calf, to design and carve the wooden statue, to melt the gold, beat it into sheets, and affix it to the wooden statue would have required a great deal of time.  Not an afternoon's work.

3.  There is some opinion that the calf of gold was meant to represent some pagan deity, perhaps the Apis bull adored by the Egyptians.  In the 1956 film The Ten Commandments (only a small portion of which is faithful to the biblical account) the Golden Calf is meant to be the image of an Egyptian god.  The Israelites, disillusioned with Jehovah and desirous of returning to Egypt, think that by parading it before them they will be accepted by the Egyptians when they return.  This was clearly not the case.  The calf was meant to represent only Jehovah, their god, the one who had led them out of Egypt.  The Israelites, having lived for generations in Egypt, were accustomed to animal depictions of gods, and idols were almost universal in the ancient world.  The making and revering of idols was prohibited by Jehovah's commandments.  While these commandments have already been cited in the text of Exodus, they have not yet been presented to the people.  How would the Israelites know they had done wrong?  Even though they had promised to follow Jehovah's laws, were they culpable in violating laws they were not yet given?  They had seen Jehovah only as fire and smoke and an object in the sky.  They probably wanted some more tangible image to worship.  Why not portray him in the form of a bovine? -- preferable to a donkey, a goat, or a sheep and much better than a pig or a jackal.  They may have seen the statue as a substitute for the lost Moses, who was the intercessor between them and their god.  It is also possible that the calf was not meant as an idol per se, but as a seat for Jehovah, functioning like the Judgment Seat on the Chest of Sacred Records, which, while described in the text, could not have been constructed yet.  Gods were often depicted as riding animals, and the people may have thought the statue of the calf a suitable mount for Jehovah when he came down to earth to speak to them.  There is always evil intent ascribed to the Israelites in the making of the Golden Calf, but surely it is exaggerated; it may be that the people were only misguided in doing so.  They did not know and perhaps could not know that idol making was a sin.  Surely their fault was in the faithless rejection of their leader Moses.  The Golden Calf was little more than a childish faux pas, an act of bad judgment, even if Jehovah would see it, like Sabbath breaking, as a heinous affront to him.

4. There is the impression, furthered by popular culture, that the Israelites' worship of the Golden Calf resulted in licentious carryings on.  Maybe.  The text is ambiguous.  Revelry or making merry may be just that, or it may be a euphemistic reference to an orgy.  Jehovah, in complaining how the people are debasing themselves, mentions only the making of the idol and not their sexual conduct. It is only clear that the people had a good time dancing and were making a bit of a racket, so much that it was heard up on the mountain.  Their behavior only seems sinister in the context.  The sacrifices (animal slaughter) and the feasts accompanying Jehovah's worship are regarded as holy, but the same ceremonies conducted for the sake of a pagan god have always been perceived as wicked -- drunken, unbridled revels of gluttony and promiscuous sex.

5.  Jehovah wants to destroy the Israelite people for their running counter to his wishes, even after going to the enormous trouble of freeing them from the Egyptians and leading them into the desert, guiding and feeding them.  Moses, dissuading him, thinks his anger is unjustified, although he would later be enraged on his own account.  He reminds Jehovah of the promises he had made to his forefathers, promises he seems so forgetful of that one gains the impression he is not the same Jehovah, the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who made them.

6.  Moses, after spending all that time on the mountain, comes back, probably tired and hungry, and finds a premature celebration and that the people have made an idol, the very thing Jehovah had told him was offensive to him and, therefore, forbidden.  His people had lost faith in him.  They wouldn't even wait for him.  He is so furious that he smashes the tablets of law given to him by Jehovah, an act that seems disrespectful to his god.  It's no wonder he was angry, but that his rage did not finally give way to understanding, but to acts of murder is a serious indictment of his leadership abilities.  Yet, the next day he goes back up the mountain to see if he can square things with Jehovah and defends the conduct of his people before him, even asking to share their punishment.

7.  Moses can't believe that Aaron hadn't made the Golden Calf under duress, but that he merely acquiesced to the demands of the mob.  Aaron gives a very lame explanation.  He takes no blame upon himself, but accuses the people of being prone to mischief -- "you know what they're like."  Neither Moses, not Aaron, nor Jehovah seem to have a very high opinion of the people they are doing so much for.  It's a wonder they did not think their efforts were wasted.

8.  The loyal Levites Moses uses as a death squad to kill 3000 (some sources say 23,000) of his people in punishment, indiscriminate mass murder.  This is the way the brutal dictator reasserts his authority.  (And the Levites proved they would anything, no matter how detestable, for their leader.) There is no indication that only the guilty were killed.  There probably was accepted at that time a sense of collective guilt and individual punishment for a group crime: this act is similar to the Roman custom of decimation, in which one tenth of a military force are executed for the failure or disobedience of the whole.   Three thousand would be a small number if the Israelite party consisted of millions (which is logistically impossible and for which there is no archaeological evidence), but a large number if the exodus consisted merely of thousands, which is more likely, (if the exodus did indeed occur -- which is moot).  It is hard to morally justify this action.  No individual guilt was ascertained, no chance for anyone to demonstrate their innocence, no opportunity for offenders to confess or to ask for forgiveness or mercy -- just a wanton slaughter, a cleansing of the hives, a purge to thwart disobedience and dissent.

9.  There is expressed a very ambivalent attitude toward gold.  Jehovah wants everything in his Tabernacle to be of gold: it embodies purity and holiness.  Yet gold is also seen as a symbol of greed and an attachment to earthly desires inconsistent with righteous behavior. 

10. Moses has the Golden Calf totally destroyed, not only melted down, but pulverized.   It's hard to imagine the trouble Moses must have gone to grinding that gold into a powder so that it could be drunk by the people.  Gold, incidentally, can be consumed harmlessly, although it is not digestible and has no nutritional value.

11.  To celebrate the making of the Golden Calf, the people had a feast.  Where did this food and drink come from?   A short time before the all-but starving Israelites were being fed exclusively with manna dropped from the sky.  They are now camped at the foot of a desolate mountain in the middle of a desert.  Did some hunting and foraging parties hit it big?  This, of course, is the least of the discrepancies in the narrative.

12.  A final question may be asked, "Why did Jehovah need to have Moses spend 40 days with him?"  Could not what he wanted to tell him, show him, and give him, been accomplished in a few hours?  Did Moses eat and drink and sleep during that time?  If not, of course, he would surely have died, barring a miracle.  But why did Jehovah obviously make him wait, make him suffer, when Moses was obviously his pal, his numero uno, his earthly BFF?  --- It is very likely that, as the imagery of the fire and smoke suggests, Moses left the mountain in a aerial ship, perhaps a spaceship.  It is a common element in modern extraterrestrial interaction that the human involved experiences missing time or temporal distortion.  (This is also true of the traditional tales of fairy abduction, which, though they seem fanciful myth, should be given serious consideration.)  A long period of time may pass on earth while a short period of time passes for the human in contact with the extraterrestrial -- or the fairy.  Perhaps Moses journeyed with Jehovah into a different plane or dimension where the passage of time was different.  The 40 days and nights of Moses on the mountain may only have been a few hours of actual time for Moses.