Exodus Pt 8

 

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Justice, Festivals, and The Promised Land

Welcome back, or, if you're just joining us, welcome and glad to have you here! I hope your summer is going well so far. Where I am we have entered into our Six Months of Being Hot as H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks Season and we're just hoping it isn't going to be as bad as last year, which broke way too many records of the sort you don't want broken. Not that there is much hope in that direction, as the knowledgeable weather and climate people have been telling us for a while that this year is going to be even worse. Good reason to stay inside and read a good book. If I might suggest one of the fine volumes listed just to the right.

    Anyway...

    When my family moved to Arizona in 1960 it seemed like a bit of a promised land, with a dry climate that made it nice to be outside almost all the time, job opportunities, nice wide streets, and air that didn't rile up a person's allergies. True, we had days when the thermometer zoomed past one hundred in the afternoon, but at night it cooled down wonderfully. All that, except some of the wide streets, is pretty much a distant memory now, but you know what? Life is still good, at least it is as long as you've got air-conditioning and like getting up real early in the morning to enjoy the couple of hours before they turn on the broiler.

    But we're here for the next section of the Book of Exodus, so before I am accused of taking online recipe websites as my model I guess we should get back to some of the great advice to be found in the Book of Exodus.

 

    Yes, I know we have already covered the Ten Commandments, but as I think I've stated before, rules and regulations are going to be keeping us company for quite a while, including in the next three chapters, with a little break for another repeat of God's promise to hand over a large parcel of land that is currently home to a number of "ite" people, so let's get to it.

    Chapter 22, titled "Laws of Restitution", is very much concerned with livestock, although"money or goods" is also mentioned. There are eight scenarios covered, at least by my count, with a couple in particular that caught my eye. The one in verse 2 I'm still puzzling over.

2  If a thief is found breaking in, and is beaten to death, no bloodguilt is incurred; 

but if it happens after sunrise, bloodguilt is incurred.

    Actually, I guess it is pretty clear. If someone busts into your home when it's dark outside you can bludgeon away as much as you see fit. If they wander in during daylight hours you should find some other way of dispatching them. Elderberry tea laced with arsenic, perhaps.

    Then in verse 9 we've got this:

9  In any case of disputed ownership involving ox, donkey, sheep, clothing, or any other loss, of which one party says, "This is mine," the case of both parties shall come before God; the one whom God condemns shall pay double to the other.

    What isn't spelled out here is where God has his courtroom located, or how one gets ones case on the docket. Also, what if both parties say, "This is mine"? 

    Verses 10-15 cover things like who owes whom** what in situations involving injured or stolen livestock, including what to do if the poor moo cow or baa sheep has been mangled by wild beasts, because that does make a difference.

    And then we come to some useful Social and Religious Laws to close out the chapter. It covers a range of topics, including the financial obligation a man has to a virgin's father after deflowering said virgin. Nothing about an apology or even a nice dinner for the former virgin, just the cash owed the dad. 

    

    Right after that we get instructions to put "female sorcerer(s)" to death. I guess male sorcerers are considered handy to have around for entertainment at children's birthday parties.

    It is important to avoid having sex with an animal or making a sacrifice to some other god if one wants to keep on living. So I guess you can't buy your way out of deflowering a sheep like you can a female of the human variety. You know one of man's partners.

    Be nice to "resident aliens", because, at least for a while, the Egyptians were accommodating to the Israelites. As an encouragement to follow this one, God makes it clear if you don't that he will kill you, with a sword.

    There is a nice bit about proper etiquette for those engaged in lending money and running pawn shops, along with instructions concerning handing over a percentage of your earnings, crops, etc to God, who is too busy with Deity Business to get a job that comes with wages.

    We close out Chapter 22 with another reminder not to eat meat that has been mangled by beasts.

      Chapter 23 is titled "Justice for All", but curiously enough Al Pacino doesn't get a mention. Instead we get more livestock related items along with pointers on how to properly work within the legal system. For example:

• If you come across a loose donkey, you have to take it back to its owner, even if it belongs to someone you don't like.
• If you see a donkey that belongs to someone you don't like and it looks to be overburdened, it's up to you to lighten its load. Or at least I think that's what verse 5 means. These first two make the assumption that you will do the right thing without prompting if the donkey in question belongs to your pal.
• Perverting justice due poor people is a no-no.
• Verse 7 reminds us not to kill innocent people. Good advice.
• Also, no bribe taking.
• Not oppressing resident aliens is addressed again. Must be important.

    For some reason the connection between the words sabbath and sabbatical has never really jumped out at me, but in verses 10-13 we learn about the need to not only take a day off every seven days, but also take a whole gosh-darned year off every seven years. Or at least we're supposed to let our fields lie fallow, if we've got fields, which most of us don't nowadays, but it's a nice thought anyway.

    There is a subsection titled "The Annual Festivals" and it says there are three times in the year when festivals are mandatory, but after the first one is described the specifics got a little sketchy to me. In any case, as soon as I figure out when the month of Abid is I'll definitely celebrate the festival of unleavened bread, because I'm a big fan of tortillas and flatbread. A week of nothing but quesadillas and little pizzas sounds like a good time to me.

    There is also a festival of harvest mentioned, but outside of an potted herb garden that gets fried every summer and a little fig tree that is very popular with the grackles, mockingbirds, and finches around here, there isn't much in the way of harvesting that goes on at Rancho Hutcheson.

    Let's all remember to follow verse 19 and not boil a kid in its mother's milk, okay?

    In what I think we can call a well established tradition of bounding from one subject to another, we now go directly from the kid boiling ban to a section titled "The Conquest of Canaan Promised." Unless you're a new arrival here you probably recall somewhere around seventy or eighty instances of God promising The Land of Milk and Honey, aka Canaan, to everyone from Abraham to Joseph to Moses, and here he does it again. This time he goes into a few more specifics regarding strategy.

• There will be an angel provided to guide and guard. It is important the angel be accorded all due respect and attention.
• There is a reminder of just who the specific "ites" are who have considered Canaan to be their home for what must be a good long while and who are sooner or later due for a surprise in that regard. If you didn't make notes earlier, here you go...
• Amorites
• Hittites
• Perizzites
• Canaanites
• Hivites
• Jebusites
• There is a repeat of the stern warning not to accept invitations to join the local congregations, even just for a coffee time get together. 
• Lots of good things are promised to the Israelites as long as they don't dabble in any other religion, and lots a really nasty things are in store for the Amorites, etc.
• God will make sure the land is cleared of the "others" but he'll do it in an orderly fashion, so as not to negatively affect real estate values too much.
• 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, or the land would become desolate and the wild animals would multiply against you. 30  Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.

    

    And now...Chapter 24, which is about as far as we can go today. Chapters 25 through 975*** all seem to be detailed building plans and we want to give them the focused attention they deserve.

        

    God tells Moses to gather his top sargents, including Aaron, and meet him on the mountain, except Aaron and the boys will only be allowed to come so close. Meantime, Moses should communicate to the entire group all the rules he has laid out so far, which he does and everyone agrees that they are terrific rules and following them should be no problem, even the ones about resident aliens. Moses then gets out his notebook and jots down the rules so he doesn't forget.

    Next morning he gets up early and makes a nice altar, complete with twelve pillars and some basins to hold a gallon or five each of oxen blood. Sacrifices are made, the blood that isn't basined is dashed against the altar, and that puts the real stamp of approval on this latest and most comprehensive covenant. Next time you use the term "blood oath" in casual conversation, you'll know where it comes from, right?

    Aaron and the other mid-management types join Moses and they go up the mountain just high enough to be able to catch a glimpse of the Lord, who is standing on...

something like a pavement of sapphire stone, like 

the very heaven for clearness.

    In other words, the production values were pretty high.

    God tells Moses to come closer, he has some tablets for him. Moses tells the rest of the men to behave themselves, but if they can't they should go to either Aaron or Hur to settle things, and to remember to not eat anything that had been mangled by a wild beasts He then sets off with his assistant Joshua (sorry, but I can't help but picture Patsy from "Monty Python and The Holy Grail") and the two of them climb higher until they are enveloped by a dense cloud, where they are left to cool their heels for six days while God puts the finishing touches on the tablets. When God does make another appearance he does so accompanied by an impressive display of devouring fire to get their attention, as sitting in fog for six days can make a person's attention wander. Moses goes in for his one on one time with God and a mere forty days later comes back to wake up Joshua, who, not having planned for such a long outing, is dreaming about something to eat, even if it has been mangled by a wild beast.

   *There is a place in the Valley of the Sun called Butterfly Wonderland. Isn't that cool?

    **I don't think I'll ever get to be confident with the whole "who" and "whom" thing. If I've got it wrong here, you have my apology. If I got it right, well, woo hoo!

    ***Just kidding. There are only forty chapters in Exodus.