A Break

 

Just a quick note to let you know there will be a bit of a pause here at Book by Book while my beloved and I are on a shortish road trip. The photo above is of a bit of Biblical artwork hanging above the toilet in our Santa Fe hotel room. Knowing what I know now I can't help but wonder if the animals are thinking "See, he should have chosen one of us to be his partner."

See you all right back here soon.

Exodus Pt 10

  *

After a Misunderstanding or Two, 

Life Goes On and 

the Tabernacle Gets Built

A couple-three weeks ago, on a lark, I responded to the messages Google kept sending me about joining their happy family of Ad-Sense bloggers and Making Money with my blog. I'm not doing this as a commercial venture, it's more of an intellectual exercise and long put-off goal I decided to make public, mostly to give me a bit of a nudge whenever I'm inclined to abandon it. But I figured what the heck, let's apply and see what happens. Well, what happened is that the nice Ad-Sense folks determined that "Book by Book" does not have the necessary qualities that would make it a good candidate for advertising. They included some links that are supposed to help point me in the right direction if I want to make the needed corrections, but I don't think I'll be bothering. For one thing I didn't understand a damned thing they were talking about, like "thin content" and "alignment of navigational elements." 

We're going to keep this little venture ad-free.

Did you see what the Louisiana State Legislature and Governor have just done? They went and made it a law that all public school classrooms must have a copy of The Ten Commandments posted on the wall. Not a copy of The Constitution and its Amendments, or The Declaration of Independence, or The Top Ten Shakespearean Insults, but The Ten Commandments. Social media is all abuzz about this, with those in favor saying things like "It's about damn time!" and "What's the fuss? It's just everyday rules for good behavior." and those opposed losing their minds over the complete disregard for what everyone likes to call "Separation of Church and State", which is kinda sorta but not actually referred to in the First Amendment**.

My two cents about the whole thing is that no, The Ten Commandments are not simply everyday rules for good behavior. Just so you don't have to backtrack to find them, here they are again.

1. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol.
3. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord.
4. Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and mother
6. You shall not murder
7. You shall not commit adultery
8. You shall not steal
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Anyone can see that the first four of them are pretty darned specifically religious in nature. The next five are, I grant you, pretty good guidelines for how to behave but by no means are they comprehensive; for instance there is no "You shall not change lanes without signaling" or "Honor your HOA landscaping guidelines", both of which could go a long way in making this a safer and more attractive world. Number Ten is a bit iffy mostly because it tries to be specific and in doing so it leaves out a whole heck of a lot, like is it okay to covet your neighbor's husband, or the car your neighbor is leasing, or your neighbor's cat, because we all know cats don't belong to anybody.

Back to Exodus. I reviewed the last nine chapters and I think we can reasonably buzz through them all in the time and space we have today.

    Right after we learn that the Covenant between God and the Israelites has been made official by being put down on a couple of stone tablets by the finger of God, we're told in Chapter 32 that those same Israelites had gotten antsy about the fact that Moses seemed to be taking his everlovin' time up on the mountain talking with God. They wanted some action and they wanted a god they could see and touch and admire up close. So they go to Aaron, you know, the fellow who has been picked out to be Head Priest only I guess he doesn't know that yet, and they say, "Come, make gods for us." Really, that's what they said. Aaron didn't need much persuasion, and he didn't need a lot of time to come up with a plan to satisfy the congregation. He had everyone in possession of gold earrings bring them to him and he "cast an image of a calf" and everyone thought it was a more than satisfactory god.

    But the Lord gets wind of what's going on and he tells Moses he is going to "consume" the calf worshipping Israelites and start the nation building all over again with Moses. My guess is that Moses isn't too interested in raising a whole new extended family at his age, because he implores God to reconsider. He reminds God about the promises he made to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel (Jacob), and wouldn't you know it, 14) "And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people."

    Happy to have saved his people from Consumption by God, Moses takes the tablets down the mountain. As he and trusty Joshua get close to the base, Joshua makes a comment about what he hears coming from the encampment, which he thinks is a noise of war. But Moses knows it is the sound of revelry, and when they turn the corner and see the people dancing around the golden calf he loses it. He throws the tablets on the ground, busting them all to bits, then he takes the calf, melts it down, grinds it up, and puts the powder in water and makes everyone drink it. Must have been a big calf and a reservoir of water as, once again, I would remind us that we're talking about several hundred thousand people here.

    And he's not finished. He gathers a bunch of Levites who, now anyway, are claiming to be "on the Lord's side", and tells them to grab their swords and go kill "your brother, your friend, and your neighbor", because a sharp clap of his hands and a stern look don't seem to be quieting the crowd. Three thousand dead Israelites later he thanks the Levites for their service and tells them they have brought a blessing on themselves.

    The next day, Moses asks God to forgive the people, but instead God says anyone who sinned against him will be blotted out of his book and they can look forward to an unspecified punishment at some later date. 

    And then he sends a plague. We are not told what form the plague takes, how many people die, just that he sent a plague because the people asked Aaron to make a calf and he did.

    Let's pick up the pace.

    In Chapter 33 God once again repeats his promise to drive the Canaanites, et al out of the Land of Milk and Honey. He also calls the Israelites "a stiff necked people."

    Moses sets up his tent outside camp so he can talk with God without being bothered by the stiff neck rabble.

    God tells Moses he doesn't want anyone to see his face, so whenever they meet from here on out Moses will need to stand in the cleft of a rock, let God put his hand over Moses' eyes as he passes, and not see anything until God has passed and all that is visible is God's backside.

    Chapter 34 solves the broken tablets issue when Moses fashions a couple of new stones ready to be taken to the printer.

    God promises to hold a grudge by 7) "visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children and the children's children, to the third and fourth generation."

    In a section titled "The Covenant Renewed" God brags about how he is going to "perform marvels" and how "it is an awesome thing that I will do for you." He also confides that one of his names is Jealous.

    In verse 26 we are reminded not to boil a kid in its mother's milk.

    Moses spends another 40 days and 40 nights with God and ends up writing everything down on the tablets himself, supposedly because God wasn't showing any inclination to do a repeat performance of the finger writing.

    Moses goes back to the people and everyone comments on his "Been With God" shiny face. He buys a veil.

    We get a quick reminder not to work on the sabbath at the beginning of Chapter 35. The penalty is still death.

    Moses puts out the call for the materials needed to build the tabernacle and related accessories. He also informs Bezalel that he has the winning bid to be general contractor and that he needs to bring Oholiab on board as his top assistant in charge of engraving, design, and embroidery.

    In Chapter 36 the tabernacle is made. Everything God specified is once again spelled out. In detail. In over thirty-one verses.

    Bezalel is super busy in Chapter 37 making the Ark, the Table, the Lampstand, the Altar of Incense, and the Anointing Oil and Incense.

    The following chapter, number 38, is devoted to assuring us that the Altar of Burnt Offerings and the Court of the Tabernacle were completed in a satisfactory manner. It also provides us with an accounting of just how much the entire project cost.

• Gold: Twenty-nine talents and seven hundred thirty shekels
• Silver: One hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels
• There is a lot more, breaking it down by what was used for the pillars, hooks, bases, utensils and other items. You can look it up in Chapter 38, verses 27-31.

    They perform a census of the men over twenty years of age and the count is six hundred three thousand, five hundred fifty, or about eighty four thousand more than my home town of Mesa, Arizona. Figure in the women and children and we're talking, what do you think, somewhere around two million?

    The vestments for Aaron and Sons get sewn and embellished with lots of pretty gemstones in Chapter 39. The last part of the chapter gives us a recap and tells us that Moses likes what he sees.

    In the final chapter of Exodus God gives Moses instructions on how to organize all of the pieces and we learn that all of this is coming together on the first day of the first month of the second year of their Egypt to Milk and Honey Adventure. Only thirty-eight years and eleven months to go!

    They will be proceeding only on the days when the Cloud of God is not hovering around the Tabernacle. If the cloud is there (at night it will be fire) they're staying put.

    Next up: Leviticus. I can't wait.

*A pretty Northern Cardinal of the Non-Catholic variety.

**Amendment One: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

    

    

    

 

Exodus Pt 9

  *

Get Out The Graph Paper, Pencils, 

Sewing Kit and 

Tool Chest

Does anyone remember a song by Desmond Dekker and The Aces from the late sixties called "The Israelites"? There is a radio station at 95.1 FM that calls itself The Wow Factor and they mostly play songs from the 60's and 70's, and the other day "The Israelites" popped up on the car radio as my beloved and I were toddling around town. Catchy tune with a syncopated reggae beat. Hadn't heard it in decades and I just thought it was interesting since I've been spending a whole lot of time lately with the Original Israelites, or the OI's as I like to call them. Outside of the repeated refrain of "The Israelites!" I couldn't understand the lyrics very well, probably due to a combination of hearing loss I prefer to deny exists when my wife suggests perhaps I should visit an audiologist and invest in a set of hearing aids, and Desmond Dekker's Jamaican accent but I think I'll just blame it on poor audio engineering. I did use about thirty seconds of my five minutes of research time to find out that, according to Wikipedia anyway, the title/refrain of the song comes from the identification Rastafarians have with the Twelve Tribes of Israel and the troubles both groups have seen. Interesting. I may have to look into that, just not now. We need to move forward with the second book in the Old Testament.

    I have been giving a fair amount of thought to just how to present the remaining chapters here in Exodus. As I said in the installment titled "A Short Note of Despair", we are shifting from story and character mode into Heavy Duty Instructional Mode and honestly I think a whole lot of momentum is lost; we no longer have the page turning "what happens next?" and "what an fascinating if peculiar new character this is" qualities to keep us interested, even with all of the tangents thrown into the mix. And so after trying a couple of more detailed approaches, I think we'll be turning the dial on the Reader's Digest Condensed Knob up to eleven in an effort to share the essentials, give you at least a bit of the flavor, but not put you to sleep like an Ambien with a Chardonnay chaser. If the lack of detail frustrates, I apologize, but remember, you can always crack the cover on your own copy and dive in yourself. I think you'll see what I'm talking about.

    Chapters 25 through 31 are pretty much all about the box God wants Moses to store the tablets with the Rules for Living in, the surroundings in which this box is to be kept, what the Keepers of the Box (Priests) should wear while doing their priestly duties, and what those duties are.

    Chapter 25 begins with God telling Moses to gather up all of the nice construction and ornamentation materials they talked their Egyptian neighbors out of right before they left. If any of the Israelites had been hoping to keep this treasure for themselves, they are in for a rude awakening. God wants to use it to make a bunch of stuff, and he's got the plans all drawn up, ready to go.

    The items God wants for this projects are:

• Acacia wood
• Gold
• Silver
• Bronze
• Blue, purple, and crimson yarn
• Fine linen (no seconds)
• Goats' hair
• Tanned ram skins
• Fine leather (see linen note)
• Lamp oil (good quality)
• spices
• various gemstones

The items to be made from these materials are:

• An ark (wooden box, not a big boat) in which to store the tablets
• Something called a "mercy seat" to be placed on top of the ark. It's got cherubim on it, their wings shadowing the seat at both ends.
• A table
• A lampstand
• A tabernacle
• A curtain
• An altar suitable for burnt offerings
• Hangings
• Vestments for the priests (Aaron and his sons)

The ark, mercy seat, and table, as well as the framework for the tabernacle and the altar are all to be made out of acacia wood. Measurements in cubits are given for each of these items, as well as details--lots of details--like loops and poles on the sides to facilitate moving them and gold overlay to make 'em shine and where the cherubim go.

    Accessories like bowls and flagons and plates and dishes, as well as the lampstand itself are to made out of gold. The yarn and linens are to be used for curtains (cherubim theme) and should be joined together and attached to the acacia wood framework to form the outside of the tabernacle. Other curtains will be inside the tabernacle and will surround the ark. The frames are to rest on silver bases.

    Twisted linen, bronze bases, and hooks of silver are the materials called for to make the court, which I'm guessing is the area just outside the tabernacle proper. Lots of pillars are mentioned. The gate to the court has its own design, involving yarn, twisted linen and silver banded pillars. Pegs and any other miscellaneous utensils for the tabernacle are to be made out of bronze.

    All in all it seems that Moses and his team have quite the construction project in their future. The other thing that struck me was the fact that this all seems to be happening relatively early in the forty years of desert wandering, although at this point I'm not really sure where in the timeline of things this is happening, and I'm left to wonder both about where they are going to do all of this work and how they are going to carry it around with them until they arrive at the Land of Milk and Honey. It's true that the ark and table and whatnot are supposed to have rings on the side and poles that go through the rings and I assume that is so they can be transported, but gee whiz, I'm thinking they're going to be hard pressed to find volunteers for forty years of ark dury. 

    Chapter 28 is all about the "Vestments for the Priesthood", which as we've discussed, means Aaron and his sons. Seems a low priest to parishioner ratio when you look back at the six hundred thousand not including women and children figure tossed out there earlier, but let's not worry about that right now. What's important here is that Aaron and Sons are properly attired, which in this case means a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a checkered tunic, a turban, and a sash. Oh, and linen undies. The undies are very important. God makes it clear that failure to wear the designated underwear will result in death and a blot on ones Permanent Record.

    In Chapter 29 we learn all about The Ordination of the Priests, and let me tell you, it makes a fraternity initiation seem like a walk in the park. Of course there are critters to be sliced up, in this case a bull and two rams and they must be "without blemish." Blood figures prominently in the process here, including a generous amount that is to be dabbed on the priests' ears and flung against the sides of the altar. Aaron and Sons get to have quality time with ram fat and entrails and internal organs before they get the Weber Grill out and send a pleasing odor of roasting ram innards up to God. Baskets and bread and oil flung hither and yon and you've got a real, manly good time spelled out here. There is more about daily offerings which are designed to reduce the bull population as well as a similar sort of herd reduction of any lambs they may have in the menagerie.

    A mandatory half shekel offering, and a bronze basin in which the priests are required (upon pain of death, of course) to wash their hands and feet are the featured items in Chapter 30, along with recipes for making high quality anointing oil and an exclusive sort of incense. Surprisingly, there is no death penalty associated with the misuse of either for personal adornment, only banishment, although I suppose that could be a death sentence of a slow variety, considering nobody in that crowd seems to know where they're going and safety in numbers is what is protecting them.

    Just as Moses is beginning to wonder how he is going to get all this work done, in Chapter 31 God tells him to delegate. There are two fellows in the group who are nicely qualified for these projects: Bezalel and Oholiab. God assures Moses that "they shall do just as I have commanded you." So that must have taken a real weight off his shoulders.

    The chapter continues with yet another reminder to Keep the Sabbath. The Death Incentive is mentioned. Twice. Working on the sabbath will kill you. This seems to be something that the vast majority of employers have conveniently disregarded of late.

    We wrap up Chapter 31 and today's little Bible Looksee with verse 18:

When God finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the covenant, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

    I've never been partial to those screens where you're supposed to sign your name with your fingertip, they skip and often refuse to even recognize your finger is even there, but God being God, he can fingertip it on stone, which is pretty cool. I do have a question here: There was a lot of material covered in the chapters we've been looking at in the last few installments, not just The Ten Commandments. Do the tablets have everything? Instructions on how to make a nice ark? How to sew an ephod? The proper flinging of bull blood?

    Just wondering.

*Strawberry Fields in Central Park

P.S. You may have noticed that I often go back and make a few corrections or amendments to these installments. I hope that doesn't bother you, but I am a constant tinkerer when it comes to words.

    

   

 

 

Exodus Pt 8

 

  *

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. 

    

    

 

Under Construction

 

Just a short note to ask for your patience while I get a new, cleaner look to the place. The IT department here is a not quite technically savvy fellow, so let's give him some space. Thanks!