| Chapter 27 | |
| Summary: | Moses along with the elders of Israel, commanded the Israelites, saying:"Obey all of the commandments that I give to you today. When you pass over the Jordan River and into the land which the Lord your God has given you, you shall set up large stones and plaster them together with mortar. Upon these stones you shall write the words of this law, when you have crossed the Jordan River, that you may enter the land which the Lord your God has given you - a land that flows with milk and honey, just as the God of your forefathers had promised you. Therefore it shall be when you have crossed the Jordan River, that you shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with mortar.Moses and the Levite priests spoke to all of the Israelites, saying: "Take heed, and listen, O Israel. This day you will become the people of the Lord your God. You shall therefore obey the voice of the Lord your God, and obey his commandments and statutes, which I command you this day."Moses ordered the people the same day, saying: "The tribes of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin are to stand upon Mount Gerizim to bless the people. The tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali are to stand upon Mount Ebal and proclaim a curse. The Levites shall then speak loudly unto all the men of Israel saying: |
| Thoughts: | Moses begins the chapter by instructing the Israelites to construct a monument out of uncut stones plastered together once they enter the "promised land". The Israelites are to write God's laws upon these stones and they are to be set upon Mount Ebal along with an altar where the people are to offer animal sacrifices and eat beside the stone altar. However, Moses states that no iron tools are to be used in shaping these stones. Next Moses revisits a strange command that he first touched upon in Deuteronomy: Chapter 11, concerning offering a blessing off of one mountain and a curse off of another. Here, he orders the tribes of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin to stand upon Mount Gerizim to give a blessing to the people, and the tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali to stand upon Mount Ebal to proclaim curses. Moses doesn't say anything about what the tribes upon Mount Gerizim should say in their blessing, but he has a lot to say about the curses that the Levite priests have to say on behalf of the tribes upon Mount Ebal. They are to curse the following:
|
Showing posts with label sexuality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sexuality. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
DEUTERONOMY: Chapter 27
Saturday, February 20, 2010
DEUTERONOMY: Chapter 23
| Chapter 23 | |
| Summary: | Moses' speech continues:"He who is wounded in the testicles, or has his penis cut off, shall not enter the congregation of the Lord. Nor shall a bastard enter the congregation of the Lord, even to his tenth generation will he not be allowed to enter the congregation of the Lord. Neither an Ammonite nor a Moabite are to enter the congregation of the Lord, even to their tenth generation will they not be allowed to enter the congregation of the Lord forever - because they met you not with bread and water when you were lead out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam, the son of Beor, of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you all. The Lord your God would not hearken unto Balaam, but instead the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing unto you, because the Lord your God loved you. You shall not ever seek peace nor their prosperity with them throughout your generations. |
| Notes: | 1.) The term "sodomite" (note the lack of capitalization) is refering to homosexuals, equating homosexuality in general to the violent rapists depicted in Genesis: Chapter 19 who lived in the city of Sodom. 2.) "Dog" in this sense, is referring to a male homosexual prostitute. |
| Thoughts: | This chapter Moses begins by listing the sorts of undesirables that should not be discriminated against from entering the sanctuary (the church).
Moses next discriminates against bastards, extending this discrimination to his tenth generation offspring. So what Moses is saying is that if a child is born to unmarried parents, even if his children and grandchildren marry and produce children, none of them are welcome in the church either. This is plainly discriminating against the status of one's ancestry. This would be equivalent of saying that if one of your ancestors had a prison record, then you're not allowed in the church. Next Moses targets both the Ammonites and the Moabites, reasoning that they were the people who tried to hire Balaam (the prophet with the talking donkey) to curse the Israelites. This sounds about as reasonable as refusing Japanese, Germans, and Italians from entering your church because of World War II. Moses even extends the discrimination against these people by telling the Israelites that they are never to seek peace or prosperity with them throughout their generations. This is pure racism measuring someone's worth with their nationality and the actions of their ancestors. Moses states however they are not to discriminate against the Edomites, for they are relatives to the Israelites - the Edomites being the descendants of Esau, the elder brother of Jacob (later to be renamed Israel) who sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of soup. Moses also strangely insists that the Israelites are not to discriminate against the Egyptians, reasoning that they were once "strangers in their land". It's curious that God seems to have less of a problem with the Egyptians who enslaved the Israelites for numerous generations, than he does for the Moabites for unsuccessfully attempting to curse the Israelites. Perhaps this may be due to the Egyptian Pharaoh's treatment of Joseph, the fact that God has killed an awful lot of Egyptians (also see Exodus: Chapter 14 too), or because the Israelites "committed whoredom with the daughters of Moab", despite that the Midianites would be brutally killed, and the young Midianite virgins raped in retribution. However, as we'll see in the book of Ruth (a Moabite woman), she will marry an Israelite and give birth to a son named Obed, who would become the grandfather of King David. If a soldier at war has a nocturnal emission (a "wet dream"), he is to leave the camp, wash himself with water, and not to return to the camp until sundown. Moses then explains that a place has to be set aside outside the camp to be used as a toilet, and that all bowel movements have to be buried because God "walks in the midst of the camp", and will not tolerate anything "unclean" in the camp. Next Moses states that a runaway slave is not to be returned to its master, nor is he to be oppressed. Although it is not specifically stated here, I think it is safe to assume that this probably only applies to Hebrew slaves that can be redeemed, and not to foreign slaves or Hebrew slaves that have been marked with an awl. Moses then declares that there is to be no prostitution amongst the Israelite women, nor a "sodomite" amongst the men. The term "sodomite", despite equating homosexual men to the inhabitants of the city of Sodom, is uncapitalized as a further indicator of how homosexuals are not to be granted any common civil respect. Furthering this, after Moses declares that proceeds earned by a female prostitute are not to be brought into the church, he makes the same declaration for male homosexual prostitutes, calling such proceeds "the price of a dog". Moses states that these proceeds are an "abomination" to God. One other thing to note is that Moses is not outright banning prostitution - while Moses forbids Israeli women from becoming prostitutes, he says nothing about Israeli men soliciting prostitutes, for example Judah soliciting his daughter-in-law who he believes to be a prostitute. Moses next states that no one is to tack on interest to any loan made to their fellow Israelite, but it's perfectly okay to add interest to a loan made to a foreigner. Moses' next warns that when one makes a vow to God they are to be prompt in fulfilling that vow exactly as they had promised, or else they have "sinned"; but notes that it's not a "sin" if you simply don't make a vow in the first place. Finally Moses tells the Israelites that if they're passing by a neighbor's vineyard or crops, that it's okay to eat as many handfuls as you desire from their crops, but you are not to collect any in a container, nor cut any down with a sickle to bring back home with you. |
Saturday, February 13, 2010
DEUTERONOMY: Chapter 22
| Chapter 22 | |
| Summary: | Moses' speech continues:"If you see another man's ox or sheep go astray, you are not to pretend as if you did not see it, but you must take them back to its owner. If you do not know the owner, then you shall bring it back to your own house until the owner comes looking for it and you are able to return it to him. The same applies to donkeys, clothing, or any lost item that belongs to someone else that you have found. You are not to keep them for yourself. If you see someone's donkey or ox fall down by the way, you are also not to pretend as if you didn't see it happen, but you are to help him lift it up again. |
| Notes: | 1.) Meaning the bloodstained sheets from when the woman's hymen was broken during intercourse. |
| Thoughts: | This chapter begins on what appears to be a fairly positive note, but goes downhill awfully fast. Moses starts out telling the Israelites that if they see another man's ox or sheep go astray that they are not to ignore it, but are to return it to its owner. If they don't know who owns it, they are to take the animal back to their house until the owner comes looking for the animal. Moses adds that this applies to donkeys, clothing, and anything other lost item. Also if someone's donkey or ox falls under the load it's carrying, again you're not to ignore this, but you are to go help the animal get back up. Moses then strikes out at transvestites calling it an "abomination" to wear clothes meant for the other sex. Why God would be so bothered by people's fashions to declare it an "abomination" just for wearing a piece of clothing intended for the opposite sex is beyond me. In the bronze age days of flowing tunics, who would even really know whether a garment was a man's or a woman's? Next Moses states that if you find a bird's nest with both a mother bird and either its young or its eggs, you can keep the eggs and the young, but you must set the mother bird free. Following that, Moses states that when building a house you must put up a guardrail on the roof to ensure that no one falls off. Moses then spits out a few brief but strange laws:
If a man suspects that his wife was not a virgin when they were married, the woman's parents must bring their "tokens of virginity" (meaning the bloodstained bedsheets) to the elders of the city. The woman's father is to present the stained bedsheets to the elders as proof of his daughter's virginity. Obviously the problem is that not every woman bleeds from her first experience of sexual intercourse, and sometimes her hymen isn't even broken immediately either. Stained sheets only serve as proof that her hymen was broken, not of her virginity. Now what happens when a man falsely accuses his wife of not being a virgin on their wedding night? Well he gets a couple of lashes with a whip, he has to pay 100 shekels of silver to his father in law for shaming his wife and her family, and he's not allowed to divorce his wife. Now what happens if the woman can't prove her virginity? Well, she gets dragged out to her father's house and gets stoned to death by the men of the city for "being a whore" and shaming her father. Under these laws, it's very possible and quite likely that many women were stoned to death because they were unable to prove their innocence. Perhaps their "token" was stolen, perhaps it was lost, perhaps it was destroyed accidentally in a fire, perhaps the woman simply didn't bleed during her first sexual experience, and perhaps her husband was unable to perform himself. There are a plethora of reasons why a woman could wrongfully die because of her husband's accusations, yet we're to believe that such a flawed law was mandated by the supreme. all knowing, all powerful, "loving", and "merciful" "creator of the universe" which basically puts a woman's life down to a gamble as to whether she bled properly on a bed sheet. Next, Moses states that if a man sleeps with an already married woman, then they are both to be killed. This law obviously doesn't operate the other way around - if a married man sleeps with an unmarried woman, he simply has just taken on another wife. If you've been reading along since the beginning (or at least since the book of Numbers) you should recognize the next three laws as points that were discussed in my "Apologist Rebuttal" to the events of Numbers: Chapter 31 concerning the topic of rape. The apologist claimed that "rape was (and still is) abhorrent to God", citing Deuteronomy 22:23-28, and putting special emphasis on Deuteronomy 22:25. However, we see that this chapter paints quite a different picture of rape than what the apologist was suggesting. What Moses says, is that when a woman who is a virgin and engaged to another man is raped in the city, then both the woman and the rapist are to be brought out to the outskirts of town and are to be stoned to death. Moses states that it's the woman's fault that she was raped because she didn't cry out loud enough to stop her rape from happening. This law is not condemning rape, according to Moses the woman is condemned for not preventing her own rape, and the rapist because he took away the woman's fiancee's "right" to consummate his marriage. Moses then explains that if a woman who is a virgin and engaged to another man is raped out in the countryside, then only her rapist is to be put to death, for Moses reasons that it's impossible to determine whether she screamed for help or not out in the fields, so it must be assumed that she did cry for help but that nobody heard her. Again, unlike what the apologist was trying to lead us to believe, this law applies only to virgin women who are engaged to be married. When the apologist cited Deuteronomy 22:23-28, he stopped short of verse 29 which explains what happens to a virgin who is raped and isn't engaged to be married. Moses says that the rapist is to pay the victim's father 50 shekels of silver, and that the victim is to become the rapist's wife(!) and he cannot divorce her because he has devalued her by taking her virginity. It's easy to see why the apologist didn't include this verse in their referencing, but the irony is that the apologist was attempting to defend Numbers: Chapter 31 by claiming that it was being "taken out of context" by not reading also Numbers: Chapter 25, when clearly we see that Deuteronomy 22:29 completes Moses' overall point that he was making in Deuteronomy 22:23-28. These verses aren't concerned with rape, more than they are concerned with robbing a man of his right to deflower the woman he's engaged to. In other words, the verses are more about vindicating the male fiancee's right to take his wife's virginity, not that a woman's virginity was taken without her consent, otherwise a raped virgin without a fiancee wouldn't be forced to marry her rapist. Finally, Moses ends the chapter by stating that a man is not to take his father's wife nor dishonor his father's bed. |
DEUTERONOMY: Chapter 21
| Chapter 21 | |
| Summary: | Moses' speech continues:"If a man is found slain in the land which the Lord your God has given you to possess, his body lying in the field, and it is not known who has slain him, then the elders and judges shall measure from the body to the nearest city. The elders of that city shall take a heifer that has never been yoked or worked in a field, and bring the animal down into a valley with running water that is neither plowed or sown, and they shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley. |
| Thoughts: | Moses begins this chapter by stating that if the body of a murdered man is found lying in a field and it's not known who killed him, then the elders and judges of the land are to go to the nearest city and find the elders of that city. The city's elders are to take a heifer that has never been yoked or worked in the fields, and after bringing it down to a virgin stream in the valley, somehow breaking the cow's neck and decapitating it will allow the priests to bless the dead body (the man's, not the cow's) and absolve the people of Israel from the guilt of the death of an innocent man. This is probably another one of those "eye for an eye" type lines of thought, where in lieu of being able to kill a human being with capital punishment, that the Israelites have to kill something to appease their bloodthirsty God. Next up, Moses states that if and when the Israelites win a war against their enemies - as long as they're not enemies that live in the "promised land" - and if there's a pretty girl amongst the prisoners they've taken, then you can bring her into your house, have her shave her head and pare her nails, and then mourn for the next month in your house for her dead parents that you've killed. After the month is up, you can then have sex with her and you'll be her husband. If afterward you don't like your new wife, you can let her go free, but you're not allowed to sell her into slavery, because you've humiliated her. Basically, Moses is saying that if there's a pretty girl amongst the prisoners of war, you can bring her home against her will, rape her, and she gets the "privilege" of becoming your wife. Then if you later discover that you just don't like her, feel free to boot her out the door, just be sure not to sell her into slavery. How one can justify the blatant misogyny and complete disrespect of women that Moses is advocating is completely beyond me. Moses then shifts the topic to polygamy - something I discussed at length recently with a Christian "reader" of this blog. Moses says that if a man has two wives - one that he loves and one that he hates, and has sons with both of them, with the firstborn son belonging to the hated wife, he is not allowed to give the "firstborn birthright" to the firstborn son of his favored wife, just because he hates his firstborn son's mother. The birthright still goes to the oldest son, as Moses reasons that this son is the "beginning of his [father's] strength". All should work as intended unless the boy sells his birthright for a bowl of soup. Next, Moses addresses what to do with your unruly son. If your son is stubborn and rebellious and doesn't respond to being punished, then the mother and father must bring him out to the elders of the city and tell them that their son is stubborn and rebellious (and for good measure, add in that he's also a glutton and a drunk). All of the men of the city then are to stone the child to death, so that you can purge the nation of Israel from evil and frighten other children into obeying. Yes, the best way according to the bible to deal with unruly children is to kill them brutally with stones, so that you can set an example for other children and control them with fear. Finally, Moses states that if your preferred method of execution is hanging, then you have to remove the dead person's body from the tree you hanged him upon and bury them before the day is through, because a hanged body will apparently defile the "promised land" if left up for too long. |
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
NUMBERS: Chapter 5
| Chapter 5 | |
| Summary: | God commands Moses to rid the camp of lepers, anyone that has open sores, and even those who have "defiled" themselves by touching a corpse. This applies to men and women alike, as God does not want these outcasts "defiling" the camps where God dwells. The people of Israel complied with God's command and kicked out all of these people from their camp site. God then says to Moses that when a man or woman commits a "sin" betraying a "trust" against God, and are found guilty of doing so, that person shall confess that "sin" and repay for their wrongs, adding a "fifth part" (20% interest) to their re-compensation. If the person he has wronged is dead and has no living relatives, then the payment must be made to God via a priest, where he is also to bring a ram for an animal sacrifice "atonement". Any gift offering or gift of animal sacrifice that the people of make to God will belong to the priests. God tells Moses, that if any man's wife commits adultery - "lies with another man carnally" - yet it cannot be proven, there are no witnesses, and the husband becomes jealous and suspicious of her alleged infidelity, then the man is to bring his wife to a priest along with a tenth part of an ephah (about a tenth of a bushel) of barley meal. The barley meal is not to contain oil or frankincense, as it is a "jealousy offering" - which supposedly will bring out the truth. The priest shall bring the man's wife and set her before God, taking holy water from a clay pot, and placing dust from the floor of the tabernacle into the water. The priest shall set the woman before God, and uncover her head (taking her hair down also), and put the "jealousy offering" into her hands. The priest shall hold in his hands the bitter water that supposedly contains "the curse". The priest shall then make the woman swear by an oath that she is innocent - 5:19 "...if no man has lain with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse."then the priest shall charge the woman with an "oath of cursing" and the priest shall say to the woman: 5:21 "The LORD make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the LORD doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell;"The woman shall reply with an "amen", and the priest shall write these curses into a book and wash them off into the bitter water. (When the priest later makes the woman drinks this "bitter water", it will cause the curse to enter her and become bitter.) The priest shall then take the "jealousy offering" from out of the woman's hand, and shall wave it in the air before God before offering it upon the altar. The priest shall take a handful of the offering and burn it upon the altar, afterward making the woman drink the "bitter water". After the woman drinks the water, if she has truly defiled herself and has "trespassed" against her husband, then the water's curse shall cause her belly to swell and her thigh shall rot, and the woman shall be a curse amongst the people of Israel. If the woman has not been "defiled" then she shall be set free, and will become pregnant. This, God declares, is the "law of jealousies" - when a wife goes aside to another instead of her husband and is defiled - or if her husband merely suspects that she's committed adultery. The husband shall remain guiltless from "sin", as it's his wife's fault for her "sins" - not his. |
| Thoughts: | Moses' first duty in this chapter is to get rid of all the unsightly lepers, people with sores, and anyone who has "defiled" themselves by touching a dead body. God does not want these undesirable people amongst the people of Israel's camp - simply because if God has to live amongst the people of Israel, he doesn't want to be around a bunch of lepers, people with sores, or anybody who's touched a corpse. The people of Israel complied with this request and rid their camp of all of these undesirables. The problem here, obviously, is that the sick and the ill are lumped together with the "sinners" (those who touch corpses, being guilty of "sin") and are unceremoniously dumped out to the outskirts of the camp, left to suffer and die alone in the middle of the desert - simply because God doesn't want them to "defile" his camp. Quite a departure from God's claims of being a merciful deity, he insists that the sick are no different than the sinners and should simply be abandoned out in the desert. Even more troubling, is that we learn in Leviticus: Chapter 13 that it is priests, and not someone with a better understanding of medicine that makes the judgment on whether someone is infected with leprosy or not - basically, based on the colors of the blemishes in the skin. Perhaps we can justify the quarantine of the ill from the healthy people, but to leave them alone to die in the outskirts of the camp without anyone (aside from maybe the sinners who were exiled as well) to take care of them is simply cruelty. God follows his bout of cruelty concerning the sick with a law demanding that anyone who has cheated someone or stolen something from another will have to repay that "trespass" with the full value with 20% interest tacked on. However, if the person you wronged is no longer living and has no living relatives to recompensate, then the money is to go into the pockets of Aaron and his sons - along with a ram that's needed for some good old "animal sacrificing" fun. God spend the rest of the chapter serving up another law chocked with a big helping of misogyny - concerning what to do if you're suspicious that your wife might have cheated on you, yet there's no evidence or witnesses to support your "jealousy". God states that a jealous husband will have to bring his allegedly unfaithful wife out to the tabernacle along with a tenth of a bushel of barley meal - which is considered a "jealousy offering". God explains that because this "jealousy offering" will supposedly somehow bring out the truth, it's not to contain oil or frankincense - the reasoning behind this is unclear. Meanwhile, the priest is to take some "holy water" from a clay pot and mix in some dirt from the floor of the tabernacle. The woman is to hold the barley meal in her hands, while the priest is to "uncover her head" (meaning to remove any head-wear she might be wearing and let down her hair) and is to hold the pot of dirty water. Then he makes the suspected adulteress swear to an oath that she hasn't cheated on her husband. The priest is then to write down the "curses" that the dirty water is to contain and to wash the ink away into the dirty water. He is then to take the "guilt offering" from the woman, wave around it in the air for a bit, and then set a handful of it on fire upon the altar. The woman is then required to drink the "holy water" - contaminated with dirt from the floor and ink - and if she's indeed guilty then "her belly will swell" and "her thigh will rot" and will become an outcast among her people. If it instead turns out that she's innocent of her accused adultery, then her "reward" is that she will become pregnant. Apparently if you have problems conceiving a child, all you would really have to do is accuse your wife of being unfaithful and bring her and a tenth of a bushel of barley meal down to the tabernacle, and after your wife drinks some filthy water, she'll either become pregnant or her legs will rot off if she's cheated on you unbeknowst to you. Either way, it's a win-win situation, if you're right, you get vengeance, and if you're wrong you get a baby - which if you're like an ancient Israelite, had better be a boy, but you could always accuse your wife of being unfaithful again to try for another chance. The ridiculousness of this "law" is obvious, as is the sexism contained within it, but what's also troubling is that God apparently has no problem with men falsely accusing their wives of cheating on them as he states in the last three verses of this chapter. So a woman has to go through this humiliating experience of drinking dirty water while proclaiming her innocence and hoping that she doesn't get sick in any way, thereby "exposing" her guilt. As for God, and his supposed omniscience, couldn't he think of a better way to judge a woman's guilt or innocence than by some ridiculous degrading ritual? Couldn't he just strike her dead - as he requires adulteresses to be stoned to death anyways? I simply find it baffling how religious women can read verses like these in the bible and be okay with how God deems it acceptable to treat women in such ways. |
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
LEVITICUS: A Recap
Leviticus can be a rather difficult book in the bible to read, as there's loads of gory details on how to properly conduct animal sacrifices, lots of repetition of various laws and commandments, lots of jumping around (laws are often first stated in one chapter and detailed several chapters later), narrative stories that are rather randomly inserted in the midst of chapters mainly consisting of lists and laws, and lots of indefensible acts of God's brutality and misogyny. Leviticus can almost be summed up by saying most of it deals with animal sacrifices: get an animal, kill it at the tabernacle, splash its blood around, cut it up into pieces, and set it on fire - as God finds this aroma to be a "sweet savor".
Right off the bat in our first chapter we're treated with instructions on how to sacrifice animals to God, and with a weak justification that this must be done so that God doesn't have to kill human beings for "sinning". How slaughtering animals is supposed to teach people who break laws, so that they learn not to break them again, is nonsensical. What purpose is served by animal blood being splattered around a tent and upon the right ear, right thumb, and big toe of a person's right foot is symbolic at best, and unsanitary (as well as dangerous to one's health) at its worst.
Grains, baked goods, and crops are also to be sacrificed and set on fire as well, which also pleases God very much with the "sweet savor" of burnt aromas, but he's extremely picky about whether or not ingredients like yeast, olive oil, or salt are to be used or avoided in specific circumstances. God also gets rather testy about the animal fat belonging to him and that it is not to be eaten, nor is blood to be consumed - which will be repeated and explained in greater detail later on in Chapter 7, and further still in Chapter 17.
God also gives detailed instructions on how to perform his various types of animal sacrifices. Among his sacrifices are "burnt offerings", "grain offerings", and "sin offerings" as well as, "guilt offerings", and "peace offerings"
The number seven holds significant symbolism as well throughout the book of Leviticus. A priest is required to sprinkle animal blood around the tabernacle seven times, a person "healed" from leprosy must be sprinkled with bird's blood seven times, every seventh year the land will have to be left unharvested as a "sabbath" - and after every seventh sabbath of the land a "Year of Jubilee" is to be observed, and God will increase his punishments upon the people of Israel sevenfold each and every time they disobey his laws and commandments.
While the first nine chapters of the book pretty much deal with sacrificing animals, we are also treated to a few narrative stories throughout Leviticus, such as:
God also gives a list of which animals are okay to eat, and which are "unclean" and unfit to eat.
God also ramps up his misogyny and sexism by declaring new mothers "unlcean", and making them go into quarantine after giving birth - in which you'll be quarantined longer if you happen to give birth to a baby girl. Of course, these new mothers will have to sacrifice animals to "atone" for the "sin" of giving birth, and also how "unclean" a woman is when she menstruates, and how she is to atone every month for her biological "uncleanliness" with animal sacrifices.
God also makes his priests play doctor - with vague medical instructions - in order to detect leprosy, exiling anyone the priest thinks might have leprosy, what to do when a leper appears to have been healed, the animal sacrifices the "former leper" must perform to be considered "healed" through God's standards, and how to treat a house that might be infected by leprosy.
God also threatens Aaron's life if he doesn't follow proper procedure when entering the "holy place" (the veiled off section) in the tabernacle. We also learn about scapegoats, where it is thought that "sins" can be magically transferred into a goat and that by letting the goat loose out into the desert you'll get rid of "sin".
God also revises his stances on incest, which seem to contradict his tolerance of it from previous characters such as Abraham and his half-sister Sarah in the book of Genesis. In the same chapter, God also condemns bestiality, homosexuality, and having sexual relations with a menstruating woman, and claims that these are all practices that Egyptians, Canaanites, and other surrounding tribes engage in regularly - and that one shouldn't lower themselves down to following these "heathenistic" customs. Despite God's insistence that these were common practices by Egyptians, as well as other Middle Eastern tribes, there is no archaeological evidence to support this claim and is more likely to have been written to villainize the enemies of the Israelis and justify the slaughter and enslavement of the enemies of the people of Israel.
We are also introduced without explanation to a curious alleged pagan god named Molech when God mentions that one of his laws is that people are not to sacrifice infants by fire to this presumed god. Again, archaeological evidence does not support that any Middle Eastern tribe or civilization ever followed or worshiped such a god, and a more modern interpretation is that the word "molech" simply refers to the practice of human (infant) sacrifice by fire. However, within the context of the King James version of the bible "Molech" is treated as a proper noun and capitalized as if it were a proper name. We first encounter a mention of Molech in Chapter 18, and he is mentioned again in Chapter 20. Molech is mentioned in such a fashion as to assume the reader is familiar with this name and/or phrase and therefore is not given any explanation in the book of Leviticus.
Surprisingly, we also come across a chapter that is mainly filled with good laws - Chapter 19 - although it is occasionally peppered with some typically vain and misogynistic passages as well - including that a man having sex with a slave girl who is engaged to be married will result in the slave having to be flogged, while the man's punishment will simply be to sacrifice some animals at the tabernacle. Among the "good laws" God lays out are provisions to leave a portion of your crops to both the poor and for weary travelers; to respect their elders; and to treat employees and customers fairly.
God's good side however is short lived when the following chapter basically reads off death sentences for various "sins" which mostly result in stoning a person to death, or at the very least, excommunication. The following chart shows what punishment God demands for what "sins":
God's next laws deal with the priesthood, and command that priests aren't allowed to touch dead bodies, shave any bald spots in their heads, or marry anyone aside from virgin full blooded Israeli girls - marrying a foreign woman "profanes" the priesthood. Also God doesn't want any deformed, crippled or handicapped priests performing animal sacrifices, or going behind the veil in the tabernacle. God's list of deformities includes "having a flat nose", dwarfism, broken bones in hands or feet, having scabs, scurvy, blindness, a crooked back, or injured testicles. These freaks are not allowed near the sacrificial altar or the behind the veil in the tabernacle as they will "defile" the tabernacle. God also explains that the meat of the animal sacrifices is only to be eaten by priests and their households who fall under his definition of "clean". Excluded are any daughters married to foreigners or any priest with an STD, disease, or leprosy. The priest's slaves may enjoy these meals, but hired servants may not.
In the following chapter, God outlines all of the annual holidays that must be celebrated, most of which center around animal sacrifices. The festivals are to also be observed as a "sabbath" day, and disobeying this will result in death by stoning.
God next explains the fifty year celebration of the "Year of Jubilee" - which basically clears all the people of Israel of their debts to others - family land that was sold over the years must return to the original owners, and any Israeli serving as a "slave" to another gets to return to his family. However God makes a clear distinction that Hebrews are not to be enslaved in a traditional fashion and are instead to be treated like hired workers and are to be released every fifty years in the "Year of Jubilee". However, God encourages the enslavement of the surrounding "heathen" tribes, and that those slaves can be overworked, beaten, and handed down your family line, as non-Hebrew slaves are indeed property and not fully human, and thereby aren't deserving of any basic civil human rights.
In the next chapter, God basically tells the Israelis how wonderful life will be if they follow and obey all of God's laws, but also threatens them with plagues, death, and destruction if they disobey any of his laws. However, even after he's decimated their population, if the survivors can truly repent, God will fulfill his promises of giving them their "promised land" back.
Leviticus closes out with God putting monetary values on human life - which of course based on God's sexism places much higher values on males than their female counterparts. Basically every person, animal, crop, and farmland is to be taxed with the taxes going to fund the operation of God's tabernacle and to put money in the priests' pockets.
All in all the book of Leviticus is mainly a list of laws that are overwhelmingly tyrannical, sexist, gruesome, xenophobic, and laden with cruelty. While there are slivers of good natured positive laws - almost exclusively contained in Chapter 19, the majority of them are simply downright sadistic and sexist by any basic standard of morality and decency. The book also contains many absurdities, such as requiring that all women are to sacrifice a pair of birds every month simply for menstruating (which when we do the math would have resulted in the deaths of over half a billion birds over the 40 years in the desert, during the Exodus alone) and coaching priests to play doctor and diagnose cases of leprosy simply by looking at the color of blemishes in the skin. We also find that not only does God condone slavery, he actually endorses it as well, instructing that non-Hebrews are to be enslaved and kept as property forever, and are to be inherited by future generations. God shows that he's very much in favor of capital punishment, and that even trivial offenses such as using God's name improperly deserve a brutal death by stoning, and that "more serious offenses" such as marrying a wife and her daughter, or a priests daughter becoming a prostitute, call for higher measures by setting the offenders on fire. Even if you can justify capital punishment, there is simply no way any rational human being can ever condone setting another person on fire as a "just" punishment - for anything.
Right off the bat in our first chapter we're treated with instructions on how to sacrifice animals to God, and with a weak justification that this must be done so that God doesn't have to kill human beings for "sinning". How slaughtering animals is supposed to teach people who break laws, so that they learn not to break them again, is nonsensical. What purpose is served by animal blood being splattered around a tent and upon the right ear, right thumb, and big toe of a person's right foot is symbolic at best, and unsanitary (as well as dangerous to one's health) at its worst.
Grains, baked goods, and crops are also to be sacrificed and set on fire as well, which also pleases God very much with the "sweet savor" of burnt aromas, but he's extremely picky about whether or not ingredients like yeast, olive oil, or salt are to be used or avoided in specific circumstances. God also gets rather testy about the animal fat belonging to him and that it is not to be eaten, nor is blood to be consumed - which will be repeated and explained in greater detail later on in Chapter 7, and further still in Chapter 17.
God also gives detailed instructions on how to perform his various types of animal sacrifices. Among his sacrifices are "burnt offerings", "grain offerings", and "sin offerings" as well as, "guilt offerings", and "peace offerings"
The number seven holds significant symbolism as well throughout the book of Leviticus. A priest is required to sprinkle animal blood around the tabernacle seven times, a person "healed" from leprosy must be sprinkled with bird's blood seven times, every seventh year the land will have to be left unharvested as a "sabbath" - and after every seventh sabbath of the land a "Year of Jubilee" is to be observed, and God will increase his punishments upon the people of Israel sevenfold each and every time they disobey his laws and commandments.
While the first nine chapters of the book pretty much deal with sacrificing animals, we are also treated to a few narrative stories throughout Leviticus, such as:
- God getting angry that Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu didn't follow God's instructions thoroughly enough and killing them brutally by setting them on fire in front of their family. He refuses to allow any of the family to grieve over the two brothers' smoldering corpses.
- A half-breed male (with an Egyptian father and Israeli mother) "blasphemes" God during an argument with a full blooded Israeli man and is jailed and later stoned to death for his "sin".
God also gives a list of which animals are okay to eat, and which are "unclean" and unfit to eat.
God also ramps up his misogyny and sexism by declaring new mothers "unlcean", and making them go into quarantine after giving birth - in which you'll be quarantined longer if you happen to give birth to a baby girl. Of course, these new mothers will have to sacrifice animals to "atone" for the "sin" of giving birth, and also how "unclean" a woman is when she menstruates, and how she is to atone every month for her biological "uncleanliness" with animal sacrifices.
God also makes his priests play doctor - with vague medical instructions - in order to detect leprosy, exiling anyone the priest thinks might have leprosy, what to do when a leper appears to have been healed, the animal sacrifices the "former leper" must perform to be considered "healed" through God's standards, and how to treat a house that might be infected by leprosy.
God also threatens Aaron's life if he doesn't follow proper procedure when entering the "holy place" (the veiled off section) in the tabernacle. We also learn about scapegoats, where it is thought that "sins" can be magically transferred into a goat and that by letting the goat loose out into the desert you'll get rid of "sin".
God also revises his stances on incest, which seem to contradict his tolerance of it from previous characters such as Abraham and his half-sister Sarah in the book of Genesis. In the same chapter, God also condemns bestiality, homosexuality, and having sexual relations with a menstruating woman, and claims that these are all practices that Egyptians, Canaanites, and other surrounding tribes engage in regularly - and that one shouldn't lower themselves down to following these "heathenistic" customs. Despite God's insistence that these were common practices by Egyptians, as well as other Middle Eastern tribes, there is no archaeological evidence to support this claim and is more likely to have been written to villainize the enemies of the Israelis and justify the slaughter and enslavement of the enemies of the people of Israel.
We are also introduced without explanation to a curious alleged pagan god named Molech when God mentions that one of his laws is that people are not to sacrifice infants by fire to this presumed god. Again, archaeological evidence does not support that any Middle Eastern tribe or civilization ever followed or worshiped such a god, and a more modern interpretation is that the word "molech" simply refers to the practice of human (infant) sacrifice by fire. However, within the context of the King James version of the bible "Molech" is treated as a proper noun and capitalized as if it were a proper name. We first encounter a mention of Molech in Chapter 18, and he is mentioned again in Chapter 20. Molech is mentioned in such a fashion as to assume the reader is familiar with this name and/or phrase and therefore is not given any explanation in the book of Leviticus.
Surprisingly, we also come across a chapter that is mainly filled with good laws - Chapter 19 - although it is occasionally peppered with some typically vain and misogynistic passages as well - including that a man having sex with a slave girl who is engaged to be married will result in the slave having to be flogged, while the man's punishment will simply be to sacrifice some animals at the tabernacle. Among the "good laws" God lays out are provisions to leave a portion of your crops to both the poor and for weary travelers; to respect their elders; and to treat employees and customers fairly.
God's good side however is short lived when the following chapter basically reads off death sentences for various "sins" which mostly result in stoning a person to death, or at the very least, excommunication. The following chart shows what punishment God demands for what "sins":
| Death by stoning | Excommunication/Exile | Death by immolation | Barrenness/Infertility |
|
|
|
|
In the following chapter, God outlines all of the annual holidays that must be celebrated, most of which center around animal sacrifices. The festivals are to also be observed as a "sabbath" day, and disobeying this will result in death by stoning.
God next explains the fifty year celebration of the "Year of Jubilee" - which basically clears all the people of Israel of their debts to others - family land that was sold over the years must return to the original owners, and any Israeli serving as a "slave" to another gets to return to his family. However God makes a clear distinction that Hebrews are not to be enslaved in a traditional fashion and are instead to be treated like hired workers and are to be released every fifty years in the "Year of Jubilee". However, God encourages the enslavement of the surrounding "heathen" tribes, and that those slaves can be overworked, beaten, and handed down your family line, as non-Hebrew slaves are indeed property and not fully human, and thereby aren't deserving of any basic civil human rights.
In the next chapter, God basically tells the Israelis how wonderful life will be if they follow and obey all of God's laws, but also threatens them with plagues, death, and destruction if they disobey any of his laws. However, even after he's decimated their population, if the survivors can truly repent, God will fulfill his promises of giving them their "promised land" back.
Leviticus closes out with God putting monetary values on human life - which of course based on God's sexism places much higher values on males than their female counterparts. Basically every person, animal, crop, and farmland is to be taxed with the taxes going to fund the operation of God's tabernacle and to put money in the priests' pockets.
All in all the book of Leviticus is mainly a list of laws that are overwhelmingly tyrannical, sexist, gruesome, xenophobic, and laden with cruelty. While there are slivers of good natured positive laws - almost exclusively contained in Chapter 19, the majority of them are simply downright sadistic and sexist by any basic standard of morality and decency. The book also contains many absurdities, such as requiring that all women are to sacrifice a pair of birds every month simply for menstruating (which when we do the math would have resulted in the deaths of over half a billion birds over the 40 years in the desert, during the Exodus alone) and coaching priests to play doctor and diagnose cases of leprosy simply by looking at the color of blemishes in the skin. We also find that not only does God condone slavery, he actually endorses it as well, instructing that non-Hebrews are to be enslaved and kept as property forever, and are to be inherited by future generations. God shows that he's very much in favor of capital punishment, and that even trivial offenses such as using God's name improperly deserve a brutal death by stoning, and that "more serious offenses" such as marrying a wife and her daughter, or a priests daughter becoming a prostitute, call for higher measures by setting the offenders on fire. Even if you can justify capital punishment, there is simply no way any rational human being can ever condone setting another person on fire as a "just" punishment - for anything.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
LEVITICUS: Chapter 21
| Chapter 21 | |
| Summary: | God gives more laws to Moses, this time to be directed at Aaron and his sons, concerning the conduct and expectations of priests: Priests are not to "defile" themselves by touching the body of a dead person, unless it is the body of his close relatives - meaning his mother, father, son, daughter, brother, and his sister (if she is a virgin and does not have a husband to care for her corpse). A priest is supposed to be a "chief man" amongst his people and is not to "defile" himself by touching a dead body (aside from his close family), lest he "profane" himself. A priest is also not to make baldness upon their head, nor shall they shave off the corner of their beard, or make any cuttings in their flesh. Priests must be "holy" unto their god, and not profane his name, or they will not be fit to make the grain or animal sacrifices by fire. A priest may not marry a woman who is a whore, profane, or is divorced from her husband. If the daughter of a priest "profanes" herself and her father by "playing the whore", she shall be burnt with fire. The high priest whose head has been anointed with oil and has been consecrated to wear the "holy garments" shall not uncover his head, rip or damage his clothes, nor go near any dead body - not even the bodies of his mother or father. He also may not leave the tabernacle or profane it in any way, as the anointing oil of his god is upon him. He is only allowed to marry a virgin and may not marry any woman who is a widow, divorced, profane, or a harlot. She must be a virgin amongst his own people (not a foreigner) for he must not "profane" his people by becoming the father of mixed race children. God continues, stating that if any of Aaron's descendants have any handicaps, disabilities, or "blemishes" that they are not to be allowed to sacrifice to God. This includes any man that is:
Moses then gave these laws to Aaron, his sons, and the people of Israel. |
| Thoughts: | Chapter 21 of Leviticus is basically a list of laws and rules for the priests - Aaron and his sons, and their future descendants. First off, priests are never to touch any dead bodies with the exception of close relatives - their mother, father, sons, daughters, brothers, and (if they're still a virgin and unmarried, thereby without a husband who could care for her corpse) sisters. A priest is considered a higher standard of a person and therefore shouldn't be "defiling" himself by touching dead bodies like the common folk do. A priest isn't allowed to shave their head, in full or in part, nor are they allowed to trim the corners of their beards or make any cuts into their flesh. Doing so would "profane" the name of God, and they would not be fit to offer any grain or animal sacrifices by fire. Priests cannot marry prostitutes, nor a divorced woman. If a priest has a daughter that turns to prostitution, she must be executed by being burned set on fire. How God can insist upon such excessive brutality and claim to be "compassionate" when these stances contradict each other is baffling to say the least. The "high priest" (meaning Aaron, and whomever succeeds him) cannot uncover his head, damage his priest costume in any way, go near any dead body - not even those of his mother or father, nor is he allowed to leave the tabernacle while on duty, or profane it in any way. The high priests are also only to marry virgins - widows, divorced women, profane women, and prostitutes will not do. His virgin bride must also be a pure member of the people of Israel, as women of other clans will shame his people with "half breed" children. Priests apparently must be a pure member of the Master Race or they'll "profane" the priesthood. If keeping the bloodline pure isn't bad enough, God also doesn't want the handicapped amongst Aaron's lineage anywhere near the veil and the altar in the tabernacle, and they're not allowed to give any sacrifices to God by fire either. Among the disabilities that God lists as unacceptable for priests are blindness, lameness, having a flat nose, anything "superfluous", broken hands or feet, hunchbacks, dwarfism, any eye blemishes, scurvy, having scabs, and most humorously - "damaged testicles". God will allow these "freaks of nature" to chow down on the grain and animal sacrifices, but when it comes to sacrificing anything by fire or going near either the veil or the altar, the handicapped and the deformed need not apply - as they would "defile" the tabernacle. |
LEVITICUS: Chapter 20
| Chapter 20 | |
| Summary: | God gives further laws to Moses: Whomever, whether he be an Israeli or a visitor to the land that give any of his offspring (as a human sacrifice) to Molech*, shall be put to death. The people of the land are to stone that person to death. God himself will "set his face against" such man and will cut him off from amongst his people - because giving his offspring to Molech apparently defiles the sanctuary of the tabernacle and profanes God's name. Anyone who will not acknowledge a person sacrificing his offspring to Molech, and refuses to kill him, then God will set his face against them, against their family, and will excommunicate them and all who "go a whoring after him", to commit whoredom with Molech. Anyone who turns to those with "familiar spirits" or wizards, "to go a whoring after them", God will "set his face against" them, and will excommunicate them. The people should instead sanctify themselves and be "holy", because God is their ruler. The people must follow and obey God's laws, and God will "sanctify" them. Anyone who curses their mother or father shall be put to death. Whomever curses their mother or father, deserves their fate - their blood shall be upon them. If a man commits adultery with another man's wife - even he that commits adultery with his neighbor's wife - both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death. A man who sleeps with his father's wife has "uncovered his father's nakedness" and both shall be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. If a man sleeps with his daughter in law, both of them shall be put to death - they have wrought confusion and their blood shall be upon them. If a man sleeps with another man as he would with a woman, both of them have committed an "abomination" and they shall both be put to death - their blood shall be upon them. If a man takes a wife and her mother, it is wickedness and they shall all be burnt with fire - there shall be no wickedness amongst you. If a man has sex with an animal, he shall be put to death and the animal shall be killed. If a woman allows herself to be penetrated by an animal, both the woman and the animal shall be put to death - their blood shall be upon them. If a man takes his sister - whether it's his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter - and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness, it is a wicked thing. They shall be "cut off in sight of their people" - he has uncovered his sister's nakedness, he shall bear his guilt. If a man sleeps with a woman "having her sickness" (her menstrual period) and uncovers her nakedness, he has "discovered her fountain"(!), and she has uncovered the "fountain of her blood", both of them shall be excommunicated. A man shall not uncover the nakedness of his mother's sister (his maternal aunt) nor his father's sister (his paternal aunt) - they shall bear their own guilt. If a man sleeps with his uncle's wife, he has uncovered his uncle's nakedness and they shall bear their sin - they shall die childless. If a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an "unclean" thing - he has uncovered his brother's nakedness and they shall die childless. Therefore the people need to keep God's laws and judgments and obey them so that God will not have to throw them out of the "promised land". The people of Israel are not to share the customs and lifestyles of the people that God is casting out of the "promised land" - for they have committed all of these things and therefore God abhors them. God reminds the people of Israel that they will inherit their land, and that he will give it to them to possess - a land he claims "floweth with milk and honey". God claims that because he rules over them, it has separated the people of Israel from other people. Therefore, because of this the people of Israel shall make a difference between "clean" birds and animals and "unclean" birds and animals. The people of Israel shall not make themselves "abominable" by eating the wrong kind of birds or animals. God says that the people of Israel must be "holy" to God, as God himself is "holy", and has made a distinction between them and other people. He continues, that the people of Israel belong to him, God closes out the chapter by stating that either a man or woman that has "a familiar spirit", or that is a wizard must be put to death by stoning - their blood shall be upon them. |
| Notes: | 1.) Although completely unexplained in the book of Leviticus, Molech, as mentioned and introduced in Chapter 18 is the name of a Middle Eastern god common to both the Canaanites and Egyptians, as well as the Hebrews, that followers supposedly presented human sacrifice to by fire. |
| Thoughts: | After a mostly pleasant chapter with Leviticus: Chapter 19, God switches gears with a vengeance. He starts by revisiting his possible rival, Molech. Molech, who I first went into more detail about in my commentary on Leviticus: Chapter 18 is considered either to be a god who accepts human sacrifice by fire, or is simply the act of "human sacrifice by fire" itself. In the King James translation of the bible, and I believe all (or at least most) English language translations of the bible "Molech" is capitalized and used as a proper noun as if it were a name of a being. There is no archaeological evidence to support the worship of any god named Molech by the Caananites, the Egyptians, or the Hebrews and is more recently thought to be a name for the actual practice of "human sacrifice by fire". Whichever the case may be Molech is (so far) not explained in the bible and is assumed that the reader should be familiar with the name. God commands that anyone sacrificing to Molech is to be stoned to death, and that God will "set his face off" against him, and he shall be excommunicated(?). I'm not exactly sure what the meaning here is, considering it'd be impossible to excommunicate someone after they've already been stoned to death. Perhaps it means that he may not be buried or have a funeral within the Israeli people's land, or perhaps it means that the person's "soul" would be "excommunicated" from Heaven? The thought that it might mean being excommunicated from Heaven seems unlikely to me, as if I recall, I don't think Jews believe in the concept of Heaven and Hell, but I may be wrong about that. I'm honestly stumped here and I may have to ask around to see if I can get an answer from someone - if you have an answer please leave me a comment. If I find an answer in the future, I'll update this section. God continues on saying that human sacrifice to Molech defiles the tabernacle and profanes God's name. Anyone who refuses to take part in the stoning of a person who sacrificed to Molech, God will set his face against him also, along with that person's family, and will excommunicate them and whomever else who goes "a whoring" after Molech. Anyone who turns to those with "familiar spirits" (thought to mean spiritual mediums) or wizards will also result in God turning his face against them and excommunicating them. God states that the people should instead sanctify themselves and be "holy", basically because he is God and he said so. God says that the people must obey his laws and in turn God will "sanctify" them. Anyone who curses their mother or father also gets a death by stoning. God insists that they deserve it, noting that "their blood is on their hands". This is another case of God's excessive brutality, as it is perfectly normal for young children to react to their parent's discipline by cursing their parents. I'm sure every parent has encountered a time where their unruly child resists their punishment from bad behavior and tells their parents that they hate them, or worse. Many of us probably have said the same thing to our parents growing up also. Folks, that is not a "crime" that warrants a child being taken out and stoned to death - it is normal juvenile behavior. For God to insist upon such a brutal punishment for such a petty thing is sadistic, and not in all in line with the description most believers will give of a "benevolent", "compassionate", and "loving" god. God's law on adultery is that both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death. A man who sleeps with his father's wife is also to be put to death, as is a man who sleeps with his daughter in law. Again, God flexes his brutality muscles by insisting upon capital punishment for the wrong people having sex together. The bible defines adultery as solely "a married woman having sexual relations with someone who isn't her husband" - which means that a married man having sex with an unmarried woman is not considered adultery, nor is an unmarried woman having sex with any man - regardless of whether he is married or not. A common apologetic view point is that God sets out such a strong punishment to simply serve as a deterrent from people committing these "crimes" to begin with, much like the arguments people use in favor of the death penalty today. However, this doesn't hold up when the punishment simply doesn't fit the crime - it's like demanding the death penalty for jaywalking. Adultery certainly can be a very traumatic thing to the parties involved, but it is never a suitable reason for capital punishment. What if the sex was not consensual and in fact rape, does that still require the death of the victim simply because she had sex with someone who wasn't her husband? What if the person didn't have the knowledge that their partner was married? There's just so many loopholes and problems with defining guilt and intent in regards to adultery that a punishment with so much finality - like death by stoning - just isn't rational. The argument that capital punishment is a deterrent doesn't hold up very well either when the vast amount of people who commit crimes do so because they believe they are smarter than the system and won't get caught, making the severity of the punishment irrelevant to them. Add to that, that "adultery" (much like "murder") is often a crime of passion which also makes the consequences of punishment not at the forefront of the person's mind when they find themselves in a position to commit the crime. Regardless of whether you agree with capital punishment or not, it's troubling why God insists that human beings have to be the ones to administer the punishment in the first place. Killing another human being, whether the reason is justified or not can still be traumatizing. Ask any police officer who's fired his gun in the line of duty, or soldiers in the military who've been in combat how they've felt about taking the life of another human being. No-one should ever have to kill another person unless the lives of themselves or others are in danger, anyone who's been forced to kill will tell you that it takes a very strong person to deal with the mental consequences, and that not everyone can deal with the stress - even if what they did was completely justifiable. However, God insists that everyone has to participate in stoning other people to death, threatening those who refuse to participate with being excommunicated from their people. God is basically blackmailing everyone - including those who may not be mentally fit for the task - into killing their fellow Israelis, regardless of whether they might be a close member of their family or perhaps a friend or a neighbor that they've grown to love over the years. God continues on handing out death sentences, insisting that next on the list is anyone engaging in homosexual sex. He calls the act an "abomination" and that both men must be stoned to death - not making a clarification on if this applies to victims of homosexual rape also. If a man sleeps with a woman and the woman's mother, God has a special death sentence for all three of these "criminals" - this crime apparently warrants being set on fire apparently. Of all the gruesome ways to die, immolation just may be the worst, and God saves this excruciating punishment for these sexual deviants. If a person has sex with an animal, both the person and the animal in question must be put to death. God says they both deserve it - including the animal. Why an animal "deserves" to be stoned to death because some pervert raped it, I don't quite understand. It makes about as much sense as euthanizing your dog because your next door neighbor kicked it. Curiously, God makes an exception to his usual punishments of stonings and setting people on fire to substitute excommunication for the crime of sibling incest. Most likely this exception was made as to not make Abraham and Sarah's incestuous marriage to seem as hypocritical in light of God's new law. However, as we'll get to shortly, God actually doesn't have as stringent punishments for incestuous relationships as he does for homosexuals, practitioners of bestiality, adulterers, and mother/daughter threesomes. Before getting to other forms of incest, God also forbids having sex with a woman during her menstrual period - which he calls here, "her sickness". Both the woman having her period, and the man having sex with her during her period, must be excommunicated. Between this chapter and Leviticus 15:19-30 God makes it clear that menstruating women are filthy and "unclean", and are to be avoided at all costs. Don't have sex with them, don't let them sit on any of your furniture, don't touch any of their chairs or bedding, and don't even touch the women themselves during their period or you'll defile yourself too. Back to the topic of incest, God adds that a man is not to have sex with his aunt (like Aaron and Moses' father Amram did) - regardless of whether it is his maternal or paternal aunt - as they shall "bear their iniquity" if they do so. A thought just occurred to me that according to God's logic in Exodus 20:5 (and repeated in Exodus 34:7) in which God states that a persons' descendants are just as guilty for the sin he committed as he is himself, wouldn't this make Moses and Aaron guilty of their father's sin of marrying his aunt? Shouldn't Moses and Aaron (along with Aaron's sons who inherit the sin through their grandfather) be excommunicated according to this verse? The direct quotes of Exodus 20:5 and Exodus 34:7 are: Exodus 20:5This would seem to indicate that this is exactly what God should do with Moses and Aaron, however later verses from the books of Deuteronomy, 2 Kings, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel seem to contradict this. Noah also cursed his grandson Canaan into a life of slavery due to his son Ham's viewing Noah drunk and naked in his tent, which God also seemed to have condoned. The problem here is that even if we argue semantics with a biblical apologist to explain how this could possibly fit alongside later chapters stating that "sin" of a father is not to be passed down to his children to be punished for as well, the message is not being made clear here at all, and anyone reading up to this point, without knowing what is later to be said, has to be lead to think there is a contradiction in God's logic. One would think that a book written by, or is the inspired word of a perfect being such as God would be clear and concise - especially when dealing with laws that could result in excommunication, or worse, death by stoning. God furthers his laws about men sleeping with their aunts, by claiming that a man who sleeps with his and/or marries his uncle's wife (his aunt by his uncle's marriage) will curse them both by God assuring that they will die childless. God gives this same punishment to a man who sleeps with or marries his brother's wife also. God interjects that the people will need to follow and obey these laws so that he won't be forced to throw them out of the "promised land" - or worse. He once again stereotypes the people currently living in the land as all practicing these customs of incest, bestiality, homosexuality, and adultery - judging them all as a group rather than individuals - by calling them all "abominable". Because God has took the time to teach the people of Israel which birds and animals are right to eat and which are not, this is a distinction that somehow makes the people of Israel (which he constantly berates for being "unclean" in previous chapters) a better people then all others. Before closing off the chapter, God also tacks on his law about what to do with wizards and people who "have a familiar spirit" (thought to mean "spiritual mediums") - that's a stoning too. |
Friday, July 10, 2009
LEVITICUS: Chapters 17 & 18
| Chapter 17 | |
| Summary: | God speaks to Moses, telling him to relay further instructions to Aaron, his sons, and all the people of Israel. Any Israelite who kills an ox, lamb, or goat anywhere except at the tabernacle as a sacrifice to God, will have blood on their hands and will be excommunicated from amongst the nation of Israel. God states that he wants the people not to sacrifice animals in open fields, but rather to be brought to a priest at the door of the tabernacle as "peace offerings" for himself (God). The priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar at the door of the tabernacle, and burn the animal fat as a "sweet savor" that God will enjoy. The people shall no longer sacrifice animals to "devils", or evil spirits, that they have whored after. This shall be a permanent law from generation to generation. Anyone whether Israeli, or a foreigner living amongst them, who offers either a "burnt offering" or an animal sacrifice any place other than at the front door of the tabernacle, will be excommunicated. Anyone, whether an Israeli, or a foreigner living amongst them. that eats any manner of blood, will be excommunicated and God will turn his face against them. God explains that the life of the flesh is in the blood and claims that he has provided blood upon the altar of the tabernacle to make atonement for your "soul", because blood apparently is what makes atonement for people's "souls". Therefore, this is God's reasoning behind disallowing the people of Israel, or any foreigner living among them, from eating blood. Anyone, whether Israeli or foreigner living amongst them, that hunts and catches and bird or animal permitted to be eaten, must first drain the animal's blood and then cover it with dust. God states that that the people of Israel must never eat blood of any sort, for the blood is the life of all living things, and whomever does so will be excommunicated. Anyone who eats the dead bodies of animals that have either died naturally, or have been torn apart from wild animals, must wash their clothes and will be considered "unclean" until evening; after the evening comes, they shall be considered "clean". If the person does not wash their clothes, however, then they shall suffer the consequence. |
| Notes: | 1.) The actual Hebrew translation here is "hairy ones". |
| Thoughts: | God begins chapter 17 by first addressing the utter importance that animal sacrifices are only to be made to him, and to him only, and only at the door of the tabernacle by a priest. God wants to enjoy the "sweet savor" of burnt animal flesh at his tabernacle and threatens anyone sacrificing animals elsewhere with excommunication. Interestingly, this chapter is also technically our first mention of "devils" (in the King James Version), or "evil spirits", although the proper Hebrew translation in Leviticus:17:7 is actually "hairy ones". God forbids his people from sacrificing animals in open fields to the devils/evil spirits/hairy ones that the people have apparently "whored" after. This ban on animal sacrifices anywhere but at the tabernacle is a permanent law and applies to the people of Israel and any foreign visitors that may be living amongst them. Disobeying this law gets you excommunicated. Next up God goes into greater detail about an issue he only vaguely touched upon almost 800 years earlier to Noah in the book of Genesis (Genesis:9:4). God commands that neither the Israelis, or any foreigner living amongst them shall ever consume any manner of blood, and if they do so they will be excommunicated. This section of the chapter has famously been cited by Jehovah's Witnesses to explain their stance on refusing blood transfusions believing that having a transfusion is in fact considered "eating blood". It begs the question of why certain parts of the Old Testament still apply to the beliefs of modern religions (such as many of the traditions in modern Judaism, Christianity's anti-homosexual stances, and of course the Jehovah's Witnesses anti-transfusion stances) while other laws, which seem to be as equally or even far more important to God, such as animal sacrifices, stoning adulterers, endorsing slavery (including how to properly beat your slaves), and the use of scapegoats seemed to have fallen by the wayside to modern day believers of these ancient religions. A major problem I have with this line of thinking is not that I care whether an adult wants to refuse medical treatment based on the grounds of their religious beliefs, but when that adult puts the lives of their children in serious, or even mortal danger on the grounds of their vague interpretations of some several thousand year old collection of stories. To make a similar comparison, my sister has been a vegetarian since she was a teenager (something I also partially share in common with her) and it's a decision she made due to her own ethics in regards to her feelings about animals. Like myself, it is something she feels very passionate about for personal reasons, yet she doesn't impose her own values upon her children, both for the fact that it's better for their nutrition as they are still young and growing, and for the fact that it takes a lot of careful thought and preparation to make the decision for a drastic change to your lifestyle and dietary habits. I also feel that religion is a rather personal decision that children are incapable of grasping or understanding, and when religion stands in the way of lifesaving medical procedures it's not fair to the child to be forced to suffer and perhaps die for the selfishness of their parent or legal guardian's personal superstitious beliefs. Back to our story, God emphasizes that "the blood is the life" and that its only other purpose besides being the life of an animal or human being is to atone for people's "souls". So God's law here is simply that eating blood, whether you're an Israeli or simply just living amongst them, is forbidden and will find you excommunicated. God adds that any animal (one that he is allowing you to eat in the first place) that is hunted and killed for food must first be drained of its blood (with the blood being covered by "dust", or dirt) before it can be eaten. Failure to do this will also find you excommunicated. Anyone deciding to dine on the carcasses of dead animals (again, of those that are permitted to eat in the first place) that have died of natural causes, or have been attacked and killed by wild animals, has to wash their clothes and they will be considered "unclean" until sundown. God finishes up the chapter by issuing a threat to those that don't wash their clothes after dining on animal carcasses, stating that they will suffer the consequences. |
| Chapter 18 | |
| Summary: | God tells Moses to tell the people of Israel that he, Yahweh, is their god, and that they aren't to follow any of the laws or customs of Egypt where they once lived, or any of the laws or customs of Canaan where they would eventually be brought to. The people of Israel are only to follow God's laws and to live by them as well. None of the people of Israel are to "uncover the nakedness" of anyone that is near kin to them. The nakedness of either your father or mother you shall not uncover, she is your mother and therefore don't undress her. You are also not to uncover the nakedness of your father's wife, as that nakedness belongs to your father. Your sister's nakedness, whether she is the daughter of your father, or the daughter of your mother, born at home or abroad, even her nakedness you are not allowed to uncover. The nakedness of your grandchildren, whether it's your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter is also forbidden for you to uncover - as their nakedness is the equivalent of your own nakedness. The nakedness of the daughter of your father's wife (step sister) is your sister's, and you shall not uncover her nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's sister (your paternal aunt) as she is too close of kin to your father. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister (your maternal aunt) as she is too close of kin to your mother. You shall not uncover the nakedness of the wife of your father's brother (your paternal uncle) as she is your aunt. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter in law, she is your son's wife. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife, as that is your brother's nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of both a woman and her daughter, nor the woman's son's daughter (her granddaughter from her son) or her daughter's daughter (her granddaughter from her daughter), for they are the near relatives to the woman and this is wickedness. Neither shall you marry two sisters, for they will be rivals. However if your wife dies, you may then marry her sister. Never approach a menstruating woman to uncover her nakedness during her "uncleanliness". Moreover, you can not have sex with your neighbor's wife, or you will defile yourself with her. You shall never sacrifice by fire any of your offspring to the god Molech*, nor shall you profane the name of your god by doing so. A man shall not lie with another man as he would with a woman (meaning homosexuality) - it is an "abomination". Neither shall a man defile himself by having sex with any animal, nor shall a woman allow herself to be pentetrated by an animal herself - it is confusion. Don't defile yourself by doing any of these things, as these are the things done in the nations which I'm leading you to whom I will cast out of their lands before you. God claims that they have defiled the land itself and therefore they will be punished and "vomitted out" of the land. God demands that these laws are to be kept and obeyed, and that none are to commit any of these "abominations". These rules are to be followed by the people of Israel, as well as foreigners living amongst them. God again claims that these "abominations" have been done continually in the land where they are headed and that the people of Israel are not to let themselves follow any of these "abominable customs", lest they defile themselves and find themselves exiled from their people. |
| Notes: | 1.) Although completely unexplained in the book of Leviticus, Molech, as mentioned in Chapter 18 is the name of a Middle Eastern god common to both the Canaanites and Egyptians, as well as the Hebrews, that followers supposedly presented human sacrifice to by fire. |
| Thoughts: | God's spends this chapter giving us his revised views on sexuality while implicating that the "heathens" of Egypt, and moreover Canaan are ritualistic practitioners of incest, homosexuality, bestiality, and human sacrifice. I state that God has revised his stances on sexuality, mainly in his new regard towards incest as God has at the very least, tolerated incestuous relationships in the book of Genesis - In chapter 20, God does not condemn either Abraham or Sarah (half siblings) for their incestuous marriage nor Aaron and Moses' father Amram, who married his aunt Jochebed. Sarah was even blessed by God, contradicting his stance on the law he states here in Leviticus. The problem with this angle, is that God obviously accepted incestuous marriage not only in the past with Abraham and Sarah (Israel's parents), but also in the near past (Aaron and Moses' father Amram married his aunt Jochebed). Now, with God enacting this new law now, he condemns the Egyptians (who would have no way of predicting this law, regardless of whether they followed God's laws or not) and the Canaanites (whom he's had it out for anyways since after the Noah's Ark story after Noah cursed the Canaanites) whom would also have no way of knowing this new law either. Calling their behaviors an "abomination" for incestuous marriages when it was obvious practiced by the people of Israel as well is hypocritical due to the timing. God's new laws on incest are spelled out in the beginnings of chapter 18. Although the meaning is thought to imply "marriage" or at the least "sexual relations", the King James Version uses the phrase "to uncover the nakedness of" - which I've left intact, as this can also apply to "peeping" in on the naked body of, similar as to what Ham had done to anger his drunken father Noah. God's new laws concerning incest is that a man may not marry or have sex with: his mother or father, his step mother, his sister, his half sister, his grandchildren, his step sister, his maternal or paternal aunt, his maternal or paternal uncle's wife (which is also his aunt), his daughter in law, your brother's wife (contradicts why God had killed Onan), both a woman and daughter, both a woman and granddaughter, nor may he marry two sisters at the same time (contradicting Jacob's marriage to both Leah and Rachel in which all three were blessed by God), any menstruating woman, or your neighbor's wife. Despite claims by some that God's laws are consistent and unchanging, they do in fact adapt and change over the course of Genesis to Leviticus (and beyond). Next up in God's laws is a curious mention of another god named Molech, who is not explained within the context of his appearance here. Molech allegedly was a god worshiped in the middle east by the Canaanites, Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Hebrews, but is in fact simply a Hebrew name for the god. No evidence of a god fitting his description or bearing his name has ever been found outside of the Torah (the original Jewish version of the Old Testament) and is considered more of a Hebrew legend. The name was letter retconned into describing simply the concept of an infanticide human sacrifice by fire. Whether the translation here is to mean a sacrifice to the god Molech (which was probably believed to be a true god by the Israelis - meaning they thought other cultures worshiped a god named Molech) or whether it's to describe the human sacrifice itself, God forbids it and claims that it profanes his name to sacrifice in this way. God next dishes out a rather famous verse on homosexuality calling the act an "abomination". This verse is still often pointed out today by believers who condemn homosexuality, despite many other Mosaic laws (such as the condoning of slavery itself as well as the condoning of beating the said slaves) being disregarded. It's puzzling as to what parts of the Old Testament are supposed to hold true today and which are to be disregarded - each faction of Abrahamic religions, and each faction of Christianity, pick apart their own version of what to keep and what to ignore. God's next law forbids bestiality - specifically a man having sex with a female animal, or a woman being penetrated by a male animal. God finishes up by claiming and implying that the Canaanites (as well as the Egyptians) practice all these deviant forms of sex (and human sacrifices to Molech) when there is little archaeological evidence to support a claim that either the inhabitants of Canaan (or Egypt) practiced these deviant sexual acts and incestuous marriages any more or less than the ancient Hebrews themselves. Remember that even Aaron and Moses's parents were incestuous according to the rules laid out here in Leviticus 18. The truth behind this chapter is more likely to be an extension of the xenophobia the Hebrew tribes had of their neighbors and an attempt to vilify and justify the wars between the tribes, the conquest of their lands, and the passing tales of myths and legends about their enemies. The archaeological evidence just doesn't seem to fit the assertions made and no literature outside of biblical sources corroborates the claims within the same time frame. |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)