DEUTERONOMY: Chapter 18

Chapter 18
Summary:	Moses' speech continues: "The priests and the rest of the Levites will receive no inheritance amongst the nation of Israel. They shall eat the sacrifices made by fire to the Lord, therefore they shall have no inheritance amongst their fellow Israelites, for the Lord is their inheritance, as he has said to them. When an ox or a sheep is sacrificed, the shoulder, the maw, and the two cheeks are to be given to the priests. The first of your grain, wine, and olive oil shall also be given to the priests, for the Lord your God has chosen the Levites out of all the tribes of Israel, to stand and minister in the name of the Lord, from generation to generation forever. "If a Levite comes to the sanctuary, no matter where he lives in the land of Israel, then he shall minister in the name of the Lord his God, as all his fellow Levites do, whom stand before the Lord. He shall be given his portion of animal sacrifices and offerings, which are his right. "When you arrive in the land which the Lord your God has given you, you shall not learn to follow after the abominations of the nations living there now. No one is to make his son or daughter pass through fire; nor is anyone to use divination; or become an observer of times, an enchanter, a witch, a charmer, a consulter with familiar spirits, a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do such things are an abomination unto the Lord, and because of these abominations, the Lord your God will drive them out before you. You are to be perfect with the Lord your God. For these nations you are about to possess hearken to observers of time, and to diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God does not permit you to do so. "The Lord your God will bring forth a prophet amongst you, an Israelite like myself, and unto him you shall hearken. According to your wishes to the Lord your God in Mount Horeb, you begged not to directly hear the voice of the Lord your God again, nor see his great fire, lest you die. The Lord said to me that he had heard what you had spoken and said, 'I will bring forth a prophet from amongst their brethren, and he shall speak my words, speaking to them all that I shall command. Whomsoever will not hearken to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of them. However, a prophet who presumes to speaks in my name, but which I have not commanded him to, or one that speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die.' "If you are to ask how you are to know if the prophet is speaking the word of the Lord or not, if his prophecy about fails to happen, it is not what the Lord has spoken. The prophet has spoken presumptuously and you shall not fear him."
Thoughts:	Moses begins the chapter reminding the Israelites because the Levites are God's special tribe and are allowed to eat the animal sacrifices made by everyone else, that they are not to own property themselves. When an ox or a sheep is sacrificed to God, the animal's shoulder, stomach, and cheeks will belong to the priests. The first harvest of grain, wine, and olive oil is also to be given to the priests as well. A Levite regardless of where he lives can enter the sanctuary and dine on these animal sacrifices and offerings whenever he wishes because it's part of his "birthright". Next up, Moses warns the Israelites yet again that when they arrive in the "promised land", they are not to follow the heathen customs of the nations living there - as those customs are "abominations". No one is to sacrifice his son or daughter by fire (apparently it's okay to use a knife to sacrifice your own child if God commands it though), nor is anyone allowed to use "divination" or to become a fortune teller, an enchanter, a witch, a charmer, a spiritual medium, a wizard, or a necromancer. Anyone who does such a thing is an "abomination" to God, and God will "drive them out" - meaning that he will demand that the Israelites stone such a person to death. Moses claims that while the "heathen nations" seek after "diviners" and spiritual mediums, that God will bestow a prophet upon the Israelites - one that is an Israelite themselves - that they are to hearken to. Moses recalls the story from Exodus: Chapter 20 about how the Israelites begged and pleaded not to have to hear the actual voice of God again, fearing that they would die, and claims that God has instead chosen to speak to the people of Israel through prophets. God adds that anyone falsely claiming to be a prophet must die. How are we to determine who is a prophet speaking the word of God or not, you might ask? All one has to do is make a prophecy that comes true. So therefore if I'm a bit smarter than my fellow Israelites concerning meteorology and can tell by the clouds that it's going to rain very heavily, I could make a prophecy about that and subsequently be considered the "real deal". This is a really naive way to "prove" someone's authenticity, and you would think that the all powerful "creator of the universe" could think up a better test than "let's see if what he says will happen, happens".

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 20:5 "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;" Exodus 34:7 "Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children unto the third and to the fourth generation." This 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.

LEVITICUS: Chapter 19

Chapter 19
Summary:	God speaks to Moses telling him to tell the people of Israel that they must be "holy", because God himself is "holy". The people must fear their mothers and fathers and keep and observe God's sabbath days. The people are reminded again that they are not to turn to or create idols, or "molten gods". When a person offers a "peace offering" animal sacrifice, they shall do so at their own accord but follow God's rules. It shall be eaten the same day it is offered, or the following day at the latest. If any remains on the third day it must be burned. If any of it is eaten on the third day, God considers it "abominable", and the sacrifice will not be accepted. Any one eating on the third day shall be guilty of "sin", as they have profaned the "holiness" of God, and the person will be excommunicated. When a person harvests their crops, they are not to reap the corners of their field, nor pick up any stray grains of wheat from the ground. The person is also not to glean all of the grapes from their vineyard, nor to gather any grapes that have fallen to the ground. These are to be left for the poor and those traveling through. God also instructs the people of Israel not to lie to, steal from, or defraud one another. The people must also not swear by God's name falsely, nor profane God's name. A person must not defraud, oppress, or rob anyone you they have hired of the wages the employee has earned, and they are to promptly pay them. A person is not to curse the deaf or trip up a blind man, or they shall fear the wrath of God for doing so. Judges should never do unrighteousness their judgment, and should have no regard to the defendant's wealth or lack thereof. Only in regards to righteousness shall one judge their neighbor. A person is not to earn a reputation as a talebearer or gossiper, nor shall a person falsely accuse their neighbor. A person shall not hate their brother in their heart, but shall rebuke their sins or they will suffer upon them as well. A person shall not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of their people, and shall love their neighbor as they do themselves. God says that the people shall keep his laws, and shall not breed their cattle with a different kind, they shall not sow their fields with mingled seeds, nor shall they wear garments mingled with both linen and wool. Whomever has sexual relations with a slave girl who is engaged to another but not yet married, she shall be scourged (whipped), but neither shall be put to death - because she was not a free woman. The man will have to bring a "guilt offering" of a ram to the door at the entrance to the tabernacle. The priest shall make atonement for him by slaughtering the ram for the "sin" he has committed, and the "sin" shall be forgiven. When the people have settled in the "promised land" and begin planting trees for their fruit, the first three years of fruit shall be considered "uncircumcised" and shall not be eaten. The fourth year all of the fruit is considered "holy" and must be sacrificed to God, as the fruit "belongs to him". Finally in the fifth year, the fruit the people have planted may finally be eaten. People may not eat anything with or containing blood; neither shall they use enchantment nor observe times. Men must not "round the corners of their heads" (meaning trimming off the hair on your temples) or mar the corners of their beards. People must also not make any cutting in their flesh in connections with funeral rights, nor print any mark upon their flesh. People are not to prostitute their daughters, lest the land become overrun with whoredom and wickedness. God reminds the people again to observe his sabbath days and to also have reverence for his sanctuary in the tabernacle. The people are not to regard other people who have "familiar spirits", nor to seek after wizards, lest they be defiled by them. People shall rise up and honor the elderly, fearing God if they do not. If you have a visitor to your land, you are not to wrong them, but to treat them as if they were born in the land themselves - remembering that you were strangers yourselves in the land of Egypt. People shall be honest in their judgment in the measurements of length, weight, and volume. Proper balances, weights, and such shall you use - reminding the people again that God himself is their god that had brought them out of the land of Egypt. Therefore the people should observe and obey all of God's laws.
Thoughts:	This chapter, although peppered with a few questionable rules in places, is actually generally one of the nicer chapters in the bible. I find this a little odd as it stands in stark contrast to most of the rest of the book of Leviticus which deals with vilifying the people of Israel as "sinful" people who need to sacrifice animals for a variety of trivial offenses such as a woman simply menstruating. There are actually many verses here in this chapter that are very positive and instill a sense of community spirit among the people of Israel that is still relevant to today's society. However, we start will off a little slow in that regard with God being a bit of his typical self for the first eight verses. God begins listing some more rules to Moses explaining that because God himself is "holy", that means that the people of Israel need to become "holy" as well. He begins by saying the people need to be "fearful" of their parents and to continue to observe God's sabbath days (something that is repeated ad-naseum throughout the chapter). They are not to turn to, or create idols, or "molten gods". When people sacrifice animals for a "peace offering", God restates his demands that the animal's meat is not to be eaten after the second day since it had been sacrificed. The third day the remains need to be burned, and those who eat any of the "peace offering" on the third day (or afterward, I'd assume) is guilty of a "sin", has profaned God, and will be excommunicated. God finally makes a very noble and generous law, stating that when a person harvests their crops that they are to leave a little for the poor and for anyone traveling through town. They are not to reap the crops on the corners of the field or pick up any stray grains, or grapes from their vineyards, that may have fallen to the ground. These surplus crops are to be left behind for the poor and for travelers. He continues on in this vein, stating that people are not to lie to, steal from, or defraud other people, before tacking on that the people must not ever swear falsely by God's name or "profane" it by any means. God has a bizarre arrogance about how his name is to be used in human speech and seems to get rather vindictive if his name isn't used properly for some reason. God continues on with another few honorable laws stating that people are not to defraud, oppress, or rob any employee of the wages they've earned, adding on that one should also pay their employees promptly. He also adds that people are not to curse or discriminate against the deaf or the blind, or they will face the wrath of God for doing so. God states that judgments must be impartial and fair, and they are not to be swayed by the wealth - or lack thereof - of a defendant. People are also not to gossip or falsely accuse other people. People also should not hate their neighbors if they "sin", but should rebuke their sin lest they be guilty themselves. Unfortunately, I feel a little torn about this law in itself. Even taking my problems with the notion of "sin" aside, I do agree that people should not hate other people - even if they have broken a law or made a mistake. We're all human, and even those with the best of intentions can occasionally do the wrong things or break laws. Regardless of intent, it is never right to persecute people. That isn't to say that people who have done wrong shouldn't be dealt justly with, however justice is not a set of rules set forth by a single solitary ruler - in this case God, but this applies equally as well for any human dictator as well. Justice is very conditional upon what is in the best interests for a group of people at large, and excessive punishments such as stoning people to death for working on a Saturday, is not dealing with a law "justly" by any means. By the wording of God's law here, someone sticking up for John Doe who is about to be brutally killed for having worked on a Saturday should not also be dragged out and stoned for not "rebuking" John's "sin". God continues on a much better track by stating that people are not to seek vengeance, or bear grudges, and that they are treat their fellow man as they would themselves. This may possibly be the best verse the bible has to offer, and something I am in complete agreement with. God however follows this up with a strange law insisting that people are not to cross breed either their cattle or their crops, and even stranger, that garments that are to be worn are not to be made out of both linen and wool. What purpose this law serves is completely lost on me, unless it is warning that the offspring of crossbred animals tend to be sterile - how this would extend to crops and clothing is even more puzzling. Unfortunately, God's "good laws" are pretty much done for this chapter and he follows things up with this gem about what to do about people having sex with female slaves. If a man has sex with a female slave who is engaged to another man, neither shall be put to death (God's usual punishment for adultery) because the slave girl is not a free person. However, the slave girl shall be flogged with a whip, while the man will have to bring a ram for an an animal sacrifice at the tabernacle and all we be forgiven. So, the woman gets her punishment commuted from a stoning to being scourged, yet the man can walk away after he gives a ram to a priest to be slaughtered - demonstrating yet another example of misogyny in the bible. God comes up with another strange law concerning fruit trees, stating that when the people of Israel are finally led to their "promised land", they are not to reap any of the fruit for the first three years, as apparently God considered the fruit "uncircumcised" during these first three years. On the fourth year, the fruit is fine, but God is claiming it for himself and demands that it be brought to the tabernacle for a "sacrifice". From the fifth year on, it's finally okay to eat the fruit from the trees you've planted. God now reminds people again that people are not to eat anything containing blood, possibly alluding to that all animals that are to be eaten need to be drained of their blood beforehand. He follows this up in the same sentence with banning the people from using "enchantment" and from "observing times". Most likely this is another xenophobic attack on staying away from other "pagan" religions, but can be construed many ways if the two parts of the sentence are taken separately. Most curious is God forbidding the "observing [of] time", which is commonly thought to mean "fortune telling", but is also vague enough to encompass possibly the usage of calendars, sundials, and clocks. God now dictates men's fashions by forbidding them from shaving the hair away from their temples (unless they contract and are "healed" of leprosy, where they must shave their entire head, eyebrows, and facial hair) or trimming the corners of their beards. In addition God bans any flesh cutting that is connected to funeral rights, and tattoos in general. Men are not allowed to prostitute their daughters because it will turn the land into a whoredom of wickedness. (However, nothing is mentioned about women who turn to prostitution on their own, which I'm sure that God probably frowns upon as well.) He follows this up with another reminder that he demands that his sabbath days are to be obeyed (over-stressing the importance of this law) and that the people must have reverence for his tabernacle that they built for him. God's next law states that people are not to "regard other people who have familiar spirits" (most commonly thought to mean the consultation of spiritual medium) nor to seek out wizards. Doing so will defile the person. God round out the rest of his laws with a few final "good laws". People are to respect and honor their elders (or face God's wrath if they do not), to treat visitors in their land the same as they do their neighbors (reminding them again that they themselves were "strangers" when they lived in Egypt), and to be honest in their treatment of measurements. He furthers that the people are to use proper measurement tools for lengths, weights, and volume - before yet again strangely reminding them that he's the same god who led them out of Egypt, so therefore everyone has to obey all of these laws. This last part is a bit troubling to me as it implies that being saved or rescued somehow means that the people being saved are somehow indebted to their rescuer without argument. Following this argument, would a person rescued by perhaps a criminal have to repay their debt by doing something that might go against their morals? If a woman has a flat tire and a creepy man stops to help her change her tire, if he asks for a sexual favor afterward is the woman indebted to oblige him? Of course not, it's ridiculous to place that kind of expectation upon someone after the fact, just because the woman happened to have been in need before he helped her. There is a difference between making your expectations known before and after the fact. If the creep above offered to change the woman's tire on the condition that she give him some sort of sexual favor, she could either turn the man down (perhaps calling the police afterward) and deal with her flat tire herself, or she can choose to accept the man's offer - at perhaps the expense of her morals or dignity - if she was desperate enough, or if she placed little value upon the sexual favor as harming her morals or dignity. While it may seem that I'm making a rather harsh comparison between the sexual pervert in my example and a god that most people view as "benevolent" and "loving" (despite that I tend to disagree with both of those descriptions) the point is that the people of Israel are being given these laws after the fact, and therefore it's not very ethical of God to keep rubbing in that line of "I'm the guy who got you out of your slavery in Egypt, so you need to follow my laws" every time he hands out his demands. Maybe some of the Israelis might not have went along with the "Exodus" if they might have known what they were getting into ahead of time. If God gave these laws to Moses before the "Exodus from Egypt" and told the Israelis, "Hey, God's going to rescue you guys from your slavery, but once we're out of here, he's got a couple of laws that he want you all to follow..." maybe not all of the Israelis would have agreed to go along with it.

EXODUS: Chapter 22

Chapter 22
Summary:	Some more of God's rules: If a man steals an ox or sheep and then kills or sells it, he shall pay a fine of five to one for the oxen, and four to one for the sheep. He must return five oxen for every one stolen/killed, or four sheep for every one stolen/killed. If a thief is caught in the act of breaking into a house at night and is killed, then the person who killed him is not guilty. However if this happens in the daytime then it must be presumed(!) to be murder and the man who kills him is guilty. If a thief is captured, he must make full restitution. If he can't, then he shall be sold as a slave for his debt. If a thief is caught in the act of stealing an ox, a sheep, or a donkey, he shall pay double the value as his fine. If someone lets their animals loose and they eat another man's crops, he must pay for all damages by giving the owner an equal amount of the best of his own crop. If a field is being cleared by a fire that gets out of control and destroys another's crops, then the one who started the fire shall make full restitution. If someone gives money or property to someone to keep for him, and it is later stolen, the thief shall pay double when he is found. If no thief is found, then the man to whom the property was entrusted to shall be brought before God to determine whether he himself has stolen his neighbor's property, In every case in which an ox, donkey, sheep, clothing, or anything else is lost, and the owner believes he has found it in the possession of someone else who denies it, both parties shall come before God for a decision. The one whom God declares guilty shall pay double to the other. If a man entrusts his neighbor to keep an animal for him and it dies, is hurt, or it runs away, and if there is no eye witness to report what had happened, the the neighbor must make an oath that he has not stolen it, and te owner must accept his word, and no restitution shall be made. If the animal was stolen however, the neighbor caring for it must repay the owner. If the animal was attacked by a wild animal, the neighbor shall bring the torn carcass to confirm the fact, and shall not be required to pay restitution. If a man borrows an animal from a neighbor, and it is injured or killed while the owner is away, then the man who borrowed it must pay for it. If the owner is present, he need not pay. If the animal was rented, he need not pay because this possibility was included in the original rental fee. If a man seduces a girl who is not engaged to anyone, and sleeps with her, he must pay the usual dowry and accept her has his wife. If the girls father refuses to let him marry her, then he must still pay the dowry anyway. Witches and sorceresses must be put to death. Anyone having sexual relations with an animal is to be executed. Anyone sacrificing to any other gods shall be executed. You must not oppress a stranger in any way; as you, the people of Israel, were foreigners in the land of Egypt. You must not exploit widows or orphans; if you do, they will cry to me for help and I will surely give it. My anger shall flame out against you, and I will kill you with enemy armies, so that your wives will be widows and your children fatherless. If you lend money to a fellow Hebrew, you shall handle it in the usual way, with interest. If you take his clothing as collateral for repayment, you must let him have it back at night. If you don't return it and he cries out to me for help, I will hear it and be very gracious to him, for I am compassionate. You shall not blaspheme God, nor curse your government officials - your judges and your rulers. You must be prompt in giving me the tithe of your crops and your wine, and the redemption payment for your firstborn son. As to the firstborn of the oxen and sheep, sacrifice it on the eighth day, after leaving it with its mother for seven days. Do not eat any animal that has been attacked and killed by a wild animal. Leave its carcass for the dogs to eat.
Thoughts:	This chapter mostly deals with God's laws about property with some troubling ways to judge them. The first rule requires either a four to one (for sheep) or a five to one (for oxen) repayment for stolen and/or killed animals. Although excessive, it seems to serve reasonably more as a deterrent. However our next rule is where we start running into trouble. If a man defending his home from burglary kills the thief at night, then all is okay, no punishment needed; however, if the burglary occurs in the daytime then the homeowner must be presumed to be a murderer. I find this extremely hard to accept that when dealing with a man's life - as the punishment for murder is execution - that we should "presume" someone's guilt. God however, sees it cut and dry and seems to think that there is no justifiable reason to kill a thief in the daylight, even if the thief may be possibly threatening the homeowner's life. Now if we catch the thief alive, he's either got to pay restitution, or he will be sold into slavery. The next few rules concern animal and property damage, which seem reasonable enough. Next up however, if we have a dispute over two neighbors possibly stealing property with the neighbor professing innocence, now God himself has to judge them. Here, it comes down to your belief system on how you view this, if you believe in God, and that he has the ability and that he actually will judge earthly matters, then I can understand you seeing this is as "fair". However, when we look back at history to the atrocities of witch burnings, which were also supposedly judged by God, but that we now realize were more about paranoid people putting many innocent people to death without justification, then I think we can perceive the problem here. How do we know how God judges these things, and how can we be sure that these are judgments from God and not just the paranoid will of man? Unless God makes himself known, such as in his guise of a talking burning bush, I think we have the right to be skeptical of following anyone's inner-voice communication in prayer to God. A few rules later, we have another questionable line referring to what to do if a man seduces an unmarried and unengaged girl. If he has sex with her, then he has just "married" her, and has to pay the family a dowry. The girl's father can forbid and effectively cancel the marriage, but the father still gets to keep the dowry. Being that rape is a very hard thing to prove, even in our modern day, a rapist very well could easily snag himself a wife in this fashion - leaving a rape victim bound to her attacker via marriage. God now shows us his intolerance for "witches" and "sorceresses", as well as to people performing animal sacrifices for any other God besides Yahweh - they're all to be put to death. This also goes for those who practice bestiality, that's a stoning too. God now warns people not to take advantage of widows or orphans, or he will personally see to it that enemy armies will come and destroy you, leaving your wife and kids without a husband and father. If you take collateral of someone's clothing on a loan, then you'd better let them have it back at night or else God will show favor on the indebted party. Not only is blaspheming God a problem, but this also applies to judges and rulers. God apparently frowns on the Rush Limbaughs and Michael Moores of the time. Although not specifically stated, I'm sure the punishment is most likely a stoning for criticizing your leaders. Next, God reminds the people to be prompt in their crop and animal sacrifices, and that firstborn animals get to stay and live with their mothers for a week before being violently slaughtered for God. Lastly, God tells the Hebrew people that they are not to eat any animal that has been killed by wild animals, that's apparently dog food.

EXODUS: Chapters 7 & 8

Chapter 7
Summary:	God tells Moses to tell Aaron everything that he (God) had said, and to have Aaron demand to the Pharaoh that the people of Israel be let go. However, God tells him that he will make the Pharaoh refuse, and will retaliate with many miracles throughout Egypt. Further, God explains that even then the Pharaoh won't listen, so he will crush Egypt with a final catastrophe and lead his people out, proving to the Egyptian people that he is indeed God with his mighty power. God finally tells Moses that the Pharaoh will ask to see a miracle to prove they have been sent by God, and tells Moses to have Aaron throw down his rod, which will become a snake. The chapter then notes that Moses is eighty years old and Aaron eighty three years old at the time they confront the Pharaoh. When Moses and Aaron see the Pharaoh they do as God had told them and Aaron throws down his staff which, becomes a snake. The Pharaoh however, calls out his sorcerers and they manage to replicate the same thing with their magic arts. The sorcerers' rods became snakes as well, but Aaron's snake devours their snakes. The Pharaoh remained unconvinced and refused to let the people go. God now instructed Moses to meet with the Pharaoh in the morning as he heads down the river. He instructs Moses to again demand that the Pharaoh let the people of Israel go, and that when he doesn't listen, Aaron is to hit the river with his rod, turning it to blood. Moses and Aaron do what they were told to do, and as the Pharaoh and his officials watched, Aaron turned the Nile to blood when he touched his rod to the surface. The fish all died and the water became undrinkable. However, again, the Egyptian sorcerers were able to replicate this miracle with their magic proving that they could turn water into blood too, therefore the Pharaoh refused to listen to Moses and Aaron. The Egyptian people were left to dig wells for their drinking water as they couldn't drink from the river.
Thoughts:	The first disturbing thing we find in this chapter is that God isn't happy with simply getting his way - taking his people out of Egypt - but he's also going to make the entire nation of Egypt pay for the Pharaoh's rule of placing the Israelis into slavery. Not only that, but he's going to use his powers to ensure that the Pharaoh plays along and keeps saying "no" to Moses' pleas so that God can justify the cruel acts of his vengeance. For a deity who is often described as merciful and compassionate by his followers, it's difficult to see any level of mercy or compassion by God as described here. He allegedly (and supposedly) has the power to take his people out of Egypt without bloodshed, destruction, and the likely deaths of many innocent civilians, yet chooses to make things as difficult as he can - by using his powers to coerce the Pharaoh not to allow the Israelis to leave so that he can exact brutal vengeance against the entire nation of Egypt. Instead of compassion we have ruthlessness and vengeance, and instead of mercy we have anger and cruelty. It begins to make one start to reference Abram's "Marx Bros." routine from Genesis: Chapter 18 as to whether there could possibly be 50, 40, 30, or even just one single righteous person in the whole land of Egypt that God is about to destroy. Honestly, God's approach just seems senseless and unnecessarily destructive. God now tells Moses and Aaron that they're going to have to produce some miracles to get the Pharaoh to take them seriously, and he proposes first the old-standby of throwing the staff to the floor and turning it into a snake trick. However, when Aaron pulls this trusty trick out in front of the Pharaoh, the Pharaoh summons his sorcerers and they were apparently able to replicate this trick with their magic. Alright, now for the sake of argument let's grant that: We have some sort of deity here who is supernatural and possesses the power to do supernatural events (which for the sake of our argument, we'll call miracles) and can allow mortal men to also perform these said miracles. We now have human beings, who are not supernatural, performing these same tasks without the aide of a supernatural deity - as only one God supposedly exists - by the aid of "magic", which we will have to either define as the ability to defy natural physics, or take its modern meaning of being an illusion. Both Aaron (by God's miracle) and the "sorcerers" (by "magic") accomplish the same task - they throw down an ordinary staff to the ground, and upon hitting the ground it becomes a snake. We can only come to a few conclusions as to how the sorcerers pulled this off, either: A supernatural magical power does exist that humans can master - extremely unlikely and has yet to be proven. The ancient Egyptians somehow were good enough illusionists like our contemporary illusionists, such as David Copperfield and Chris Angel - extremely unlikely, as I'm sure we would be seeing this trick performed throughout time over and over again. God himself caused the sorcerers to perform these miracles - within the context of our story, possibly. Satan (which we have yet to cover) apparently helped the sorcerers perform some sort of anti-miracle. It would seem likely that if either God or Satan were involved here, the bible would opt to mention it, so we're left with trying to debate whether to believe in the merit of "magic". Within our modern world, we know that there is no such thing as real magic. There isn't a single person who can demonstrate "magical power" under the scrutiny of a laboratory environment, there never has been, and most likely never will be. Which leaves us left with having to believe that the ancient Egyptians rivaled our modern and contemporary illusionists. I have an extremely tough time buying into this line of thought. Back to our story, for good measure - and making a great allegorical point - Aaron's snake swallows up the snakes of the sorcerers, implying that Aaron's magical miracle is superior to the sorcerers' magical snakes. We're also going to have to infer that Aaron's snake must have magically/miraculously swallowed the sorcerers snakes in a hurry unlike the slow process how real snakes eat. Even though we are not told how many sorcerers and snakes are in our story, a real snake swallowing even two other snakes, that we'll assume are probably around 6 feet in length, as such would be the average staff, rod, or walking stick - would take a considerable amount of time, which I wouldn't see the remaining snake sticking around for, or the sorcerers allowing to happen. The next day God has Aaron try out his next fancy magic trick of turning the Nile River from water to blood, with the added effect of poisoning the Egyptian water supply, and killing off all life in the river. Apparently the sorcerers are hip to this trick too and the Pharaoh is not impressed with Aaron's magic show. The chapter closes out with the Egyptian people having to dig wells to get fresh water.
Chapter 8
Summary:	The following week God tells Moses to again demand that the Pharaoh to let the people go, and to tell him that if he refused, he would send vast hordes of frogs across the land. So upon meeting with the Pharaoh once again, God had Aaron point his magic rod towards the rivers, streams, and pools and frogs began to cover the nation, and again the sorcerers were able to conjure up frogs themselves too. However the Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron begging them to remove frogs and making a promise that he would allow the people to have their pilgrimage. Moses then prayed to God to remove the frogs, and the next day dead frogs covered the countryside. The Pharaoh however reneged on his promise and refuses to let the people of Israel go. God now tells Moses to have Aaron strike the dust on the ground with his magic staff, and as he did the dust became lice and created a massive infestation. The magicians tried to do the same thing with their magic, but this time they failed. The sorcerers claimed that this had to be the work of God, but the Pharaoh refused to listen to them. At God's instruction, Moses and Aaron met up with the Pharaoh while he bathed in the river, telling him again that God was demanding that his people be allowed to go and worship him. They explain that if he does not let the people go, God will infest the land of Egypt with flies - with the exception of the land of Goshen, as God wished to make a distinction between his people and the people of Egypt. After God unleashed the flies upon all of Egypt, the Pharaoh hastily summoned Aaron and Moses. He tells them that they can have their sacrifice to God, but to do it there in Egypt, not in the wilderness. Moses tells the Pharaoh this will not do, furthering that the Egyptian's hate the Hebrew sacrifices and if they were done before their eyes, that the Egyptians would kill them for it. The Pharaoh reluctantly gives permission, but warns Moses to not go too far away. Moses then tells the Pharaoh that God will make the flies disappear, but sternly warns the Pharaoh to not change his mind again about allowing the Israelis to go. However, once the flies were gone, the Pharaoh refused to let the people of Israel go.
Thoughts:	When the Pharaoh still refuses to let the people of Israel go on their little journey to the wilderness, God has Aaron wave his magic wand at the rivers and streams which creates an armada of frogs across the Egyptian countryside. Even though the Egyptian sorcerers can somehow perform this same magic trick, the Pharaoh wants these frogs removed immediately and promises Moses and Aaron that he'll let the Israelis go on their little picnic in the wilderness if they just get rid of all the frogs. So Moses asks God to kill the frogs, and the next day Egypt is filled with dead frog carcasses - creating an awful stench amongst the land. The Pharaoh (whether because of the awful smell, or because he's just a mean bastard) changes his mind, however, once the frogs are all dead. So God's next plan is to infest Egypt with a lice infestation, again having Aaron wave his mighty magic rod at some dust on the ground to magically change it into lice. This time the sorcerers can't seem to manage to replicate Aaron's trick, and tell the Pharaoh that this has to be the work of God. This strikes me as odd, as if we are to believe that "magic" is a real phenomenon in Egypt like the bible implies, why are the sorcerers so sure that this trick is a Godly miracle, instead of perhaps conceding that maybe Aaron is just a better magician/sorcerer/wizard than the Egyptians? Also to revisit my thoughts and possible explanations for the sorcerers' "magic powers" that I brought up in Chapter 7, I would think this would rule out Satan and/or demonic forces as the source of their "magical powers", as I can't see how Satan/demons would have no problem forming snakes out of staffs, blood out of water, and conjuring frogs while somehow having a problem conjuring lice out of a pile of dust. Even if we take the notion of God and his supernatural powers out of the equation, there are just too many holes in the the credibility that the Egyptians mastered any kind of "magical powers". I just don't see any reasonable explanation or evidence for the sorcerers' "magical powers", and to me just furthers the explanation that the bible was written by men of the bronze-age who believed that people could and did wield "magical powers" and not by a deity who claims to be the one and only deity, and would and should know the limitations of man's ability within the laws of physics. Back to our story, neither the sorcerers' claim that this must have been an act of God nor the lice infestation convinces the Pharaoh to let the Israelis go, so this time God conjures up a swarm of flies to infest Egypt. Only this time he spares the land of Goshen to make it evident that his people are better than those people - meaning the Pharaoh's people, the lowly people of Egypt. This time the Pharaoh seems to want to allow the Israelis to have their little picnic, but insists that they do it here in Egypt and not out in the wilderness, to which Moses replies to him saying that it isn't part of God's deal. He adds that the Egyptian people hate their sacrifices (which should be understandable, if it's anything like the animal sacrifices that we will be hearing about in the later chapters) and if they did in fact see them perform their sacrifice, that the Egyptians would slay them for doing so. So, the Pharaoh relents but tells them not to go to far - that is until God makes the flies go away and the Pharaoh changes his mind about letting them go.