EXODUS: A Recap

While the book of Genesis may be the most hotly debated book of the bible for fundamentalist believers, creationists, and proponents of "Intelligent Design", the book of Exodus tends to be one of the more favored biblical books for the skeptics and atheists - mostly due to the absurdity, cruelty, intolerance, sexist and bizarre nature of God's laws.

This book is mainly the beginning and introduction to the legendary biblical character of Moses, whose significance lies in the common assertion that the first five books of the bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) are thought to have been written by Moses himself. Most archaeologists tend to view the book of Exodus as non-historical, and at best an exaggerated account containing a sliver of truth, as there are many events that just don't hold up to our known archaeological evidence. For example, with over 600,000 Hebrew men leaving Egypt, it is likely that when counting wives, children, and the elderly amongst them that a number of two million or more would be accurate - a sizable chunk of the entire Egyptian population of around 3 to 6 million. Such a sizable population drop (not to mention the hoards Egyptian people that God kills with plagues and the entire Egyptian army that he drowns in the Red Sea) would have had a severe chaotic impact on the economy of Egypt to which no known evidence supports. Also implausible is that the 70 descendants of Israel described in Genesis: Chapter 46 managed to increase their population to over two million in a matter of 400 to 430 years.

The story of Moses' birth and subsequent escape from infanticide suspiciously mirrors the story of King Sargon that is thought to possibly predate the earliest writings of the Torah - the Jewish books of the Old Testament. His adoption by Egyptian royalty also seems suspect and similar to other mythologies including that of King Sargon.

Moses goes into exile from Egypt after he witnesses an Egyptian strike a Hebrew slave, knocking him to the ground, and retaliates with murdering the Egyptian. He travels to the land of Midian where he marries and settles down as a shepherd for about forty years. Also suspect is that Moses' father-in-law is inexplicably referred to by two completely different names, suggesting multiple authorship.

God appears to Moses in the form of a burning bush and sends him on a mission to liberate the people of Israel from their slavery and teaches Moses a variety of magic tricks, or "miracles", that somehow aren't so "miraculous" as a bunch of Egyptian sorcerers are able to duplicate many of them.

However, before Moses can get on with his mission (and meet up with his brother Aaron) God almost kills Moses in the desert in a bizarre scene more at home in a David Lynch film. Apparently God wants to kill Moses as he hasn't yet had his son circumcised (which is not readily explained) and upon hearing this, Moses' wife Zillah lops off their son's foreskin with a sharp knife and throws the bloody foreskin at Moses. God flees the scene after this, rightfully so.

While Moses and his brother Aaron impress the leaders of the Israeli tribes with their magical staffs that turns into snakes, the trick doesn't go over quite as well with the Pharaoh of Egypt who somehow finds a bunch of sorcerers who are able to turn magic staffs into snakes too. Unimpressed with the magic tricks God taught Moses and Aaron (and despite the "coup de grâce" Aaron's snake delivers by eating the sorcerer's snakes) the Pharaoh refuses Moses' request that the Israeli people be allowed to go out on a three day picnic to sacrifice animals out in the wilderness.

Moses and Aaron continue battle it out with the Egyptian sorcerers with both sides being able to turn the Nile River into blood and conjure frogs, but Aaron and Moses somehow stump the sorcerers when they create lice out of the dust on the ground. Defeated, the sorcerers insist to the Pharaoh that this must be "the finger of God" that created the lice, instead of perhaps maybe coming the conclusion that perhaps Moses and Aaron might simply just be better magicians than themselves. Despite the defeat of the sorcerers, as well as their conclusion that because they can't conjure lice that God must be involved, the Pharaoh still isn't letting his Hebrew slaves go on their little picnic in the desert.

All the time while God dishes out magic plague after plague (including destroying all the Egyptian livestock, while sparing the Israeli animals; causing boils to appear on both people and animals; deadly hailstorms; and swarms of locusts) God also manipulates the Pharaoh into either outright saying "no" to Moses' demands, or allowing the people to go (usually under restrictive conditions) and then later changing his mind, disallowing them to go. God makes the Pharaoh keep saying "no" to Moses so that God can flex his might miracle muscles in an attempt to wow both the Egyptians and Israelis alike.

God's next devious plan is to go around killing all of the firstborn male animals and Egyptian people, while sparing the Israelis. In order to ensure that he knows which houses to skip - the ones housing the Israelis - he has them slaughter a whole bunch of lambs and splatter the blood over their door frames of their houses. He makes up a bunch of elaborate conditions on how he wants the people to do this, and how to eat the lamb meat afterwards, and tells Moses that this whole event is going to be a mandatory annual holiday for the people of Israel, introducing us to the Jewish holiday of Passover - as God "passes over" the houses of the Israeli people.

As God is now sure that the Pharaoh will wind up kicking out the Israeli people after this horrible slaughter, he tells Moses to have the women folk go out and ask the Egyptian citizens to give them all of their valuable jewelry and clothing. God forces the Egyptian people to hand over their possessions gleefully to the Israelis, which basically strips them of all their wealth and possessions.

Sure enough, God's mass slaughter of the firstborn Egyptians makes the Egyptian Pharaoh want to be rid of the Israelis and he finally allows them to leave Egypt, with their families, livestock, and all the Egyptian wealth with them.

After the millions of people all managed to leave Egypt on the same night(!), word gets back to the Pharaoh that the Israelis have no intentions of ever returning back to Egypt after their three day picnic. Enraged that he has just lost a good two million or so Hebrew slaves, he sets off after them with his entire army of chariots in tow. While God has Moses seemingly trap the Israelis against the Red Sea, God instead has another trick up his sleeve.

As the Egyptian army gets closer, God has Moses part the Red Sea with his magic staff and after drying the bottom of the sea bed with an eastern wind, has the Israelis cross to safety. When the Egyptians go in after them, he has Moses and his magic staff close the Red Sea back up again, killing the entire Egyptian army by drowning.

After some rousing songs and dances, the people of Israel start having problems acquiring food and water out in the desert and start angrily complaining to Moses, blaming him for dragging them out in the desert to die. Every time Moses pleads with God on their behalf, God somehow solves their problems by leading them to an oasis, making magical food formed on the evaporated morning dew, or having Moses bang his magic staff against a rock causing a stream of water to come forth.

God decides to test the people's obedience by instructing them not to store the magical food overnight (which its magical properties cause it to become maggot-ridden), nor go out gathering food on Saturday (on which day the magic food doesn't appear). Of course, when people go storing food and trying to gather food on Saturdays, God gets angry and frustrated.

Later on the Israelis get attacked by an Amalek army to which Moses is able to manipulate the battle with his magic staff. When he raises the staff above his head, the Israeli army gains the upper hand in the battle; and when Moses' arms get tired and he lowers the staff, the Israelis begin losing. So, Aaron and his pal Hur stand on either side of Moses helping him lift his arms in the air until the Israelis defeat the Amalek army.

Soon after Moses' father-in-law with two names arrives to drop off Moses' wife and kids to him and is baffled by all the time Moses is wasting solving problems for the Israelis. He helps Moses set up a judicial system to disperse the workload before riding off into the sunset.

The people now arrive at Mount Sinai and God begins to meet with Moses on a semi-regular basis on the top of the mountain. God wants the people to be aware of his presence and has Moses tell them all that he will appear in the form of a dark thunder cloud within a couple of days. However, he tells Moses to rope off a boundary at the foot of the mountain and instructs the people to kill anybody - including any stray animals - that tries to climb up the mountain, or even come anywhere near the boundary line. Much like the Wizard of Oz, God doesn't want anybody peeking behind the curtain. God's theatrics of thunder, lightning, and blowing a ram's horn(?) frighten the people into submission and obedience.

God starts giving a whole bunch of rules to Moses for the people of Israel to follow, most that if broken result in death by stoning. The rules are diverse in nature and deal with how to care for and beat your slaves; how to sell your daughters into slavery; what to do when your oxen go kill crazy and whether or not you should be killed for it too; how if you defend your home from a thief and mortally wound him, you'd better hope it occurs at night, otherwise you're automatically condemned as a murderer; learn to understand things that constitute a stoning like cursing your parents, worshiping other gods, working on Saturdays, and practicing witchcraft; and the charming rule of never boiling a baby goat in its mother's milk.

God invites Moses to bring his brother Aaron and about seventy of the elders of the people up to hang out on top of the mountain. They all have a big feast in the presence of God, and afterwards God has Moses climb higher up the mountain to have some private chit-chat. God tells Moses that he's got these ten extra-important rules that he's going to carve on some stone tablets, and that he wants Moses to stick around until he's done writing them. After six days, he lets Moses head back down again, but when Moses returns to the top of the mountain he stays up there for forty days and forty nights straight.

God tells Moses that he wants the people to build him a tabernacle, so that he can live amongst his chosen people and gives Moses a large shopping list of items that will be needed to build his home along with precise building plans. God then fills Moses in on how he wants all of his ritualistic animal sacrifices performed, and all the specifics he expects to be performed in his tabernacle.

God gives Moses the two tablets containing his "Ten Commandments", and stresses repeatedly that anybody caught working on Saturdays must be killed.

Meanwhile, the Israelis start thinking that after forty days of not hearing from Moses that he must have disappeared or ran off and begin panicking that they might also no longer have a god around to lead them. Moses' brother Aaron comes up with a plan to make the people a new god out of the molten gold from everyone's earrings. He melts the gold in a fire and shapes into the image of a golden calf, and the people start a drunken party in honor of their golden calf god. Our God Yahweh, however, is not amused and decides that he's going to kill the whole lot of these people until Moses chastises him for reacting in such an evil way. He talks God out of his kill frenzy by reminding him that he did kind of promise Abraham, Isaac, and Israel that he'd give them a whole ton of descendants and that they'd become a great nation.

Instead Moses comes down from the mountain, melts the golden calf in the fire, grinds up the molten gold into fine powder and force feeds it to these heathen calf worshipers. He then demands that whomever is going to start taking God seriously is going to have to kill a bunch of the people who don't, regardless of family ties or friendship. In the end about 3,000 Israeli people are slaughtered at the hand of the sword.

Moses pats them all on the back for obeying God and slaughtering their sons, brothers, and neighbors for being a bunch of heathens and promises them that God will bestow great blessings upon them for doing so. God instead sends them a plague.

God now tells Moses that he doesn't want to travel with the people of Israel now because he's just going to be too tempted to just murder the whole lot of them, but Moses manages to coax him back along. God in turn pulls a guilt trip upon the people and tells them that they're too shameful of a people to wear jewelry anymore and commands that they strip themselves of their jewels. Moses asks God if he can be allowed to see his face, but while God refuses as he tells Moses that no one is allowed to see his face and live, he settles for letting Moses see his backside as he walks ahead of him.

Moses heads up to the mountain with two new tablets for God to write another copy of the "Ten Commandments" on, and stays up there for another forty days and forty nights. While he's waiting, God tells Moses that when the Israelis reach the "promised land" that they're not to have any tolerance towards the people living there. They're not to sign any peace treaties with them, they are to smash and break all of their religious altars and idols, and they're not to marry any of those "whoring" daughters as they'll corrupt the minds of God's chosen people.

When Moses finally comes down from the mountain with the new copies of the "Ten Commandments", he freaks the people out unknowingly as his face has somehow acquired a strange glow from having spent all that time hanging around with God. He later puts a veil over his face, but continues to take it off in God's presence in order to soak up more of the godly glow.

Moses finally gets two fellows named Bezalel and Oholiab (along with a bunch of people working under them) to start building the tabernacle, its furnishings, and a bunch of priest costumes. The people keep donating supplies until Moses has to force them to stop donating.

Moses anoints his brother Aaron, along with Aaron's sons, as the priests of the tabernacle, while God begins leading the people of Israel towards the "promised land" by using the form of a cloud in the daylight, and a cloud on fire at night.

EXODUS: Chapter 40

Chapter 40
Summary:	God now tells Moses to put together the tabernacle on the first day of the first month, to place inside of it the ark containing the ten commandments, and to install the veil to cover the ark. He then tells Moses to bring in the table and to place the utensils on it, and to also bring in the lampstand and to light the lamps. God tells Moses where and how to set up the altars, the drapes, the washbasin, and the curtain door to the courtyard. He then tells Moses to anoint everything in the tabernacle with the anointing oil, and to bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tabernacle, washing them with the water in the washbasin. Next, God tells Moses to clothe Aaron with the holy garments and anoint him, and to put the holy robes on Aaron's sons, and anoint them as he did their father. God notes that the anointing shall be permanent from generation to generation. Moses got to work assembling the tabernacle, everything it was to contain, and anointed Aaron and his sons as God had commanded him to. A cloud then covered the tabernacle and filled it with the glory of God, and to which Moses was unable to enter as it did so. Whenever the cloud lifted and moved, the people of Israel followed it; and when it rested, the people remained until it moved again. The cloud rested upon the tabernacle in the daytime, and at night there was fire in the cloud so that the people could see it in the darkness. This continued throughout their journeys.
Thoughts:	This final chapter in the book of Exodus leaves us with Moses putting together the final touches to the tabernacle and anointing it, as well as anointing his brother Aaron and sons as priests. God states that the anointing of Aaron and his sons is permanent and will extend to generations of Aaron's lineage. God then takes on the form of a cloud again (highlighted with fireballs at night) that somehow is impenetrable for Moses to pass through as it is filling the tabernacle with God's glory, which just seems plainly silly. The people of Israel follow the cloud and let it lead them in their journey to the promised land.

EXODUS: Chapters 37, 38, & 39

Chapters 37, 38, & 39
Thoughts:	Much like my summaries for Exodus: Chapters 26, 27, and 28, I will simply give extremely brief summaries about them as these three chapters mostly deal with the steps taken in the construction of the tabernacle, and the making of the priest garments. I will throw in a few interesting details found in the chapters and once again with provide links to the King James version of the respective chapters if you would care to read them for yourselves. Most of the information in these chapters is not relevant to understanding either the book of Exodus, or the bible as a whole, and generally can be skipped unless you've got a desire to build your own tabernacle tent.
Chapter 37
Summary:	Bezalel makes the ark of the covenant. He makes the lid out of pure gold called it "the place of mercy". He makes a table out of acacia wood, and using pure gold, makes bowls, dishes, and spoons for placing on top of the table. He makes a lamp stand out of pure, beaten gold, that holds seven (again with that number) lamps. He makes the incense altar out of acacia wood, overlaid with gold. He makes the anointing oil and incense. King James Version of Exodus: Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Summary:	Bezalel makes the burnt offering altar out of acacia wood, overlaid with bronze. He makes bronze utensils: pots, shovels, basins, meat hooks, and fire pans. A bronze washbasin and bronze pedestal were made from a bronze mirror donated by the women. He makes the courtyard and the drapes covering the entrances. All the nails used in building the tabernacle and the court were bronze. The construction of the tabernacle was supervised by Ithamar, one of Aaron's sons. Bezalel was the master craftsman. The people had brought gifts of 3,140 pounds of gold. The amount of silver used was 9,575 pounds, and came from the tax imposed upon the Israelis registered in the census - a total of 603,550 men*. The people had donated 7,540 pounds of bronze. King James Version of Exodus: Chapter 38
Notes:	1.) We are told in Exodus: Chapter 12 that the people of Israel numbered 600,000 men - not including wives and children. Although we don't know exactly how many years have transpired, the people of Israel's journey to the "promised land" lasts 40 years. Most biblical scholars believe that the tabernacle was built a year after the Israelis departure from Egypt. Somehow, even with the deaths of 3,000 people in Exodus: Chapter 32, and an untold amount killed in God's plague sent shortly after, we now have a 3,550 man surplus. It is unstated, when these taxes were collected, but it is still hard to account for the 3,550 surplus nonetheless.
Chapter 39
Summary:	The priest garments are made by the people of Israel. Bezalel beat gold into thin plates and made wire threads from them, to work into the linen. The two onyx stones attached to the shoulder straps of the garments were set in gold, and upon them were engraved the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. Bells of pure gold were attached to the bottom edge of the garment. A plate of pure gold was made for the turban, engraved with the words "Consecrated to Yahweh", tied to the turban with a blue cord. Moses inspects the work of the craftsmen and blesses them all after he approves of their adherence to God's specifics. King James Version of Exodus: Chapter 39

EXODUS: Chapters 35 & 36

Chapter 35
Summary:	Moses called a meeting of all the people (all 597,000+* of them?) to tell them some of God's laws. He first repeats the law about the sabbath, and reinforces to them that the penalty for working on the sabbath is death. He tacks on that they can't even light a fire in their houses on Saturdays. Moses now gives the people God's wish list for gifts, which are to be used as the materials to build the tabernacle: gold, silver, and bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet cloth; tanned ram skins and treated goat skins; acacia wood; olive oil; spices for the incense and anointing oil; and various stones including onyx. Moses now calls for craftsmen to help build the tabernacle and everything that it is to contain, as well as the priests' uniforms. The people go back to their tents and started either gathering or preparing these items. Moses then tells them that God has appointed Bezalel as the general supervisor of the project, and states that God has also made him and his assistant Oholiab into gifted teachers to teach their building skills to others to aid them. He explain that God has filled them with the skills of carpentry, jewelry making, embroidery, and weaving.
Notes:	1.) Moses ordered the Levites to slaughter 3,000 people back in Exodus: Chapter 32. Also, an undetermined amount of people were likely killed in the plague that God sent shortly after.
Thoughts:	Moses gathers the remnant of the entire populace of Israel (the ones that weren't slaughtered by the Levites or by God's plague - which we can assume was possibly still over half a million people) and repeats the law about the sabbath to them. Moses even goes so far as to warn the people to not even light a simple fire in their homes, as the punishment for disobeying the sabbath law is death. By the amount of times this law gets repeated in the book of Exodus, we can surmise that it's probably one of God's more important laws, which makes it puzzling as to why Christians don't feel the need to practice this law any longer, yet still cling to many other Mosaic laws from the Old Testament to explain away their opposition to homosexuality. Christians often tend to explain that Jesus' covenant later on with the people overrides all these old silly laws Moses brought to the people, yet it appears to be only *some* of the laws, the others remain for validating homophobia and intolerance. (We'll broach this subject much later on when we discuss the books of the New Testament.) Next, Moses commands the people to start donating the items needed to finish building the tabernacle and to make the priests' garments, and tells them about Bezalel being appointed to supervise the construction, along with his assistant Oholiab. Both Bezalel and Oholiab have also been blessed with the talent to teach other people in the arts of construction and clothing design to help speed the process along.
Chapter 36
Summary:	Moses recruits craftsmen to help Bezalel and Oholiab get started on their tasks, and the people of Israel began donating the materials, with additional donations appearing each morning. When the craftsmen found that they had more than enough donations, Moses restrained the people from donating any more. The rest of the chapter simply describes the construction process of the tabernacle, which I don't feel it necessary to recount. If you might be interested in building your own tabernacle tent, feel free to read this chapter yourself!
Thoughts:	Moses gets his craftsmen to work completing the tabernacle and the donations start pouring in. Presumably, within a short period of time there's a surplus of materials and Moses has to restrain the people of Israel from donating anything more. The craftsmen go to work and the rest of this monotonous chapter discusses each step that the craftsmen took in building God's tabernacle.

EXODUS: Chapters 33 & 34

Chapter 33
Summary:	God tells Moses to lead the people of Israel towards the "promised land", and again tells him that an angel will drive out the tribes living there. God then tells Moses that he will not travel amongst the people of Israel, calling them stubborn and unruly*, and that he would be tempted to destroy them. When the people heard God's threat they went into mourning and stripped themselves of their jewelry and fancy clothes. God apparently tells Moses to command them to remove their jewelry, leaving these two verses in doubt as to whose idea it was. Either way, the Israelis wore no jewelry from this point on. Moses erected the tabernacle tent far outside of the camp wherever they went. Whenever Moses went to the tabernacle, the people would rise and stand at their tent doors watching until he reached the entrance. As he entered, a pillar of cloud would appear at the door while God spoke to Moses. The people would then bow and worship the cloud from their tent doorways. Inside Moses would speak to God face to face, and afterwards would return to the camp, but leaving his assistant Joshua behind. Moses asked God to clearly guide him towards the "promised land", and that if God would not accompany them, then the people would not move from this spot. He further explains that if God does not accompany them, how will others know that the Israelis are "different" from any other people of the earth. God agrees to do as Moses asked, and in turn Moses asks to see God's glory. God tells Moses that he will make his "goodness" pass before him and will announce the meaning of his name, but that Moses cannot see the glory of his face, as man may not see him and live. However, God tells Moses to stand on a rock beside him, and that when his glory goes by, he will cover Moses' face with his (God's) hand until he has passed, then will remove his hand and will let Moses see his back as he passes.
Notes:	1.) The King James version uses the term "stiffnecked" here.
Thoughts:	God, apparently still brooding over that whole golden calf business from Chapter 32, tells Moses that he will not travel with the Israelis to the "promised land" because it would be too tempting to kill them all. Apparently God lacks self restraint and seems to have little patience, tolerance, or compassion towards his chosen people. The odd thing here is that Moses is painted here in a far more compassionate and loving light than God is. Here, Moses knows that his people can be a bunch of imperfect screw-ups and as opposed to God, he knows that outright killing them is not the answer (refer to Exodus: Chapter 32 where Moses talks God out of slaying them all), and nor is abandoning them. Here it appears that Moses is actually a better leader than God himself, or at the very least has far more compassion, patience, and understanding towards his fellow man. Despite Moses murdering an Egyptian in revenge for striking a Hebrew slave and commanding the Levites to slaughter 3,000 of their own people, Moses' death count is still well below God's - despite that God has had a several thousand year headstart, his high kill counts occur in spans of less than a year (the mass Genocide in Genesis: Chapter 7 with the flood, and the mass murder committed in the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis: Chapter 19). Next up we have an unclear account of why the Israelis stopped wearing jewelry. Verse four makes it seem like the people themselves stopped wearing their jewelry by their own free will, where verse five shows us that God had actually commanded that the people remove their jewelry as a punishment. While we can conclude that it ultimately was God's decision and a small punishment of his, it's curious as to why verse four is written as such to make it appear as if the people removed their jewelry out of remorse for their "bad behavior". Perhaps the people may have realized their "bad behavior" after God's punishment, or at least the extent of how they upset God, but verse four seems to imply that the people imposed this punishment upon themselves. Moses then tells God that if he's not going to travel with them, then the people aren't going to move from this spot. God relents when Moses explains that if God isn't traveling amongst them, then how will their enemies realize that they're a "different" people, and presumably "better than them", without God's presence. Finally Moses asks to see the glory of God's face, which God refuses on the grounds that mortals looking upon his face will surely die. Instead, God curiously decides to put his hand over Moses' eyes as he passes by and lets Moses see his backside as he passes him. This may just be one of the silliest verses we've read so far, at least since The Tower of Babel story.
Chapter 34
Summary:	God now tells Moses to prepare two stone tablets - just like the ones he sort of broke earlier - to write the ten commandments upon again. He tells Moses to be ready to climb the mountain in the morning to retrieve them, adding that no-one is to accompany him, nor shall they come anywhere near the mountain - including stray animals. In the morning, Moses returned to Mount Sinai with the two stone tablets. God descended upon the mountain in the form of a cloud, passing in front of Moses, and announced the meaning of his name. He tells Moses that he is Yahweh, the merciful and gracious god, slow to anger, and rich in steadfast love and truth. Yahweh continues by saying that he shows this "steadfast love" to many thousands by forgiving their sins, and that he refuses to clear the guilty, requiring a father's sin to be punished to his sons and grandsons, and further generations. Moses once again begs God to accompany the Israelis to the "promised land", to which God again agrees. He makes a pact with Moses, stating that he will perform a bunch of mighty miracles so that the people of Israel will see his power, and that Moses' part of the agreement is to obey all of the commandments. God continues on telling Moses again that he will drive out the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hevites, and Jebusites. He warns Moses not to compromise with the inhabitants living in the "promised land", stating that if he does then soon he will be following their "evil ways". He tells Moses instead that he is to destroy their heathen altars and destroy their idols, for the people of Israel are only to worship Yahweh. God tells Moses that they are not to make any peace treaties of any kind with the people living in the land, calling them "spiritual whores" for sacrificing to other gods. He also forbids them from taking any of their daughters as wives, as they will make the sons of Israel go "whoring after" other Gods. God then reminds Moses not to forget about celebrating the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and repeats his mantra about every first born male belonging to him. He tells Moses again that the firstborn colt of a donkey may be redeemed by substituting a lamb, but that if one chooses not to redeem it, then its neck must be broken. He adds that no one shall appear before God without a gift. God now repeats his commandment about the sabbath, and follows it up with his laws about the three annual pilgrimages. God adds that no one will attack or conquer their land while they appear before God, as God will drive out the nations before them and enlarge their boundaries. God reminds Moses not to use leavened bread in any ritual sacrifices, nor is any of the Passover lamb to be kept for the following day. God also repeats that the people must bring the best of their first crops, and also that a young goat must not be cooked in its mother's milk. God tells Moses to write down these laws (again?) as they will be the terms of the covenant between God and the people of Israel. Moses was up on the mountain again for forty days and forty nights, in which time he did not either or drink anything. God rewrote the ten commandments on the new tablets and sent Moses back down the mountain. Unbeknown to Moses, his face glowed from being in the presence of God. Because of the radiant glow upon Moses face, Aaron and the people of Israel were frightened to go any where near him, yet Moses called for Aaron and the leaders of Israel before him. Afterwards all the people of Israel gathered before Moses and he gave them the Ten Commandments. When Moses finished speaking with the people he placed a veil over his face, which he removed each time he went into the tabernacle to speak directly with God. He would leave the veil off as he passed on the instructions God so that the people would see his face aglow with the glory of God. Afterwards he would put the veil back on until he returned to speak with God again.
Thoughts:	God has Moses get two more stone tablets to write the ten commandments on and to replace the ones Moses had broken earlier. He tells Moses to swing by in the morning to pick them up, while warning him that he is to come alone - adding that no one, man or animal is to even go near the mountain. When Moses arrives, God takes the form of a pillar of clouds and tells Moses about the meaning of his name, Yahweh. He suspiciously describes himself as "merciful", "gracious", and "slow to anger" - which run contrary to what the bible has described so far about God's temperament. Mercy was not shown to the millions (more probably actually billions) of innocent infants, children, and animals drowned in the flood story in Genesis: Chapter 7, nor towards the millions of firstborn sons he killed in Egypt in Exodus: Chapter 11 - these are not examples of "mercy" by any stretch of the imagination. God's claims of showing "steadfast love" by forgiving people's sins seems to run contrary to his claim right afterwards that he refuses to clear the guilty. God seems to forget that Moses committed murder in Egypt (killing an Egyptian who knocked down a Hebrew slave) and that God himself, almost killed Moses for simply not having his son circumcised in Exodus: Chapter 4. His claims of guilt being inherited by further generations of the offender are still as ridiculously absurd as they were when he claimed this in the book of Genesis. God then tells Moses that when they arrive in the "promised land" that they are to smash all the inhabitants "heathen" altars and their religious idols, as he doesn't want the Israelis to be contaminated or tempted by some "false" religion. Religious and cultural intolerance is also not a good indicator of "mercy" or "compassion" either. In fact God doesn't even want the Israelis to enact any kind of peace treaties with the inhabitants, and especially not to marry their "spiritually whoring" daughters, as they'll only contaminate the people of Israel with their false gods. Once again, misogyny and bigotry rears its ugly head, implying that these people - especially the young women - are subhuman and irredeemable. God repeats to Moses a few of his favorite mantras including animal sacrifice for the firstborn, that sheep can be substituted for donkeys (but if not, then break the donkey's neck!), and that no one is to appear before God without some sort of gift for him - apparently God is very materialistic. He repeats his sermon about not working on Saturdays and about the annual pilgrimages he expects. He tacks on that no enemy armies will be able to attack or invade the Israelis during these festivals, as God will personally enlarge the boundaries and drive out any attackers. God continues repeating previous statements to Moses about: not using yeast in any bread products used for sacrifices, that the passover goat meat is not to be eaten the following day, that the first of the crops belong to God, and the ever so charming rule of thumb not to boil a baby goat in its mother's milk. God makes Moses write all this stuff down again, and Moses stays up on the mountain for forty days and nights without eating or drinking, presumably as God puts Moses into some kind of suspended animation for the elapsed time. God gives Moses the new tablets containing the ten commandments, and unbeknownst to Moses, his face is shining and glowing from having been in the presence of God. Apparently Moses' new shiny look scares the dickens out of the people of Israel, so Moses decides to start wearing a veil, which he later begins to take off every time he speaks with God, in order to ensure that he soaks up a bit more godly-sheen. He gives the people the ten commandments and manages not to smash these two tablets to bits.

EXODUS: Chapters 31 & 32

Chapter 31
Summary:	God tells Moses that he has appointed Bezalel (who is the son of Uri, and grandson of Hur, of the tribe of Judah) to be the one to construct the tabernacle and everything it is to contain. He then tells Moses that he has appointed Oholiab (son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan) to be his assistant. Both will be blessed with wisdom, abilities, and special skills to aid them in constructing the tabernacle and all it will contain. God now tells Moses, yet again, to tell the people of Israel to rest on the sabbath day, reinforcing that any one who works on that day must die and shall be killed. God stresses once again, that this day is holy and compares it to the creation account in Genesis: Chapters 1 & 2. God then gives Moses two tablets of stone containing the Ten Commandments, which were written upon them by the "finger of God". The commandments are*: You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Honor your father and your mother. You shall not kill*. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal*. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his slaves, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.
Notes:	1.) The commandments are actually stated in Exodus: Chapter 20, however, there are many disagreements of how exactly these 16 verses are divided into ten commandments. Wikipedia lists the common methods of dividing them by various religions and sects of Christianity. 2.) Most Christian religions use the more specific translation here as "You shall not murder". 3.) Judaism asserts that this commandment refers to kidnapping, as the commandments preceding this one are capital offenses.
Thoughts:	God tells Moses that Bezalel and his helper Oholiab have been appointed to build the tabernacle and everything it is to contain, adding that he'll endow them with the proper wisdom and skills to build it all. In God's habitual tendency of repeating himself ad nauseam, he once again tells Moses to instruct the people to obey the law of not working on the sabbath or they are to be killed. I find it fascinating that many Christians still hold the Ten Commandments in high regard, often insisting that they should be displayed in government buildings, yet virtually none observe the sabbath day despite God being very clear that people are to be killed for not observing it. God has made this law quite clear in Exodus: Chapter 16, Exodus: Chapter 20, and Exodus: Chapter 23, yet many Christians continue to work on Saturdays. Finally finished engraving the stone tablets with his mighty finger, God gives Moses the Ten Commandments that we had heard earlier in Exodus: Chapter 20. First off, God doesn't want anyone worshiping any other gods, as by his own admission, he is a jealous and possessive god. Next off, he doesn't want anyone creating any idols - carved images or otherwise - for the means of worshiping. I'm not sure if this includes those statues of Jesus, the virgin Mary, or various saints that people buy and sell in this modern age, or perhaps even paintings and pictures of religious figures that people tend to pray to. Next up, God says that no-one is to use his name (meaning the name Yahweh, or the bastardized English form as Jehovah) in vain. This is puzzling as to why God is so protective about how people use his name in language and seems rather petty. Next we're told to keep the sabbath holy and that no work is to be done at all. This, as stated earlier is a capital offense. Working on Saturday means you have broken this commandment and that you must be taken out to be stoned to death. Again, this is quite puzzling as to why this one commandment has pretty much been abandoned by believers in modern western civilization who stress the importance of the Ten Commandments. Perhaps to the modern world there are only Nine Commandments? Next up God tells us to honor our mothers and fathers, without exception. Honestly, sometimes we have to concede that parentage is not always a sign of a decent person. Some parents abuse their children verbally, physically, and sexually and are not worthy of honor or respect. The bible however makes no distinction here, and again reviling or cursing either of your parents is another capital offense - according to Exodus: Chapter 21. Next God commands that we are not to kill - or if you prefer, murder. Unless of course you are Moses, then it's okay to murder an Egyptian in retaliation for striking a Hebrew slave (Exodus: Chapter 2). God of course, is exempt from having to set an example for his people, as he has wantonly killed millions of people so far, which I've described in more detail in my summary for Exodus: Chapter 20. Next God adds that we are not to commit adultery, where adultery in this context is defined as a man who has sex with a married woman who is not his wife. Presumably, this exempts a man regardless of his own marital status, from having sex with prostitutes (female ones, of course), unmarried female slaves, and unmarried women (who presumably become his wives or concubines). This is another capital offense for both the adulterer and adulteress. Next up God tells us that stealing is wrong, which as noted above in my footnotes, the Jewish view is that this pertains to kidnapping and not property theft. God's penalties are quite different for thefts of property versus kidnapping, where the latter is again a capital offense. God now commands that a person shall not bear false witness upon his neighbor, which basically means that you are not allowed to misrepresent the truth, or lie about your neighbors. Finally God commands that we are not to covet our neighbor's "belongings" which included under this header are his wife, his slaves, his home, and his livestock. This commandment has always seemed a bit silly to me as most people tend to desire what belongs to other people. However, there is definitely a distinction between what we may want versus what we are actively pursuing. In some senses I believe it's actually healthy to want things that our friends and neighbors have; for example, admiring your neighbor's new car and wanting one just like it, often leads us to work harder and try to succeed to achieve that goal. A point of contention I often have with believers is over the idea of lust being a "bad thing". As a married man, I often lust after other women - it is a natural urge for us to look at an attractive person and desire to have sexual relations with them. I often share these thoughts with my wife, as she shares her own thoughts with me, and this actually has the effect of strengthening our trust in one another and teaches us about our tastes in beauty and sexuality. The difference is that I am committed to my marriage and despite my desires I don't jeopardize my marriage, nor do I put my freedom in jeopardy when I see a piece of property or merchandise that I desire but can't afford. I'm sure we've all "plotted in our heads" from time to time how "easy" it could be for us to score with another person or how we could shoplift a desirable item in a store, but there's a definite difference between thinking and doing. Fantasy and daydreaming - even about bad things - can be healthy and can help us relieve negative thoughts just by playing it through in our heads or on paper. Often times when we're angry it can be quite therapeutic to write a nasty letter to someone who is angering you without actually sending it to them. It's the mechanism of releasing these thoughts, regardless of their negativity, that allows us to be introspective towards ourselves and to release emotions rather than having to express them.
Chapter 32
Summary:	When Moses didn't come down from the mountain in a timely fashion, the people of Israel became worried that he had disappeared. They then turned to Aaron and asked him to create a god that could lead them, assuming that Moses had vanished in the mountains. Aaron had the people give him their golden earrings and he melted them down to make a golden calf out of the molten gold. The people became happy again as they personified the golden calf as the god who had brought them out of Egypt. Aaron saw their happiness and built an altar before the calf and announced that tomorrow there would be a feast to Yahweh. The people woke up early the following morning and began offering animal sacrifices to the golden calf. Afterwards they sat down to a feast, drinking, and being merry. God then told Moses to quickly descend from the mountain as he states that the people have "defiled" themselves and have abandoned all of God's laws. God then decides that he shall let out his anger and destroy them all, adding that he'll make Moses and his descendants into a great nation instead. Moses however pleads with God not to do it, asking him why is anger is so great towards his own people. He then points out that the Egyptians will say that God had tricked the people of Israel into coming out to the wilderness so that they could be destroyed in seclusion. Moses tells God to turn away from his anger and wrath and away from the terrible evil that God is planning against his own people. Moses finishes by reminding God that he had made a promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel and would be going against his own word by slaying the Israelis. God changes his mind and spares the people, sending Moses down from the mountain with the two stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments. When Moses' assistant Joshua heard the noise of the people below them, he thought they were preparing for war, to which Moses replied that they were actually singing instead. When Moses neared the camp and saw the people singing and dancing before the golden calf, he threw the stone tablets to the ground in anger, breaking them both. He took the golden calf and melted in a fire, and when it cooled he ground the metal into a fine powder, spreading it upon the water, and forcing the people to drink it. Moses then turned to Aaron asking him what must the people have done* to make Aaron bring such a terrible sin amongst them. Aaron told Moses not to be so upset and that he should understand what a wicked bunch of people these are*. He explains to his brother Moses that the people had thought he had vanished and that he had asked for their golden earrings. Aaron tells Moses that when he melted the earrings in the fire that the calf had simply come out of the fire. When Moses saw that the people were naked* - at Aaron's doing, shaming themselves amongst their enemies - he stood at the camp entrance and shouted to the people, ordering that anyone who was on God's side was to join him over where he stood. All of the Levites came over. Moses then told the Levites to arm themselves with their swords and to go across the camp slaying everyone, even if it meant killing their sons, brothers, or neighbors. The Levites did as they were told and killed about three thousand men. Moses then told the Levites that they had ordained themselves for God's service by obeying God's command* even though it meant killing their sons, brothers, and neighbors. He tells the people that God will bestow a great blessing upon them. Moses tells the people the next day, that although they have committed a great sin, he would now go before God to plead for his forgiveness. When Moses appeared before God he begged of him to forgive the people, and if not, then God can kill him instead. God replies that the people who sinned against him would be killed. After telling Moses that the people would get their punishment, he instructs Moses to lead the people towards the place he had told him about, assuring Moses that an angel would travel on ahead of them. God then sent a great plague amongst the people for worshiping Aaron's golden calf.
Notes:	1.) It was Aaron's idea to make the golden calf, not the people of Israel. 2.) Aaron is shifting the blame here away from himself and implicating the rest of the people for his own doing. 3.) The bible once again reinforces that nudity is shameful. 4.) It is not specified that God himself gave this command, and as written appears that Moses had given this command alone.
Thoughts:	During Moses' forty day and forty night stay on top of the mountain, the people became convinced that Moses had vanished and pleaded with Moses' brother Aaron to make them a new god. Aaron comes up with an idea to melt down the people's earrings and forge a golden calf out of the molten gold. This makes the people happy and they apparently party it up with a feast, some drinking, song, and dance. God however is not amused and tells Moses that he's going to kill them all (so much for love and compassion). Moses pleads with God to not kill the people and uses an interesting word here - "evil". Moses apparently sees that God's overreaction by wanting to murder everybody for worshiping a silly golden calf is evil, and adds that he'd also be breaking his promise and vows to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel by not letting their descendants become a great nation. Another interesting thing happens here - God changes his mind, implying that God can be wrong about things, may make rash decisions, may kill people for the wrong reasons, and may make mistakes. This is interesting in the respect that believers often state that God's judgment is perfect and infallible, and while we can question many things about some of his choices elsewhere, clearly here he changes his mind, which shows that God's judgment has the potential and possibility of being wrong. It can be argued that God didn't go through with a "mistake" here, but the point is that it took Moses to convince God that he was wrong and was about to do something very evil. So God sends Moses on down the mountain, and upon seeing all the people singing and dancing in front of the golden cow he smashes the two tablets containing God's ten commandments. He then asks Aaron what the heck is going on, to which Aaron shifts the blame away from himself and towards the "wicked" people of Israel. Moses then melts the golden cow, grinds up the gold into powder, mixes the powder into their water, and forces the people to drink it. He then tells whoever is with him and wants to obey God's laws to suit up for a slaughter. As the Levites step up, swords in hand, Moses tells them to slaughter everyone else - regardless of family ties. Three thousand people are killed at the hands of the Levites which begs the question of how many of the 600,000+ people were actually descended from Levi? Something doesn't quite add up to assume that there were 597,000 Levites and that everyone else in the remaining three thousand was descended from the other tribes. Moses pats the Levites on the back for slaughtering all of the 3,000 people - regardless of their family connections - and tells them that God will bestow a great blessing upon them. (The joke however, will be on them when God sends a deadly plague as his "thanks".) Moses then begs God to forgive the sinners and that he'll sacrifice his own life in turn to save them (sound a little familiar?). God instead tells Moses that the people who turned against him will get what they have coming to them for sinning against him. God sends a nasty plague to deal with all of that golden cow worshiping, which somehow our instigator Aaron manages to survive.

EXODUS: Chapters 29 & 30

Chapter 29
Summary:	God describes to Moses the ceremony for the consecration of Aaron and his sons as priests: Bring the following to the entrance of the tabernacle: A young bull without defects Two rams without defects Bread made without yeast Thin sheets of sweetened bread coated with oil Unleavened wafers with oil poured over them Bathe Aaron and his sons at the entrance. Put Aaron's robe, tunic, ephod, chestpiece and sash on him. Place on his head the turban with the golden plate. Annoint Aaron's head with oil. Dress Aaron's sons in their robes with their woven sashes, and place caps on their heads. Bring the young bull to the entrance of the tabernacle and have Aaron and his sons place their hands upon its head. Kill the bull before God at the entrance of the tabernacle. Place its blood upon the horns of the altar, having Moses smearing it on with with his finger. Pour the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. Take the fat covering the innards, along with the gall bladder and the kidneys and burn them upon the altar. Take the body, including the skin and dung, outside and burn it as a sin offering. Have Aaron and his sons place their hands upon one of the rams as it is killed. Collect the blood and sprinkle it upon the altar. Cut up the ram and wash off the entrails and the legs. Place them with the head and other pieces of the body upon the altar and burn it. This is a burnt offering to God, and is very pleasant to him. Have Aaron and his sons place their hands upon the second ram as it is killed. Collect the blood from the second ram and place some of it upon the tip of the right ears of Aaron and his sons, as well as their right thumbs and the big toes of their right feet. Sprinkle the rest of the blood over the altar. Scrape some of the blood from the altar and mix it with some of the anointing oil. Sprinkle the mixture of blood and oil upon Aaron and his sons, and their clothes, and they will be sanctified to God. Take the fat of the ram, the gall bladder, kidneys, a loaf of bread, a cake of shortening bread, and one wafer of unleavened bread. Place these in the hands of Aaron and his sons to wave them in the air as a gesture of offering to God. Afterwards this to be burned upon the altar as a fragrant burnt offering. Take the breast of the ordination ram and wave it before God in a gesture of offering. Afterward, Moses is to keep it for himself. Give the breast and thigh of the consecration ram to Aaron and his sons. The sacred garments of Aaron shall be preserved for the consecration of his son who succeeds him, from generation to generation. Whoever is the next High Priest after Aaron shall wear these clothes for seven days before beginning to minister in the tabernacle. Take the ram of consecration and boil its meat in a scared area. Aaron and his sons shall eat the meat, along with the bread, at the entrance to the tabernacle. They alone shall eat those items used in their atonement, ordinary people are not allowed to eat them, as they are considered holy. If any meat or bread remains, it is to be burned. This ordination shall go on for seven days. Every day you shall sacrifice a young bull as a sin offering, and afterwards purge the altar by pouring olive oil upon it to sanctify it. Each day offer two yearling lambs upon the altar, one in the morning, one in the evening. The morning lamb shall be offered with finely ground flour mixed with oil, and also with wine, as a libation. The evening lamb shall be offered along with the flour and wine for a fragrant burnt offering. The lambs shall be a perpetual daily offering at the door of the tabernacle where God will meet and speak with you.
Thoughts:	God loves his animal sacrifices, so much so that three animals per day are to be killed for God's elaborate consecration ritual. It's really difficult to understand why God needs some elaborate and gruesome ritual to ordain a couple of priests and what smearing animal blood all over an altar accomplishes. What we're actually dealing with here is not anything "magical" or "miraculous", but rather is just brutal and senseless superstition derived from primitive religions pre-dating Judeo-Christianity. While ritualistic animal sacrifice is virtually non-existent in modern practitioners of Christianity, it was common place in the bronze age when the bible was written. When developing a new religion it's easiest to adopt already known practices or rituals in order to ease conversion, and hence what is happening here. The significance of all these complex steps and specific detailed instructions is baffling as to its purpose and intent. When it is stated that the punishment for messing up these instructions is death, it further emphasizes the contradiction in God's "love" and "compassion".
Chapter 30
Summary:	God continues telling Moses what to make for the tabernacle, specifying that he is to construct a small altar for burning incense. He gives Moses the dimensions and specifics, and finishes by telling him that the altar is to be placed just outside of the veil in the tabernacle that conceals the ark of the covenant. God then tells Moses to have Aaron burn incense every morning and every evening on the altar, and that the priests who succeed him must carry on this duty generation after generation, adding that the altar will also have to be sanctified once a year with animal blood. God now tells Moses that whenever he takes a census of the people, each man will have to "pay a ransom" for "his soul" to ensure that God won't have to send a plague amongst them. He continues telling Moses that all the men over the age of twenty will have to pay half a shekel, which is to be used to maintain the tabernacle. God now tells Moses that he also has to make a brass basin for Aaron and his sons to wash their feet in, adding that they will have to wash their hands and feet before appearing before him in the tabernacle - or they will die. This too is to be upheld by future generations of priests. God instructs Moses to make a "holy anointing oil" out of myrrh, cinnamon, cassia, and olive oil. This is to be used to anoint the tabernacle, the ark, the table and all its instruments upon it, the altar, and the wash basin. It is also to be used to anoint Aaron and his sons, but must never be used on an "ordinary person", adding that anyone who does so, or takes some oil for his own personal use will be excommunicated. Finally God instructs Moses what to use in making the incense: stacte, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense - of equal amounts, and seasoned with salt. Again, God commands that the incense is never to be made for personal use, and that anyone who does so will be excommunicated.
Thoughts:	This chapter mainly concerns the duties that Aaron and his sons will have serving as priests in the tabernacle. Of interesting note is that the penalty for not washing their hands and feet is death, while fooling around with the "holy" incense and anointing oil is merely excommunication. Also mentioned is God's first "collection plate", demanding half a shekel from every male over the age of twenty to pay for the tabernacle's maintenance, under the guise of a "ransom" to protect them from God sending a plague upon them. It's amazing to me the severity of God's threats towards his own "chosen people" and how sharply this contrasts with his professed love and compassion for them. Extorting people into obeying by using death threats is not an attribute by any stretch of the meaning of the words "compassion" or "love". Excommunication seems a bit more in line with fairness, however, this punishment is doled out only to those priests who *intentionally* misappropriate the "holy" oils and incense, as opposed to the death sentence given for not washing your hands and feet, which could possibly be a case of accidental forgetfulness. God claims in Exodus: Chapter 22 that he is compassionate, but shows here (and elsewhere) that he is anything but.