Today's Readings and Stuff -- Saturday,. 23 February 2019

The very last Saturday in February.  That's a good thing, a very good thing.  Less than four weeks now until the start of official Spring.  Our "day" is now 10 hours 58 minutes long, and will pick up 2 minutes 39 seconds by tomorrow, so we're verging on the 11 hour "day", with the 12 hour day in less than a month hence.  All of that is very good.

Wife's in recliner wheezing.  So are two of the cats.  We'd gotten from some odd source some antibiotics suitable for cats (and rumor has it that people too broke to get the same thing marked for humans, at VASTLY higher prices, use it) and hid it in some of their food, yesterday and today.  We shall see if it helps them.  I'm doing a bit better than I was on Monday, that much is sure.  Makes it easier to take care of her (and the cats as well).

Spending some time thinking about the concept of joy.  Haven't been seeing much of it lately.  Not just in me, being genetically (probably) a bit of a dour type.  No, I don't see much joy around me.  Or in the wider world.  Some temporary happiness and laughter stuff, although there's really not much of that even, not really.  And what there is dissipates once the moment is past.  I think we've all seen it.  This is not a good thing, and it too often leads people down some very dark roads, which again we've all seen and many of us have traveled.

Joy is not to be found in our circumstances.  Else, the admonition of James to "count it all joy when ...." wouldn't make any sense at all, would it?   Only one real source of joy, and we need to be seeking Him, the source of it all, without pause.


So, today, All The Way My Savior Leads Me
Seems to fit.

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Today, we turn to chapters 17 and 18 in the book of Leviticus.
I have chosen to display this in the Holman Christian Standard Bible rendition.  The King James version gets into what I think is some obfuscation, perhaps a bit of 1607-era reticence to be too descriptive of some of the things being discussed.

Some of the matters, and I'm referring to chapter 18 in particular, sound pretty gross.  Well, they are.  And they were, most if not all of them, pretty common practice in Egypt.  And in Canaan.  And in many or all of the lands surrounding the Promised Land, which they would encounter during the remainder of the Exodus and when in the Promised Land.  And, sad to say, all too many of those condemned behaviors were in fact adopted by the Jews at various times.  Bad, right?
Well, yes.  Condemned, and with bad results.
But not just among the Jews.  Paul had to make mention of at least a few of these practices, ones that had already crept into the early Church.   See 18:22 for just one.  And not just the early Church.  It's going on this very day in more than a few large groups in the modern American Church.  For example, as I write this, there is a very contentious conference going on within the United Methodists over some of these very issues.  This coming Summer, there will be a similar conference within the Mennonite Church over some of them.  Ditto for the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran  Church in America), at least one branch of the Presbyterians ( I get lost between the PCA and the PC-USA and the Orthodox Presbyterians, etc.) and at least one group that has the word "Baptist" in its name.  The Lord had His commands on the matter, but some humans, fallible as all of us are, seem to feel they out vote Him.  A bad start I think.

I also want to draw attention to verse 21 of chapter 18, dealing with "passing through the fire to Moloch".  Every hear the term "tophet" or "topheth"?  This was a large idol. a statue if you will, in homage to that demon-god.  It was hollow, and a fire was kindled within.  The devotees in homage to that god, would bring their first-born child to that site and, with ceremony and all of that, throw their child into the fire.  The idea is revolting, and I have to imagine that there were drums and trumpets and chanting to drown the wails of the dying babies.  Sounds like one of these near- or post-birth "abortions" done in homage to "choice" and "progressivism", doesn't it?  Look up, for side reference,

• Leviticus 20:2-5
• Deuteronomy 18:10
• 1 Kings 11:7
• 2nd Kings 23:10
• Jeremiah 32:35
• Acts 7:43

And do we need (ok, yes) to get into the discussion of profaning the name of the Lord?  I am so dreadfully weary of the "OMG" stuff.  But it's throughout our culture and communities, and, yes, the churches as well.  Not good, I think.

Leviticus 17

Forbidden Sacrifices

1The Lord spoke to Moses: 2“Speak to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites and tell them: This is what the Lord has commanded: 3Anyone from the house of Israel who slaughters  an ox, sheep, or goat in the camp, or slaughters it outside the camp, 4instead of bringing it to the entrance to the tent of meeting to present it as an offering to the Lord before His tabernacle — that person will be considered guilty.   He has shed blood and must be cut off from his people.  5This is so the Israelites will bring to the Lord the sacrifices  they have been offering in the open country. They are to bring them to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting and offer them as fellowship sacrifices  to the Lord. 6The priest will then sprinkle the blood on the Lord’s altar at the entrance to the tent of meeting and burn the fat as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 7They must no longer offer their sacrifices to the goat-demons  that they have prostituted  themselves with. This will be a permanent statute  for them throughout their generations.

8“Say to them: Anyone from the house of Israel or from the foreigners  who live among them who offers a burnt offering or a sacrifice 9but does not bring it to the entrance to the tent of meeting to sacrifice it to the Lord, that person must be cut off from his people.

Eating Blood and Carcasses Prohibited

10“Anyone from the house of Israel or from the foreigners who live among them who eats any blood,  I will turn  against that person who eats blood and cut him off from his people. 11For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have appointed it to you to make atonement on the altar for  your lives, since it is the lifeblood that makes atonement.  12Therefore I say to the Israelites: None of you and no foreigner who lives among you may eat blood.

13“Any Israelite or foreigner living among them, who hunts down a wild animal or bird that may be eaten must drain its blood  and cover it with dirt. 14Since the life of every creature is its blood, I have told the Israelites: You must not eat the blood of any creature,  because the life of every creature is its blood; whoever eats it must be cut off.

15“Every person, whether the native or the foreigner,  who eats an animal that died a natural death or was mauled by wild beasts  is to wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will remain unclean until evening; then he will be clean. 16But if he does not wash his clothes and bathe himself, he will bear his punishment.”

Leviticus 18

Prohibited Pagan Practices

1Yahweh spoke to Moses: 2“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: I am Yahweh your God.  3Do not follow the practices of the land of Egypt,  where you used to live, or follow the practices of the land of Canaan,  where I am bringing you. You must not follow their customs.  4You are to practice My ordinances  and you are to keep My statutes  by following them; I am Yahweh your God. 5Keep My statutes and ordinances; a person will live  if he does them.  I am Yahweh.

6“You are not to come near  any close relative  for sexual intercourse;  I am Yahweh. 7You are not to shame your father  by having sex with your mother. She is your mother; you must not have sexual intercourse with her. 8You are not to have sex with your father’s wife;  it will shame your father.  9You are not to have sexual intercourse with your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s,  whether born at home or born elsewhere. You are not to have sex with her. 10You are not to have sexual intercourse with your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, because it will shame your family.  11You are not to have sexual intercourse with your father’s wife’s daughter,  who is adopted by  your father; she is your sister. 12You are not to have sexual intercourse with your father’s sister;  she is your father’s close relative. 13You are not to have sexual intercourse with your mother’s sister,  for she is your mother’s close relative. 14You are not to shame your father’s brother by coming near his wife to have sexual intercourse; she is your aunt.  15You are not to have sexual intercourse with your daughter-in-law.  She is your son’s wife; you are not to have sex with her. 16You are not to have sexual intercourse with your brother’s wife; it will shame your brother.  17You are not to have sexual intercourse with a woman and her daughter.  You are not to marry her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter and have sex with her. They are close relatives; it is depraved. 18You are not to marry a woman as a rival to her sister and have sexual intercourse with her during her sister’s lifetime. 

19“You are not to come near  a woman during her menstrual impurity to have sexual intercourse with her.  20You are not to have sexual intercourse with  your neighbor’s wife, defiling yourself with her. 

21“You are not to make any of your children pass through the fire to Molech.  Do not profane the name  of your God; I am Yahweh. 22You are not to sleep with a man as with a woman; it is detestable.  23You are not to have sexual intercourse with  any animal, defiling yourself with it; a woman is not to present herself to an animal to mate with it;  it is a perversion.

24“Do not defile yourselves by any of these practices, for the nations I am driving out before you have defiled themselves by all these things. 25The land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its sin, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants.  26But you are to keep My statutes and ordinances. You must not commit any of these detestable things — not the native or the foreigner who lives among you. 27For the men who were in the land prior to you have committed all these detestable things, and the land has become defiled. 28If you defile the land, it will vomit  you out as it has vomited out the nations that were before you. 29Any person who does any of these detestable practices must be cut off from his people. 30You must keep My instruction to not do any of the detestable customs  that were practiced before you, so that you do not defile yourselves by them; I am Yahweh your God.”