In Leviticus, chapter 26:14-35, the reverse was also true. If they did not obey Yahweh and his commandments, he would punish them here and now. If they have sinned by breaking the covenant with Yahweh, the following curses would be upon them. Consumption would visit them. Fever would waste their eyes. Their life would slip away. They would sow their seed in vain, because their enemies would eat their crop. They would be struck down by their enemies. Their foes would rule over them. They would flee even though no one was pursuing them. Yahweh would punish them sevenfold for their sins, if they continued to disobey him. Yahweh would break their proud glory. He would make their sky like iron and their earth like copper. Their strength would be spent in a useless way. Their land would not yield its produce and their trees would not yield their fruit. If they continued to be disobedient and hostile, Yahweh would send further evil upon them with a sevenfold plague for their sins. Yahweh would let loose wild animals against them. Their enemies would destroy their children and livestock, so that they would have few children and livestock. Their roads would be deserted. If, despite all these punishments they had not turned back to Yahweh, then Yahweh would continue to be hostile to them. Yahweh was going to strike sevenfold and bring the sword against them, because he would execute vengeance for breaking the covenant. If they withdrew within their cities, Yahweh would send pestilence among them. Yahweh would deliver them into enemy hands. Ten women will bake their bread in a single oven, since they would lack bread. Although they ate bread, they would not be satisfied. If they continued to disobey, Yahweh would continue to bring his sevenfold fury upon the Israelites with several punishments. These Israelites would begin to eat the flesh of their sons and daughters. Yahweh would destroy their high places and cut down their incense altars. Yahweh would heap their carcasses on the carcasses of their idols. He would abhor them. He would lay waste to their cities. He would make their sanctuaries desolate. He would not smell their pleasing odors. He would devastate the land, so that their enemies would settle in it and be appalled at how bad it was. Yahweh was going to scatter them among the various nations with his sword. He was going to the leave their land in desolation. Their cities would be a waste. This curse or punishment of banishment from the land came to be with the Assyrian and Babylonian captivity, plus the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple after the time of Jesus Christ. Have you ever experienced the punishment of God?
Month: January 2024
Blessings
In Leviticus, chapter 26:1-13, there were a series of blessings if the Israelites did the right thing. Clearly, Yahweh was their Elohim. Therefore, there should be no idols, no carved images, no pillars, and no figured stones in their land. This last mention of the figured stones may be an admonition against the patriarchs who built stone altars for Yahweh. They had to worship Yahweh, and him alone. They had to keep the Sabbath and worship at Yahweh’s sanctuary. If they followed all Yahweh’s statutes and commandments faithfully, they would receive blessings. They would have a happy existence, if they followed Yahweh’s commands since Yahweh was strong. He had already done things for them. These was a list of some of their blessings. They would have rains in their proper season. The land would yield good produce. The trees of the field would yield their good fruit. Their threshing would last longer than their vintage times. Their vintage would last until the time of their sowing. They would eat their bread and food until they were satisfied. They would live securely in their land. They would have peace. They would lie down to rest and no one would make them afraid. There would be no dangerous animals. No one would go through the land with a sword, because they will chase their enemies, who will fall by the sword. Five of the Israelites will be successful against a 100 other people. 100 of them would chase 10,000 other people. Their enemies would fall by their sword. Yahweh would look with favor on them. They would be fruitful and multiply. Yahweh would maintain his covenant with them. They would eat the old grain that has been stored up. They would always have more than they needed. Yahweh was going to live among them in his tabernacle. Yahweh would be their Elohim. They would be his people. Yahweh had brought them out of the land of Egypt to end their slavery and make them walk erect. Their yoke had been broken. They would be a slave no more. Have you been blessed in your life?
Relatives and slaves
Leviticus, chapter 25:35-55, set down the rules for dealing with relatives and slaves. If any of your relatives fell into difficulties and became dependent on you, you should support them as though they were resident aliens. You cannot take interest from them or profit from them while they are living and eating in your house. Let them live with you. Yahweh would provide, since he brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your Elohim. He gave you the land of Canaan. If any of your dependents wanted to sell themselves to you, you shall not make them serve as slaves. However, they can be hired laborers or bound laborers until the Jubilee year. Then you shall free them because they are Yahweh’s servants, since he brought them out of Egypt. They shall return to their family and their ancestral land. You cannot sell them as slaves. However, you may acquire male and female slaves from the nations around you and the aliens residing with you and their families. The human slaves of other nations should be treated like your property and your possessions for your children to be inherited. There was nothing wrong with slavery, just not for your own people, but you should not be harsh with any slaves. As for relatives, they can work for you, but not as slaves. If any of your relatives sold himself to a resident alien, a brother, an uncle, or a cousin should redeem him. If he prospered, he should redeem himself. The purchase price for redemption should be based on how close you are to the Jubilee Year, using the pay scale and concept of a hired laborer. Once you hit the Jubilee Year, he would be free. If few years remain until the Jubilee year, they shall compute thus. According to the years involved, they shall make payment for their redemption. If they have not been redeemed, they and their children with them shall go free in the Jubilee year. The people of Israel were servants to Yahweh, no one else. They are Yahweh’s servants because Yahweh, brought you out of the land of Egypt. The children of Israel are true servants of Yahweh and no one else. Who are you a servant to?
Exchange of property
In Leviticus, chapter 25:23-34, there were rules about how property changed hands. All the land belonged to Yahweh, anyhow. The Israelites were just aliens and tenants on the land that they held. They were taking care of this land for Yahweh. If someone had a difficulty and sold a piece of property, then the next of kin should buy it back. If there is no near relative, but the person later prospered, he could get his property back if he paid for what happened in the meantime. Otherwise, he could wait for the Jubilee year when he would get his property back. It seems to be me that there might be a lot of strange transactions in the years leading up to the Jubilee year. There were different rules for those living in walled cities. A dwelling house in a walled city could be redeemed within a year. After that, this house was then exempt from the Jubilee redemption. After one year the house went in perpetuity to the purchaser. On the other hand, houses in the villages that had no walls around them were classified as open country. They would be released to their original owner in the Jubilee year. A house in a walled city remained forever with the purchaser after he had owned it for over a year. However, in the country area, or a town with no walls, the purchase could be reversed in the Jubilee year. The Levite houses in their cities could be redeemed at any time, as well as during the Jubilee year. However, the open land around their cities may not be sold for that was a perpetual possession. You thought that deeds were complicated. How about these ownership rules for the Israelites! The walled city residences were easier to purchase over the long haul, rather than the open land of the small towns and villages, that could be returned to the original owner. Are you familiar with land deals in your own town?
The Jubilee Year
In Leviticus, chapter 25:8-22, there was an explanation about the Jubilee year that came every 50 years. 7 times 7 equal 49. After the seventh Sabbath year, they should have the trumpet sound loud on the tenth day of the seventh month, on the Day of Atonement. They should proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants as a jubilee for all. Everyone was to return to their own property and their own family. This fiftieth year would be a jubilee for all. They were not to sow or reap the after-growth of the harvest or the un-pruned vines. It should be a holy year for all of them. They could eat only what the field itself produced. What about transactions during this time? First all they were not to cheat each other. They would charge people based on how close it was to the jubilee year, since most people would know when it is coming. The price of the property and crops were based on the jubilee year. The seller should charge only for the remaining crop years. If the years were more, they could increase the price. If the years were fewer, they should diminish the price, based on a certain number of harvests that were being sold. If they feared Yahweh and observed his ordinances, they would live on the land securely. Of course, they were worried about what to eat during this double Sabbath. Yahweh said that he would bless them so that the sixth-year harvest would last until the ninth year with a crop for three years. When they sowed in the eighth year, they would be eating from the old crop, until the ninth year, when its produce came in. They were not to worry, but be happy and enjoy their back-to back Sabbath year and Jubilee years. Would you like a year off from work?
The Sabbatical Year
In Leviticus, chapter 25:1-7, Yahweh spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai. After they were in the Promised Land, they had to remember that the land belonged to Yahweh. Therefore, they had to give it a rest every seven years, as was mentioned in Exodus, chapter 23:10-11. They could sow their fields, prune their vines, and gather their harvest for six years, but in the seventh year there should be a complete rest for the land, a Sabbath for Yahweh. They could live off the land and their livestock during this Sabbath year. This applied to all in their household, their family, their slaves, and their laborers. For six years they would work hard in the fields, but on the seventh year, they let it grow wild. This assumed that they were rich enough to have slaves and paid laborers work in their fields. This also assumed that they would be frugal in the sixth year. Do you believe in Sabbaticals, a year of rest every seven years?
The law of retaliation
Leviticus, chapter 24:17-23, took up the problem of retaliation or revenge that was also in Exodus, chapter 21. What was the punishment for various actions? Some were simple. Anyone who killed another human should be put to death. Anyone who killed an animal should make restitution for the dead animal. A life for a life was the motto of retaliation. Anyone who maimed another person should suffer the same injury in return. Once again, a fracture for a fracture, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Yahweh explained to Moses that he was their Elohim. Thus, Moses should explain this to the Israelite people. This law was for both aliens and the native-born Israelites. They all had to follow the rule of Yahweh as presented by Moses. What do you think about the law of retaliation?
Blasphemy
Leviticus, chapter 24:10-16, explained what should happen if someone used a blasphemy. Here was the story of an unnamed son of the Israelite Shelomith, who was the daughter of Dibri, from the tribe of Dan. However, she was married to an Egyptian, so that the unnamed son had an Egyptian father. It was not clear whether the father was in the camp or was left behind in Egypt. This name Shelomith appears five times in the biblical writings, so that there were others with the same name. This unnamed son got into a fight with another unnamed pure Israelite. Then Shelomith’s son blasphemed the Name of Yahweh in a curse. This Name would have been Yahweh. He blasphemed, abused, or spoke irreverently about, the name of God, a very serious crime. They brought him to Moses, who put him in custody. Moses went to Yahweh, who responded with a simple answer. Anyone who cursed his Elohim shall bear his sin. One who blasphemed the name of Yahweh shall be put to death. The whole congregation shall stone the blasphemer. They sent him outside the camp, where all who had heard the blasphemy laid their hands on his head and stoned him. Stoning was the communal punishment, so that the evil person was removed from their community, the death penalty. Notice that this blasphemer was not a pure Israelite. Perhaps there was some prejudice against the non-pure Israelites. Yahweh said that any Israelite who uttered the name of Yahweh in a curse should be put to death. Thus, the same rules applied to the aliens and to the native-born Israelite citizens, the death penalty for blasphemy. There were no gradations in penalties. Thus, the example of the blasphemer was to have all the people stone him. Problem solved. The case law example of blasphemy is believed to be the work of one of the later editions of the Priestly source, in which several other case law examples were added. The remainder of the alleged additions arguably deform the laws from the manner they would otherwise have, to the laws supported by the Priestly Code. Whether these represent alterations to the law over time, or lawmaking by the writer of the political faction supported by the Priestly source, or simply details present but not originally thought worth mentioning, is a matter of some debate. Are you careful when you curse to not use the name of God?
How to take care of the sanctuary
In Leviticus, chapter 24:1-9, Yahweh spoke to Moses about how to care for the sanctuary. The sanctuary lamp, mentioned in Exodus, chapter 27:20-21, should be kept burning perpetually or regularly. They had to bring pure oil of beaten olives for this lamp. Aaron had set up this lamp as a burning light on the golden lamp stand outside the curtain of the covenant that burned from evening to morning before Yahweh. This was another statute that should be kept for all generations to come. Aaron and his descendants should set up the lamps on the lamp stand of pure gold before Yahweh on a regular basis. Some critical scholars think that this section concerning continual oil was part of the description of the structure of the tabernacle, and vestments at the end of Exodus, in chapters 27:20-21, that has accidentally become inserted at this point due to a scribal error. As hinted at in chapter 25 of Exodus about the bread of the presence, they had to take choice flour, and bake 12 loaves. 1/5 of a bushel of flour should be in each loaf. They shall place them in two rows, six in a row on the table of pure gold, as a symbolism of the twelve tribes. Each row would have frankincense. Every Sabbath, Aaron should put them in order as a sign of the commitment of the people of Israel to their covenant with Yahweh. Aaron and his descendants would then eat this holy bread in a holy place since this was the holy portions from the offerings to Yahweh. Who takes care of the sanctuary in your church?
Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah, רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, Roshassana, literally “head of the year” is the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah, יוֹם תְּרוּעָה, Yomterua, a day of shouting or blasting trumpets. It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days, as specified by Leviticus, chapter 23:23–25. Rosh Hashanah begins a ten-day period of penitence culminating in Yom Kippur, as well as beginning the cycle of autumnal religious festivals. Rosh Hashanah begins on the first day of Tishrei, which is the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year. In contrast to the ecclesiastical lunar new year on the first day of the first month Nisan, the spring Passover month which marks Israel’s exodus from Egypt, Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the civil year, according to the teachings of Judaism. In Jewish law, four different “New Years” are observed. Rosh Hashanah is the traditional anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman according to the Hebrew Bible, as well as the initiation of humanity’s role in God’s world. Rosh Hashanah customs include sounding the shofar, a ram’s horn, to raise a noise. Its rabbinical customs include attending synagogue services and reciting a special liturgy, as well as enjoying festive meals. Eating symbolic foods, such as apples dipped in honey, hoping to evoke a sweet new year, is also an ancient tradition. The Semites generally set the beginning of the new year in autumn, while other ancient civilizations chose spring for that purpose, such as the Persians or the Greeks. The primary reason was agricultural in both cases, based on the time of sowing the seed and bringing in the harvest. Some scholars posit a connection between the Babylonian festival of Akitu and Rosh Hashanah, as there are some striking similarities, especially concerning the Babylonian god Marduk. The ten-day gap between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur might have been based on this ceremony. Rosh Hashanah marks the start of the numbering of a new year in the Hebrew calendar. However, just as modern governments may insist on taxing over a fiscal year, universities observe an academic year, and the Western Christian liturgical calendar begins on the first Sunday in Advent, the new year depends on one’s perspective and the use of a calendar. The shofar was not to be blown on the Shabbat. Many communities hold a “Rosh Hashanah seder.” Some of the symbolic foods eaten are dates, black-eyed peas, leeks, spinach, and gourd. The Torah defines Rosh Hashanah as a one-day celebration, and since days in the Hebrew calendar begin at sunset, it is considered two days. What do you do to begin a new year?
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 