boiled

January 27, 2018

The cooking pots are holy (Zech 14:20-14:21)

“On that day,

There shall be inscribed

On the bells

Of the horses.

‘Holy to Yahweh.’

The cooking pots

In the house of Yahweh

Shall be as holy

As the bowls

In front of the altar.

Every cooking pot

In Jerusalem,

As well as in Judah

Shall be sacred

To Yahweh of hosts.

Thus,

All who sacrifice

May come.

They may use them

To boil the flesh

Of the sacrifice.

There shall no longer

Be traders

In the house

Of Yahweh of hosts,

On that day.”

On this glorious day, the bells of the horses will have the inscription that Yahweh is holy.  The cooking pots in the house of Yahweh would be as holy as the bowls on the altar in front of the holy of holies.  In fact, all the cooking pots in Judah and Jerusalem would be sacred to Yahweh.  The sacrifices could then be boiled in any kind of pot because they were all holy.  They would no longer need to depend on the traders at the Temple selling them special holy pots.

July 20, 2017

The cooking chambers in the court (Ezek 46:21-46:24)

“Then he brought me out

To the outer court.

He led me past

The four corners

Of the court.

In each corner

Of the court,

There was another court.

In the four corners

Of the court

Were small courts,

Forty cubits long,

Thirty cubits wide.

The four were

Of the same size.

On the inside,

Around each

Of the four courts,

Was a row of masonry?

They had hearths

Made at the bottom

Of the rows,

All around.

Then he said to me.

‘These are the kitchens

Where those who serve

At the temple

Shall boil

The sacrifices

Of the people.’”

The bronze man brought Ezekiel to the Temple outer court. There were four corners in this court. In each corner of the court, there was another court. There were 4 small courts about 40 by 30 cubits, about 70 feet by 50 feet, all the same size. Around the inside of each of these 4 courts was a mason hearth with rows all around it. Then the bronze man told Ezekiel that these were the kitchens where those who served at the Temple boiled the sacrifices for the people. Ezekiel, thus, had a first-hand look at the workings inside the Temple.

July 20, 2017

The kitchen for the offerings (Ezek 46:20-46:20)

“He said to me.

‘This is the place

Where the priests

Shall boil

The guilt offering,

As well as the sin offering.

This is where

They shall bake

The grain offering.

Thus,

They will not bring them out

Into the outer court.

If they did,

They would communicate

Holiness

To the people.’”

Ezekiel saw the so-called holy kitchen. The bronze man explained that the priests boiled their guilt and sin offerings here. They also baked the grain offerings here. Thus, they would not bring out these offerings to the outer court. If they brought them out to the outer court, then the people would touch or see these holy offerings. Yahweh, via Ezekiel, did not want the people to come in contact with these holy offerings, less they become holy also.

March 1, 2017

Cannibalism (Lam 4:10-4:10)

Yod

“The hands

Of compassionate women

Have boiled

Their own children.

They became

Their food

In the destruction

Of my people.”

This author complains about the practice of cannibalism. Even the compassionate women of Jerusalem boiled their own children. They had their own children become their food as Yahweh’s people self-destructed. This cannibalism was also mentioned in Jeremiah, chapter 19, and in the 2nd Lamentation. This verse starts with the Hebrew consonant letter Yod in this acrostic poem.