Leviticus

I wonder how body conscious the priest were. It sounds like they may have eaten alot of offerings.

It is equally curious as to how they treated famine. It sounds like if certain criteria were not met, the offering wasn't allowed to be eaten, if it wasn't eaten it went to waste. I think we waste alot in our society, but back then it should have been a crime to waste prepared food. On second thought if it was food prepared for sacrifice for sins or fellowship offering was that ok?

Exodus

Exodus was supposedly written by Moses. Why then is Moses referred to in the third person? Kind of odd. Wonder if he talked about himself in the third person in the course of normal conversation. That would be obnoxious.

What's with the specific instruction, repeated twice in Exodus (ch 23 & 34) and again in Deuteronomy 14, that a goat should not be cooked in it's mother's milk? Must be some cultural thing, but why not provide a little context? That would be helpful.

Another thing on Exodus

Something else that struck me was that God knew people would have grievences and appointed people to take care and make desicions on such matters. To me, this means that people were behaving badly. If people are behaving badly where does that put God's tolerances?

For me, reading the Bible and learning about God and his lessons it seems impossible that I will ever be that "good" person God wants me to be. Maybe if he is tolerant of people having jeolousy or arrogance or other behavioral issues, maybe there is hope for me. I hope I am expressing this correctly.

The other thing I wrote down last night was just to mention that Aaron was a good prophet but a bad manager of people.

Oh, and why is yeast so bad. There are some specific notations about bread being made without it.

A few things from Exodus 25-30

I was wondering why God seems to be so specific in his directions for building the ark, and the table, and the tabernacle and the lamp, and the priestly garments. Is this a test to see how well they listen? and what would have happened if they screwed up? Would if they made the courtyard 90 cubits long instead of 100 because they ran out of room?

I was also wondering about Aaron wearing the bells so they sound when he enters and leaves God's holy place so that he will not die? What is that about? (Exodus 28:35) The verses that follow lead me to think this is sounding like catholic tradition.

There also seems to be alot of sacrificing of specific animals. Any idea as to the sybolism in each animal?

Just Curious

I think I missed who Aaron was to Moses. Not sure I remember the relationship.

Secondly, I was thinking of the Israelite people, they were in Egypt for 430 years, (Exodus 12:40) how long do you think it took for each of God's plagues to hit. I mean, was it instantaneous, or was it a process that took some time. I seem to recall from Genesis that the question of time came into view. What exactly is a day in the calendar of God who is omnipresent? (I am not sure that is the word I want to use) If you are God, who has been around for a very long time, is a day to him like 6 months or a year is to us? I am not questioning his miracles by any means. I had to take a few moments to look it up, but I think I am going by Max Lucado's book also. The entry for Jan 5 is: Is anything too hard for the Lord? No! Genesis 18:14 "The God of surprises strikes again. ...God does that for the faithful. Just when the womb gets too old for babies, Sarai gets pregnant. Just when the failure is too great for grace, David is pardoned, ...The lesson in three words is Don't Give Up. Is the road long? don't stop. Is the night black? don't quit. God is watching. For all you know, right at this moment, the check is in the mail. An apology might be in the making. The job contract may be on the desk. Don't quit. For if you do, you may miss the answer to your prayers. "

I would mlike to think the message is patience, and if that is true, how patient did Moses have to be before his miracles affected, then hardened the heart of Pharaoh?

these are things I've been thinking about today, It is late and I hope I have delivered to the extent I wish it be recieved. Ciao

I was thinking about this because I wondered if this applies to us now. It says to be applied for generations to come in Exodus 12:17. I am thru Exodus 13 and I feel like he applies and re-applies the rules. Very specific. How are we to interpret some of the requests in modern day times?

Thoughts on Genesis

I finished Genesis yesterday. Big picture: I'm amazed and reassured by how delightfully imperfect God's chosen people were, and how tolerant God was of them. Right off the bat Adam and Eve disobeyed and ate from the wrong tree and thought they could hide from God. Then Cain kills Abel, then the whole world is so evil it needs to be purged by flood, then there's johns and prostitutes, liars, cheaters, manipulators, incestuous relationships, etc. etc. God was obviously not looking for perfection, just general trust and obedience.

The creation story begs a lot of questions for me though. First there's two accounts of the creation of man (ch 1 vs ch 2). They sort of work together but mismatch a bit. Then you get into who was Cain afraid of when God banished him? And where did Cain find a wife (that wasn't his sister)? And who were the "sons of God" (ch 6)? Angels? Or were Adam and Eve and their descendants the "sons of God" and other people that God may have created were the sons and daughters of men?

And don't get me started on the age of the earth question. According to the Bible the earth is less then 10,000 years old, but that doesn't jive with geological evidence which seems to suggest the earth is billions of years old.

The flood and Noah's ark... just doesn't seem plausible from a logistical standpoint. Thousands of animals couped up on that boat for almost a year? With enough food for everyone? Nobody is eating anyone else? Then they repopulate the whole earth in a very short period of time (this was only a few thousand years ago). How'd they get to Australia? This story especially gives me a hard time.

Ok, Exodus 4 specifically around 24. I feel like God is having a crisis about Moses. He choses him to lead the people, then he's fed up, then he meets him at a lodging and is about to kill him, then he's blessing him. Seems more like an irrational parent that needs his kid to buck up and take the responsibility head on. What do you think?

Just finished Genesis. Loved the whole book. Some thoughts more specifically concerning the last few chapters...G 42:22, Reuban and his brothers are speaking and Joseph is using an interpreter. How did it come about that he could not understand their language. Or am I over thinking it?
Also Pharaoh seems like an enigma. Who's side is he on? Does God favor him? I feel that he may play some other roles to be revealed in other books.

I do like the fact that Joseph saw the greater good in the fact that his brother's sold him and he could have become very bitter towards them, but he forgave them knowing that where God put him helped save thousands of lives. The greater good. It is a good lesson because I think we often get caught up in the moment and don't see that down the line things will work out. I am definately guilty of this.

Welcome!

This blog will be all about Jennifer & John's journey through the Bible in 2011. We are going to read through the whole thing this year and try to process as much as possible. This will be a place where we can post our comments, thoughts, questions, etc. about what we're reading. Feel free to follow along and leave comments!