Before we get to today's reading,
an interesting review in Harper's magazine of two books about the Bible. You get one free read per month so even if you don't subscribe you should be able to get access. Christopher Beha writes:
Judaism has a kind of mythological founding moment that bears some
resemblance to Mohammed’s recitation—the giving of the law to Moses on
Mount Sinai—but the actual text believed to be transmitted there makes
up a tiny fraction of the Hebrew Bible, which in its canonical form
comprises twenty-four books arranged into three major sections—the Torah
(teaching), Nevi’im (prophets), and Ketuvim (writings)—giving the
collection its acronymic name, Tanakh. It was probably during the
Babylonian exile of the sixth century b.c., some seven hundred years
after Moses is supposed to have lived, that various competing strands of
historical, mythological, and legal writing, many already centuries
old, were combined into the Torah, which was long the primary Hebrew
scripture. The latest work included in the Ketuvim, the Book of Daniel,
was written around 150 b.c. All of which is to say that there were Jews
for more than a thousand years before there was anything like the Jewish
Bible we know today.
A key point is that the idea that the Bible is literally true and inerrant is a very modern innovation. It was obvious to everyone that it is a compilation of various kinds of writings, and the many contradictions, absurdities, and multiple version of the same tale were understood to be the consequence of its motley human sources. What was in and out changed over time and the Christian Old Testament even contains books that aren't in the Tanakh. Anyway, here's Exodus 30, which is mostly about precise instructions for making odors but does have one more meaningful interpolation.
30 “Make an altar of acacia wood for burning incense. 2 It is to be square, a cubit long and a cubit wide, and two cubits high—its horns of one piece with it. 3 Overlay the top and all the sides and the horns with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it. 4 Make two gold rings for the altar below the molding—two on each of the opposite sides—to hold the poles used to carry it. 5 Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 6 Put the altar in front of the curtain that shields the ark of the covenant law—before the atonement cover that is over the tablets of the covenant law—where I will meet with you.
7 “Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps. 8 He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps at twilight so incense will burn regularly before the Lord for the generations to come. 9 Do not offer on this altar any other incense or any burnt offering or grain offering, and do not pour a drink offering on it. 10 Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on its horns. This annual atonement must be made with the blood of the atoning sin offering for the generations to come. It is most holy to the Lord.”
God is really into smells. We already know that the smell of burning flesh really gets him off.
11 Then the Lord said to Moses, 12 “When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague will come on them when you number them. 13 Each one who crosses over to those already counted is to give a half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to the Lord. 14 All who cross over, those twenty years old or more, are to give an offering to the Lord. 15 The rich are not to give more than a half shekel and the poor are not to give less when you make the offering to the Lord to atone for your lives. 16 Receive the atonement money from the Israelites and use it for the service of the tent of meeting. It will be a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord, making atonement for your lives.”
This is pretty damn regressive, no? Rich and poor each have to give exactly the same amount. No big surprise that the priests decided God commands all the people to give them money, however. Also no big surprise that they want to make nice with the rich people. That's what priests are all about.
17 Then the Lord said to Moses, 18 “Make a bronze basin, with its bronze stand, for washing. Place it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. 19 Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet with water from it. 20 Whenever they enter the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die. Also, when they approach the altar to minister by presenting a food offering to the Lord, 21 they shall wash their hands and feet so that they will not die. This is to be a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to come.”
I wonder if any priest ever tried not washing? I bet they didn't die!
22 Then the Lord said to Moses, 23 “Take the following fine spices: 500 shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much (that is, 250 shekels) of fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekels of fragrant calamus, 24 500 shekels of cassia—all according to the sanctuary shekel—and a hin of olive oil. 25 Make these into a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer. It will be the sacred anointing oil. 26 Then use it to anoint the tent of meeting, the ark of the covenant law, 27 the table and all its articles, the lampstand and its accessories, the altar of incense, 28 the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin with its stand. 29 You shall consecrate them so they will be most holy, and whatever touches them will be holy.
30 “Anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them so they may serve me as priests. 31 Say to the Israelites, ‘This is to be my sacred anointing oil for the generations to come. 32 Do
not pour it on anyone else’s body and do not make any other oil using
the same formula. It is sacred, and you are to consider it sacred. 33 Whoever makes perfume like it and puts it on anyone other than a priest must be cut off from their people.’”
34 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices—gum resin, onycha and galbanum—and pure frankincense, all in equal amounts, 35 and make a fragrant blend of incense, the work of a perfumer. It is to be salted and pure and sacred. 36 Grind some of it to powder and place it in front of the ark of the covenant law in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you. 37 Do not make any incense with this formula for yourselves; consider it holy to the Lord. 38 Whoever makes incense like it to enjoy its fragrance must be cut off from their people.”
Footnotes:
Exodus 30:2 Exodus 30:10 Exodus 30:13 Exodus 30:23 Exodus 30:23 Exodus 30:24
3 comments:
I can see that as a member of the Kohanim, a subset of the Levites--though it wouldn't matter what tribe I was part of--I come by my OCD honestly.
Of course the priesthood is no longer hereditary. I'm not sure when that changed, maybe it's in the book somewhere. I think the abandonment of animal sacrifice is explicit but I don't remember when or how it happens. Maybe you know.
Animal sacrifice was functionally abandoned after the destruction of the second temple by the Romans, because there was no altar at which to perform the ritual sacrifices. The thrice-daily prayer structure took the place of sacrifices performed by priests.
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