Map of life expectancy at birth from Global Education Project.

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Sunday Sermonette: The tedium finally ends

Exodus 31 completes the lawgiving, anticlimactically. First, for no particular reason, we get the names of two artisans about whom we learn nothing and who never appear again except to be mentioned in this way.

31 Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts. Moreover, I have appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, to help him. Also I have given ability to all the skilled workers to make everything I have commanded you: the tent of meeting, the ark of the covenant law with the atonement cover on it, and all the other furnishings of the tent— the table and its articles, the pure gold lampstand and all its accessories, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, the basin with its stand— 10 and also the woven garments, both the sacred garments for Aaron the priest and the garments for his sons when they serve as priests, 11 and the anointing oil and fragrant incense for the Holy Place. They are to make them just as I commanded you.”
If anybody ever read this part of the Torah, we might use the word "Bezalel" to mean a skilled artisan, but the name is completely forgotten. He's extremely versatile, I must say.

12 Then the Lord said to Moses, 13 “Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.
14 “‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people. 15 For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death. 16 The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. 17 It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”
This is of course redundant and repetitive. God really, really emphasizes the Sabbath thing, repeating it innumerable times. In my view, killing people who work on Sunday is rather extreme, no? It's no longer the law, of course, as is the case with most of this. Orthodox Jews are very meticulous about not doing work on the Sabbath, which results in some odd Rabbinical puzzles. Is it alright to flip light switches or push elevator buttons? To push a baby stroller to the temple? What exactly constitutes work? But even they make exceptions for essential jobs such as emergency medical personnel, police and so on, and they don't execute violators.

18 When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the covenant law, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.
Just a reminder that God has a physical body. He's basically a giant human.  This is a helluva lot of material to fit on two stone tablets, I must say.

2 comments:

Don Quixote said...

The 39 melachot are proscribed on the Sabbath, but I don't know where they originated or who described them--it's probably in the Talmud--but I wonder about the penalties for desecrating the Sabbath (to be put to death) vs. doing any sort of work on the Sabbath (when it's first mentioned, they are to be "cut off from their people"). It seems pretty certain that if someone is put to death s/he will be cut off from her/his people.

Cervantes said...

Yes, the Torah is somewhat inconsistent on this, but there is an incident in which a man is actually stoned to death for picking up sticks on the Sabbath.

(By the way the tedium only ends temporarily. The lawgiving has only just gotten started.)