Sunday Sermonette: Deja vu all over again

I must warn you: the four remaining chapters of  Exodus, and all of Leviticus, are tedious beyond description. They have almost no relevance to Christians, and limited relevance to contemporary Jews. Even orthodox Jews take only a few principles from this, such as not eating pork or shellfish. The narrative stops and instead we are given long, very specific lists of rules. There isn't any evident underlying or organizing ethical philosophy behind this.

Some of the rules have to do with how God wants to be worshiped. This has been a particular emphasis in Exodus and it's largely the focus on which the book concludes. Leviticus has a whole lot about what you can and cannot eat, what is and is not "unclean," what we would classify as civil and criminal property law, familial obligations, what we would classify as medical diagnosis (although rather than treatment, the response is likely to be exile), sexual morality . Some of it has a perceivable practical basis, some of it we can speculate about, some of it seems arbitrary or preposterous. It describes a patriarchal, strongly hierarchical and rigidly organized society. And as I say, nobody alive observes more than a small percentage of it.

About Exodus 37, which we reproduce today, I have nothing really to say. God has given these instructions already (twice!) and now we hear the whole thing again, framed as Bezalel actually carrying them out, with some additional small details added, of no evident import. Since Jews are no longer pastoral nomads, their temples are no longer portable and in any case they don't resemble this one. And that was already true at the time the Torah was compiled. Why the scribes were so interested in this we cannot say.

37 Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood; it was two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. ² He overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a molding of gold around it. ³ He cast for it four rings of gold for its four feet, two rings on its one side and two rings on its other side. ⁴ He made poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold, ⁵ and put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry the ark. ⁶ He made a mercy seat^[a] of pure gold; two cubits and a half was its length, and a cubit and a half its width. ⁷ He made two cherubim of hammered gold; at the two ends of the mercy seat^[b] he made them, ⁸ one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end; of one piece with the mercy seat^[c] he made the cherubim at its two ends. ⁹ The cherubim spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat^[d] with their wings. They faced one another; the faces of the cherubim were turned toward the mercy seat.^[e]

¹⁰ He also made the table of acacia wood, two cubits long, one cubit wide, and a cubit and a half high. ¹¹ He overlaid it with pure gold, and made a molding of gold around it. ¹² He made around it a rim a handbreadth wide, and made a molding of gold around the rim. ¹³ He cast for it four rings of gold, and fastened the rings to the four corners at its four legs. ¹⁴ The rings that held the poles used for carrying the table were close to the rim. ¹⁵ He made the poles of acacia wood to carry the table, and overlaid them with gold. ¹⁶ And he made the vessels of pure gold that were to be on the table, its plates and dishes for incense, and its bowls and flagons with which to pour drink offerings.

¹⁷ He also made the lampstand of pure gold. The base and the shaft of the lampstand were made of hammered work; its cups, its calyxes, and its petals were of one piece with it. ¹⁸ There were six branches going out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it; ¹⁹ three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with calyx and petals, on one branch, and three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with calyx and petals, on the other branch—so for the six branches going out of the lampstand. ²⁰ On the lampstand itself there were four cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with its calyxes and petals. ²¹ There was a calyx of one piece with it under the first pair of branches, a calyx of one piece with it under the next pair of branches, and a calyx of one piece with it under the last pair of branches. ²² Their calyxes and their branches were of one piece with it, the whole of it one hammered piece of pure gold. ²³ He made its seven lamps and its snuffers and its trays of pure gold. ²⁴ He made it and all its utensils of a talent of pure gold.

²⁵ He made the altar of incense of acacia wood, one cubit long, and one cubit wide; it was square, and was two cubits high; its horns were of one piece with it. ²⁶ He overlaid it with pure gold, its top, and its sides all around, and its horns; and he made for it a molding of gold all around, ²⁷ and made two golden rings for it under its molding, on two opposite sides of it, to hold the poles with which to carry it. ²⁸ And he made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold.

²⁹ He made the holy anointing oil also, and the pure fragrant incense, blended as by the perfumer.

Footnotes:

1. Exodus 37:6 Or a cover
2. Exodus 37:7 Or the cover
3. Exodus 37:8 Or the cover
4. Exodus 37:9 Or the cover
5. Exodus 37:9 Or the cover