We've already heard about the laws regarding uncleanliness, but now God tells Moses what to do about it. Aaron's son, Eleazar, must go out into the desert and a young heifer must be sacrificed in his presence. Eleazar must then sprinkle some of the heifer's blood in the direction of the Tent of Meeting, and someone must burn the carcass and gather up the ashes. These ashes are then to be mixed with water, and that water is to be used to cleanse those who have become unclean through contact with a corpse or a grave. Anyone who does not purify himself must be cut off because he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord.
I'm not quite sure I understand this. I get why staying away from dead bodies is a good idea - decomposition and nasty bacteria and all that - but I struggle with the ritualistic side. Surely being sprinkled with water mixed with the ashes of another dead body wouldn't really help anything. It's the same with the sacrifices. What was it about slaughtering an animal that atoned for sin? Maybe I'm missing the point. Maybe all of this is about showing a willingness to make up for our mistakes. It's like that episode of Friends when Chandler shuts himself in a box to apologise to Joey for kissing his girlfriend. Lying in a box for a few hours didn't reverse the betrayal, and it didn't work a magic spell of forgiveness on Joey, but it did have an impact because it showed that Chandler wanted to make amends. In the same way, killing animals and getting splashed with ash water 'worked' because by performing those actions, the people showed God that they were sorry and wanted to make amends. It's not always what we do that matters, but the intention behind it.
And now another story involving water. The Israelites have camped at Kadesh in the Desert of Zin. Miriam has died and been buried there, and now the community has run out of water. Again the people complain and again Moses prays, and God tells him to take his staff and speak to a particular rock, and water will pour from it. So Moses gathers the community and rebukes them, saying "Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?". Then he strikes the rock and water gushes from it. The people may be happy with this, but God certainly isn't. He tells Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them".
So why is God so mad at them? They did what they were told, didn't they? Well, not quite. By saying "must we bring you water", Moses appears to take credit for the miracle for himself and Aaron and in doing so he fails to honour God. As always, there is a price to pay, and for Moses and Aaron it's a big one. God may not smite them, but after all of their work leading the community, after all of the headaches and heartaches, He tells them they will not enter the promised land. Our actions have consequences, and we must be prepared to face them.
But for now Moses is still in charge, and the Israelites want to pass through Edom. Moses sends messages to the King, but he denies them passage and threatens them with attack. Moses asks again, promising to stay on the main road and pay for any water they drink, but again the king says no and this time he sends out his army. The army is large and powerful, so the Israelites turn away and camp at Mount Hor, on the border with Edom. Here God declares that Aaron will die. Aaron's robes are taken from him and given to Eleazar, then he goes up the mountain and there he dies.
The Israelites continue on their journey, and are attacked by the Canaanites who capture some of them. The Israelites then vow to God that if He delivers the Canaanites into their hands, they will destroy their cities. It seems God listens, because the Israelites destroy the Canaanites and their towns, and name the place Hormah, meaning "destruction". This brings us to one of the big questions of the Old Testament. Did God ever sanction, encourage or even aid war and mass murder? I don't know the answer to that, but it seems to me there are two main possibilities. Option 1 - God really did help the Israelites defeat their enemies, presumably because the Israelites had special privileges as the people who obeyed His laws. Option 2 - God did not support the Israelites' wars, but the people presumed that when they won it was because God favoured them, and when they lost it was because He was angry with them. It's another one of those we may never know the answer to, but it doesn't mean it's not worth asking the question.
Now we have a brief interlude where the people start their complaining again, and so God sends venomous snakes among them. For the first time (at least, for the first time I can remember) the people recognise that they have sinned and they ask Moses to pray that God will take the snakes away. It's taken a while, but they're finally learning. God tells Moses to put a bronze snake on a pole so that if anyone who has been bitten by a snake looks at it, they will be healed. A novel treatment, maybe, but it works.
After the snake incident, the Israelites resume their journeying, making their way to Moab. Here we get a long list of places they camp, as well as a brief description of the land and a song about a well. There is also a reference to the Book of Wars, presumably an historical account of the Israelites' campaigns. The Bible is not the whole story.
The Israelites' war really steps up a gear now, as they defeat the Amorites and the Bashanites. Moses sends messengers to the Sihon, king of the Amorites, asking for safe passage through his territory. He refuses and sends his army out against them, but the Israeiltes trounce them, capturing and occupying all of the cities of the Amorites. They take a moment to celebrate this in song, then march down the road to Bashan and defeat King Og and his entire army, leaving no survivors and taking possession of his land. How can so much war ever have been justified?
No comments:
Post a Comment