Tag Archives: Commandments

Holy Priests (Leviticus 21)

Posted on by

Bible Summary:

God commands Moses to tell Aaronite priests to be holy and not to take part in a relative’s funeral, except for immediate family, not to shave their heads or trim their beards during mourning. The High Priest is also not allowed to defile God’s sacred Tent by visiting the house of a dead person, even if it is his mother or father.

The priests may marry virgins, but not divorcées or earlier prostitutes. If a priest’s daughter becomes a prostitute, she must be burned to death for the disgrace. And, no descendant of Aaron with any physical defects may present the food offering.

My Thoughts:

Specific Laws: The Laws of Moses are becoming more and more specific. This is a natural response: something happens a few times, the issue gets raised to a higher-up, they do not want to deal with it any longer, so they set up a rule so lower-level management can handle the situation in the future. Each repetition gets finer and finer.

Do not commit murder commandment: I do not understood the circular logic of some of the Laws of Moses. How could a priest’s daughter be put to death for becoming a prostitute if the sixth commandment says not to commit murder? Who is allowed to execute the deed without going against this commandment and being subject to the same law and outcome?

God’s Covenant is Sealed (Exodus 24)

Posted on by

Bible Summary:

God calls Moses up to the mountain. Moses reads the book of the covenant to the Israelites and they all agree to obey the commandments. Moses sacrifices animals and consecrates the people with the blood to seal God’s covenant. God calls Moses up Mount Sinai again to give him two stone tablets of all the laws for the people of Israel. Moses stays on the mountain for forty days and nights.

My Thoughts:

Book of the Covenant: According to this chapter of Exodus, Moses and the leaders had written a book of God’s laws – “the book of the covenant, in which the Lord’s commands were written.” This is the first reference in the Bible of writing in book form to pass on laws and knowledge.  This book likely included parts, if not all, of the books of Genesis and Exodus.

Stone Tablets: God would have known about the impermanence of the book, likely written on papyrus, so he created the stone tablets so the Israelites would remember his commandments for a long time.