Law of the Covenant

Exodus 33-40/Leviticus 1-27

 I figure we'll spend at least three weeks for this part before we move on to Numbers.

Once we get to chapter 35 the story of the Exodus is pretty much over. The last few chapters  go into the construction of the tabernacle and all the special items and puposes for the rituals that the Israelites were to start practicing. I think its important to note and possibly refrence if you are interested, but don't get concerned about reading every reduntant aspect of the rituals. I scanned my way through it looking for the important parts and appreciating the origin of the Jewish traiditions. 

I just wanted to ask us to try not to get discouraged by this writing style concerning the Law. We are about to enter the next book of the Torah, Leviticus. Genesis through Deuteronomy, the Torah, was supposedly written by Moses and is the foundation for the Jewish traditions. Even if they weren't written by Moses they were already ancient stories by the time Jesus was a little boy. In fact, the rest of the Old Testament histories are just echos of the original story of the Torah. These words were responsible for the foundation of what we now know of as Israel and what it really means to be Jewish. Understanding these things and also understanding Islam can really flesh out the foundation of the controversies that rage in the Middle East.

 The Law was a way to establish Israel as one people made up of many tribes. By linking them all to a common ancestor (Abraham) and worshiping a single diety Moses established the begining of a new Nation. Its almost the same formula that Muhammad used in the 600s when he united all the Arabian tribes under one diety and linked their ancestry back to Abraham as well, through the lineage of Esau and Ishmael. 

 These next three books can get a little wordy. It might even be as mind numbing at points as the 'begats' back in Genesis. I encourage you to at least stick with the gist of it. Scan through the monotonous and repetitiveness that comes from the many rituals and arbitrary record keeping to find the plot and story line that is buried beneath. See if you can appreciate what is being done here. A nation is being born. A religion is being established. No matter what your politics or your feelings concerning religion these books are an important piece of human history. If anything its a fascinating glimpse into the ancient mind and imagination. We may never know the actual archeological origin of the Jewish people, but they seemed to come out of nowhere and became a powerful nation known to the ancient Egyptians, the Persian and Roman Empires, and now the modern world. The nations and modern empires of the world are dealing with Israel yet again in our own time.