Reading the Bible Through

Numbers 7 - 9   Although I find the listing of what each tribe brought to the tabernacle dry reading, I do note that each tribe brought exactly the same thing. It's fair. I am also curious about how they decided which tribe presented on which day. It's not by age and it doesn't say.  I am also struck by a celebration lasting 12 days. What celebration in our culture lasts 12 days? None that I can think of. The longest thing I can think of in our culture is the county fair which lasts for a week.  I continue to remind myself that all of these offerings speak to the holiness of God and a greater understanding, albeit it a nanoparticle, of the import of Jesus' death on the cross. 

Exodus 40 - Leviticus 2   The cloud and fire of the Lord was in sight of the Israelites and guided all their travels. May I follow God so completely.  "The salt of the covenant  of your God" This is a new phrasing. What is the significance of salt? It gives flavor, but what is the whole  meaning here in this passage?  Most of the time, I find Leviticus fairly boring. However, one time, it really spoke to me of the holiness of God. We shall see how I find it in this reading currently. 

Exodus 37-39   Bezalel made the Ark of the Covenant. What an honor!! This passage seems like a set of instructions to me. At the end, Moses blesses the people for doing the work just as the Lord commanded, so I guess it was a set of instructions. 

Exodus 34 - 36   What's this punishing the children of those who sin to the 3rd and 4th generation? What does that even mean?  In verse 9, Moses implores God to take the Israelites as God's inheritance. How can God have an inheritance? No being comes before God. I wonder if this word 'inheritance' is translated differently in other versions. No, I didn't look just now.  Today, when I read  " Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles" it reminds me of the New Testament parable in which Jesus says if you hand causes you to sin cut it off, if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out.  Why no yeast? Does it symbolize something? Bezalel and Oholiab demonstrate the need for the arts: artistic crafts it says here. Sometimes, I wonder if I am a tabernacle: beautifully made, but easily taken down. 

Exodus 25 - 27   I gotta say I find this boring. It sounds like a set of blueprints to me. Sometimes, I try to use these words to picture the tabernacle and the items with it.