Sunday, April 8, 2012

Women of the Word

Exodus 34 – 35:1-29

At the start of this chapter, the J writer returns us to an older version of the reworking of the Ten Commandments (or Ten Words) that makes no mention of the Golden Calf but does have Moses cutting two stone tablets to replace the ones he broke in pieces.  So with the two fresh tablets, Moses once again goes up on Mount Sinai, and God comes to him in a cloud.  Here God tells him that He is a God of compassion and steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and sin; however “one who punishes sons and grandsons to the third and fourth generation for the iniquity of their fathers!”  (vs. 7)  Since this was written during the Babylonian Exile, it very likely reflects a group mentality wondering what possible sins Israel could have committed to have landed them in their present situation. Whatever interpretation one could put on these contradictory statements “the passage clearly means that forgiveness through ‘steadfast love’ does not imply an absence of judgment.” (Education for Ministry, Book Two: From Egypt to Canaan, p. 95)



The next 16 verses (10-26) constitute an awkward and fairly disorderly reworking of the Decalogue, starting with a stern warning against consorting with the Canaanites or any “natives of the land against which you are going.”  Unlike the succinct injunctions of the second, third, and fourth commandments in Exodus 20:3-5, this exhortation against idolatry is a lengthy paragraph, again indicating that the Israelites of the Exile may have fallen into unseemly ways.  This haphazard series ends with the final command: “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.”*



When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, the skin of his face shone with the reflection of God’s glory frightening Aaron and the Israelites.  Realizing this, Moses put a veil over his face when he was outside with the people and only removed it when he went inside to speak with God.  These actions in verses 34-35 seem to indicate that the Tent of Meeting was in place and that Moses could repair to that place to meet with God, rather than on Mount Sinai.  Furthermore, “a curious mistranslation in these verses has been kept alive by many works of art, including Michelangelo’s statue of Moses.  The Hebrew word which means ‘shine’ or ‘glow’ is very similar to another word which means ‘horns.’  Michelangelo’s statue shows Moses coming down the mountain from his visit with Yahweh with horns coming out of his head!” (Education for Ministry, Book Two: From Egypt to Canaan, p. 96)



Chapter 35 opens with Moses repeating the commandment given in the previous chapter in verse 21 to keep the Sabbath day holy.  Even at planting and harvest time, work must stop on the seventh day.  Verses 4 through 29 (where our discussion stopped for the week) start a very practical materials list on the building of the Tabernacle.  Again, since this is an older version, the J writer does not include all the details that went into the later writings set out previously in chapters 25 to 31.  However, even with these limited memory fragments, the description of fine linens, precious stones, and metalworking is impressive.




*One of the origins of Kosher dietary laws, this curious injunction has many interpretations.  An interesting one comes from an archeological dig at Ras Shamra [1450-1200 BCE; located at the tip of what is today northern Syria]:  Canaanite ritual, according to excavations at Ras Shamra (ancient Ugarit), called for sacrificial kids to be boiled in milk, but the damaged Ugaritic text does not clearly specify mother's milk. If it were so, then it is understandable that Israel was being prevented from copying pagan idolatrous ritualism.

Another option suggests that the dead kid was being boiled in the very substance which had sustained its life, hence the prohibition.

Until more archeological information comes to light, the specific religious or cultural reason remains as supposition.

Source(s):


NKJV Bible ... The MacArthur Study Bible”





Submitted by Karilyn Jaap

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