March 7

Before I even get started, let me say how very much the internet has helped me in this Bible Study. I could not have done it without its vast resources. That being said, I always try to get more than one website to corroborate what the meaning is because I have to say, there is a lot of sketchy stuff about the Bible out there on the internet.

NT – Mark 13:14-17
The phrase ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ is a reference to Daniel 9. In specific, it is to the coming of the Messiah after the destruction of Jerusalem. Here is a great website that explains all of that.
abomination
When I read these parts of the Bible and I do not know what they mean, they tend to frighten me. Once I have read some commentary, I settle down and can think rationally.
I do believe that the apocalyptic literature in the Bible is meant to frighten us. But in a very specific way. Just as the Nazirites yesterday were using their vows to draw closer to God, so is the material that talks about the end times. God is searching for us so desperately and although we THINK there is all the time in the world, there really isn’t. Our time may be up in 5 minutes. This may be all the chance you get. This is the reason for Jesus’ urgency. Get ready. Watch. You don’t know when. It could be NOW.
But what if it isn’t, asks the incessant brat in my head. As a child, this would have caused me to just go crazy and wild. As an adult, I just think it is prudent planning. We plan for house repairs because, while the dishwasher may not break today, it certainly will in the near future. After all, Don and I have lived in this house 19 years and we have yet to go 24 months without a huge dishwasher repair bill or a new dishwasher. This is true about faith as well. Get ready!

OT – Numbers 8:1-9:23
Reading about the age limits on the Levites made me ponder the question of Eli and Elizabeth from the Luke. I marked this spot and intend to come back to it when we start Luke in a few days. When you are reading these really obscure (at least they are obscure to me. I have never really simmered in any of this material), do you start wondering about how this parlays into Jesus’ story? My ADD mind starts jumping from gospel to gospel trying to figure which one it is in. Do you do the same?
Which then leads me to the web and I get drawn down into a million other exciting and interesting paths. None of which helps me with the scripture that I am supposed to be studying and blogging about. But before I return to that, let me give you a website that I found that while it is not publishing new reviews, has a bunch of recent reviews of books that I intend to read.
Second Pass
But back to the scripture. I realize that we rarely come into contact with a dead body. At least most of us don’t . But apparently, this was a very common occurrence in Exodus times since they had a whole provision for Passover for those who were ceremonially unclean due to the dead. You have to feel sorry for the housewife who has to do all that cleaning more than once. When I looked into my Stone Chumash, it , of course, offered a totally different take. The dead body that the Israelites were in contact with was Joseph’s. All those who took turns carrying Joseph’s remains were unclean for the period of time after their turn was over. (Remember that Joseph had asked his brothers to take his body home to Israel when they went and the descendents remembered and brought his bones.) Rashi says that they may also have come upon an unidentified corpse in the course of their wanderings and this would also trigger the second Pesach (Passover). But the reason for the exception granted was because carrying Joseph’s body was REQUIRED of them and thus, the contamination was not their fault. Truthfully, I had forgotten all about Joseph. Thank goodness I was not in charge.

Psalm 50:1-23
How interesting, since we are constantly dealing with sacrifices in Numbers, that this Psalm says God doesn’t need them. “since every animal of the forest is mine”. I realize I have a 21st century take on it, but it does seem like a lot of good meat wasted burning up for the smell to please God. Or in my cynical mind, to feed the priests. You will have to excuse me. In my real job I am paid to be a cynic and it is hard to suspend this when it comes to my children (just ask them “don’t you believe me??? (when I lie….)) or when I read certain passages in the Bible. I do try but really – so many bulls just to get the Levites ‘clean’?
In reality, this psalm is a 2 stanza poem. One that is addressed to the righteous “just offer thanks” and one stanza addressed to the wicked “I will rebuke you and accuse you to your face”. The coda is the last 2 verses and you get a clear choice – either be on the righteous side and you will get salvation or on the forgetting God side and you will be torn to pieces. For goodness sake, let’s all choose the righteous side.

May God have mercy on us all as we try to remember Jesus’ urgings to Watch and the Psalmist request that we go to the Light.