Salty Zebra

  So I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. Exodus 29:44-45  In today’s text (Exodus 28-29) we focus on the consecration and role of the priests of Israel – Aaron and his sons. I was drawn into the illustration and correlation between this text and how we, as Christians are, “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9). Charles Spurgeon, in one of his many sermons, fleshed out this correlation and showed me some interesting insights.   The consecration of Aaron, and his descendants that followed him, began with a ceremonial cleansing . They would be washed fully outside of the entrance to the Tabernacle. In order to serve and minister before God, the priests needed to be cleansed from their s...

  There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the covenant law, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.   Exodus 25:22  What do the tabernacle and its contents teach us? There is so much detail in Exodus 25-27 about how it was to be constructed, but even with that there was much left to the imagination. In Exodus 25:40, God told Moses, “Now be sure to make them according to the pattern you were shown on the mountain.” Moses was the only witness to what it was supposed to look like, and he needed to guide the craftsmen and artisans in recreating that. Some of it, the specific dimensions and materials, are written down here for us, but you know that if ten people looked at the golden lampstand and were asked to write out a description of it, you’d get ten completely different descriptions.   As you know, I’m a visual learner and thinker, and so I worked with AI (CoPilot and Gemini) to help me recreate as cl...

  “Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty.”   Exodus 23:6-7  Today’s reading, Exodus 21 -24, includes the beginning of the Mosaic Law. The Israelites had lived under Egyptian law for 430 years and before that, everyone pretty much had done what they thought to be right in their own eyes. Here, for the first time, God is clearly telling the people what He sees as right and wrong. He’s giving them guidelines and priorities. There are lots of details in this that are foreign to us and may be confusing, such as dealings with servants/slaves, but as we look at it, we can begin to see what God values and, in turn, what He wants us to value. As a reminder, as Christians we are no longer bound by the Law, but we can still very much learn from it and take those lessons to inform how we honor God and represent Him in a fallen world. ...

 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”  Exodus 20:2-3  In today’s passage ( Exodus 20 ) we read about the law that God gave to the Israelites. This was intended to teach them how to live rightly as well as to show them their sin ( Galatians 3:19 ). Until God told the Israelites that they were to observe the Sabbath, for example, they were not held accountable for it. But once they knew, they knew. Now they were aware that what they were doing was wrong in sleeping with another man’s wife, taking their neighbor’s tool, or not quite telling the truth when testifying. And alongside them, we too are now aware. The Law was given that we might see and know our sin for what it is. So that we could see our desperate need for Jesus and our hopelessness without Him.  Through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, when we believe in Him we, too, are dead to sin and alive in Ch...

  Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”  Exodus 19:5-6  I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the God of the universe, the Creator of heaven and earth. I have the privilege of speaking with Him from my home. I do not have to go to a special place. I do not have to be of a special genetic lineage. No, I have His Holy Spirit inside of me, and I may speak to Him as I’m making breakfast, as I’m folding laundry, as I’m sitting, quietly before Him. I can pray to God from inside an MRI machine, or on the road while we’re driving. But, does familiarity breed contempt? Am I too familiar with God?  I wonder this at times. I wonder if I should be kneeling when I pray like they do in the movies or in picture books, but Jesus didn’t always kneel ...

Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Exodus 18:17-18  Have you ever gotten yourself so into your routine that you don’t even notice it anymore. You piled on one more thing and one more thing and before you know it your “simple” 17 step system is bogging you down far more than you realized. Perhaps it came from an, “I gotta do it” mentality. You come across a responsibility and feel like it’s yours, so you add it on. They even make sense in your mind. You gotta take a shower. You gotta fix breakfast. You gotta do the dishes and the laundry and clean the kitchen and the bathroom and balance the checkbook and pay the bills. You gotta lead the Bible study and serve as a greeter at church on Sunday and help out with the Women’s Tea and lead the kids’ class on Wednesday night. Before too long, these gottas will drown you! But, what are...