Saturday, March 9, 2013

The Bible Challenge: Day 68

The scriptures read are Deuteronomy 13-15, Psalm 57, and Luke 15.

Deuteronomy 13. Very severe penalties for trying to get others to follow gods other than Yahweh. (And, unlike the Spanish Inquisition, you can't get ahold of other folk's property by accusing them of idolatry.)

Deuteronomy 14. Don't gash your body or shave your head while mourning (It's a pagan thing) for "you are children of the Lord your God."

Moses repeats the list of unclean and clean animals to eat. Also the oddly specific prohibition against boiling a kid in its mother's milk. Apparently it was a thing. This led to the Orthodox Jewish prohibition against eating dairy and meat together. So they must have 2 sets of dishes.

The tithe. It's a tenth of your produce. You take it to the worship site and feast on it before God. If the worship site is too far, you can sell it, take the money to the worship site, buy anything you wish, including wine and beer (!) and feast before God. And every 3 years, put your tithe in storage for the Levite, the foreigner, the widow and the orphan to feast on. God is obviously a socialist.

Deuteronomy 15. Oh, yes, he is! Every 7 years all debts are cancelled. And "There must be no poor person among you...If, however, there is a needy person among you,...lend him sufficiently for whatever he needs." Free all Hebrew slaves every 7 years and don't send them off empty-handed. Give them food and livestock. If this doesn't jibe with your economic policy, change it or change gods. You cannot serve both God and Ayn Rand.

Psalm 57. A cry for mercy turns to a song of praise.

Luke 15.   Three stories of the Lost and Found: a sheep, a coin, a son. For more on the short-sighted son, the forgiving father and the sulking son, read my sermon Sunday.

No comments:

Post a Comment