Blood And Atonement Part 2

Shalom

Something I didn't mention in my last post; the sacrifices themselves were only for unintentional sin. Leviticus 4:1-2 says The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘When anyone sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands....

In all fairness, it has literally taken me years to see that, and to realize just what that means. Just like many of you reading this, I was always told that these were the sacrifices for all sin, intentional as well as unintentional, hence the constant theme of needing a blood sacrifice. Yet a careful reading shows that all these were for sins (including the flour and the silver) that were unintentional. I looked for “intentional sin” and many variations thereof in multiple interpretations of the bible and I found nothing. Having said that, I did find a lot of verses that spoke of Israel turning back to G-d after they went after the “gods” of the nations from where they had been scattered, starting with Moses.

He was a prophet of G-d, he led the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt,and even after seeing all the miracles that G-d had performed on their behalf, they rebelled against G-d to the point that G-d caused them to spend 40 years in the desert until all the people who had rebelled died off. Moses is at the end of his life so he is speaking to all of those who were about to cross into the promised land.

Deuteronomy 30: 1-3,6

When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you...The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.

King Solomon was the third king of Israel. He was the son of David and he was considered to be the wisest of all the kings that Israel was to ever have. It was during his reign that the temple was built and at it's dedication Solomon gave many prayers including this one found in 1 Kings 8:46-50.

“When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to their enemies, who take them captive to their own lands, far away or near; and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly’; and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name; then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their captors to show them mercy;

Many of the prophets carried on the same theme, these are but a few.

Joel 2:12-13 “Even now,” declares the Lord,“return to me with all your heart,with fasting and weeping and mourning.”Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God,for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love....

Hosea 14:2-3 “ Return O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have fallen because of your sin. Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to Him: Forgive all guilt and accept what is good; Instead of bulls we will pay the offering of our lips.” JPS

Jeremiah 29:11-14 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

Ezekiel 18:21-23 “But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die. None of the offenses they have committed will be remembered against them. Because of the righteous things they have done, they will live. Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?

These passages,and many just like them, were written for a time, as it is today, that the temple doesn't exist, and the sacrifices are long gone.

The common theme is a simple one; the people realize their sin, turn their hearts back to G-d, do what is right,follow His commands, and He forgives them. No mention of sacrifices, no mention of blood.

Shalom. More to follow.

Blood And Atonement Part 1

In my last post, I wrote that a person, or in this case a nation, has a choice as to whether or not to keep the laws of G-d. See Deuteronomy 30:11-14 But what was a person or the entire nation to do if they did sin?

Growing up in the Christian world, I was always taught that only through the blood of Jesus were my sins forgiven. I was taught that you had to have faith in this sacrifice and believe, and then your sins were forgiven. I was further told that the OT was chock full of examples of where the blood was used to atone for our sins, starting with the Passover lamb,and on through the whole sacrificial system. Blood was the key, and Jesus was the ultimate “lamb of G-d” sacrifice. But is that really true? Is blood needed for the forgiveness of sins? Was a human/deity sacrifice needed or even foretold?

First the Passover lamb. This one is used time and again by the Christian church as an example of forgiving of sins. I wrote in “The Courage Of The Slaves” on my blog page how sheep and goats were considered sacred to the Egyptian people and I went through what the point of the Passover was, and still is,for the slaves, not only was it in defiance of the Egyptians, but it was about saving the first born of the Hebrews.

Exodus 12:26-27 And it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’that you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’” So the people bowed their heads and worshiped. NKJV

Nothing hidden, no secret meaning, plain and to the point. It had nothing to do with sin, and all to do with saving Hebrew lives, and, just as a serious side note, by suggesting that Jesus was the Passover lamb you are saying that he was,and is, an Egyptian god that was taken prisoner by the Hebrew people and destroyed by them by direction of G-d.

So what about the other sacrifices? They required blood didn't they?

Leviticus 17:11 For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for yourselves; for it is the blood that makes atonement because of the life.’

This text, taken out of context, is frequently used to make the point that without blood there is no atonement. If you read the whole chapter though, you find that G-d was saying that anyone who didn't bring their sacrifices to the tent of meeting or who drank blood was to be cut off from the people. Yes atonement was to be found in the blood as was life but was blood the only way?

If you go back to Leviticus 4 you get the list of sin offerings and the procedure for each. Yes, blood was sprinkled on the sides of the altar and some smeared on the horns on the corners but the rest was all poured out at the base of the altar and then the sacrifices were burned as the sin offering. The blood purified the altar but the sacrifice was burned for the forgiveness of sins.

Even if you don't believe that this is true, G-d did indeed give a way for atonement that did not involve blood or even animal sacrifice. It was flour.

Leviticus 5: 11 “And if his means do not suffice for two turtledoves or two pigeons,he shall bring as his offering for that which he is guilty a tenth of an ephah of choice flour for a sin offering; he shall not add oil to it or lay frankincense on it for it is a sin offering.

The priest was to take a handful of it and burn it on the altar and then the person was forgiven. No blood needed.

Flour, put on the altar and burned, atonement made.

Silver, the price of a Ram plus 1/5^th added to the value was also acceptable. See Lev. 5:14-26.

I am not asking you to believe me. Study it yourselves, look at the Hebrew, ask a Rabbi on a Jewish web page, but don't take my word for it.....

Shalom. More to come.

You Have A Choice

How many of you parents out there made rules for your kids that you knew were impossible for them to keep? Anyone? Did any of you come up with some crazy rule that said your 6 year old must drive themselves to school every day or that your teenager must wear a diaper and a pink tu tu everywhere they go? No, I suspect you made rules based on common sense and safety, and that perhaps you counseled your children on the consequences, either for or against, those rules. If we,as mere mortal parents, wouldn't do that( making crazy rules that is) why then do we accuse G-d, who is the ultimate parent of us all, of doing that very thing; coming up with laws that can't be kept?

On any given weekend, depending on your brand of religious observances, you will hear a multitude of sermons, based on the idea that you are inherently evil, from birth ,and that there is no way, without an intercessor, for you to keep the laws of G-d. Is this really true? Are you really suggesting that G-d is so twisted in His mind, that he would create us evil,give us impossible laws, and then punish us for something we can't help in the first place? Doesn't make any sense to me, but I will leave that up to you to decide for yourself.

Deuteronomy 30:11-14 speaking of the laws of G-d to Israel says:

Surely, This instruction which I enjoin upon you this day is not to baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. It is not in the heavens that you should say, “Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us that we may observe it?” Neither is it beyond the sea that you should say “Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it for us and impart it to us,that we might observe it?” No,the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart to observe it.

Deuteronomy 30:11-14 JPS edition.

For me, this is G-d telling the children of Israel that they indeed can keep His laws, if they so choose, because it has been placed in their hearts and in their mouths. If you read further on, or back a few chapters, it's no different then you, as a parent, warning your kids, of the possible consequences of their actions and that is really what it boils down to.

You have a choice in what you do. G-d's words not mine.

Of the 613 laws found in the Torah, first 5 books in the bible, most pertain to the priests and the temple and the sacrifices in the temple and can only take place in the temple within Israel. There are a few that pertain to family purity and women, the rest seem to be fairly common sense things. Such as ( uncle iggies revised edition) if you see a neighbors, or an enemies, animal in a ditch help get it out, and return it to it's owner. Be fair and impartial in your judgments, don't accept a bribe. If you have a flat roof, put a small wall around it so someone doesn't fall off. Treat you slaves well, treat your wife well...the list goes on.

The irony of all this is that none of them actually apply to Gentiles, according to Jewish Rabbis, with the exception of the 7 “laws of Noah” (which is a subject for another day) though I personally believe that the “Ten Commandments” should be for all people as well, as they have served as a foundation for the civilized western world.

The point is that you have a choice. You can choose to keep G-d's laws or you can refuse and deal with the consequences, it's your call, but you don't need a mediator, you just need to make a choice.

Shalom

G-d Runs the Asylum

Have you ever wondered how all this madness ends? The whole world is similar to watching a big scale soap opera, complete with villains and plots with sub plots. I am a news junkie of sorts ( though less so as I have gotten older ) so I read about all the madness that is currently taking the world by storm. To say that it gets overwhelming sometimes would be a large understatement. Every day I get more convinced that the proverbial “lunatics” are indeed running the asylum., not just in our country but all over the world. So called “leaders” talking nuclear war with other nations, all over political and religious differences,not seeming to care at all that this is the only planet we have, and none of us, short of death, can escape. I do realize that the truth of the matter is that it's the powerful elites that are actually doing the saber rattling, but I also understand that when the bombs burst, many innocents die.

So how does it end? Seems to depend on your religious background as to what you believe. I was raised to believe in a “second coming” of Jesus to save the people of the world or his “remnant people.”

There are others that believe that they will be taken away by a “secret rapture” while hell literally reigns on earth ,while others believe that the earth mother or mother nature will destroy most of us and start over with whats left. Many prophecies all over the world.

I tend to follow the Jewish belief that suggests that after much calamity and war, very much centered on Israel and Jerusalem, That G-d Himself will set up His kingdom right here on earth, that peace will reign, war will end, and all will know the ways of G-d. This is what I cling to.

Micah 4: 1-4 In the days to come, The mount of the Lord's House shall stand firm above the mountains; And it shall tower above the hills. The peoples shall gaze on it with joy, And many nations shall go and shall say: Come let us go up to the Mount of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; That He may instruct us in His ways, And that we may walk in His paths. For instruction shall come forth from Zion, The word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Thus He will judge among the many peoples, And arbitrate for the multitude of nations, however distant; And they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not take up sword against nation; They shall never again know war; But every man shall sit under his grapevine or Fig tree with no one to disturb him. For it was the Lord of Hosts who spoke.

This is what keeps me sane. This is what gives me hope of a better future. Think about what these verses are saying : G-d's kingdom will tower above all mountains, The people, all people,”shall gaze on it in joy”, The nations will come to Jerusalem, to the mount of G-d to learn of his ways, He will judge among the nations, war will come to an end and there will be peace. These are but 4 verses in the “OT” that tell of this future, there are many more.

My suggestion to you is to look for that place or set of verses that bring you peace and cling on to them and hang on to G-d. He is the one that is actually in control of the asylum even when we can't quite see it.

Shalom