I have some really cool things I want to share here about our Christmas trip to Haiti, and they're all rolling around in my head. But I made two notes earlier today about readings in Exodus that I think I'd like to blog about sometime. And then I had a third revelation - an epiphany, if you will - while brushing my teeth tonight that I think I'm just going to have to go ahead and share.
As a quick note of explanation, I'm currently in a Disciple II Bible study for my second go-around. I think maybe that's what puts me in the fangirl category. This is a study I first took nine years ago, but my memory is just bad enough and my faith walk is just farther enough along, that it truly is like I'm taking it for the first time!
Long-term Bible studies have been such a game changer for me. They are like one big connect the dots puzzle, and I'm in awe every time I see all those little dots link to form a recognizable image. Sometimes the image I see is of God, sometimes it is of myself. But I've come to recognize these moments as revelations: personal encounters with the Living God. These moments are His revealing/unveiling of who He is and the story He is telling - and then He goes further still with the revelation of how those things apply to the life I'm trying to live for Him.
Anyway, this week we're wrapping up our Old Testament readings of (primarily) Genesis and Exodus. Next week, we'll begin our New Testament readings of Luke and Acts. Reading the last 15 chapters of Exodus was a little trying at times (urim and thummim go where? why exactly are we splattering blood on the priests' ears, thumbs, and big toes? that sort of thing). So I pulled out one of my favorite biblical resources, The Schocken Bible, Volume 1 (http://www.amazon.com/The-Five-Books-Moses-Deuteronomy/dp/0805211195). It is what I would call a very Hebrew-centric translation by Everett Fox of the first five books of the the Bible, and I find both the translation and the commentary very insightful.
As tedious as these closing chapters of a Exodus can sometimes be, I'm actually kind of a fan(girl!) of the descriptions of the tent of meeting and the specifications to build it. Another word for the tent of meeting is Tabernacle. Maybe it's because my paternal grandparents founded and ran an interdenominational holiness camp meeting every summer for decades and worship there took place in an open-air tabernacle. But it's a word that just seems to draw me close.
Years ago (I honestly can never remember where or when I heard most of the stuff that I think is really cool, but I totally fact checked this one in Strong's Conordance), someone pointed out that the verb dwelt in John 1:14 "the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us" is a word that essentially means "tabernacled." So, Jesus encamped among us - He pitched His tent with us in the same way God did in the desert with the Israelites. And because I love that image so, I'm always intrigued by the Exodus passages that describe the making and equipping of the original Tabernacle itself.
So, I'm good, right? But I figured I'd be better if I could wade through some of this with the Fox commentary, which is what I read this evening. He makes some great points about how in Exodus 29:20 the ears, thumbs and big toes represent the extremities of the priests' bodies, so including them is symbolic of the anointing of their entire bodies. Also, he points out that observation of the Sabbath being so closely connected with the Tabernacle (Exodus 31) has no known equivalent in the ancient world. He writes, "The Dwelling account presents us with a people for whom sacred time takes precedence over sacred space." There is some very cool stuff here!
Then I read this, "In Exodus, the coffer [the term Fox uses for the ark of the covenant, probably to drag our attention away from images of Raiders of the Lost Ark] literally plays a central role. It stands in the innermost recesses of the Tabernacle, at the sacred center. Considering what the coffer contained - tablets with God's words on them rather than statues of gods - it addresses the primacy of divine word over divine representation in ancient Israelite thought." And this kind of blows my mind. For years, I have been captivated by the idea that Jesus tabernacled with us here on earth - but it had never really occurred to me that what was represented by those tablets in that ark within the Holy of Holies was the WORD of God.
The Word of God at the heart of the tabernacle among God's people in the Book of Exodus.
The Word of God tabernacling among us in the Book of John.
The miracle of Emmanuel - God with us. Right there in Exodus. Once again in that familiar passage in John. And yet again, today!
Does it get any cooler than that?
Oh, yes. Yes, it does.
Within the ark of the covenant: God's word. God's presence.
God with us. Emmanuel. Our Deliverance.
And what do we know about other arks in the Bible?
The ark in Genesis 6:14. Deliverance - for Noah and all humankind.
The basket that Moses' mother placed him in among the reeds along the edge of the Nile - an "ark of bulrushes." Again: Deliverance - for the baby Moses and ultimately for the people of God.
Connecting the dots. An image emerges!
And then there's the veil.
The veil in Exodus 26 within which the ark of the covenant was placed, with the veil serving as a partition between the holy place and the holy of holies - this, so that a sinful person might not erringly approach the presence of God.
This would become the same veil that was torn in two with Jesus' death in the cross (Matthew 27:50-51, Mark 15: 37-38, Luke 23:45-46). God's Word set loose in the World, His presence accessible to all.
The written word of God veiled in the Temple, unleashed as the the embodied Word of God (Logos) paid the final, complete sacrifice on the cross. And now we are the temple of the Living God?
Talk about connecting the dots!
I know that a lot of people are put off by studying the Old Testament - at times it seems archaic and maybe even anachronistic. But the Bible is ultimately one story of one Savior. It just happens to be told across the span of two testaments.
And, yes: Bible Study is a big commitment. I'm going to be sleepy at mine tomorrow because I stayed up too late tonight writing this blog!
But then I think about my favorite story in the Bible: Jesus' encounter with the woman at the well. Jesus met her there where she was. And He continually meets me where I am, in the study of His word. Even when I procrastinate, even when I skim some parts, even when I get sidetracked by Facebook in the middle of my reading. He meets me there. And I wouldn't trade it for the world.
