Leviticus 21-Numbers 6/Mark 10-13

Leviticus
These chapters in Leviticus continues the basic organization of the Israelites culture. First we find the more restrictive rules for the priests and high priests. They were to follow more extreme versions of the purity regime than others. Later in Rabbinical Judaism (that is, modern Judaism) these rules would be spread to the rest of society as well, as one form of substitution for the temple that was destroyed.

We have the calendar, which is complicated because it is lunar rather than solar like ours. Then we have laws such as eye for an eye, life for a life. These were there to limit the breadth of revenge. If someone kills your son, you cannot kill their entire family; which is something not uncommon in certain cultures. Then we cover the years of jubilee. Of course, in a capitalist society, the idea that all credit would be forgiven every 50 years is earth-shaking. God's economy is not our own. For those familiar with farming, you are probably aware of the advantages of letting land lie fallow, as well of the fact that few people practice it anymore because of modern fertilizers.

Leviticus closes with blessings and cursings. The law, as we have seen, is a conditional covenant, based on the people's willingness to follow it. If they do not, then they will lose the land and their blessings. I hope you have questions about chapter 27 we can discuss.

Numbers
Numbers is so named because of the census at the beginning. You can find more basic info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_numbers. The census is taken as a part of organizing the camp: who was in the middle; who on the outside; where was the sanctuary located...etc. Later you will find kings who take a census get in trouble with God because a census had two purposes in the ancient world: 1. to levy taxes; 2. to draft an army.

Numbers also contains more laws regarding the people and will contain various narratives about the Israelites travel.

Chapter 5 covers some of these laws, including the only Trial by Ordeal in the Hebrew Bible. This was done to determine whether a woman was adulterous. In a world where trial by ordeal would have been common place, it is interesting that the ancient Israelites had only one. What do think of it?

Chapter 6 is a nazarite vow, which is a vow a person took for various reasons. Many think John the Baptist took this kind of a vow. It also contains one of the great blessings in the Bible, The Blessing of the Holy Name, in which the name of their God was placed upon the people three times.

Mark 10-13
We begin with Jesus teachings, about marriage, about children, about the how to "get into" the kingdom of God, and Jesus bewilders them with his teachings. He welcomes those the disciples try to drive off, reaches out to those who do not belong, and tells them again and again that he will be killed, but he will be raised again.

He arrives in Jerusalem in Chapter 11 (this time riding one animal - see Matthew). This is always the beginning of the end in Jesus' story. When he gets to Jerusalem, he "cleanses" the temple. He drives the money changers out and begins to talk about himself as a kind of temple. Verse 18 gives us the turning point, "the chief priests and the scribes....kept looking for a way to kill him." Jesus is causing to much trouble, he is announcing a kingdom that is almost a heresy to them, and they decide they must stop him. Remember the story of the fig tree....

However, it won't be easy. Jesus is confronted by them regarding authority and taxes and resurrection. He comes out on top each time. Chapter 13 is what is sometimes called the "little apocalypse." Jesus is speaking as a prophet here, in the great tradition of Isaiah and Jeremiah about the destruction of the temple and of another exile of the people. This is a manifestation of his own exaltation and vindication - that his message is the one God supports and not the religious leaders who are running the temple. Jesus is a kind of alternative-temple movement. The thing to remember, is that he is saying that HE is the new temple. This gets him in a lot of hot water.