by Christadelphians | 2026/06/09 · 2:18 pm

What are the different names of God in the Bible?

Today we received the question:

What are the different names of God in the Bible?

There are several people who say

The Bible employs multiple names for God, each revealing distinct aspects of His character and relationship with humanity.

The biggest mistake many people make is confusing titles with names. It is true that the Divine Creator is given several titles, but only one Name, which is said to be sanctified, which means that it must be set apart. We might not forget that the Divine Name of the Maker of the universe is tied to the identity of the Most High over all the earth, and to His covenant faithfulness, worship, and reputation.

We cannot fail to notice that, over the centuries, a number of so-called theologians and translators of the Holy Scriptures have worked to obscure the Name of God, so that general confusion might arise as to who was actually being referred to, and so that certain church institutions could thus equate the healthy son of Jesus with his heavenly father.

God’s Name on the Scrolls

We can find two frequently used names in the Old Testament, YHWH = Jehovah or Yahweh (the special covenant name). The most used titles in the Old Testament are ‘El (El אל = deity -,a general Semitic designation), conveying the sense of strength and power, Elohim elyon or El elyon (denoting the God Most High), Most High, Elohei HaElohim = God of gods – God above all gods, El Elohe Israel = el elohei yisrael = Mighty God of Israel, Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot / Adonai-Tzva’ot / Jehovah Sabaot (Jehovah of armies = Lord of hosts or the Lord of Armies, Most High Shepherd or Jehovah Rohi = God our Shepherd and Most High King. “Elah” The Awesome. Joel = “Jehovah is God”. Jehovah-nissi = “Jehovah is my banner”.

God (Allah) also revealed Himself to Moses as Ehyeh, Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh אהיה אשר אהיה (I am that I am),

or “I AM,” or “I Am Who is”, “I Am that I Am“, emphasising His eternal, self-existent nature (Exod 3:14), which gives also titles such as “The Eternal God” or Eternal Most High Supreme Being, “HaMakom” המקום (“The Omnipresent” (literally, The Place).

Several compound names highlight God’s specific attributes and actions. God identified Himself to Abraham as “God Almighty” (Gen 17:1), while Abraham named a location “Jehovah-jireh,” meaning the Lord provides (Gen 22:14). God declared Himself as “Jehovah,” El Shaddai (God of the Mountain or Almighty God) the Physician, emphasising His healing power (Exod 15:26), and Gideon built an altar to “Jehovah-shalom,” the Lord of peace (Judg 6:24). Jeremiah prophesied of “Jehovah our righteousness” “King of righteousness“, (Jer 23:6), while Ezekiel referred to the city as “Jehovah-shammah,” the Lord is there (Ezek 48:35), El kanna (jealous God),El olam = everlasting God.

The biblical titles of God carry theological significance, revealing Who He is, what He is like, and what He has done and continues to do. In the Old Testament we can find a full treasure of different names (too many to bring them up overhere). The Psalms invoke titles like “the Most High” and “the (Most) Almighty” (Ps 91:1), while God is called “Jehovah of hosts,”,Jehovah / God of armies, the King of glory (Ps 24:10).

Additional biblical passages reinforce these divine titles: Hagar called God “the God of vision” (Gen 16:13), Abraham invoked “Jehovah, the eternal God” (Gen 21:33), and Christ is proclaimed as “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (Rev 19:16). John’s Gospel presents Jesus as “the Word,” existing with God and possessing divine nature (John 1:1).

People speak about their God Jehovah elohenu = Jehovah our God, Jehovah God exalted above all gods, Jehovah greater than all gods. And it is this God of Israel taht should be our Only One True God.

The bad thing in christendom is that many think that when Jesus answered a suestion if he was a certain person, the one spoken of by the old prophets, he said “I am, implying that he was that persoken off by the prophets, that people say Jesus is God because he said “I am”. Herewith they overlook that milions of people regularly say “I am”, though in such cases they are not considered to be God, which they nor Christ are.

Jehova vs Jehoshua Furthermore, they forget that Jeshua (which is Jesus ‘ real name) was used as a regular name as Jeshua, Jehoshua or Joshua (which are essentially the same name). They are both anglicised forms of historical Hebrew/Aramaic names that mean “Jehovah is salvation” or “Jehovah saves“, many Bibles bringing it as “the LORD is salvation” or “Yahweh saves.”

The same for the popular name “Immanuel” or “Emmanuel,” meaning God with us (Isa 7:14), many taking it that Jesus is mentioned in the New Testament, as being God having come with us. Lots of Christians mistakingly think Jesus said he was “the Alpha and the Omega,” but it was God, the Almighty, Who encompasses all time, Who said “I am the Alpha and the Omega” and not Jesus Christ the Messiah (Rev 1:8).

True Christians ought to believe in the One who revealed Himself to Abraham as Jehovah. That is the distinct (or holy) Name of God, Elohe abotekem, the God of your ancestors, Who will not give His glory to anyone else, nor His praise to carved images. (Isaiah 42:8)

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Calling on the Name Jehovah

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Tagged as Ehyeh = I am, Elah = The Awesome, Elohe abotekem = the God of your ancestors, Elohei-Tzva’ot = Commander of heaven’s armies, Elohim elyon = El elyon = God Most High, God Almighty, God's Name, HaMakom= The Omnipresent", I Am, Immanuel = Emmanuel = God with us, Isaiah 42:8, Jehovah elohenu = Jehovah elohenu = Jehovah our God, Jehovah greater than all gods, Jehovah King of glory, Jehovah Rohi = God our Shepherd, Jehovah-jireh, Jehovah-shalom = Jehovah God / Master / Lordof peace, Jehovah-shammah = Jehovah is there, Jeshua = Jehoshua = Joshua = Jehovah is salvation = Jehovah saves, Most High Shepherd, Name of God, Name versus title, The Alpha and the Omega, Title, Titles of God

by Christadelphians | 2026/06/07 · 7:39 pm

Numbers 19 Cleansing from the impurity of death

Numbers 19:1–22

Original Meaning. Cleansing from the impurity of death. * Even though ritual impurity contracted from a corpse by a live person was secondary, it was serious. This makes sense in light of the rationale underlying the ancient Israelite system of physical ritual impurities: Mortality involved in the birth-death cycle of human beings is opposed to divine holiness, which is characterised by life. What could represent mortality more than a corpse?

At first glance it is peculiar that the full prescription for remedying the prominent impurity of corpse contamination does not appear until Numbers 19, after several passages have referred or alluded to the problem of this kind of impurity (Lev 10:4–5; 21:1–4, 11; Num 6:6–7, 9–12; 8:5–21), and Numbers 8:7 has even mentioned the “water of purification.” However, placement of the remedy for corpse contamination in chapter 19 is appropriate in view of the expanding prominence of death in the narrative. By now thousands of Israelites have perished by divine judgments, and the entire adult generation of non-Levites is doomed to die in the desert, except for Caleb and Joshua.

The fact that corpse contamination was considered such a powerful impurity posed a problem for remedying it: The impure person could not come to the sanctuary in order to sacrifice a purification offering, so ritual decontamination had to take place outside the sacred precincts. Also, because priests were to avoid corpse contamination (Lev 21:1–4, 11), the purification rite needed to be administered by a layperson.

To remedy corpse contamination subject to these constraints, Numbers 19 prescribes a unique procedure consisting of two parts.

1. An unusual ritual outside the camp, officiated by a priest, involved burning a reddish cow, thereby producing a supply of ashes to be stored for future use (19:1–10a).

2. When an Israelite needed cleansing, a few of the ashes were mixed with water as a “ready-made, instant” purification offering, and a layperson sprinkled them on the affected individual (19:10b–22). This economical approach had the additional advantage that it spared grieving Israelites the burden of expensive sacrifices after they had just buried their dead.

Red cow purification offering. Verses 1–10a provide instructions for acquiring sacrificial ashes. The victim supplied by the community is to be female, like other purification offerings for the benefit of individual commoners. It must be a cow, the largest female sacrificeable animal, so that it will supply a maximum quantity of ashes. It must be reddish to evoke the colour of blood. Like other sacrificial victims, it must be unblemished. Additionally, even though the ritual is outside the camp, the cow must not have been used as a work animal.

The son of the high priest is to supervise the sacrificial slaughter of the cow (19:3) and then “take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting” (19:4).

…

The NIV Application Commentary on the Bible: One-Volume Edition; by Christopher A. Beetham; Nancy L. Erickson

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors of ‘the NIV Application Commentary on the Bible’ and do not necessarily represent those of the Christadelphians

Tohorah, in Judaism, the system of ritual purity practised by Israel. Purity (tohorah) and uncleanness (tumʾah) carry forward Pentateuchal commandments that Israel — whether eating, procreating, or worshipping God in the Temple — must avoid sources of contamination, the principal one of which is the corpse (Numbers 19).

In the Jewish laws it is clearly defined what is pure and what is not pure, or has the state of being ritually “impure” and “pure”, respectively.

A person or object which contracts ṭum’ah is said to be ṭamé (טמא‎ Hebrew adjective, “ritually impure”), and thereby unsuited for certain holy activities and uses (kedushah, קְדֻשָּׁה‎‎ in Hebrew) until undergoing predefined purification actions that usually include the elapse of a specified time-period.

The contrasting Hebrew noun ṭaharah (טָהֳרָה‎) describes a state of ritual purity that qualifies the ṭahor (טָהוֹר‎; ritually pure person or object) to be used for kedushah. The most common method of achieving ṭaharah is by the person or object being immersed in a mikveh (ritual bath). This concept is connected with ritual washing in Judaism, and both ritually impure and ritually pure states have parallels in ritual purification in other world religions.

The laws of ṭum’ah and ṭaharah were generally followed by the Israelites and post-exilic Jews, particularly during the First and Second Temple periods, and to a limited extent are a part of applicable halakha in modern times. {Wikipedia}

There are other prohibitions in addition to avoiding the presence of death. Leviticus 11 presents the catalog of foods that are clean or unclean; Israelites may eat of the former, but not the latter. Leviticus 12 goes over the uncleanness that results from childbirth; Leviticus 13–14 deal with a skin ailment (once identified with leprosy), that scripture deems analogous to the condition of the corpse; and Leviticus 15 covers the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual period (a Niddah), a woman whose uncleanness is brought about by other excretions, and the uncleanness of a man brought about by analogous excretions. Leviticus also outlines lesser forms of uncleanness; e.g., that which results from seminal fluid. {Encyc Brit.}

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Tagged as Clean food, Cleansing, Cleansing from the impurity of death, Corpse contamination, Death, Impurity, Israelites, Jewish purity laws, Leviticus 11, Leviticus 12, Leviticus 13–14, Leviticus 15, Leviticus 21:1–4, Mikveh = ritual bath, Mortality, Niddah = nidda = nida = nidah, Numbers 19, Numbers 19.1-10a, Numbers 19.10b-22, Numbers 19:1–22, Post-exilic Jews, Purification, Red cow purification offering, Ritual impure, Ritual pure, Ritual washing in Judaism, Seminal fluid, Skin ailment, Taharah = state of ritual purity, Tamé = ritually impure, Tohorah = purity, Tumʾah = uncleanness, Unclean food, Water of purification

by Guestspeaker | 2026/05/31 · 7:33 pm

Numbers 18 Offences connected with the sanctuary

Numbers chapter 18

18:1 offenses connected with the sanctuary. This phrase should be read as “infractions against the purity of the sanctuary.” Impurity was an external force that attached itself to a person. Ridding oneself of this foreign force was the primary purpose of expiation. The priests and Levites provided a layer of security for the nation as a holy and undefiled people and defined its prophetic destiny as God’s people in the midst of a defiled world. Encroachment by any outside or unauthorised person on the holy objects was punishable by death. Priests were also culpable of violating the sanctity of the Holy Place if they allowed an unauthorised person within its defined sacred space. The priests themselves were prohibited from going beyond the curtain and entering the Most Holy Place; only the high priest was permitted to enter that sanctum on the Day of Atonement.

18:3 they must not go near. The full sanctuary of ancient Israel consisted of concentric zones of holiness. Each zone had its own rules of purity and accessibility. See the article “Zones of Purity in the Camp of Israel,” p. 202.

18:9 most holy offerings. The priestly tribute is divided into two levels of sanctity. The holiest of the offerings, to be consumed only by the priests, were made up of the people’s dedicated offerings presented at the sanctuary — grain offerings, plus sin (purification) and guilt (reparation) offerings (Lev 4:1–35; 5:14–19; 7:1–10). The grain offering (Lev 2:1–13; 6:14–23) was an unleavened mixture of fine flour, oil and incense. A memorial portion was burned on the altar as a sweet aroma to Yahweh, with the remainder eaten by the Aaronic priests (see note on Lev 7:7).

18:11 wave offerings. See note on Lev 7:30.

18:12 firstfruits. The three plant products specified here were the cream of the crop — the very finest of the olive oil, wine and grain. These first processed offerings were distinguished from the normal firstfruit offerings of the first ripe olives, grapes and grain (Lev 2:14). The first yields of what was produced from oil from the olive crushing vats, newly pressed wine and freshly ground flour were to be returned to Yahweh, the owner and giver of all produce. The quality of the produce offered was deemed as the best or choicest of the crops. As the fat of any animal sacrificed or slaughtered was not to be consumed, the fat of the produce from field, orchard or vineyard was also not to be eaten but was to be devoted to Yahweh.

Later in the history of the Israelite kingdoms, prophets such as Hosea illustrated the nation’s unfaithfulness using the imagery of abused firstfruits of the fig season that went to Baal Peor instead of Yahweh (Hos 9:10). Offering the firstfruits to deity was standard practice in the ancient Near East.

18:14 devoted to the Lord. See note on Lev 27:28

18:15 first offspring … firstborn. The second part of the tribute list for the priests related to firstborn animals and humans brought to the sanctuary for offering or dedication. …

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Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible Notes, Bringing to life the Ancient World of Scripture; by Craig Keener; John H. Walton; Publisher: Zondervan, 2016

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors of ‘Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible Notes’ and do not necessarily represent those of the Christadelphians

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Tagged as Baal Peor, Day of atonement, Firstfruit offering, Firstfruits, Grain offering, Guilt offering, Hosea 9:10, Impurity, Infractions against the purity of the sanctuary, Leviticus 27:28, Leviticus 2:14, Numbers 18, Numbers 18:1, Numbers 18:11, Numbers 18:12, Numbers 18:14, Numbers 18:15, Numbers 18:3, Numbers 18:9, Offenses connected with the sanctuary, Offerings for the Tabernacle, Prophet Hosea, Purity of the sanctuary, Rules of purity, Sanctity of the Holy Place, Sanctuary, Sanctuary of ancient Israel, Sin offering, Wave offering

by Guestspeaker | 2026/05/30 · 6:22 pm

Job 9 Ancient Near East, Babylonian and Ugaritic myths

CHAPTER 9

9:2 prove their innocence. Legal motifs and terms abound in the book of Job, and the book has even been described as a theological lawsuit. Job considers himself a defendant in a criminal case, but he is trying to take the role of plaintiff in a civil case who has charges to make against God. In Mesopotamia, the gods controlled justice, and gods could be adversaries in court. There is one comparable example in which a king calls upon Shamash, the sun-god and god of justice, to judge him.

9:3 one time out of a thousand. Impossible odds (cf. 33:23; Dt 32:30).

Job 9:5–10

Cosmic Geography

The ancient Israelites shared many common cosmological (dealing with the structure of the cosmos) and cosmogonic (dealing with the origin of the cosmos) beliefs with the ancient Near Eastern world, although for them there was only one Creator. According to the Hebrew Bible, the cosmos consists of heaven, earth, underworld and sea. In both Egyptian and Mesopotamian thought, the world was understood as a disk resting on the primeval waters. Most people saw their own place as in the centre, with the other countries on the periphery. Above was the sky, studded with stars, which were thought to be engraved in the solid sky.

Job 9:6 indicates that the earth rests on pillars, as does Ps 75:3 (cf. foundations/footings in 1Sa 2:8; 2Sa 22:16; Job 38:4, 6; Ps 18:15; 82:5 [also shaken]; 104:5). In Job 26:11, the pillars of the heavens quake. God shakes the heavens, earth, dry land and sea (Hag 2:6). On a Babylonian kudurru (boundary stone), which might depict the world, a large pillar is depicted that undergirds the cosmos. Throughout the Bible and the ancient Near East, what is most important is the role of the gods in the operation of the cosmos. This is generally expressed in relation to the way they viewed the world around them (cosmic geography). In Job, God controls the sun and makes the stars (Job 9:6–9). God stretches out the heavens (Job 26:7; cf. Ps 104:2; Isa 40:22) and treads on the waves of the sea (Job 9:8). In the Babylonian creation epic, the god Marduk creates and destroys the constellation to indicate his power. After defeating Tiamat, he splits her in two; half of her he sets up and makes into a cover — heaven, which he stretches out over the cosmos. He then establishes the constellation of the stars.

In Job 9:8, “treads” means to defeat or subjugate, as in Dt 33:29. The image of the ocean as chaos was already seen in Job 3:8 (there called Leviathan) and in Job 7:12 (there it is put under guard), while in Job 38:8–11 it is shut up behind doors; its limits are set with doors and bars and halted from going any farther. In Ugaritic myths, the god Baal defeats Yamm, the sea. On a stele from Baal’s temple at Ugarit the wavy lines on which the god Baal is standing have been interpreted as the waves of the sea and as the mountains.

All of this demonstrates that the Israelites’ thoughts about the world around them were quite similar to those of all their neighbours,

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Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible Notes, Bringing to life the Ancient World of Scripture; by Craig Keener; John H. Walton; Publisher: Zondervan, 2016

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Tagged as Baal = Baʿal (Middle Eastern fertility deity), Babylonian creation epic, Cosmic geography, Cosmogonic belief(s), Cosmological belief(s), Earth resting on pillars, Haggai 2:6, Job 26:11, Job 3:8, Job 7:12, Job 9, Job 9:2, Job 9:5-10, Job 9:6, Job 9:6-9, Job 9:8, Marduk (Babylonian god), Operation of the cosmos, Pillars of the heavens, Role of the gods, Shamash (Mesopotamian sungod + part of astral triad of divinities), Tiamat (Mesopotamian mother of the gods), Ugaritic mythology, World, Yamm = Yam = Yammu (W. Semitic Ugaritic sea + river god)

by Guestspeaker | 2026/05/24 · 7:38 pm

Numbers 7:1-89 The chieftains, Kohathites and Gershonite and Merarite Levites

Numbers 7:1–89

Original Meaning. The chieftains, representing their tribes (not including Levi), brought their gifts to the sanctuary when Moses anointed and thereby consecrated it (7:1–2). The chiefs give six wagons and twelve oxen, two for each wagon, which logically go to the Gershonite and Merarite Levites for transporting the sanctuary (7:3–8). This helps to explain why the present archival account is placed here in the book of Numbers. The gifts meet needs created by the Levite job descriptions (ch. 4).

Baroque painting of the death of Uzzah by Giulio Quaglio the Younger in a medallion in Ljubljana Cathedral (1704)

The Kohathites do not need wagons because they transport the sacred furniture on their shoulders by poles (7:9). This requires manpower, but it protects the precious items from the kind of jolting that later cost Uzzah his life when he reached out to steady the ark of the covenant on its cart (2 Sam 6:3–7).

Having introduced the twelve tribal chieftains in Numbers 7, the rest of the chapter (except for 7:89) continues with an inventory of the chieftains’ other offerings, even though they brought them earlier for the service of the outer altar when it was initiated/inaugurated shortly after it was anointed (7:10–88; cf. 7:1). Although this inventory belongs between Leviticus 8 and 9 from a chronological perspective, its present location maintains thematic cohesion by avoiding interruption of the grand consecration-inauguration process in Leviticus and by keeping the chiefs’ presents to the sanctuary together.

The word for “initiation” (NIV “dedication”) of the altar is hanukkah (7:10, 11, 84, 88). This noun denotes the first use of a structure for the purpose for which it was intended. Thus, a house (Deut 20:5), city wall (Neh 12:27), or image (Dan 3:2–3) could be initiated, as was Solomon’s temple (1 Kgs 8:63; 2 Chr 7:5) and its altar (2 Chr 7:9). The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah in December celebrates the initiation of a new altar when the Maccabees purified and reconsecrated the Second Temple (1 Macc 4:52–59).

At first glance, the last verse of Numbers 7 (7:89) looks isolated, but it harks back to the beginning of the chapter, which refers to Moses’s setting up and consecrating the sanctuary. As the Lord promised when he provided directions for constructing the ark of the covenant (Exod 25:22), Moses heard the Lord’s voice “speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the atonement cover on the ark of the covenant law” (Num 7:89).

The initial occasion when Moses could enter the tabernacle after its consecration and encounter the divine glory like this was at the conclusion of the public inauguration service (Lev 9:23; cf. 9:6), for which sacrificial victims and other materials (9:1–5) undoubtedly had been provided by the chieftains. At that time Moses and Aaron blessed the people (9:22–23; cf. Num 6:22–27). So, Numbers 6:22–7:89 contains a cluster of connections to the founding events of Israelite worship on which any progress would be based.

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The NIV Application Commentary on the Bible: One-Volume Edition; by by Christopher A. Beetham; Nancy L. Erickson

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Tagged as 1 Maccabees 4:52-59, Chieftains, Gershonite Levites, Hanukkah = initiation = dedication, Kohathites, Leviticus 8, Leviticus 9, Merarite Levites, Numbers 6:22-27, Numbers 6:22-7:89, Numbers 7, Numbers 7:1-2, Numbers 7:1-89, Numbers 7:10, Numbers 7:10-88, Numbers 7:3-8, Numbers 7:89, Second Temple

by Guestspeaker | 2026/05/17 · 7:35 pm

Leviticus 23:1–22 Proclamation of holiness

Leviticus 23:1–22

Original Meaning. Leviticus 23 attaches the expression “proclamation of holiness” (NIV “sacred assemblies”) to the weekly Sabbath (23:3) plus seven yearly festival days. Why should holy days be occasions of rest? Although the Creator rested only on the weekly Sabbath (Gen 2:2–3), at that time he established cessation from work as the way to enact holiness in the dimension of time (23:3).

Verses 5–8 remind the Israelites to celebrate Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month and the seven-day Festival of Unleavened Bread immediately thereafter. Exodus 12:16 establishes a paradigm for Leviticus 23 by labelling the first and seventh days of the festival proclamations of holiness, when work is forbidden except for food preparation.

Verses 9–21 concern two observances, fifty days apart, that celebrate and implicitly thank God for the beginnings of the barley and wheat harvests, respectively, after they are settled in the promised land. First, the Israelites are to bring to the sanctuary the first sheaf of grain that they harvest in the spring, which is undoubtedly barley. A priest dedicates the sheaf to the Lord (23:11–12). On the same day, the people are required to sacrifice a burnt offering with its grain and drink accompaniments (23:12–13). By giving the Lord a token portion before eating any of the new harvest, they act out “saying the blessing,” acknowledging that the harvest is from him.

Up to this point everything is clear, but on what day is the sheaf to be elevated/waved? Verse 11 specifies: “on the day after the Sabbath” (see also 23:15). But to which Sabbath does this refer—a weekly Sabbath (23:3) or a ceremonial Sabbath belonging to the Festival of Unleavened Bread (23:7–8)? By the Second Temple period a fierce interpretive controversy raged over whether “the day after the Sabbath” meant the first weekly Sabbath after Passover (Nisan 14) or the ceremonial Sabbath on the first day of Unleavened Bread, which always came on Nisan 15.

It is difficult for us to appreciate why a ritual detail should generate such a heated fuss. When so many people have a stake in the same ritual — the correct performance of which is deemed crucial for divine favour on the entire nation — the particulars matter. To complicate matters, the timing of the sheaf ritual was the base point for calculating when the subsequent Festival of Weeks was to be observed (23:15).

Counting the day when the barley sheaf is elevated as day 1, the Festival of Weeks comes after seven complete Sabbaths (23:15). Confirmation that “Sabbaths” in this context mean “weeks” comes from Numbers 28:26, where the usual word for weeks refers to the same period of time. The fact that in Leviticus 23:15 “Sabbaths” are weeks buttresses the argument that “the day after the Sabbath” earlier in the same verse refers to the weekly Sabbath rather than a yearly ceremonial rest day.

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The NIV Application Commentary on the Bible: One-Volume Edition; by Christopher A. Beetham; Nancy L. Erickson

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When does your day begin and when begins God His day

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by Guestspeaker | 2026/05/10 · 7:31 pm

Leviticus 13:49 & Leviticus 14:2-4 major biblical treatment of “leprosy”

“and if the plague is greenish or reddish in the garment or in the skin, either in the warp or in the woof or in any thing of skin, it is a plague of leprosy and shall be shown unto the priest.” (Leviticus 13:49 KJ21)

“2 “This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest. 3 And the priest shall go forth out of the camp, and the priest shall look; and behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper, 4 then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop.” (Leviticus 14:2-4 KJ21)

“Or if he touch the uncleanness of man, whatsoever his uncleanness be wherewith he is unclean, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty.” (Leviticus 5:3 ASV)

“Let her not, I pray, be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother’s womb.” (Numbers 12:12 ASV)

Lev. 13:49; 14:2–4 in Context. Leviticus 13:49 and 14:2–4 belong to the major biblical treatment of “leprosy,” found in Lev. 13–14. “Scale disease” constituted a grave threat against Israel’s cultic purity (Lev. 5:3). Its contamination was likened to that contracted in touching a corpse (Num. 12:12). Sufferers were regarded as the living dead (Num. 12:12; 2 Kings 5:7; Job 18:13; cf. rending the clothes in Gen. 37:34; 2 Sam. 1:11, and covering the upper lip in Ezek. 24:17, 22 [see Wenham 1979: 200–201]) and were excluded from the camp (Lev. 13:45–46). In several high-profile cases leprosy is seen as judgment on particularly egregious sins (e.g., Num. 12:10; 2 Kings 5:27; 15:5; 2 Chron. 26:21; cf. 2 Sam. 3:29). A cure lay solely in Yahweh’s purview, the rare healings occuring only through his agents calling on his name (Num. 12; cf. 2 Kings 5:1–14). In Leviticus, the priest merely responds to circumstances in order to safeguard the sanctity of Yahweh’s people and dwelling place (Lev. 14:1–7; cf. m. Neg. 3:1). The prophets offer no explicit eschatological hope for the restoration of those having the affliction, but there is the general promise of the removal of all uncleanness (note in the LXX akathartos in Isa. 35:8; 64:5 [64:6 ET]; cf. akatharsia in Ezek. 36:25–29; see also Isa. 52:1, 11; Ezek. 14:11; 43:7; Zech. 13:2).

C. Lev. 13:49 in Judaism. Later Jewish tradition reflected in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the rabbis, and the Targumim contain numerous discussions of and allusions to purity issues surrounding “lepers” (see the examples in Milgrom 1991–2001: 768–901; cf. Neyrey 1986). Those afflicted with the malady continue to be regarded as a grave threat to purity …

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Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament; by G. K. Beale; D. A. Carson

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors of the Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament and do not necessarily represent those of the Christadelphians

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Tagged as Leprosy = Hansen’s disease, Leviticus 13:49, Leviticus 14:2-4, Leviticus 5:3, Numbers 12:12, Scale disease, Tsaraat = lepra = leprosy - ritually impure skin conditions, Uncleanness

by Guestspeaker | 2026/05/09 · 8:00 pm

Leviticus 13:2 & 46 Ostracising persons afflicted with defiling skin diseases

Chapter 13

13:2 a defiling skin disease. A more descriptive rendering is “a scaly skin condition.” Here the issue regarding a scaly (with lesions) skin disease is not infection/contagion in the sense that it would make other people physically sick. Rather, the concern is with protection of the sphere of holiness, centred at the sanctuary, from defilement by ritual impurity.

The maladies lumped in chs. 13–14 under the heading of scale disease cannot be simply equated with modern “leprosy” (i.e., Hansen’s disease). The Hebrew term applies to a complex of conditions, including some that resemble psoriasis and vitiligo, just as Hippocrates used Greek lepra for several skin diseases (see note on Ex 4:6). In Leviticus, scale disease is not restricted to just human beings, but could also affect a house (see note on Lev 14:34). In some instances, white discolouration of skin or hair could be a factor among others that was symptomatic of the impure affliction. For a similar dim view of white discolourations, compare Mesopotamian omens. Hansen’s disease was little known in the ancient Near East prior to the time of Alexander, though there is one Assyrian medical text that describes symptoms that may well be Hansen’s disease.

13:46 they must live outside the camp. Some Mesopotamian curses also speak of ostracising persons afflicted with scale disease (see previous note). Compare the Babylonian rule in which cultic functionaries who became ritually impure by purging the Ezida cella of the god Nabu on the fifth day of the Babylonian New Year Festival of Spring were required to remain outside the city of Babylon for the duration of the festival.

…

Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible Notes, Bringing to life the Ancient World of Scripture; by Craig Keener; John H. Walton; Publisher: Zondervan, 2016

Leviticus 13:1–59 Skin diseases

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Tagged as Babylonian New Year Festival of Spring, Leprosy = Hansen’s disease, Leviticus 13:2, Leviticus 13:46, Nabu (Babylonian deity), Ostracising, Ostracising persons afflicted with defiling skin diseases, Psoriasis, Ritual impurity, Scale disease, Skin disease, Tsaraat = lepra = leprosy - ritually impure skin conditions, Vitiligo

by Guestspeaker | 2026/05/08 · 8:17 pm

History repeats, but all shall have to know Who Jehovah God is

Humans are stubborn creatures who learn very slowly.

Throughout the ages, the Divine Creator has done everything in His power to guide humanity onto the right path, but the majority of people believe they know better than an Invisible Being over whom they have no control. From start to finish, the story of the Bible is how God wants us to live in a world that is a cosmic battleground between good and evil and in which people must choose between them.

God’s concerns have included sustaining and relating to people. God always has kept an eye on what occurs on earth and let people make their own choices. But He often advised and guided them.

Even for God’s Own People it took repeated disasters such as plagues, famine, death and finally exile before they recognised the seriousness of their sin and turned back to God. But over and over again they fell into similar traps and were misled by people who preferred to have their own gods. Though God’s People had to know the very first request of their God that “for Israel there shall be no other gods.” Other gods were allowed to exist in some irrelevant fashion, yet Israel had to give such “deities” no worship, no offerings, no obedience. Another possible interpretation is that “no other god exists.” If no other god exists, then it makes no sense to pay any attention to any God but Jehovah. And that is what the whole earth has come to know.

Chapter 7 of the Book of Ezekiel, has a series of oracles of doom and judgment that repeat in other words much of what the prophet has already said.

Throughout history, we see that there was more than once, no movement toward Jehovah until the people had been oppressed by the Adonai through the foreign nations. When all else failed, each time Israel turned back to God. Israel’s history proved that God could be present to bless or to judge.

God’s Word was delivered to Ezekiel to prophesy concerning the nations that emerged from Isaac: Edom and Israel. Edom, represented by Mount Seir, was judged because of its long hatred toward Israel. When Israel was weak and suffering, Edom had taken advantage of them, rejoiced in their fall, and even desired their land. Because of this, God declared that Edom would become a desolate land, filled with ruin and bloodshed. Their pride and hostility brought about their complete downfall, and their land was to remain empty as a sign of God’s judgment. In contrast, Israel, though it had sinned and was scattered among the nations, was given a promise of restoration. While Edom faced lasting destruction because of its hatred and actions, Israel was restored not because it deserved it, but for the sake of God’s Holy Name, which had been profaned among the nations.

God’s judgment was never meant to simply destroy them. His purpose was to bring them back to Himself. He wanted them to acknowledge Him as the one true Lord and to remember that life, hope and meaning flow only from Him.

The story brought in the Book of Ezekiel is one that can be projected on our own present time, where we also can find people having their idols and god, whith their main god: money or financial power.

The world is full of distractions that draw our hearts away from God. We willingly give in to the temporary pleasures and comforts around us, often forgetting our need for Him. Like Israel, we may hear God’s warnings, yet still delay repentance, believing we have time or that things are not as serious as He says.Yet, God still desires for all people to know Him personally. He continues to call, to warn, to guide and to draw us back. And through Jesus Christ, He has provided forgiveness and a way for all of us to return to Him. The challenge remains for us to listen, to remember, and to respond before our hearts grow dull again. We must let go of the mountains we’ve built in our lives and climb God’s holy mountain instead.

Jehovah had said to the land of Israel that an end had come on them, and that He was going to send His wrath on them, judging them for their ways. Like God had send punishment on them for all their disgusting acts, He will do also for those living at other times.

We can only hope that He will have mercy on us. But we should all be aware that God is a God of rightousness Who will send the punishment of people their ways according their acts and ways of lives.

The people of Israel had to see, the day coming: the crowning time had gone out; the twisted way was flowering, pride had put out buds. Today we also can see violent behaviour that has been lifted up into a rod of evil.

Also today lots of people cling on to material goods, but they shall have to know that their wealth, their silver and their gold, will not be able to keep them safe in the day of the wrath of the Most High God.
Let us be careful that God’s Face will not be turned away from us. The world is full of violent acts and as such it can well be for this reason that Jehvoah will make the pride of the bad guys their strength come to an end. Let us have in thaught “Shaking fear is coming; and they will be looking for peace, and there will be no peace. ”

In the ancient times ther was destruction on destruction, and one story after another; and the vision of the prophet had be shamed, and knowledge of the law had come to an end among the priests, and wisdom among the old. Today we can see the political leaders and their nations also in shambles, many lands being troubled.
But we must remember that Jehovah, the Only One True God, shall be there to give them punishment for those who earn it. Judging them as it is right for them to be judged; and they will be certain that Jehovah is the Lord.

VI. The End of the Civil Order

(7:1–27)

7 1 The word of YHWH came to me: 2 You, mana—thus said Lord YHWH to the soil of Israel:
An end!
Comes the end upon the four corners of the earth!
3 The end is now upon you!
I will let loose my anger against you,
and punish you according to your ways,
and lay upon you all your abominations.
4 My eye shall not spare you,
nor will I have pity;
But I will lay upon you all your ways,
and your abominations shall fester within you;
and you shall know that I am YHWH.
5 Thus said Lord YHWH:
bAn evil!
A singular evilb;
see, it is coming.
6 Comes an end;
the end is coming;
it is ripe for you!
See, it is coming:
7 Doom has come upon you,
O inhabitant of the land!
The time is coming,
the day is near—
of tumult, not harvest-cries upon the hills.
8 Soon now I will pour out my fury on you,
and spend my anger on you.
I will punish you according to your ways,
and lay upon you all your abominations.
9 My eye shall not spare,
nor will I have pity;
cAccording to your waysc I will requite you,
and your abominations shall fester within you,
And you shall know that I, YHWH, strike.

  10&nbsp;The day is here!
     See, it has gone forth;
     doom has gone forth,
     the rod has sprouted,
     insolence has put forth flowers;
     11&nbsp;lawlessness has grown into a rod of wickedness.
  dNothing of them and nothing of their masses
     and nothing of their tumult and no lament among them.d
  12&nbsp;The time has come;
     the day has arrived!
  The buyer—let him not rejoice;
     the seller—let him not mourn;
     for wrath is upon all her masses.
  13&nbsp;For the seller shall not return to what he has sold,
     though both parties still be alive;
     for the vision concerning all her masses shall not be revoked;
     and each, living in his iniquity, shall not hold firm.
  14&nbsp;eThey have blowne the horn
     and made everything ready,
     but no one goes out to battle,
     for my wrath is upon all her masses.
  15&nbsp;The sword without,
     plague and famine within:
  He who is in the country
     shall die by the sword,
  And he who is in the city—
     famine and plague shall consume him.
  16&nbsp;Those of them who escape
     shall haunt the mountains
     like doves of the valleys,
     all of them moaningf each in his iniquity.
  17&nbsp;Every hand shall hang limp,
     all knees shall run with water.
  18&nbsp;They shall gird sackcloth,
     and shuddering shall cover them;
  Confusion on every face,
     hair plucked from every head.
  19&nbsp;They shall fling their silver into the streets;
     their gold shall be as an unclean thing.
  Their silver and gold shall be powerless to save them
     on the day of YHWH’s rage.
  They shall not satisfy their hunger,
     nor fill their bellies [with it],
  For it was their stumbling-block of iniquity.

20 Theirg beautiful adornment in which theyg took pride—out of it they made images of htheir abominable, loathsomeh things; therefore I will turn it into an unclean thing for them.
21 I will hand it over to strangers as booty,
to the wicked of the earth as spoil,
and they shall desecrate it.
22 I will avert my face from them
and they shall desecrate my treasure;
Violent men shall enter it
and desecrate it.

  23&nbsp;Forge the chain!
  For the land is full of bloody judgments
     and the city is full of lawlessness.
  24&nbsp;So I will bring the worst of the nations
     and they shall take possession of their houses;
  And I will put an end to the pride of ithe fiercei,
     and their sanctuaries shall be desecrated.
  25&nbsp;Terror is coming!
     They shall seek peace, but there’ll be none.
  26&nbsp;Disaster shall come after disaster,
     bad news on the heels of bad news.
  They shall seek [in vain] for the prophet’s vision,
     instruction shall fail the priest,
     and counsel, the elders.
  27&nbsp;The king shall be in mourning,
     the chief wear desolation,
     and the hands of the citizenry shall be paralyzed.
  I will give them a taste of their own ways,
     and by their own judgments I will judge them;
  And they shall know that I am YHWH.

a G S add “say.”

b Hebrew mss., editions, “evil after (ʾaḥar = T batar) evil”; S “evil for (ḥlp = Heb. taḥat) evil.”

c G reflects ky drkyk as in vs 4.

d G “and not with tumult (as from mhwmh) nor with speed (as from mhrh).”

e G “Blow!”

f G “I will kill” (as from ʾmyt); S “will die.”

[ words not in MT

] words not in MT

g MT “his” (S “their”); “he” (G S “they”).

h G reflects only one of these, but which one cannot be determined.

i G “their strength” (as from ʿzm).

Greenberg, M. (2008). Ezekiel 1–20: a new translation with introduction and commentary (Vol. 22, pp. 142–145). Yale University Press.

People often recognise God and His grace only during times of restoration because they are more drawn to visible blessings than to the quiet work of correction and growth. Like in the case of Job, many admire his story after his restoration and even name their children after his sons and daughters, focusing on the outcome rather than the suffering and lessons that came before. When God is teaching, correcting, or allowing hardship, people tend to question His sovereignty and resist His ways. But once restoration and blessing come, they readily acknowledge Him, as if He had always been their God. This reveals a tendency to value God’s gifts more than His purpose, and to recognise His hand only when it brings comfort rather than when it brings transformation.

Mountains Bow Down Before Him

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Tagged as Anger of God, Choice, Distraction, Edom, Ezekiel 7, Ezekiel 7:1-27, Financial power, Judgment of God, Material goods, Materialism, Mercy of God, Money, Mount Seir, Only True God, Political leaders, Pride, Punishment of people, Sovereignty of God, Violent act(s)

by Guestspeaker | 2026/05/08 · 7:47 pm

Leviticus 13:1–59 Skin diseases

“1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy, then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest or unto one of his sons the priests. 3 And the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh; and when the hair in the plague has turned white and the plague in appearance be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy; and the priest shall look on him and pronounce him unclean. 4 If the bright spot be white in the skin of his flesh and in appearance be not deeper than the skin and the hair thereof be not turned white, then the priest shall shut up him that hath the plague seven days. 5 And the priest shall look on him the seventh day; and behold, if the plague in its appearance is stayed and the plague spread not in the skin, then the priest shall shut him up seven days more. 6 And the priest shall look on him again the seventh day; and behold, if the plague be somewhat dark and the plague spread not in the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean. It is but a scab, and he shall wash his clothes and be clean. 7 But if the scab spread much abroad in the skin, after he hath been seen by the priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen by the priest again. 8 And if the priest see that, behold, the scab spreadeth in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is leprosy. 9 “When the plague of leprosy is in a man, then he shall be brought unto the priest. 10 And the priest shall see him; and behold, if the rising be white in the skin and it has turned the hair white and there be living raw flesh in the rising, 11 it is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh; and the priest shall pronounce him unclean and shall not shut him up, for he is unclean. 12 And if leprosy break out abroad in the skin and the leprosy cover all the skin of him that hath the plague from his head even to his foot, wheresoever the priest looketh, 13 then the priest shall consider; and behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague. It has all turned white; he is clean. 14 But when raw flesh appeareth in him, he shall be unclean. 15 And the priest shall see the raw flesh and pronounce him to be unclean, for the raw flesh is unclean; it is leprosy. 16 Or if the raw flesh turn again and be changed unto white, he shall come unto the priest, 17 and the priest shall see him; and behold, if the plague be turned into white, then the priest shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague; he is clean.”

“18 “The flesh also in which, even in the skin thereof, was a boil and it is healed, 19 and in the place of the boil there be a white rising or a bright spot, white and somewhat reddish, and it be shown to the priest, 20 and if, when the priest seeth it, behold, it is in appearance lower than the skin and the hair thereof is turned white, the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a plague of leprosy broken out of the boil. 21 But if the priest look on it, and behold, there are no white hairs therein and if it is not lower than the skin, but is somewhat dark, then the priest shall shut him up seven days. 22 And if it spread much abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a plague. 23 But if the bright spot stay in his place and spread not, it is a burning boil; and the priest shall pronounce him clean. 24 “Or if there be any flesh in the skin whereof there is a hot burning, and the living flesh that burneth have a white bright spot, somewhat reddish or white, 25 then the priest shall look upon it; and behold, if the hair in the bright spot is turned white and it is in appearance deeper than the skin, it is a leprosy broken out of the burning. Therefore the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is the plague of leprosy. 26 But if the priest look on it, and behold, there is no white hair in the bright spot and it is no lower than the other skin, but is somewhat dark, then the priest shall shut him up seven days. 27 And the priest shall look upon him the seventh day; and if it is spread much abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is the plague of leprosy. 28 And if the bright spot stay in his place and spread not in the skin, but it is somewhat dark, it is a rising from the burning; and the priest shall pronounce him clean, for it is an inflammation from the burning. 29 “If a man or woman have a plague upon the head or the beard, 30 then the priest shall see the plague; and behold, if it be in appearance deeper than the skin and there is in it a yellow thin hair, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a dry scall, even a leprosy upon the head or beard. 31 And if the priest look on the plague of the scall, and behold, it is not in appearance deeper than the skin and there is no black hair in it, then the priest shall shut up him that hath the plague of the scall seven days. 32 And on the seventh day the priest shall look on the plague; and behold, if the scall spread not and there is in it no yellow hair and the scall is not in appearance deeper than the skin, 33 he shall be shaved, but the scall shall he not shave; and the priest shall shut up him that hath the scall seven days more. 34 And on the seventh day the priest shall look on the scall; and behold, if the scall is not spread in the skin nor is in appearance deeper than the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean; and he shall wash his clothes and be clean. 35 But if the scall spread much in the skin after his cleansing, 36 then the priest shall look on him; and behold, if the scall is spread in the skin, the priest shall not seek for yellow hair; he is unclean. 37 But if the scall is in appearance stayed and there is black hair grown up therein, the scall is healed; he is clean, and the priest shall pronounce him clean.”

“38 “If a man also or a woman have in the skin of their flesh bright spots, even white bright spots, 39 then the priest shall look; and behold, if the bright spots in the skin of their flesh be darkish white, it is a freckled spot that groweth in the skin; he is clean. 40 “And the man whose hair has fallen off his head, he is bald, yet is he clean. 41 And he that hath his hair fallen off from the part of his head toward his face, his forehead is bald, yet is he clean. 42 And if there be in the bald head or bald forehead a white reddish sore, it is leprosy sprung up in his bald head or his bald forehead. 43 Then the priest shall look upon it; and behold, if the rising of the sore is reddish white in his bald head or in his bald forehead, as the leprosy appeareth in the skin of the flesh, 44 he is a leprous man; he is unclean. The priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague is on his head. 45 “And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip and shall cry, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ 46 All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean. He shall dwell alone; outside the camp shall his habitation be.”

“47 “The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it be a woolen garment or a linen garment, 48 whether it be in the warp or woof, of linen or of wool, whether in a skin or in any thing made of skin, 49 and if the plague is greenish or reddish in the garment or in the skin, either in the warp or in the woof or in any thing of skin, it is a plague of leprosy and shall be shown unto the priest. 50 And the priest shall look upon the plague and shut up it that hath the plague seven days. 51 And he shall look on the plague on the seventh day; if the plague is spread in the garment, either in the warp or in the woof, or in a skin or in any work that is made of skin, the plague is a consuming leprosy; it is unclean. 52 He shall therefore burn that garment, whether warp or woof, in wool or in linen, or any thing of skin wherein the plague is, for it is a consuming leprosy; it shall be burned in the fire. 53 “And if the priest shall look, and behold, the plague is not spread in the garment, either in the warp or in the woof, or in any thing of skin, 54 then the priest shall command that they wash the thing wherein the plague is, and he shall shut it up seven days more. 55 And the priest shall look on the plague after it is washed; and behold, if the plague has not changed his color and the plague is not spread, it is unclean; thou shalt burn it in the fire. It has eaten inward, whether it be bare within or without. 56 And if the priest look, and behold, the plague is somewhat dark after the washing of it, then he shall rend it out of the garment, or out of the skin, or out of the warp, or out of the woof. 57 And if it appear still in the garment, either in the warp or in the woof or in any thing of skin, it is a spreading plague; thou shalt burn that wherein the plague is with fire. 58 And the garment, either warp or woof or whatsoever thing of skin it is which thou shalt wash, if the plague is departed from them, then it shall be washed the second time and shall be clean.” 59 This is the law of the plague of leprosy in a garment of wool or linen, either in the warp or woof, or any thing of skins, to pronounce it clean or to pronounce it unclean.” (Leviticus 13:1-59 KJ21)

Leviticus 13:1–59

Original Meaning. Since the symptoms of skin disease in chapter 13 are rather complicated and potentially ambiguous, it is no wonder their interpretation was left for priestly experts. This chapter contains a number of obscure Hebrew medical terms, the most important of which is the overall designation for ritually impure skin conditions: tsaraat.

The common translation “leprosy” has arisen from the LXX (Septuagint) translation of tsaraat as lepra, the word that also appears in the New Testament (Matt 8:3; Mark 1:42; Luke 5:12–13). Just as Hippocrates appears to have used Greek lepra with reference to several skin diseases, Hebrew tsaraat applies to a complex of conditions, including some that resemble psoriasis and vitiligo. Some scholars have contended that Hebrew tsaraat and Greek lepra do not refer to modern “leprosy,” now known as Hansen’s disease, for which Greek could use another term: elephantiasis. Although diseases can change over time and tsaraat in Leviticus 13–14 applies to a variety of conditions that can even affect fabrics and houses, some key symptoms of the chronic form of human tsaraat in Leviticus 13 correspond to those of Hansen’s disease. Therefore, it appears that biblical tsaraat could have at least included an ancient form of the loathsome disease we now label “leprosy.”

These considerations point to the key for understanding Leviticus 13–14. The concerns here for diagnosis and quarantine are not with one or more medical conditions per se but with recognising outward appearances that place persons or things in the ritually impure category, which must be kept separate from the sacred sphere. Because we are dealing here with the world of religious ritual rather than medicine, scientific identification of skin disease is not crucial for understanding the biblical message.

Here is a reader’s digested outline of the diagnoses and other instructions in Leviticus 13, following the introduction to divine speech in 13:1:

Impure skin disease on persons (13:2–44)

Prescribed behaviour of skin diseased persons (13:45–46)

Impure spoiling = mold in fabrics (13:47–59)

In Leviticus 13:2–44 the diagnostic procedure is logical. A person suspected of having skin disease is brought to a priest, who inspects the affected area. If he observes a clear manifestation of the disease according to the criteria listed above, he pronounces the person ritually impure. If there is a question, however, the priest quarantines the person for a week, after which he examines the affected area again. If it betrays signs of skin disease, it is pronounced as such, but if the case is still ambiguous, there is another week of quarantine. If no changes for the worse identify the condition as skin disease, the priest declares the individual “clean,” that is, free from that serious impurity. However, apparently as a result of a two-week quarantine for suspected skin disease, the person has incurred minor impurity that requires laundering his or her clothes …

…

The NIV Application Commentary on the Bible: One-Volume Edition; by Christopher A. Beetham; Nancy L. Erickson

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Tagged as Elephantiasis, Impure spoiling = mold in fabrics, Impurity, Leprosy = Hansen’s disease, Leviticus 13:1–59, Leviticus 13:2-44, Leviticus 13:45-46, Leviticus 13:47–59, Leviticus 13–14, Psoriasis, Quarantine, Ritual impurity, Skin disease, Tsaraat = lepra = leprosy - ritually impure skin conditions, Vitiligo

by Guestspeaker | 2026/05/01 · 7:19 pm

Purity, impurity and purification

“1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, 2 “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, ‘If a woman have conceived seed and borne a manchild, then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean. 3 And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. 4 And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days. She shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary until the days of her purifying are fulfilled. 5 But if she bear a maidchild, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation; and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days.”

“6 “‘And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation unto the priest, 7 who shall offer it before the LORD and make an atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. This is the law for her that hath borne a male or a female. 8 And if she be not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons, the one for the burnt offering and the other for a sin offering, and the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall be clean.’”” (Leviticus 12:1-8 KJ21)

Chapter 12

12:2 ceremonially unclean for seven days. Throughout history, many cultures all over the world have treated genital discharges, including those involved in menstruation and childbirth, as causing ritual impurity (see notes on ch. 15). A Hittite birth ritual text requires a sacrifice on the seventh day after birth and says that a male infant is pure by the age of three months, but a female is pure at four months. As in ch. 12, there is a weeklong initial period of impurity, and purification of a girl takes longer (cf. vv. 4–5). One possible reason why a daughter requires a longer time for purification is that a daughter often has a slight vaginal discharge at birth, making both mother and daughter unclean. We can observe that whereas the Hittite process has to do with the baby’s impurity, Leviticus is concerned with that of the mother. Also, the Hittite sacrifice is offered at the end of the first week, but Israelite sacrifices come after the entire period of purification.

12:7 atonement. See note on 1:4. This case makes it clear that the “sin offering” is more accurately a purification ritual, since no sin is involved here.

…

Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible Notes, Bringing to life the Ancient World of Scripture; by Craig Keener; John H. Walton; Publisher: Zondervan, 2016

Preceding

Making sure we express kedusha for 14-16 Nisan

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Tagged as Atonement, Ceremonially unclean, Genital discharges, Hittite birth ritual, Hittite sacrifice, Israelite sacrifice, Leviticus 12:1-8, Leviticus 12:2, Leviticus 12:4-5, Leviticus 12:7, Male infant, Menstruation, Period of impurity, Purification, Purification of a girl, Ritual impurity, Sin offering

by Guestspeaker | 2026/04/28 · 8:25 pm

Internet, social media and AI

Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com

By artificial intelligence our phone and computer do know to recognise us.

A few years ago nobody thought it for possible that robots would succeed to run faster than a human being or that robots would take the place of human beings and people looking for their work to be solved by means of artificial intelligence. Far from being science fiction, or limited to just the chatbots we know and often hate, because those chatbots are at the moment still useless and time consuming. According to a survey conducted by SurveyMonkey, 79% of customers stated they prefer a real human person at the other side of the line instead of an AI chatbot.

AI has become part of our daily lives in countless ways. It’s one of the most transformative technologies of our time, acting as the engine behind modern innovation.

Some people do not mind having a relationship with an AI generated chatbot. They spend time with it so they should not feel lonely. Some have the impression that someone is listening to all their problems. For others AI has become a tool to fear. Headteachers had good reason to fear AI chatbots like ChatGPT that could write convincing essays and would lead to mass cheating on homework and exam coursework. In the last few months, we heard even politicians and university profs having used quotes from AI tools which were wrong.

OpenAI, a company that was originally backed by Elon Musk and received a $1 billion (£829 million) investment from Microsoft in 2019, its aim is to create AI chatbot software capable of mastering whole fields of human knowledge.

Without taking into account that AI requires a lot of energy and water, many people use ChatGPT or another AI tool to get answers, instead of looking things up on websites or in previous search engines. The danger is that the regular search engines (Google, Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam) are gradually disappearing. Though on the internet, there can be found different encyclopaedias giving enough needful information.

It is striking that few people still reach for a book at home to look for something. Dictionaries and encyclopedias are hardly consulted to assist in the realisation of well-founded texts. Instead of trying to remember information, the majority just Google it. Rather than craft a reply to an email, many people click on a suggestion supplied by AI. At home, people dispense with books and spend hours watching mind-numbing short videos and scrolling on their phones.

It is incredible to hear from youngsters how many hours they spend looking at their tiny phone screens. In fact, many young people are so addicted to social media that much of what is happening in the real world escapes them. Dictionaries and encyclopedias are completely a thing of the past for them and therefore useless. In front of them are the answers to accessing the internet.

“On average, everyone on this planet uses a Google search three to four times a day, [and] 70 per cent of us are already using AI every day,”

says neuroscientist Dr Hannah Critchlow, a science outreach fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge.

These are new technologies, and it will take years for their long-term impacts on our brains to be understood, but you would not be alone in worrying that, by relying on these tools for help with research, writing, planning and detailed thinking, we are making ourselves more stupid.

Critchlow’s latest book, The 21st Century Brain, is about how to stay “cognitively fit” in a world threatening to crush our mental powers and automise our jobs.

At Anthropic, the artificial intelligence (AI) business behind the Claude co-working bot, staff are increasingly uneasy about the power of their own creation.

In response to an internal survey in December, one Anthropic employee frets:

“In the long term, I think AI will end up doing everything and make me and many others irrelevant.”

Another says:

“It kind of feels like I’m coming to work every day to put myself out of a job.”

The impact of AI on jobs has been fiercely debated by tech leaders since the advent of ChatGPT three years ago.

Critchlow thinks that the important thing is to lean into what makes our species intelligent, and what has made us so successful over millions of years. Critchlow says.

“We have evolved to be a very sociable species, and also to want to explore different territories, different areas, and meet new individuals. This has allowed ideas to hop from mind to mind, and for problem-solving skills to evolve and innovation to arise.”

As Critchlow points out, concerns that our mental faculties might be outstripped by technology stretch back far further than the creation of ChatGPT.

“[Pocket] calculators came into the mainstream in the 1970s, and I don’t think that that’s really eroded our mathematical skill, despite lots of fear at the time that having calculators would affect children’s intelligence,”

she says.

“Instead, the educational system has ramped up expectations for mathematical problem-solving using this tool.”

New technologies often help us do much more complicated things; hence homework has become more taxing on children in the last 50 years.

Something not yet touched by AI is emotional intelligence – in neuroscience terms, that is our ability to

“identify, understand, manage and utilise our own emotions, as well as influence the emotions of others”.

Having a high “EQ” is something that

“involves self-awareness and self-regulation, and it helps individuals to communicate better, reduce stress and challenges, and build stronger relationships,”

she says.

Emotional intelligence is something we can learn

Creative thinking is another quality that we imagine some are blessed with and others are not. In truth, we all have the potential to be highly creative. Our brains produce slow alpha waves when we are relaxed, which is the sort of brain activity that prompts more creative, original thoughts. Critchlow points to one study in which a researcher stimulated participants’ brains with electric shocks to create alpha waves. While it did indeed produce more creative thoughts in the test subjects, you need not go to these lengths to think outside the box more often.

Crucial to creativity – and encouraging the alpha-wave brain state – is leaving time for your mind to wander, rather than forcing it to stay on task for hours at a time. Critchlow likes to run every day without music or podcasts to distract her, to see where her thoughts go.

Come to read more:

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+++

Scheme of the study’s four phases. > Stable Diffusion Models Reveal a Persisting Human–AI Gap in Visual Creativity

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by Guestspeaker | 2026/04/28 · 6:26 pm

About social media at last Sunday service

At the ecclesia Brussel-Leuven and the ecclesia of Nebury brother Matt Swein gave an exhortation on ‘Social media’. Over the years, several channels have appeared on the internet that ‘begged’ to gain popularity among young and old. By using algorithms, they managed to enormously increase the screen use of young and old. It’s incredible to hear that there are young people who are glued to the screen for up to 8 hours.

Olivia Bailey, the British education minister, announced in the Commons that the Government would

“impose some form of age or functionality restrictions for children under 16”.

She told MPs that ministers would also introduce regulations enacting the curbs by the end of the year under a timetable enshrined in law.

Her proposal can be seen as an imitation of what was decided in Australia. But we can only welcome this and hope that several more countries will follow to curb those dangerous deception platforms.

The British Prime Minister has been seeking to delay any decision on whether to introduce an Australian-style ban until after a public consultation is completed this summer.

But in a partial climbdown welcomed by the campaigners calling for a ban, Ms Bailey said:

“The Government has said repeatedly that it is a question of how we act, not if, but to put this beyond any doubt, we are placing a clear statutory requirement that the Secretary of State ‘must’, rather than ‘may’, act following the consultation.

We all must be aware that we have become in a dangerous world of algorithms and dangerously misleading fake photos and articles.

The governments have to take action to protect young people.

It is good that several countries want to limit children’s reach and impose a ban on children under the age of 16. Australia was the first to send a big and good signal, which the United Kingdom recently followed.

Lots of what you read and hear, particularly on social media, isn’t true. Big culprits are the influencers who deceive their followers and know how to sell everything on.

A lot of misinformation goes on social media. Even when a person is mistakenly giving false information, thinking it is true, it is often not put right, and goes its own way. Lots of times, we also notice that someone spreads disinformation by knowingly making false claims. Politicians and government leaders are more than happy to use social media to spread their speech and do not feel afraid to send ‘false flags’ into the world.

The disinformer’s goal might instead be simply to harm another person, maybe by spreading lies about them. In many cases, however, those who spread disinformation on social media can best be described as indifferent to their audience. All they care about is growing that audience in order to increase their income stream. If they can do this by making false claims, so be it, and if their audience is thereby harmed, too bad for them.

Social media has grown so much and has recently found a dangerous weapon. Artificial intelligence will pose an even greater danger in the future because reality will be even less distinguishable from spuriousness or falsehood.

In the 1960s, if you wanted to share your views with a large audience, you would have encountered gatekeepers. A newspaper got to decide whether to publish your angry and semi-coherent letter to the editor, and your local radio or television station got to decide whether to give you air time to lay out a conspiracy you thought you had uncovered. Decades later, social media was largely devoid of such gatekeepers.

But who is going to control the person who utilised AI? Who is going to be alert enough to decipher texts or photos? The danger is that the world is going to see more malicious deepfakes created by AI and published by persons whose intent is really to spread false news or information. It has become all to easy to fabricate a video in which a famous figure uncharacteristically utters an ethnic slur, and even in their own voice, so that it becomes really very tricky to recognise its falseness.

As a result of the advent of social media and deepfakes, the information space has become increasingly polluted. The unreliability of social media can ultimately make adults drop out and fall back on the previously known information tools such as newspapers, magazines, radio and television channels as well as renowned reliable channels on the internet.

But for youngsters, it would be very difficult to get to see the truthful information between the misleading and false information. Therefore, we can only be glad that the governments do everything in their power to make it impossible for children to join social media platforms.

Laura Trott, the shadow education secretary, said:

“We now have a commitment from the Government that they will impose an age restriction for children under 16, which will be in addition to, not instead of any curfews. That is a huge step forward in keeping children safe and in supporting parents in their fight against screens destroying children’s lives.”

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Tagged as AI = Artificial Intelligence, Algorithm(s), Artificial Intelligence, Australia, Children, Deepfake(s), False flag, False information, Information, Information tool(s), Keeping children safe, Keir Starmer, Laura Trott, Matt Swein, Misinformation, Olivia Bailey, Social media, Youngsters

by Christadelphians | 2026/04/28 · 2:01 pm

Een Bijbels antwoord op uw vraag: Kan iemand zeker weten dat hij of zij behouden is

Grote Vraag - Big Question - Wat nu? What now?

De grote vraag – Big Question – Wat is er hierna? Wat is er na dit leven? – What’s behind this life now?

Vraag: Kan iemand zeker weten dat hij of zij behouden is, en eeuwig leven zal ontvangen bij Christus’ komst?

Antwoord: Wij kunnen onze behoudenis nooit zelf verdienen, noch als ons recht beschouwen. Zij is een vrijwillige gave van God, die Hij zuiver op grond van Zijn liefde en genade, door middel van de offerdood van Zijn eigen Zoon, en op basis van ons geloof geeft. Deze fundamentele christelijke leer vat Paulus in Titus 3:3-7 kort samen.

Eerst beschrijft hij onze natuurlijke toestand. Hieruit heeft God de gelovigen in principe gered, “toen de goedertierenheid en mensenliefde van onze Heiland en God verscheen” in Zijn eniggeboren Zoon Christus Jezus.

Zelf zijn wij Gods grote gave totaal onwaardig; want

“niet om werken van gerechtigheid, die wij zouden gedaan hebben, maar door zijn ontferming heeft Hij ons gered”.

Vervolgens beschrijft Paulus hoe wij deelgenoten worden van Christus en het leven in hem: God redt ons

“door het bad van wedergeboorte en de vernieuwing door de Heilige Geest”.

De doop is een ‘bad’, waarin wij onze zonden “laten afwassen” (Hand 22:16; 1 Kor 6:11), en een ‘wedergeboorte’, waarbij onze oude mens met Christus begraven wordt en een mens “in nieuwheid van leven” opstaat in hem (Rom 6:4; Joh 3:5). Onze zonden worden ons dan niet meer toegerekend, en wij leven vanaf dat moment in een nieuwe relatie tot God.

“Want u bent allen zonen van God door het geloof in Christus Jezus. Want u allen, die in Christus gedoopt bent, hebt u met Christus bekleed” (Gal 3:26,27).

Met als doel dat

“wij, gerechtvaardigd door zijn genade, erfgenamen zouden worden overeenkomstig de hoop op het eeuwige leven” (Tit 3:7).

Wie zoon is geworden, is erfgenaam, maar heeft dan nog niet geërfd!

Paulus schrijft hier ook in Efeziërs 2:1-10 over. Tegen de achtergrond van “dood door overtredingen en zonden” en “handelende naar de wil van het vlees en van de gedachten”, toont hij de grootheid van Gods gave in Christus:

“God echter, die rijk is aan erbarming, heeft, om zijn grote liefde, waarmee Hij ons heeft liefgehad, ons, hoewel wij dood waren door de overtredingen, mede levend gemaakt met Christus – door geloof bent u behouden … Door genade bent u behouden, door het geloof.”

Als Gods genade ons behoudt, kunnen wij dan zeggen dat wij vanaf het moment van onze doop zeker zijn van onze persoonlijke behoudenis?

Het antwoord van de Bijbel is: ja en nee.

Ja, als wij Christus volkomen navolgen, en tot het einde volharden in het geloof. Nee, als wij niet leven als een nieuwe mens, maar als de oude mens.

Paulus schrijft in 1 Korintiërs 15:1,2 over het evangelie

“waardoor u ook behouden wordt, indien u het zo vasthoudt, als ik het u verkondigd heb, tenzij u tevergeefs tot geloof zou zijn gekomen.”

We kunnen dus tevergeefs tot geloof komen! Onze behoudenis is afhankelijk van ons vasthouden aan het evangelie zoals het door de apostelen werd verkondigd. Paulus schreef over “de heilige schriften, die u wijs kunnen maken tot zaligheid (Grieks: soteria, behoudenis) door het geloof in Christus Jezus” (2 Tim 3:15). Jacobus schrijft:

“Neem met zachtmoedigheid het in u geplante woord aan, dat uw zielen kan behouden” (1:21).

En Petrus schrijft:

“Verlang, als pasgeboren kinderen naar de redelijke, onvervalste melk, opdat u daardoor mag opgroeien tot zaligheid (soteria, behoudenis)” (1 Pet 1:23;2:2).

Behoudenis is dus een proces, dat zich in het leven van gelovigen voltrekt door middel van Gods Woord.
Paulus vergelijkt het leven van christenen met een hardloopwedstrijd, waarin zij zich tot het uiterste inspannen om de prijs te winnen. Hij spoort de gelovigen aan:

“Loop dan zó, dat u die behaalt!”

Evenals deelnemers aan de Olympische spelen zich “in alles beheersten”, zo moeten ook christenen dit doen:

“zij om een vergankelijke erekrans te verkrijgen, wij om een onvergankelijke”.

Dit doet hij zelf ook:

“ik tuchtig mijn lichaam en houd het in bedwang, om niet, na anderen gepredikt te hebben, wellicht zelf afgewezen te worden” (1 Kor 9:24-27).

Als de door God uitverkoren apostel Paulus zo over zichzelf schreef, bestaat er het wezenlijke gevaar dat wij, als wij ons niet tot het uiterste inspannen in onze dienst voor Christus, wellicht bij zijn rechterstoel “afgewezen” zullen worden.
Christus’ liefde, en zijn offer voor de zonden, waren voor Paulus reden om alles prijs te geven

“opdat ik Christus mag winnen … of ik, aan zijn dood gelijkvormig wordend, zou mogen komen tot de opstanding uit de doden” (Flp 3:8-11).

Dit moet de nederige houding zijn van alle ware volgelingen van Christus, ten opzichte van “zulk een heil” dat hij door zijn offer-dood mogelijk heeft gemaakt.
Het feit dat God, de Schepper van hemel en aarde, hém of háár geroepen heeft en zo’n groot werk in hém of háár wil volbrengen, zou de christen met het diepste ontzag moeten vervullen. Daarom schreef Paulus aan de Filippenzen:

“Blijf… uw behoudenis bewerken met vreze en beven, want God is het, die om zijn welbehagen zowel het willen als het werken in u werkt” (Flp 2:12,13).

Dit betekent niet dat wij in voortdurende neerslachtigheid over onze eigen tekortkomingen en onwaardigheid moeten leven.
Wij moeten ons integendeel

“verheugen met een onuitsprekelijke en verheerlijkte vreugde, daar u het einddoel van het geloof bereikt, dat is de zaligheid (soteria, behoudenis) van de zielen”.

En toch, zegt Petrus verder in dit hoofdstuk, zullen wij “wandelen in vreze”, wetende welke prijs voor onze behoudenis is betaald, en wie wij door Christus “Vader” mogen noemen:

“Indien u Hem als Vader aanroept, die zonder aanzien van de persoon naar ieders werk oordeelt, wandel dan in vreze”

– Gods genade sluit zijn oordeel niet uit (1 Pet 1:8,9,17-19).

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Tagged as 1 Korinthiërs 9:24-27, 1 Korintiërs 15:1-2, 1 Petrus 1:23, 1 Petrus 2:2, 2 Timotheüs 3:15, Apostel Paulus, Bad van wedergeboorte, Behoudenis, Christus navolgen, Deelgenoten in Christus, Doop, Efeziërs 2:1-10, Einddoel, Erekrans verkrijgen, Filippenzen 2:12-13, Filippenzen 3:8-11, Galaten 3:26-27, Genade van God, Hardloopwedstrijd, Jakobus 1:21, Relatie met God, Titus 3:3-7, Vasthouden aan het evangelie, Verheugen, Werken van gerechtigheid

by Guestspeaker | 2026/04/25 · 7:15 pm

Lengthy lists of epithets or titles that refer to character traits or special activities

“1 And the LORD said unto Moses, “Hew thee two tablets of stone like unto the first, and I will write upon these tablets the words that were in the first tablets which thou brokest. 2 And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai, and present thyself there to Me on the top of the mount. 3 And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount.” 4 And he hewed two tablets of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up unto Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tablets of stone.”

“5 And the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children unto the third and to the fourth generation.” 8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. 9 And he said, “If now I have found grace in Thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray Thee, go among us, for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Thine inheritance.””

“10 And He said, “Behold, I make a covenant. Before all thy people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom thou art shall see the work of the LORD, for it is a fearsome thing that I will do with thee. 11 Observe thou that which I command thee this day. Behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite and the Canaanite, and the Hittite and the Perizzite, and the Hivite and the Jebusite. 12 Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee. 13 But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their Asherah poles. 14 For thou shalt worship no other god; for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God, 15 lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee and thou eat of his sacrifice, 16 and thou take their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods. 17 “Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.”

“18 “The Feast of Unleavened Bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month of Abib; for in the month of Abib thou camest out from Egypt. 19 “All that openeth the womb is Mine, and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male. 20 But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before Me empty. 21 “Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest; in plowing time and in harvest thou shalt rest. 22 And thou shalt observe the Feast of Weeks of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end. 23 Thrice in the year shall all your menchildren appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel. 24 For I will cast out the nations before thee and enlarge thy borders; neither shall any man desire thy land when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year. 25 “Thou shalt not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leaven, neither shall the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover be left until the morning. 26 The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in his mother’s milk.” 27 And the LORD said unto Moses, “Write thou these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.””

“28 And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote upon the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. 29 And it came to pass, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses knew not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him. 30 And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come nigh him. 31 And Moses called unto them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him; and Moses talked with them. 32 And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh, and he gave them in commandments all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33 And until Moses had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. 34 But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with Him, he took the veil off until he came out. And he came out, and spoke unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. 35 And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone; and Moses put the veil upon his face again, until he went in to speak with Him.” (Exodus 34:1-35 KJ21)

God, gods, goddesses and even kings who are described in lengthy lists of epithets or titles that refer to their character traits or special activities

Chapter 34

34:6 The Lord, the Lord. This repetition of Yahweh’s name^*1 is followed by a list of attributes that focus on his love and compassion. This was not uncommon in descriptions of deities in the ancient world. Examples abound of gods or goddesses (and even kings) who are described in lengthy lists of epithets or titles that refer to their character traits or special activities. The epilogue to the Code of Hammurapi,^*2 e.g., mentions a dozen deities, after whose names are listed various epithets. With its focus on love, this description of Yahweh seems in contrast with the portrayal of Yahweh in chs. 32–33, when he was ready, at the very least, to sever ties with the disobedient Israelites. This proclamation to Moses, then, may be emphasising that Yahweh’s anger has now subsided and the people may expect to be back on good terms with him again.

34:13 Asherah poles. The goddess Asherah^*3 was worshipped under various names in ancient Near Eastern societies, and she apparently had followers in some parts of ancient Israel. Other Biblical texts condemn Asherah worship (Dt 7:5; 12:3; 2Ki 21:7); the goddess may also have been referred to as the “Queen of Heaven” (Jer 7:18). An eighth-century BCE ink inscription on a pottery jar, discovered at Kuntillet Ajrud, a site in the northern Sinai region, refers to a blessing offered in the name of “Yahweh and his Asherah.” This may suggest an aberrant ancient Israelite belief in a goddess wife of Yahweh, and this type of belief and the practices associated with it may be the target of commands like this one and those in Deuteronomy.

It is unlikely that the “poles” referred to in this verse are images of the goddess; rather, they are probably religious objects used in rituals associated with Asherah worship or perhaps with non-Yahwistic fertility rites in general.

34:28 the Ten Commandments. Lit. “the ten words.” This is the first time this phrase occurs in Exodus. The list in Ex 20 that we normally associate with the Ten Commandments is simply called “these words” (20:1). Moreover, these two lists differ substantially. Ex 20 contains several essentially noncultic provisions (e.g., commandments related to murder, adultery, theft, false accusation, coveting), which tie it to some degree to the content of the ancient Near Eastern law codes. The provisions in Ex 34, by contrast, seem to have no connection to the law code tradition since they reflect a much more cultic focus. They center on laws related to proper worship and ritual and, as part of the covenant that must be created because of the annulment of the first covenant, may possess this focus because of the failings in the area of worship so clearly demonstrated in the episode of the golden calf.

…

Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible Notes, Bringing to life the Ancient World of Scripture; by Craig Keener; John H. Walton; Publisher: Zondervan, 2016

God’s Name on the Scrolls – Gods Naam op de Schriftrollen

The Lord is not Yahweh’s name or God’s name. Lord is a title, like Adonai is a title. The sacred Name of the One Who is and shall be is Jehovah. Jehovah was the sole creator and did not have a wife, like some say the goddess Asherah^*3 was the wife of Yahweh.

It was the Adonai Jehovah Who said to Moses to cut himself two tablets of stone like the first ones he had received from the Almighty God.

“And Jehovah said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon the tables the words that were on the first tables, which thou brakest.” (Exodus 34:1 ASV)

“And Jehovah passed by before him, and proclaimed, Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth;” (Exodus 34:6 ASV)

Find to read:

The Louvre Diorite stela inscribed with the Code of Hammurabi, 18th century bce.

Code of Hammurapi = the most complete and perfect extant collection of Babylonian laws, developed during the reign of Hammurabi (1792–1750 bce) of the 1st dynasty of Babylon.

Asherah = ʾĂšērā = ʾAṯiratu = Aširat = Ašerdu(š) = Ašertu(š) = Athirat = Elath (Elat) = Qudshu ancient West Semitic mother goddess of 70 gods, consort of the supreme god. Her principal epithet was probably “She Who Walks on the Sea.” She was occasionally called Elath (Elat), “the Goddess,” and may have also been called Qudshu, “Holiness.”

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Tagged as 10 Commandments, Asherah = ʾĂšērā = ʾAṯiratu = Aširat = Ašerdu(š) = Ašertu(š) = Athirat = Elath (Elat) = Qudshu (anc. W. Semitic mother goddess), Asherah pole (sacred tree or pole near Canaanite relig. loc. to honour goddess Asherah), Code of Hammurapi, Descriptions of deities, Exodus 20, Exodus 34, Exodus 34:1, Exodus 34:1-35, Exodus 34:13, Exodus 34:28, Exodus 34:6, Goddess wife of Yahweh, Name of God, Near Eastern law codes, Title

by Guestspeaker | 2026/04/25 · 7:02 pm

A word about faith – primarily a matter of the heart

A word about faith: Faith is primarily a matter of the heart and secondarily of the mind; for with the heart man believes, and with the mouth he confesses his belief. The natural man has trouble with faith for he needs to understand something before his heart can accept it; the spiritual man accepts something in his heart and leaves the understanding to God. The natural man exercises his mental facilities (claiming promises, standing on the Word, etc.); the spiritual man rests in the faithfulness of God. Both ask of God, one believes he’ll receive because of his efforts, the other believes he’ll receive because of God’s faithfulness. One leans on his understanding, the other leans on Jesus.

Faith is a highly active force. By it men have quenched fires, conquered kingdoms, and turned weakness into strength. The power of faith is astounding. However, the power of faith is not inherent in faith itself, but in the One in whom the faith is placed. Faith is powerful because God is powerful. (Our confidence is not in our faith, nor in our ability to exercise faith; our confidence is in God who gives us faith.)

Faith, like gold, is tried by fire. One endures the fire, not by claiming or rebuking, but by weeding out everything that tends to choke the word of faith, such as unbelief, the cares of life, the desires for riches, and the tendencies to worry. Man cannot make faith grow or become strong (faith is a gift of God and He alone causes the increase). Man can only cultivate the soil in which the seed of faith grows.

As we weed out the things which are contrary to faith and water the soil of our hearts with the Word of God, we walk in the sunlight of His love and the seed sprouts and bears fruit to eternal life. Its fruit are works of love. Our faith can be seen by our works of love. While it is possible to give without loving, it is impossible to love without giving; for love is of God and God is love, and every seed bears fruit after its kind. So our faith can be seen by our giving for the sake of others. Peace to all who have faith in Jesus.

Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant

John Maki replies:

Faith is a noun has no action! You should of used trust because trusting shows action . And with out action you have done nothing . You can have all the faith you want but till you take action in trusting in the lord you can actually show love and live his words and commands for us to live by . Just my opinion to many people have faith with no action.

Michael Delancy reacts:

There is much more to faith than reason can define, or intellect understand, so try to avoid that temptation. It has misled many and even spawned multiple heresies through the centuries and still today. We just cannot seem to let God be God and His ways be beyond understanding (Romans 11:33-34). We are more like Eve than we want to admit. Eve did not understand why a good-looking fruit could be off limits just because God said so.

I see things turn out the same way every time we think or act against our trust in God. But faith is so much more than trust.

Some examples:

1.

Faith Alone is believing but believing Alone is not Faith. Even Devils believe but shake in fear. James 2:19.

2.

Faith Alone is confidence but confidence Alone is not faith. Both David and Goliath had great confidence 1 Samuel 17.

3.

Faith Alone is courage. Courage Alone is not Faith. And courage does not explain Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego in the Fiery Furnace (Daniel 3) or Daniel in the Lion’s Den (Daniel 6). And Judas showed great courage in betraying Jesus (Luke 22).

4.

Faith alone is knowing (Hebrews 11:3), but knowledge Alone is not faith. Highly educated people who know a lot more than I ever will, say Bible stories like creation, Adam and Eve, even Jesus’ conception and resurrection can only be myths or legends. And I have dialogued through the years with people, including Pastors, who are Bible experts who say the same thing. Why do I feel sad for them? Faith.

5.

Faith Alone is Righteousness, but Righteousness Alone is not faith Matthew 5:20.

6.

Faith Alone is random acts of love, but random acts of love Alone are not Faith. John 13:25

7.

Faith Alone is worshipping God but worshipping Alone is not faith. John 4:24

I could go on because Faith is a lot of things in this world that mankind likes to take credit for, but those things are not faith. Where many good people go wrong is when they believe those things are faith or make faith into a god, like the Power of possibility thinking, Name it to claim it, Prosperity Gospel, Mind of Christ theologies, etc. You do not need Christ in these groups, just what they call faith. And there have also always been denominations that do not believe the Bible is God’s word so you have to rely on the “experts” to tell you what is true and what is not. Your faith is in them. A very popular preacher on Television yesterday began his service by leading the audience in worshipping the Bible, and then preaching a prosperity Gospel. Neither of these are Jesus or the Gospel that redeems.

So the conservative Biblicist churches work hard to keep us focused on the five Solas and away from self-deification, and faith idolatry by encouraging us in love and good works through faith Romans 1:16.

I will add a couple of thoughts for your perusal.

Hebrews 11:1 is often quoted as the definition of faith, but it literally says:

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (and I include verse 2) This is what the ancients were commended for.”

Hebrews 11 tells what faith does in you as a believer, and posts numerous examples of how God used it in times past to bless His people, and I suggest He still does. Other places say God is the only source of faith (Hebrews 12:2), and Jesus will complete the life of Faith He began in each of us (John 19:30), and only faith pleases God (Daniel 11:32), and not knowledge, or good intentions (Matthew 15:11). So it is the faith God has given you, that matters, and what that means to God.

What did He give you faith to do? Heal? Teach? Encourage? Support? If it takes commitment, training, courage, or dedicated practice to do it, you are exercising Faith and becoming what God says you are (remember the handout from class?). Consider the biblical teaching that altruistic works, even random acts of kindness, are not good works without Faith. Even the Chosen people of God knew that all of what man likes to call good works, are nothing but filthy rags without Faith Isaiah 64:6. In one commentary it explains we are born untouchable, moral lepers, unrighteous in every way, until God declares us just, and then our acts can be in faith to honor God, not self-pleasuring to honor self.

“Without Faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6).

Are the esoteric spiritual gifts still being given to the church today?

Healings, tongues, miracles of all kinds, and extreme acts of faith are being reported around the world almost every day, and even here in Virginia. I have no reason to assume God is being defrauded or that I should have one of the esoteric gifts myself. God gives what gifts each church needs. God is God, and I am well pleased to have and use a gift of encouragement to the honor and glory of God. I would use the gift of healing on my Granddaughter Lexie if I had it, but I am pleased to watch God work out his plan for everyone’s good. God gave to you your gift or gifts to bless OSWLC.

What did he give you faith to believe? If you cannot believe it without God’s intervention, it is faith possibly coupled with experience, logic, and decision. Remember I pointed out in class that you can never completely explain to a non-believer why you believe in Jesus, the Trinity, Creation, etc. You cannot talk someone else into Faith, you can only explain what you believe, what that means to you and pray that the God who called them by the Gospel, now chooses them to be His own and gives them Faith like yours (Matthew 22:13, Ephesians 2:8-10).

I have been dialoging online with a series of self-proclaimed Atheists on Quora who insist that not only can they not see God or any evidence of God, that the modern church does not part seas, still storms, or even walk on water so people like them can start to believe the Bible “myths (their word not mine.)” But I read in the bible that very few of the people who saw Jesus’ miracles became believers or even followers of His. Faith does not come from observing miracles or recognizing God around you. It comes from God’s plan and purpose alone (Romans 1:17-21). Remember, Jesus said,

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.” John 15:16-17.

Do you remember in the book of Exodus that God performed miracles only through two people in the wilderness community of Hebrews even though all of them had the same Faith, saw the same miracles, had the same Spirit, and saw the same God with them day and night? They were not all leaders, preachers, teachers, miracle workers, priests, parents, or whatever. But they had already been rescued and were being visibly led by God, himself in a column of fire by night and a cloud by day. They could all have lived by faith, but only a remnant did. They never asked what their purpose was in the wilderness, and things got tough, they went back to wanting to stay slaves to self in their minds and beliefs, and most of them died in that wilderness to protect the chosen community going forward. God had many purposes for that wilderness. It was to train, prune, weed, and prepare the faithful for kingdom living by faith. That is why the 10 commandments, the priesthood, and the 40 years.

God brought you to where you are, and you have many purposes in life as daughter, wife, mother, Nana, church member, etc. There is only one purpose that transcends, and it is only hoped for and assured by Faith. That is why the world ridicules and fears it. It transcends secular reality with spirit and truth through Faith in Jesus. They don’t mind if you have “faith” in yourself or some leader or political party. They don’t even mind if you have faith in magic, or the paranormal, or even aliens, as long as you do not publicly have a faith relationship with Jesus Christ. But that is what faith is, in the Bible; a solid, dependable relationship with God through Jesus Christ. That was lesson two in our new member class. Faith is about relationships, but that is not all that it is about.

So, you see, a simple definition of faith will always be misleading, incomplete at best. Like defining God, or even love. Most churches and preachers box-up one or two definitions and basically build their ministry and church on them. But the Bible does say a lot about Faith that cannot be distilled into a few words. Like a diamond with many facets, there are many precious (I would say priceless) sides to faith. Allow me to share a couple more.

The first facet of Faith illustrated by someone other than God is in the garden, Genesis 3. Eve did not use her knowledge and faith. She ignored the promise and possibility of taking God at His word and looked to her own wisdom and desires when the temptation entered her thoughts. Instead of turning to God in faith, she dwelt on the temptation until she would not resist it. Some say her disobedience rejected the spirit of God inside of her. Others insist the devil made her do it. But I remember where the apostle Paul tells us in Romans 14:23,

“Whatever is not from faith is sin.”

So, faith is something far more important than obedience or belief. It is truly the opposite of everything the Devil and human nature says is good without God. So Faith is an attribute of Godliness.

Satan has been using temptation ever since to turn every good gift of God’s into sin. Every child of man has been born spiritually dead since Adam and Eve chose self-actualization instead of God-guidance (faith). The principles of this world insist God is nothing vital, simply religion and must remain separate from secular life. They even deny Creation needs anything from God to exist and succeed. But there is no division between God and any part of my existence. God is “I AM”, everything. And He is in everything including us, and we in him. “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Only Faith agrees. For obvious reasons the world, our flesh, and Satan do not.

I believe that if fish could think and have pride like humans, I have no doubt most of them would not believe in water. It would be called a myth even though it is their very source of life and everything good, and even makes up 70% or more of their very body. It does not take faith to know God exists, (Romans 1:18-32) but it takes faith to have a love relationship with God, and to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:24).

The second facet that comes to mind is from the Sinai wilderness, where God struck down thousands of Hebrews that He had just freed from slavery (Numbers 21). They did not question or ignore God, they outright rejected God’s and Moses’ authority over them and their lives, and wanted to go back into slavery to self, so God sent poisonous vipers. God told the people through Moses, that if they looked up at the bronze serpent on a pole they would live, and they did. Thousands would not look and they died. Did obedience or faith save the ones who looked? I say faith because God healed them, they did not heal themselves, and Jesus uses this story in John 3.

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

Faith is looking on Jesus. Eternal life is in him not the empty cross nor any ability of mankind.

And there are many, many verses that restate this truth. One of my favorites is Peter’s insistence

“there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” Acts 4:12.

And don’t forget the many times Jesus said it too.

“I am the way…” John 14:6

Another facet of Faith is love. Not only God is love 1 John 4:8,16, but so too are those who are one with Him (John 13:35, John 17:22-24). If you don’t love your brother then God is not in you (1 John 4:20) and you are not love. If you do not have faith in God, you do not love him and you are not training in spirit, truth, love, honor, or obedience for your forever marriage to Jesus. Revelations 19.

Another facet of Faith is that no man or woman can make or increase the gift of Faith. What God gives is not something anything in creation can equal, create, or even fully explain. Please use discernment and your own biblicism when someone insists, they can give you faith, prove you have faith, or increase your faith for you. The Bible is the primary means of Grace but not the means of faith. Faith comes by hearing the same way confession saves you, Grace Alone. It is not the hearing or the confessing that saves me Romans 10:9.

But this facet corrects a lot of misleading and false teachings that are floating around. A dangerous one is that if you have faith you don’t have doubt. The Bible shows the faithful might still have doubts, but they know who to go to. John the Baptizer had doubts (Matthew 11:3) and Jesus just reminded him to see what God is doing right now, the Kingdom has come. Thomas had doubts even though he heard the same things the other disciples heard, saw all the miracles, heard all the teachings, and even performed miracles himself (Mark 6), and Jesus answered his doubts (John 20:27). Jesus appears to have momentary doubt on the cross (Matthew 27:46). With Him and us, Faith answers all doubts. Give it a chance. Have your doubts honestly and go to the only source that has the answers. Don’t expect psychology, science, or even theologians to answer your doubts the way Jesus will. I pray my doubt as clearly as I can and have always found the answer as I prayed. The Holy Spirit will confirm you in the truth you already read in scripture and confessed in church (Matthew 7:7-8 & 1 John 2:27).

My father was raised in a small Holiness church in Yale, OK, but left it as soon as he could because he did not receive the gift of Tongues. His mother, father and minister worked hard on him to get him to imitate their “prayer tongue” until he got his own. But it just felt wrong to him, like a lie in God’s name, so he refused, but kept on praying for the real gift so he could be sure he had a saving relationship with Jesus. It never came, so he was never sure. Until after leaving the church for over 10 years, he was led to the proper Bible verses and his faith was renewed in loving and trusting Jesus. He was sure of his salvation for the first time in his life by Grace, through faith, and wanted to make sure his wife and children gained the assurance of faith as well.

Jon David Bank closes:

Faith is no more and no less than the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen.

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Tagged as Acts 4:12, Acts of love, Attribute of Godliness, Confidence, Courage, Daniel 11:32, Defining God, Eve, Evidence of things unseen, Faith, Faithfulness of God, Genesis 3, Gift of God, Having doubts, Hebrews 11:1, Hebrews 11:6, Hebrews 12:2, John 15:16-17, John Maki, Jon David Banks, Knowledge, Michael Delancy, Numbers 21, Power of faith, Prosperity Gospel, Righteousness, Romans 14:23, Satan, Worshipping God

by Guestspeaker | 2026/04/18 · 6:44 pm

Ancient laws, Scripture and modern issues

“1 And God spake all these words, saying, 2 I am Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness [of any thing] that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them; for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me, 6 and showing lovingkindness unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. 7 Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath unto Jehovah thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”

“12 Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee. 13 Thou shalt not kill. 14 Thou shalt not commit adultery. 15 Thou shalt not steal. 16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. 17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.”

“18 And all the people perceived the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they trembled, and stood afar off. 19 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die. 20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before you, that ye sin not. 21 And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.”

“22 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 Ye shall not make [other gods] with me; gods of silver, or gods of gold, ye shall not make unto you. 24 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt-offerings, and thy peace-offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in every place where I record my name I will come unto thee and I will bless thee. 25 And if thou make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones; for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. 26 Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not uncovered thereon.” (Exodus 20:1-26 ASV)

Exodus 20

Ancient Laws, Scripture and Modern Issues

The laws in the Bible reflect in large measure the way ancient societies were structured. God’s revelation speaks into that context. The laws in the Bible do not seek to restructure society, but to affect how people live and think in the societal structure that they have. The laws do not seek to transform a patriarchal society into an egalitarian one. They do not seek to abolish slavery. They do not promote a democratic society over a monarchy. They do not endorse clan solidarity over individualism. The laws of the Bible seek to transform how people live in whatever sort of society they find themselves. No societal structure is flawless; it is always subject to the nature of the people who are part of it.

Consequently, when we look at the laws of the Bible, we are not looking for the picture of a perfect society nor should we think that God is endorsing such a society. We will find that the shape of Israelite society is often very much like those of her neighbours, but we should be attentive to the ways that the Bible goes further to protect the rights and dignity of those who might be vulnerable. In this way the Bible can pioneer new moral ground even while being situated in the familiar social structures of the ancient world. Primarily, however, it is instructing Israel about what is required for them to preserve the sanctity of sacred space. When legal passages are considered, we should identify both their similarities and differences to the ancient Near Eastern world. Doing so demonstrates that while the Biblical laws describe a society very much rooted in the ancient world, God calls his people to higher standards. The areas of commonality do not suggest that the Bible has borrowed from the legal literature of the ancient world; only that God addressed their society as it was, but sought to show them a pathway to holy living within that framework.

20:3 The Hebrew wording of this verse is ambiguous. This could be an assertion of either monotheism or henotheism (also termed monolatry). Practitioners of a henotheistic religion believe in and worship one deity, but they do not deny the possible existence of other deities. If this verse reflects a henotheistic perspective, then this call is for the Israelites to devote their worship exclusively to Yahweh, while accepting the possibility that other gods could legitimately be worshipped by non-Israelites.

In another way of thinking, it is possible for this verse to be understood as proceeding from monotheistic belief. The reference to “no other gods before me” (emphasis added) may be an attempt to counteract belief in a divine assembly. To have no other gods in the presence of Yahweh implies that he is, in a sense, an assembly unto himself. In this case, “before” means “in front of,” as it often does, a reference to spatial arrangement rather than hierarchy or priority. God consults with no other divine beings….

…

Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible Notes, Bringing to life the Ancient World of Scripture; by Craig Keener; John H. Walton; Publisher: Zondervan, 2016

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Tagged as Ancient laws, Ancient Near Eastern world, Biblical laws, Exodus 20, Exodus 20:1-26, Exodus 20:3, God’s revelation, Henotheism ~ monolatry ~ kathenotheism, Henotheistic religion, Israelite society, Laws in the Bible, Laws of God, Moral ground, Preserving the sanctity of sacred space, Societal structure, to Worship God, Transforming how people live

by Guestspeaker | 2026/04/11 · 6:36 pm

Building of and offerings for the Tabernacle

And Jehovah will speak to Moses, saying,

2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and they shall take for me an offering: from every man whose heart shall impel him, ye shall take my offerings.

3 And this the offering which ye shall take from them; gold, and silver, and brass.

4 Cerulean purple, and reddish purple, and double scarlet and fine cotton, and goats’ hair,

5 And skins of rams made red, and tahash skins, and acacia wood;

6 Oil for a light, spices for the oil of the anointing, and for the incense of aromatics;

7 And stones of onyx, and stones filling up for the ephod and the breast-plate.

8 And make ye to me a holy place; and I will abide in the midst of you.

9 According to all which I having shewn to thee, the pattern of the tent and the pattern of all its vessels; and thus shall ye do. (Exodus 25:1-9)

4 And Moses will say to all the assembly of the sons of Israel, saying, This the word which Jehovah commanded, saying,

5 Take ye from you an offering to Jehovah: all of a willing heart shall bring an offering to Jehovah; gold and silver and brass,

6 And cerulean purple, and red purple, and double scarlet, and byssus, and goats’ hair,

7 And skins of rams made red, and tahash skins, and acacia wood,

8 And oil for the light, and aromatics for the oil of anointing and for the fragrant incense,

9 And stones of onyx, and stones of filling up for the ephod, and for the breast-plate. (Exodus 35:4-9)

18 And Moses will come into the midst of the cloud, and will go up to the mountain: and Moses will be in the mountain forty days and forty nights. (Exodus 24:18)

36 And Jehovah gave favor to the people in the eyes of the Egyptians, and they will lend them; and they will strip the Egyptians. (Exodus 12:36)

Offerings for the Tabernacle (25:1–9; 35:4–9). This is the beginning of what God speaks to Moses upon entering the cloud (24:18). The reader is provided with a list of the materials that are to be brought before God for the purpose of building the tabernacle and related items. It is a fitting introduction to the tabernacle section in that the list of materials amounts to an overview of what is to come. And this is no list of simple, everyday items one might expect of desert dwellers. We have precious metals, expensive yarns and linen, acacia wood, olive oil, spices, precious stones, and gems. The only possible source of these items that can be inferred from the text is the Egyptians themselves, whom the Israelites plundered (12:36), although it bears mentioning that nowhere is this connection made explicit.

God commands Moses to build the tabernacle precisely according to the pattern he will give (25:9). The reason for such precision seems to be implied in 25:8: “And I will dwell among them.” God intends to be present with his people in a way he has not been before. The suitable abode for God is one that reflects the “pattern” given to Moses. This is an early indication that the tabernacle is an earthly symbol of a greater, heavenly reality; we will return to this idea at various points.

One important point should be mentioned here, mainly because this will be developed more clearly later on and seems to form a central concern of the biblical writer. Commentators for centuries have noticed that the phrase “the Lord said to Moses” occurs seven times in chapters 25–31. The first six concern the building of the tabernacle and its furnishings (25:1; 30:11, 17, 22, 34; 31:1), while the final introduces the Sabbath command (31:12).

12 And Jehovah will say to Moses, saying.

13 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths shall ye watch: for it is a sign between me and between you for your generations, to know that I am Jehovah consecrating you.

14 And watch ye the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. He profaning it, dying, shall die; for all doing work in it, and that soul shall be cut off from the midst of his people.

15 Six days shall work be done, and the seventh day the Sabbath, a holy rest to Jehovah: all doing work in the day of the Sabbath, dying, shall die.

16 And the sons of Israel shall watch the Sabbath to do the Sabbath for their generation, a covenant forever.

17 Between me and between the sons of Israel it is a sign forever: for six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, and in the seventh day he rested and he will be refreshed.

18 And he will give to Moses when he ceased to speak to him in mount Sinai, two tables of the testimony, tables of stone written by the finger of God. (Exodus 31:12-18)

It seems clear that the purpose of this arrangement is to aid the reader in making the connection between the building of the tabernacle and the seven days of creation, both of which involve six creative acts culminating in a seventh-day rest.

It should also be mentioned that the theme of sanctuary building by divine pattern and over a seven-day span is not unique to Israel. As early as approximately 2200 BC the Sumerian King Gudea of Lagash undertook a similar project. As we have seen elsewhere in Exodus, the manner in which God reveals himself to his people, at least in terms of its basic structures and patterns, would not seem odd to the ancient Israelites.

…

The NIV Application Commentary on the Bible: One-Volume Edition; by Christopher A. Beetham; Nancy L. Erickson

Preceding

Bamidbar (In the Wilderness)

Additional reading

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Tagged as Building the tabernacle, Exodus 12:36, Exodus 24:18, Exodus 25:1-9, Exodus 31:12-18, Exodus 35:4-9, King Gudea of Lagash, Offerings for the Tabernacle, Sabbath command, Seventh-day rest, Tabernacle

by Guestspeaker | 2026/04/04 · 6:11 pm

The Song at the sea and building of the temple under Solomon

Then will Moses sing, and the sons of Israel, this song to Jehovah; and they will speak, saying, I will sing to Jehovah, for exalting himself, he was exalted: the horse and his horsemen he threw into the sea.

2 Jehovah my strength and song, and he shall be to me for salvation: this my God, and I will cause him to rest; the God of my father, and I will exalt him.

3 Jehovah, a man of war: Jehovah his name.

4 The chariots of Pharaoh and his army he threw into the sea; his chosen rulers sank in the sea of sedge.

5 The depths will cover them: they will go down into the deep as a stone.

6 Thy right hand, Jehovah, was magnified in strength: thy right hand, Jehovah, will break in pieces the enemy.

7 And in the multitude of thy majesty thou wilt destroy those rising up against thee: thou wilt send forth thine anger; it shall eat them as straw.

8 And by the spirit of thine anger the waters shook them off, the flowings stood up as a heap: the depths were contracted in the heart of the sea.

9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will enclose, I will divide the spoil: my soul shall be filled with them: I will draw out my sword, my hand shall dispossess them.

10 Thou didst blow with thy spirit; the sea covered them: they rolled down as lead in the great waters.

11 Who like thee among the gods, O Jehovah? who like thee magnified in in holiness, wonderful in praise, doing a wonder?

12 Thou didst stretch forth thy right hand, the earth will swallow them.

13 Thou didst lead in thy kindness this people thou didst redeem: thou didst conduct with thy strength to thy holy dwelling.

14 The peoples heard, and they will be angry: pain took those inhabiting Philistia.

15 Then the chiefs of Edom trembled; the mighty of Moab, trembling, shall take them; all those dwelling in Canaan melted away.

16 Dread shall fall upon them and terror: by the greatness of thine arm they shall be dumb as a stone; till thy people pass over, O Jehovah: till this people pass over, thou didst buy.

17 Thou shalt bring them in and shalt plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, into the place of thy Sabbath, thou didst make, O Jehovah: a holy place, O Jehovah, which thy hands prepared.

18 Jehovah shall reign forever and yet.

19 For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen, into the sea, and Jehovah will turn back over them the water of the sea: and the sons of Israel went on the dry land in the midst of the sea.

20 And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, will take the drum in her hand; and all the women will go forth after her, with drums and with lutes.

21 And Miriam will sing to them, Sing ye to Jehovah, for being lifted up, he was lifted up: the horse and his horseman he threw into the sea.

Exodus 15:1–21

Original Meaning. This song is a poetic rendering of the narrative of the death of Egypt’s army described toward the end of chapter 14. Perhaps more importantly, it is also the gateway to what will be the focus of attention for the remainder of the book. It reminds the reader not only of what has just transpired but gives a glimpse of what will soon take place. It is the bridge that closes the first half of the book and begins the second half. After we leave this passage, Egypt will remain in Israel’s rearview mirror and her desert wandering will have begun.

Verses 1–12 recount the destruction of the Egyptians. Verse 13 introduces the purpose for which the Israelites have been permitted to escape the doomed Egyptian army: God “redeemed” his people in order to lead them to his “holy dwelling.” What is the identity of this dwelling? We can say that God is bringing his people out of Egypt in order that he might be present with them, and that presence will be manifest in “sacred space” that takes three forms. God’s self-revelation at Sinai, although itself a frighteningly powerful reality, is a prelude to the permanence of his presence in the land and the temple.

The building of the temple under Solomon is the culminating stage in which God’s presence will abide with his people. For the ancient Israelites, the building of the temple was not an afterthought, nor was it, like church buildings today, “a nice thing to have but you don’t really need it.” Jerusalem and the temple are where God chooses to make his dwelling. It is his house. As we will see with respect to the tabernacle (the forerunner to the temple), it is more than simply a place where God chooses to dwell. It is constructed in such a way that brings to mind God’s first earthly dwelling with his people, Eden — the first “temple.” And Eden itself represents God’s heavenly throne room, where God’s presence is most full.

The allusion to the temple raises another issue. Is this reference not anachronistic, since the temple will not be built until several hundred years after the crossing of the sea? This has led some scholars to conclude that the Song at the Sea was written either in whole or in part well after the events themselves. Such a theory also seems to be supported by 15:14–16. One should not glance over the fact that 15:14–15 mention the Philistines, Edomites, Moabites, and Canaanites. These are peoples with which Israel will not come into contact until well after they leave Sinai. In fact, the Philistines and Canaanites will not be encountered for at least another forty years.

To make such an assertion is not to deny the reality of prophecy in the Old Testament. What I am suggesting is that the written version of the poem as we have it is the product of the mature reflection on the crossing of the sea from the point of view of those who have not only the exodus but also the conquest behind them. Moses and the Israelites did sing the Song at the Sea, but the inspired version …

…

The NIV Application Commentary on the Bible: One-Volume Edition; by Christopher A. Beetham; Nancy L. Erickson

Preceding

The Creator God and Jesus Son of the Highest, the firstborn from the dead

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Tagged as Building of the temple, Canaanite(s), Dwelling of God, Egypt, Egyptian army, Exodus 15:14–15, Exodus 15:14–16, Exodus 15:1–21, Garden of Eden, Israel, Israelites, Mount Sinai, Philistine(s), Self-revelation of God, Song at the Sea, Tabernacle

by Guestspeaker | 2026/03/28 · 8:10 pm

Snakes and the uraeus symbol of Egyptian power

Exodus Chapter 7

7:10 snake. The Hebrew word here is different from the one used in 4:3. The Hebrew word here can refer to a sea-monster, dragon, crocodile or snake. The purpose of this event is also different. The sign with Moses’ staff was for the Israelite elders. They saw it and, initially, believed Moses (4:30–31). The sign with Aaron’s staff is for Pharaoh and his officials and demonstrates what appears to be an assault on Egyptian ideology. If Aaron’s staff did indeed become a snake, then its devouring of the magicians’ snakes, on the one hand, demonstrates an overpowering of the magicians and even a commandeering of their own abilities and expertise.

On the other hand, it could also serve as an attack on the snake as a symbol of Egyptian power. It is hard to know, though, whether Aaron’s staff was supposed to become a snake that the Egyptians feared and despised or one that they worshipped. In ancient Egypt various preternatural beings (deities, demons, etc.) took the form of a snake; e.g., Apophis^*1 was an evil serpent and a great enemy of the sun-god Re. In Egyptian mythology, he regularly attacked the sun-god and, unless regularly defeated, could impede or even halt the sun-god’s orbit and thus bring disaster for human life on earth. Another important snake-deity was the goddess Wadjit ^*2. She functioned as the protective and representative deity of Lower Egypt, the delta region. She was normally portrayed as an up-reared cobra — referred to as a uraeus —ready to strike. Wadjit was represented by the uraeus ^*2 adorning the Egyptian king’s headdress. Having the cobra just above the king’s forehead was meant to bring protection to Pharaoh and terror to his enemies.

The inscription commemorating Rameses II’s victory at Qadesh over the Hittites (c. 1275 BC) also refers to Wadjit. Rameses speaks of how he entered the fray and fought ferociously, with his “uraeus-serpent” beating back his enemies and spitting “fiery flame” into the faces of his enemies. The uraeus on the king’s head imbued him with the mystical force by which he maintained order in Egypt and even the entire world; no uraeus meant no power.

The episode with Aaron’s staff makes a more effective attack on Egyptian ideology if the snake is one like the king’s uraeus rather than an evil creature like Apophis. If so, this narrative is another instance when the Biblical text takes a power symbol, crucial within the Egyptian worldview, and attempts to reverse its power and make it advantageous for the Israelites.

7:11 magicians. The Hebrew term appears related to an Egyptian word often used to refer to theological specialists in ancient Egypt who studied their culture’s sacred literature and knew an array of secret charms, spells and rituals. They were often said to be associated with the “House of Life,” a special section in some Egyptian temples that housed ritual and magic texts said to be inspired by the sun-god. They would have practised “sympathetic magic” …

…

Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible Notes, Bringing to life the Ancient World of Scripture; by Craig Keener; John H. Walton; Publisher: Zondervan, 2016

A depiction of Apophis based on the depiction in the tomb of Ramesses I.

Apophis = Apopis = Apep = Aphoph: ancient Egyptian deity, demon of chaos, who embodied darkness and disorder, and was thus the opponent of light and Maat (order/truth). He had the form of a serpent and, as the foe of the sun god, Re, represented all that was outside the ordered cosmos. Although many serpents symbolised divinity and royalty, Apopis threatened the underworld and symbolised evil.

The Egyptians believed that the king could help maintain the order of the world and assist Re by performing rituals against Apopis.

An illustration of Wadjet based on depictions in tombs.

Uraeus: a representation of the sacred asp (Naja haje) appearing in ancient Egyptian art and especially on the headdress of rulers and serving as a symbol of sovereignty

Wadjit = Wadjet = Uto = Buto = Uadjet = Udjo, cobra goddess of ancient Egypt. Depicted as a cobra twined around a papyrus stem, she was the tutelary goddess of Lower Egypt. Wadjet and Nekhbet (Nekhebet), the vulture-goddess of Upper Egypt, were the protective goddesses of the king and were sometimes represented together on the king’s diadem, symbolising his reign over all of Egypt.

Preceding

Theology pt17 – God is All Powerful

Additional reading

Today’s thought “Vengeance is mine, I will repay” (February 2)

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Tagged as Apophis = Apopis = Apep = Aphoph (Eg. god), Egyptian mythology, Exodus 4:30-31, Exodus 7, Exodus 7:10, Exodus 7:11, House of Life (part of Eg. temple), Lower Egypt = northern Egypt, Magician(s), Nekhbet = Nekhebet (Eg. vulture goddess), Preternatural being(s), Rameses II (Eg. king), Re (Eg. sun-god), Snake, Snake-deity, Staff of Aaron, Symbol of Egyptian power, Wadjit = Wadjet = Uto = Buto = Uadjet = Udjo (Eg. cobra goddess)

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