Reading: Exodus 35-40, Psalm 29
Where does your enthusiasm take you?
As a child of the 1980s, I have great appreciation for side scrolling video game. I spent countless hours as a child playing the various entries in the genre: Defender, Double Dragon, and of course the king of side scrolling platform games Super Mario Bros. I am of the opinion the the genre peaked in 1997 with the release of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on the original Playstation. It was the best game I’d ever played. It tracked your completion percentage, and I clocked hundreds of hours attempting to achieve the maximum of 200.6% complete (I know. I know.) which I eventually did by visiting all 1890 rooms on the map. Now ask me how much time I spent on my homework in my junior and senior years of high school. I’m one of those people who do school well, so I did okay on my grades, but I could certainly have learned more. I’m not exactly expressing regret (the game is amazing), but looking back it is clear my enthusiasm was pretty much wholly directed at the pleasure of playing a game, not the long term payoff of learning.
Today we wrap up the book of Exodus, which means tomorrow we will get to what I know you have all been waiting for: Leviticus. Get ready for a lot of blood, fire, and holiness. I know you’re eager, but in order to understand what is going on in Leviticus, we do actually have to look at this last piece of Exodus. The story, it turns out, is a progression.
Today’s story opens with Moses pronouncing the sabbath regulations to the people once again. This, like much of today’s reading, will feel repetitive but is really pretty important. Remember, the sabbath was the sign of belonging to God’s people. It comes before the tabernacle, the sacrifices, the laws- it holds the primary place in identifying as God’s people. Keeping it is non-negotiable in all circumstances, even when there is no tabernacle, no altar, no book.
Having reminded the people to keep the sabbath, they start in on the work of building the tabernacle, and we see the enthusiasm of the people for worshiping God directed correctly. When Moses was on the mountain the first time, the people enthusiastically gave their gold to Aaron to make an idol for them to worship, because they wanted something to direct their worship towards. But they did it their own way, and the consequence was death. This time they are directing that same enthusiasm towards building the tabernacle, which is how God directed they worship him. They bring so much material to our spirit-filled foreman Bezalel and Oholiab have to ask Moses to make them stop. Though the people of Israel don’t always to the right thing, they do have a tendency to overdo whatever they get excited about.
This time around, the people follow the instructions exactly. There is a reason for the repetition of Exodus 25-28 in these chapters: the people were careful to follow instructions to the letter. They have learned that God’s instructions are not to be trifled with or disobeyed in the slightest way. Doing it their own way results in severe discomfort and even death. They are committed to doing it God’s way this time.
It gets results. When the construction of the tabernacle is complete, they set it up and something really amazing happens. The glory of God leaves the mountain and occupies the tabernacle. To see how big a deal this is, remember back to Exodus 19. Before approaching the mountain at Sinai where the glory of God would appear, the people went through a multi-day preparation of purification, and even then had to stay a certain distance away. Remember Exodus 24 and the numerous sacrifices of purification necessary for the elders of Israel to go onto the mountain for the covenant with God, and even then they had to remain while Moses went into the cloud covering God’s glory. Remember God’s warning to Moses in Exodus 29 about the specifics of the high priest’s garments- they must do this in order to live and not die when they approached the glory of God. Remember yesterday when Moses confessed that Israel must have God’s presence with them or they would lose their very identity. God’s presence is holy, necessary, and incredibly dangerous. And now God has taken up residence in a tent made by a bunch of wandering refugees from Egypt who can’t seem to follow instructions from day to day.
This should go well. In fact, yesterday God warned the Moses about how dangerous it would be. God said the people were so stiff necked that it would be better if he didn’t go with them, because there is a very real danger he will destroy them in his holiness. But Moses gets it: they need God with them anyway, dangerous or not. So God is going with them. Whenever they move, the glory of God arises and leads them. Whenever they stop, the glory of God rests in the tabernacle with them. There is only one problem: God’s glory is too much. Even Moses, the arbiter of the covenant, can’t go into the tabernacle. God is going with the people of Israel, but they are still separated by the human problem. To be in God’s presence while in rebellion against him is to die. To enter in the smallest way into the new creation will still require death. Welcome to Leviticus, a book of death, blood, and fire.