What to do with body parts which cause you to sin!

Matthew 5:29-30 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

1. If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out
2. If your hands cause you to sin, cut it off

Of course, if you read this as a principle, it can be applied to any body part. Guys, please be careful.

Have the prostitute burned to death says the man who slept with her

Genesis 38:13-18,24 When Tamar was told, "Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep," she took off her widow's clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife.

When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, "Come now, let me sleep with you."
"And what will you give me to sleep with you?" she asked.

"I'll send you a young goat from my flock," he said.
"Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?" she asked. He said, "What pledge should I give you?"
"Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand," she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.

..About three months later Judah was told, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant."
Judah said, "Bring her out and have her burned to death!"

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

Don't you find it interesting that the very man who slept with Tamar thinking she's a prostitute is calling for her to be burnt to death because she was guilty of prostitution? Don't you find that a bit hypocritical?

Saul prophesies naked

1 Samuel 19:23-24 So [Saul] went there to Naioth in Ramah. Then the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. And he also stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

Earlier we read that God instructed Isaiah to walk naked and barefoot for 3 years. Here we see Saul prophesying naked before Samuel than laying naked all that day and night.

Can you imagine if any of this happened today? We'd be confined to a mental asylum.

God's view of nocturnal emissions

Deuteronomy 23:10 If one of your men is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp and stay there.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

This must make for some very interesting conversations "outside the camp."

The Terror of God

Genesis 35:5 Then they set out, and the terror of God fell upon the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

There's something unsettling about the phrase "the terror of God."

Caleb gives his daughter as a prize to her cousin

Joshua 15:16-17 And Caleb said, "I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher." Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to him in marriage.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

It's a good thing marrying your cousin wasn't a big deal back in these times.

The women sing "joyful songs" about the number of people Saul and David had killed

1 Samuel 18:6-7 When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with tambourines and lutes. As they danced, they sang:
"Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands."

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

Was this a competition? Would you consider these "joyful songs?"

The Witch of Endor brings Samuel back from the dead

1 Samuel 28:8-12 So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. "Consult a spirit for me," he said, "and bring up for me the one I name."

But the woman said to him, "Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?"

Saul swore to her by the LORD, "As surely as the LORD lives, you will not be punished for this."

Then the woman asked, "Whom shall I bring up for you?"
"Bring up Samuel," he said.

When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out at the top of her voice and said to Saul, "Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!"

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

This is one of the weirder stories of the Bible

Strange Rituals

Numbers 19:1-10 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: "This is a requirement of the law that the LORD has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke. Give it to Eleazar the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tent of Meeting.

While he watches, the heifer is to be burned—its hide, flesh, blood and offal. The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer.

After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening. The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening.

"A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They shall be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin. The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean till evening. This will be a lasting ordinance both for the Israelites and for the aliens living among them.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

The Bible has many of these strange rituals. Why does an omnipotent, omniscient, infinite God need these types of rituals to interact with his creation?

God instructs Abraham to sacrifice his son as a burnt offering

Genesis 22:1-3 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied.

Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

Countless sermons have been preached on this story demonstrating Abraham's "faith" in God. However, think about the reality of this story and its implications. I've read stories about parents killing their children because they claim God told them to do so. It would have been nice to say "God would NEVER say such a thing" but this story negates that.

Praise you, O Lord, for killing, destroying, and committing genocide

Psalm 9:1-7 I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart;
I will tell of all your wonders.
I will be glad and rejoice in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

My enemies turn back;
they stumble and perish before you.

For you have upheld my right and my cause;
you have sat on your throne, judging righteously.

You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.

Endless ruin has overtaken the enemy,
you have uprooted their cities;
even the memory of them has perished.

The LORD reigns forever;
he has established his throne for judgment.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

Can you imagine singing this song?

Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb or break its neck

Exodus 34:19-20 “The first offspring of every womb belongs to me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whether from herd or flock. Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn sons. “No one is to appear before me empty-handed.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

1. Why does a firstborn donkey need redeeming with a lamb?

Priests must wash or die

Exodus 30:17-21 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base of bronze, for washing; and you shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it.

Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet from it; When they enter the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water, so that they will not die; or when they approach the altar to minister, by offering up in smoke a fire sacrifice to the LORD. So they shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they will not die; and it shall be a perpetual statute for them, for Aaron and his descendants throughout their generations."

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

.... so that they will not die.

God is threatened by man's progress?

Genesis 11:1-9 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."

But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."

So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

I have to be honest with you, this scripture does not sound any different that the many stories about the gods written over time. We refer to those stories as myths but this as reality.

Here are my questions?

1) Do you really believe that man could have built a tower into the heavens? This isn't even possible today with our advanced technologies.

2) Do you really believe that there nothing that would be impossible for man to accomplish if we were as one? Aren't we finite beings with limitations?

3) Do you really believe that the infinite, omnipotent, omniscient creator of the universe was threatened by humans so he had to come down and intervene?

This account does sound like a mythical story to explain why we have different languages and cultures. If this was written in any other book than the Bible, we would laugh at it as absurd.

God tries to kill Moses?

Exodus 4:18-26 So Moses went back home to Jethro, his father-in-law. “Please let me return to my relatives in Egypt,” Moses said. “I don’t even know if they are still alive.”
“Go in peace,” Jethro replied.

Before Moses left Midian, the Lord said to him, “Return to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you have died.”

So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and headed back to the land of Egypt. In his hand he carried the staff of God.

And the Lord told Moses, “When you arrive back in Egypt, go to Pharaoh and perform all the miracles I have empowered you to do. But I will harden his heart so he will refuse to let the people go. Then you will tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son. I commanded you, “Let my son go, so he can worship me.” But since you have refused, I will now kill your firstborn son!’”

On the way to Egypt, at a place where Moses and his family had stopped for the night, the Lord confronted him and was about to kill him. But Moses’ wife, Zipporah, took a flint knife and circumcised her son. She touched his feet with the foreskin and said, “Now you are a bridegroom of blood to me.” (When she said “a bridegroom of blood,” she was referring to the circumcision.) After that, the Lord left him alone.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

So begins the saga of God hardening Pharoah's heart then judging him for his actions. However, the question I have on this passage is "Why did God want to kill Moses?" Thoughts?

[Read Today's Reading in The Brick Testament - An Illustrated Bible]

Child Abandonment?

Genesis 17:14 And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

Wouldn't this be the parent's issue for not having the child circumcised? Why is the child going to be abandoned and cut off from his family?

The Test for an Unfaithful Wife

Numbers 5:11-31 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'If a man's wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him by sleeping with another man, and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act), and if feelings of jealousy come over her husband and he suspects his wife and she is impure—or if he is jealous and suspects her even though she is not impure- then he is to take his wife to the priest. He must also take an offering of a tenth of an ephah of barley flour on her behalf. He must not pour oil on it or put incense on it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a reminder offering to draw attention to guilt.

" 'The priest shall bring her and have her stand before the LORD. Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water. After the priest has had the woman stand before the LORD, he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder offering, the grain offering for jealousy, while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse. Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, "If no other man has slept with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have defiled yourself by sleeping with a man other than your husband"- here the priest is to put the woman under this curse of the oath-"may the LORD cause your people to curse and denounce you when he causes your thigh to waste away and your abdomen to swell. May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells and your thigh wastes away."
" 'Then the woman is to say, "Amen. So be it."

" 'The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water. He shall have the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and this water will enter her and cause bitter suffering. The priest is to take from her hands the grain offering for jealousy, wave it before the LORD and bring it to the altar. The priest is then to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial offering and burn it on the altar; after that, he is to have the woman drink the water. If she has defiled herself and been unfaithful to her husband, then when she is made to drink the water that brings a curse, it will go into her and cause bitter suffering; her abdomen will swell and her thigh waste away, and she will become accursed among her people. If, however, the woman has not defiled herself and is free from impurity, she will be cleared of guilt and will be able to have children.

" 'This, then, is the law of jealousy when a woman goes astray and defiles herself while married to her husband, or when feelings of jealousy come over a man because he suspects his wife. The priest is to have her stand before the LORD and is to apply this entire law to her. The husband will be innocent of any wrongdoing, but the woman will bear the consequences of her sin.' "

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

Huh?

God's view of a woman's monthly cycle

Leviticus 15:19-30 When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening. Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. Whoever touches her bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Whoever touches anything she sits on must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when anyone touches it, he will be unclean till evening.

If a man lies with her and her monthly flow touches him, he will be unclean for seven days; any bed he lies on will be unclean.

When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days at a time other than her monthly period or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge, just as in the days of her period. Any bed she lies on while her discharge continues will be unclean, as is her bed during her monthly period, and anything she sits on will be unclean, as during her period. Whoever touches them will be unclean; he must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening.

When she is cleansed from her discharge, she must count off seven days, and after that she will be ceremonially clean. On the eighth day she must take two doves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. The priest is to sacrifice one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In this way he will make atonement for her before the LORD for the uncleanness of her discharge.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

No comment.

Isaiah instructed by God to walk naked and barefoot for 3 years

Isaiah 20:2-3a At the same time the LORD spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and remove the sackcloth from your body, and take your sandals off your feet.” And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. Then the LORD said, “Just as My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder....

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

I'm glad God's definition of a "sign and a wonder" has changed under the New Covenant. How would you like to be told to walk naked and barefoot for 3 years in order for God to perform signs and wonders?

How to create spotted sheep or goats

Genesis 30:37-39 Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches. Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink, they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

1. Jacob placed striped branches where the sheep or goats could see them while mating.
2. This resulted in streaked, speckled, or spotted offspring.

All I can say to this is - WOW!