Thought for Today
Exodus 3:18 They will listen to your voice; and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; let us now go a three days' journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.'
Numbers 1:37 those enrolled of the tribe of Benjamin were thirty-five thousand four hundred.
Matthew 9:13 Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners."
Romans 11:1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
When we think about the world of the Bible and our own modern world, we probably think most in terms of technology. Communication and travel are especially impacted venues where the technologies of today would have been unimaginable thousands of years ago. Certainly fashions in clothing and housing have changed radically.
It is easy to lose sight of the fact that our faith and religion were first developed in an agricultural, tribal society practicing a faith based on a sacrificial system. Human societies first formed around what we today would term the nuclear family, think of Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel. As families grew and prospered, they formed loose associations we call tribes. Eventually, those tribes formed associations we now call cities; cities joined together into nations. But, the tribal identification remained strong for millennia.
Our earliest ancestors-in-the-faith first organized in tribes with eponymous identification with the sons of Jacob: Reuben; Simeon; Levi; Judah; Dan; Naphtali; Gad; Asher; Issachar; Zebulun; Joseph; and, Benjamin. When those ancestors entered the Promised Land, each tribe except Levi received a designated region. The tribe of Levi received no land, but all Levites were consecrated to serving God. Among the Levites, only Aaron, Aaron’s sons and their descendants were priests.
Those tribal territories and those associations with the land dominated our ancestors-in-the-faith through the biblical books of Judges and until the Babylonian Captivity. The 10 northern tribes had coalesced into a confederation known as Israel, with worship localized in Shechem. The 2 southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin comprised the nation known as Judah, worshiping in Jerusalem. Levites served in both nations.
To understand the sacrificial system, one needs to read the Torah, the first 5 books of the Old Testament. Read all of the laws, rites and rituals, the elaborate decorations for the worship area, the clothing of the priests and especially the elaborate sacrifices mandated for atonement for every imaginable sin.
If you don’t think tribal identifications remained significant down to the times of the New Testament, read the elaborate genealogies of Jesus in Matthew 1 and in Luke 3. When you do, note how carefully Jesus’ lineage was traced through King David and the tribe of Benjamin. If you were not already aware of the fact, Jesus was born in Bethlehem because Joseph was of the tribe of Benjamin.
Think about how different our world is today. Some of us can trace our lineage back to some tribe or clan. Most of us can trace our family back to some nation of origin. But, few of us take much note of those tribes or clans. When I look at my own ancestry, my patronym is associated with a Scottish clan. However, my family tree includes ancestors from all over western Europe. That is true for many citizens of the U.S.A. Few of us think of ourselves as Angles, Saxons, Franks, Celts or as descended from any other tribe that migrated into Europe.
As to our system of atonement, most Christians, even if they are not familiar with the prophet Micah, think along the lines of, "6:6 With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" 8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
God has not changed. The God we worship is still the God of Genesis 1:1. We have changed and grown in our relationship with God. God does not want sacrifices of grains, oils or animals. God want lives sacrificed toward goodness, justice, love and kindness. God wants our efforts to bring about God’s will on earth as it is in heaven.
Stay safe, love God, trust God,
Pastor Ray