The meat offering

Leviticus 2: 1-10, “And when any will offer a meat offering unto the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense thereon: And he shall bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests: and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD: And the remnant of the meat offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’: it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the LORD made by fire. And if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baken in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil. And if thy oblation be a meat offering baken in a pan, it shall be of fine flour unleavened, mingled with oil. Thou shalt part it in pieces, and pour oil thereon: it is a meat offering. And if thy oblation be a meat offering baken in the fryingpan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil. And thou shalt bring the meat offering that is made of these things unto the LORD: and when it is presented unto the priest, he shall bring it unto the altar. And the priest shall take from the meat offering a memorial thereof, and shall burn it upon the altar: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. And that which is left of the meat offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’: it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the LORD made by fire.”

There were various kinds of offerings for various purposes. The burnt offering was for sin but the meat offering was to give pleasure to the Lord so that He could receive a sweet savour from the offering. Some of this offering was burnt for the Lord but the rest of the offering was for the priest. The same principle applies today. The people who serve the Lord in a full time capacity need to be supported without restriction. They are not to look for the money or force others to give but the people who are blessed by their service should give graciously and gratefully for the Lord has given us all so much.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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Of the sheep or of the goats

Leviticus 1: 10-17, “And if his offering be of the flocks, namely, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt sacrifice; he shall bring it a male without blemish. And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar. And he shall cut it into his pieces, with his head and his fat: and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar: But he shall wash the inwards and the legs with water: and the priest shall bring it all, and burn it upon the altar: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. And if the burnt sacrifice for his offering to the LORD be of fowls, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves, or of young pigeons. And the priest shall bring it unto the altar, and wring off his head, and burn it on the altar; and the blood thereof shall be wrung out at the side of the altar: And he shall pluck away his crop with his feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, by the place of the ashes: And he shall cleave it with the wings thereof, but shall not divide it asunder: and the priest shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the fire: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.”

There was an offering available to everyone in the nation of Israel some could bring sheep while others could bring goats or cattle and others could bring birds. These offerings were available to every strata of their society, rich or poor. Everyone was able to bring what they could afford and all were acceptable to the Lord. No matter what was brought, it came up as a sweet savour to the Lord.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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Let him offer

Leviticus 1: 3-9, “If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD. And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. And he shall kill the bullock before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces. And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire: And the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar: But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.”

When Noah first came out of the ark he offered a burnt offering to the Lord (Gen 8: 20, “And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.”) The Lord was pleased with this offering and He decided that He would never curse the ground again even though man’s heart was evil. The Lord is pleased with burnt offerings and He is satisfied with this kind of offering for sin. If a person in Israel wanted to give a voluntary offering to the Lord to cover their sin they could bring a burnt offering to the Lord and the Lord would accept the offering and make atonement. When atonement is made we are “at one “with the Lord again even though we have sinned. Even though the offering was burnt its blood was shed first and poured out on the altar. Blood represents a life given, in this case, the life is given as a substitute for the life of the sinner and the Lord is satisfied. We know this because the offering came up as a sweet smell to the Lord, making the Lord pleased.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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Bring your offering

Leviticus 1: 1, 2, “And the LORD called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the LORD, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock.”

Exodus tells us how the Lord established His people with their ceremonial religion so that they could be His people and could have a way of dealing with their sin. However, this wasn’t the end of the story, it was just the beginning. They were given these divine procedures so that they could live a full and satisfying life to the glory of God. Day by day they could come to the Lord and offer him gifts from the bountiful things that He had already given them. The Lord gave them out of His own abundance and they could give back a part of what He gave them and keep far more for themselves. The Lord calls people today under the same circumstance. His calling is not the end point but the beginning of a rich and enjoyable life lived in relationship with Him.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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A summary of Exodus

The book of Exodus begins with a relatively long introduction to give the reader context for the significant part of the book. It probably only took a few months to get from Ex 3-Ex 12 but the first few chapter took many years. The rest of the book took fourteen days less than one year.

The book of Exodus begins with a story of betrayal. Joseph saved Egypt from destruction but his people were enslaved because the Egyptians were afraid of them. Pharaoh even tried to commit genocide by asking the midwives to kill all the male children that were born in Israel. The midwives refused to do that. One particular boy survived and he was called Moses. His mother tried to hide him at home but as he grew she was afraid so the committed him to the Lord and put him in an ark of bullrushes on the River Nile. Pharaoh's daughter found the baby and adopted him as her own but appointed his own mother as wet nurse.

Moses spent forty years being trained in the Egyptian palace and he learned all the wisdom of Egypt. However, he could not forget the things that his mother taught him when he was a child. When he was forty years old he tried to identify with his own people and then killed and Egyptian who was beating an Israeli. Moses had to leave Egypt and spent the next forty years in the Midianites desert where he was married and he cared for his father in law’s sheep. Moses met the Lord and the Lord told him to return to Egypt to free His people from slavery. Moses spent these forty years unlearning all the wisdom of Egypt so the Lord could use him.

Moses met his brother Aaron and they went to Pharaoh and asked him to set Israel free. At first Pharaoh refused even though the Lord bought plagues on Egypt. However the final plague involved the death of all the firstborn of Egypt and he was afraid that all the Egyptians would die so he let Israel go. The Lord gave Israel special protection under the blood of a sacrificial lamb during the last plague and Israel celebrated their first Passover. The Lord then gave Israel regulations concerning the Passover so that they would not forget where they came from, as long as they followed the Lord’s recommendations.

Israel went east from Egypt and through the Sinai peninsula. Pharaoh decided that he would bring the slaves back so he chased after them with his army but the Lord saved Israel and destroyed all the Egyptian armies when they tried to follow Israel through the parted Red Sea. Israel the Lord and the great victory that He had given them that day.

The people grumbles about food and water as they went through the desert and the Lord fed them and gave them water. Moses father in law, Jethro, visited Moses and gave him some good advice, really this advice came from the Lord but Jethro acted as His agent.

Moses made preparations to meet the Lord and make the covenant between the Lord and His people. The Lord appeared before the Lord on Mt Sinai and then He addressed the people directly giving the the Ten Commandments which were to be the foundation of their relationship with the Lord.

While the Lord gave the Ten Commandments as a simple foundation for all Israel’s activities as the Lord’s people, He also gave them instructions and regulations so that they would be able to apply these Commandments in a consistent way in all the different situations they faced from day to day. They were also sinners and the Lord established a system of sacrifices and offerings to deal with their sin.

Moses went up into the mountain to meet with the Lord and was given specific details concerning the Tabernacle, the priesthood and the Sabbath. While Moses was on the mountain, Israel rebelled against the Lord and worshipped the golden calf. Moses acted as a mediator between the Lord and the people and the Lord did not destroy them for their sin.

Israel began to build the tabernacle and make the priestly garments. Moses inspected the work and then the Tabernacle and all its instruments were put in place before the priests were sanctified and the Lord’s presence descended onto the Tabernacle.

In less than a year the Lord took a group of slaves and made them into a nation with an established ceremonial system of worship.

The book of Exodus is composed of blocks of material which usually have clearly marked beginnings and ends. The different episodes are rarely self-contained. They assume a knowledge of earlier material and anticipate later events. To understand Exodus it is important to follow the flow of the narrative and see how the various episodes relate to each other.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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A cloud covered the tent

Exodus 40: 34-38, “Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys: But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the LORD was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.”

When everything was finished and the ceremonial part of Israel’s life was properly established then they were ready to move on at the Lord’s command. This is also true in our lives. We are not really ready to move forward in the Lord’s service unless we have everything in place to serve Him. However, all we have to do is believe God and then we are ready to serve Him.(compare Gen 15: 6, “And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” and Gen 6: 6-8, “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.”) The question is not a matter of what I can bring to the Lord but what I believe that the Lord can do for me.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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So Moses finished the work

Exodus 40: 16-33, “Thus did Moses: according to all that the LORD commanded him, so did he. And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up. And Moses reared up the tabernacle, and fastened his sockets, and set up the boards thereof, and put in the bars thereof, and reared up his pillars. And he spread abroad the tent over the tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent above upon it; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he took and put the testimony into the ark, and set the staves on the ark, and put the mercy seat above upon the ark: And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the vail of the covering, and covered the ark of the testimony; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he put the table in the tent of the congregation, upon the side of the tabernacle northward, without the vail. And he set the bread in order upon it before the LORD; as the LORD had commanded Moses. And he put the candlestick in the tent of the congregation, over against the table, on the side of the tabernacle southward. And he lighted the lamps before the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he put the golden altar in the tent of the congregation before the vail: And he burnt sweet incense thereon; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he set up the hanging at the door of the tabernacle. And he put the altar of burnt offering by the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation, and offered upon it the burnt offering and the meat offering; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he set the laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and put water there, to wash withal. And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet thereat: When they went into the tent of the congregation, and when they came near unto the altar, they washed; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the hanging of the court gate. So Moses finished the work.”

Moses did what the Lord commanded him to do and the work was finished. King Solomon wrote a Psalm about the building of the Temple and he wrote, “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” (Psalm 127: 1) The same is true of the Tabernacle, Moses built it but it was the Lord’s plan for it to be built so nothing could stop the plan from coming into being. Moses also had the right attitude for he did as the Lord commanded him to do and the work was finished. Anyone who wants to work for the Lord would do well to remember that work for the Lord is a matter of small people doing small things in a small way, in conjunction with Almighty God doing almighty things in His almighty way. If we remember this then the glory will always go the right person, the Lord Himself.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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And sanctify it

Exodus 40: 1-15, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, On the first day of the first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation. And thou shalt put therein the ark of the testimony, and cover the ark with the vail. And thou shalt bring in the table, and set in order the things that are to be set in order upon it; and thou shalt bring in the candlestick, and light the lamps thereof. And thou shalt set the altar of gold for the incense before the ark of the testimony, and put the hanging of the door to the tabernacle. And thou shalt set the altar of the burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation. And thou shalt set the laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and shalt put water therein. And thou shalt set up the court round about, and hang up the hanging at the court gate. And thou shalt take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is therein, and shalt hallow it, and all the vessels thereof: and it shall be holy. And thou shalt anoint the altar of the burnt offering, and all his vessels, and sanctify the altar: and it shall be an altar most holy. And thou shalt anoint the laver and his foot, and sanctify it. And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and wash them with water. And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments, and anoint him, and sanctify him; that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office. And thou shalt bring his sons, and clothe them with coats: And thou shalt anoint them, as thou didst anoint their father, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office: for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.”

This passage gives us a time frame for the book of Exodus. They left Egypt on fourteenth day of the first month and on the first day of the first month, one year later, they set up the Tabernacle in full order for the first time. The whole process began with putting up the tent and then starting with the most sacred items inside the holiest place before they put the other things in place and finally they ordained the the priests so that they could carry out the ceremonies. The same is true for any person who wants to serve the Lord. We have to start and the deepest part of our lives, that is, with our attitude. When we sanctify our attitudes so that we are in tune with the Lord in our thoughts then we can move on to the external parts of our lives. This is the great difference between salvation by works and salvation by faith. Abraham had the right attitude and he pleased God before there was any Law (Gen 15: 6, “And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”) However, even Aaron who was properly ordained but he sinned (Num 12: 1-3, “And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it. (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)”) While Aaron didn’t get leprosy like his sister because he was the High Priest, the Lord still judged him for his sin.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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All that the Lord commanded Moses

Exodus 39: 32-43, “Thus was all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation finished: and the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they. And they brought the tabernacle unto Moses, the tent, and all his furniture, his taches, his boards, his bars, and his pillars, and his sockets, And the covering of rams’ skins dyed red, and the covering of badgers’ skins, and the vail of the covering, The ark of the testimony, and the staves thereof, and the mercy seat, The table, and all the vessels thereof, and the shewbread, The pure candlestick, with the lamps thereof, even with the lamps to be set in order, and all the vessels thereof, and the oil for light, And the golden altar, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the hanging for the tabernacle door, The brasen altar, and his grate of brass, his staves, and all his vessels, the laver and his foot, The hangings of the court, his pillars, and his sockets, and the hanging for the court gate, his cords, and his pins, and all the vessels of the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of the congregation, The cloths of service to do service in the holy place, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and his sons’ garments, to minister in the priest’s office. According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel made all the work. And Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the LORD had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed them.”

One of the remarkable things about this section is that it tells us that the slaves had become an organised nation in only a short period of time; less than a year. Moses did as the Lord commanded him and the people did what Moses told them to do.Everything was complete and they were able to fully participate in the ceremonial rites of their religion. The Lord brought Israel out of slavery to bring them into the Promised Land but they had to be able to live according to His principles so that they could be a source of blessing to all the families of the earth. This is why the Law and the ceremonies were so important.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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As the Lord commanded Moses

Exodus 39: 1-31, “And of the blue, and purple, and scarlet, they made cloths of service, to do service in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. And they did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, with cunning work. They made shoulderpieces for it, to couple it together: by the two edges was it coupled together. And the curious girdle of his ephod, that was upon it, was of the same, according to the work thereof; of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen; as the LORD commanded Moses. And they wrought onyx stones inclosed in ouches of gold, graven, as signets are graven, with the names of the children of Israel. And he put them on the shoulders of the ephod, that they should be stones for a memorial to the children of Israel; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he made the breastplate of cunning work, like the work of the ephod; of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. It was foursquare; they made the breastplate double: a span was the length thereof, and a span the breadth thereof, being doubled. And they set in it four rows of stones: the first row was a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this was the first row. And the second row, an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. And the third row, a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst. 1And the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper: they were inclosed in ouches of gold in their inclosings. And the stones were according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet, every one with his name, according to the twelve tribes. And they made upon the breastplate chains at the ends, of wreathen work of pure gold. And they made two ouches of gold, and two gold rings; and put the two rings in the two ends of the breastplate. And they put the two wreathen chains of gold in the two rings on the ends of the breastplate. And the two ends of the two wreathen chains they fastened in the two ouches, and put them on the shoulderpieces of the ephod, before it. And they made two rings of gold, and put them on the two ends of the breastplate, upon the border of it, which was on the side of the ephod inward. And they made two other golden rings, and put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath, toward the forepart of it, over against the other coupling thereof, above the curious girdle of the ephod. And they did bind the breastplate by his rings unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it might be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate might not be loosed from the ephod; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue. And there was an hole in the midst of the robe, as the hole of an habergeon, with a band round about the hole, that it should not rend. And they made upon the hems of the robe pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen. And they made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates upon the hem of the robe, round about between the pomegranates; A bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, round about the hem of the robe to minister in; as the LORD commanded Moses. And they made coats of fine linen of woven work for Aaron, and for his sons, And a mitre of fine linen, and goodly bonnets of fine linen, and linen breeches of fine twined linen, And a girdle of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, of needlework; as the LORD commanded Moses. And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, like to the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And they tied unto it a lace of blue, to fasten it on high upon the mitre; as the LORD commanded Moses.”

The operative part of this section can be found in the words, “as the Lord commanded Moses.” The book of Exodus gives a remarkable example of what can happen when the Lord commands and His people obey His commands. Israel was enslaved but in less that twelve months they were freed from slavery and had a fully established ceremonial system whereby they could worship the Lord and be an integral part of the Lord’s plan to bless all the families of the earth. Because Moses obeyed the Lord they were in a position where they could be seen as being “HOLINESS TO THE LORD”.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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Israel's faithful God

 “This web site is designed to spread the vicious truth about the Bible.  For far too long priests and preachers have completely ignored the vicious criminal acts that the Bible promotes.  The so called “God” of the Bible makes Osama Bin Laden look like a Boy Scout.  This God, according to the Bible, is directly responsible for many mass-murders, rapes, pillage, plunder, slavery, child abuse and killing, not to mention the killing of unborn children.”^[i]

The above quote was taken from a website with the sub heading “Fighting Against the Immorality in Religion”. When we read something like this we may be faced with a crisis in faith. How do we answer this kind of question if someone asks us?

On the other hand, Moses said that the commandment, which came from the Lord, where not hidden or a long way away. The people didn’t have to go up to heaven or beyond the sea but the word was very near, in each person’s mouth and heart^[ii]. While this was written about the Law that had just been given to the new generation of Israelis who were ready to enter the Promised Land, it is logical to apply this to all the books of Moses. The Lord Jesus Christ spoke to his disciples and told them that no one would enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless they were willing to be humble and become like a little child^[iii]. This would lead us to believe that the message the Lord gave to us in the Bible is simple and easy to understand. Therefore there must be simple answer to this paradox.

During the reigns of Kings Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam 11 of Israel both these countries experienced a period of peace and prosperity^[iv]. While the people were congratulating themselves on how good they were and how much they deserved this prosperity, the Lord sent prophets to call them back to Himself. Isaiah was one of these prophets and he saw the destruction of the city of Samaria. He prophesied to Judah but he also had messages for Israel. He gave a message to the “drunkards of Ephraim” and told them that the Lord would judge them^[v]. They thought that they understood everything but they had forgotten the Lord’s true knowledge and needed to learn this again. The Lord told them that they had to carefully study his word; they would have to study “order upon order, line upon line, here a little there a little”[vi]. This means that we can carefully study the words of the Bible, in order, to discover what is written there for our information and we can take that as God’s truth.

The first chapter of the Bible tells us about the beginning but it was also given to introduce us to the Lord God so that we might know His role in creation. We discover that God was there before the beginning and that He made everything from nothing. The first verse acts as a heading to the first section. This verse gives a simple statement telling us about God and His creation and the rest of the chapter expounds how that happened. God Himself wrote the first section of the Bible, in the same way that the Law was written by the Lord’s hand, the first time^[vii].

The words “God said...” appear 10 times in Genesis 1^[viii], this tells us that God is active and that God speaks. After God speaks we see the words: “God saw... was good” 6 times^[ix] and, when God was finally finished we see, “God saw... it was very good”^[x]. We can learn from this that when God acts the consequences are good. In fact Moses wrote about God, “His work is perfect”^[xi]. We can conclude from both God’s and Moses’ evidence that God only does perfect things.

As we move into Genesis chapter 2 we find that God finished His creation on the seventh day and then He rested from the work of creation. God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it^[xii]. We then come across the sentence, “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created,”^[xiii] This sentence, if one believes the Tablet Theory of P. J. Wiseman and D.J. Wiseman, contains a “colophon phrase” demonstrating that it is the end of an ancient tablet^[xiv]. The second tablet actually beings in the middle of verse 4. The second tablet ends with the phrase, “This is the book of the generations of Adam.”^[xv] Adam wrote the majority of Genesis 2 and that contains his memory of creation. As Adam was only there on the sixth day, he wasn’t in a good position to give the history of the first five days so he didn’t. This means that there are no contradictions between Genesis 1 and 2 but there are two accounts of creation: God’s and Adam’s.

Among other things, Adam gave an account of his relationship with the Lord God. He told us that God formed him out of the dust of the earth and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils^[xvi]. After the Lord God made Adam into a living soul, He put him the Garden of Eden to care for it. Then the Lord God gave Adam a command telling him not to eat the fruit of a particular tree. If we examine this command we see that the Lord actually gave Adam a choice. For the Lord told Adam what would happen if he ate fruit from that tree. This first command defines the Lord’s commandments to us. He doesn’t force us to accept His goodness but we are bound by the consequences of whatever choice we make. There is one overriding issue, “The Lord is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.”^[xvii] While the Lord will give us the consequences of our choice, He will take His time to give us a chance to repent and confess that we have chosen to reject His recommendation.

There is another issue to consider when we are discussing the way that the Lord deals with the choices that we make. “Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments; but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face.”^[xviii] The Lord is faithful and will deal faithfully with those who choose to follow His recommendations. On the other hand, the Lord is also faithful with those who choose to reject His recommendations. There is no integrity in giving someone a choice and then protecting that person from the consequences if he or she makes, what we believe is, the wrong choice. However, because the Lord is slow to anger, He gives individuals time to reconsider the choice they have made. At first, He will allow us to experience the consequences of our choice in a small way so that we can make sure that we really want those consequences. If we choose to accept the Lord’s recommendation then we will come under His perfect ways, ways that are ordered and predictable. If we choose not to accept the Lord’s recommendation then we will revert to the formless void, that is chaos, and dwell in darkness^[xix].

At that stage the Lord God and Adam were friends. We know this because the Lord only speaks face to face with someone who is His friend^[xx]. After He made Adam, the Lord warned Adam about eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This showed that the Lord was treating Adam with integrity allowing him to understand that there were consequences for that action. Next, the Lord gave Adam the opportunity to give names to all the living creatures. Not only was Adam the Lord’s friend at that stage, he was also a living soul, that is, a spiritual being made in God’s own image. The Lord saw that Adam was alone and He decided that Adam needed a companion so He made a companion for Adam and Adam was allowed to give her a name as well. The second chapter of Genesis ends with everything at peace. The Lord saw that everything He had made was very good and He rested. The Lord and Adam were friends and Adam was not alone but had a companion who was suitable for him.

The serpent came into this idyllic scene determined to cause destruction. He was determined to make himself greater than God and rule the world in the Lord’s place. His first step was to attack where he saw a weakness. Eve wasn’t there when God gave Adam the first command and we assume that Adam didn’t give her all the information. The serpent, Satan, is the father of lies^[xxi]. Satan’s specialty is making lies rather than telling outright lies. He uses a part of the truth and then manufactures a lie. In that case, Satan made Eve doubt that the Lord was acting faithfully and with integrity when He told them not to take of the fruit of the tree that was in the middle of the garden. The tempter was crafty as he seduced Eve. First he told her that she would not die, this was a direct contradiction of what the Lord told Adam. Instead he impugned the Lord’s integrity by suggesting that Eve’s eyes would be opened and she would become like God. Satan didn’t want Eve to become like God, he wanted to become like God himself^[xxii]. When Eve looked at the fruit, she believed that she would be wise so she took the fruit and ate it. The real temptation was to be able to define what was good and what was evil rather than trust the Lord to provide the correct definition of what was good and what was evil^[xxiii]. At this stage, tension entered the creation history; a tension between God’s heavenly definition of good and evil and Satan’s earthy definition of good and evil, that is, an image bearing the image of the man of the earth^[xxiv]. This tension remains for the rest of time and will not be resolved until there is a new heaven and a new earth^[xxv].

We discover, later, that Adam and Eve hid themselves because they knew that they were naked and they didn’t want the Lord God to see them in that state^[xxvi]. We can assume that Adam and Eve were expecting the Lord to come and meet with them because they made coverings for their nakedness and they hid among the tree of the garden. We know, from elsewhere in the Bible, that the Lord is omnipresent and knew what was happening^[xxvii]. However, the Lord offered Adam a choice and gave him the freedom to make that choice without interference. This is because the Lord is faithful to His word and will not interfere when we make decisions. Adam had all the information that he needed and he was close enough to take the fruit so he must have observed the whole incident without making any effort to interfere and protect Eve from the serpent’s attack. It is important to notice, at that stage, the Lord was not involved in the incident at all. Therefore the Lord is entirely innocent of any consequences of this decision.

The next question that we have to consider is, “Was the serpent correct when he told Eve that she would not die?” We know that Adam lived for 930 years before he died^[xxviii]. The Lord said, “or in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”^[xxix] On the day that Adam and Eve sinned they immediately knew that they were naked, they were ashamed^[xxx] and they were afraid^[xxxi]. At that moment they understood that their relationship with the Lord was over, they were no longer friends with God, they were afraid of God. They died spiritually, they also experienced emotional death because we see that Adam blamed Eve and tried to absolve himself of the crime^[xxxii]. They were no longer joined together as before but were in competition. They also began the long, slow, painful process of physical death that, in Adam’s case, took less than 930 years. The Lord treated them with grace and gave them time to repent of their sin. The Lord also gave them time to produce children for He promised Eve that one of her descendants would bruise the serpent’s head^[xxxiii].

Adam and Eve clothed themselves with fig leaves after they sinned to hide their nakedness. However fig leaves do not last for a long time so the Lord God made a coat of skins to clothe them. It is impossible to take the skin from an animal without killing the animal so we know that the Lord killed the animals before He took their skins to clothe Adam and Eve. In this way, some animals died on the day that Adam and Eve sinned. So even though Adam and Eve did not die physically on the day that they sinned, they just started the long process of physical death, the Lord did sacrifice the animals to provide them garments of skins. This is the first time that the concept of substitution is introduced into the Bible. Paul said, “but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”^[xxxiv] After this, the Lord was willing to accept sacrifices for sin.

From this point forward the Bible became the story of redemption. It explains how the Lord God, who was wronged in the Fall, planned to affect reconciliation with the descendants of Adam and Eve. After the Fall, Adam and Eve were give the consequences of their choice. They rejected the peaceful world that God gave them and lost the rest that came on the seventh day when God rested from His work of creation. No longer was Adam the custodian of the garden, he had to battle with the ground to produce his food, his life became a constant struggle with thorns and thistles and he could look forward to returning to the ground^[xxxv].

The struggle that began on the day that Adam and Eve sinned continued in the lives of their children. Eve’s first child was called Cain, she believed this son would be the promised son who would bruise the serpent’s head because she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.”^[xxxvi] In time Cain and his brother Abel grew to the stage where they had to struggle with the ground as well. Cain grew crops and Abel looked after flocks. The brothers decided that they would bring an offering to the Lord and they brought from the fruit of their struggle^[xxxvii]. The Lord regarded Abel’s offering but He didn’t regard Cain’s offering. Cain was very angry after this. The Lord did not regard Cain’s offering because He preferred animal sacrifices to crop sacrifices; the Lord looked into the hearts of both men and saw that one came in pride while the other came in humility.^[xxxviii]

After this Cain was extremely angry and his face fell, he made no effort to hide his emotions. The Lord saw that Cain was angry and, in grace came and spoke to Cain. The Lord asked Cain why he was angry and reminded him that he would be accepted if he did well. We can see, from this, that the Lord had examined Cain’s attitude and knew that he came with a proud heart. The Lord also told him that sin was waiting to come and take possession of his life but he had the choice to rule over this sin. Cain decided that he would not accept the Lord recommendation and he allowed sin to master him rather than mastering sin. Cain took his brother out into the fields and killed him. God gave Cain an extra curse for his refusal to master his sin. The ground would no longer give him any food and he would wander on the earth for the rest of his life. We also discover that there were other people on the earth at that time and we assume that they were also children of Adam and Eve. Cain made a choice and he was bound by the consequences of that choice but the Lord was entirely innocent of that crime. In fact, the Lord even warned Cain that he could overcome the urge to kill his brother if he chose to.

We find out that the choice of earthy wisdom, dictated, primarily by what I believe is good for me, works its way through the population. Cain was a killer and was protected by God but, before long, there was another killer^[xxxix] who boasted to his wives that he had killed a man. He also proclaimed that he was superior to Cain by suggesting that he would avenged eleven times Cain’s vengeance^[xl].

Things progressed downhill from that point as the people on the earth became progressively more selfish and the Lord finally decided that He would destroy all the people on the earth^[xli]. While all this was happening Adam and Eve had another son called Seth. One of his descendants, Enoch, so pleased the Lord that the Lord saved him from the long, painful, slow process of physical death and took him away from the earth^[xlii]. When the Lord decided to destroy the earth, He found a good man called Noah^[xliii] and decided to continue his plan of redemption. After all, the Lord had made Adam and Eve in His own image so that He could have a relationship with them. This reveals another part of the Lord’s plan, the Lord will only use good men to further his plan of redemption while the Lord allows people who reject his recommendation to be dealt with by the kind of people they have chosen to be themselves.

After the Lord preserved Noah from the destruction of the earth, He continued with His plan of redemption. Sin multiplied but the Lord found a man called Abraham^[xliv]. The Lord commanded Abraham to leave the place where he was living and head out to an, as yet unknown, destination. Abraham heard the Lord’s call and set out as the Lord commanded him. In this case, Abraham heard the Lord’s recommendation and chose to accept the Lord’s command. We discover, later, that Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness^[xlv]. This leads us to another principle in the way that the Lord God deals with mankind; if we believe God then we are counted as being righteous. Adam and Eve preferred to reject the Lord’s recommendation when the serpent tempted them in the garden, that is, they didn’t believe God. On the other hand, Abraham chose to accept the Lord’s recommendation, that it, he believed God.

When God called Abraham, He told Abraham that his plan was to bless all the families of the earth through Abraham and his descendants. When the Lord God first created living creatures, He blessed the and told them to be fruitful, multiply and fill...^[xlvi] The Lord blesses His creatures by giving them room to expand and enjoy all the abundance of His goodness. The Lord’s plan for Abraham was that he should be the source whereby all the families of the earth would have access to the abundance of the Lord’s goodness. This came with believing God and accepting His recommendation. People who choose to bless Abraham and his descendants show that they accept God’s recommendation while people who choose to curse Abraham and his descendants show that they reject God’s recommendation.

In order to continue His plan of redemption, the Lord chose to use Abraham’s descendants because Abraham believed God^[xlvii]. The Lord promised Abraham that his descendants would become a great nation and they did, then God used them to be the means of blessing every family on the earth. However, the Lord didn’t change His principles or His basic assumptions. The Lord will only use a good person, that is, a person who believes in Him, to further His plan of redemption. This was the reason that the Lord gave the Law to Israel: so that they could be a shining example of the Lord’s goodness in the earth and then they would draw the families of the earth to Him.

In order for this to happen, Israel had to acknowledge the Lord had the wisdom and authority to recommend a particular way of life to them. This way of life was codified in the Law that the Lord gave to Moses. When Israel was finally ready to enter the Promised Land, the Lord told them that they would have to agree to His contract, or covenant, if they wanted to continue to live in the Promised Land. They agreed to keep the contract^[xlviii] and accept the Lord’s recommendation. However, the real issue with the contract wasn’t expressed until the Israelis had been told all the blessings and the curses. “So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all nations where the Lord your God has banished you, and you return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons, then the Lord your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you.”^[xlix] The Lord used the curses to bring His people to their knees so that they would finally accept His recommendations and submit to His plan of redemption.

This is further supported through the Lord’s words to Jeremiah the prophet. When the Lord, finally reached the stage of giving Israel over to the Babylonians because they had chose to follow the wisdom of the earth rather than the wisdom of heaven, He gave Jeremiah the task of telling the people to accept His plan and submit to it. He told Jeremiah that He remembered the agreement they had made and was intending to send them into exile. However, the force of the message is that the Lord intends to bring His people to the place where they are satisfied with His goodness.^[l] No one can be satisfied with the Lord’s goodness unless they first accept the Lord’s recommendations and submit to His plan of redemption, leading to reconciliation.

If we are willing to read Israel’s history in the context of the Lord’s pure character and His plan of redemption, we will never misinterpret the Lord’s intentions or blame Him for things that He has not done. Every time a person refused to accept the Lord’s recommendation and chose to follow the wisdom of the earth, the Lord, in His faithfulness, gave that person the consequences of that choice. The Lord’s anger is not arbitrary or vindictive, it is designed purely to bring a person to the place where they accept His spiritual wisdom and appreciate that His recommendations are best, personally and individually as well as corporately for the whole of mankind. However, even though the Lord is patient and slow to anger, He will eventually allow a person to receive the full consequences of any choice that person had made. If we choose to follow that pathway of earthy wisdom we will become subject to our own selfish desires and well as the selfish desires of other people who have made similar choices. The Lord is not responsible for the choices that we make and is entirely innocent of any consequences that we have chosen. Therefore we can conclude that the statement quoted at the beginning of this paper is wrong, the Lord is entirely innocent of anything that is the consequence of people choosing to reject His recommendations.

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^[i] http://www.evilbible.com/

^[ii] Deuteronomy 30: 11-14.

^[iii] Matthew 18: 1-5.

^[iv] Brisco, T. V. (1998). Holman Bible atlas. Holman Reference (page 134). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

^[v] See Isaiah 28.

[vi] Isaiah 28: 10.

^[vii] Exodus 24: 12

^[viii] Gen 1: 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 28, 29.

^[ix] Genesis 1: 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 24.

^[x] Genesis 1: 31

^[xi] Deuteronomy 32: 4.

^[xii] Genesis 2: 1-3

^[xiii] Genesis 2: 4.

^[xiv] Sewell, Curt,           http://www.trueorigin.org/tablet.asp,

^[xv] Genesis 5: 1.

^[xvi] Genesis 2: 7

^[xvii] Psalm 145: 8

^[xviii] Deuteronomy 7: 9, 10.

^[xix] Compare Romans 1: 21.

^[xx] Compare Exodus 33: 11, John 15: 13-15.

^[xxi] John 8: 44

^[xxii] See Isaiah 14: 12-14

^[xxiii] See Genesis 3: 1-6

^[xxiv] Compare 1 Corinthians 15: 45-49

^[xxv] Revelation 21: 1-5

^[xxvi] Genesis 3: 10

^[xxvii] See Psalm 139: 7-12.

^[xxviii] Genesis 5: 5.

^[xxix] Genesis 2: 17; Notice that the verb to eat is singular meaning that they were individually responsible for individual choices that they made.

^[xxx] Compare Genesis 2: 25.

^[xxxi] Genesis 3: 7, 10.

^[xxxii] Genesis 3: 12.

^[xxxiii] Genesis 3: 15.

^[xxxiv] Romans 5: 20

^[xxxv] Genesis 3: 17-19.

^[xxxvi] Genesis 4: 1.

^[xxxvii] Genesis 4: 2-12

^[xxxviii] Compare 1 Samuel 16: 7 and Luke 18: 9-14.

^[xxxix] Genesis 4: 23.

^[xl] Cain’s vengeance was seven times and Lamech claimed seventy seven times vengeance.

^[xli] Genesis 6: 7.

^[xlii] Genesis 5: 24.

^[xliii] Genesis 6: 8.

^[xliv] He was called Abram when the Lord first called him, Genesis 12: 1-3.

^[xlv] Genesis 15: 6.

^[xlvi] Genesis 1: 22.

^[xlvii] Compare Romans 4: 9-16.

^[xlviii] See Deuteronomy 27: 11-26, and Joshua 8: 30-35

^[xlix] Deuteronomy 30: 1-3.

^[l] Jeremiah 31: 14.