As the chart of Lev 8-10 reveals, the third panel (Lev 10) does not tell of Moses or Aaron offering sacrifices but instead says, "You are to distinguish between the holy and common, and between the unclean and the clean. And you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that YHWH has spoken to them by Moses" (Lev 10:10-11). Thus we can see a transition in Lev 8-10 from sacrifices (Lev 1-7) to distinguishing the unclean and the clean (Lev 11-16). The sacrifices (Lev 1-7), performed by the priests (Lev 8-10) were necessary to make many unclean things clean (Lev 11-16).

The chapter divisions in your English Bibles are helpful since each chapter covers a subject starting with "YHWH spoke to Moses." Lev 11 deals with unclean animals. Lev 12 with the uncleanness of childbirth. Lev 13 with unclean skin and fungus diseases and Lev 14 with their cleansing. Lev 15 with unclean bodily discharges. And then finally Lev 16 addresses the day of atonement when the tabernacle itself is cleansed. The day of atonement was necessary because of Israel's uncleannesses and their transgressions (Lev 16:16). Thus Wenham says, "chs. 11-15 provide essential background for understanding the significance of the day of atonement (16)" (161). He also noticed the connection with Lev 10:10.

There is a three-fold distinction of clean and unclean animals: Land, water, and sky animals. For land animals they could eat whatever parts the hoof, is cloven-footed, and chews the cud (Lev 11:3). Other land animals like the camel, rock badger, hare (each chews the cud but does not part the hoof) (Lev 11:4-6) and the pig (parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud) (Lev 11:7) are unclean. The people were not to eat them, or touch their dead carcasses, because "they are unclean to you" (Lev 11:8).

For water animals, they could eat everything with fins and scales (Lev 11:9) but other water animals were "detestable to you" (Lev 11:10-12). And for the sky creatures, first are listed some "detestable" birds (Lev 11:13-19), then winged insects that go on all fours are said to be "detestable" (Lev 11:20) but then the next verse says there is an exception for those with jointed legs above their feet to hop on the ground (Lev 11:21) and lists those you could eat (Lev 11:22).

The rest of the chapter deals with the treatment of this uncleanness and mentions other animals that are unclean like mice and lizards. These regulations served to set Israel apart chosen from the nations as holy because YHWH is holy (Lev 11:44-45). This was symbolic for the division between holy Jews (represented by the chosen animals) and common Gentiles (represented by the animals that were not chosen). It is notable, as Wenham says, that animals were expected to keep Torah and those people or animals who drink blood or eat flesh without draining blood are unclean. Actually the law forbidding eating meat with the blood still in it predates Moses. Noah was told, "You shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood" (Gen 9:4), which may explain why the apostles kept this prohibition (Acts 21:25). But nevertheless, the animals were set apart of God's election.

And even this verse in Gen 9 is not the first time that people were forbidden to eat certain things: Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat from one tree, though it is interesting that there are no unclean plants in Leviticus. However, the seriousness of the uncleanness for the people of Israel was relatively little since all that was required for cleansing when one came into contact with a dead carcass of an unclean animal was washing and waiting until evening. And the distinction between clean and unclean animals is abolished in the New Testament because the distinction between Jews and Gentiles is abolished in Christ.

Lev 12 is much shorter, but more serious since it includes sacrifices as part of the cleansing. Here we are looking at the uncleanness of childbirth. The numbers are significant: unclean and contagiously so for seven days for a boy (Lev 12:2) and fourteen days for a girl (Lev 12:5). She must stay at home for 33 days for a boy (Lev 12:4) and 66 days for a girl (Lev 12:5). Thus a total of 40 days for a boy and 80 days for a girl (traditional period of testing is 40 days or multiples thereof). The boy is circumcised on the eighth day (Lev 12:3). Circumcision is the sign of the covenant and failure to do it would cut off that son from his people. The offerings are to make atonement for her and to purify her from the discharge of blood (Lev 12:6-8). It has been suggested that we remember the increased pain of childbirth was a reminder of the curse due to original sin. Wenham notes that the structure of a period of uncleanness, sacrifice, summary, and provision for the poor reappears in other chapters in Leviticus (186).

Lev 13-14 deal with skin diseases. It may be that because these diseases are visible that they are singled out for ceremonial uncleanness. All diseases remind us of death and thus have something in common with issues of blood (blood symbolizing life). The skin diseases are classified based on what they look like on the outside. And periods of seven days are common to see if it gets better or worse to make a diagnosis. The priest, as a servant of the Lord, has declarative power here -- he declares if the person is clean or unclean based on the criteria in Scripture. The cleansing is more difficult, when it is possible, for such diseases. And these sacrifices are for atonement. And they prepare us for Jesus who cleanses many and the priests then are forced to declare them clean and then Jesus offers Himself up as a sacrifice for atonement of sin.

Lev 15 deals with unclean discharges first from men. The one who has a discharge waits seven days for his cleansing and washes his clothes and bathes his body (Lev 15:13). And on the eighth day he offers sacrifices (Lev 15:14). An emission of semen makes the man unclean until evening and he has to bathe his body (Lev 15:16). The chapter transitions to women by mentioning the case of a man who does so while laying with a woman (Lev 15:18). The next verse (Lev 15:19) discusses how menstrual impurity lasts for seven days and later verses deal also with situations where blood issues may last longer (Lev 15:25). The purpose statement is then given about defiling the tabernacle (Lev 15:31).

Lev 16 addresses the day of atonement. Given the atonement sacrifices of many of the previous chapters, we can see the need for a day of atonement. These are themes that seem odd to modern ears but ones that are consistent in the Old Testament. The themes run throughout Ezekiel, especially for our purposes in Ezek 44:23. The prophet Ezekiel even compares Israel's ways and deeds to the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity (Ezek 36:17) -- a comment that only makes sense given these chapters in Leviticus. He also mentions this particular impurity elsewhere (Ezek 18:6, 22:10). And the prophet is concerned with this issue of uncleanness so much that it appears repeatedly like when God says, "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you" (Ezek 36:25). So there is a need for a more permanent removal of these uncleannesses than a single day of atonement each year could provide.

Aaron had to offer atonement for himself and his house first and then he could do so for the nation. The reason to "make atonement for the Holy Place" was "because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses" (Lev 16:16). One goat Aaron would put his hands on its head and "confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness" (Lev 16:21). This takes place on the tenth day of the seventh month (Lev 16:29).

Labels: blood, childbirth, clean, common, day of atonement, holy, leviticus, moses, numbers, skin diseases, ten, unclean

The title: "These are the generations of Jacob" (Gen 37:2) meaning it will be about Jacob's descendants who have come in the fullness (ten) of time because this is Book Ten. In the book, Jacob recedes more into the background so that his twelve sons are the focus (in particular Judah and Joseph).

The structure is somewhat more difficult to discern than earlier books. It generally follows the same pattern as before: narrative, poetry, epilogue. Except this time the poetry is almost a whole chapter of Scripture. Thus the whole book generally follows the pattern prologue (Gen 1:1-2:3), narrative (Gen 2:4-48:22), poetry (Gen 49:1-28), epilogue (Gen 49:29-50:26). The difficulty comes when you see the chiasm excludes the first story Gen 37:3-36. I am calling this the prologue to the book because of its extensive similarities with the epilogue but it also contains a poetic portion that due to the constraints of the story is not put at the end of the prologue. The poetic portion in the prologue is the content of the dreams and the response of his father and brothers. The parallelism of "Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?" is obvious. This is the central question of the book. Will Judah or Joseph rule over his brothers?

The prologue tells us that the brothers plotted to take Joseph's life because they hated him because Jacob loved him more than them and they hated him even more because he told them these dreams. Reuben interceded for Joseph and convinced the other brothers not to kill him. Judah convinced the other brothers (Reuben unaware) to sell Joseph to some Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And Jacob mourned the death of Joseph because the evidence the brothers returned with was the multicolor robe looking like an animal had attacked him. And the prologue ends: "Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard" (Gen 37:36).

While no one actually died in the prologue, the epilogue tells us about the deaths of Jacob and Joseph. Jacob gave them instructions for his burial, died and was embalmed, and buried. There was great mourning at his passing just has he had once mourned for Joseph. The brothers feared because of their sin in the prologue, but Joseph reassured them, saying, "Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones" (Gen 50:19-21). Joseph lived to see the third generation of his son Ephraim's children. And he gave all Israel instructions about burying him when they returned to the Promised Land, then he died, and was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

While the prologue shows that Joseph will reign over his brothers and he is still reigning over them until his death in the epilogue, the poetry of Gen 49 seeks to answer the eschatological question. That is, like the poems in earlier books, this one will point us to Christ. We discover in the poetry that the Messiah will not come from Reuben's tribe because Reuben had sex with Jacob's concubine. Simeon and Levi are passed over for the honor because they had responded to their sister Dinah's rape with violence. So this brings us to the fourth son: Judah. And the text tells us, "Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons shall bow down before you" (Gen 49:8). So the answer eschatologically is that Judah will reign over his brothers, not Joseph. After comparing him to a lion's cub, Jacob says, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples" (Gen 49:10). So not only will his brothers but all peoples will bow down to the Messiah who will come from the tribe of Judah. As for Joseph, Jacob gives him the blessing. For example, he says, "The blessings of your father are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents, up to the bounties of the everlasting hills. May they be on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers" (Gen 49:26). So we will have to wait and see Judah replace Joseph because Joseph and not Judah received the blessing.

The first (Gen 38) and last (Gen 48) stories in the narrative section both have to do with two sons by a Gentile where there is an issue about the firstborn status. The former is about Judah and the latter is about Joseph. The episode with Judah is quite explicit. In this story, Judah took a Canaanite wife and had three sons. Judah took Tamar as the wife of his first son. But his son was so wicked that God struck him down. So Tamar became the wife of Judah's second son who wasted his semen on the ground because he knew that if he had a child it would not be considered his own. And God struck him down. Judah, afraid the same would happen to the youngest son, sent Tamar away pretending to need to wait for him to grow up. Eventually Judah himself slept with her, not knowing it was her, and she gave birth to twins. She was accused of adultery until it was discovered that the father was Judah himself. The story has a number of similarities with the daughters of Lot narrative. The question of the firstborn is this: When Tamar was in labor with the twins, one put out a hand and the midwife tied a scarlet cord on his hand and said, "This one came out first" but then he pulled his hand back in and his brother came out first. In Gen 48, Joseph's two sons are by an Egpytian woman and Jacob adopted them as his own children and gave the blessing to the younger of the two brothers (Ephraim).

The second (Gen 39) and second-to-last (Gen 47:13-31) stories are related because in the former Joseph is enslaved in Egypt and in the latter Joseph enslaves all of Egypt. The former is where Potiphar's wife tries to seduce Joseph and because he was unwilling to "do this great wickedness and sin against God" (Gen 39:9) she accused him of doing it and he went from slavery to prison where he ended up in charge of the prisoners. Joseph is compared quite favorably to Judah in this light. In the latter story, Joseph buys everything, even all of the land (except that of Egypt's priests) for Pharaoh so that all of Egypt has become slaves as Joseph was before.

The third (Gen 40-41) and third-to-last (46:28-47:12) stories are related because Joseph saves people through disfavor or favor at Pharaoh's court. In the former, Joseph blesses the nations through disfavor at Pharaoh's court. Here we see him interpreting dreams. In the latter, Joseph saves his family through favor at Pharaoh's court and Jacob blesses Pharaoh.

The fourth (Gen 42-43) and fourth-to-last (Gen 46:1-27) stories have the brothers travel to Egypt. In the former, at first Benjamin did not go but then the brothers minus one went back and brought him too. Also the brothers went to buy grain and bring it back home. Here we see the fulfillment of the prologue's poetry as the brothers bow down before Joseph. In the latter, all of the house of Jacob (not already living there: Joseph and his sons) moved to Egypt. The total number of the household was a highly significant SEVENTY people. Jacob did not have them move to Egypt until after being told to do so by God, who promised to bring them back.

At the center of this chiasm are stories (Gen 44 and 45) where the brothers show their love for one another. In the former, as you might expect by now, Judah is highlighted in particular. And in the latter, Joseph is highlighted in particular. In the previous chapter Judah had promised his father, "I will be a pledge of [Benjamin's] safety. From my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever" (Gen 43:9). Joseph tested the brother's love for Benjamin by having him implicated as a thief and Judah stepped up to offer himself in the stead of Benjamin. Judah has come a long way. And we find out in the next story that Joseph has too as he reveals his identity to his brothers and does not seek revenge. Here at the climax we see a theme that Joseph will repeat in the epilogue: "And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. ... And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God" (Gen 45:5-8).

At the fullness of time came Joseph and his brothers, a full household of seventy. And yet the book points beyond itself, despite these full and complete numbers (10 and 7) Genesis is not complete in and of itself. Joshua the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim (the younger son of Joseph who received Jacob's blessing), would lead the nation into the Promised Land. But when would the ruler of the tribe of Judah arise? Ultimately the poems, and especially the final poem, point beyond the initial circumstances to King David and the coming Messiah Jesus. Jesus would show love for His brothers in His death on the cross.

Labels: benjamin, blessing, chiasm, ephraim, eschatology, jacob, joseph, judah, reign, rule, seventy, tamar, ten

The title of Book Five is "These are the generations of Shem" (Gen 11:10). It is considerably shorter than any book we have seen and it is missing the poetry and epilogue. The text is in a hurry to get to Abram.

The royal genealogy follows the pattern we saw in the royal genealogy of Book Two, with one major departure: it is missing the summary/death statement for each: 'Thus all the days of ____ were ___ years, and he died." The only significance it seems appropriate to conclude from this omission is that the pattern has been shortened to get to Abram. Especially since this summary/death statement is used in the next book for Terah in order to focus on Abram.

A second difference with the royal genealogy of Book Two is that in Book Five there is no significance attributed to number seven. In Book Two there was a departure from the pattern to highlight Enoch, but there is no such departure from the pattern for Serug. Again the brevity does not tell us whether number seven was just simply not noteworthy or anything about him, but it does reinforce this picture of wanting to move quickly to Abram.

A third difference with the royal genealogy of Book Two and the other genealogies is that the three sons usually belong to the plus one generation. For the evil Lamech in Book One, number seven in that genealogy, the eighth generation had three sons. For Noah in Book Two, number ten in that genealogy, the eleventh generation had three sons. But here the tenth generation is the one with the three sons: Abram, Nahor, and Haran. The LXX adds Cainan as the son of Arpachshad and father of Shelah. But this addition to the last book would have made seventy-one nations rather than seventy and here would highlight Terah rather than Abram. Book Five wants to highlight Abram as having come in the fullness (ten) of time.

The lifespans are considerably shorter in Book Five compared to Book Two, suggesting that life is more difficult post-flood. I am unaware of any other significance to these numbers. This may be significant in and of itself.

This royal genealogy, like that of Book Two (which ignores the Cain and Abel story), tells us the legitimate heirs of the promise. It does not tell us about Peleg's non-elect brother Joktan mentioned in the last book. All of the focus is on the heirs to the promise. But Scripture as a whole does not speak too favorably of the generations leading up to Abraham who came in the fullness of time. Joshua tells us, "Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods" (Joshua 24:2).

The next book will begin with some recapitulation and adds Lot: "Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot" (Gen 11:27) and does include the summary/death statement for Terah, "The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran" (Gen 11:32) so that the book can focus on Abram, Nahor, and Lot.

Thus in the fullness of time, came Abram, Nahor and Haran. Now we will see God choose Abram to bless.

Labels: abraham, Genesis, recapitulation, royal genealogy, ten

The second book in Genesis begins with the title "This is the book of the generations of Adam" (Gen 5:1). Thus we will find out about the descendants of Adam.

We should identify the genre of the narrative and part of the epilogue as a royal genealogy. Up until now I have not spoken much about the similarities of Genesis and literature from the surrounding ANE world. But this genre identification is important because the tendency of some is to try to date the earth based on mathematically analyzing texts like this. Waltke's commentary mentions the Sumerian king list, which could skip over many generations. Likewise, in Scripture the father/son relationship could also be a grandfather/grandson (or any number of generations) relationship. The purpose of this text is not scientific. It is a royal genealogy pointing us to the legitimacy of Israel (and ultimately Jesus Christ) as the heir of the promise to the woman. And thus the genealogy conforms to a pattern we will analyze later.

Genealogies are one of the most skimmed things in Scripture, but the genealogies in Genesis are some of the most fascinating texts. One of the really interesting things is the ages of the Sethites. Waltke cites M. Barnouin (who wrote in French) who has observed that the ages of the Sethites are equal to particular astronomical periods known to the Babylonians. Enoch's 365 years are the same number of days of the year. Lamech's 777 years (not to be confused with the Lamech in the last book) are the same as the synodic periods of Jupiter plus Saturn (this just means how long it takes for the planet to get back around to the same place in the sky). And Jared's 962 years are the same as the synodic periods of Venus plus Saturn. Moreover, Waltke says,

"If the sum of the years at the time of fathering and of the total life spans from Adam to Lamech are each divided by sixty--based on the Babylonian sexagesimal system--the sum of the remainders is 365, again perhaps representing the perfect life span. The cycles of a man's years may match the cycles of the heavenly spheres to show that their lives follow a meaningful pattern and end with a completed cycle."

So even though 365 is short compared to the lifespans of the others in the genealogy, Enoch was a very important man.

This is confirmed when we observe the pattern of the text. The pattern is: When X had lived Y years, he fathered...Z, The days of X after he fathered Z were ZZ years; and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days that X lived were ZZZ years, and he died. For Adam the pattern is more expansive than the rest. For example, for 'he fathered Z' it says, "he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth." This line is also expanded for Lamech, the text says, "he fathered a son and called his name Noah, saying..." Any major variations of the pattern should stop us in our tracks as we read the genealogy. When we get to number three (Adam, Seth, Enosh) we find the basic pattern. Same with number four, Kenan; five, Mahalalel; and six, Jared. But as we should have guessed from the symbolic significance of seven (not to mention the crafting of the genealogy we saw in the last book) the pattern is broken for Enoch who lives the perfect lifespan. Instead of saying, 'Enoch lived after he fathered Methuselah 300 years' it says, "Enoch walked with God after he fathered..." And where we would expect the text to tell us, "and he died" it says, "Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. Enoch's son has the longest recorded lifespan (according to Scripture) 969 years. And Enoch himself could have lived longer than his son, but it is far better to be with God.

The pattern resumes only to be broken again for number ten. Ten means fullness. Therefore, at the fullness of time, God sent forth his son Noah (cf. Galatians 4:4). Thus the longer form of he fathered: "he fathered a son and called his name Noah, saying, 'Out of the ground that YHWH has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands'" (Gen 5:29). Here we see the same overall pattern for most of these books applies to this second book as well (heading, narrative, poetry, epilogue). And remember that we said the poetry is what is most important. Noah gives rest and joy to the people of God through raising a vineyard. Of course, this points forward to Jesus Christ, the son of God born at the fullness of time, who gives us rest and joy everlasting.

The epilogue continues the royal genealogy and adds the plus one generation has three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. The next book will be about them and unlike most of the books it will also be about Noah as it does not tell us "and he died" quite yet. The epilogue continues to prepare us for the next book and to set the stage. Traditionally the problem has been explained as the sons of Seth intermarrying with the daughters of Cain. But, following Meredith Kline, it is much more plausible (for grammatical, contextual and other reasons) to read "sons of God" as a title of kingship. Since "sons of God" also sometimes refers to angels, it is not a stretch to say that these kings are demon-possessed. The text then is talking about demon-possessed kings (the sons of Cain) taking harems ("they took as their wives any they chose," Gen 6:2) and breeding champions for their army (the Nephilim). The Nephilim are giants sometimes called Anakim. Anak was a person who is the ancestor of many giants and Nephil is the place where giants lived. See Numbers 13:33. Without a doubt, all giants are then called Nephilim. Sin has continued to escalate to a climax demanding judgment. Now we see more than just polygamy and murder but harems and marauding armies. "But Noah found favor in the eyes of YHWH" (Gen 6:8).

It is also worth noting that before the flood "every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Gen 8:5) and after the flood "the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth" (Gen 8:21). The circumcision of the heart has not yet taken place. God has started over but the problem of sin is not yet answered. This is the difference when God starts over with Jesus Christ and He pours out the Spirit.

Labels: enoch, Genesis, giants, harems, kline, noah, royal genealogy, ten