Sunday, March 7, 2010

Numbers, Chapter 15

God starts off with some further instructions about offerings: now they have to offer wine along with the bread and meat. I guess Aaron was getting thirsty. Also, the bigger the animal sacrificed, the greater the portion of bread that must be given. That also makes sense: if you're going to make sandwiches from an entire ox, you need more bread than if it was, say, a lamb. God also tells Moses to go easy on those who commit crimes out of ignorance.

Then... bam! A man is caught gathering sticks on the sabbath. Can you believe it? He was cold or wanted to warm up some soup, and he couldn't wait until sundown! They bring him to Moses and Aaron, who ask god what to do. In all his merciful wisdom, god's advice is: stone him to death. So they do. Of course, Jerry has nothing to say about this, because he knows that many of his followers work at Wal-Mart or other places that are open on Sundays, and it's pretty hard to get the day off, and if he did say something, he'd be interpreting.

But that bit only took 4 verses, and apparently god wasn't happy with the length of this chapter yet, so he tacks on some instructions about putting fringes on the edges of your garments. The Dutch take this instruction very, very seriously. They will put fringes on literally anything, including other fringes. You're to hold it in place with blue ribbon.

This chapter definitely shows us something about god's thought process, eh? First off, some clarifications about sacrifices, namely Aaron is thirsty and wants you to bring wine, mmmkay? Hey wait! Stone that guy to death! Now, what was I saying? Oh, yes. Put fringes on your garments...

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