Exodus 28-29

Day 28...I have to keep looking to see what day I'm on! :)

Dusty went to school today......we had fun being home and being lazy yesterday.  I think I finally put on real clothes at 4:00 to go around the corner to get JJ at Papa's!  We stayed til 7:00!  

Exodus 28   MORE DETAILS!!!! It's bad enough that there are such small details for construction...but today the details are about sewing! Oh my...I hate even having to put buttons on.  In fact, I give a stack to Dusty's aunt Leonna and she does them for me! Thank goodness or I'd have to pull out the hot glue gun to do my sewing!  I know, I know......I've done it before though! Really!  Not since I've been married, but in my single days, I've been known to glue buttons on! :)  

All of these priestly garments!  We've seen them before...somewhat.  I think they must look like what a Catholic priest must wear...or even an Episcopalian....to some extent.  Not a Baptist though.  They're good in a suit and tie! :)  The skilled artisans are to make them and Aaron (and his sons)are  to wear them.  So here we go.  An ephod?   What in the world?  My Bible commentary even says "nobody knows what an ephod is."  Well, good. I feel better about that.   They don't know what it is and I'm not even sure how to pronounce it?  EEEE fawd?   eh fod?   Hum.   But it is to be at least decorated with gold and precious stones and rich in color!  It is even to have stones with the names of the 12 tribes of Israel on them.   

The breastplate:  Hum...I'm picturing a knight in shining armor and all of that garb.  But I think it says "fashion" and that doesn't quite  go together....metal and fashion.  But it is to coordinate and match the ephod...purple, blue, scarlet......all of royal colors and of the best materials.  This piece is to show off the beauty of the power of the priesthood.  It is to "enhance" the authority and visibility of them to God.  Do you think mom's should wear breastplates?  This is my authority!   Listen to me! I"m wearing my breastplate!  To time out you go!   Hum....I'd rather just wearing my simple cross necklace to remind me of who I am and whose I am....much lighter to carry around! :)  

The Robe:  now I have one of these!   The priestly kind and the motherly kind.  The priestly kind is cream color.....with some beautiful lace on it.  The motherly kind is a leopard print that HannaLee loves to look at!  The priest is to be dressed in a way that is worthy of entering the Lord's presence.  It is to have gold bells and pomegranates hanging off it.  Bells I get.  Pomegranates?  Not so much. Wahooo....look at verse 35...the priest wears this so that "when he comes out, that he will not die!"  Die?!  As a priest.  Guess so....if the congregation doesn't kill you first.  But this must surely suggest that the work is dangerous and this is life and death business.  He'd better get it right with the bells on the bottom!!!!!  They are to have a tunic, rosette and linen undergarments.  You can't even go before the Lord without clean underwear one....now we know where our mothers get that from!  I guess it is true...the clothes make the man! It's true here!  :)

Chapter 29   Okay....this is about Aaron and his sons getting consecrated.  They've gone to painstaking labors to sew and create all of the beautiful and exquisite priestly garments....now they are going to sprinkle blood all over them to consecrate them!  Oh my!   They are to take bulls and rams, cut them apart, offer them up, separate the fat from them, "slaughter it and take the blood and sprinkle it against the altar on all side."  Gross!    Then, after they "purify" the place and the altar, (purify and clean with blood...such a beautiful irony!!)  the y will take some of the blood from the altar, as well as some anointing oil and they will sprinkle it on Aaron and his sons and their garments.  They are to specifically put the blood of the ram on their right ears, the thumbs of their right hands, and the big toes of their right feet! WHAT?  One a summer day here I think I'll have that on me.......JJ too from knee scrapes!  They must remember that they are to guard ALL PARTS of their lives...they must submit to hearing God's will and listen to Him (the ear lob) and offer their hands in service to Him and guard their choices and actions (the thumb) and to walk with the Lord all of the days of their life (the big toe!)   I'm willing to do all of that....just without the blood.  Makes me ready to want to take a shower! 

All of this so that God will come and dwell at the entrance....of our lives.  God will dwell with His people and and be their God.  They will know that it is Him who brought them out of the land of Egypt....because He is Lord!

Lessons learned:  Making our human actions that of holiness for the Lord.....special and set apart.  Making holy our daily life:  our thoughts, our deeds, our actions....even our meals...dedicated in gratitude to the Lord.