Leviticus

Leviticus 1

The Burnt Offering

¹ The Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting. He said, ² "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When any of you brings an offering to the Lord , bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock.
³ " 'If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he is to offer a male without defect. He must present it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting so that it will be acceptable to the Lord . ⁴ He is to lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him. ⁵ He is to slaughter the young bull before the Lord , and then Aaron's sons the priests shall bring the blood and sprinkle it against the altar on all sides at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ⁶ He is to skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces. ⁷ The sons of Aaron the priest are to put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. ⁸ Then Aaron's sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, including the head and the fat, on the burning wood that is on the altar. ⁹ He is to wash the inner parts and the legs with water, and the priest is to burn all of it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the Lord .

Yuck! The “aroma is pleasing to the lord”, it says; then why the oils and incense, which mask and cover the smell of the burning flesh?

Here we are with the atonement crap again. Kill me this and I’ll forgive you that, sort of mentality. What seems to evade most scholars is that a culture that says it is right to kill for one’s salvation is a danger to other cultures. If you don’t believe me look at the middle east of today, where it is common for a group to consider killing children ‘freedom fighting’ and at the same time say that to do such a thing is wrong. This whole idea leaves the culture mentally absent of their own responsibility.

Anyway, the rest of this chapter talks about the right way to kill other things.

Leviticus 2

¹ " 'When someone brings a grain offering to the Lord , his offering is to be of fine flour. He is to pour oil on it, put incense on it ² and take it to Aaron's sons the priests. The priest shall take a handful of the fine flour and oil, together with all the incense, and burn this as a memorial portion on the altar, an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the Lord . ³ The rest of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the offerings made to the Lord by fire.

Bah, ha! “The rest belongs to Aaron”. In other words, you’re supporting his family as he pretends to be the ‘go between’ for you, offering to save your soul, for a meal.

It is also interesting to note that everything that is offered is burnt. Why? The obvious reason of course is that the fire makes the object ‘disappear’ and through this act, it turns to smoke and …drifts up…where everyone seems to think god is. Since the fire destroyed the offering, it must now be with god, because it floated up to him, where he received it.

Leviticus 3

Are fellowship offerings…what we would call in the west, smoking the peace pipe. More burning of animals in this chapter though, no tobacco.

Leviticus 4

This time it’s the Sin Offering, more of the same. Murder = redemption.

Leviticus 5

¹ " 'If a person sins because he does not speak up when he hears a public charge to testify regarding something he has seen or learned about, he will be held responsible.
² " 'Or if a person touches anything ceremonially unclean-whether the carcasses of unclean wild animals or of unclean livestock or of unclean creatures that move along the ground-even though he is unaware of it, he has become unclean and is guilty.
³ " 'Or if he touches human uncleanness-anything that would make him unclean-even though he is unaware of it, when he learns of it he will be guilty.
⁴ " 'Or if a person thoughtlessly takes an oath to do anything, whether good or evil-in any matter one might carelessly swear about-even though he is unaware of it, in any case when he learns of it he will be guilty.

More crimes, more laws. The Hebrew are becoming a complex nation. Notice Lev5:1 sets up a loop hole in their legal system in regards to the 5^th commandment. If for example, some hears that his father has been stealing bread from someone it is his responsibility to say something, because he has “learned about…” but since the 5^th says that he must respect his mother and father he can’t say it, because it is not proven.

Then the chapter talks about the Guilt offering, those that actually commit sin (unintentionally of course).

Leviticus 6

¹ The Lord said to Moses: ² "If anyone sins and is unfaithful to the Lord by deceiving his neighbor about something entrusted to him or left in his care or stolen, or if he cheats him, ³ or if he finds lost property and lies about it, or if he swears falsely, or if he commits any such sin that people may do- ⁴ when he thus sins and becomes guilty, he must return what he has stolen or taken by extortion, or what was entrusted to him, or the lost property he found, ⁵ or whatever it was he swore falsely about. He must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the owner on the day he presents his guilt offering.

By this verse, if the Palestinians are right, they are owed big time!

The Burnt Offering
⁸ The Lord said to Moses: ⁹ "Give Aaron and his sons this command: 'These are the regulations for the burnt offering: The burnt offering is to remain on the altar hearth throughout the night, till morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altar.

Here is Aaron again. Remember Aaron was responsible for the murder of 3000 jews because he built them the golden calf.

The rest of the chapter repeats the first five chapters.

Leviticus 7

A repeat of the first 5 chapters again.

Leviticus 8

Moses the Murderer and Aaron the Evil have a meeting where they burn some flesh. But this verse makes it sound like this is the first time that they enter the tent, though we’ve already seen them do this in Exodus:

⁵ Moses said to the assembly, "This is what the Lord has commanded to be done." ⁶ Then Moses brought Aaron and his sons forward and washed them with water. ⁷ He put the tunic on Aaron, tied the sash around him, clothed him with the robe and put the ephod on him. He also tied the ephod to him by its skillfully woven waistband; so it was fastened on him. ⁸ He placed the breastpiece on him and put the Urim and Thummim in the breastpiece. ⁹ Then he placed the turban on Aaron's head and set the gold plate, the sacred diadem, on the front of it, as the Lord commanded Moses.

They then kill a bull and a couple of rams, who only Aaron and the his sons are to eat:

³² Then burn up the rest of the meat and the bread.

Waste makes haste.

Leviticus 9

¹ On the eighth day Moses summoned Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel. ² He said to Aaron, "Take a bull calf for your sin offering and a ram for your burnt offering, both without defect, and present them before the Lord . ³ Then say to the Israelites: 'Take a male goat for a sin offering, a calf and a lamb-both a year old and without defect-for a burnt offering, ⁴ and an ox and a ram for a fellowship offering to sacrifice before the Lord , together with a grain offering mixed with oil. For today the Lord will appear to you.' "

Eight days later Moses the Murderer gives Aaron The Evil and his sons another great feast.

They do what ever Moses the Murderer tells them to do and at the end of the chapter of getting the offering ready we see this:

²⁴ Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.

Now, after a few thousand years of god walking about talking with his people and acting like a nice old man, he starts really showing his ‘power’. Fire from the sky. Traveling in a cloud. It’s seems too obvious that this is a contradiction to the god of Genesis, but I won’t list it.

Leviticus 10

The Death of Nadab and Abihu

1 Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord , contrary to his command. 2 So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord .

More deaths, more murders of men who have committed a small meaningless transgression, why men like Moses and Aaron are allowed to murder.

⁸ Then the Lord said to Aaron, ⁹ "You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the Tent of Meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. ¹⁰ You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean, ¹¹ and you must teach the Israelites all the decrees the Lord has given them through Moses."

Two things here. 1. It says, “Then the Lord said to Aaron…” I thought Moses the Murderer did all the talking with god? What use is he now that Aaron has a covenant with god himself? 2. Look at all the new laws. Also notice that priests are starting to get ‘special’ laws that make them look better than the average people.

Leviticus 11

Clean and Unclean Food

¹ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ² "Say to the Israelites: 'Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat: ³ You may eat any animal that has a split hoof completely divided and that chews the cud.
⁴ " 'There are some that only chew the cud or only have a split hoof, but you must not eat them. The camel, though it chews the cud, does not have a split hoof; it is ceremonially unclean for you. ⁵ The coney, though it chews the cud, does not have a split hoof; it is unclean for you. ⁶ The rabbit, though it chews the cud, does not have a split hoof; it is unclean for you. ⁷ And the pig, though it has a split hoof completely divided, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. ⁸ You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.
⁹ " 'Of all the creatures living in the water of the seas and the streams, you may eat any that have fins and scales. ¹⁰ But all creatures in the seas or streams that do not have fins and scales-whether among all the swarming things or among all the other living creatures in the water-you are to detest. ¹¹ And since you are to detest them, you must not eat their meat and you must detest their carcasses. ¹² Anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales is to be detestable to you.
¹³ " 'These are the birds you are to detest and not eat because they are detestable: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, ¹⁴ the red kite, any kind of black kite, ¹⁵ any kind of raven, ¹⁶ the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, ¹⁷ the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, ¹⁸ the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey, ¹⁹ the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.
²⁰ " 'All flying insects that walk on all fours are to be detestable to you. ²¹ There are, however, some winged creatures that walk on all fours that you may eat: those that have jointed legs for hopping on the ground. ²² Of these you may eat any kind of locust, katydid, cricket or grasshopper. ²³ But all other winged creatures that have four legs you are to detest.

It is not uncommon to eat a worm when eating a tomato. How is it possible to be sure of such an extreme? This is to say, that insects especially are hard to divide when making anything from vegetables. I just never understood this outside of the context of eating animals that fight back, are poisonous, are two hard to kill or capture, or are representative of other things. But just when you thought he was done there’s more:

²⁶ " 'Every animal that has a split hoof not completely divided or that does not chew the cud is unclean for you; whoever touches the carcass of any of them will be unclean. ²⁷ Of all the animals that walk on all fours, those that walk on their paws are unclean for you; whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean till evening. ²⁸ Anyone who picks up their carcasses must wash his clothes, and he will be unclean till evening. They are unclean for you.
²⁹ " 'Of the animals that move about on the ground, these are unclean for you: the weasel, the rat, any kind of great lizard, ³⁰ the gecko, the monitor lizard, the wall lizard, the skink and the chameleon. ³¹ Of all those that move along the ground, these are unclean for you. Whoever touches them when they are dead will be unclean till evening. ³² When one of them dies and falls on something, that article, whatever its use, will be unclean, whether it is made of wood, cloth, hide or sackcloth. Put it in water; it will be unclean till evening, and then it will be clean. ³³ If one of them falls into a clay pot, everything in it will be unclean, and you must break the pot. ³⁴ Any food that could be eaten but has water on it from such a pot is unclean, and any liquid that could be drunk from it is unclean. ³⁵ Anything that one of their carcasses falls on becomes unclean; an oven or cooking pot must be broken up. They are unclean, and you are to regard them as unclean. ³⁶ A spring, however, or a cistern for collecting water remains clean, but anyone who touches one of these carcasses is unclean. ³⁷ If a carcass falls on any seeds that are to be planted, they remain clean. ³⁸ But if water has been put on the seed and a carcass falls on it, it is unclean for you.
³⁹ " 'If an animal that you are allowed to eat dies, anyone who touches the carcass will be unclean till evening. ⁴⁰ Anyone who eats some of the carcass must wash his clothes, and he will be unclean till evening. Anyone who picks up the carcass must wash his clothes, and he will be unclean till evening.
⁴¹ " 'Every creature that moves about on the ground is detestable; it is not to be eaten. ⁴² You are not to eat any creature that moves about on the ground, whether it moves on its belly or walks on all fours or on many feet; it is detestable. ⁴³ Do not defile yourselves by any of these creatures. Do not make yourselves unclean by means of them or be made unclean by them. ⁴⁴ I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves about on the ground. ⁴⁵ I am the Lord who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.
⁴⁶ " 'These are the regulations concerning animals, birds, every living thing that moves in the water and every creature that moves about on the ground. ⁴⁷ You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between living creatures that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten.' "

Lev11:41 “every creature that moves about on the ground…”well, duh, that’s everything, except fish and some birds! Every creature that uses its peds as moving tools does so along the ground. Yet another example of ignorant fools attempting to be intelligent.

Leviticus 12

¹ The Lord said to Moses, ² "Say to the Israelites: 'A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period. ³ On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised. ⁴ Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over. ⁵ If she gives birth to a daughter, for two weeks the woman will be unclean, as during her period. Then she must wait sixty-six days to be purified from her bleeding.
⁶ " 'When the days of her purification for a son or daughter are over, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering. ⁷ He shall offer them before the Lord to make atonement for her, and then she will be ceremonially clean from her flow of blood.
" 'These are the regulations for the woman who gives birth to a boy or a girl. ⁸ If she cannot afford a lamb, she is to bring two doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for her, and she will be clean.' "

What ever. It’s already obvious that woman were inferior to men, so what ever they say about woman should be taken with a grain of salt.

Leviticus 13

Explains skin disease and mildew and what they should do if they see that they have such a thing.

Remember that this was an illiterate nation, thus everything that was necessary to survival was passed down orally, it’s not that interesting to recognize that such things as medicine would need to be passed down in order for the technique to survive. What’ of interest of course, is the fact that Moses the Murderer is saying that god told him all of this. This of course is highly unlikely, being that skin disease had been around for centuries by then and it was pretty common knowledge that you didn’t want to be around someone with leprosy. Hardly an act of intervention by god.

Leviticus 14

Cleansing From Infectious Skin Diseases

¹ The Lord said to Moses, ² "These are the regulations for the diseased person at the time of his ceremonial cleansing, when he is brought to the priest: ³ The priest is to go outside the camp and examine him. If the person has been healed of his infectious skin disease, ⁴ the priest shall order that two live clean birds and some cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop be brought for the one to be cleansed. ⁵ Then the priest shall order that one of the birds be killed over fresh water in a clay pot. ⁶ He is then to take the live bird and dip it, together with the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, into the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. ⁷ Seven times he shall sprinkle the one to be cleansed of the infectious disease and pronounce him clean. Then he is to release the live bird in the open fields.
⁸ "The person to be cleansed must wash his clothes, shave off all his hair and bathe with water; then he will be ceremonially clean. After this he may come into the camp, but he must stay outside his tent for seven days. ⁹ On the seventh day he must shave off all his hair; he must shave his head, his beard, his eyebrows and the rest of his hair. He must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water, and he will be clean.

Notice that no where does the person become free of the infection. It is only after the priest has looked at him and said that he is free of the infection that they even think about doing the cleaning.

Leprosy was not defeated by killing birds but in 1970 with modern medicine:

SUCCESS, AT LAST: Drug trials on the island of Malta in the 1970s led to an effective combination of drugs to treat leprosy. In 1981, the World Health Organization started recommending MULTIDRUG THERAPY, or MDT. The three drugs, taken in combination, are dapsone, rifampicin (or rifampin), and clofazimine. Treatment takes from six months to a year or more.¹⁶

Anyway, god has them kill more animals:

¹² "Then the priest is to take one of the male lambs and offer it as a guilt offering, along with the log of oil; he shall wave them before the Lord as a wave offering. ¹³ He is to slaughter the lamb in the holy place where the sin offering and the burnt offering are slaughtered. Like the sin offering, the guilt offering belongs to the priest; it is most holy. ¹⁴ The priest is to take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. ¹⁵ The priest shall then take some of the log of oil, pour it in the palm of his own left hand, ¹⁶ dip his right forefinger into the oil in his palm, and with his finger sprinkle some of it before the Lord seven times. ¹⁷ The priest is to put some of the oil remaining in his palm on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, on top of the blood of the guilt offering. ¹⁸ The rest of the oil in his palm the priest shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed and make atonement for him before the Lord .
¹⁹ "Then the priest is to sacrifice the sin offering and make atonement for the one to be cleansed from his uncleanness. After that, the priest shall slaughter the burnt offering ²⁰ and offer it on the altar, together with the grain offering, and make atonement for him, and he will be clean.

The bible is dead wrong on this one.

The next part of this chapter talks about unclean mildew…again the actual cleaning never happens. It will have to wait until Lysol invents an aerosol spray.

Leviticus 15

¹ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ² "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When any man has a bodily discharge, the discharge is unclean. ³ Whether it continues flowing from his body or is blocked, it will make him unclean. This is how his discharge will bring about uncleanness:
⁴ " 'Any bed the man with a discharge lies on will be unclean, and anything he sits on will be unclean. ⁵ Anyone who touches his bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. ⁶ Whoever sits on anything that the man with a discharge sat on must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening.
⁷ " 'Whoever touches the man who has a discharge must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening.

Since this chapter seems to be offended by what ever (only mentioned in last line of the chapter) a discharge is, let us ask Webster what he thinks Discharge is:

dis-charge \(dis(h)-‘chärj, ‘dis(h)-,\ vb [ME dischargen, fr. MF descharger, fr. LL dsicarricare, fr. L dis- + LL carricare to load] vt 1: to relieve of a charge, load, or burder: a: unload b: to release from an obligation 2 a: to let go : clear out b: shoot<~an arrow> c: to release from confinement, custody, or care <~a prisoner> d: to get rid of (as a debt) by paying: fulfill c: to set aside : annul d: to order (a legislative committee) to end consideration of a bill in order to bring it before the house for action 4 a: to receive and distribute (as the weight of a wall above the opening) b: to relieve from the weight of a wall 5: to bleach out or remove (color or dye) in dyeing and printing textiles 6: to cancel the record of the load of (a library book) upon return ~ vi 1: to throw off or deliver a load, charge, or burden 2 a: to go off: fire b: run <some dyes ~> c: to emit or give vent to fluid or other contents syn see free perform

So, according to Webster’s, if a man were to let a slave go, that’s a discharge. If a man were to set something down (relieve a load), that’s a discharge. Or even if he paid his debt. But what about the fact that any fluid leaving the body was a discharge:

⁸ " 'If the man with the discharge spits on someone who is clean, that person must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening.

Spitting, as defined by Webster’s is a discharge, but is relegated to a side effect of some other kind of discharge. What about urination? What about defecation? What about blowing one’s nose? Cleaning one’s ears? What about tears?

So accordingly, if a man has sex with his wife, the moment of release is an unclean moment.

¹⁹ " 'When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening.
²⁰ " 'Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. ²¹ Whoever touches her bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. ²² Whoever touches anything she sits on must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. ²³ Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when anyone touches it, he will be unclean till evening.
²⁴ " 'If a man lies with her and her monthly flow touches him, he will be unclean for seven days; any bed he lies on will be unclean.
²⁵ " 'When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days at a time other than her monthly period or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge, just as in the days of her period. ²⁶ Any bed she lies on while her discharge continues will be unclean, as is her bed during her monthly period, and anything she sits on will be unclean, as during her period. ²⁷ Whoever touches them will be unclean; he must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening.

³² These are the regulations for a man with a discharge, for anyone made unclean by an emission of semen, ³³ for a woman in her monthly period, for a man or a woman with a discharge, and for a man who lies with a woman who is ceremonially unclean.

Sex therefore is a sin. Not only that, but nature is a sin. God gave women the monthly cycle. God gave men their nightly ejaculations. God made us that way, yet he then says, it is ugly and unclean? And still the church leads us to believe that we have free will. The deck, my friends is stacked against us, free will is a façade.

Leviticus 16

¹ The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the Lord.

Leviticus 10:1 says they were murdered because they offended him, not because the approached him. You’d think Moses would have been able to keep the story straight.

² The Lord said to Moses: "Tell your brother Aaron not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.

And then, we’re back to Moses talking directly with god, and Aaron being told what to do through Moses.

That’s two more contradictions in the first two lines: 11

Then the chapter starts in on the ‘how to atone for sins offering’ yet one more fricken time! But what, here’s something new:

⁶ "Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household. ⁷ Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ⁸ He is to cast lots for the two goats-one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat. ⁹ Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering. ¹⁰ But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat.

God’s already changing his mind. He hasn’t been hanging around with them for more than a few months now and he’s already starting to confuse them.

Of course the reset of the chapter explains in great detail on the ceremony of putting on the robes, killing, spreading the blood, letting go of the scapegoat, and bathing. Ending with:

³⁴ "This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites."
And it was done, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Leviticus 17

Eating Blood Forbidden

¹ The Lord said to Moses, ² "Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites and say to them: 'This is what the Lord has commanded: ³ Any Israelite who sacrifices an ox, a lamb or a goat in the camp or outside of it ⁴ instead of bringing it to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting to present it as an offering to the Lord in front of the tabernacle of the Lord -that man shall be considered guilty of bloodshed; he has shed blood and must be cut off from his people. ⁵ This is so the Israelites will bring to the Lord the sacrifices they are now making in the open fields. They must bring them to the priest, that is, to the Lord , at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and sacrifice them as fellowship offerings.

In the US, we call these sorts of zealots, cults. Moses (with god voice on) says, “People of Israel, you must not make your sacrifices in the fields. But instead bring them to the priests…that is um, the lord, our god, so that, well, they can be done right”…Aaron snickering over his shoulder, “Yeah, yeah!, Have them bring two lamps! I love lamp chops!”

¹¹ For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life. ¹² Therefore I say to the Israelites, "None of you may eat blood, nor may an alien living among you eat blood."

Remember, that they were a hunter gather nation. You’d never see this sort of barbarism from a farming religion.

¹⁴ because the life of every creature is its blood. That is why I have said to the Israelites, "You must not eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature is its blood; anyone who eats it must be cut off."

What is god trying to say? Eating blood will some how change you? Somehow you will take the ‘life’ of the animal by eating it’s blood? I don’t know about you, but the bullet I put through its heart was what stopped it from being an animal. Besides, blood is in every cell of a body. It is in everything at we eat, from plants to animals. They all have it. We eat it. It is part of them. So accordingly, we are all cut off.

Leviticus 18

Unlawful Sexual Relations

¹ The Lord said to Moses, ² "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'I am the Lord your God. ³ You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. ⁴ You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the Lord your God. ⁵ Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord .
⁶ " 'No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the Lord .
⁷ " 'Do not dishonor your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; do not have relations with her.
⁸ " 'Do not have sexual relations with your father's wife; that would dishonor your father.
⁹ " 'Do not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere.
¹⁰ " 'Do not have sexual relations with your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter; that would dishonor you.
¹¹ " 'Do not have sexual relations with the daughter of your father's wife, born to your father; she is your sister.
¹² " 'Do not have sexual relations with your father's sister; she is your father's close relative.
¹³ " 'Do not have sexual relations with your mother's sister, because she is your mother's close relative.
¹⁴ " 'Do not dishonor your father's brother by approaching his wife to have sexual relations; she is your aunt.
¹⁵ " 'Do not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law. She is your son's wife; do not have relations with her.
¹⁶ " 'Do not have sexual relations with your brother's wife; that would dishonor your brother.
¹⁷ " 'Do not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. Do not have sexual relations with either her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter; they are her close relatives. That is wickedness.
¹⁸ " 'Do not take your wife's sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is living.
¹⁹ " 'Do not approach a woman to have sexual relations during the uncleanness of her monthly period.
²⁰ " 'Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor's wife and defile yourself with her.

Huh? Wasn’t Abraham married to his sister? What about Cain, who was he married too? I guess god is tired of watching over the genes of his chosen people and it’s time for them to grow up and be responsible. Funny.

²¹ " 'Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord .

Bummer, no human scarifies…Again, Abraham was about to do such a thing in the name of his god.

²² " 'Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.

All those alternative lifestyles out there…beware, god says that you are detestable! Notice that it says nothing about women lying with other women, guess that is okay…god loves a good three-way.

²³ " 'Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion.
²⁴ " 'Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. ²⁵ Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. ²⁶ But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the aliens living among you must not do any of these detestable things, ²⁷ for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. ²⁸ And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you.
²⁹ " 'Everyone who does any of these detestable things-such persons must be cut off from their people. ³⁰ Keep my requirements and do not follow any of the detestable customs that were practiced before you came and do not defile yourselves with them. I am the Lord your God.' "

Ain’t he just peachy, girls? Besides, what’s with the ‘vomit the inhabitants out’? Can’t think of a point in history where such an event has ever happened. In fact, if history is any kind of judge, I’d say that the only people to lose their lands were those that didn’t have enough swords.

Leviticus 19

The various laws

Besides being a reprise of things already told us, and some that are part of the original ten commandments, there are some new ones:

¹⁴ " 'Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord .

So, god says don’t be mean to the blind and the deaf, but, um, I don’t remember ever reading about Goofstien the deaf leader of Israel…wonder why?

¹⁹ " 'Keep my decrees.
" 'Do not mate different kinds of animals.
" 'Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed.
" 'Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.

Okay, that’s hogwash, here’s the real scoop:

Some biotech crops, such as tomatoes, have been engineered to have more solid content, which reduces the cost of making tomato paste.

Current biotech crops afford consumers the benefit of lower pesticide residues and lower mycotoxins in their food. The next generation of biotech products will benefit consumers more directly by providing higher vitamin content, more nutritional protein, and healthier oils.¹⁷

And:

Agricultural benefits
Proponents of gene technology believe that gene technology advances in primary production will allow Australia to maintain or improve existing production efficiency and thus maintain Australia's share of world markets, through:

§ increased productivity and yield leading to reduced or stable prices for consumers;

§ more efficient use of agricultural and veterinary chemicals;

§ savings in energy inputs to farm production;

§ recovery of degraded land; and

§ reduced chemical sprays, with less exposure of farm workers.¹⁸

How about:

There is a general improvement among crossbreeds in all the productive traits (birth weight, age at maturity, age at first calving,reduced intercalving period, duration of heat, gestation ) over the native Swamp buffaloes, provided they are well fed and given adequate health care.

The milk and meat potentials improved in the crossbreeds (River X Swamp) when the crossbreeding programs were implemented in Malaysia and Philippine herds. The crossbreeds need better feeding to express the gains in their production. Poor and marginal farmers lack motivation for more milk production, because of the high feed costs, buffaloes being for them triple purpose animals: work, milk and meat. Meat is considered a by-product after fully utilizing the buffalo for work (paddy cultivation or draft) and incidentally for milk (2-3 liters/day).¹⁹

Maybe god should have been more descriptive, “Keep my decrees, you illiterate bunch of whiners, Do not mate different kinds of animals, because you aren’t gifted enough to understand the outcome of such a thing, wait until Europe and the West exist and let them do it first, so to show you the way…”

²⁷ " 'Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.

I can’t say I’ve seen to many people like this. I guess that means that most Southern Baptists with their military hair cuts aren’t really following the doctrine.

²⁸ " 'Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord .

No ceremonial scaring or tattooing, again, most of the ‘young’ jews / Christians, that I’ve met have some tattooing.

Leviticus 20

Punishments for Sin

¹ The Lord said to Moses, ² "Say to the Israelites: 'Any Israelite or any alien living in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech must be put to death. The people of the community are to stone him.

That’s one stoning.

⁹ " 'If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother, and his blood will be on his own head.

Um, talk about parental control! That’s two.

¹⁰ " 'If a man commits adultery with another man's wife-with the wife of his neighbor-both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.

That’s four. Remind me again, where he shows his benevolence?

¹¹ " 'If a man sleeps with his father's wife, he has dishonored his father. Both the man and the woman must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

That’s six.

¹² " 'If a man sleeps with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death.

That is eight.

¹³ " 'If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

I wonder if there are any gays in Israel? By the way that’s ten.

¹⁴ " 'If a man marries both a woman and her mother, it is wicked. Both he and they must be burned in the fire

That’s the first burning…but aren’t burnings a way to offer to god? That’s 13 capital offenses.

¹⁵ " 'If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he must be put to death, and you must kill the animal.

The animal some how commits sin? This is great! That’s 14 and 1 animal.

¹⁶ " 'If a woman approaches an animal to have sexual relations with it, kill both the woman and the animal. They must be put to death

That’s 15 and 2 animals.

²⁰ " 'If a man sleeps with his aunt, he has dishonored his uncle. They will be held responsible; they will die childless.
²¹ " 'If a man marries his brother's wife, it is an act of impurity; he has dishonored his brother. They will be childless.

I’d bet dollars to donuts that the only way this was enforceable was to kill the children.

But to show you how sporadic the writing of the bible is lets look at one particular ‘law’”:

⁶ " 'I will set my face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute himself by following them, and I will cut him off from his people.

Then way down at the bottom of the chapter:

²⁷ " 'A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads.' "

It’s like an amendment added later. I guess they were having real problems with people doing this and just threw this punishment on to justify all the dead mediums and their customers. But notice that by saying that mediums and spiritualists are evil that sets up what we see later in the bible: prophets. Who are said to not be psychics, but instruments of god…sure, just like Joseph, selling his own people into 430 years of slavery. With that kind of god, who needs a devil.

Leviticus 21

Rules for Priests

¹ The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: 'A priest must not make himself ceremonially unclean for any of his people who die, ² except for a close relative, such as his mother or father, his son or daughter, his brother, ³ or an unmarried sister who is dependent on him since she has no husband-for her he may make himself unclean. ⁴ He must not make himself unclean for people related to him by marriage, and so defile himself.
⁵ " 'Priests must not shave their heads or shave off the edges of their beards or cut their bodies.

Here is where the Hebrew say that the contradiction of not shaving your head is solved, because it shows that god was only talking about what priests have to live by, are you starting to see the circular logic? The fact remains, god said don’t cut your beard and every Christian and jew that does is breaking this law.

⁹ " 'If a priest's daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she must be burned in the fire.

More wonderful family values.

¹⁶ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁷ "Say to Aaron: 'For the generations to come none of your descendants who has a defect may come near to offer the food of his God. ¹⁸ No man who has any defect may come near: no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed; ¹⁹ no man with a crippled foot or hand, ²⁰ or who is hunchbacked or dwarfed, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles. ²¹ No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect is to come near to present the offerings made to the Lord by fire. He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God. ²² He may eat the most holy food of his God, as well as the holy food; ²³ yet because of his defect, he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar, and so desecrate my sanctuary. I am the Lord , who makes them holy.

What an oxymoron…he can’t be holy because he has a defect, by I am the lord, who makes them holy. Besides, god made us all in his image… what then are defects to such a creator?

Leviticus 22

This chapter explains more of the same rhetoric, often times repeating what has already been explained elsewhere. There fore it’s not even worth noting.

Leviticus 23

¹ The Lord said to Moses, ² "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'These are my appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of the Lord , which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.

The Sabbath
³ " 'There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the Lord .

The Sabbath is a day of rest, because god made the ‘week’ seven days long, and on the sixth day he created professional football teams, so that there would be something to keep him interested on the seventh day.

As long as my boss thinks that Sunday is some how sacred and I don’t have to work, I’ll agree with this one.

The Passover and Unleavened Bread
⁴ " 'These are the Lord 's appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times: ⁵ The Lord 's Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. ⁶ On the fifteenth day of that month the Lord 's Feast of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. ⁷ On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. ⁸ For seven days present an offering made to the Lord by fire. And on the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.' "

The Passover is a holiday to celebrate the evil murder of thousands of Egyptians who had nothing to do with the enslavement of the Israelites. If the Jews have the right to celebrate a holiday that applauds the murder of innocent children, then Germany should be allowed to have a holiday that celebrates the ‘fine’ work done in Auschwitz. What hypocrites.

Firstfruits
⁹ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁰ "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. ¹¹ He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. ¹² On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the Lord a lamb a year old without defect, ¹³ together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil-an offering made to the Lord by fire, a pleasing aroma-and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine. ¹⁴ You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.

Stolen from the Egyptians and other ‘pagan’ belief systems, also known as the spring harvest.

Notice that most of the ‘holidays’ require that the Israelites need to offer to god…and who gets all this offering…the church, who then gets richer and fatter.

Leviticus 24

This chapter starts out by explaining that the lamp needs to burn forever and goes into the Sabbath offering, but how do they do an offering on the Sabbath, isn’t that work? Not to mention the eternal flame must be kept up on the Sabbath as well, yet more work. How do they overcome this contradiction? They don’t, they pretend it doesn’t exist. We won’t: 12

Notice:

⁹ It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in a holy place, because it is a most holy part of their regular share of the offerings made to the Lord by fire."

Of course the church gets the offering and they get to eat it.

A Blasphemer Stoned
¹⁰ Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. ¹¹ The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse; so they brought him to Moses. (His mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri the Danite.) ¹² They put him in custody until the will of the Lord should be made clear to them.
¹³ Then the Lord said to Moses: ¹⁴ "Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. ¹⁵ Say to the Israelites: 'If anyone curses his God, he will be held responsible; ¹⁶ anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.

Jesus Christ what a society! But it gets worse the very next line is:

¹⁷ " 'If anyone takes the life of a human being, he must be put to death.

Is that a contradiction? I think it is: 13. You may say that it is not, but it is. Because god says “ANYONE” that takes a life is to be put to death. It does not say, “If anyone who breaks our laws is put to death, it is okay that you do not take your own life in return” It is not clarified by god, and as history shows, anytime the people are left to interpret the laws they screw them up.

²³ Then Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him. The Israelites did as the Lord commanded Moses.

…and it was good that they killed this man for speaking. And they ate of cows, and goats, and birds. And offered large slabs of beef to god…and Moses the Murderer and Aaron the Evil became fat gluttons. All was good.

Leviticus 25

The Sabbath Year

¹ The Lord said to Moses on Mount Sinai, ² "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord . ³ For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. ⁴ But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the Lord . Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. ⁵ Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. ⁶ Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you-for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, ⁷ as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.

It is wonderful that the writers of this most interesting read, can’t be serious and respectful of the nations that they stole all their ideas from. I actually had some group of ‘missionaries’ try to argue this verse as proof that god exists.

Their argument was that, according to them, we have just learned in the last hundred years how important crop rotation is. They say that this verse, points out something akin to what we now call crop rotation.

Though an interesting argument it is flawed for many reasons. Farming religions are much older than Hunter / Gather religions. Farming was not ‘new’ to the people when the bible was written, and it’s silly to think that the Egyptians didn’t have a very comprehensive understanding of farming. Besides, the Greeks too came to have great farming, as well as the Romans. The later surely modeled their agriculture after the Egyptians, as they did most of their society.

Ancient Egyptians hard at Farming

The thing that most amazes me is that people like these missionaries have such narrow focus. They have such limited historical information at their fingertips as well as they really believe that human beings are not capable of real knowledge. They really believe that in order for us to be great farmers, for example, we need to be guided by god first. Christians have such little love and spirit for their personal greatness. Must be all that guilt.

Back to Leviticus 25, god says that every 50 years there is to be a jubilee and he starts explaining about the actual land, and how it’s important to be fair in your dealings with your countrymen. Always reminding them to ‘fear’ him. Then he says:

²³ " 'The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. ²⁴ Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land.

Let’s see…um, how much time have they really spent there? Anyone want to hazard a guess? Once they finally reach it, they’re just in time for the Babylonians, The Romans, The Turks, The English…and we might add, in modern times they’ve only been there since 1948, thanks in part to the United States…who according to the other Yahweh religion is the great Satan. Apparently when god says you’re aliens on his land, he means it!

²⁷ he is to determine the value for the years since he sold it and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it; he can then go back to his own property. ²⁸ But if he does not acquire the means to repay him, what he sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returned in the Jubilee, and he can then go back to his property.

Oh that is rich. I assume that the person who buys the land has to agree with this? And what if he doesn’t? I suppose that means the Israelites will just drag him out into the street and stone him.

Now Leviticus 25 talks about if an Israelite gets poor how you’re suppose to offer him welfare to keep him up, and not to enslave him, but:

⁴⁴ " 'Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. ⁴⁵ You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. ⁴⁶ You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.

And god says, “Take slaves, for I saw that they were good!” If god says something, then no matter how we modern men may think that slavery is arcane and wrong, it is something that should still be done. The Hebrew still celebrate Passover, the Sabbath, the Jubilee, but they’ve eliminated some of god’s teaching from their social system. How can they do that? It’s suppose to be the word of god! The word of god! How can they possible pick and choose what they find useful? The only way they can do this is they don’t really believe that it is the word of god.

⁴⁷ " 'If an alien or a temporary resident among you becomes rich and one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells himself to the alien living among you or to a member of the alien's clan, ⁴⁸ he retains the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his relatives may redeem him:

Notice here, that if an Israelite sells himself into slavery then he can be bought and thus freed by a relative. But if an Israelite takes a Canaanite as his slave does the ‘alien’ have the same rights? No, of course not.

Leviticus 26

Reward for Obedience

¹ " 'Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God.

Really? No sacred stones? Hum…

The Western Wall (Wailing Wall)

This is the holiest shrine of the Jewish world. The Western Wall is part of the retaining wall supporting the temple mount built by Herod in 20 B.C. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D., Jews were not allowed to come to Jerusalem until the Byzantine period, when they could visit once a year on the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple and weep over the ruins of the Holy Temple. Because of this, the wall became known as the "Wailing Wall."²¹

³ " 'If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, ⁴ I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit.

He hasn’t sent any rain since the discovery of weather. In fact, it’s sort of odd, god’s been pretty quiet since the opening of science.

⁶ " 'I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove savage beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country.

That one is just funny. The sword has been held over the jews since the beginning, which brings us to the next section:

Punishment for Disobedience
¹⁴ " 'But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, ¹⁵ and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, ¹⁶ then I will do this to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and drain away your life. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it. ¹⁷ I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.

Now, that sounds historically accurate. But that’s not all:

²³ " 'If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me, ²⁴ I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. ²⁵ And I will bring the sword upon you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be given into enemy hands. ²⁶ When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied.
²⁷ " 'If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me, ²⁸ then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over. ²⁹ You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. ³⁰ I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you. ³¹ I will turn your cities into ruins and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings. ³² I will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled. ³³ I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins. ³⁴ Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. ³⁵ All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.
³⁶ " 'As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them. ³⁷ They will stumble over one another as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies. ³⁸ You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you. ³⁹ Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their fathers' sins they will waste away.

That’s quite a tirade don’t you think? Sounds like god’s been holding onto some real anger.

⁴⁰ " 'But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their fathers-their treachery against me and their hostility toward me, ⁴¹ which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies-then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin

Here god says simple, repent, but notice, that he doesn’t say, “If you bring me seven rams, a Bull, three goats, I will forgive your sins”. No blood sacrifice seems required here.

Leviticus 27

Redeeming What Is the Lord 's

¹ The Lord said to Moses, ² "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'If anyone makes a special vow to dedicate persons to the Lord by giving equivalent values, ³ set the value of a male between the ages of twenty and sixty at fifty shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel; ⁴ and if it is a female, set her value at thirty shekels. ⁵ If it is a person between the ages of five and twenty, set the value of a male at twenty shekels and of a female at ten shekels. ⁶ If it is a person between one month and five years, set the value of a male at five shekels of silver and that of a female at three shekels of silver. ⁷ If it is a person sixty years old or more, set the value of a male at fifteen shekels and of a female at ten shekels.

Obviously this passage helps us to realize that woman are of lesser value than men. But notice, that it also says that children are less valuable than adults. That’s something that our modern culture does not believe. The next section of verse is the interesting part though:

⁷ If it is a person sixty years old or more, set the value of a male at fifteen shekels and of a female at ten shekels. ⁸ If anyone making the vow is too poor to pay the specified amount, he is to present the person to the priest, who will set the value for him according to what the man making the vow can afford.

Boy, isn’t that kind of them. They allow the poor even to feel the greatness of god. But, may I ask, who gets all this silver?

As we go through this chapter, god continues to set values on objects that are dedicated to him. Here is good one:

¹⁴ " 'If a man dedicates his house as something holy to the Lord , the priest will judge its quality as good or bad. Whatever value the priest then sets, so it will remain. ¹⁵ If the man who dedicates his house redeems it, he must add a fifth to its value, and the house will again become his.

Didn’t the last chapter tell us that ‘we’ weren’t to charge our countrymen interest? But here is the contradiction to that. That’s one more: 14.

The rest of the chapter is more of the same. More tithing and more interest payments, all to a god that apparently needs god and silver. Though I can’t say that I’ve ever seen him standing in line at Costco with me.

MURDERS:

Nadab and Abihu (by god)

Blasphemer Stoned.