100 + 200 + 400 + 12…+ 1

September 24, 2019

From today’s reading…

For the dedication of this house of God,

they offered one hundred bulls,

two hundred rams, and four hundred lambs,

together with twelve he-goats as a sin-offering for all Israel,

in keeping with the number of the tribes of Israel.”

We’re still in the book of Ezra where we see not one, not two, but three kings—Darius, Cyrus, and Artaxerxes—decree that the exiled Israelites should have a new Temple in which to worship God.

Having the support of one king is a miracle. Having the support of three in a row…is a super-duper miracle.

And how do the Israelites mark this special occasion?

By taking the lives of a lot of valuable livestock.

In doing so the ancient Israelites proved that they were either superstitious fools barely removed from cavemen, or quite enlightened.

Seeing how we’re still reading about their actions 2,500 years later, I’ll go with the latter.

If you’ve ever taken the life of something by hand you know it changes you, even if it’s just a little fish or a dirty rat in your garage. That creature was breathing and moving one moment, then twitching dead the next because of you.

And the bigger the creature—a big mouth bass, a rabbit, a chicken, a hog—the bigger the impact.

When you make the effort to capture, kill, prepare, and eat that creature, it makes you appreciate not only life but your place in the hierarchy of life and even the meaning of your life.

When you give into sin and allow your base, carnal instincts to drive your thoughts and actions, it makes you realize you are no different than a rat following its instincts to rummage through the garbage.

And it is precisely this giving into temptation that necessitated the very sacrifices you mock or dismiss as you read about them in today’s reading.

Pain, agony, suffering, and death is the price of sin.

The ancient Israelites understood that because at least some of them some of the time were close to God.

But God knew the only sacrifice that would wipe away all sin was a perfect sacrifice, which is what He provided for us 500 years after the sacrifices we read about today.

Understanding the need, the value, the cost, and the power of that perfect sacrifice and living accordingly is the only way to…

Stay the course.Keep the faith.Endure.