The B'Midbar Diaries 3

Dear Diary,

When God first sent us this "bread from heaven," we called it "manna," which means "What is this stuff?" Weeks and months later, we're all asking ourselves "What is this stuff good for?" Sure, ya grind the manna pellets to flour and ya make bread with them. But that gets old. Manna pancakes for breakfast. Manna patties for lunch. Manna biscuits with manna gravy for supper, and manna cake for desert!

Just once, I'd like to wake up and have something else to eat besides manna! You know, like -- Well, I'm sure we could think of something...
*****

Hey Moses! Whatcha doin'?

Yes, I can see that you are writing. Very nice penmanship, by the way. What I meant was, what are you writing down? More burning bush stories?

Oh. Well, look, Moses -- just so we're clear about this -- the golden calf was not my idea!

Well... yeah. I did suggest the eyebrows would add a look of majesty to it, but I just wanted to -- you know -- support local artists, and all that...

Yes, I think we all agree, in retrospect, it was a very bad thing to do!
So, ya got a name for this book yet?

The Ten what? Commandments? Huh. Okay.

Well, sure, I like it alright, I guess. But do you think anyone's gonna want to the movie rights to something with THAT title?
*****

Okay, kids! Let's sing a song. What'll it be?

Manna in the morning,
Manna in the evening,
Manna at supper time...

Well, that certainly has possibilities! What? Sing what now?
Hava Nagi-what?
Nah, I've never heard of that one.
*****

Dear Diary,

Finally, a break from the mann-otony! (heh-heh)

Moses says it's time to celebrate Passover! Finally we get some meat! And herbs! Do you suppose we'll be having manna matzoh?
*****

B'Midbar Diaries 2

Dear Diary,

The inter-tribal beach valley ball tournament was very exciting -- while it lasted. Everything was going quite well until team Levi lost, and we had to stop using the tabernacle courtyard curtain as a net.  No one else can go back there, y'know. I guess it's a good thing, though. The whole thing seemed to be making Moses and Aaron pretty nervous. And when Moses gets nervous, it's "Hello, plagues!"

At any rate, we'll have a formidable beach valley ball team, should we ever meet up with any other nations. Moses keeps dropping hints about the Canaanites being the ones to defeat in the Promised Land, so that sounds promising.
*****

Okay, kids, that's enough picking on one another! Let's play a game. No, really! It'll be fun! This is called the alephbet game. You go through the letters of the alephbet, and try to find things around you that begin with that letter. Okay, here we go!

Aleph! What begins with aleph? That's right! Aleph (cattle, oxen) begins with aleph!

How about Beth? Yes! Beth-Israel! (house of Israel) They're certainly all around us, aren't they? No such thing as privacy here, is there? Why, you can't even say something in your own tent without your inlaws and five other families hearing you! Boy, I tell you what --

Huh? Oh... right... the game. Gimel! What begins with gimel? Very good, Rachael! Gamal (camel) begins with gimel! Kinda looks like one, too, doesn't it?
*****

Dear Diary,

Leprosy is an incredibly icky disease! I wouldn't wish that on anybody! Note to self: remind the family to never make fun of Moses' wife!

The B'Midbar Diaries

A Sukkot week special
*****

Dear Diary,

(Honey! Is "diary" spelled with one "yod" or two?)

I love the freedom from slavery! I love camping out under the stars. But after week number three, it's beginning to get old. Really, really old! I hate the blazing sun! I hate the sand -- which gets into everything and into places you don't ever recall exposing to the open air. I hate the stinky goat hair tent! And the sand fleas! I LOATHE the sand fleas! If Moses and Aaron had told me, "Come with us on vacation, and experience the wonder of sand fleas," I'd have stayed in Egypt!
*****

Hey, Moses! Yeah, back here, in the Issachar section! Hi. Um, look, I love the beach as much as the next guy, but are you aware that we left the sea behind us weeks ago?

Well, yes, I know we were slaves, but--

And the promised land. Right. Er, does it have a sea? Ah, thanks. And how long before we get there?

Uh huh. Y'know, back in Egypt, we had--
*****

Dear Diary,

Don't mention Egypt. Moses' invisible friend, God, doesn't like it.

Also, being swallowed alive by the earth looks like no fun at all.
*****

Okay kids! Let's play "I Spy!" Hannah, you want to go first? Okay...

I spy, with my little eye, right. Something that is--what? Oh, tan. Um... could it be... the sand?
It is? So, my turn now? Okay. I spy, with my little eye, something that is dark tan.
That's right! It's that slightly-darker patch of sand over there!

Wha? You're tired of I Spy, already? What, Simeon? Sure! What do you wanna sing? Sigh. Really? Sigh. Okay: (to the tune of "The Wheels On The Bus")
"The wheels on the chariots fall right off,
"Fall right off. Fall right off.
"The wheels on the chariots fall right off.
"(and) All th'Egyptians drowned!"

"The chariot's horses go neigh, neigh--Glug!
"Neigh, neigh--Glug! Neigh, neigh--Glug!
"The chariot's horses go neigh, neigh--Glug!
"(and) All th'Egyptians drowned!"

*****

Say, Moses? Are you sure you know where you're going?

He's leading us in the cloud? Well, how can you be sure you're following the right cloud?

No, I don't see any other clouds around. Good point, there... ahem.

Hey, Moses? Uh, while we're on the subject. Y'know how that cloud becomes a fire at night and sits over the Tent of Meeting? Look, could you tell God to be careful with that fire? I mean, it's really dry out here, and that tent could go right up in smoke -- and it was kinda hard to build!

Hmm? Well, sure! I KNOW he's God and all, but fire is fire, and -- Oh yeah?

With a bush, you say? Huh! Never heard that before! And it didn't burn up? That's kinda interesting! You should be writing this stuff down! It'd make for good reading later on -- Oh, you are?

Final thoughts at the close of Sukkot

If you remember your Old Testament history, the "wilderness wanderings" had a fairly ominous overtone. The Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years because the "grownups" of the nation were afraid to enter the Promised Land. This was in spite of God's assurance that he was giving it to them. So, they meandered about the harsh Judean desert to wait for those faithless people (who had just observed the 10 plagues and the taken part in the crossing of the Red Sea a few months earlier!) to die off! Then, the land of promise was to go to the younger generation.

What is miraculous to me about all of this is that God chose to provide for those faithless whiners (Read the book of Numbers) all through those 40 years! Had I been in God's place, I'd have smitten (grammar check, anyone?) the whole bunch at the border of Canaan! Yet he kindly provided water, (and water sweetener) manna, and quail, as well as protection to a bunch of ungrateful snots. And suddenly, I run smack into a mirror of myself! Do you?

Is it any wonder that Sukkot is called "The Season of Rejoicing"?

More pics of the Sukkah

building the sukkah

Sukkot is, partly, a harvest festival. Thus the corn stalks.

Congregation members gawked uncertainly at the structure Sunday morning.

Cornland Sukkah, 2010

Finally, I have a couple pics to share of the Cornland sukkah which we built for, well, Sukkot.

A view of the sky from inside the Sukkah. 

Helpful animation for Sukkot-celebrants

To be sure, if you follow the Jewish calendar, you know Rosh-Hashannah, (the new year) starts this Thursday. Additionally, the holiest day on the calendar, Yom Kippur, is the 18th.

Still, I look forward to Sukkot. I'm gonna try for an actual outdoor sukkah this year, and invite everyone for a barbecue. (No pork, shrimp or lobster!)

You can read up on the holiday and its observance here.

What I love is that Jewfaq.org has now added a little gif to demonstrate to goy-brains like myself just how the lulav and etrog are to be waved!

Lost? Go back up and click the "here" link, and read the article. Additionally, you can read my atomically-enhanced writings on Sukkot by clicking on this word.

Church sign

Chag Sameach Sukkot!

That is, Happy Feast of Sukkot/Tabernacles/Temporary Shelters!

A sukkah (singular of "Sukkot") is a temporary shelter large enough to, theoretically, live in--or at least eat one's meals in during the holiday of Sukkot (say "sue coat.") This week-long holiday is a vivid reminder of the 40 years in the wilderness that the Israelites spent living in temporary shelters between the Exodus from Egypt and the entrance into the Promised Land. (Read the book of Exodus. that should clear it up.) Even God dwelt in a temporary shelter in those days--what we typically call the "tabernacle" or "tent of meeting."

Here's Marc Chagall's rendering of a holiday sukkah, painted in 1916.



This year, we built a small one on stage for a decoration. Crummy photos of ours to follow.

Sukkot is also a harvest celebration, so there's plenty of pumpkins, gourds, and Indian corn.

This is shot looking up at the roof of the sukkah. Part of the rule for building a traditional sukkah is that you must be able to see the night stars through the ceiling of it. Hence, the loosely-placed palm branches.

I like this last shot, even though it turned out terribly, because the cross in the background is a visual reminder of John 1:14a "The Word (Jesus) became flesh and pitched his tent among us." The living embodiment of the holiday of Sukkot!

Sukkot Ends

Today is the final day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

Since, as I mentioned in a previous post, Sukkot is in part a harvest festival, it is appropriate that prayers for the spring rains be included as part of the festivities. In the first century, a rather interesting tradition had developed along these lines.

Every day, a priest would take a pitcher down to the pool of Siloam and fill it up, and the people would follow that priest up to the temple mount, chanting the Hallel Psalms (113-118) in a procession that ended in a circling of the temple altar.

On the final day of the feast, considered the greatest and most important, the procession would circle the altar six times and the water would be poured out at the base of the altar in a joyous thanksgiving offering. Additionally, this pouring out of water was a statement of faith that God would send the spring rains.

The rabbis in the Talmud applied deeper spiritual significance to the ritual, connecting it with the words of Isaiah 12:3, "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation." (Messianic Jews like to point out at this juncture that the word translated "salvation" here is "yeshua," which is "Jesus" in Hebrew.)

The New Testament records what Jesus said and did during one such celebration of Sukkot:

On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. On hearing his words, some of the people said, "Surely this man is the Prophet." Others said, "He is the Christ." John 7:37-41a

More on Chag Sukkot

Last year's posts on the holiday are:

HERE

and

HERE

God has a fine post on the week-long holiday here.

Also Today...

Today (starting last night, actually) is the first day of the Jewish Feast of Sukkot (say "sue coat.") Most of our English translations render the term "tabernacles" or "booths."

Sukkot is a post-harvest festival that was created to remind God's people of the forty years in the desert after the exodus from Egypt. During that time, the Israelites lived in temporary shelters--Sukkot! Even God dwelt in a temporary shelter: the tabernacle.

During this week, Jews around the world will spend time in Sukkot, (plural form of "sukkah") eating and perhaps even sleeping. Just think of it as a Divinely-appointed camping trip! Since it comes at the climax of harvest, it is an additional reminder that all which sustains us comes from the hand of Divine Providence!

Sukkot themes chart

Jews for Jesus has a very readable chart depicting three major themes of the feast of Sukkot; practices in Jesus' day that reflected those themes; Jesus' comments, indicating his fulfillment of those themes; and the "future fulfillment" of those themes.

Sukkot begins today

The Jewish holiday called Sukkot, "shelters/ lean-tos" is a reminder of the period in Jewish history just after the Exodus, when God's people lived in temporary shelters for 40 years in desert.
It is celebrated by building a "sukkah," the singular of "sukkot," and at least eating your meals there during the 8 days of the festival--though in warmer climates, one can even sleep in them. The command in Leviticus 23 is to "live" in them. These outdoor shelters have branches laid on top for a roof, and must allow some sky to peek through. The sukkot are often highly decorated with gourds, ears of corn, and other autumn decorations.

Christians would do well at this time of year to remember that John opens his gospel by telling us that "the Word" became flesh and "pitched his tent/sukkah" with us. Furthermore, we are reminded that we, ourselves, are the sukkot for God's Holy Spirit, as he dwells in us!

Happy Sukkot!