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Religious Pron - Mesopotamia (well, Levant) 8 - Israel

Sep 25, 2022, 3:51 PM

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Sadly, axx, even flawless, unblemished axx, is not acceptable as a religious sacrifice. That’s because it’s not kosher.
And it can’t be used for anything else either.

Leviticus 18:23 “‘Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it.”

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But sacrifice WAS a huge part of daily life in the ancient world. Especially in ancient Israel, where twice a day, and on several special holidays, there were up to 10 different types of sacrifices and offerings. Plus, each type had its own purpose and rules.

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Think of sacrifices as a perpetual social picnic. EVERY day is the right day for a tail-gate!
Super handy for keeping large groups of people together and in touch with each other. And tasty, too!

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Well, except for on the Sabbath, Saturday. Saturday tail-gates are forbidden. Fridays if you are a Muslim. That’s why a lot of people don’t follow multiple religions.
You could quickly blow your whole weekend that way.

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Sacrifice and Offerings will be a stand alone poast somewhere down the line, but for those who just can’t wait,
I suggest a healthy snack to help keep you awake before diving into Leviticus and Deuteronomy.

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There were lots and lots of rules about which animals (or vegetables or breads) could be used for each type of sacrifice.

Leviticus 5:15 “When anyone is unfaithful to the Lord by sinning unintentionally...they are to bring to the Lord...a ram from the flock. It is a guilt offering.

Didn’t you see the No Fishing sign?

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For now though, the important thing to know is that donkeys are special. Why? Well, lets take it from the top. From those who know:

“From its birth until it is exchanged, a firstborn donkey is considered to be holy, just as an animal designated as a Temple sacrifice.
Hence, you may not ride it or have it carry something for you; it is even forbidden to use its hair.”

Bummer. That’s why donkey hair apparel never really took off.

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Normally, since there is no Holy Temple in which to bring sacrifices, a priest waits until holy animals develop a blemish that disqualifies them for a sacrifice, and then they may be consumed like any other kosher animal. But not the donkey.

He’s not ready for serving just yet, kids...

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The owner of the donkey takes a sheep or goat (or an item worth the full value of the donkey), makes a blessing, and states that he is redeeming the donkey in exchange for the lamb, kid or other item of value.

Once the donkey is redeemed, both it and the item it was exchanged for lose all holiness, and the respective owners can do with the donkey as they please.

Now you can enjoy it...

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So that’s how you make non-kosher donkeys kosher. We’ll pick up WHY the donkey is so special after the main blurb...

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Originally, this was going to be the Assyria history post. I had my archers, war machines, and torture racks all ready. Severed heads are a welcome addition to any post.

That rider better push that camel with all he’s got!

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But in order to put Assyria’s history into context regarding Judaism and Christianity, we need to take a tiny little detour.

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If you read the Old Testament as a purely historical document, it’s the history of ancient Israel. The political history. Kings and such.

Now, that history is framed in terms of obedience (or not) of the Jewish people to their God Yahweh, but the basic story, from post-flood Genesis to Nehemiah, is a chronological history of the nation of Israel.

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Beyond the initial creation story, you learn about the patriarchs, the judges, the prophets, the kings, and all sorts of fantastic supporting cast members during the Jew’s roughly1500 year journey with Yahweh.

The story spans from Abraham leaving Ur III in about 2000 BCE to Nehemiah rebuilding Jerusalem’s crumbling walls, then under Persian control, in about 450 BCE.

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And that journey was anything but easy. After a while, you start to feel sorry for Yahweh for having to put up with these guys.
Yahweh has the patience of a saint, and if you read enough enough, solutions like the flood start to seem reasonable.

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In fact, I’d be surprised if there were more than 100 words in the Old Testament devoted to when Israel did the RIGHT thing according to Yahweh, rather than wrong thing,

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We’ll come back for more detail on those disappointments later, but for now we just need a quick survey of ancient Israel history for upcoming posts.

After the Jews left Egypt, wandered around the Sinai, and then settled in Canaan, there were 4 phases to their national history.

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I. 12 Tribes

The first phase was their tribal period. That would have been roughly about the time the Cassites were dominating Mesopotamia.

Judges 2:6 “After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to their own inheritance.”

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But despite labels and colors on a map, the tribes of Israel were still mixed among, and surrounded by, their enemies. And of course, they strayed. Constantly.

Judges 2:10 “After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors (ie, died),
another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.

11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals.“

Over and over and over.

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II. Judges

So Yahweh helped them out and brought them a string of super-heroes, or Judges, who fought off their enemies.

Judges 2:16 “Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders.”

You might have heard of some of the famous ones, like Samson, whose heroic strength was through his flowing locks, or Deborah, an extremely rare woman leader.

Another flowy-locked super-hero

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The Book of Judges is great. How could anyone forget the Jael and the spike in the head story from Deborah’s tale? That thing has haunted me since I was 10 years old.

Judges 5 The Song of Deborah
25 “Most blessed of women be Jael...26 Her hand reached for the tent peg...she shattered and pierced his temple.”

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It’s almost as memorable as the High Priest Phinehas ramming a spear through both Zimri and his lover Cozbi, at the same time, at the tabernacle door, in Numbers.

Numbers 25:8 “He drove the spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach.”

Ouchy.

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I saw almost the exact same thing happen to Kevin Bacon and his girlfriend in the original Friday 13th movie.

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The end of the Judges period in Israel would have been towards the end of the Cassite period in Mesopotamia.

Right about the time the Assyrians were winning their 5-way scrum with their neighbors and coming into their own.

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III. The Unified Kingdom

But the people of Israel still weren’t happy. Not as just tribes, and not even with heroic Judges. And soon enough, they wanted a king just like everyone else had.
Gotta keep up with the Jones.

So Yahweh gave them some kings. Three famous ones, and two duds.

1 Samuel 8:4 “So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, ... appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”
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The three famous kings, Saul, David, and Solomon, each ruled for 40 years and made names for themselves. But the “unified” kingdom that Yahweh gave Israel was still held together by just a thread.

Here we go again...

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When Saul died, his son, Ish-Bosheth, was going to be king. But the tribe of Judah wanted David, the young hero that had earlier defeated Goliath, to be king.
It was understandable...David was from the tribe of Judah.

But it smacked of cronyism, nepotism, favoritism, etc., all the stuff humans are famous for, throughout all of time. And so it’s not unexpected that 12 tribes would be completely...tribal...about it?

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Annnndddd...so a mini civil war broke out. You can read all about it in 2 Samuel 2.

10 “Ish-Bosheth son of Saul was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he reigned two years. The tribe of Judah, however, remained loyal to David.”

The Cult of Personality, circa 1000 BCE

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The mini-civil war lasted quite a long time, with all sorts of intrigue, power plays, and of course, women, all playing key parts.
But it finally ended when the commander of Ish-Bosheth’s Army, Abner, in a classic Benedict Arnold moment, switched sides. Then Abner got himself killed, and 2 of his lieutenants killed Ish-Bosheth.

2 Samuel 6 “They went into the inner part of the house as if to get some wheat, and they stabbed [Ish] in the stomach. Then Rekab and his brother Baanah slipped away.”

So much for one big happy nation. Well, big as in about the size of Los Angeles.

Ish gets it.

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With Ish-Bosheth dead it was “All hail King David.” It’s a great, rivetting story – about as human as it gets.
Way better than any episode of House of the Dragon. Well, maybe...

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David went on to capture Jerusalem and become famous, but fractures still ran through the “unified” nation. David’s son Solomon mostly held it all together, but then he built a temple, THE temple, in Jerusalem, in the south. And then all hell broke loose, again.

Because that REALLY pixxed off all the northerners, who would later be known as Samaritans.

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History repeating itself. North vs. South. 900 BCE style.

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And the North had a legit beef. Because since Joshua crossed the Jordan way back when, the tabernacle had been at Shiloh, in the north.
And people don’t like change. But we’ll cover all that later.

The northern tribes call out the southern tribes.

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The final straw came when Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, taxed the northern tribes for the temple that Solomon built in the south. Ouch.
And then Rehoboam was kind of a huge a-hole about it. Like, a REALLY HUGE A-hole.

1 Kings 12:10 “These people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter...11 My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’”

Man that’s wrong. Why so hostile?

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IV. The Divided Kingdom.

Clearly, them was fightin’ words.

And from that point on the unified nation became the divided nation. The Kingdom of Israel in the north (10 tribes) split off, and the Kingdom of Judah in the south (2 tribes) went their own way.

Split over where to worship, and taxes. How many times have religion, and money, divided people in history?

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This national split occurred at the exact same time Assyria was smashing the Cassites and all their other neighbors, building up a head of steam, and peaking in Mesopotamia. And by 930 BCE, the Assyrians were the most powerful empire the world had ever seen.

So if you’ve just chopped your nation in half over taxes, that’s not good. And so that’s where we’ll pick up next time. I’m sure you can see this train wreck a’ coming from miles away…

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So Tribes, Judges, Unified Kingdom, and Divided Kingdom. That’s ancient Israel history.

Easy Jack. It’s not that complicated. Ancient Israel history in only 4, not even 5, Easy Pieces.

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But back to axx.

So just how did the jackaxx achieve such love and exalted status in Israel’s sacrificial system?
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First, the donkey is rewarded for helping get the Jews out of Egypt with all their stuff. Without the lowly axx, their trek through the desert would have been all but impossible. So that counts for something. And the Jews are grateful forever.

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Plus, the Jews say: “We should always remember the miracle that Yahweh did for us during the Exodus from Egypt. He killed all of the Egyptian firstborn—who are compared to donkeys in the Book of Ezekiel —and saved all the Jewish firstborn.”

Well, their junk is compared to donkeys, that is.

Ezekiel 14:20 “There she lusted after her (Egyptian) lovers, whose gen itals were like those of donkeys, and whose emission was like that of horses.”

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But secondly, and maybe even more importantly, the special rules for swapping a donkey is symbolic of giving all to Yahweh. Even the “coarsest” of your stuff.

Usually, sacrifices require giving the first, and the best, of whatever, as offerings.

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Even before you take for yourself, you give to Yahweh, in recognition that all you have is due to him.

So, “...In redeeming the firstborn donkey, a non-kosher animal, we learn to uplift even the most coarse elements of the material world, even that which appears to be negative.”

“This is why the prophet Zechariah describes the Messiah as one who rides a donkey. For the Messiah will usher in an era when all materiality [is considered divine], just as the most spiritual of creations.”

Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. “

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Religious Pron - Mesopotamia (well, Levant) 8 - Israel

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