naturally.
Exodus 30:17–21 (NIV)
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a bronze basin, with its bronze stand, for washing. Place it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet with water from it. Whenever they enter the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die. Also, when they approach the altar to minister by presenting a food offering to the LORD, they shall wash their hands and feet so that they will not die. This is to be a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to come.”
Imagine this sign in a restaurant bathroom.
“Employees must wash their hands before returning to work—so that they will not die.”
Signs like this are common (without the death clause, of course). They sometimes include a reference to a state law. I’d love to see one with the full text above. They could include the reference, “— Exodus 30:21” at the bottom. At least it would get folks to look up the verse.
So, God’s wants His priests to wash up. You got a problem with that? If it’s a good idea for restaurants, why not the tabernacle? Sure, the capital punishment bit is extreme, but it’s His tabernacle and His rules. Is washing up really too much to ask?
But there’s an interesting aspect to this that’s easy to miss. It’s not really capital punishment. It doesn’t say, “shall be put to death.” It just says “die.” All life is from God. His taking away life isn’t killing; it’s ceasing giving.
It’s like dying of natural causes.
This “God as the sustainer of life” perspective is relevant in many ways. For example, we pray a lot for healing. There’s nothing wrong with that; God is the great healer.
But I wonder if we’re coming at this the wrong way. We think of God fixing us like the way we think of a surgeon fixing us.
But a surgeon isn’t the original life giver. He/she is just an outside agent. Conversely, God doesn’t “fix.” He restores. He creates. He blesses. He’s not external to the situation; He’s the creator, owner, and Lord of everything.
None of this necessarily changes the wording of our prayers. We normally plead for a particular outcome; we don’t tell God how He should do it. This concept just changes how we view God’s relationship to the thing we want to see fixed.
The difference is that we’re asking God to change His “pride and joy.” You belong to Him. He doesn’t care about you the way a surgeon cares about you.
His love goes much deeper than that.
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These weekday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. Saturdays’ by Matt Richardson. Subscribe here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community
The weekly study guides, which include questions for discussion or meditation, are here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies
Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NASB stands for the New American Standard Bible. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.
