Chapter 30 continues with the rules for the tabernacle. Aaron is to build an altar of shittim wood on which to burn incense. No "strange incense" though, only the good stuff. God requires money offerings as an atonement for sins. Even the poor are to give at least half a shekel (if you're trying to calculate, a shekel is twenty gerahs). Is God low on cash? What does he do with the money? How does money pay off a sin?
God wants Aaron and company to wash their hands and feet in a brass basin. He also wants a holy ointment to be made from myrrh, cinnamon, calamus and cassia. You cannot put the oil on a stranger because they are NOT blessed. If you do such a foolish thing, plan on being cut off from the chosen people forever. God also likes perfume. He prefers a mix of stacte, onycha, galbanum and frankincense. Mix it just right and it's holy. However, if anyone makes a similar, imperfect concoction, they will be cut off from the chosen people forever. What does God need with frankincense and brass basins anyway? Where do you get these things when wandering across the desert for 40 years? Is holy behavior just about rituals and meeting absurd demands? If so, what good is it?
Chapter 31 tells us twice that we are not to work on the sabbath. Penalty: Death. Don't let anyone tell you this is just an Old Testament custom and it doesn't apply today. The bible is very clear this is a "perpetual convenant." That's forever, folks. "For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed." Why does the ruler of all creation need a day off to rest? If he is omnipresent (present everywhere, all the time, all at once), how is it even possible to take a day off? Am I missing something?
Buckle up - the golden calf and the real ten commandments are up next.
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