Sunday, November 16, 2014

Numbers: Chapter 28


Each day in its day

Each month in its month 

The sanctity of always 


The circadian Sinai












[For full chapter, click here
From the continuity of inheritance, we move to another kind of "eternity / always" (tamid). This chapter details the time-based offerings at the Tent of Meeting (mo'ed), the Meetings (mo'ed) in time. This chapter to some extent echoes the laws of the festivals in Leviticus 23 but with a beautiful difference: we begin not with the Sabbath or the festivals, but with the everyday: "day by day, for an always/ eternal offering; one lamb at the morning; and one lamb between the boundaries of the evening." From the daily we move to the monthly, sanctifying the new moon, "month by month," The offerings for the new month are brought "in addition" to the "always (tamid)" offering, and this becomes the refrain of the chapter: sanctified time is always an addition to the basic beat of the daily "meeting", the daily recreation of "what was offered out Mount Sinai." Revelation is in the everyday; teh festivals are the high notes that play above it.]

No comments:

Post a Comment