This week’s Parasha can be divided into two sections.
In the first section, Aaron offers his very first
sacrifices, and everything works beautifully. At the end of Chapter 9, The
Presence of God appears to the people, and fire comes forth from before God and
consumes the sacrifices on the altar.
But then, in Chapter 10, everything goes wrong. Two of
Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Abihu, offer “alien” or “strange” fire to God. Fire again
comes forth from before God, but this time it consumes these two men and kills
them.
Then, in Chapter 11, we find the laws explaining which
animals we are allowed to eat and which are prohibited.
One theme that runs through the parasha is that of coming
close to God. How do we come close, but not too close? What are the boundaries
we need to draw around ourselves in order to live as a holy community, close to
God? Why do we need these boundaries?
In Exodus, the encounter with God at Mount Sinai was a
one-time intense experience of being in the Presence of God. There too we had
boundaries around the mountain, we had to be pure to come close, there were limitations
on who could get closest, and there was danger in coming too close. Here in
Leviticus we’re talking more about a normative experience of living in
community with God on a daily basis.
The Haftarah picks up on this theme of boundaries and danger
involved in having God in our midst. There we read about the transport of the
Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. And there too, there is a tension between
wanting God to have a permanent dwelling place among the people and the sense
that God “moves about” in a portable shrine. Again, we confront the questions
of what it means to have God in our midst. Is it better to have a permanent
temple to which people must make pilgrimage, or a traveling Tent that comes to
the people where they live? Here too, we have danger associated with having God’s
Presence so near. Uzzah, who is guiding the ox cart which conveys the Ark,
reaches out to steady it as one of the oxen stumbles. God strikes him down on the
spot.
Looking forward to exploring this with you tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment