Gilbert House Fellowship

SPEAKING WITH SPIRITS was strictly forbidden by God. This might seem to be a quaint and antiquated notion, but the fact that we encounter the prohibition three times in our reading today indicates that this was a serious issue in ancient Canaan. Scholars are not entirely agreed on the meaning of the words translated into English as “mediums” and “necromancers,” ʾobot and yiddeʿonim. There are vari...

IT’S ANOTHER weird section of scripture this week, which, as you know by now, means it’s important. In the middle of rules pertaining to sacrifices, God gave this to Moses: So they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to goat demons, after whom they whore. (Leviticus 17:7, ESV) What are goat demons? It’s significant that this warning comes shortly after God instructed Moses and Aaron on the at...

THE SCAPEGOAT is a concept that originated at Mount Sinai. This week, we discuss God’s commandment to send a goat into the wilderness for Azazel, similar rites in northern Syria and southern Anatolia in the days of the patriarchs, and the role of Azazel (or Asael), one of the Watchers who descended to Mount Hermon in the days of Jared, in teaching humanity forbidden knowledge. ———— Join us in Isra...

ISRAEL WAS commanded to be holy because God was literally in their midst. The Law set them apart for Yahweh, distinct from other people. We note that some foods declared unclean, especially pigs, may have been so designated because of their use in pagan rituals (in the case of pigs, as offerings to the dead). However, the bottom line is that God established very specific rituals for washing and sa...

THE FORMAL beginning of the Levitical priesthood and the sacrificial system is the focus of this week’s study. After going through the rules for the sacrifices in our last couple of studies, this week we discuss the formal ordination of Aaron and his sons. Sadly for Nadab and Abihu, their term as priests didn’t last very long. Leviticus 10 describes their destruction by God for offering unauthoriz...

SINS OF omission are just as serious in the Lord’s eyes as those we commit intentionally. We continue our discussion of the detailed laws for the burnt offering, grain offering, sin offering, guilt offering, ordination offering, and peace offering, with a reminder that all of this is just “a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” (Col. 2:17; see also Hebrews 8:5 and 10...

GOD GAVE very explicit instructions for the slaughter of animals required for the slaughter of animals for required offerings. This week, we look at the first four: burnt, grain, peace, and sin offerings. (We’ll get to guilt offering next week.) We note some of the seemingly random requirements, such as slaughtering the bull for the burnt offering on the north side of the altar, and God’s repeated...

THE CONSTRUCTION of the tabernacle is the focus of this week’s study—although, as usual, we follow some rabbit trails that lead us to other parts of the Bible. We compare the number of stones in the high priest’s ephod to the precious stones covering the rebel in Eden, as described in Ezekiel 28. That led us to another discovery—namely, that the Septuagint and some modern English translations, suc...

TAKE TWO at Mount Sinai: Moses goes back up the mountain for another 40 days and nights to get two new tablets to replace the ones he smashed. We discuss the construction of the tabernacle and the willingness of the Israelites to contribute building materials after the unpleasantness following the golden calf incident. We also explain why the famed artist Michelangelo sculpted Moses with horns — i...

IT DIDN’T take long for Israel to rebel against God’s commands. They broke the first two commandments—no other gods and no idols—before Moses even came down from Mount Sinai. We discuss the Israelites’ desire for an idol to give locality to their “god,” and whether the golden calf was supposed to represent Yahweh, the storm-god Baal, the moon-god Sîn (they were at Sinai, after all), or the creator...

THE RULES for consecrating the Aaronic priesthood were very specific, and many of those rules were a repudiation of rituals the pagan neighbors of ancient Israel practices for their gods. We discuss the purposed of the blood shed by the bulls and rams sacrificed during the ritual, the reasons for burning their livers and kidneys, and the restricted use of holy anointing oil. (In other words, we sh...

THE GARMENTS worn by the high priest were a representation of the tribes of Israel, who were presented to the Lord when Aaron and his successors entered the Holy Place. We discuss the ephod, probably a tunic or robe worn on the upper body, the breastpiece of judgment that held the twelve gemstones inscribed with the names of the tribes of Israel, and the purpose of the Urim and Thummim — about whi...

THE ARK OF THE COVENANT is the focus of this week’s study. Contrary to Raiders of the Lost Ark, no, it was not a radio to talk to God. The ark was, in fact, God’s throne. He sat above the mercy seat, between the cherubim—who, by the way, looked more like sphinxes than the effeminate angels typically portrayed by artists. Cherubim, and similar throne guardians such as the lamassu of Assyria and the...

MANY OF US have been taught that it isn’t possible to see God with our natural eyes and live. How do we reconcile that with the account of God personally eating a meal with Moses, Aaron, and the seventy elders of Israel? The scripture verse is clear: And He did not lay His hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank. (Exodus 24:11) This is an appearance by the...

WE DIG into the Law this week, as we discuss God’s commands to Israel on such things as slaves, restitution, and social justice. Slavery, in particular, had a far different meaning in the ancient Near East than it does for us in 21st century America. “Indentured servanthood” is perhaps a better term, since Hebrew slaves were to be released after six years of service. The roles of men and women wer...

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS were the first instructions given to Moses upon Israel’s arrival at Sinai. And the first command was “you shall have no other gods before me.” We discuss the commandments and the reasons God had for emphasizing that directive and the one that followed, a prohibition on carved images to represent Him or any other spirit being in heaven, on earth, or “in the water under the eart...

THE WILDERNESS OF SIN had nothing to do with naughtiness in the desert. It was, in fact, a reference to the moon-god Sîn, which is likely why Moses mentioned the day of the month Israel entered the desert (15th day of the second month, when the moon was full). Likewise, Mount Sinai was probably named for the moon-god. We’ll see further encounters with the moon-god and his followers, the Amorites,...

THE RED SEA crossing is an iconic moment in the Bible, the history of Israel, and in movies (thanks to legendary producer/director Cecil B. DeMille). But it’s way cooler than you might know. We explain why this event was far more than just Israel’s escape from Egypt. For example, have you ever noticed that God directed Moses to turn around and camp—in other words, to stop and wait for the Egyptian...

THE PASSOVER is a milestone in world history. It’s a defining moment in the creation of Israel, and thus, a key event in the natural and spiritual history of the world. We discuss the connection between the Passover and another event of primary importance, the crucifixion of Jesus. We also discuss the cross-pollination of the pantheons of the Amorites (Canaanites) and Egyptians, and why it’s so di...

IT’S A showdown on the Nile between the God of the Hebrews and the gods of Egypt. However, contrary to what we’ve been taught, the gods of Egypt in Moses’ day weren’t all Egyptian gods. We discuss the first seven plagues of the Exodus and why we believe a one-to-one correspondence between the plagues and Egyptian gods doesn’t give us the full picture. Psalm 78:48-49 reveals that the seventh plague...

MOSES RETURNS to Egypt with Aaron as his mouthpiece, a concession by God to Moses’ reluctance to speak to his fellow Hebrews about the Lord’s promise of deliverance. Despite being told by God that Pharaoh’s heart would be hardened, Moses complained when the king of Egypt not only refused to let Israel go, but increased the burden on the Israelites working to make bricks. We also discuss the strang...

ISRAEL SPENT 430 years in Egypt. This is recorded in Exodus 12:40-41 and Galatians 3:17. How do we reconcile that with God’s promise to Abraham that his descendants would return “in the fourth generation” (Gen. 15:16), or the four generations between Levi and Moses (Ex. 6:16-20)? We address that, and Derek admits his timeline of the ancient Hebrews needs to be adjusted accordingly. For the record,...

JACOB WAS buried at the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron. So, why did Joseph and his brothers take his body all the way around the other side of the Dead Sea and mourn for seven days at a threshing floor in the ruined city of Sodom? We discuss the “physicians” of Joseph (ropheim in Hebrew) and the Rephaim of the Transjordan, explain why we believe the threshing floor of Atad was the site of Sodom, and...

JACOB’S STORY comes to a close this week. He lived for seventeen years in Egypt, long enough to see Joseph use the foreknowledge given by God to concentrate power in the hands of the pharaoh (and the same number of years Joseph lived before he was sold into slavery by his brothers). We discuss Jacob’s blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh, in which we see again an elder brother passed over in favor of...

JOSEPH FINALLY reveals himself to his brothers, unable to continue his deception any longer. His brothers had returned to Egypt to buy more grain, bringing Joseph’s only full brother, Benjamin, with them as he’d ordered. But when Judah pleaded for Joseph to allow Benjamin to return to Jacob, Joseph was overcome with emotion and told them who he was. Jacob and the entire family entourage returned t...