Bloody, Bloody, Bloody

Exodus 29 is dripping with blood.  The consecration of the priestly caste, an hereditary caste to be descended from Aaron, is a bloody affair indeed.  The priests anoint the ark cover with blood, splash blood on the sides of it, get blood sprinkled on their garments, their earlobes, their thumbs and big toes.  Doing this for seven days and then regularly in generations thereafter will make the sacrificial altar holy and then Yahweh will come around there to tell the Israelites what to do.  The whole thing is pretty atavistic and bizarre.


The breast and thigh from every sacrificed animal goes to the priests.  The organs and organ fat are burned on the altar and the rest is presumably given back to the presenter to eat.  The consecration of priests is a week-long feast with loads of animals being sacrificed and lots of bread, oil and wine being offered up for the process.

In Exodus 30 the ritual items inventory and user manual continues.  Fragrant incense must be burned every morning on the special incense altar.  Aaron is reminded that the incense altar is only for incense, not for drink or grain or burnt offerings.  Even here, blood must be spilled once a year. Ex.30:10

Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on its horns. This annual atonement must be made with the blood of the atoning sin (or purification) offering for the generations to come. It is most holy to the LORD.”

All these offerings look an awful lot like Hindu and other pantheistic, pagan offerings - the only difference being that they are being made exclusively to one god who detests all other deities.


Not only does the priestly caste get a share of the meat and bread offered at the altar, they also get to levy taxes on the people. (Ex.30:11-16)  It's a flat tax for adults age 20 and over, with the rich and the poor paying the same amount for the "upkeep of the temple".  The people are reassured that paying this money will stop Yahweh from inflicting plagues on them and will atone for their lives, although what the great atonement is for, is not clear.  Maybe it's for the fact that Jacob (Israel) was a jerk who stole his brother's birthright, lied to and tricked his father multiple times and stole his father's blessing.  Maybe it's for the fact that so many of Israel's twelve sons conspired to harm Joseph because he was a favored son, and that, while some of them wanted to kill him, they ultimately decided just to throw him in a ditch and then sell him into slavery and lie about it to their parents.  Or maybe it goes back to Adam and Eve  and Cain and Abel - I'm really not sure but it is depressing.


Ritual hand and foot washing for the priests is prescribed in Ex.30:17-21.  They have to wash their hands and feet before entering the tent of meeting or before approaching the altar "so that they will not die".  Interestingly, Muslims all have to wash their hands and feet before entering a mosque, and I believe it also a part of morning ritual ablutions.   I don't believe this is required of modern Jews or Christians, although observant Jews are supposed to wash hands before eating while reciting a prayer. 


Now for something a little nicer: a recipes for fragrant, holy oil and incense!  Apparently the shekel was both a unit of money and measurement.  The oil and incense are proprietary blends and must not be used on anyone but priests nor anywhere but the temple! Anyone who does will be cut off from the people! (Ex.30:33&38)


Recipe for Holy Oil:

• Liquid myrrh (500 shekels/6 grams)
• Fragrant cinnamon (250 shekels/3 grams)
• Fragrant calamus (250 shekels/3 grams)
• Cassia (500 shekels/6 grams)
• Olive oil (1 hin/gallon/3.8 liters)

Recipe for Holy Incense:
Grind into powder equal amounts of:

• Gum resin
• Onycha
• Galbanum
• Pure frankincense
• Salt

Delightful!