Don't Boil A Kid In Its Mother's Milk

Exodus 21-30

In reading through the whole First Testament and New Testament, the most difficult sections is the pieces that go on and on and on about arcane laws, tedious construction details, and disgusting sacrificial instructions. According to historians, the Exodus would have happened around 1400BC. Our society and culture is so different from then, which helps explain our slogging through some of these chapters.

Some of the commands we understand: Don't kill or beat people, don't steal or kidnap, don't be irresponsible or immoral, don't sacrifice to idols. Okay, we can appreciate those kinds of laws - in fact we seek to keep them yet today. But there there are other statutes that seem to baffle us, the most famous one being: don't boil a kid in its mother's milk. 

As I read through the lists of do's and don'ts, it helps to remember the practicality of this book and the situation of the people. They are listing stuff that has been experienced, stuff that has been a problem requires a solution, hence the commands. Obviously there had been problems with abuse, robbery, idolatry, sexual immorality, and so on. What we get is a snapshot of what the complicated problems were facing the people, and the solutions they proposed.

I was put off by how many times death is proscribed as punishment for so many of the laws. It seems rather harsh. I suppose it helps to remember that we are dealing with document over three-thousand years old. Culture was different then. But it's interesting to note that when the death penalty was put in force, an option of redemption was possible. "If a ransom is agreed upon instead of death, he must pay it in full as a redemption for his life." 

Admittedly, I skimmed through some of the details on how to construct the Tabernacle and other related items, including the vestments for the priests. I tried to read every single word, but I jumped ahead sometimes. I'm sure there is a good reason for including this information in the Bible, but it seems to have little practical application to my life. However, it does teach me that God cares about details, about creating fine art, about letting us know what he wants us to do, about practicality and beauty and functionality and holiness.

One last thing: the idea of holy is connected mostly to the idea that something is different, set apart. The priests are holy because they are not like the common person. The Tabernacle and related items are holy because they are set apart from common use, only to be handled by priests for worship.

Holy does not mean pure or unblemished, it just means different. However, the point of making the item holy is so that it won't be made impure or mishandled. In our lives, we don't become holy by becoming pure - we become holy by a decision of God. In making us holy, he sets us apart for a special task he enables us to accomplish.