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The rabble among them had a strong craving; and the Israelites also wept again, and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”
Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, all at the entrances of their tents. Then Yahweh became very angry, and Moses was displeased. So Moses said to Yahweh, “Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Did I conceive all this people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a sucking child,’ to the land that you promised on oath to their ancestors? Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they come weeping to me and say, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me. If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once—if I have found favor in your sight—and do not let me see my misery.”
So Yahweh said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tent of meeting, and have them take their place there with you.
So Moses went out and told the people the words of Yahweh; and he gathered seventy elders of the people, and placed them all around the tent. Then Yahweh came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again.
Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, “adoni Moses, stop them!” But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all Yahweh people were prophets, and that Yahweh would put his spirit on them!”
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This is the Track 2 optional “Old Testament” reading that can be chosen over a reading from Esther 7 & 9, on the eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost [Proper 21], Year B, according to the lectionary for the Episcopal Church. If this option is chosen, then it will be paired with a partial reading from Psalm 14, which sings, “The law of Yahweh is perfect and revives the soul; the testimony of Yahweh is sure and gives wisdom to the innocent.” Those will precede an Epistle reading from James, where the Apostle wrote, “Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.” All will accompany the Gospel reading from Mark, where Jesus told his disciples, “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.”
I published my views on the whole reading the last time it came up in the lectionary cycle [2018]. That commentary can be read by clicking on this link. The last five verses were also read on Pentecost Sunday [2020], with those views [plus those on an Epistle reading] can be read here. As my prior observations still hold merit, I invite readers to read those offerings and compare them to what I offer here today. I welcome comments, questions, suggestions and correction, at all times.
First of all, in 2018 I was not pointing out how Moses had written “Yahweh” every time he referred to what the translators like to call “Lord.” I now see how such an address must be seen as like some early American Christian immigrants, when a married couple would address one another as “Husband” or “Wife,” never by their actual names. If one were to be comfortable doing that in today’s society, where marriage simply means ‘sex object that one is willing to take a gamble on,’ calling a spouse by a generic title would be smooth. One would never have to learn a name, as “Husband” or “Wife” would be a ‘fill-in-the-blank’ generic for ‘spouse of the year.’ In the case of “Yahweh” versus “Lord,” there are many “lords” who run the lives of human souls: Money, Sex, Drugs, and Rock-n-roll [a.k.a. Idolatry of Entertainers]. To reduce “Yahweh” to a generic name means that can raise the question, “Which “lord” are we talking about?” Such a question shows just how lame one’s faith is, based on a soul worshiping “self” as “Lord,” not ever considering any need to marry one’s soul to “Yahweh,” in order to earn eternal salvation Therefore, in the above translation, one will see that I have placed in bold type the reality of what was written in the Hebrew text.
[Logic point: If you are going to call Yahweh “Lord,” why not call Moses “the man”?]
In verses 4-6, the concept of how long the Israelites had been wandering with Moses and Aaron [and the Tabernacle with the Ark and the Covenant, thereby Yahweh] needs to be realized. To spend forty years away from the hustle and bustle of the ‘big city’ has to be seen as the children of Israel needing two generations to pass, simply to rid their minds of their addictions to worldly lusts, and become strengthened by Spiritual marriage. These verses say those brains were still resistant to a divine marriage between their souls and Yahweh’s Spirit. This is even when Moses was so Anointed by that Spirit that his face glowed so brightly it scared the people. This means these verses should be read [as all between Exodus and Joshua] as though the first true seminary had been created, with Moses the Head Master, Aaron the Head Priest, the Tabernacle the place of worship on campus. All the Israelites must be seen as the students [who signed up, were admitted, and who paid the fees of admission]. The elders can then be seen as the ‘senior class.’
Boohoo. We remember when we were young and stupid and we want to be that again! Boohoo.
The Torah is not to be read simply as a history book. The Holy Bible is a living text that has to be seen more as a reflection on all history; so, the waywardness of the Israelites reflects upon the waywardness of human beings always. In the comparison to a seminary, many are placed purposefully away from metropolis environments, where students are then forced to apply their study skills to the mastery of whatever degree program they have entered. The students of seminaries might be older in years on earth (many with prior degrees from colleges or universities), so they are re-entering the educational environment to be retrained in how to work for a religious organization. When they graduate and take jobs as hired hands in those religious organizations, they then apply the same education they learned onto their flocks. Still, the return to a university setting immediately brings back the child that wants to play, more than work and study. Because most students do as little as possible and see a learning environment as a playground to escape and party wildly, the complaints found in verse 4-6 must be read as an age-old statement of the students always saying, “When will this school life be over, so we can go back to being like we were before!?!?”
One must want to be there voluntarily; and even when there seriously, the presence of one crying baby in the nursery makes all the babies begin to cry.
When one realizes the truth of becoming a child of Yahweh, where “Israelite” means “One Who Retains God,” where “el” is less about naming Yahweh and more about saying one is an “elohim,” this is always the point of religion. A religion is not meant to be a place to go sit and learn some stuff, then party hardy when not in a desk or pew, because it is meant to be a lifestyle that one never strays from. That commitment is why marriage is the only way one’s soul can lead a body of flesh to not always want the fun things, never wanting to do the sacrificial things. Marriage of a soul to Yahweh brings inner rejoicing; and, ministry in pairs means two will share plenty of good times together. Those good times come from helping others see that light of truth, which is not found in the things the world loves to flash before our eyes.
This is why everyone who claims to be a Christian must see himself or herself as Moses, who regularly is in communication with Yahweh [not some generic lord]. Aaron is one's partner in ministry. Thus, when we read, “Then Yahweh became very angry, and Moses was displeased,” that should say YOU are displeased when people claiming to be Christians are bellyaching: “Woe is me. I am a homosexual and if I engage in same sex with another, I am judged as bad. I call myself Christian, so I should be forgiven all my sins because I believe that is why Jesus died.” Such arguments are why it is hard to be truly religious today, when there still is as “weeping throughout their families, all at the entrances of their tents,” because poor babies missed “the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic” that used to make sinful life so much fun.
The children of Israel [remember, that is a name that means "He Retains God"] were in Moses' seminary by choice. All the rest of the world was not there. The rest of the world was allowed by Yahweh to remain where it was; so, anyone who wants to sin and feel okay with sin needs to rejoin the rest of the world and stop pretending to be something chosen by God. The meaning of "He Retains God" says one's soul has married Yahweh and taken on His name. Whatever one did before that sacred union [when all human beings know sin up close and personal] ceases to be, from then on, for eternity [souls never die]. Heaven is not divided into sections, where the gays are over there and the murderers in that place, with Saints getting the preferred housing. Heaven is the presence of Yahweh, and sin is not allowed where Yahweh is.
A true Christian, as one whose soul is just as Anointed as was Moses' [a true Christ], should hear himself or herself saying to Yahweh, “They [the souls failing Yahweh] come weeping to me and say, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ [meaning, “Allow us to sin as before!] I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me.” That says Moses knew all he could do was be Jesus reborn [thousands of years before Jesus was born] and demonstrate true faith before others, so they too could be like Moses [Jesus reborn]. Other than that, there is nothing more one can do. Each soul has to save itself; and “Jesus” means “Yah[weh] Will Save.” It is up to each individual to marry Yahweh, become His wife, and let Him impregnate one's soul [“Receive the Spirit”], so one’s soul gives rise to the soul of Jesus resurrected [regardless of where on history’s timeline one is].
Now, this reading is an optional selection because the Gospel reading from Mark tells of disciples coming to Jesus, saying they saw someone they did not know casting out demons in the name of Jesus. Here, Joshua son of Nun came to Moses saying basically the same thing: “adoni Moses, stop them!” In that, I have restored the Hebrew text that has erroneously translated as if Joshua said, “My lord Moses.” The word “adoni” is like the world “elohim,” in the sense it says Moses was married with Yahweh, so he was one of His “lords” on earth, possessed divinely by Yahweh’s Spirit. Joshua was a strong guy, who easily could have killed Eldad and Medad, keeping them from prophesying in the camp as freewheelers, not part of the secluded party of prophesying that was going on by Moses. That says others can be touched – they were seniors in the seminary after all, so they had learned a few things – without having to be standing by Moses [or Jesus] for Yahweh’s hand to touch them. That says, if one wants to know Yahweh through marriage, one does not need to be blessed by some university professor. One needs to apply to the school of Divine Marriage and pay the tuition that opens one’s heart to receiving His Spirit. It is more rewarding than a sheepskin to hang on the wall in an office, afforded one by an employer.
As an optional Track 2 reading chosen over the Esther 7 reading, one needs to see how the grumbling that angered Yahweh in ‘Moses’ school for freed Israelites’ is the same as Yahweh being angered at the thoughts of Haman, who prepared a gallows to hang Mordechai and all the other Jews in Susa. Moses could have easily killed enough Israelites, so that those left alive would have said, “Okay. We get your point! We believe!” However, that does little to lean souls towards saying, “Yes,” to Yahweh’s marriage proposal. On the other hand, give them a taste of the Spirit, so they run amok in divine ministry [a real frat party at a seminary], frightening others like Moses without his veil on, that sends a stronger message to others. To have King Ahasuerus kill Haman and establish a day of recognition for that event says, “Evil was defeated today.” That is like Yahweh’s Spirit falling on the two who did not attend the meeting as instructed; so, Eldad and Medad learned just how wrong their souls had been, in the same way Haman’s did when hung to death on his own device built.
As a reading to be read aloud on the eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, when one’s own personal ministry for Yahweh should already be well underway, the lesson to receive is the realization that complaining about the way the world is does nothing of value. The material universe is the only place that sin can exist; so, sin cannot be stopped here. The only world that matters is the fleshy body that surrounds a soul – yourself [a “self” equals a “soul”]. One must sacrifice one’s own soul, so all the delights of a world that can only offer sins and death [then reincarnation or hell, for the losers] are willingly denied. One needs to be cut loose from one's addictions of the past and let Jesus be reborn within.
With Jesus living within one’s fleshy body, he will then become the “Lord” of that tabernacle, who reads all applications from the world that want to pollute a true seminary. Jesus reborn will reject all outside influences from admission, if they have no value being in one’s life. Having never known what past addictions had called, one’s soul is no longer lusting for what was, therefore no longer complaining. That is what true ministry for Yahweh means. You live like Jesus reborn, not worrying about what used to be. Everything is then rejoicing about what has come and will always remain.