Tag: bondage

Strange Fire

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on the fire and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them.
Leviticus 11:1 (NASB)

I recently read a post regarding the “Strange Fire” of Leviticus 10:1. Aaron’s sons are killed for burning an incense that God had not commanded. The post said that God just hates when we do stuff without permission and that we should take God very seriously.

This is a bad teaching.

For starters, this wasn’t some new issue that just came up out of nowhere. God had already told them about “strange” fire and incense in Exodus. He already told them “Don’t do it.”

You shall not offer any strange incense on this altar, or burnt offering, or meal offering; and you shall not pour out a drink offering on it.
Exodus 30:9 (NASB)

But what makes a fire or flame “strange?”

Perhaps an answer is given to us in Leviticus 6: a strange fire is any fire that didn’t come from the continually burning fire that God provided.

The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it. It shall not go out, but the priest shall burn wood on it every morning; and he shall lay out the burnt offering on it, and offer up in smoke the fat portions of the peace offerings on it. Fire shall be kept burning continually on the altar; it is not to go out.
Leviticus 6:12-13 (NASB)

Good fire is GOD’S fire.

Therefore, strange fire is man’s fire. It’s not good.

So what does this have to do with Genesis?

Back in Genesis 11, we learned that Shinar and the bricks of the Tower of Babel point to Empire. Slavery. Bondage. Ur of the Chaldeans means “FLAME of the Chaldeans.” These bricks are baked in Babylonian furnaces, fueled by humanity. The furnaces are fueld by us.

Strange Fire consumes us. It devours us. It spends us like fuel to keep the machine of Empire and slavery burning. And not just us. Our children as well.

Jeremiah, in his outcry against Israel repeats this warning. This the fire God “did not command,” echoing Leviticus 11.

They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come into My mind.
Jeremiah 7:31 (NASB)

The Fire of Man is lit to bake the bricks of bondage, idolatry, and confusion.

The Fire of God stays continually burning and is the source of Life for those who seek Light and Warmth.

Scattered from Bondage

Posted on by jovial_cynic

And it came about, as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
Genesis 11:2 (NASB)

The Tower of Babel story starts with humanity settling in the plain of Shinar. Babylonia.

Therefore it was named Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
Genesis 11:9 (NASB)

God scatters them after they begin building the Tower of Babel. One could argue that God doesn’t want us to settle, but I suspect that this is actually a deliverance story. Shinar is a place of darkness and bondage. He is saving us from it.

Thick as a Brick

Posted on by jovial_cynic

They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.
Genesis 11:3 (NIV)

The Hebrew word for “bricks” is found twice in this verse, and then seven times in Exodus.

Isn’t that interesting? It’s like the writers want to show us something about this word. They want us to look more closely.

Here, a point is made: Bricks instead of stone.

What’s significant about bricks and stones? Why the distinction? There are clues in the following verse.

And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
Genesis 11:4 (NKJV)

Verse 4 shows us arrogance and pride. Maybe it’s our accomplishments and self-sufficiency, and patting ourselves on the back.

But actually, it’s much worse than that.

“Let’s make A NAME for ourselves.”

What’s lost in the English is that this word “name” (שֵׁם) has a quirky meaning in Hebrew. It’s the same word as a certain person’s name: Shem. That’s right. Shem’s name means “name.” And as we learned in the last chapter, Shem is BLESSED.

But the Jewish reader will also note that one of the designations for God is “HaShem,” which means “THE NAME.”

So when the people said “Let’s make A NAME for ourselves,” this is heavily packed with meaning: “Let’s seize our own blessing. Let’s make a god for ourselves.”

This is idolatry, but it’s a kind of idolatry that’s going to be echoed later in Scripture.

When Israel is delivered from Egypt and are given the 10 commandments, it starts with a reminder of their freedom.

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
“You shall have no other gods before Me.
Exodus 20:2-3 (NASB)

It’s in this context of deliverance from slavery that the bricks come up again in the story:

Exodus 1:14 – Bondage and bricks
Exodus 5:7 – Make bricks
Exodus 5:8 – Quota of bricks
Exodus 5:16 – Make bricks
Exodus 5:18 – Quota of bricks
Exodus 5:19 – Daily task of bricks

They were delivered from bondage, from the land of slavery under the Egyptian gods, but they were also spared from God’s wrath, poured like a flood against those who harmed His people.

So God cautioned Israel: Have no other gods; idolatry is intrinsically tied to bondage.

But in the land of Shinar, the people forgot about the flood and God’s mighty hand that preserved humanity in an ark. “Let us make a name for ourselves,” they said, and they stepped into the slavery of brick-making for the first time.

But there’s a problem.

There aren’t enough bricks to make a proper name for yourself, friend. You’ll keep building towards heaven and never get there.

If I make enough money…
If I parent well enough…
If I have enough followers…
If I drive the nicest car…
If I work hard and get that promotion…

“MAKE MORE BRICKS!” the slaver demands.

It’s like Cain’s rejected sacrifice: “Look what I acquired!” as his first-fruits burned to ash. Perhaps his sacrifice was burned atop an alter of bricks.

God doesn’t seem to desire this.

A people who continually provoke Me to My face,
Offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on bricks;
Isaiah 65:3 (NASB)

In fact, what God wants is an altar of made of uncut stones, just the way they were found in the ground. Just stones in a pile, big enough to make an offering, as though the rocks are a reminder of who we are, and where we’ve come from. God just wants our whole selves.

And if you make an altar of stone for Me, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your chisel on it, you will profane it.
Exodus 20:25 (NASB)

So the lesson I see is that every vain pursuit of “making a name for yourself” is ultimately a pursuit of idols. A pursuit of your own claim to a blessing. A pursuit of a god who will reward you and cheer your ever-growing tower.

This always leads to slavery and confusion.

Empires

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Until recently, I’ve assumed that every empire in scripture (Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, Rome, etc.) represented wickedness. But the more I’m reading through Genesis 14, the more I’m coming to a different conclusion. Perhaps Empire is not the culmination of wickedness. It is the culmination of man.

The shift for me here is that empire does represent bondage and slavery, and these things are definitely not good. But they are not the same as “wickedness,” which is also not good, but they are different, and treated differently in the text.