Exodus 25

Chapter 25

This chapter offers up detailed descriptions of various pieces of furniture in the Israelites' tabernacle. To get just a bit didactic for a moment, one way that you can determine whether you really understand a passage is to visualize what the author is writing in your head. If your visualizations match the physical details and spatial relationships that actually exist in the text, then you know that you're actually processing the information correctly instead of just extrapolating.

When I first visualized the ark, it looked pretty much like the historical reconstructions--with the notable exception of the cherubim, because at that age, I thought a cherub was one of those twee Cupid monstrosities like the ones in Fantasia. (To be fair to myself, that is one definition of "cherub," but I've since learned that the cherubim here are quite different.)

Of course, when one mentions the Ark of the Covenant, now I can't help but visualize the version in Raiders of the Lost Ark (still one of the best--if not the best--action movies I've seen). Notably, verse 15 says, "The poles are to remain in the rings of this ark; they are not to be removed." If you remember when Indy finds the ark in the film, he and Sallah have to insert the poles themselves to lift up the ark. Apparently, someone at some point didn't follow God's directions and took the poles out. This isn't the last time we see the ark, so expect me to make Raiders of the Lost Ark references whenever it pops up. (In fact, if for some inexplicable reason you haven't seen this classic movie yet, you should do so posthaste.)

I admit that when I first visualized the lampstand, I got the basic menorah shape down, but I was a bit puzzled by the four cups mentioned in verse 34. It's confusing because 1.) we already have the cups that hold the candles, and 2.) the way the passage is written makes it seem like there are four cups total instead of four cups around each branch. Verse 35 does clarify this, but it suddenly starts calling the cups "buds," which obfuscates matters a bit for me.

Acacia is an essential ingredient to many of the furnishings. It's also an essential ingredient for giraffes (as I learned in my third grade animal report.)

"Honor your father and mother" (20:12)

Well, I hope I follow this commandment. I mean, I don't go about wishing my parents ill will, and certainly the thought of killing them is just about the farthest thing from my mind. Villains in fiction seem to want to off their immediate progenitors, as in (and I'm deliberately using a mediocre film here so I don't spoil a good one) the James Bond movie Die Another Day. Of course, I'm ineffably thankful for how they've raised me and care for me, but do I manifest that love and appreciation through my actions? Not as much as I should, to be honest, and the only things really stopping me from doing more for my parents are laziness and selfishness. If I am to be a light unto the world as Christ intends all His followers to be, I must remember to include those closest to me.