Exodus 24

The passage I decided to read in Hebrew this week is Exodus 24.  It is an amazingly transcendant account of when the Elders of Israel were admitted into the presence of the Lord and saw him, with a human shaped body, standing on a pavement of sapphire (24:10).  Not only that, but they seem to have had some kind of meal with Him (24:11).  It is no wonder that the Lord had Joseph Smith do a careful reading of the Bible before revealing to him the modern temple ceremonies.  Even though the details have changed over time, the pattern is there. 

One pasage that all the podcasts I listened to this week kind of apologized for was Exodus 24:8.  "And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning these words."".  All the podcasters mentioned that this seems really strange, and off-putting to modern readers and then gave reasons why it would have significance to ancient people.   They are right, of course.  Being sprinkled with blood would probably not make any modern person comfortable. We understand the symbolism of blood when we take the sacrament, and we have read lots of scriptures that say we are cleansed by the blood of Christ, but actually getting blood on us seems gross.  

I was thinking about this as I read the passage in Hebrew.  Reading in Hebrew somehow helps me see the people I am reading about as real people, part of a real culture. I was thinking about all the Hebrew women, saying, "oh great! how am I going to get that stain out?"  In modern times, when I get a blood stain on cloth, I rub in some laundry detergent and then add a little bleach.  It takes effort, but the stain comes out.  In ancient times they weren't carrying around bleach. When the people got sprinkled with blood, it probably would have resulted in a permanent stain. Then I was thinking, how many changes of clothes did these people have? Maybe one?  Then the light went on.  When the people made the covenant with the Lord, Moses stained their clothes with blood, so that after that almost everytime they got dressed, they would see the marks on their clothes and remember the covenant that they had made.  Hummm... sound familiar?  In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, people who have received their temple blessings commit to wear special underclothing which reminds them daily of their temple covenants.  What Moses/the Lord was doing here was making "instant" temple garments.