Ki Tisa/When you count
Exodus 30:11-34:35
IKings 18:1-39
I could say this every week: “I am not a teacher or preacher; nor for that matter, a ‘student of the word’…just a regular schmo”. I do these posts for each week’s torah portion, because I have a little ‘secret’ that helps motivate me to come back each week for ‘more’. The ‘secret’ for me is that “what if?” What if in reading along and not trying to be profound or whatever, I might find myself in Holy Spirit ‘territory’…touching a bit of God’s heart in His word; first for me, and then for you, as you sometimes show up here to ‘read over my shoulder’. Welcome!
This week it’s a classic; we have heard the teaching I’m sure before: it’s Elijah confronting the prophets of baal, the false god of Israel…400 of them; a bunch of wood; some meat, and for Elijah some water, and…voila! Fire from heaven, dead prophets, and humiliation for the forces of darkness! Kill a few prophets; celebrate getting ‘right’ with the God of heaven; eat some burnt meat and go home…of course until you let the false gods in again and have to do it all over again! I think I saw a ‘little something’ to pass on, however.
Let me go back over to the Torah side of the isle, Exodus 30: talks about anointing oil, the oil He prescribes for Aaron and his sons and the elements of the tabernacle (things considered holy). Now get this; “…this shall not be poured on man’s flesh…or are you to make anything like it”; this all seems a bit stiff and proprietary. However, it’s so awesome to think that there is meant to be a ‘holy fragrance’ that when we smell it; we are reminded of the Lord Himself. He doesn’t just want to touch our intellect or rule us with fear; He wants to woo our hearts and senses! I could go on, but this isn’t meant to be a long teaching, sorry.
Then in IKings I believe I caught a ‘glimpse’ of something kind of similar, in terms of keeping things ‘holy’. Can you imagine the scene, 400 prophets (keep in mind, these were people, groomed to worship demons and demonstrate publicly the aspects of their gods). Imagine their attire (or lack of it as they ripped their clothes off as part of their worship), imagine sounds and smells and noises of every evil kind; wild emotions and unbridled debauchery; which are all forms of worship in the world of evil. They are carrying on and cutting themselves and doing things we can’t even imagine, and yet their god is silent! And no fire! Maybe their god is just asleep after a hard day of treachery. The unholy priests usually set the rules, but Elijah beats them to it; his God answers with fire and he doesn’t need to distract everyone with the ‘demon show’. He sets it all up; gets the bull; 12 stones for the 12 tribes (he rebuilds the altar that was broken down; maybe that’s the first step for all of us), and wood for the coming fire. Elijah then pours water on the wood; is he arrogant or does he just like a good show, or an excuse in case the fire doesn’t come…?
Here is my little personal take on all of this; it’s actually humility and the fear of the Lord. It’s “not putting any of the holy anointing oil on a man’s flesh”. If he just built the altar and put the beef on it and piled up the wood; his ministry would have looked pretty good; as long as he built it by God’s rules. I believe that by pouring the water on it all he was making a separation from his ego and ministry and putting himself totally at God’s mercy, thus focusing everyone on Who the Lord God Almighty of Israel really is. He wasn’t anointing any flesh, but actually washing himself clean, so the only ‘fragrance’ that day was the Lord God Himself, so the people could return to the Holy One of Israel and not just follow a man! So today, let’s make sure that people don’t confuse the fragrance of our good works with that of the One Who saved us, loves us and does mighty works to be glorified upon the whole earth! by john eisner
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