The overlap with the end of Exodus continues, and I find myself very much reminded of the equivalent material that links the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles... the same events described but with differences, some quite significant. To twenty-first century critical minds, this can seem problematic - surely it ought to be neat and tidy, surely an editor or author would smooth out the contradictions. Perhaps. And perhaps not. Newspaper and television reports of events can be hugely contradictory. We realise that there is no value free describing, that whatever is written or said is inevitably partial - incomplete and biased. We know it, but, I anyway, am wont to forget it, often uncritically accepting as absolute fact what I read/see/hear, whilst others may be questioning every detail.
The writer(s) of the material contained in this scroll, or at least the editor, if we accept a multiple source hypothesis, needs to start somewhere, and what better place than the dedication of the Tabernacle and the ordination of the priests?
Twelve Days, Twelve Identical Gifts
With almost poetic repetition, the presentation of offerings from each of the twelve sub-divsions (clans/tribes) is described. Each day for twleve days, one group has the nto come forward and present their offerings. Each in turn has their 'moment' to be the centre of the story. No-one brings more and no-one brings less. There is no favour in going first or last, no slight in being somewhere in between. Here, at the start of the story anyway, is a sense of equality, of each of the twelve groups having equal worth, contributing equally.
I love the detail of the covered wagons and the oxen to draw them - a free gift offered by the people to make life a little easier for those who have to carry heavy items. And the intriguing detail that one group is denied a wagon because the objects they carry are too holy. What becomes of that wagon and the oxen, or how the donors may have felt is not recorded. I have to confess that my mental image of these wagons is shaped by too many spaghetti westerns, and the circling of wagons by the pioneers or cowboys!
Retirement Age!
In the previous chunk of material, we learned that men aged 30 to 50 years of age were to undertake the physical work of carrying the various objects. Here we are given instructions for the working life of the priests - they begin at age 25 and retire at 50. After this age, they may assist, but may not perform any official rites.
In a society where formal retirement ages are steadily being increased, driven by finanacial constraints on state funded pensions, it is sobering to think that once upon a time people would have been considered well and truly 'old' at 60 or 65. In churches and other organisations where there is often huge dependence on "young retireds" or even on "not so young retireds" it is sobering to realise that the earliest records we have don't just request, but require people to step down from office as they age.
I know that many ministers when they reach the age of formal retirement find it really difficult to 'let go'. Financial considerations (ministers' pensions have never been huge, and have at times been terrible) lead some to take up part time posts, potentially meaning that younger or newly qualified ministers are unable to settle. I am challenged by what I read here - and I hope that should I reach formal retirement age (currently 67 or 68 and likely to rise futher) still in active ministry, that someone will remind me, forcibly if necessary, to step down and allow a new generation to take their turn.
So, some interesting stuff to ponder here, and some challenges for people of all ages about the roles they fulfil within churches. Some challenges too with a Baptist ecclesiology of covenanted membership in an age where, for various reaons, such practice may have consequences our forebears would not have envisaged.