Ok, so remember the sex talk Moses had with the boys in Chapter 15? This feels like a continuation of that. While the Lord tells Moses to give these regulations to all the people of Israel, most of these acts seem to be penis no-nos. Women are only mentioned once, in the very last rule that says females are not to have sex with animals. Done. I wish being free from sexual sin were that easy. I guess it is now, sort of, but only because Jesus makes it so. These Old Testament rules, though, and specifically the ones in this chapter, have caused generations of conflict particularly for gay men. Yes, the Bible states clearly that “ … having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin.” But it also establishes 16 regulations before that, so before we jump all over the gay community, let’s consider God’s love for all of us and the price Jesus paid so that none should feel defiled.
I found verse 21 to be a bit out of place. All the rules are about sex, sex, sex, and then … don’t sacrifice your kids to Molech. I thought maybe he was a fertility god or something, but that’s not the case. You can study up a bit on Molech here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moloch (and support Wikipedia every chance you get!)
Writing prompt: wiki wiki wha wha
“Let’s talk about sex, baby” would probably be a more appropriate writing prompt for today, but the last sentence I wrote up there actually made me think of Wikipedia and how valuable it is for nerds and researchers like me. So, instead, let’s talk about resources, baby! Write about some of your faves and how grateful you are to have them (thanks to awesome copywriters like us ☺️)!
If you’re old like me, you’ll remember when encyclopedias were a thing. When I was in third or fourth grade, my mom ordered us a set of Encyclopedia Britannicas from the door-to-door encyclopedia salesman. (Yep. That was a thing.) The Britannica encyclopedias were cream of the crop. They were a set of about 40 thick, heavy, bound books with gold leaf lettering that covered every subject in the world and sorted it all conveniently from A-Z. Brilliant! The set also came with a thesaurus, dictionary, an atlas, a few other references books and a bookshelf, which we set up beside the TV in our “big living room.” (Come to think about it, mom bought the TV, along with a whole living room set, that year all around the same time. Forty years later, I’m wondering what kind of fundage she’d come into to allow that to happen! Anyway, back to the books.) Every few years, Britannica would update the information in the whole set, and current owners could upgrade for a reduced price. I think mom upgraded once through the years. I used to comb through those pages to find the most obscure facts and details, sometimes for school and sometimes just for fun. 🤓 I can still smell the new pages, and I loved to peel them apart gently and watch the gold layers on the edges separate as I revealed yet another trivial piece of info. It was like peeling the label off a secret decoder or something. You never knew what fun fact was lurking between those pages! I toted those encyclopedias with me well into my 30s – until the Internet and credible sites like Wikipedia came along. Now, I am telling you, I am on Wikipedia at least once or twice a day, and the nerd in me is sooooo grateful for it!
jugglingfire.com 