Today's
Scripture Reading (June 26, 2021): Genesis 8
In "The
Last Unicorn," American fantasy author Peter Beagle writes that "real
magic can never be made by offering someone else's liver. You must tear out
your own, and not expect to get it back." It is an excellent definition of
real sacrifice, giving up something that is important to us and costs us
something significant. King David understood this kind of sacrifice. During his
reign, David would be instructed by God to create an altar on the threshing
floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Araunah offers the site to David at no cost. "Let my lord the king take whatever he
wishes and offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and here are
threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. Your Majesty, Araunah gives all this to the king"
(2 Samuel 24:22-23). But David refuses, arguing, "No, I insist on
paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing"
(2 Samuel 24:24). And so, David paid for all that Araunauh had agreed to give
to him.
Noah
builds an altar and then takes some of the clean animals that he had with him
on the ark and sacrificed them to God. It was a significant act. Noah had only
brought a few animals with him. Admittedly, he had more clean animals than
unclean animals. God's instructions had been clear. "Take
with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate,
and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven pairs of every kind of bird,
male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth"
(Genesis 7:2-3). So, at the beginning of the voyage, there were seven times as
many clean animals as unclean animals. Scholars wonder about the difference. Some
have argued that some of the clean animals might have been consumed as food
during the year that water covered the earth. Or maybe there were more clean
animals than unclean animals because God had imagined precisely this moment of
sacrifice.
Noah builds an altar. This is the first time an altar is
mentioned in the Bible, with the next altar that the Bible mentions being built
by Abraham. It is unlikely that these are the first-ever altars. But, in the
aftermath of the flood, Noah builds an altar and sacrifices something precious
on it, a clean animal that Noah had brought with him on the ark. There was no
guarantee that the animal that Noah sacrificed could be replaced, but he placed
his trust in God and made a sacrifice of something that was not only precious
to him but to the future of the world as well. And with this very significant
sacrifice, Noah prayed that God's "magic" would be returned once more
to the earth.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Genesis 9
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