The Gift - Part 1
December 4, 2022Pastor Travis presented today's message which was the first in a series called "The Gift." A video of the message is here.
[Conversation Starters will begin again with the start of the next official life groups session on February 1, 2023.]
Travis' topic was Frankincense.
The word in Biblical Hebrew is lebonah. The word in Arabic is similar, al-luban, which leads to another English word for frankincense: olibanum. It's also interesting to note that the Hebrew word is related to the Hebrew 3-letter root, laban (lbn), which means white. It's an almost-white substance as a solid. So, this wise man brought "the white stuff." Clearly the closest this event got to a White Christmas.
All of the Torah references to frankincense are related to sacrificial offerings handled by the priests in the Tabernacle and later the Temple. Frankincense is clearly connected to the notion of the priesthood since the Exodus.
It was the priests of the Israelites that handled the sacrifices/offerings by the people for all kinds of reasons (sin offering, thanks offering, etc.). And there was a High Priest that oversaw all these activities and had the highest level of access to the Holy of Holies ("behind the curtain").
The priests were all descendents of Aaron, Moses' brother. One could become a priest by one way only - birth. No voting, no campaigning, no buying your way in; corruption-free, sorta speak.
Speaking of corruption... Ever wonder why all the detailed minutia in regards to the building of the Tabernacle, what the priests wore, etc.? And why the detail was provided to all the Israelites? To prevent corruption. The priests could not "add a little something-something" to their requests for supplies or money. It was fixed, and everyone knew what it was.
Likewise, what was brought to the Tabernacle or Temple for sacrifice or offering was clearly defined for each happenstance. The priests could not ask for more, or less. The High Priest, the priests, and all the folks who supported them (the Levites) had no separate income or land ascribed to their tribe. They lived solely off the offerings brought by the people. One very important concept with Israelite sacrifices and offerings is that none of it was for God. The God of the Israelites did not eat. He did not need to smell anything. He didn't need a thing, unlike the pagan gods of the day. The foods and the money was for the priests and the Levites. The act of sacrifice or offering was for the giver.
It would have been easy for the Israelites to see the Messiah as the ultimate High Priest. And linking the gift of frankincense to things priestly would also have been clear to them having lived under the sacrificial system for well over a thousand years by then.
It also helps to realize that the priests and the sacrificial system of the Torah was to answer a key Israelite question: How do we get close to this invisible, unreachable God? Linking Jesus to their original answer to that question by way of frankincense and things priestly would make it clearer that Jesus is how they get closer yet to God.
Here's a quick description of the High Priest with Biblical references provided: here. See also the Wikipedia entry: High Priest of Israel.
FYI, here's a long footnote of all the references to frankincense in the Torah (from the Englishman's Concordance):
Exodus 30:34
NAS: with pure frankincense; there shall be an equal part
KJV: with pure frankincense: of each
INT: and galbanum spices frankincense pure part
Leviticus 2:1
NAS: oil on it and put frankincense on it.
KJV: upon it, and put frankincense thereon:
INT: and put and frankincense
Leviticus 2:2
NAS: with all of its frankincense. And the priest
KJV: thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest
INT: with all frankincense shall offer and the priest
Leviticus 2:15
NAS: on it and lay incense on it; it is a grain offering.
KJV: upon it, and lay frankincense thereon: it [is] a meat offering.
INT: and lay and incense offering he
Leviticus 2:16
NAS: with all its incense as an offering by fire
KJV: thereof, and [part] of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof: [it is] an offering made by fire
INT: with all incense an offering to the LORD
Leviticus 5:11
NAS: on it or place incense on it, for it is a sin offering.
KJV: upon it, neither shall he put [any] frankincense thereon: for it [is] a sin offering.
INT: place and incense for offering
Leviticus 6:15
NAS: and all the incense that is on the grain offering,
KJV: and of the oil thereof, and all the frankincense which [is] upon the meat offering,
INT: oil and all the incense that is on
Leviticus 24:7
NAS: pure frankincense on each row
KJV: pure frankincense upon [each] row,
INT: on row frankincense pure become
Numbers 5:15
NAS: put frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering
KJV: upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it [is] an offering
INT: put and frankincense grain offering
Bonus
I think we've talked about the Torah's approach to the afterlife before. Basically, the Torah definitely hints a few times at an afterlife with phrases like "gathered to his kin." But, it does not offer any details whatsoever. The Torah takes an afterlife for granted and lets it go at that.
One theory to support this conclusion (as to the Torah's near silence on the topic) is offered by Friedman. He points at the fact that the Torah goes out of its way to knock Egyptian/pagan ideas and practices. The Egyptians were obsessed with the dead, the afterlife. Their greatest achievements were the pyramids - which were tombs. Their bible was the Book of the Dead. Yet, with all its anti-Egypt words, the Torah does not attack the notion of an afterlife. If the Torah didn't think there was an afterlife, it would have said so, in spades. For further discussion, see the paper by Richard Elliott Friedman and Shawna Dolansky Overton (long): here.