Morning Musing: Exodus 30:17-21

“The Lord spoke to Moses: ‘Make a bronze basin for washing and a bronze stand for it. Set it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and feet from the basin. Whenever they enter the tent of meeting or approach the later to minister by burning a food offering to the Lord, they must wash with water so that they will not die. They must wash their hands and feet so that they will not die; this is to be a permanent statute for them, for Aaron and his descendants throughout their generations.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Confession time: I didn’t usually wash my hands after using a public restroom (or any restroom really) for most of my life. I stopped to do it occasionally, but just occasionally. Then Covid happened. Now I almost always do. What changed? A relentless public relations campaign that drilled the importance of handwashing into the minds of our culture as a way to “stop the spread.” For most of human history handwashing was practiced about as frequently as I did it before Covid, if that much. But Israel’s priests at least were supposed to wash before entering the tabernacle. Let’s talk about why.

Read the rest…