Archive for September, 2009

September 14th, 2009 Clean Springs

Posted by Jay at 1:15 pm

I was listening to Leviticus on the drive into work today, and made a connection of sorts. In Leviticus 11 [show]<div class="esv"><h2>Leviticus 11 <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F03011001-03011047" width="40" height="12" class="audio"><param name="movie" value="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F03011001-03011047" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /></object></h2> <div class="esv-text"><h3 id="p03011001.01-1">Clean and Unclean Animals</h3> 11:1 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth. 3 Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. 4 Nevertheless, among those that chew the cud or part the hoof, you shall not eat these: The camel, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. 5 And the rock badger, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. 6 And the hare, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. 7 And the pig, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. 8 You shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you. 9 “These you may eat, of all that are in the waters. Everything in the waters that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat. 10 But anything in the seas or the rivers that has not fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and of the living creatures that are in the waters, is detestable to you. 11 You shall regard them as detestable; you shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall detest their carcasses. 12 Everything in the waters that has not fins and scales is detestable to you. 13 “And these you shall detest among the birds; <a href="#f1" id="b1" title="Or 'things that fly'; compare Genesis 1:20">[1]</a> they shall not be eaten; they are detestable: the eagle, <a href="#f2" id="b2" title="The identity of many of these birds is uncertain">[2]</a> the bearded vulture, the black vulture, 14 the kite, the falcon of any kind, 15 every raven of any kind, 16 the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk of any kind, 17 the little owl, the cormorant, the short-eared owl, 18 the barn owl, the tawny owl, the carrion vulture, 19 the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopoe, and the bat. 20 “All winged insects that go on all fours are detestable to you. 21 Yet among the winged insects that go on all fours you may eat those that have jointed legs above their feet, with which to hop on the ground. 22 Of them you may eat: the locust of any kind, the bald locust of any kind, the cricket of any kind, and the grasshopper of any kind. 23 But all other winged insects that have four feet are detestable to you. 24 “And by these you shall become unclean. Whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening, 25 and whoever carries any part of their carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. 26 Every animal that parts the hoof but is not cloven-footed or does not chew the cud is unclean to you. Everyone who touches them shall be unclean. 27 And all that walk on their paws, among the animals that go on all fours, are unclean to you. Whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening, 28 and he who carries their carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; they are unclean to you. 29 “And these are unclean to you among the swarming things that swarm on the ground: the mole rat, the mouse, the great lizard of any kind, 30 the gecko, the monitor lizard, the lizard, the sand lizard, and the chameleon. 31 These are unclean to you among all that swarm. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until the evening. 32 And anything on which any of them falls when they are dead shall be unclean, whether it is an article of wood or a garment or a skin or a sack, any article that is used for any purpose. It must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the evening; then it shall be clean. 33 And if any of them falls into any earthenware vessel, all that is in it shall be unclean, and you shall break it. 34 Any food in it that could be eaten, on which water comes, shall be unclean. And all drink that could be drunk from every such vessel shall be unclean. 35 And everything on which any part of their carcass falls shall be unclean. Whether oven or stove, it shall be broken in pieces. They are unclean and shall remain unclean for you. 36 Nevertheless, a spring or a cistern holding water shall be clean, but whoever touches a carcass in them shall be unclean. 37 And if any part of their carcass falls upon any seed grain that is to be sown, it is clean, 38 but if water is put on the seed and any part of their carcass falls on it, it is unclean to you. 39 “And if any animal which you may eat dies, whoever touches its carcass shall be unclean until the evening, 40 and whoever eats of its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. And whoever carries the carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. 41 “Every swarming thing that swarms on the ground is detestable; it shall not be eaten. 42 Whatever goes on its belly, and whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet, any swarming thing that swarms on the ground, you shall not eat, for they are detestable. 43 You shall not make yourselves detestable with any swarming thing that swarms, and you shall not defile yourselves with them, and become unclean through them. 44 For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground. 45 For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” 46 This is the law about beast and bird and every living creature that moves through the waters and every creature that swarms on the ground, 47 to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean and between the living creature that may be eaten and the living creature that may not be eaten. (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>) </div> <div class="footnotes"> <h3>Footnotes</h3> <a href="#b1" id="f1">[1]</a> 11:13 Or things that fly; compare Genesis 1:20 <a href="#b2" id="f2">[2]</a> 11:13 The identity of many of these birds is uncertain </div> </div>
, we learn that when something unclean falls into a container, everything in the container is made unclean. Leviticus 11:36 [show]<div class="esv"><h2>Leviticus 11:36 <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F03011036" width="40" height="12" class="audio"><param name="movie" value="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F03011036" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /></object></h2> <div class="esv-text">36 Nevertheless, a spring or a cistern holding water shall be clean, but whoever touches a carcass in them shall be unclean. (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>) </div> </div>
, however, makes an exception for springs and cisterns, which remain clean in spite of contact with uncleanliness.

This reminded me of John 7:38 [show]<div class="esv"><h2>John 7:38 <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F43007038" width="40" height="12" class="audio"><param name="movie" value="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F43007038" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /></object></h2> <div class="esv-text">38 Whoever believes in me, as <a href="#f1" id="b1" title="Or 'let him come to me, and let him who believes in me drink. As'">[1]</a> the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>) </div> <div class="footnotes"> <h3>Footnotes</h3> <a href="#b1" id="f1">[1]</a> 7:38 Or let him come to me, and let him who believes in me drink. As </div> </div>
, where Jesus says, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” We often summarize the New Testament as setting aside the ceremonial aspects of the law, including the Levitical clean/unclean laws. Interestingly, it seems that very law provides the mechanism for its obsolescence. If we are springs of living water, abounding with life, death cannot stick to us. We cannot be made unclean by something unclean contacting us.

Posted in Thinking Things Through | 1 Comment »>

September 10th, 2009 Breaking the Silence…

Posted by Tricia at 8:01 pm

I interrupt almost two months of bloggy silence to bring you an amazing fajita recipe we used tonight to finish off the leftover steak Jay grilled on Labor Day. Yes, well, for me it’s all about the food…

fajitas

I sliced about a pound of leftover ribeye steak, and marinated it in this amazing concoction:

(Please note: I only had olive oil, so that is what I used. I did include lots of fresh cilantro, but had no coriander or anise; so I subbed in some oregano and cumin for fun!)

I grilled this steak up very lightly since it had already been cooked to medium rare the other day. Next to it on the grill I placed slabs of thickly sliced onion lightly brushed with a mixture of olive oil and brown sugar, which I turned several times till it was soft enough to enjoy. YUM!

We ate it the steak and onions on tortillas with guac, a bit of melted butter, salsa, cheese and sour cream. Oh it was heavenly…and almost (not quite but almost!) as good as….Pappasitos!! And you know how much I LOVE Pappasitos. Sadly, old Pappa is not in my budget these days so I am thankful to have found such a wonderful fajita marinade for those times when I get a craving!!

I will make no promises about future faithfulness to this poor neglected blog. My computer has been a mess for a couple months now, and life has gotten pretty busy in the past few weeks with the start of another year of homeschooling, some major moving around and changing up of rooms in our casa, a new job for hubby, etc. Things are full, but very good.

Well, until I grace this page with my presence again….May all your fajitas be tasty fajitas!! And now, I am off to read Paddington to my little group of sleepy-headed children.

Posted in Family Life | 6 Comments »>

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