EXODUS CHAPTER 21 ~ 25

WEEK 18 EXODUS 21

1 "Now these are the judgements which you
Shall set before them: 2 "If you do
Buy a Hebrew servant, he shall
Serve six years, and not prodigal
In the seventh he shall go out
Both free and pay nothing to flout.
3 "If he comes in by himself, he
Shall go out by himself, if he
Is married, then his wife shall go
Out with him. 4 "If his master's given
A wife to him, and she has striven
To bear him sons or daughters, then
Wife and children are master's men,
And by himself he shall go out.
5 "But if the servant remains stout,
Saying 'I love my master, wife,
And my children, and for my life
I will not go out free and sing,'
6 "To judges shall his master bring
The man, also bring to the door
Or post and with an awl to bore
His ear to serve him evermore.

The Bektashi that will serve You alone
Forever and not take a wife as stone
About the neck, follows the sage device
To bore a hole in ear, insert a slice
Of silver as a mark that he is Yours.
Seven times seven years and my soul soars
A servant to You still, though family
About my serving ears romps loud and free.
I have no awl nor hollow in my flesh
To indicate my status from the crèche.
I have no doorpost to attach my trust
With iron tool and overwhelming thrust.
Beloved, I still in love look up to You
And let the judges pass a verdict true.

7 "If one sells his daughter as slave
She'll not go out as males behave.
8 "If she does not please her master,
Who has to himself betrothed her
Then he shall let her be redeemed.
He shall have no right to sell her
To a foreign folk, since it seemed
He had dealt wrongfully with her.
9 "If he's betrothed her to his son,
He'll treat her as with daughters done.
10 "If he takes others, he shall not
Diminish her food, clothing got,
And her marriage rights. 11 "And if he
Does not do these three for her, she
Without paying shall go out free.

Three rules You give, Beloved, for the slave wife:
Not to be sold to strangers; if her life
Is bought for son, then she is given all
A daughter of the house may have at call.
In case polygamy raises a head,
She must always be clothed, bedded and fed
Or then set free without returning ought
Of the moneys with which she had been bought.
The rules may seem today a bit forlorn,
But when reality steps in, the shorn
Statutes seem better far than many wives
Find husbands treating them all of their lives.
Beloved, the selfish soul has ways and means
To follow law and vice behind the scenes.

12 "Who strikes a man so that he dies
Shall be put to death where he lies.
13 "But if he did not lie in wait,
But Ælohim allowed his fate,
Then I'll appoint for you a place
Where he may flee to save his face.
14 "But if a man acts out in plan
Against neighbour, to kill the man
By treachery, you shall take him
From My altar, to kill him grim.

The rule is blood revenge, it seems, and yet
For accidental killing You give set
Where unintending killer might flee to
And there be safe, unless some proof go through
To show he lay in wait with treachery.
So You, Beloved, take interest in degree.
All's clear until I ask by whose hand shall
The murderer be slain in practical.
The "you" to whom You speak is Moses truly,
But does that mean he was appointed duly
As executioner? Or did he make
His officers do actions for his sake?
If so, it does not follow now we can
Ourselves appoint a hangman for our man.

15 "Who his father or mother strikes
Shall surely die for his dislikes.
16 "The one who kidnaps one to sell
For gain and as slave to compel,
Or if he's still captive in hand,
Shall surely be by My command
Put to death. 17 "And also the one
Who curses his father, the son
Who curses his mother shall be
Surely put to death, not go free.

The purpose of prophetic Scriptures is
To support and enhance the Decalogue,
Your Word, Beloved, direct, not hers or his
Who by dream or vision see in a fog,
And public, not merely to one or few.
The Decalogue condemns both violence
And disrespect to parents in their due.
In that the Decalogue makes right good sense.
But You said nothing of such punishments
As death for this and death for that nor who
Should carry out the penalties for cursing.
I guess my human view is still in nursing,
Since I'd defend my daughter if she said
A scathing curse upon my poor grey head.

18 "If two men fight together, and
One up and strikes with stone or hand
The other and he does not die
But confined on his bed to lie,
19 "If he rises again and walks
About outside with staff and talks,
Then he who struck shall be acquitted.
Only he must pay for the loss
Of his time, and provide admitted
Healing and thorough for the boss.
20 "And if a man beats his own slave,
Male or female into the grave
With rod under his hand, he shall
Surely be punished. 21 "But withal
If he remains alive a day
Or two, he shall not, for delay,
Be punished for his buggery
Because the man's his property.

In anger to curse one's own mother's worth
Death penalty on Moses' promised earth.
But if a man beats his own slave to death,
He's free if that slave lingers on in breath
Until the morning. Now, Beloved, admit
Prophetic word has something wrong with it,
At least from that slave's son's or daughter's view.
While I love Moses, I'd be loath for You
To take the blame for that bit of statute.
The Scripture's always something to refute,
And there's not one but has to pick and choose
Or else to mourn the loss for what men lose.
Beloved, I cantillate the awful words,
Cling to the Decalogue, avoid the herds.

22 "If two men fight, and hurt a pregnant
Woman, even if a king regnant,
So that the child is born too soon,
Yet no harm follows the lacune,
He shall be punished as the man,
Husband and father, might well scan,
And pay the price the judges say.
23 "But if harm follows in the way,
Then you shall give a life for life,
24 "An eye for eye, and for the wife
A tooth for tooth, a hand for hand,
A foot for foot, and by command
25 "A burn for burn, and wound for wound,
And stripe for stripe unimportuned.

Treatment of slaves hardly will turn an ear,
But eye for eye and tooth for tooth, I fear
Is famous in quotation to appeal
To every man for justice, how they feel,
And show old Jewish law is more blood-thirsty
Than Anglo-Saxon justice, much, much worsty.
The truth is that law's to instil behaviour
In men to be a pregnant lady's saviour
And not to fight and brawl and put in danger
The pregnant and unborn, and if they do
To run the risk of eye and tooth and shoe.
Deterrent is the word, not something stranger.
Beloved, Your regard for the mother's child
Leaves me at least to such laws reconciled.

26 "Who strikes the eye of his slave, male
Or female, and destroys the hale,
He shall let him go free for that
Eye lost by whip or by brickbat.
27 "And if he knocks his slave's tooth out,
Whether male or female about,
He shall let him or her go free
For the sake of one tooth in fee.

A slave's life is worth nothing or I guess
The slave that was beaten and left lifeless
Died free the next day for his plague to boot.
His freedom paid for what he lost in suit.
But a slave's eye or tooth is also worth
The right to freedom on the solid earth.
Beloved, the lesson's sound in tooth and eye
And so I praise Your name up to the sky,
Who frees the slave from Egypt on the sly
And sets the toothless, blind crone out to buy.
With her experience in taking orders
She can live well cooking for take-in boarders.
Beloved, have pity on society
And all who in its wake have been set free.

28 "If an ox gores a man to death,
Or a woman, that ox's breath
Shall surely be cut off by stoning,
Its flesh shall not be eaten groaning,
But the ox's owner shall be
Acquitted of fault and set free.
29 "But if the ox tended to thrust
With its horn in times past, and must
Have been made known to his owner,
And he has not kept it confined,
So that it killed a man, loner,
Or just as bad and unrefined,
A woman, the ox shall be stoned
And its owner also unthroned
Shall be slain. 30 "If there is imposed
On him a fine, a fine disclosed,
Then he shall so redeem his life,
Whatever fine escapes the knife.
31 "Whether it's gored a son or gored
A daughter, by this just accord
It shall be done to him. 32 "If ox
Gores male or female servant stocks,
He'll pay their master thirty shekels
Of silver, and the ox with speckles
Or of one colour shall be stoned,
Nor eaten by the one who owned.

The blood revenge established in the time
Of Noah at last finds a lesser crime.
Instead of killing, punishments relent
And take a fine and recompense in cent.
Redemption for the owner of the ox
Is broadened to include the entire box
In the Qur'an. Beloved, I note the price
Of man and woman here are of one slice.
Is thirty shekels for slave though enough?
I had thought humans made of better stuff.
At least the blood for blood was on a scale
That matched the value of the stock and sale,
At least, of course, in democratic style
Where we count heads and not the mercantile.

33 "And if a man opens a pit,
Or if he does not cover it,
And ox or donkey falls in it,
34 "The owner of the pit shall make
It good, he'll give money in stake
To their owner, but the carcass
Shall be his own, bone and cuirass.
35 "If one man's ox attacks another's,
So that it dies, though they be brothers,
Then they shall sell the live ox and
Divide the money out of hand,
And the carcass they'll also share.
36 "Or if it was known to beware
That ox used to thrust in times past,
And its owner did not keep fast,
He shall surely pay ox for ox,
And the carcass shall be his stocks.

I have no donkey, no ox, no nor pit,
At least no pit where donkey and ox fit.
My neighbour also walks the field and line
Without a beast or well to spoil the fine
Friendship we share, and my well is well covered
With two doors shut tight where the lilacs hovered
A moment in the summer, then fell bare
And left the leaves for many weeks to stare
Until the frost took all away except
The roots and grey branches that stayed and wept.
Beloved, if my lilacs attack the neighbours'
I'll share with him the loss and common labours,
If such comparison is legally
Binding on the unfettered and the free.

EXODUS 22

1 "If a man steals an ox or sheep,
And slaughters it or sells to keep,
He shall restore five oxen for
An ox and four sheep for a sheep.
2 "If thief is found breaking the door,
And he is struck so that he dies,
No guilt for his bloodshed then lies.
3 "If the sun has risen on him,
Guilt for his bloodshed, that were dim.
He should give back in full his debt
If he has nothing, then he's set
To be sold for his theft. 4 "If theft
Is surely alive in his hand,
If ox, donkey or sheep bereft,
He shall restore double the brand.

The sly intruder struck down dead shall go
Unrevenged, in my day it is not so.
To shoot a bandit in your house today
Is straight to prison or even the way
To execution if you live in Texas.
Injustice everywhere seems to be nexus.
Yet the commandments also say don't kill,
And killing robbers at night's killing still.
A prophet's word gives right to stop the stray,
Democracy sees thugs another way.
Worse still is that today the thief once caught
Need not return the stolen stuff he got
If it's been spent. Beloved, I steal Your heart
And spend it all on my own ravished part.

5 "If a field or vineyard be grazed,
And a man lets his cattle dazed
Loose, and it feeds upon the field
Of others, then he'll surely yield
In restitution from his best
In vineyard. 6 "And as for the rest,
If fire breaks out and catches thorn,
So that stacked grain or standing corn,
Or the field is consumed, he who
Kindled the fire shall pay the due.
7 "If one delivers to his neighbour
Money or things to keep for labour,
And it's stolen out from his house,
If the thief's found, he'll pay the grouse
In double. 8 "If the thief's not found,
Then house master shall go around
To the judges whether or not
He's put his hand to neighbour's draught.
9 "For any kind of trespass, ox,
Donkey, or sheep, or clothing box,
Or any kind of lost thing which
Another claims is from his ditch,
The cause of both parties shall come
Before the judges, double sum
Shall be incumbent on condemned
To pay his neighbour thus indemned.
10 "If a man gives his neighbour donkey,
Ox, sheep, or any sort of wonkey
For safe keeping and then it dies,
Is hurt or driven away in guise
So no one sees it, 11 "then an oath
Of YHWH shall be between them both,
That he's not put his hand into
His neighbour's goods for ill or rue,
And its owner shall accept that,
The other shall not suffer scat.
12 "But if, in fact, it's stolen from
Him, he shall make it good in sum.
13 "If it is torn to pieces, he
Shall bring in evidence, and he
Shall not make good what had been torn.
14 "And if a man borrows a horn
From his neighbour, and it becomes
Injured or dies, and while the chums
That own it are not with it there,
Then he shall surely pay what's fair.
15 "If its owner was with it, he
Shall not make it good, for surely
If it was hired, it came for hire.
That's the law of borrowed entire.

I borrow daily life, Beloved, from You,
And with each breath I let that life anew
Die in illusion where I swim with will:
I pray that life returns to You with fill.
I borrow with each breath the life You give,
And with Your living I'm content to live
As well as die to darkness with each breath
That turns me from and carries me to death.
I borrow with each thought the golden life
And cut it in a blissful loss with knife
That draws again, again the divine touch
Until the psalming sorrows know as much.
I borrow life, Beloved, from You alone
And turn that life, Beloved, to praise and stone.

16 "If a man entices a maid
Who's not betrothed, and in some glade
Lies with her, he shall surely pay
The bride-price for the marriage way.
17 "If her dad utterly refuse
To give her to whom might abuse,
He shall pay money calculated
To the bride-price of virgins stated.
18 "You shall not permit sorceress
Or sorcerer to live remiss.
19 "Whoever lies with animal
Shall be put to death prodigal.
20 "Who sacrifices to a god,
Except to YHWH only, the clod
Here shall be utterly destroyed
Upon the land which he employed.
21 "You shall neither mistreat a stranger
Nor oppress him, for you in danger
Were strangers in Egypt's land once.
22 "You shall not afflict with trick stunts
A widow or fatherless child.
23 "If you afflict them, tame or wild,
And they cry at all to Me, I
Will surely hear the widow's cry,
24 "And My anger will become hot,
And I will kill you on the spot
With sword, and your wives shall be widows,
And your children fatherless kiddos.

I who live in the wealth of by-product
The rich pour down the drain of the good-lucked,
Let me not dream my detached view of passion
Relieves responsibility for fashion.
Though I pour in the widow's paunch my store,
It still relies upon the oilman's gore.
Beloved, hear the cry of who would not take
A penny from the orphan's narrow stake,
And has no stand but prayer to make it good,
Who knows but cannot wield the staff he should.
I take the divine sword and at a blow
Cut off my head for You and at one go
Flap in a whirling dance upon the floor
Of the dergah, before the garden door.

25 "If you lend money to My folk
Who are poor among you or broke,
You'll not play moneylender then,
You shall not lay interest on men.
26 "If you take your neighbour's garment,
The outer robe that's also meant
As blanket as a pledge, you shall
Return it to him vesperal,
Surely before the sun goes down.
27 "For that's his only covering gown,
It is his garment for his skin.
Without it what will he sleep in?
And it will be that when he cries
To Me, I'll hear, even his sighs,
For I am merciful and gracious.

I do not glorify that poverty
That seems a virtue to the wealthy see,
Nor do I say the dervish must be broke,
But only that the gold not move the bloke.
But You, Beloved, envisage labour force
That has no more than one blanket's recourse
That serves as well as coat against the cold
Of winter and the storm hard to behold.
The more a belly gets the more it seems
To want to put in padding on its dreams.
What poverty was normal in the past
Now seems a faqir dance and a great fast.
Beloved, let me cling only to one treasure,
The You-ness of my I-ness without measure.

28 "You shall not become so audacious,
As to revile the judges gracious,
Nor curse a ruler of your people
By God appointed and not steeple.
29 "You'll not delay what first produces
Your fields in ripe corn nor in juices.
The firstborn of your sons you shall
Give to Me. 30 "And likewise you shall
Do with your oxen and your sheep
As soon as they are born to peep.
It shall be with its dam seven days,
On the eighth day to Me it strays.
31 "And you'll be holy ones to Me:
You'll not eat meat torn in the lee,
You shall throw it out to the dogs,
Whose right it is to eat the clogs.

The unclean meat is thrown out to the dogs,
The meat that's torn, dead of itself, and hogs,
Not because dogs, contemptible, were born
To eat the refuse, but because the morn
Of the Egyptian flight, the dogs held fast
And silently applauded as they passed
Toward the Red Sea and their freedom dream.
The dogs are thus rewarded with the cream
Of foods, the delicate and rare, the ham
Of hog, helping children of Abraham.
Beloved, I too am dog and bark for You
Although I do not eat the flesh that's due
My race in pork. Instead, in poverty
I eat sweet lentil soup enough for three.

EXODUS 23

1 "You shall not circulate a false
Report. Don't join wicked assaults
To be an unrighteous witness.
2 "You shall not follow or confess
A crowd to do evil, nor shall
You testify in a dispute
So as to go along with crowd
To pervert the juridical.
3 "You'll not show in a poor man's suit
Bias in his favour allowed.

Two evils unmentioned by most appear:
The first is following the crowd to sear
The hide of any with the mob's own fear.
So easy, easy to be of one mind
When the whole witness crowd is deaf and blind,
As every crowd must be as is resigned
To rely on what ignorance knows best.
The popular opinion's always wrest
The truth to demonize both innocent
And guilty in one pale. The other error
Is like enough as well to cause a terror,
And that is being liberal, well-meant,
And biased in the favour of the poor,
More common than I'd think, though You are sure.

4 "If you meet your enemy's ox
Or his donkey among the rocks
Going astray, you'll surely bring
It back to him again or sing.
5 "If you see the donkey of one
Who hates you lying and undone
Under its burden, and you would
Refrain from helping as you should,
You shall surely help him with it.
6 "You shall not pervert judgement fit
Of your poor in his dispute. 7 "Keep
Yourself far from false matter's heap,
Do not kill the innocent and
Righteous, for I'll not justify
The unrighteous and wicked band,
Who slay deceitfully and lie.
8 "And you shall take no bribe, for bribes
Blind the discerning of the tribes
And pervert the righteous man's words.
9 "You'll not oppress a stranger's herds,
For you know how it feels to be
A stranger in a land unfree,
Because you were strangers and slaves
In Egypt's land and without graves.

I've been a stranger in the land by far
The better part of life, know how things are.
I pity more than judge the ones who take
Respect away from stranger and his rake.
The lower profile's easy one to keep,
And does not give one any cause to weep.
My pity goes to those whose fine gradations
Require so many levels of the nations:
Race and reward compete with wealth to wreck
With boundaries and yokes on every neck.
Who look with condescension on the pride
Of ancient men have more fault on their side,
Who cannot even marry one who's not
Of the same level in company slot.

10 "Six years you shall sow in your land
And gather in its produce grand,
11 "But the seventh you shall let it
Rest and lie fallow, as is fit,
That the poor of your people may
Eat, and what they leave there to stay,
The beasts of the field may consume.
So also with your vineyard's room
And with your olive grove. 12 "Six days
You shall do your work in your ways,
And on the seventh day you'll rest,
That your ox and donkey at best
May rest, and the son of your maid
And the stranger may all be stayed.

So few regard Your Sabbath day, I fear,
Beloved, because this is still in their ear
That Sabbath is made gracious for the beast
And for the son of servant maid, the least.
Who has but modicum of pride of eye,
And lust of belly, will not see the sky
In what You say to do with Sabbath day.
The Sabbath is too humble for their way,
Too literal and down to earth for those
Whose spirit rises on the wings that chose
To live on the oppression of the rude,
The ones who work instead of fight and feud
For wealth of gold and oil and what produces
The factories in forty hours with juices.

13 "And in all that I've said to you,
Be circumspect and live the true,
Mention no other gods by name,
Nor let it be heard to your shame
From your mouth. 14 "Three times you shall keep
A feast to Me each year you reap.
15 "You'll keep feast of unleavened bread.
You'll eat your bread without the leaven
As I've commanded you for seven
Days, at the time appointed in
The month of green ears, without sin,
For then you came from Egypt's land,
None shall appear with empty hand.
16 "And the feast of harvest, first-fruits
Of your labours and your pursuits
Which you've sown in the field, the feast
Of ingathering year's end increased,
When you have gathered in your labours
From the field, and also the neighbours.
17 "Three times in the year every male
Shall come to Lord YHWH without fail.
18 "You'll not offer My sacrifice
And bloody with a leavened slice,
Nor shall the fat of sacrifice
Remain until the morning light.
19 "The first of the firstfruits by right
Of your land you shall bring into
Your God's house and the house of YHWH.
You shall not boil a young goat in
Its mother's milk, for that is sin.

Although I do not come three times a year
To Quds to pay respects with tongue and ear,
I still refrain to take on tongue of prayer
The names of trinities of Egypt fair,
Of Babylon and Rome, and so despair
Of winning wealth and fame as I repair
My daily fond prostrations toward Your city
And toward Your house in hopes that You'll take pity
Upon the hungry for bread with, without
The leaven or for kid boiled in the stout
Liquor of water or the mother's milk,
And yet I am one who's not of that ilk,
But rather eat the braisen goat instead.
Two out of three are virtue on my head.

20 "See, I send an angel before
You to keep you in way and door,
And bring you to the place which I
Have prepared. 21 "So beware the spy,
Obey his voice, do not provoke
Him, for he'll not forgive, revoke
Your misdeeds, for My name's in him.
22 "But if indeed you hear with vim
His voice and do all that I speak,
Then I'll be a foe to make weak
Your enemies, an adversary
To your attacking foes and scary.
23 "For My angel will go before
You and bring you to Amorites
To Hittites and to Perizzites
To Canaanites and the Hivites
And to the Jebusites, and I
Will cut them off before your eye.

Beloved, send Your angel before my feet
That circle in the wilderness and heat
Of my desire to rise in perfumed spark
Of sacrifice before gate of the park.
Send the archangel Michael as I share
The wafted winds of desert on the air
With bat and mouse who in Your loving care
Also whirl in Your praise. Michael indeed,
The Prince of angels stoops to take them heed,
And drops a grain to give the mouse a seed,
And startles mote for bat in what's her feed.
But let the archangel find me with ear
Ready to follow where You point his spear,
Obeying his voice like Your own in fear.

24 "You shall not bow down to their gods,
Nor serve them, nor against the odds
Do according to their works, but
You'll utterly overthrow what
Idols you find and break completely
Their pillars into pieces neatly.
25 "So you shall serve YHWH Ælohim,
And He'll bless your bread it would seem
And your water. And I will take
Sickness away and for your sake.

A fair exchange it seems to me to give
Me bread and water just because I live
Not bowing down to gods other than You.
It's such a very simple thing to do.
But two things more place easy in the bin
Of hard to avoid acts that might be sin.
The first is not to do according to
Their works, now that is shift enough to be
Out of line with the present brave and free
Who have enough to do idolatry.
The second is to overthrow the stone
The power takes for idol on the throne.
Now that is quite impossible for me,
Especially on mere bread and water free.

26 "No one shall suffer miscarriage,
Be barren in your acreage,
I'll fill the number of your days.
27 "I'll send My fear before your ways,
I'll cause confusion among all
The people to whom you make call,
And will make all your enemies
Turn their backs to you, refugees.
28 "And I will send hornets before
You, which shall drive out from the door
The Hivite, Canaanite, Hittite
From before you and for your right.
29 "I'll not drive them out from before
You in one year, lest the land sore
Be desolate and the wild beast
Before you become too increased.
30 "Little by little I will drive
Them out before you safe, alive,
Until you have increased, and you
Inherit the land with not few.
31 "And I'll set your bounds from Red Sea
To the sea, Philistia free,
And from the desert to the stream.
For I'll deliver the land's team
Into your hand, and you shall drive
Them out before you, safe, alive.
32 "You shall make no treaty with them,
Nor with their gods with golden hem.
33 "They'll not be living in your land,
Lest they make you sin at My hand.
For if you serve their gods, it will
Surely be a snare to your fill."

I like this state of things much better than
The attack on the idol for the man.
You compel violence against the state,
The church and against gold-embroidered plate,
To throw down idols everywhere they're found.
But You do not compel to kill the crowned
Idolater. Instead, You promise that
You'll do the job Yourself against the rat,
And run the infidel out of the town,
So forest does not encroach when I'm down.
The promise made three thousand years ago
Is unfulfilled, it seems You're moving slow.
If I must live among unfaithful here,
At least I shall be faithful to Your fear.

EXODUS 24

1 He told Moses, "Come up to YHWH,
You, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu,
And seventy elders of Israel,
And worship from afar for weal.
2 "And Moses alone shall come near
YHWH, but others shall not come near,
Nor shall people go up with him."
3 So Moses came filled to the brim
And told the people all the word
Of YHWH and all the judgements stirred.
All the folk answered with one voice
And said "This is our common choice,
All the words which YHWH has said we
Will do." 4 Moses, for all to see,
Wrote all the words of YHWH, and he
Rose early in the morning, built
An altar at the mountain's tilt
And at its foot, twelve pillars for
The twelve tribes of Israel in store.
5 Then he sent young men of the folk
Of Israel, who offered the stroke
Of burnt offerings and sacrificed
Peace offerings of oxen sufficed
To YHWH. 6 Moses took half the blood
And put it in the basins' flood,
And half the blood he sprinkled on
The altar. 7 Then he read upon
The book of the covenant and
Read in the hearing of the band.
And they said "All that YHWH has said
We will do, and be safely led."

Beloved, all that YHWH has said we will do,
Is beautiful for word, above all true.
The sacrificial meal merely confirms
The beauty of the words Your law affirms.
I who look with safe condescension on
Those who doubted not their comparison
To heathen was most favourable to them,
Think now the optimistic promise gem,
That folk was better than my own who know
They cannot keep Your law while on the go.
I'd rather find one promising in hope
Day after day after repentance' scope
Than this, where no one even tries to keep
Your law between their movies and their sleep.

8 And Moses took the blood, and set
It sprinkled on the people wet,
And said "This is the covenant
In even blood which YHWH has meant
To make with you by these words sent."
9 Then Moses went up, also Aaron,
Nadab, Abihu, and not barren
Seventy of elders of Israel,
10 And they saw the God of Israel.
Under His feet as it were paved
Work of sapphire stone and engraved,
And like the very heavens in brightness
And all around in dazzling lightness.
11 But on the nobles of the folk
Of Israel He did not lay hand.
So they saw Ælohim who spoke,
And ate and drank at His command.

See God, and cease to be, destroyed by light
Of brightness of Your glory in the sight,
And then be raised again to life for knowing
The bliss of Your presence, eternal showing,
What grace You gave, Beloved, to men of old.
I, timid soul, never would be so bold
To seek You on the mountain in the vision.
I seek You in the everyday decision
Of right and wrong, of glory in Your will
That may seem desert dry, emotion-still,
But wakens in the quiet for a bliss
Far deeper and calm, though survived, than this
Banquet of joy in fervent resurrection
For having with You physical connection.

12 YHWH told Moses, "Come up to Me
On the mountain and be there free,
And I'll give you tablets of stone,
Law and commandments I alone
Have written, that you may teach them."
13 So Moses rose not to contemn
With his assistant Joshua,
And Moses went up there in awe
To the mountain of Ælohim.
14 And he said to the elders' cream,
"Wait here for us until we come
Back to you, see Aaron 's not dumb
And Hur also is with you here.
If any has trouble or fear,
Let him go to them and appear."
15 Then Moses went up to the mount
A cloud covered it like a fount.
16 Now the glory of YHWH rested
On Mount Sinai, and the cloud hid
And covered it six days, but on
The seventh day in benison
He called to Moses from the cloud.
17 The sight of glory without shroud
Of YHWH was like consuming fire
On the mountaintop to inspire
The eyes of the folk of Israel.
18 So Moses went into the cloud,
Went up the mountain and unbowed.
And Moses was both sane and well
Upon the mountain forty days
And forty nights in glory's ways.

You wrote, Beloved, upon tables of stone
The summary of all faith in the bone
Of humankind. Although stone is preferred
To make idols of coal, oil, diamond sherd,
The sapphire engraved with the sacred word
Is not enough for human hopefulness.
I thus wait six days for the word to bless
My ear and heart, the word on breath and tongue
Revealing the truly engraved word sung
Upon the tables of my heart. I hear
Upon the Sabbath day Your loving, clear
Voice once again proclaim what still resounds
From Sinai's cloud and fire. I know no fear,
Beloved, enfolded and kissed in Your bounds.

WEEK 19 EXODUS 25

1 Then YHWH spoke to Moses, saying
2 "Tell the folk of Israel to bring
Me an offering, from everyone
Who gives it willingly when done
With his heart you'll take My offering.
3 "And this is the offering which you
Shall take from them: gold, silver new,
And bronze, 4 "blue, purple, scarlet thread,
Fine linen, goats', 5 "ram skins dyed red,
Badger (or seals') skins, and the wood
Of the acacia, 6 "oil that should
Give light, and spices for the oil
Of the anointing not to spoil
And for the sweet incense, 7 "onyx
Stones, and the carved stone set that sticks
In the ephod and in breastplate.
8 "And let them make for Me a state
Of sanctuary, that I may
Stay among them both night and day.
9 "According to all that I show
You of pattern portfolio
Of the tabernacle and all
The pattern of its furnished hall,
Just so you shall make standing stall.

I have no gold to bring, Beloved, to You,
Nor fine linen nor thread in purple, blue,
Nor sweet incense made of desert perfume
To fill with odours any sacred room.
I only have the temple of my heart,
And even that is not mine from the start,
But Yours alone, who own the universe,
The shy buck on the shady hill, not worse
Than rainy salamander in his track.
And yet for sacrifice I have no lack.
I bring You but Your own, this temple set
And built without hands from the pattern known
To Your heart from eternity alone.
Beloved, this sacrifice is what You get.

10 "And they shall make an ark of wood,
Of the acacia two for good
And half a cubit for its length,
A cubit and a half in strength
Of its width, and a cubit and
A half for its height by command.
11 "And you shall overlay it with
Pure gold, inside, shining like myth,
And outside you shall overlay,
And make gold moulding all the way.
12 "You shall cast four gold rings for it,
And let them in four corners sit,
Two rings shall be on one side, and
Two rings upon the other hand.
13 "And you shall make poles of the wood
Of the acacia, and for good
Overlay them with gold as should.
14 "You shall put the poles in the rings
On the sides of the ark for things,
The ark may be carried by them.
15 "The poles shall be by stratagem
In the rings of the ark, they shall
Not be taken from it at all.
16 "And you shall put into the ark
The testimony I remark.
17 "You'll make a mercy seat of gold,
Pure gold two and a half all told
Of cubits shall be the ark's length,
One and a half its width in strength.
18 "And you shall make two cherubim
Of gold, of hammered work to seem,
You shall make them at the two ends
Of the mercy seat that extends.
19 "Make one cherub at one end, and
The other at the other hand,
You'll make of one piece mercy seat
And cherubim at the two feet.

Made of one piece of gold this mercy seat,
I have no qualms about its cubit feet.
I only ask, Beloved, the difference
Between the cherubim in their incense
And idols of false gods prohibited.
My simple mind on simple things is fed.
I cling, before the idols of the state
And before the church with its love and hate,
To the bare witness lying there within
The ark of gold and grace against my sin.
I stand on that great law, and stand alone,
Against the iron laws and the church stone
That would compel my conscience in Your name,
And like Iblis I bow not to their claim.

20 "And the cherubim shall stretch out
Their wings above, covering about
The mercy seat with all their wings,
And they shall face each other's swings,
The faces of the cherubim
Toward the mercy seat to beam.
21 "You'll put the mercy seat on top
Of the ark, in the ark you'll drop
The witness that I'll give to you.
22 "And always there I'll meet with you,
And I will speak with you above
The mercy seat, and in My love,
From between the two cherubim
Which both above the ark shall swim,
Above the testimony, and
About the things that I command
You and the folk in Israel's band.

The tables of stone are nowhere I know
Unless in Axum hidden in the glow
Of inner sanctum. Yet the tables shine
With sapphire glory in this heart of mine
Where on the fleshly tables You have writ
Your promises engraved here where I sit.
Within an ark of flesh and bone You scribe
Your witness instead of the golden bribe
Upon acacia wood. Your scribings last
No longer than a breath and then are past
To come again upon the clean slate there
That rises in desire to meet the air.
Beloved, You meet me at that mercy seat
That You make gold by Your creative feat.

23 "You shall also make table of
Acacia wood, carved out above,
Two cubits shall be its length and
A cubit its width in a band,
A cubit and a half its height.
24 "And you shall overlay it right
With pure gold, and make moulding of
Gold all around it and above.
25 "You shall make a frame a hand wide
All around and on every side,
And you shall make moulding of gold
For the frame all around it told.
26 "And you shall make for it four rings
Of gold, and put the rings on things
In the four corners of its legs.
27 "The rings shall be close to the pegs
Of frame, as holders for the poles
To bear the table. 28 "And the poles
You shall make of acacia wood,
And overlay them with gold good,
To carry the table as should.
29 "You shall make its dishes, its pans,
Its pitchers, bowls by artisans
For pouring, you'll make of pure gold.
30 "And you shall set the showbread cold
Before Me on the table hold.

I make the table of showbread to stand
A golden ornament within the band
Of my heart's temple, and I make it of
Obedience to Your commands and love
Sweet wooded from within and from without
Inlayed with the gold of my love's redoubt.
I make the table of bread inch by inch
And pray, Beloved, that I shall never flinch
To find the bread of heaven come down to me,
Grown from the ground as sweetly as can be.
I make the table of showbread each day
By my aspiring breaths and sips that stay
But for a moment and again expire:
I make the table to shine in Your fire.

31 "You shall also make a lamp-stand
Of pure gold hammered out by hand.
Its shaft, its branches, bowls and knobs,
And flowers shall be the best jobs.
32 "Six branches shall come out its side,
Three branches of lamp-stand abide
On one side, and three branches on
The lamp-stand out the other con.
33 "Three bowls shall be made like almond
On one branch, with a knob and frond,
And three bowls made like almond on
The other branch, with knob upon
And flower, and so for the six branches
That come out of the lamp-stand flanches.
34 "On the lamp-stand itself four bowls
Made like almond with knobs and scrolls.
35 "And there shall be a knob beneath
The two branches out of the sheath,
A knob beneath next two branch pair,
A knob under the last ones there,
For all six branches in the air.
36 "Their knobs and their branches all told,
One hammered piece of purest gold.
37 "You shall make seven lamps for it,
And they shall arrange its lamps fit
So that they give light before it.
38 "And its wick-trimmers and their trays
Shall be of pure gold too for stays.
39 "A talent of pure gold shall make
The whole with all its vessels’ sake.
40 "And see that you make all things by
The mountain pattern shown on high.

I make the last furniture of my heart,
The golden lamps with leaf and knob and smart
Bud of the almond all contrived to stand
According to the mountain pattern planned,
The pattern that You still proclaim from Mount
Sinai in hearing of each flesh-planed count.
I call Your seven spirits to be guides
In all I make of it and more besides.
But, my Beloved, a talent weight of gold
Is not a guide sufficient when all's told.
I make the lamp that fills my heart by plan,
But You did not reveal the height to man.
You left to me to decide when to stop
Beating and spinning gold up to the top.



AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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