Exodus 30:1-10 (MKJV) And you shall make an altar to burn incense upon. You shall make it of acacia-wood. 2 A cubit shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth. It shall be square. And two cubits shall be the height of it, its horns from itself. 3 And you shall overlay it with pure gold, its top, and its sides all around, and its horns. And you shall make to it a crown of gold all around. 4 And you shall make two golden rings to it under the crown of it, by the two corners of it, upon the two sides of it you shall make it. And they shall be housings for the staves to bear it with. 5 And you shall make the staves of acacia-wood and overlay them with gold. 6 And you shall put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy-seat that is beside the testimony, where I will meet with you. 7 And Aaron shall burn sweet incense on it every morning; when he dresses the lamps he shall burn it. 8 And when Aaron lights the lamps at evening, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before Jehovah throughout your generations. 9 You shall offer no strange incense on it, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meal offering. Neither shall you pour drink offering on it. 10 And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offerings of atonement. He shall make atonement on it once in the year throughout your generations. It is most holy to Jehovah.
The cubit is the distance between the elbow and the tip of the middle finger. It may have originated in Egypt about 3000 BC. It thereafter became ubiquitous in the ancient world. The cubit, generally taken as equal to 17.5 inches. In some ancient cultures it was as long as 20.6 inches. So the altar of incense was 17.5 inches square and 35 inches in height.
Ezekiel 40:1-4 (MKJV) In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was stricken, in the same day the hand of Jehovah was on me, and brought me there. 2 In the visions of God He brought me into the land of Israel, and made me rest on a very high mountain. And it went up, as the structure of the city on the south. 3 And He brought me there, and behold, a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze, and a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed. And he stood in the gate. 4 And the man said to me, Son of man, behold with your eyes and hear with your ears, and set your heart on all that I shall show you. For you are brought here so that I might show them to you. Declare all that you see to the house of Israel.
Ezekiel 41:1-3 Next we went into the main room of the temple. The man measured the doorway of this room: It was ten feet wide, 2 seventeen feet long, and the distance from the doorway to the wall on either side was eight feet. The main room itself was sixty-eight feet by thirty-four feet. 3 Then the man walked to the far end of the temple’s main room and said, “Beyond this doorway is the most holy place.” He first measured the doorway: It was three feet wide, ten feet long, and the distance from the doorway to the wall on either side was twelve feet. Then he measured the most holy place, and it was thirty-four feet square.
Ezekiel 41:21-22 (MKJV) The walls on either side of the Holy Place were square. In front of the Most Holy Place, there was something that looked like 22 an altar made from wood. It was 3 cubits high and 2 cubits long. Its corners, its base, and its sides were wood. The man said to me, “This is the table that is before the LORD.“
The Altar of Incense in Ezekiel’s vision is only wooden and is 35 inches square, 52.5 inches in height. Wood usually represents humanity. The saints, those who are saved through faith in Jesus Christ, their Lord and Savior, pray for God’s Will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven. We are sanctified through Christ and our prayers are made to God and, because of Jesus, they are acceptable and pleasing to Him.
Revelation 8:3-5 (MKJV) And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer. And many incenses were given to him, so that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints on the golden altar before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God from the angel’s hand. 5 And the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar, and cast it into the earth. And voices and thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake occurred.
David Guzik’s Enduring Word Commentary – “Prayer and incense are often associated in the Bible. The idea is that just as incense is precious, pleasant, and drifts to heaven, so do our prayers. So here, before anything happens at the opening of the seventh seal, the prayers of God’s people come before the Lord God…
“As God’s people pray for the resolution of all things, their prayers are touched by the fire from the altar in heaven, and then “thrown” back down to earth. All things will not be resolved on this earth until judgment comes, and when the prayers of God’s people “come back” to earth, they bring the groundswell of judgment (noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake).“
The altar of incense was made of shittim, or acacia wood, which is impervious to rot. It is dense and strong. It is covered over with pure gold. The wood represents the humanity of Christ and the gold represents the deity of Christ. It has four horns on the corner just as the large Altar of Burnt Offering has in the Outer Court. The “horns” were horn-like projections at the four corners of the altar of burnt offering. God’s instructions for the altar’s construction specified “horns”: “Make a horn at each of the four corners, so that the horns and the altar are of one piece” (Exodus 27:2). The horns of the altar in Jerusalem had provided a place to tie a sacrifice (Psalm 118:27) and as a refuge for fugitives. Those who caught hold of the horns of the altar were granted asylum (1 Kings 1:50-53).
Psalm 118:27 The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!
1 Kings 1:50-52 And Adonijah feared because of Solomon, and arose and went and caught hold on the horns of the altar. 51 And it was told to Solomon, saying, Behold, Adonijah fears King Solomon. For, lo, he has caught hold on the horns of the altar, saying, Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not kill his servant with the sword. 52 And Solomon said, If he becomes a son of virtue, not a hair of his head shall fall to the earth. But if wickedness shall be found in him, then he shall die.
1 Kings 2:28-31 (ERV) Joab had supported Adonijah, but not Absalom. But when Joab heard what happened to Abiathar, he was frightened and ran to the tent of the LORD to hold onto the horns of the altar. 29 Someone told King Solomon that Joab was at the altar in the LORD’S Tent. So Solomon ordered Benaiah to go and kill him. 30 Benaiah went into the LORD’S Tent and said to Joab, “The king says, ‘Come out!'” But Joab answered, “No, I will die here.” Benaiah went back to the king and told him what Joab had said. 31 The king commanded Benaiah, “Do as he says! Kill him there and take him out to bury him. Then my family and I will be free of Joab’s guilt from killing innocent people.
A Sermon (No. 1826) delivered by Charles H. Spurgeon on 3/23/1884
Solomon was to be the king after David, but his elder brother, Adonijah, was preferred by Joab, the captain of the host, and by Abiathar, the priest; and, therefore, they got together, and tried to steal a march upon dying David, and set up Adonijah. They utterly failed in this; and when Solomon came to the throne Adonijah was afraid for his life, and fled to the horns of the altar at the tabernacle for shelter. Solomon permitted him to find sanctuary there, and forgave him his offence, and said that if he proved himself a worthy man he should live without further molestation. But very soon he began plotting again, and sought to undermine Solomon now that their venerable father was dead. It became therefore necessary, especially according to oriental ideas, for Solomon to strike a heavy blow; and he determined to begin with Joab-the bottom of all the mischief, who, though he had not followed after Absalom in David’s time, was now following after Adonijah. No sooner had the king determined upon this, than Joab, conscience-stricken, begin to look to himself and fly…
Now, I want you to notice that when Joab fled to the tabernacle of the Lord, and took hold of the horns of the altar, it was of no use to him…
I have two lessons I am anxious to teach at this time. The first is derived from the fact that Joab found no benefit of sanctuary even though he laid hold of the horns of the altar of God’s house, from which I gather this lesson-that outward ordinances will avail nothing. Before the living God, who is greater and wiser than Solomon, it will be of no avail to any man to lay hold upon the horns of the altar. But, secondly, there is an altar-a spiritual altar-whereof if a man do but lay hold upon the horns, and say, “Nay; but I will die here,” he shall never die; but he shall be safe against the sword of justice forever; for the Lord has appointed an altar in the person of his own dear Son, Jesus Christ, where there shall be shelter for the very vilest of sinners if they do but come and lay hold thereon.
I. To begin, then, first, OUTWARD ORDINANCES AVAIL NOT. The laying hold upon the literal horns of an altar, which can be handled, availed not Joab. There are many-oh, how many still!-that are hoping to be saved, because they lay hold, as they think, upon the horns of the sacraments. Men of unhallowed life, nevertheless, come to the sacramental table, looking for a blessing. Do they not know that they pollute it? Do they not know that they are committing a high sin, and a great misdemeanour against God, by coming amongst his people, where they have no right to be? And yet they think that by committing this atrocity they are securing to themselves safety. How common it is to find in this city, when an irreligious man is dying, that someone will say, “Oh, he is all right; for a clergyman has been, and given him the sacrament.” I often marvel how men calling themselves the servants of God can dare thus to profane the ordinance of the Lord. Did he ever intend the blessed memorial of the Lord’s supper to be a kind of superstitious vialicum, a something upon which ungodly men may depend in their last hour, as if it could put away sin. I do not one half so much blame the poor ignorant and superstitious persons who seek after the sacrament in their dying hours, as I do the men who ought to know better, but who pander to what is as downright a superstition as anything that ever came from the church of Rome, or, for the matter of that, from the fetish worship of the most deluded African tribe. Do they conceive that grace comes to men by bits of bread and drops of wine?…
II. That assurance is the second part of our discourse, on which I will speak briefly. COMING TO THE SPIRITUAL ALTAR, AND LAYING OUR HAND UPON IT, WILL SAVE US.
Now, notice first, the act itself. Joab came within the tabernacle. So, poor soul, come and hide yourself in Christ. Joab took hold of the horns, the projecting corners of the altar, and he would not let go. Come, trembling sinners, and take hold on Christ Jesus.
“My faith doth lay her hand
On that dear head of thine;
While like a penitent I stand,
And there confess my sin.”
Lean with your hand of faith upon your Lord, and say, “This Christ is mine. I accept it as the gift of God to me, unworthy though I be.”
When that is done, a fierce demand may be made upon you. The enemy will probably cry, “Come forth! Come forth!” The self-righteous will say, “What right has a sinner as you to trust Christ? Come forth!” Mind you say to them, “Nay, but I will die here.”
Exodus 30:34-38 The LORD said to Moses, “Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part), 35 and make an incense blended as by the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. 36 You shall beat some of it very small, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting where I shall meet with you. It shall be most holy for you. 37 And the incense that you shall make according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be for you holy to the LORD. 38 Whoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from his people.”
Frankincense is an aromatic resin used in incense and perfumes, obtained from trees of the genus Boswellia in the family Burseraceae, particularly Boswellia sacra (syn: B. bhaw-dajiana), B. carterii33, B. frereana, B. serrata (B. thurifera, Indian frankincense), and B. papyrifera. There are four main species of Boswellia that produce true frankincense. Resin from each of the four is available in various grades. The grades depend on the time of harvesting; the resin is hand-sorted for quality.
Frankincense has been traded on the Arabian Peninsula, in North Africa, and Somalia for more than 5000 years.
Frankincense is tapped from the scraggy but hardy trees by slashing the bark, which is called striping, and allowing the exuded resin to bleed out and harden. These hardened resins are called tears.
There are several species and varieties of frankincense trees, each producing a slightly different type of resin. Differences in soil and climate create even more diversity of the resin, even within the same species.
Boswellia sacra trees are considered unusual for their ability to grow in environments so unforgiving that they sometimes grow out of solid rock. The initial means of attachment to the rock is unknown, but is accomplished by a bulbous disk-like swelling of the trunk. This growth prevents it from being ripped from the rock during violent storms. This feature is slight or absent in trees grown in rocky soil or gravel. The trees start producing resin when they are about eight to 10 years old. Tapping is done two to three times a year with the final taps producing the best tears due to their higher aromatic terpene, sesquiterpene and diterpene content. Generally speaking, the more opaque resins are the best quality. Fine resin is produced in Somalia, from which the Roman Catholic Church purchases most of its stock.
Matthew Henry Commentary On The Bible – (The incense) “was prepared once a year, a pound for each day of the year, and three pounds over for the day of atonement. When it was used, it was to be beaten very small: thus it pleased the Lord to bruise the Redeemer when he offered himself for a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour.”
It consisted of four ingredients “beaten small” (Exodus 30:34-36). According to Jewish tradition, the incense was made by the Avtinas family, who closely guarded its secret. The offering of incense also had to be seasoned with salt.
Fausset’s Bible Dictionary – ausset – The incense consisted of four aromatic ingredients (representing God’s perfections diffused throughout the four quarters of the world): stacte (Hebrew nataph, “a drop,” the gum that drops from the storax tree, Styrax officinalis, found in Syria; the benzoin, or gum benjamin, is from Java and Sumatra; the liquid storax of commerce is from a different tree, the Liquidambar Syraciflua), onycha (Hebrew: shecheleth, probably the cap of the wing shell, strombus, abounding in the Red Sea, used for making perfumes), galbanum (a yellowish brown gum, imported from Persia, India, and Africa), and pure frankincense (the chief of the aromatic gums: Song of Solomon 3:6; Matthew 2:11; obtained from India through the Sabeans of S. Arabia; the tree is Boswellia thurifera, the native salai; the gum is also called oliban, Arabic looban, from whence the Hebrew lebonah comes).
Let’s look at how Frankincense is a type of Jesus Christ, a foreshadowing. Jesus was beaten and whipped before He was crucified.
Matthew 27:26 (Contemporary English Version – CEV) Pilate set Barabbas free. Then he ordered his soldiers to beat Jesus with a whip and nail him to a cross.
The Frankincense tree is “striped” with a sharp instrument to wound the tree. Jesus was beaten with a whip, He was given stripes with a Roman scourge. This short whip had multiple leather strips braided with sharp pieces. One of the Roman punishments was to be scourged and you were sentenced to so many stripes. This brutal punishment could end in death.
Jesus brutal beating was prophesied in Isaiah.
Isaiah 53:3-5 He is despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as it were a hiding of faces from Him, He being despised, and we esteemed Him not. (4) Surely He has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. (5) But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was on Him; and with His stripes we ourselves are healed.
Once the Frankincense tree is wounded with the sharp instrument, the tree sends healing properties to the wound in the resin. According to the prophecy above, Jesus’ stripes resulted in healing. We were healed of the terminal illness of SIN. Our relationship with God had been severed when sin came into the world and Jesus healed that relationship. He reconciled us with God by paying for our sins. He also brought physical healing to many sick, diseased and crippled people when He walked with the disciples on this earth. And many have received physical healing after asking God for healing. All of God’s children will receive total physical healing after death. We have been given eternal life and the Bible says that our old bodies will be resurrected as new indestructible, immortal bodies free from every corruption or pain or disease!
1 Corinthians 15:50-57 (CEV) My friends, I want you to know that our bodies of flesh and blood will decay. This means that they cannot share in God’s kingdom, which lasts forever. (51) I will explain a mystery to you. Not every one of us will die, but we will all be changed. (52) It will happen suddenly, quicker than the blink of an eye. At the sound of the last trumpet the dead will be raised. We will all be changed, so that we will never die again. (53) Our dead and decaying bodies will be changed into bodies that won’t die or decay. (54) The bodies we now have are weak and can die. But they will be changed into bodies that are eternal. Then the Scriptures will come true, “Death has lost the battle! (55) Where is its victory? Where is its sting?” (56) Sin is what gives death its sting, and the Law is the power behind sin. (57) But thank God for letting our Lord Jesus Christ give us the victory!
Once the resin goes to the wounded area of the tree, the tree weeps tears of resin. Jesus wept on more than one occasion, I’m sure. In fact, the shortest verse in the Bible is composed of two words, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35) . But there is one occasion that stands out to me as a time when He most probably wept and that was in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus struggled with what might have been an anxiety or panic attack and yet He mastered Himself and determined to do God’s Will even knowing how awful the next hours would be.
Luke 22:39-46 (Modern King James Version – MKJV) And going out, according to His custom, He went to the Mount of Olives. And His disciples also followed Him. (40) And when He was at the place, He said to them, Pray that you do not enter into temptation. (41) And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw. And He kneeled down and prayed, (42) saying, Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done. (43) And an angel appeared to Him from Heaven, strengthening Him. (44) And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly. And His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. (45) And when He rose up from prayer and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping because of sorrow. (46) And He said to them, Why do you sleep? Rise and pray lest you enter into temptation.
He submitted to the will of the Father even unto death in order to save us!
Did you know that when Jesus was crucified, someone came to offer him a mixture of vinegar water on a sponge tied to a stick. This was prophesied in:
Psalms 69:20-21 Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness; and I looked for some to mourn with me, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. (21) They also gave Me gall for my food; and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink.
Here is the prophesy fulfilled:
Matthew 27:34 they gave Him vinegar mixed with gall to drink. And when He had tasted, He would not drink.
Matthew 27:48 And immediately one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar, and he put it on a reed and gave it to Him to drink. (In Mark 15:36 and John 19:29 it tells us this, as well as.)
I read there were some pious women who would come to minister what they could to those who were crucified. They made a mild drug with the vinegar and gall to offer the condemned on a soaked sponge on a stick that could be lifted to the victims’ mouths. This was to help alleviate pain a little bit and moisten their mouths and lips. But Jesus refused even this small comfort. Why? Because He was willing to experience every suffering moment if it spared us suffering for our sins!
Psalms 75:8(MKVJ) For in the hand of Jehovah there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is fully mixed; and He pours out from it; but the dregs of it, all the wicked of the earth shall drain its dregs and drink.
We are sinners and we deserve the wrath of God! But Jesus took that wrath upon Himself even though He knew no sin! Thank You Jesus!!!
Recent studies have indicated that frankincense tree populations are declining, partly due to over-exploitation.
Frankincense was one of the consecrated incenses (HaKetoret) described in the Hebrew Bible and Talmud used in Ketoret ceremonies. The frankincense of the Jews, as well as of the Greeks and Romans, is also called Olibanum (from the Hebrew ×—×œ×‘× ×”). Old Testament references report it in trade from Sheba (Isaiah 60:6 ; Jeremiah 6:20). Frankincense is mentioned in the Song of Solomon (Song of Solomon 4:14).
Psalms 141:2 (CEV) Think of my prayer as sweet-smelling incense, and think of my lifted hands as an evening sacrifice.
David Guzik’s Enduring Word Commentary –
“i. Incense is a picture of prayer, in the sweetness of its smell and the way it ascends to heaven (golden bowls of incense, which are the prayers of the saints, according to Revelation 5:8). The ministry at the altar of incense speaks of how God’s people should continually come to Him in prayer.
“ii. Revelation 8:3-4 describes the golden altar of incense standing before Gods’ throne: Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand.
“c. You shall not offer strange incense on it: Priests were not permitted to offer God whatever you wanted on the altar of incense. Strange incense was prohibited. Also, it was not a place of sacrifice in the sense that no animal or grain or drink offering was ever to be placed on it.
“i. Prayer is not the place sacrificial atonement is made; it is the place sacrificial atonement is enjoyed. We don’t save ourselves through prayer; we pray because of Jesus’ saving work on the cross.
“d. Aaron shall make atonement upon its horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement: The altar of incense was not a place of sacrifice, but it was a place for atoning blood. On the Day of Atonement, Aaron had to anoint the horns of the altar of incense with blood from the atoning sacrifice.
“i. Prayer does not atone for our sins, but must always be made in reference to Jesus’ atoning blood. The Day of Atonement was only once a year, but every day when the priests brought a morning and evening offering of incense they saw the blood stained horns of the altar. This was a constant reminder of the work of atoning blood.”
John Calvin comments, “The altar of incense was purified by the sprinkling of blood, that they might learn that their prayers obtained acceptance through sacrifices.” Leviticus 16:12, 13 and Numbers 16:46 say the fire on which the incense was laid had been taken from off the brazen-altar, where the sin-offering was consumed. These spices were left to smolder on the altar day and night. It was the duty of the priest to keep the incense going.
Colossians 4:2 Never stop praying. Be ready for anything by praying and being thankful.
Psalms 84:1-4 To the director: On the gittith. A song of praise from the Korah family. LORD All-Powerful, the place where you live is so beautiful! 2 LORD, I cannot wait to enter your Temple. I am so excited! Every part of me cries out to be with the Living God. 3 LORD All-Powerful, my King, my God, even the birds have found a home in your Temple. They make their nests near your altar, and there they have their babies. 4 Great blessings belong to those who live at your Temple! They continue to praise you. Selah
Isaiah 56:6-7 “Some foreigners have chosen to follow the LORD. They do this so that they can serve him and love his name and be his servants. They keep the Sabbath as a special day of worship, and they will continue to follow closely my agreement. 7 So I will bring them to my holy mountain and make them happy in my house of prayer. The offerings and sacrifices they give me will please me, because my Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
Exodus 30:9 You shall offer no strange incense on it, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meal offering. Neither shall you pour drink offering on it.
Prayers made by those who are NOT believers in Jesus Christ, are unacceptable to God, they are “strange incense”. If Jesus has not atoned for you, then your prayers are strange incense. You MUST be a believer, atoned by the blood of Jesus, His sacrificial work appropriated to you, in order for your prayers to be a pleasing fragrance to God. There is no other way. And you cannot use prayer commonly. It is sacred and holy communication between you and God and is not to be “used” in any other way. Those who publicly pray in order to make a name for themselves would be using prayer in a common way. Those who pray in any other name than Jesus and those who are NOT believers but “pray” are offering strange incense or using prayer commonly. Prayer is NOT a joke or an activity to take lightly or to use for base reasons and self serving motivations.
In 2 Chronicles, King Azariah (also known as Uzziah) tried to enter the Holy Place and burn an incense offering on his own behalf, over the protests of the priests. But he was struck with leprosy, which made him unclean and therefore unable to enter any part of the temple complex in the future (2 Chronicles 26:16–21).
NPR – This year’s National Prayer Service, a longstanding inauguration tradition to welcome an incoming presidential administration, instead featured two transgender faith leaders, the president of the Navajo Nation, and a host of speakers with urgent calls for national transformation.
Previous inauguration prayer services have been largely non-political affairs, with faith leaders asking for divine blessing of the nation’s new leaders…
The speakers were chosen jointly by the Biden-Harris inaugural committee and the clergy at the National Cathedral, which has traditionally hosted these prayer services. This year it was an online production. President Biden and first lady Jill Biden watched the service on television from the White House, joined by Vice President Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff.
The lineup of speakers was especially inclusive. For the first time, two transgender faith leaders took part, along with other clergy supportive of LGBTQ rights. Two Muslims offered prayers, along with Hindu and Sikh leaders. The president of the Navajo Nation, Jonathan Nez, said a prayer partly in his own Navajo language.
The only Catholic speakers at the service were two nuns, both known for their progressive views. Sister Norma Pimentel, an advocate for undocumented immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border, recited the peace prayer by St. Francis of Assisi. Sister Carol Keehan, who lobbied tirelessly for the Affordable Care Act despite official opposition from the Catholic Church, also spoke…
ReligionDispatches.org – …Rep. Cleaver (D-MO) ignited these flammable dichotomies delivering the House’s opening prayer for this session and ending it:
“We ask it in the name of the monotheistic God, Brahma, and God known by many names and by many different faiths. Amen, and awoman.”
The prayer might have been written by Saul Bellow’s Good Intentions Paving Company. But good intentions matter little when the underlying act is improper. Cleaver is an ordained minister and U.S. Representative…
The problem is that it wasn’t cute, it was divisive. And “awoman” isn’t even a Cleaver original. It’s an old feminist joke, one that crosses cultural lines and stems from the a long tradition of pushing back against patriarchal Christianity…
But as Christopher Hitchens once wrote, “The literal mind can never understand the ironic mind.” The Christian Nationalists were as humorless and theocratic as always, responding to “awoman” with fiery denunciations worthy of a preacher slinging hellfire and brimstone from the pulpit…”
This is shameful heresy in the name of “prayer” and was not a pleasing aroma or acceptable fragrance before God.
Isaiah 1:2 Heaven and earth, listen! This is what the LORD says: “I raised my children and helped them grow up, but they have turned against me.
…
Isaiah 1:4 Oh, what a sinful nation! Their guilt is like a heavy weight that they must carry. They are evil, destructive children. They left the LORD and insulted the Holy One of Israel. They turned away and treated him like a stranger.
…
Isaiah 1:8-20 The city of Jerusalem is now like an empty shed left in a vineyard. It is like an old straw hut abandoned in a field of cucumbers or like a city surrounded by enemies. 9 If the LORD All-Powerful had not allowed a few people to live, we would have been destroyed completely like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And that almost happened! 10 You officers of Sodom, listen to the LORD’S message. You people of Gomorrah, listen to God’s teaching. 11 The LORD says, “Why do you continue giving me all these sacrifices? I have had enough of your sacrifices of rams and the fat from well-fed animals. I don’t want the blood of those bulls, sheep, and goats. 12 When you people come to meet with me, you trample everything in my yard. Who told you to do this? 13 “Don’t keep bringing me those worthless sacrifices. I hate the incense you give me. I cannot stand your festivals for the New Moon, the Sabbath, and other special meeting days. I hate the evil you do during those holy times together. 14 I hate your monthly meetings and councils. They have become like heavy weights to me, and I am tired of carrying them. 15 “When you raise your arms to pray to me, I will refuse to look at you. You will say more and more prayers, but I will refuse to listen because your hands are covered with blood. 16 “Wash yourselves and make yourselves clean. Stop doing the evil things I see you do. Stop doing wrong. 17 Learn to do good. Treat people fairly. Punish those who hurt others. Speak up for the widows and orphans. Argue their cases for them in court.” 18 “I, the LORD, am the one speaking to you. Come, let’s discuss this. Even if your sins are as dark as red dye, that stain can be removed and you will be as pure as wool that is as white as snow. 19 “If you listen to what I say, you will get the good things from this land. 20 But if you refuse to listen and rebel against me, your enemies will destroy you.” The LORD himself said this.
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