Wandering

So there were these a people who wandered. They wandered a lot. In the desert. It was hot. Really hot. And dusty. They carried around this big box marked by winged creatures. It had a few stuffs inside. These people wandered around the hot, dusty, desert carrying a few stuffs in a box. (Who are these crazy people?)

These are our ancestors of faith.

You may be wondering a lot of things, among them why the heck we Christians consider a bunch of wandering people who carry a box through the desert our ancestors or maybe why they bother to put braille menus on some drive through windows, but more specifically, what was in the box.

Everyone always wants to know what's in the box. Ask Pandora.

The box was special. In fact, it was so special that the people who carried this thing around raised tents to host the thing. So as they went, they carried the box and when they rested, they built a tent that held the box. (You're kidding me, right?)

No, really! These are our ancestors!

When they raised these tents, they built out special places in them to hold this box. And, since it was special, special people were chosen to wear special clothes and do special things to the special box in the special room. The special clothing included an apron adorned with ornamental pomegranates and golden bells along the hem and semiprecious stones at the shoulders with a bunch of names engraved on them. They also got to wear cool hats. Oh! And they got to bathe frequently because they had to be clean. (Bathe, really?)

Yes, really.

And they did it all because God told them to.

(I'm not gonna ask.)

Seriously.

These are the people who God chose as his own. These are the fore fathers of David, and as such Christ. These are the dudes and babes who will inherit the land. And they did it simply because God told them to.

Yet sin crept behind. It doesn't take much to mess it up (just ask Eve). After all the lallygagging in the desert (okay, so it wasn't really lallygagging), the ancients settled and built a temple in the same style as the tent. They placed the arc of the covenant in the temple in a sacred space. And thy purified and anointed the priests who wore pomegranates to protect and serve Yahweh. Then, Moses departs for forty days. Like a child whose babysitter falls asleep and then gets into trouble, so did the ancients. And what do they do? They make golden calves fully breaking the commandment. This ticks Moses off and, coincidentally, begins the path of the sin of Jeroboam. Nice kick off for the DtrH. Idol worship!