December 18, 2021 – “Paint the Town Red” — Numbers 19:1-10 

“The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: This is a statute of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect, in which there is no blemish and on which no yoke has been laid. You shall give it to the priest Eleazar, and it shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. The priest Eleazar shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times towards the front of the tent of meeting. Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall be burned. The priest shall take cedarwood, hyssop, and crimson material, and throw them into the fire in which the heifer is burning. Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterwards he may come into the camp; but the priest shall remain unclean until evening. The one who burns the heifer shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water; he shall remain unclean until evening. Then someone who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the Israelites for the water for cleansing. It is a purification offering. The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening.” Numbers 19:1-10 

“Paint the town red:” The phrase “paint the town red” most likely owes its origin to one legendary night of drunkenness. In 1837, the Marquis of Waterford—a known lush and mischief maker—led a group of friends on a night of drinking through the English town of Melton Mowbray. The bender culminated in vandalism after Waterford and his fellow revelers knocked over flowerpots, pulled knockers off of doors and broke the windows of some of the town’s buildings. To top it all off, the mob literally painted a tollgate, the doors of several homes and a swan statue with red paint. The marquis and his pranksters later compensated Melton for the damages, but their drunken escapade is likely the reason that “paint the town red” became shorthand for a wild night out. Still yet another theory suggests the phrase was actually born out of the brothels of the American West, and referred to men behaving as though their whole town were a red-light district. 

While the symbolism of the red heifer was, to Jewish Torah scholars, admittedly beyond true understanding for mere humans, by the second temple era they began to speculate about its “spiritual” significance. Some felt that it was an atonement for the sin of the golden calf (Exodus 32). Others viewed it as somehow relating to the scapegoat and the bullock sin offering of Yom Kippur, since all were sacrificed outside the camp of Israel (Lev 16:27). What is clear is that the sacrifice of the red heifer was for the purpose of purifying someone who had become ritually impure through contact with the dead (Num 31:21ff).  

Perhaps we all need some atonement after “painting the town red” — depending on our actions and behavior. Thank the Lord we do not need to sacrifice a “red heifer” — but instead drop to our knees and profess our sins and know and believe that Jesus has already forgiven the penitent sinner. 

Let us pray

Lord Christ, as always, you know our sins before we commit them – and you forgive all our sins, past, present and future. Thank you Lord, for we are all unworthy. Amen.

Pastor Dave 

December 17, 2021 – “By the Skin of My Teeth” — Job 19:20-27 

“My bones cling to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me! Why do you, like God, pursue me, never satisfied with my flesh? “O that my words were written down! O that they were inscribed in a book! O that with an iron pen and with lead they were engraved on a rock forever!  

For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!” Job 19:20-27 

“By the skin of my teeth:” This unusual phrase obviously has no physiological origin, meaning that our teeth do not have actual skin. But most people will probably be surprised to its origin. The Geneva Bible, first published in 1560, translated Job 19:20 as such, and the idiom’s meaning was used in much the same as it is now. Subsequent English bible translations relate it as either something similar, as in the NRSV translation above, or referencing the gums rather than literally skinned teeth. 

Job of course is reacting to the calamity that has come upon him — he has lost all or most of his property, his help, and his family. A closer reading of the entire book is necessary to truly understand the “game” that seems to be taking place between G-d and “the Accuser” (Satan). But Job, after escaping death by the “skin of his teeth” soon pronounces this profound statement of faith: 

For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. 

Job was taught that G-d was as much a “living Redeemer” as G-d was a presence only in the heavens. Job knew to look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come; he comforted himself with the expectation of these. Job was assured, that this Redeemer of sinners was his Redeemer, and to expect salvation through him. And though he had not yet come in the flesh, one day, on the last day, this Redeemer would stand upon the earth and complete the redemption of his people – and if G-d is the G-d of amazing Grace, then we will not make it to heaven just by the “Skin of our Teeth”. 

Let us pray,

Lord Christ, you are the Redeemer, and you will come again in the “end of days”. Give us the peace and solace that takes away our fear and forms our faith. Amen. 

Pastor Dave