“My heart cries out over Moab; her fugitives flee as far as Zoar, as far as Eglath Shelishiyah. They go up the hill to Luhith, weeping as they go; on the road to Horonaim they lament their destruction. The waters of Nimrim are dried up and the grass is withered; the vegetation is gone and nothing green is left. So the wealth they have acquired and stored up they carry away over the Ravine of the Poplars. Their outcry echoes along the border of Moab; their wailing reaches as far as Eglaim, their lamentation as far as Beer Elim. The waters of Dimon are full of blood, but I will bring still more upon Dimon—a lion upon the fugitives of Moab and upon those who remain in the land.” Isaiah 15:5-9

“Green-eyed monster:” If you are not familiar with William Shakespeare, then you may not know that he coined a bounty of idioms and expressions still used by English speakers today. His tragic drama “Othello” first referenced a “green-eyed monster,” alluding to the jealousy and betrayal at the narrative’s center. Where we might expect this vision to be of a toothy “Green Eyed” terror that most people conjure up today, the Bard actually used a cat — seemingly playing with its captured meal before consumption.

Look, I have five cats….and they can give you a look where you wonder if they are considering the ways to kill you — or wanting you to know you have woken them from nap number eight. But, more to the biblical text, I am always interested in the colors that are referenced in the original texts, and how we use those colors in the church today. The color Green has a significant role in church liturgical functions — it represents the long “Pentecost” season, the longest in the liturgical celebrations and representations. Green is used for the long period of “Ordinary” time, as well as a symbol of growth — as referenced in the text from Isaiah, but also the fact that it is used during the growth of the church in the season of Pentecost, based upon many of the scripture readings we hear then. I guess satan would be the most important “Green-Eyed Monster” in the biblical text — the one who wants to eat away at your soul.

Pastor Dave

“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.

Pastor Dave