veryroundbird

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geostatonary
@geostatonary

Tonight we had another double portion night, and closed out Numbers.

A mix of difficult topics and more technical ones:
On one hand, we got stuff like a rundown of everywhere the Israelites had traveled; the mapping of the extent of the promised land; various discussions and on the apportionment of the promised land (and the lands from the other side of the Jordan that were given to two and a half tribes); and discussions on oaths on G-d and the rules around their annulment for women who are married or young

On the other, we have the destruction of the Midianites and the killing of their male children and non-young women, as well as the distribution of the human, animal, and material spoils. We had a lot of thoughts on this! It's very uncomfortable! On one hand, it's in line with past punishments for idolatry and their past behavior towards Israel, but on the other-
A question we've come back to a lot is "was there no other way?" and the revulsion we feel at seeing what is to us a straightforward atrocity. It's hard to reconcile; it's something that leaves us asking "what are we even supposed to take from this?". Something I've come to a lot with these is that... regardless of what we ostensibly "should" or "shouldn't" take from it, i think that impulse of revulsion is necessary to hold to and understand as part of the motive force behind how the world shouldn't be like this; the desire to change the world so that our foundations no longer be soaked in so much blood.

The bit about Levite refuge cities for people who did manslaughter was also neat.

Anyways, here ended Numbers. Next week we start Deuteronomy, the final book of the Torah and the fourth full book our study group has begun to read through.

Let's talk about a few comments

First, Rashi discusses the wizard battle that occurred during the battle with the Midianites
wizard battles
We also get some hot iron murder tips from Rashi for all your fey slaying needs
iron kills regardless of size


veryroundbird
@veryroundbird

yeehaw double portion

a little quiet tonight; we had a decent-sized group but some of our more talkative members were under the weather. still a lot of good discussion though!

  • Man, That’s A Lot of Murder, Guys
  • one can interpret this bit as kind of a founding national myth but in our chavurah we kind of agreed that it feels (to us!) more like a cautionary tale about, well… state-building in general. it’s almost as if that generally requires some kind of blood spilled,
  • for some reason our translation keeps using the word “booty” for the spoils of war and it kept kind of throwing us due to how silly it sounds in a sentence.
  • we briefly discussed how the part toward the end of Numbers where the Israelites are instructed by G-d that if you do not dispossess the inhabitants of the land, those whom you allow to remain shall be stings in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land in which you live. that felt like a real something happened here so we looked up a bit of when things were written and compiled; since the version of the torah we know today was compiled post-exile, it does feel like that sense of being driven out colored some of the vibes here, as it were
  • fucked up that nations and power are underwritten by geography and borders amirite
  • discussion of the fact that in previous books the Dream of a Nation felt less… harsh, but also in previous books the story was not reckoning with the actual realities of what one has to do to consolidate resources and land
  • once again we make @geostatonary read a lot of lists. press f to pay respects
  • then we get into some more specifics of legalities around murder (pvp system unlocked) and the care of the land
  • the pvp-disabled zones as it were contribute to our modern lexicon around sanctuary cities, apparently
  • we read about the specific position of iron as defining instruments of killing, insofar as one has to specifically make a tool for killing out of iron, and then pick it up with the intent to use it (as distinct from a rock, which needs to be particularly large to be considered intent, i guess)
  • similarly we determined that if you drop a piano on someone that does qualify as murder under these rules regarding wooden items.
  • home alone traps are trap-dependent according to our consensus. christmas ornaments on the floor are probably fine but the rest might get you in trouble
  • additionally, some legalities around marriage and inheritance

we were pretty fast so we also got to doing the haftarah

  • this one is from early jeremiah and is kind of gloomy on the topic of the dispossession of the israelite people, which dovetails with some of the content of the main portion
  • this one is in fact taking the people to task for plunder and making the land a waste so i think jeremiah agrees with our anti-state analysis (joke) (unless?)
  • it also takes everyone to task for idolatry, again, because we are always on that one ("the golden calf is on your permanent record")
  • also @figura noted that the beginning sounds like a jewish parent guilt-trip.
  • quote from chavurah member radio: “i’m not defiled! i’m not defiled! i continue to insist as i slowly shrink into a she-camel”
  • TIL that "baal" is just a generic title for lordship. that could be anyone1

and also:

  • geo referred to the chavurah at least once as “chat”

  1. @figura: "baal is life"


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