Can words placed in God's mouth be his?

[marco]

In discussion the following quote from Yahweh came up from Exodus 20.

""And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon"

Let us ignore the unintentional humour in the second conditional statement and ask simply why God is so concerned about nakedness.

We'll hear that we must immerse ourselves in the times and practices of the past, but it is the Creator of the Universe speaking. Perhaps his commands suggests a human composition.

In reading the above do we

(a) Laugh (b) Praise God for his attention to detail and his concern about decency
(c) Conclude that this is not God talking.

[Mithrae]

The downside would be that by implication Solomon's ten cubit altar (2 Chr. 4:1) - which of course was not of unhewn stone [...] was not at all in accordance with "God's" will...

The altar in Solomon's temple was not made of stone at all but of wood overlaid with copper, in accord with Divine instructions. It is described in 2 Chron 4:1 as a "copper alter" (compare Ex 38:1b)

JW

The translations I've checked have bronze, but you're right and I found that quite interesting. Exodus 20 says to make an altar of earth/stone, while ch 38 says to make it of wood and bronze. When Solomon's altar in Jerusalem was dedicated, fire supposedly came from heaven and consumed the sacrifice. But when Elijah built his altar of stone up in Israel and poured jar after jar of water over it, the fire from heaven supposedly consumed everything, even burning up all the stone and water itself. This may be another example of the different traditions of the northern and southern kingdoms reflected in the Pentateuch, the Elijah story perhaps in part a response against the altar grand in human terms they had down in Jerusalem. I've been thinking there might be another thread topic in that once we all finish giggling about nakedness.

[marco]

The downside would be that by implication Solomon's ten cubit altar (2 Chr. 4:1) - which of course was not of unhewn stone [...] was not at all in accordance with "God's" will...

The altar in Solomon's temple was not made of stone at all but of wood overlaid with copper, in accord with Divine instructions. It is described in 2 Chron 4:1 as a "copper alter" (compare Ex 38:1b)

JW

The translations I've checked have bronze, but you're right and I found that quite interesting. Exodus 20 says to make an altar of earth/stone, while ch 38 says to make it of wood and bronze. When Solomon's altar in Jerusalem was dedicated, fire supposedly came from heaven and consumed the sacrifice. But when Elijah built his altar of stone up in Israel and poured jar after jar of water over it, the fire from heaven supposedly consumed everything, even burning up all the stone and water itself. This may be another example of the different traditions of the northern and southern kingdoms reflected in the Pentateuch, the Elijah story perhaps in part a response against the altar grand in human terms they had down in Jerusalem. I've been thinking there might be another thread topic in that once we all finish giggling about nakedness.

That final comment is rather unworthy of you since there isn't universal laughter at nakedneess. Details of ancient customs are very interesting; a study of what our ancestors did and thought enlightens our present. Were we gathered to discusss history and ponder the longevity of Egyptian domination or the excellence of Carthaginian trade then shared disoveries would be treasures. My concern is that people today believe in past superstitions, which is fine except that often their faith affects me and mine. Any inquiry into the substance of one of their gods - in this case Yahweh - is not without purpose and it is not a matter of "giggling over nakedness", as of course you know.