The Bronze Basin

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The Lord spoke to Moses: You shall make a bronze basin with a bronze stand for washing. You shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it; with the water Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet. When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to make an offering by fire to the Lord, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die. They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die: it shall be a perpetual ordinance for them, for him and for his descendants throughout their generations.

Exodus 30: 17-21

Something about this short passage about the basin for washing resonated with me when I read it a few weeks ago. I'm not sure why, but something about it just jumped out at me.

A Lesson in Testimony

Mark chapter 5 recounts one of the most memorable miracles of Jesus. Jesus and his disciples had just gotten off a boat in the country of the Gerasenes, and a man approaches them. The man is possessed by demons, who call themselves Legion, because there were so many of them. Apparently the demons made the man extremely strong and violent, and he was unable to be bound by chains, and was often seen hurting himself.

Anyway, when the demons see Jesus, they recognize him! The spirit says to Jesus, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?" Jesus commands the unclean spirit to leave the man, sending Legion into a herd of pigs when the spirit requested not to be sent out of the country. The herd of pigs immediately runs off of a cliff and into the sea! Needless to say, people were amazed when they saw this happen (or later, when the swineherds returned to town and recounted the day's events).

Mercy

In reading Jonah 4, some of us may find it silly that Jonah got angry with God for pardoning the people of Nineveh. God had sent Jonah to this city to warn the people to turn form their wicked ways. After initially running from that call (and we all know how that one turned out), Jonah eventually went and spoke the Word of God to the people of Nineveh. And they listened! And because they did so, God turned his wrath away from them and spared the city. Upon hearing this, Jonah was upset that the people of Nineveh were going to "get away" with their sin and the city wouldn't be destroyed, even though that was the entire point of Jonah going to Nineveh!