We have made it to Day Five! We are almost half way through the Twelve Days of Christmas, and I hope that you have been enjoying your December and have been taking some time to remember the reason that we are celebrating.
We have thus far taken a look at Days one through four. The Twelve Days song is meant to be a teaching tool to help people learn some core tenets of the Christian faith, which was particularly important since when the song was in vogue most people were illiterate. Even today, most people will learn with a song even while in school.
The only reason I still know the quadradic equation is because I learned it as a song.
As a refresher of what we have learned so far:
DAY ONE: Patridge in a Pear Tree is meant to be Jesus on the Cross. The Partridge is a gift that continues to give in the form of feathers, eggs, breeding stock, and meat. Christ’s death and resurrection saved all those who believe and is continuing to save us. Truly, it is a gift that keeps on giving.
DAY TWO: Our Two Turtledoves represent the Old and the New Testament. Both play an important part in forming our theology in how we see ourselves, God, sin, and what God has done/is doing to save us from our sin, and what is the way we are called to respond to him.
DAY THREE: Three French Hens are meant to be representative of Faith, Hope, and Charity. They should be a part of every Christian life
DAY FOUR: Four Calling Birds are meant to be be a picture if the Four Gospels. Each tells the story of Christ’s mo istry, but each has a unique viewpoint and is written to a different audience and has a different purpose.
And now we come to DAY FIVE.
Five Golden Rings
When talk about Five Golden Rings we are talking about the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These books are known by different names: their names (ie. Genesis), the Books of Moses, the Pentetauch, the Books of the Law, and Torah.
Each of these books builds on the one proceeding it to build a picture. God created man, who sinned and was removed from the paradise God created. God tells man that he has a plan to reconcile man back to him. Man had a serious sin problem that has progressed through the generations. God chooses to work out his plan through the man Abraham. Genesis then follows thus family’s story through four general they learn to have faith.
The family becomes a people. And then this people becomes a nation. Once they are a nation they choose corporately to be faith to him and enter into covenant with him. Covenant means that someone who is lower in status enters into an agreement with someone higher in status (Israel to God), and if the lower entity doesn’t meet the terms of agreement they suffer the consequences.
The people of Isreal are given laws that are both morale, practical, ceremonial that are meant to show both the people of Israel and those peoples that are surrounding them that they are called to be different. They should look different than those pagan peoples around them, act different, but most importantly they should be different.
But because people, all people, are sinful the Hebrew people fail, and they don’t have perfect faith, and they doubt, and they fight amongst themselves. As a result they face the consequences of their actions, but God is still faithful to them. And at the end, the Pentetauch closes with the people preparing to enter the land God promised would go to Abraham.
This a very abridged summary of the Pentetauch, but the two things I think are most important from the Pentetauch to remember is that A) God is the creator and because he is creator and we are the creation he alone is worthy of worship and the only entity that deserves the designation of “god”. B) As one of my college professors (Dr. Mile Hubbard) used to say, “Nineteen comes before Twenty” – referencing Exodus. I referenced earlier that the Pentetauch is also known as the Book of the Law. In my opinion, I think that is misleading. Scripture isn’t a series of rules and consequences: its about how do I react/respond to the other person in this relationship. Because God is God, and I am a sinful, flawed person, although I am saved by grace and I can come before God without a sacrificial system, he is still God. And as with any relationship there are appropriate and inappropriate ways to interact. God set a standard of how we are to interact with him, but also with other sinful people. And when we don’t interact appropriately we face consequences, both specific to that failure (like not entering Canaan) but also the the ongoing results of those choices. We face death because of Adam’s sin (Genesis 3).
But God is still faithful. He does what he says he will – even when it is in a way that is unexpected. I hope that when you look at your life, even when it’s hard you are able to remember thus truth: God is faithful.
Road Trippin With Rachael 
Leave a comment