The Scriptures have a way of reducing to absurdity the self-justifying questions that we often ask.  For instance, when Jesus was asked “who is my neighbor?” by a lawyer who wanted to know who he was required to love and who he was not, Jesus tells the story of a despised Samaritan who would be a neighbor.

Here is such a question in our day.  When does life begin?  When does a fetus become a person? 

Conception?  “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.”  Quickening?  “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Wonderful are your works, my soul knows it very well.”  Viability?  “My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.”  Birth?  “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” 

Peter Leithart has a helpful reflection, available online, having to do with this passage.  The Hebrew word roqem is used to describe the intricate embroidery God called for in the weaving of the tabernacle curtains.  It is the same word used in Psalm 139 to describe God’s careful work in creating life.  As any reader of the Old Testament will appreciate, to violate the sacred space of the tabernacle was to put oneself at great risk of the wrath of God.  An excerpt:

With its allusions to the roqem work of the tabernacle, the Psalm goes further, implying not only that God has made the infant in the womb, but also that the infant is being woven into a dwelling for God. Abortion attacks not only a creature of God but a house of God. The abortionist’s instruments pierce through the unfinished roqem curtains and tread on holy ground. We are talking here not only about slaughter of the innocent but about sacrilege, a direct attack on “space” claimed by God. That is the most serious offense possible. Paul’s warning hovers ominously over our nation: “If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy.”

In dealing with human life, we are on holy ground.  If God is jealous for his tabernacle, how much more is he jealous for what his tabernacle represents, we who are woven in the image and likeness of God.

Ross Blackburn

Leithart’s reflection can be found here: http://www.firstthings.com/article/2007/01/attacking-the-tabernacle-20

Hidden away in the book of Ezra is a poignant example of what it means to seek God.  The time of Ezra was one of the highpoints in the life of the people of God.  Having lived in Babylonian exile for several generations, the people of Judah were now returning to their land, and their temple and city walls were being rebuilt.  But there were challenges—there was opposition to both the building of the wall and the temple.  And there was the real issue of the people returning safely.  It is this issue, the safe return of the people, that prompted Ezra to pray:

Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods.  For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, “The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.”  So we fasted and implored our God for this and he listened to our entreaty.  Ezra 8:21-23

Why was Ezra ashamed to ask the king for protection?  Well, they had told the king that the Lord does good to those who seek him.  What would the king think if they asked for his help?  Was the Lord unwilling to do them good?  Unable?  Did Ezra really believe what he had told the king?  If the Lord does good for all who seek Him, then they should seek Him.  And so they did.  And the Lord heard.