Blog post: Ex 29

5 files changed, 77 insertions, 16 deletions

diff --git a/public/css/base.css b/public/css/base.css
index 5e37f43..a22ca34 100644
--- a/public/css/base.css
+++ b/public/css/base.css
@@ -696,3 +696,6 @@ sub {
   display: none;
 }
 
+.small-caps {
+  font-variant: small-caps;
+}
diff --git a/public/css/blog.css b/public/css/blog.css
index 35aaa35..88f201a 100644
--- a/public/css/blog.css
+++ b/public/css/blog.css
@@ -2,3 +2,7 @@
   font-style: italic;
   font-size: 80%;
 }
+
+article > aside {
+  width: 100%;
+}
diff --git a/public/css/hcard.css b/public/css/hcard.css
index 7fa93d9..99431d9 100644
--- a/public/css/hcard.css
+++ b/public/css/hcard.css
@@ -1,21 +1,21 @@
 .u-photo {
-  margin-inline: auto;
-  margin-block-end: 3rem;
+	margin-inline: auto;
+	margin-block-end: 3rem;
 }
 
 @media (min-width: 48rem) {
-  .h-card {
-	display: flex;
-	gap: 1rem;
-	align-items: center;
-  }
+	.h-card:not(.h-card--minimal) {
+		display: flex;
+		gap: 1rem;
+		align-items: center;
+	}
 
   .u-photo {
-	margin: 0;
-  }
+		margin: 0;
+	}
 }
 
 .u-photo {
-  width: 256px;
+	width: 256px;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/content/blog/2024/04/11/who_consecrates_the_temple.md b/src/content/blog/2024/04/11/who_consecrates_the_temple.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1364f5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/content/blog/2024/04/11/who_consecrates_the_temple.md
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+---
+title: Who consecrates the tabernacle? (Ex 29)
+description: A quick, cursory and possibly completely rubbish observation I've made on Exodus 29.
+pubDate:
+  year: 2024
+  month: 04
+  day: 11
+---
+
+I've been reading Exodus recently, and the ending of Chapter 29 stuck out to me.
+
+For pages and pages (since Chapter 25!) God has been giving Moses exact and
+exorbitant instructions for how to build the tabernacle, what offerings to give
+upon it, who the priests are going to be, what the priests are going to be
+wearing. It's the fanciest IKEA manual you've ever read. No expense spared.
+Everything is drowning in gold, silver, incense, myrrh, silk, fragrant oil, you
+name it.
+
+What's this about? The answer seems obvious: it's to sanctify the temple! To
+make it beautiful enough and pure enough that even God could live there.
+
+But right at the end of Chapter 29, in vv 43-44, there's this wonderful twist:
+
+> ... and the place will be consecrated by **my glory**. So **I** will
+> consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his
+> sons to serve me as priests. (NIV, emphasis mine)
+
+All this work, and at the end of the day, it's **God** who sanctifies his own
+temple? So why all the fuss? Well, it looks like the final two verses of the
+chapter give us the answer:
+
+> Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I
+> am the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> their God, who brought them out of
+> Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the
+> <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> their God.
+
+So on a cursory reading, it looks like God is telling them something
+extraordinary about the kind of God he is. He is not like the other gods, who
+demand this kind of worship to appease their pride. Nor is there, unlike the
+other gods, anything the Israelites could do to make a place habitable for him.
+That's because there's nothing the Israelites could do to cleanse themselves of
+their sin: only the 'glory' of God could do that. And indeed, God has no need of
+worship to puff up his pride, since his glory existed before the world was made,
+and human beings can do nothing to either add to it or subtract from it.
+
+Instead of a vain god who seeks tribute, this is a Father God who seeks to
+'dwell' (literally to 'camp') among his people. The God who has put into motion
+a rescue plan to pull the Israelites out of Egypt specifically for this purpose.
+As it was in the beginning, when God dwelt in the Garden with Adam and Eve. This
+is his mission. This is what he's like. And he wants his people to know this, so
+that they can dwell together.
diff --git a/src/layouts/BlogPost.astro b/src/layouts/BlogPost.astro
index 25f76e6..b709356 100644
--- a/src/layouts/BlogPost.astro
+++ b/src/layouts/BlogPost.astro
@@ -24,15 +24,18 @@ const updatedDateStr = updatedDate ?
 	<body>
 		<article class="h-entry">
 			<aside>
-				<p>This is a blog post by <a class="p-author h-card" href="/">Joe Carstairs</a></p>
+				<span>
+					This is a blog post by
+					<a class="p-author h-card h-card--minimal" href="/">Joe Carstairs</a>.
+				</span>
 				{ updatedDate
 					? (
-						<p>Updated: <FormattedDate date={updatedDateStr} className="dt-updated"/></p>
-						<p>Originally published: <FormattedDate date={pubDateStr} className="dt-published"/></p>
-					) : <p>Published: <FormattedDate date={pubDateStr} className="dt-published"/></p>
+						<span>Updated: <FormattedDate date={updatedDateStr} className="dt-updated"/>.</span>
+						<span>Originally published: <FormattedDate date={pubDateStr} className="dt-published"/>.</span>
+					) : <span>Published: <FormattedDate date={pubDateStr} className="dt-published"/>.</span>
 				}
-				<p>Go back to his <a href="/blog">blog</a> if you like.</p>
-				<p><a class="u-url uid" href={canonicalUrl}>Permalink</a></p>
+				<span>Go back to his <a href="/blog">blog</a> if you like.</span>
+				<span><a class="u-url uid" href={canonicalUrl}>Permalink</a></span>
 	  		</aside>
 
 			<h1 class="h-name">{title}</h1>