Year 7, Day 151: Numbers 36

Theological Commentary: Click Here

I find my reaction to this passage strangely different to the chapter that I read a week or so ago.  When we first read about Zelophehad, we get the impression of a grace-filled God who desires to accommodate circumstances more than inflexibly enforce legislation.  I remember praising that chapter well!

In this chapter, though, I find myself chaffing against the same pronouncement.  However, I think I have more against the way the pronouncement is made than the pronouncement in general.  Do you hear how the women are forced to marry within the clan even though they are retaining their inheritance?  For me, this has all of the trappings of maintaining the status quo than it does of being compassionate in the moment.

Don’t get me wrong.  It is highly possible that I am extrapolating a legal ruler meant for that particular time and place into a new time and place where it does not fit.  In those days, people would not stry far from home.  They would not likely have many relationships outside of their clan.  They would probably marry within their clan in the normal course of action.  In the time in which this was written, the ruling would not have likely had any significant consequences.

My point in all of this is that we need to be careful.  We should never seek to relegate teachings in scripture to their culture and think that they have nothing to teach us.  Equally wrong, however, is to forget that the teachings in the Bible are cultural documents.  At times like this, when rules are being established in preparation for conquest of a new land, we should remember the context.  There is a need to balance the letter of the Law with the spirit of the Law.

The good news is that I find this to be a friendly struggle.  This is the very struggle that Jesus felt in his time on earth.  This is the battle that he had with the Pharisees, Herodians, and Sadducees.  This is a battle that we as human beings don’t often get write, and we certainly always struggle with it.  It is good to have chapters like this to remind us that being obedient to God is about balance in the context of life, not strict and blind obedience.

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Year 7, Day 150: Numbers 35

Theological Commentary: Click Here

What I love about this chapter is the successful mixture of law and grace.  We don’t have too much law so that there is oppression.  Neither do we have too much grace so that there are no consequences.  We have balance, as we would expect with a perfect God.

We start with the city of refuge concept.  The city of refuge is a place that someone can flee to in the instance that a life was lost.  For the record, I think it is really important that we understand the specific circumstance of the city of refuge, as many in our culture want to take this idea and use it to save anyone.  The city of refuge was specifically for the person who was involved in a case where life was lost.  It was a place that a person could go until it was determined whether the loss of life was a manslaughter or a murder.  It was a place where the perpetrator of the crime could go until a jury of his peers – the congregation – could be gathered to judge his crime.

No harm could come to the perpetrator while he was in the city of refuge.  No vengeance could be taken until the trial was held.  Here is one dynamic of grace.  The city of refuge was meant to protect people until judgment could be determined.

Once judgement was determined, we have the law and consequences come forth.  If the person was guilty of murder, not even the city of refuge could protect the person.  The murder was executed for their crime.  Now we see the law come in and consequences are meted out.

The perpetrator of manslaughter – a crime where someone died and there was no evidence of forethought to the crime – could be protected within the city.  These people would be considered safe within the walls of the city.  The crime of manslaughter was not punishable by death within a city of refuge.  The perpetrator of manslaughter could live out a full life within the city of refuge.  Here we see more grace.

We do have a condition where the perpetrator of manslaughter could be put to death.  Should such a criminal leave the city of refuge, they could be caught and have vengeance applied by the family of the victim.  In fact, the Bible is clear that such an act of vengeance would not even incur any guilt!  This means that while the perpetrator of manslaughter was safe within the city, they could never leave the protection of the city.  The city of refuge became both a place of refuge as well as a jail for them.  There are consequences applied, even in the greater context off grace.  Here we see once more that there is the balance of the law.

This is a very important chapter for me to remember as I try to balance the law and grace in my life.  I must pursue the greater context of grace.  God is incredibly gracious to me in my life, I must demonstrate God’s grace to others in their life through my actions.  However, there is a problem with only extending grace.  When the balance of the law is removed, there are no consequences.  Then the balance of the law is removed, we have a self-entitled society that thinks of the individual ahead of the collective.  In fact, in a truly off-balance society, we end up with a society that thinks only of itself and never of the other.  As we see in this chapter, we must try to always remember that grace and law exist in balance when we are living a godly life.

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Year 7, Day 149: Numbers 34

Theological Commentary: Click Here

There is something to be said for planning and expectation.  Every single person that I know truly enjoys the feeling of knowing what to expect when a time of difficulty is about to happen.  Military people spend almost all of their time drilling for those unexpected circumstances of action so that they actually do know what to expect. As a teacher, I always like to know what to expect when my schedule is interrupted with fied trips special assemblies, testing days, etc.  Even when we are driving on the road we pull out maps, GPS devices, and phones to help tell us about the traffic and what to expect.  The reality is that human beings prefer to be in a state of knowing what to expect – especially as familiarity decreases.

I think this is the brilliance of this chapter in Numbers.  Before the people go in, Moses tells them what to expect.  He tells them what the Lord has told him.  He tells them the boundaries of the land that they are about to conquer.  He tells them the leaders of the people who are going to be making the decisions about who gets what share of the land.  The people are about to undertake a massive military campaign to push the native inhabitants out of the land.  Moses wants them to see the end result and know what to expect when they get there.

As much as we would care to deny it, there is a lot of uncertainty in everyday life.  I don’t know that a car won’t collide with my car on the way to work.  I don’t know that a fire might not start at my place of employment of my home while I’m gone.  I don’t know that my health or the health of any of my family might not give out at any time.  When we look at the big picture of life, there is plenty of uncertainty.  That’s why we need to feel like we know what to expect.  Knowing what to expect helps us deal with the uncertainty.

This is part of why my relationship with God is so important to me.  I like living knowing that God can work all things to His glory.  I like living knowing that God can take anything and work His hand in it.  I like knowing that in the end, there is a place for me to abide in His eternal glory.  I like living in that comfort and stability in the midst of a very uncertain world.

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Year 7, Day 148: Numbers 33

Theological Commentary: Click Here

It’s time to be completely transparent.  I read chapters like this and immediately have to fight the urge to gloss over the words.  After all, how interesting is it to read about where the Hebrew people traveled?

We must remember that there is great value in remembering where you have come from.  There is great value in community recognition.  We need to pass down the stories about what has come before us so that we can learn from the example.  We need to learn to imitate the good things.  We need to learn to avoid the bad things.  That’s what this chapter is all about.

We hear about the fact that God brought the people out of Egypt.  We hear that they went into the desert for God’s sake.  We then hear about all of the wandering that the people did.

Moses is recounting this story so that the people remember from where they came.  As they transition into the conquest of the Promised Land, Moses wants them to stay focused on their calling.  God has called them to the Promised Land.  God has called them to bring judgment upon the native Canaanites.  God has called them to drive out the Canaanites and inhabit the land themselves.  They will need to remember from where they’ve come and who brought them here in order to accomplish the task ahead successfully.

Moses also wants to make sure that the people realize the consequences of not accomplishing the task.  If they do not drive out the people, the native people will be a constant thorn in their side.  Unfortunately, we know that it is this very scenario that plays out.  The people will lose sight of from where they came and who brought them there.  They will become complacent and accepting.  Eventually, they too will become tossed out of Canaan by the Babylonians and the Assyrians much like the Canaanites before them.  Chapters like this and the messages they contain are easy to overlook and vital to our continued faithfulness.

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Year 7, Day 147: Numbers 32

Theological Commentary: Click Here

When I read this chapter, I discover another example of a teaching that it took me several years of my adult life to embrace.  We cannot only judge people by their actions and their words.  We need to know their heart, their inner motivations, before truly knowing whether something that they do is right or wrong.  It is so much easier to create a static list of rights and wrongs and then judge people by where their actions fall.  But this is not effective and true.  I can’t tell a person’s sin just by what they do.  I need to know them, first.

How do we see this in the story?  Some of the Hebrew people see the land east of the Jordan river and ask Moses if they can settle there instead.  Moses immediately hears their words and compares them to the sinful generation who were afraid to follow God into the Promised Land.  Moses remembered the decision that kept him wandering through the desert for forty years, and this request sounds suspiciously like that fateful day.  Moses intercedes, reminding the people who are making this request about the failings of their parents.

This generation, however, surprises us.  Once Moses takes the time to get to know their motives, he figures out that they are making the request because they genuinely like the land.  They aren’t afraid to go into the land and conquer it!  They will do their duty willingly.  They simply like this particular area of fertile ground.

In this we learn the value of knowing the human heart.  There are a host of reasons to not want to cross into the Promised Land.  Some of them are genuine as we see in this chapter.  Some of them could be disingenuous as we see at the beginning of the wandering in the desert.  If all we did is look at the action, we might easily mistake one for the other.

This is ultimately why relationship is important.  If we are not careful, we sit off in a distance and judge people as they go by without knowing anything about their life.  We make assumptions and rationalize our judgmental nature.  What relationship does is to help mitigate this cold and distant permission to judge.  Relationship teaches us to know people and walk life in their shoes.  Once we get to know people and not just observe them, we are far more equipped to be God’s influence in the world.

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Year 7, Day 146: Numbers 31

Theological Commentary: Click Here

There are several really neat dynamics within this passage.  First of all, God sends the Hebrew people out against the Midianites prior to Moses’ death.  God wants to finish what Balaam started a few chapters back.  God wants to prove that His favor is with the Hebrew people right now.

When the Hebrew people do go out and fight, they decide to kill all the men but keep the women and children.  Of course, from the perspective of the ancient world, this action makes sense.  When the Hebrew people do take possession of Canaan, they are going to need slaves to do all of the hard work so that these Hebrew people can live in luxury.  These Hebrew people are just trying to lighten their work load.

Please don’t misunderstand me.  I’m not trying to justify what they did.  What they did was wrong.  In fact, that’s really my point.  What they did was wrong, yet it makes perfect sense from a worldly mindset.  The point should be clear.  Often what the world thinks makes sense is truly wrong.

Furthermore, think about the lasting effects of their decision.  God is rejecting the native people of Canaan because of their false worship and their lifestyle.  If these Hebrew people bring a bunch of slaves into the land with them, they will also be bringing in their gods and all of the things that God has rejected!

What I love about the end of this chapter is the grace the is shown to these warriors.  In spite of their decision to keep the Midianites alive, they suffer no consequences.  Instead, they are told about why their decision was wrong and then told to go and make amends.  Then they are told to purify themselves because of their recent combat.  Then life goes on as normal.  It shows that we need to be a people who forgive mistakes and who teach and support people who do make mistakes.

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Year 7, Day 145: Numbers 30

Theological Commentary: Click Here

It is so easy to get wrapped up in the man vs. woman debate when reading this passage.  Now that I’ve mentioned it, I also want to avoid it.  If you want to hear my thoughts on that dynamic, click on the theological commentary link above.

Instead, I want to focus on what I consider to be the more important theme in this passage.  Ultimately, this passage is about people learning to keep their word.  This chapter teaches us that when we make a promise, we need to try our very best to make that promise come to fruition.  After all, we serve a God who kept His promises – even sending His own Son to die so that His promises would be kept.  God keeps His promises, it shouldn’t surprise us that He wants us to keep ours, too.

Furthermore, if we are going to keep our promises, then we really need to think before we speak.  When we open up our mouths, the thought should have crosses our mind and we should approve of it.  After all, how can we be expected to keep our every word if we haven’t taken the time to process and think through our words?

Truthfully, I think this is a chapter that can really bring benefit to our modern culture if we don’t allow ourselves to get hung up in a debate about the sexes.  We live in a culture that is about immediate gratification.  We live in a culture where much of our contact with other people is done via quick texts, even quicker snapchats, and impersonal Facebook posts.  Our culture is becoming a culture where there is no personal consequence for the words that come out of our mouth.  I believe the results of such a culture are coming more and more to bear.  We can learn much from the underlying premise of this chapter indeed.

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Year 7, Day 144: Numbers 29

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Today, I am going to start with the fifteenth and the eight day of the festival.  Hopefully as you read, you picked up on the differences within the paragraphs that reference these.  These days are holy days.  These days are days without normal work to be done.  Naturally, being seven days apart, these days would line up with the idea of Sabbath.

If we step back from this concept, for a second, we can rationalize it really quickly.  We are very comfortable with the idea that Sabbath means no normal work.  It fits really well with what we understand of traditional Judaism.

On the other hand, let’s look at the non-Sabbath days.  These are also days of worship, yet there is no prohibition for normal work on these days.  What does this tell us?  I believe the message is subtle, yet clear.  Worship does not have to be separate from life.  We can worship God while going about our life.  We can worship God while being in the world.

So often we like to compartmentalize.  We think that there is worldly life and then there is godly worship.  What we see here in this chapter, though, is different.  There is worship while we go about our worldly business and there is worship while we separate ourselves from our worldly work.  In other words, we can take God with us wherever we are.  We may not think of worshipping God while we are out and about in the world, but that is our problem and not God’s problem!

In addition to this thought, I have some very interesting thoughts in my commentary from several years back.  You can read them if you want a completely different perspective on this chapter.  In that post, I focus on an entirely different element in these verses, not necessarily contrary thoughts.

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Year 7, Day 143: Numbers 28

Theological Commentary: Click Here

In the blog post to which I reference above, I end with a tally of the amount of sacrifices that this chapter would require.  I find it a rather neat total.  It isn’t neat in that the numbers are of any great significance.  It’s neat in the sheer volume of sacrifice that is required on a yearly basis.

That being said, let me take a step back and acknowledge something.  I am not saying that the sacrificing is neat because all of these animals had to die.  I am not a fan of the slaughter of innocent animals, nor do I promote any kind of senseless killing.  I’m not celebrating the death of these animals in any way other than they are killed at the command of God.

Having said that, let’s talk about why I find this neat.  If we do the math, we find that the Hebrew people are being asked to sacrifice well over a thousand animals, well over a ton of grain, and over a thousand containers of oil and wine.  Why is this neat?  It is neat because in order for the people to accomplish this, they must have had it in the first place!

In other words, it guides us to a necessary aspect of God’s character.  God only asks us to give back to Him out of what He has already given to us.  He doesn’t even require us to give it all back.  God only asks us to give back a portion of His provision.  God is a very understanding God.

Furthermore, we learn about His provision.  If God is going to ask for a significant sacrifice, He’s going to give an even more significant provision!  That is an important thought to have.  We cannot out-give God’s provision in our life.  When we read chapters like this, we should be reminded about the provision of God that allows chapters like this to even be possible in the first place.

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Year 7, Day 142: Numbers 27

Theological Commentary: Click Here

For today, I’m going to talk about the daughters of Zelophehad.  Probability tells us that this situation would happen.  Even though families back in those days would have between 10 and 20 children, only about 3-7 would make it to five years old.  Of those, usually only 2 or 3 would make it to adulthood.  Naturally, we would have families whose only offspring would be girls.  In the modern world, this wouldn’t be a problem.  In the ancient world, where inheritance was passed from man to man, this was a large problem.  What do you do with an inheritance if there were no men to receive it?

What I love about this passage is that it shows us that that the typical critique of the Old Testament is completely wrong.  So often we hear that the Old Testament is chauvinistic.  We often hear presentations of the Old Testament that leave out the women and treat them as unimportant.  In this passage, we see that God isn’t this way at all!  God has no trouble with the inheritance of a man being passed into his daughters!  If God truly preferred men to women, he would have overlooked these daughters of Zelophehad and send the inheritance on to the man’s brothers directly.  This is not what God does.  The inheritance goes to the daughters.

Second, this shows us the flexibility of God.  So often we hear about God in terms of rigidity.  God is not rigid at all!  God understands that life and circumstances bring change.  When necessary, we absolutely need to think and make decisions based on the life around us.  We are not designed and created to be automatons.  God did not give us a brain so that we could abdicate critical thinking!  God desires us to always be willing to think as we apply His ways to our life.

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Year 7, Day 141: Numbers 26

Theological Commentary: Click Here

If we look at this census and compare it to the census that was done at the beginning of the time in the wilderness, we notice that the number of Hebrew people went down. In Numbers 1 we hear that the number of grown men was 603,550.  In Numbers 26, we hear that the number is now 601, 730.  Naturally, this is forty years later.  We wouldn’t expect the number to be the same.

What I find significant, though, is that it was this grumbling and complaining generation that experiences the decrease.  They had every opportunity to trust in God, to enter the Promised Land, to take over, and to prosper under God’s provision.  Instead, they lived in fear and wanted to lean on their own strength.  This decision led to a decrease in the size and strength off the people.  When we reside in our own strength and grumble against the Lord, why would He prosper us?

The other dynamic hear that I find significant is the way that this chapter ends.  Only two adult people – Caleb and Joshua – who left Egypt were listed on the census as they get ready to enter into the Promised Land.  In other words, God fulfills His promises.  Even when the promises aren’t particularly pleasant, God is true to His word.  When God says that He will wait to bless the next generation, He means it!

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Year 7, Day 140: Numbers 25

Theological Commentary: Click Here

If we only look on the surface of this story, it is easy to be offended by what we read today.  After all, in this chapter God applauds the fact that one of his high priests goes to a man and kills him and his wife simply because she is a Midianite.  If that is all the deeper that we read into this story, we get the wrong picture.

In fact, what is going on here is a very subtle deception of the Hebrew people.  The people of Moab decided to be friendly to the Hebrew people.  They started to invite the Hebrew people to live among them.  They started teaching the Hebrew people their ways.  As the Hebrew people mingled, they started losing their relationship with God. They started worshipping other things.

What God applauds is someone who is willing to stand up against the subtle corruption of God’s people and draw a line in the sand.  God applauds someone who is willing to see what is going on and actually do something about it.  This has less to do with the nationality of the woman and everything to do with the fact that the people are falling away from God because of the subtle corruption of the world around them.

I think this is a pertinent message for most modern people.  Everywhere we look, we can see the corruption of the world around us.  The world wants us to become more like it and less like God.  The world wants us to forsake the special calling that God has for us in our life and become absorbed into its lifestyle.  The world invites us in to pull us away from God.

What God needs, then, is more people like Phinehas.  No, we don’t need to go around killing people who fall into the temptation of the world.  But we do need people who will speak boldly against the world.  We need people who will rise up and live a life committed to a higher standard. We need people who value speaking truth into the lives of others more than it values acceptance from the world.  That’s what we need.  That’s what God applauds.

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Year 7, Day 139: Numbers 24

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Today we get a chance to really see where Balaam’s heart resides.  By the third temptation, Balaam doesn’t need to go and consult God to do His will.  He knows what God will say.  He knows where God’s heart is.  It’s not that Balaam is opposed to going to God, he just doesn’t need to.  By this point in time, he and God are in a like mind.  He blesses the Hebrew people a third time.  He doesn’t care about the wealth and prosperity that Balak can offer to him.  He cares about being in a like-mind to God.  That’s highly commendable.

As for Balak, look at how he responds.  He is angry.  He doesn’t get his way.  He dismisses Balaam.  To his credit, he doesn’t try to get even or harm Balaam.  But Balak refuses to see what God is trying to tell him.  He refuses to pay attention to the fact that these are God’s people.  Instead of looking to see what God is doing and being intrigued, he goes away and finds interest back in His own thoughts and his own ways.

I typically enjoy the Balaam discourse when I study it in scripture.  I find it to be a very true and honest discourse on human behavior.  We are tempted.  We fall away.  We ignore the people around us why try to keep us safe and alert us to the danger of our choices.  Eventually we listen.   We return to God.  We become like-minded with God and we gain His perspective.  This is just such a simple and true perspective on what faith is like and what relationship with God looks like from His perspective.

The amazing thing in all of this is that He still loves us and wants to work with us.  That is a thought worth having.  Again and again the witness of God’s Word is that even though His servants are flawed, He still loves them and invites them into what He is doing in their life.

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Year 7, Day 138: Numbers 23

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Once more, we get a great perspective on humanity.  Balak has bought Balaam’s attention.  He thinks that he can also buy his allegiance.  This is an incredibly true thought with regard to human beings.  People in power think that they can buy their way.  People with things to offer others try to use what they have to buy their heart’s desire.  Balak absolutely thinks that he can buy Balaam’s words.

I was pretty harsh against Balaam yesterday, although I wasn’t any harsher on Balaam than I was on myself.  The neat thing about today’s reading is that we see that Balaam is absolutely teachable.  He makes his mistakes in allowing himself to come to Balak.  But he does not allow himself to be completely sold out.  He comes, but he is not for sale.  Balaam does go where Balak leads him, but Balaam only prophesies what God tells Him to speak.

I give Balaam a lot of credit.  While he is not always lifted up as the greatest example, I hope that in my times of temptation I will remember to be loyal to the Father.  Even when I bring those moments of temptation down upon myself because of my poor choices, I hope that when push comes to shove I will stand upon my convictions.

Before I leave, I want to return back to Balak.  Do you hear what Balak does when Balaam doesn’t give him his way in first blessing?  Balak takes Balaam to a place where Balaam cannot see the whole of the people.  What Balak is trying to do is to manipulate the circumstances to his favor so that Balaam will be more inclined to see things Balak’s way than see them according to God’s perspective.  This is important to see as well.  People don’t often take it well when they don’t get their way.  They will manipulate life around them to get their way.  Yes, if I’m not careful I’ll do it, too.  I’m just as human as the next guy.

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Year 7, Day 137: Numbers 22

Theological Commentary: Click Here

This is a great chapter.  Where else but in this chapter do you get a talking donkey?  In fact, not only does the donkey talk, the donkey is very street smart!  The donkey knows enough to protect itself from the Lord.  In doing so, he protects Balaam.  The only problem is that Balaam isn’t smart enough to see the danger himself!

Let’s back up the story and find out how this points us to the real issue.  After all, why is God so angry when He is the one who told Balaam to go with the men?

If we look back to the very beginning, we can discover the answers.  Balak and some other leaders come to Balaam and offer him a good sum of money.  They want to buy his favor.  They want to buy his favor because they know that God listens to him and he listens to God.  The people that Balaam curses are truly cursed.

Naturally, God doesn’t want His services being bought.  Neither does God want His servants being bought.  God tells Balaam to tell the men to go home.  That sounds reasonable.  That sounds like God.

However, that’s not the end of the story.  The people come back.  They appeal to Balaam once more.  No doubt they remind him just how lucrative the proposal would be.  Balaam listens and invites them to stay.  Although God has already said no, Balaam comes back to God.  Balaam has been tempted by their offering.

I think we see in this passage just how human Balaam happens to be.  He is willing to listen to God.  But he is also willing to allow himself to be tempted.  He is willing to look past his relationship with God – and more importantly, God’s command.  He is willing to desire wealth and prosperity more than God.

This brings us back to the story with Balaam and his donkey.  Why can’t Balaam see the angel of the Lord that is threatening him?  He can’t see because his eye is focused elsewhere.  Balaam isn’t looking to God with all that wealth before him.  The donkey can see to save his life.  Balaam is tempted into the world.  This is why God has every right to be angry.  His servant is walking down the road to sin.

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Year 7, Day 136: Numbers 21

Theological Commentary: Click Here

The Hebrew people are getting ready to enter into the Promised Land.  Their forty years of wandering in the desert are coming to an end.  The begin to advance upon the nations surrounding Canaan.  Naturally, they experience resistance.

Do you hear how many of the nations don’t want the Hebrew people coming through their land?  On one hand, it makes no logical sense.  Why would you make yourself a stench in the eyes of a group of people who are numerous and who just want to cross through your land and get to their real destination?  Why come out and fight them and risk losing?  Why not just let them through?

On the other hand, though, it makes perfect sense.  In order to let them through your land, you have to trust them.  The native people have no reason to trust these wandering Hebrew people.  Furthermore, they are on their way to drive out the residents of Canaan.  This proposes two potential problems.  First, where are the dispossessed Canaanites going to go?  Second, if the Hebrew people are strong enough to possess Canaan, who is to say that they aren’t strong enough to come back and possess the land that they got a free pass to walk through and inspect?

In any case, though, these neighboring nations resist the Hebrew people.  In resisting, they make the wrong choice and oppose God.  They are defeated by the Hebrew people on their way to accomplishing the will of the Lord.  The lesson we can take from this is that God’s will shall be done.  There will be all kinds of exterior resistance, but God will prevail in the end.

However, this is not the extent of the resistance.  Do you hear the internal resistance?  The people are nearing the end of their journey and they are still complaining?  They are still troubled by the food that has literally been falling into their laps six out of every seven days for the last forty years!  The truth is that our own internal resistance to God’s will is just as much of a danger as the external resistance.  We like to think that we are in line with God.  The truth, though, is that if we are not careful we will find ourselves in every bit as much resistance internally as those who are external to God’s will.

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Year 7, Day 135: Numbers 20

Theological Commentary: Click Here

In Numbers 20, we have a really neat sequence of stories.  We do encounter the deaths of Miriam and Aaron.  This is our clue that the time of the Exodus is coming to an end.  The leadership of the people are dying.  What we can learn from this is that we are not the be all and end all that we think we are.  God’s plan carries on with us and without us.  He desires to use us, of course!  But when our time has passed, He will still be at work in this world.  This story reminds us to keep our perspective.  We are a part of His plan, not the other way around.

We also hear about the fact that the Hebrew people are denied access to the land of Edom.  They are clearly on their way into the Promised Land, but things are not going well.  In other words, the world will resist the plan of God.  Therefore, we should not give up just because we encounter a little resistance. If we are following the will of God, we should persist even in the path of substantial resistance.

My favorite part of this chapter, however, is the story of the water.  No, I don’t particularly enjoy watching Moses stumble and be told that he has sinned in the presence of God.  His mistake is so simple, even!  He is told to tell the rock to bring forth water and he strikes the rock with the staff instead.  In his arrogance, he stops being humble before the Lord.  This is the kind of mistake that I could see myself making all the time.  It isn’t that Moses wants to be disobedient; he is just a little careless.

What I like about this story, though, is that God is forgiving.  God doesn’t cast Moses off.  He doesn’t toss him to the curb.  God continues to work with Moses.  Yes, there are consequences.  Yes, Moses will have to hand over the leadership of the people to Joshua before entering the Promised Land.  But Moses and God still have relationship.  There is forgiveness and restoration of relationship.  That is the God we serve.

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Year 7, Day 134: Numbers 19

Theological Commentary: Click Here

There is lots of talk about dead bodies in this passage.  While it may feel odd to wonder why God spends time giving out instructions, I think the study of these passages can benefit us.  We can get both literal and figurative understandings from these words.

Let’s deal with the obvious first.  Literally, these passages help with cleanliness among the people.  When people die, their bodies immediately start to decay.  That means that there are germs, disease, and bacteria forming.  In the ancient world, with their obvious lack of refrigeration, those bacteria would form quickly.  Coming in contact with a dead body was literally a time of impurity.  The people would want to be careful with their bathing and cleaning after dealing with the dead.

There is a neat spiritual learning that we can get from this more literal understanding.  Because of the chance for impurity, God could have simply banned the contact with the dead.  God could have told the people to avoid the dead at all costs.  This is not how God works, however.  God knows that dealing with the dead is a vital role in community.  Therefore, God makes provision for the action, even though the action directly leads to impurity.  God understands that the high road is not always possible in society.  Sometimes we must take the road of impurity, go among sickness, and come out the other side knowing that we need to take care of any purity issues that we might face.  There is a clear analogy from this literal scenario to the spiritual call of living in the world but always remembering to not be of the world.

Let’s now move on to a more figurative learning that we can gather.  I think that it is interesting that God gives a timeline for the purity.  After all, if this chapter was just about the literal concern for disease and bacteria, why would seven days and multiple washings be needed?  One good washing will take care of any external bacteria.  I believe what God is doing here is teaching the people that there is a time for mourning and then there is a definite time for moving on. Many people and many cultures – for example the Egyptians from whom the Hebrew people are fleeing – mourn their beloved dead ones until they turn their mourning into a sort of ritualistic worship.  In many people, dead loved ones almost become little gods in their eyes.  In this passage, God is reminding us that there absolutely is a time for mourning the dead.  But we need to move along in our lives and go forward in life.  There is a time to remember that it is God who is the source of life, not the loved one who is not blessedly dead.

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Year 7, Day 133: Numbers 18

Theological Commentary: Click Here

This chapter is all about the priests and Levites.  In the beginning, we hear about their duty.  They are the ones who are to make sure that the sacrifices are done.  They are the ones who are to make sure that God is remembered among the people.  Their job is to be the bridge between God and the people.

To this end, God tells them that they are holy.  Their holiness comes with a price, though.  God is quite clear with them.  Because they are holy, they have absolutely no worldly inheritance among the people.  They don’t get land.  They are separate.  They are dependent upon God to provide for their livelihood.

That’s the key, though.  They don’t get land, which means that they don’t get flocks and herds from which to provide for their families.  They do, however, get the sacrifices that are offered up.  They get the grain offerings and animal offerings.  Their proximity to God is their provision.

I think that this priestly and Levitical system can speak to us in modern Christianity as well.  We are in the world, of course.  There is the old saying that we are to be in the world but not of the world.  Clearly, we are in the world.  But if we are truly in Christ, like the priests and Levites we may dwell among the world but we have no inheritance there.  Our inheritance lies with God.  Our inheritance comes due to our proximity to Him.

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Year 7, Day 132: Numbers 17

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Ah, human beings.  The testimony against us is really painting quite the fickle portrait.  Yesterday I talked about all of the grumbling that the Hebrew people had done up until now in the wilderness.  Yet, it continues to be a problem and God knows it.  God tells Moses to grab Aaron’s staff, as well as the staves of all the other tribal leaders, and place them in front of the presence of the Lord.  Aaron’s staff buds with flowers and almonds, indicating that God has chosen Aaron.

At some point in this story, you really should ask yourself how much God has to do to demonstrate His being to the people.  Then, you have to ask yourself how thick headed we are as human beings not to be able to pick up on what God is doing.  Finally, you should also have to ask yourself how short-sighted we are so as to not remember and be satisfied with all that God has done for us in our lives.

Those questions do drive home quite a valid point.  After all, look at how we leave the Hebrew people in this story.  God has done an incredible thing.  God has taken a staff, long separated from its roots, and caused it to blossom and fruit!  How is it that the people respond?  They assume they are doomed.  They wonder how they will ever survive.  They contemplate how they could possible ever live this close to the presence of God.

Human beings really are too fickle.  Either God is too distant and working from places where we cannot feel His presence or He is too close and causing us to change and grow because of His obvious work around us.  We want the benefits of both positions without the hard work of either. 

God can work in miraculous ways around us.  When He does, how prepared are we to react?

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Year 7, Day 131: Numbers 16

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Here we have a really neat chapter.  Of course, by really neat I mean a chapter that sees tens of thousands of people die in spectacular supernatural fashion.  The chapter is neat, but we should not forget that the chapter is also very real and contains very real consequences.  We should learn the lesson, but not relish in the death of the rebellious.

Naturally, it begins in rebellion.  Moses has continued to deal with rebellion after rebellion since they left Egypt.  There was the rebellion about food.  Then there was the rebellion of the Golden Calf.  Then there was the rebellion against the Promised Land.  Human beings often seem to live and promote rebellion.

This rebellion begins where almost all rebellions begin: the truth.  Do you hear what Korah says?  Korah says that the whole nation is holy.  He’s right!  God has separated the Hebrew people from the world.  They are all holy.  Korah absolutely begins in truth.

However, this truth of Korah quickly turns into a lie.  While all the people are holy, the reality is that God does not all call us to do the same task!  While all the Hebrew people are holy, they are not all called to be priests.  Only the sons of Aaron, a small subgroup of the Levites, were called to be priests.  The rest of the Levites had a different purpose.  The rest of the tribes had an even more different purpose.  While all the people are holy, they are not called to the same task.

This is the problem with human beings.  We take the truth and stretch it out to mean what we want it to mean.  Rather than being content with what God is asking of us, we make the truth out to imply what we desire.  That is exactly what Korah is doing here.  He is stretching beyond his means.  He wants the definition of holy to mean that he gets to offer sacrifices as a priest.  God has a different calling for Korah and those who weren’t sons of Levi.

Look at how Moses deals with this rebellion.  Moses could have challenged Korah personally.  He could have made it personal.  He doesn’t, however.  Moses allows God to deal with the situation.  Moses allows God to step into the role of judge.  From my perspective, that is mature spiritual leadership right there.

Unfortunately, the people don’t respect Moses’ maturity.  The rebellion spreads.  Even more people join the rejection of Moses.  God not only kills Korah and his immediately followers, a plague breaks out among the community.  God takes control.

However, look once more at what Moses does.  He tells Aaron to go and save the people.  Instead of relishing the judgment, Moses looks to save the rebellious people!  Again, that is spiritual maturity.  The spiritual leader is always doing damage control because human beings tend to be rather rebellious.

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Year 7, Day 130: Numbers 15

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Looking at this chapter shows several lies of potential.  For today, I’m going to focus on a dynamic that I haven’t spent much time on in the past.  As we read through this chapter and other chapters like it, we hear God say something to the Hebrew people that is easy to ignore.  There will be one rule for the Hebrew people and for sojourners.

There are several reasons to pay attention to this fact.  First of all, it tells us that God expects there to be sojourners among them.  God didn’t want the Hebrew people to wall themselves off in isolation.  God expects the Hebrew people to be in the world and inviting the world to dwell among them.  God wants the people of the world to experience relationship with God through His relationship with the Hebrew people.

Note, however, that there are rules for the sojourners.  The sojourners don’t simply come among the Hebrew people and dwell.  They don’t remain as they are.  The sojourners are expected to follow the same law – lifestyle, if you will – that the Hebrew people are asked to follow.  Being in the presence of people who have relationship with God is not enough.  We are to embrace that relationship and make it our own.

Ultimately, this leads me to see the this as a chapter of grace.  All are welcome.  All are invited.  You don’t have to be genealogically related to Abraham to have relationship with the Creator.  All can come to Him.  There are expectations, of course!  But regardless of who you are, what you’ve done, and where you come from you can absolutely come to Him and learn His ways.

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Year 7, Day 129: Numbers 14

Theological Commentary: Click Here

This chapter abounds with human instinct.  The congregation has a choice to make.  Do they listen to Joshua and Caleb and believe that God can bring them into Canaan?  Or do they believe the report of the other 10 and doubt that they could ever be successful in battle against the Canaanites?  Naturally, they choose the easier path.  They choose to doubt their ability and especially God’s ability.

Next, God and Moses have a little conversation.  In an incredible twist, God desires to smite the people (again) and Moses pleads for forgiveness (again).  When the people rebel and run with their human nature, it is Moses who stands in the gap and advocates for their forgiveness.  Moses has what it takes to rise above the human instinct.  Moses could have accepted God’s offer to start over with him.  But he doesn’t do that.  Moses rises above human nature and advocates for a sinful people.

Then we return to the human nature of the Hebrew people.  In one respect, the should get some credit for being inspired by Moses.  They begin to believe in God’s power, albeit a bit too late.  However, in their inspiration they swing too far to the other side.  The rise up to take the land as God at one point desired them to do.  However, they still aren’t listening.  God is no longer with them.  God is now focused upon their punishment and planning to bring the next generation of Hebrew people into the Promised Land.  When the people go up to Canaan, the fail because God is not with them.  Although they do get a little credit for being inspired into faith, they don’t get great marks because they are still refusing to live obediently to God.

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Year 7, Day 128: Numbers 13

Theological Commentary: Click Here

It is really interesting what we do with the truth, isn’t it?  Truth doesn’t change, but our perspective of the truth sure does!  What we think of the truth shows more about us and our character than on the actual truth.

The spies go off to Canaan.  They see a very fertile land.  They see a land great for settling their flocks and growing their empire.  It truly is the Promised Land.

They also see a land filled with people.  Some of these people are huge.  These people seem brutal and cruel.  They worship gods that are foreign to the spies.

This is the truth.  It is what it is.  The land is highly fertile.  It is also incredibly occupied.

Joshua sees the truth about fertility.  Because he is a man of great faith, he does not fret about the occupants.  God has promised the land; God will deliver it into their hands no doubt!

The other spies who go with Joshua only see their own capacity.  They don’t want to fight the bigger people.  They are afraid, because they actually see only their inability.  Rather than seeing the truth through God’s possibility, they see truth through their own impossibility.

In either case, the truth didn’t change.  The spies agreed upon what they saw.  There was no conflicting witness.  There was a conflicting perception about what to do about the witness.  The spies were convinced of their weakness.  Joshua was convinced of God’s possibility.

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Year 7, Day 127: Numbers 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here

In this chapter we see the true downside of religious people.  When human beings care more about absolutes than they care about grace, we end with Miriam and Aaron in this passage.  Don’t get me wrong.  Miriam and Aaron are just trying to be pure.  Their heart is in the pursuit of purity. But they are absolutely wrong.  When we are more interested in being religious and less interested in being spiritual, there is always trouble ahead.

Aaron and Miriam reject Moses because of the nationality of his wife.  Don’t forget that Moses’ father-in-law was a Midianite who feared the Lord.  He wasn’t a part of Abraham’s offspring, but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t know God.  We can also assume that Moses’ wife grew up knowing the Lord as well.  However, they forget this fact because they are too focused on the literal.  They can only see that she is not of Abraham’s lineage. They see the obvious, missing God entirely.

God comes to the rescue of Moses and his wife.  Miriam is cursed with leprosy for a week.  In this, God is merciful.  He could have killed her.  He doesn’t.  He shows Miriam grace, even when she is guilty.

This is the thing about people.  God is gracious to us over and over.  He lavishes us with His grace.  We deserve His judgment, and He makes life possible.  Yet, how do we repay Him?  So often we are interested in judging other people instead of looking in towards their character when God makes every effort to give our inner character an opportunity to become more like His!

I find this battle to be one of the fiercest within me.  I am fully aware of God’s grace in my life.  I am also fully aware of my propensity to judge the people around me.  At the same time, I make rash judgments based on what I see, not what I experience and know about a person’s character.  This is a battle I constantly fight.  Just when I think that I’ve won, I find new places in my life that I am quick to judge based on my experience and uninterested in truly knowing.

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