Numbers 19-21

This is a test to see who is reading and what you are able to learn by yourself… What could chapter 19 be alluding to from the church's practices? Also, what do you see as similar in chapters 19 and 20?

Chapter 20 is fateful. Again the people are complaining, only this time it is the lack of water that is making them whine. So, Moses asks the Lord what to do, and God responds by telling Moses to speak to the rock and water will flow out. Now, Moses has already hit a rock with his staff and made water flow. So this instruction is different than before. However, Moses does not listen to the instructions and hits this rock twice – showing that it wasn't going to work the same way as before. Therefore he and Aaron will not enter the land they are leading the people to. Now truly only Joshua and Caleb will be the old folks as they approach the Promised Land. Edom also (the descendants of Esau aka Edom) treat Israel like dirt and do not let them pass. This sore relationship will continue all the way into the book of Obadiah. Then Aaron dies, and the passage in the desert continues to take its toll on everyone. Imagine knowing that everyone around you 20 and older is going to die over the next 40 years. How depressing! How unbelievably sad.

Chapter 21 starts with an amazing victory, continues with a sad story about snakes, shows the journey of Israel to the land of Moab (which is the wrong side of the Jordan River if you are getting to the Promised Land), and ends with victories over Sihon and Og.

 

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Numbers 13-15

Numbers 13 begins with a promise and a request of God. He asks Moses to "send in some men to explore the land," and this is His request. Why does He want them to do this? He wants them to see what they are going to get. This is the promise, "which I will give to you (emphasis mine)." They aren't going in to assess the cost or work it will take to get the land. They are supposed to go in and just see it, revel in it, marvel at it, be encouraged by it. Instead, they lose sight of the promise and take the request as the most important thing. This happens a lot. Many of us are called or told to do something, but when we begin to look into it, it looks too big or too tough or too expensive to pull off. We lose sight of the promise for the request.

Moses sends in the 12 spies, and all but Joshua and Caleb lose sight of what God will do. They return from the land with great fruit and with cheerful reports of what riches are in the land. They are not cheerful by what they see. They see great walled cities (like Jericho) and giants (Nephilim, like Goliath). They forget that God told them it was theirs. Instead, in chapter 14, they chose to pick a new leader and desire to return to Egypt. Likely they have forgotten the pain of slavery (although they might desire that instead of the desert at this point). It is possible that they believe that because of what God did in Egypt, pharaoh might treat them differently – although they are neglecting that this God would not be with them. They want to return, and God desires to destroy them. Moses and Aaron appeal on their behalf, and Moses appeals to God for the glory of His name in the earth (what will Egypt think – they will think they have won!). God relents, but kills the 10 spies with a plague and tells everyone over 20 that they will not enter the land. Wow. Imagine how this would feel. I would likely have been one of the guys that tried to go in anyways and was defeated. I often mess up and don't like the consequences – wanting to press on anyways without God's blessing. Pray that I don't do this, and that you don't either.

Numbers 15 is about some more sacrifices and the first stoning of a Sabbath breaker. Can you imagine if church's stoned people for missing church (though this would be a poor understanding of the word "Sabbath")? How crazy would that be? The tassels at the end of chapter 15 is great and interesting (and some have connected it with Christ's ministry – the healing of the bleeding woman). What do you all think?

 

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Good Link and Perspective

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2009/11/frank-viola-and-from-eternity-1.html

What is important about church to you?

Numbers 1-3

In Numbers 1, the Lord asks Moses to appoint leaders of each of the tribes. Moses does and then counts everyone that is "20 years old or older" and is male. The number is 603,550, which means that there could be millions walking through the desert together approaching the Promised Land. How amazing that God provided for them all this time!

Then chapter 2 positions them around the tabernacle. In my study, I read briefly something about the 12 zodiac signs and the 12 tribes lining up (something like the Lion and Judah lining up). I am not sure if this is true and would be something to look into later, but the main point was that the tribes were laid out to represent the heavens here. Our goal is to be heaven here. Not that we will ultimately win (the victory is His), but we are meant to be something for the rest to see – something like salt and light.

Chapter 3 pulls from something we made reference to earlier. The firstborn were bought by the Lord with a price. They were purchased "by the blood of a lamb", the Passover lamb. So, when a few days later they were worshipping a golden calf, God took away their inheritance. He had claimed them to be the ones that would be working for Him in the tabernacle and eventually the temple. They lost this right and God gave it to the Levites, those who stood up for Him at the golden calf episode. Here he reclaims them, and the Levite tribe becomes the tribe of priests.

Leviticus 22-24

Once again in chapter 22, God wants to receive the best. Only the best, so everything in this chapter shows us what is acceptable and unacceptable. This is followed by all the festivals and events that the Israelites were to experience in the normal religious year. I think we are remiss as a church (the worldwide church) that often we do not live by these special days – holy days – holidays. The church should be celebrating what God has done. The nation of Israel was to celebrate God's creation and rest (Sabbath), His role in the escape from Egypt (Passover), thanksgiving (Firstfruits), various feasts of fellowship (trumpets, tabernacles and weeks) and a day of salvation (Atonement). Their year was structured around events of God. He was their structure and meaning. Unfortunately, many of us miss the meaning. He should be our structure and life goals.

Every seven years, the Israelites would take a year off to reestablish their fields and to give the land a year to rebound. Every 50 years was the year of Jubilee where they celebrated what God had done by releasing slaves and giving back what had to be done for survival over the past 49 (like selling a field to raise money for food). Their goal was not just to be guided into His ways in mind, but to act it out, to live it out.

Leviticus 10-12

Nadab and Abihu become the first priests to lose their lives because of "unauthorized fire before the Lord" or something similar to this. When God gives careful instructions to those that are supposed to be serving Him, He expects those instructions to be followed. While it has changed (fire doesn't break out against us), the idea still persists today and did in the New Testament. You remember a few weeks ago when we were learning about Ananias and his wife Sapphira? That was a big mistake. You might have read in 1 Corinthians when Paul tells the church to release a man into Satan's hands due to the despicable actions he was committing. The church (and the priesthood of believers) is not demanding perfection, but obedience and humility. For God to state in chapter 9 not to offer unauthorized fire to the Lord, and then for them to do this in chapter 10 (which is not necessarily a timeline, mind you – it might have been years) is unseemly. For God to tell the church to the light of the world and salt of the earth – why would He not be upset by us constantly be losing our saltiness due to dumb sins? I wish He would call us out more boldly. I wish He would demand more of us and then act in fire to back it up. I wish we could feel the fury sometimes – even if it really hurt me (or killed me). If something like this would happen, there is a good chance we would all change our lives quickly and act in faith – so why don't we now?

Chapters 11 and 12 have a number of things you likely never expected to see in the Bible. I love it. Why would God ask for some of these things, you might ask? My answer is two-fold at this point (more might come as I grow and learn more). First, God wants to protect His people from disease and infection. Some of the animals that they are not allowed to eat or touch are the ones that would carry disease or would cause sickness if not cooked properly. Therefore, God is protecting the people from some of these diseases (as they are in the desert and don't have great cooking supplies – like a meat thermometer). The others are for the health of individuals or the growth of the nation. If you are not allowed to do certain things at certain times of the month, it might encourage you to do them later, when a baby would be more likely to be created. If you aren't allowed to do certain things after childbirth, it encourages the mother to heal – the man to man up and wait – and for the health of another baby, if another pregnancy were to happen. I really marvel at some of these laws now that I am older and married. God was protecting everyone in these things. Often we see His laws like rules that are not fun – and therefore need to be broken. Maybe, just maybe, God has a better plan and is desiring that His people follow through for the sake of each other and their best life. He protects us from ourselves, but we want to rebel from these protections… doesn't that seem a little wrong?

 

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History of Halloween

A great post on Halloween that should be read by all.

Exodus 13-15

Because the Lord "bought" the firstborn children by saving their lives, they owed Him their lives. Therefore they were consecrated to Him. After this, they crossed the Red Sea by God's amazing grace. He allows them to cross and then destroys the Egyptian army that was following them. After this, Moses leads the people in a song about what just happened – and Miriam follows it up with another song for the ladies, led by a tambourine. God's love and provision makes people praise Him – it is a response to His provision!