I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
The passage begins with instructions on what the people of Israel should do if they unintentionally violate the commands that God gave them through Moses, whether corporately or as individuals. It then tells a story about a man who was caught violating the Sabbath and the punishment God instructed Moses to impose on him.
A Levite named Korah conspired with three other Levites to overthrow Moses. They said that the all of the Israelites were holy and set aside to the Lord, so Moses should not be set above them as an authority. This suggests that they were attempting some sort of democratic reform, or more likely, attempting to take control under the guise of democratic reform. Moses summoned Korah’s co-conspirators to meet with him. Two of them refused denying that Moses had authority to summon them. Moses instructed Korah that his core group of followers, who Korah claimed should be allowed priestly duties, should come before the Lord with incense burners. Aaron would also come with an incense burner. The people gathered to witness the confrontation. The passage is slightly ambiguous but I read it to say that the majority of the people sympathized with Korah’s revolt. When God told Moses and Aaron to separate themselves from the assembly so that He could destroy it. Moses interceded for the people and God relented, instructing the people to move away from the tents of those leading the revolt.
Moses then went to the tents of those leading the revolt and told the people to move away from them and their possessions. Moses told the people that if these rebels suffered a natural death, they would know that God had not sent Moses nor given him special authority. He then told the people that the God would cause the earth to swallow these men and all of their possessions. No sooner had Moses finished speaking than the earth opened and swallowed all of those associated with Korah’s rebellion and their possessions. At the same time, fire came out from the Lord’s presence and burned to death those of Korah’s followers who were burning incense before the Lord.
In the morning after their informal hearing against Jesus the religious leaders took Jesus to Pilate. Pilate asked Jesus if He was the king of the Jews, to which Jesus replied that Pilate was the one who said so. The religious leaders made numerous accusations to Pilate against Jesus, but Jesus refrained from replying to them. Jesus’ failure to mount a defense amazed Pilate and may have had something to do with Pilate’s desire to release Him. There was a custom of releasing a person chosen by the people at the Passover feast. Pilate attempted to convince the people to choose Jesus, but the religious leaders convinced them to call for the release of the notorious criminal who Pilate offered as the alternative. The religious leaders stirred the crowd up to call for Jesus’ crucifixion. When Pilate asked what His crime was they merely shouted louder for His crucifixion.
In response to the crowd, Pilate had Jesus flogged and turned over to be crucified. The soldiers mocked and tormented Jesus before leading Him out to be crucified. Jesus was so weakened by His treatment that the soldiers had to conscript someone to carry His cross to the site of crucifixion. When they had hung Him on the cross, the passersby and the religious leaders mocked Him and declared that if He came down off the cross, then they would believe Him. At noon, the land went dark and remained dark until after Jesus’ death at three in the afternoon.
Just before His death, Jesus cried out in Aramaic, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This is the first line of Psalm 22 and according to rabbinic tradition, by quoting the first line of this psalm Jesus was referencing the entire psalm. Psalm 22 is a psalm where the psalmist expresses deep despair, but also expresses faith that God will deliver him from his suffering. The psalmist ins Psalm 22 declares that he is suffering greatly and feels abandoned by God but that he will nevertheless praise God because he knows that God will deliver him from his suffering. I think it is important that as we read the account of Jesus’ exclamation of profound abandonment just before His death, we realize that He was nevertheless expressing His continued faith in God’s power and love. Even at the moment when He most felt alone and abandoned, Jesus declared that God would deliver Him and He praised God for His greatness. We should do likewise (I know that this is much easier said than done).
What a great psalm to remember when facing troubles and trials, when people are threatening us and acting against us. Even when the whole world seems to be against me, I can rely on this:
The Lord keeps me alive!
I will praise Him and honor Him because this is true. In all of the troubles I have faced, God has provided me with deliverance. I know that He will continue to do so.
Those who choose to live a life of righteousness find their life to be straightforward and direct. Those who choose to live a wicked life find themselves overwhelmed by the cumulative consequences of their wicked behavior. Those who are godly find that their good behavior provides them with deliverance when trouble arises, while those who are unfaithful find that by attempting to deceive others they trap themselves.