Tag Archives: Numbers 4-5:31

March 5, 2015 Bible Study — God of the Living, Not of the Dead

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 10:26

    This proverb does not tell us anything we do not already know. Let us strive not to be the cause of annoyance which the writer describes.

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Psalm 48:1-14

    I am not sure that I have anything to say about this psalm. I will recommend that you take some time to read this psalm and meditate on the word picture it paints about God and His glory.

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Mark 12:18-37

    Two different groups of religious leaders had attempted to get Jesus to say something they could use against Him. So, a third group asked Him a question which they were sure presented an unanswerable paradox. They created a hypothetical situation where a woman married seven different brothers, each one after she had been widowed by the previous, but had no children. They then asked who she would be married to in the resurrection. They were convinced that this was proof that there could be no resurrection of the dead.
    Jesus answered them by pointing out that they made two mistakes. The first was that they did not know Scripture. The second was that they did not underestimated the power of God. Jesus dismisses their paradox by pointing out that when God raises us from the dead we will not be married, nor be given in marriage. I take that to mean that when we are raised from the dead we will not be sexual beings. However, Jesus’ main point is that when God identifies Himself to Moses He uses the present tense in referring to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

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Numbers 4-5:31

    I struggle with the part of the passage where it discusses the method of testing a woman whose husband believes that she has been unfaithful. On the one hand the “rational” part of me looks at this and thinks that it is purely random as to whether or not a woman is found “guilty”. On the other hand, my faith says that God is perfectly capable of intervening so that only women who are guilty suffer the negative effects. Ultimately, I am convinced that this method of judging could be successful in a society where everyone thoroughly believed in the power and justice of God. And by succeed, I mean distinguish between the innocent and the guilty. However, it has no chance of working where a significant portion of society does not believe in God.

March 5, 2014 Bible Study

    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. In order to make that possible I read the passages and write my thoughts a day, or more. in advance. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.

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Proverbs 10:26

    If you are lazy, it will irritate your employer far out of proportion to any problems your laziness creates, just as smoke irritates the eyes far out of proportion it any injury it causes.Keep this in mind, sometimes that one extra step is the difference between making your boss upset and receiving a commendation from that same boss.

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Psalm 48:1-14

    As I read this psalm two thoughts/feelings go through my mind. The first is one of praise to God and gratefulness for His wonderful, unfailing love. The second is to think of modern Israel and wonder how much this psalm’s proclamation of God’s defense of Jerusalem applies to it. I do not like to go into the second much because it is tied up in politics and I am never sure to what degree God’s promises to the people of Israel have transferred to the Church. I know that the members of the Church have been grafted into God’s people as the descendants of Abraham. Yet, it is also clear that God still has a place in His plans for the biological descendants of Abraham. Reading this psalm I am reminded that those who have chosen to be enemies of the modern state of Israel have chosen to attack people God has chosen as His own. On the other hand, I know that those governing the modern state of Israel have done things which earn God’s strong disapproval (like those governing every modern state). Nevertheless, I will praise God when I see His hand at work in the world. When I look at the modern state of Israel, I see evidence of God’s unfailing love for the people of Israel. It gives me comfort, knowing that He has extended that same unfailing love to myself and to all who have chosen to follow His Son.

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Mark 12:18-37

    When the Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, asked Jesus what they thought was a clever trick question, He not only avoided the trick, He showed them to not have much faith in God’s power. In His answer, Jesus gives us some insight into what Heaven will be like. He points out that when we are resurrected we will be like the angels and neither marry nor be given in marriage. Jesus finishes His point by showing that when God talked to Moses He talked about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the present tense.
    What happened next tells us something that is often overlooked. A teacher of religious law who overheard the previous exchange asked Jesus which commandment was the most important. Every exposition has focused on Jesus’ answer, and His answer is indeed important. However, I have never heard anyone take note of the fact that the man who asked the question affirmed Jesus’ answer. He followed up Jesus’ answer by saying that it is more important to love God with all of our heart, mind, and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves than anything else we can do. As we see here, not all of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day failed to understand and follow God’s word any more than all of the religious leaders of today do.
    There are two important reminders here. First (and this one runs throughout all of the Gospels), we cannot accept something just because a religious leader says it. We need to see what God has to say for ourselves. The second is that we need to judge every religious leader on their own merits. Just because we have witnessed that some religious leaders are hypocrites does not mean that every religious leader is a hypocrite.

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Numbers 4-5:31

    Moses gives careful instructions for how the Tabernacle will be packed up for travel. He describes how each clan of Levites will be responsible for various pieces of the Tabernacle and are to carefully pack things in a particular order. These instructions remind us of the care which we should take in our worship of God. We do not need to be ritualistic about it in the way described in these instructions, but we should think through what we are going to do when we worship God.

March 5, 2013 Bible Study — Most Important Commandment

     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.

Our first flower of spring
Our first flower of spring

Numbers 4-5:31

     The first part of this passage assigns tasks concerning the care and transportation of the Tabernacle to the various clans of the tribe of Levi. It then records the number of men in each clan who are between the age of 30 and 50 and eligible to serve in the Tabernacle.
     The next section instructs the people of Israel to place those who are ceremonially unclean outside of the camp. The description of things which qualify for this treatment are things which we know now increase the likelihood that someone might be carrying a communicable disease. The passage concludes with a test which a suspicious husband can ask to have applied if he believes that his wife has been unfaithful but has no evidence. We read this and it seems somewhat harsh leaving to chance which women are declared guilty and which innocent, but that viewpoint dismisses the possibility of divine intervention.

Hyacinths send forth some leaves, can blooms be far behind?
Hyacinths send forth some leaves, can blooms be far behind?

Mark 12:18-37

     Yet another group of religious leaders approached Jesus with a trick question. This group was from the Sadducees, a group that believed there was no resurrection of the dead. Their question was about a woman who married and then was widowed by each of seven brothers and had no children. Their question was to which of the brothers she would be married in the resurrection? This is a clever question. There is no easy out as none of the brothers have any children, so which one would take priority as her husband when they are all resurrected. They thought that this question was the perfect logical conundrum about why there must be no resurrection of the dead. Jesus immediately shoots their argument full of holes. First, He tells them that the reason they don’t believe in the resurrection is because they neither understand the Scripture no believe in the power of God. He then explains that after the resurrection humans will no longer be sexual beings (I want to come back to this in a moment). So that their conundrum is moot, the woman, and everyone else, will not be married to anyone in the resurrection. He then goes on to point out how God spoke in the present tense about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when He spoke to Moses, not in the past tense as He would have if they were dead.
     Jesus’ comment here about the fact that we will not be married nor get married after the resurrection says something to us about human sexuality to which we should pay attention. Our society today puts a lot of emphasis on sexual identity. It tells us that who we are is defined by who, and how often, we have sex with. Jesus is telling us that our sexuality is a temporary thing and peripheral who we truly are. That our sexuality no more determines who we are than what food we eat or what clothes we wear. While all of these tell other people things about who we are, they do not define who we are. When we start to allow our sexual behavior to define who we are and to become more important than anything else, we are setting it up in the place of God. We should define ourselves by our relationship with God, not by our sexual desires.
     Back to the story: An interesting thing happened next. A teacher of the law who was not part of any of the factions was passing through the Temple and overheard the debates involving Jesus. He was impressed by Jesus’ answer and was curious as to the depth of Jesus’ understanding. So he asked Jesus a question. He asked Jesus which of the commandments was the most important. Jesus answered him fully, completely and directly. Jesus told him that the most important commandment was that God was one God and that we should love Him with all of our being and ability. Jesus followed this up by saying that the second most important commandment was to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Jesus says that these two commands are more important than all of the others. The man who asked the question agrees that those two commands are far more important than all of the others. This exchange, following as it does the several attempts to trap Jesus, makes those who opposed Him afraid to ask Him more questions, since the effect of their attempts to trap Him has been to make even more people be impressed by His wisdom. If we follow these two commands we will do everything else that God desires of us. There are two mistakes that people make regarding this. Some people forget these two and put more emphasis on some other command from God than loving and serving God or than loving our neighbors. However, some people think that they know better than God about what causes harm. All too often people fail to point out the consequences of sin because they want to be seen as loving and not as being judgmental. They forget that it is not loving to fail to warn someone of the danger they are putting themselves in.

The daffodils poke their heads up
The daffodils poke their heads up

Psalm 48:1-14

     This psalm has been used as the basis for worship songs and I certainly understand why. When I read this psalm it reminds me to praise God and to think of why He is worthy of my praise. When men muster their strength and strive to go against God’s will they will be routed no matter how much power they may have at their disposal. On the other hand, those who stand within God’s love, obeying His will, will be safe no matter how weak they are and how strong those seeking their harm. I will meditate on God’s unfailing love and look for His guidance. God will be my guide throughout my entire life. This reminds me that I do not spend enough time in those twin disciplines of prayer and meditation.

The stream by our house
The stream by our house

Proverbs 10:26

     This proverb tells us that those who are lazy are intensely irritating to those who employ them. I will strive not to be such an irritant.