Today, I am reading and commenting on  Numbers 34-36.

I struggled with what to write about today’s passage until the second or third time I read this verse:

Anyone who kills a person is to be put to death as a murderer only on the testimony of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.

It struck me that this represents an important principle that applies to how we look at others.  The principle here is that we should not believe something negative about someone unless those telling us saw them do it.  Even then, we should not believe it if there is only one person who saw it, even if we are that one person.  We need to remember that sometimes what we see is not what happened.  Our view may have been obscured, or something relevant to events may have happened before we started looking.  Or, maybe our own bias has caused us to interpret someone’s action incorrectly.   So, we need to give people the benefit of the doubt.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 30-31.

God tells Moses that his last act as leader of the Israelites will be to take vengeance on the Midianites for what they did at Peor.  This could lead one to think that the writer of this passage mixed things up, because in chapter 25 it says that the men of Israel indulged in sexual immorality with Moabite women.  Although the entire incident ends when Phinehas killed an Israelite man who brought a Midianite woman to his tent.  In addition, in this chapter Moses tells the Israelite commanders that the Midianite women followed Balaam’s advice to entice the Israelites to be unfaithful…and Balaam had been called to the area to curse the Israelites by the king of Moab.  To further complicate matters, Moses’ father-in-law was a priest of Midian and Moses spent 40 years living with him.  However, we get an insight into the situation when we discover that Balaam was killed among the Midianites.  Finally, the passage tells us that the Israelites burned all of the towns where the Midianites had settled as well as their camps.  So, it reads as if some of the Midianites, those that followed the five kings mentioned here, had settled in part of Moab, among the Moabites.

When I started writing this today, I thought writing about this would lead me to some spiritual insight about the passage, but that did not happen.  However, I still feel like I gained something of value from this exercise, even if I did not find a lesson to apply to my life today.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Numbers 27-29.

When God told Moses that his days were coming to an end, Moses asked God to appoint someone over the community so that “the Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”  As I read that today I was reminded of what Matthew wrote about Jesus in chapter 9 verse 36

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Which is entirely appropriate, since Jesus is the Greek transliteration for Joshua, and it was Joshua whom God appointed over the community.  Matthew wrote that after Jesus saw the people as being like sheep without a shepherd, He told His disciples that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few, so they should ask the Lord of the harvest to send more workers.  Here Moses asked God to send someone to go out and come in before His people, someone to lead them out and bring them in.  God told Moses to give authority to Joshua before the people.  Jesus told His disciples, and through them us, to lead His people and to seek out those whom God had sent to do likewise.  Moses had been teaching Joshua how to lead God’s people for many years at this point.  Or, to put it another way, Moses had discipled Joshua.  In the same way, Jesus sent His disciples out to disciple people of all nations.  Moses laid his hands on Joshua and commissioned him to lead God’s people.  In the same way, we should accept whatever leadership role God has called us to, and then we should lay our hands on those God brings to us and commission them.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Numbers 25-26.

After the failure of Balak’s plan to have Balaam curse the Israelites, the Moabite women began seducing the Israelite men.  It is not clear if the men took part in the worship of Baal of Peor because it involved sexual activity, or if they took part in illicit sexual affairs with Moabite women and then joined them in worship of Baal afterwards.  I lean towards the former, but can see an argument for the latter.  In any case, those Israelite men who were conducting these sexual liaisons in blatant violation of the sexual laws already laid down became so brazen that one of them brought a woman to his tent past the assembly of the people who had met to decide how to address the issue.  The whole incident ended when Phinehas, Aaron’s grandson, killed the man who flaunted his disobedience and disrespect before the entire community, and the woman with whom he committed these acts.  The assembly had decided that those within their midst who had yoked themselves with the Baal of Peor by having sex with women who were part of that cult.  This man decided to challenge that edict.  Phinehas did not hesitate to act.  By doing so, he ended a plague which took the lives of 24,000 Israelites (probably a sexually transmitted disease).  Phinehas acted decisively.  When the Church has reached a decision on an issue, we should act with similar decisiveness (although I do not think the Church should be making decisions to take people’s lives).

I want to make one other point about this story.  This story clearly identifies the Israelite man whom Phinehas killed, and the woman who was killed along with him.  It gives both of their names, and their lineage.  Typically, when a story like this is made up, the people involved, other than the “hero” of the story, are only vaguely identified: “an Israelite man”, or “a Midianite woman”.  The story starts off that way and one might start to think, “Oh, this story was just made up”, even though the specific individuals who m Phinehas killed is not important to the story.  Then, when the story is complete, the writer goes, “Oh, by the way, it was these two specific people.”  The fact that the name and lineage of each of the people killed was given provides evidence that this account was not just a story made up to explain something.  It actually happened and the people who first told the story actually knew the people involved.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Numbers 22-24.

When Balak’s messengers give Balaam the message that they will pay him handsomely to curse the Israelites, Balaam asks them to spend the night while he consults with God as to what he should do.  God tells Balaam that he must not curse the Israelites.  So, Balaam sends the messengers on their way.  When Balak sends them back, Balaam tells them he can do nothing beyond what God commands.  So far, so good, but then he tells them to stay the night while he sees what else God will tell him.  Notice how this is rather similar to what he did the first time.  If it were not for the story of the angel and Balaam’s donkey I would not think anything of it.  So, what was going on here?  Balaam knew what God had told him regarding the people Balak wanted him to curse, but he was looking for some wiggle room.  Balaam was looking for some way to give Balak what he wanted so that he could get what he wanted: some of the wealth Balak was offering.  We often face the temptation to do similarly.  God has revealed His will to us on a subject, but we don’t like the answer.  So we ask the question another way, hoping God will give us a different answer.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Numbers 19-21.

Today’s passage starts with the instructions for making and using the water of cleansing.  The description here sounds like the water of cleansing was used ceremonially.  However, depending on how you interpret the amount of ashes used and the amount of water sprinkled, it may have had some antiseptic properties.  From there the passage goes on to describe a series of encounters which the Israelites had with the nations through whose territories they were passing.  First, they sought permission to pass through Edom, but were denied.  The Edomites brought forth their army, and the Israelites turned aside.  Next, a king of Arad attacked the Israelites and took some of them captive.  The Israelites responded by calling on God before going to war against that king and completely wiping out his people. However, they did not settle in any of the lands of that Canaanite king (at least, not at this time).  From there they went on to the border of Moab and the Amorites.  They requested permission to pass through the land of the Amorites, but they denied them, just as the Edomites had.  However, the Amorites were not content with mustering their army as a deterrent to the Israelites.  They attacked them and the Israelites went to war and wiped them out.  Og, the king of Bashan, followed the example of Sihon, the king of the Amorites, and suffered the same fate.

This passage contains three different ways in which nations dealt with the perceived threat of the Israelites marching near them.  The Edomites mustered their army, but as long as the Israelites stayed out of their territory they left them alone.  The king of Arad thought he could profit by raiding the Israelites, but when he did so, they turned on him and destroyed his nation.  Sihon and Og each preemptively attacked the Israelites, seeking to destroy them before they could enter their lands.  Instead the Israelites conquered and settled their lands.  In none of these instances did the Israelites initiate the conflict, and the one case where the hostile nation did not do so either a peaceful resolution was acheived.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Numbers 16-18.

Shortly after the Israelites suffered for rebelling against the Lord by first refusing to enter the land of Canaan and then, after God told them to not do so, attempting invade, a Levite rose up in rebellion against Moses and Aaron.  Korah and some other leaders attempted to start a populist rebellion against Moses.  It appears from Moses’ response that the rebellion was primarily among Levites, with support from prominent Israelites from other tribes.  Whenever I read this passage I always struggle to figure out what Korah got wrong, because, as a general rule, I believe that leaders should have the support of those they lead for the decisions which they make.  However, despite claiming to represent the whole community, it appears that Korah and his associates only had the support of 250 people.  So, Korah’s rebellion appears to have been engineered by a small group of people who thought they could use the discontent over God’s rejection of them going into Canaan to overthrow Moses.  They claimed that the whole community was holy and thus could hear the word of God and implied that they had the support of the whole community to remove Moses from his leadership role.  But they failed to consult God, or to actually gain the support of the majority.  If you believe that the leaders of God’s people are mistaken, there are several steps you must take.  The first is to pray to God for His guidance and listen to what He tells you.  Second, speak with the leaders to discover whether they have answers to your objections.  Finally, reach out to people to see if they actually support you over the current leaders.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Numbers 14-15.

When the Israelites reacted to the spies’ report about the land of Canaan by proposing to stone Joshua and Caleb for trying to convince them to go, the glory of God appeared to them and threatened to strike them down.  Moses pleaded with God to forgive them.  God agreed to Moses’ request to forgive the people once more.  However, God also said that none of those who witnessed His signs in Egypt would see the land He had promised their ancestors (except for Caleb and Joshua).  So, while God will forgive our sins, we may still suffer their consequences.  Because they repeatedly disobeyed God and sinned against Him, He denied them the blessing which He had promised to their ancestors.  In the same way, while God will forgive our sins, we forfeit some of the blessings He intended for us when we sin.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Numbers 11-13.

Back in Exodus chapter 12 it mentioned that when the Israelites left Egypt many other people went with them.  Here it calls those non-Israelites who accompanied them “rabble”.  I believe that the writer was referring to those who accompanied the Israelites, but had not yet integrated themselves into any of the tribes more than a year after leaving Egypt.  This “rabble” stirred up the Israelites to demand some sort of food other than manna.   Rather than turn to God and ask Him for meat, they began to complain and rebel because they did not have meat.  In turn Moses complained to God about the people complaining to him.  In particular, Moses complained about being overwhelmed by the demands the people were putting on him.  So, God tells Moses to select 70 elders upon whom God will pour His Spirit and that He will provide them with meat.  Moses asked where he was going to get meat for 600,000 men.  To which God replied, “Is the Lord’s arm too short?”  Moses then appointed 70 elders upon whom God poured out His Spirit and God provided the Israelites with so much quail that they became sick.  So, whatever trials you face, remember, the Lord’s arm is not too short to reach out and solve them for you.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.