Blog Archives - Bible Calendar

Deuteronomy 12 - 14 and Psalm 135

2/29/2012

         In this section of Deuteronomy, extending from chapter 12 through chapter 26, Moses presents laws to govern all aspects of daily life in the Promised Land. He hasn’t completely left behind the narrative of Israelite history that dominated the first 11 chapters; he occasionally will make a historical reference to encourage obedience. But now a more thorough explanation of the Ten Commandments will predominate.
         At first glance, chapters 12 – 26 appear chaotic, but if we examine them closely, we will see general connections with all of the Ten Commandments in order. Even though it is not a perfect fit, we can divide the chapters this way (adapted from Victor Hamilton, Handbook on the Pentateuch, Baker Academic, 2005, pg. 404):
         Deuteronomy 12 – The first and second commandments: “You shall have no other gods before me / you shall not make for yourself a carved image” (Deuteronomy 5:6-10).
         Deuteronomy 13 – 14 – The third commandment: “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain” (Deuteronomy 5:11).
         Deuteronomy 15 – 16:17 – The fourth commandment: “Observe the Sabbath day” (Deuteronomy 5:12-15).
         Deuteronomy 16:18 – 18 – The fifth commandment: “Honor your father and your mother” (Deuteronomy 5:16).
         Deuteronomy 19 – 21 – The sixth commandment: “You shall not murder” (Deuteronomy 5:17).
         Deuteronomy 22 – 23:18 – The seventh commandment: “You shall not commit adultery” (Deuteronomy 5:18).
         Deuteronomy 23:19 – 24:7 – The eighth commandment: “You shall not steal” (Deuteronomy 5:19).
         Deuteronomy 24:8 – 25:3 – The ninth commandment: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Deuteronomy 5:20).
         Deuteronomy 25:4-19 – The tenth commandment: “You shall not covet” (Deuteronomy 5:21).
         Once again, this is not a perfect order; for example, where will we put the laws on not returning a runaway servant, especially when the following laws appear to have a link with the seventh commandment against adultery (Deuteronomy 23:15-18)? But at least there are general characteristics that unite almost all of these laws with the Ten Commandments in order.
         Therefore, in today’s reading, we see an emphasis on the first three commandments. As the priests and Levites will focus on the sacrifices and all of the responsibilities associated with the tabernacle, the other Israelites will focus on the destruction of everything associated with idolatry and false prophets, in eating according to the laws of ritual purity and in managing their tithes for thanksgiving to Yahweh and blessing to the Levites and the poor. In these ways they will demonstrate their devotion to Yahweh even though they live far from the tabernacle.

Deuteronomy 9 - 11

2/27/2012

         Deuteronomy 9 – 11 forms the last part of Moses’ historical narrative. Once again he narrates the past to motivate a passionate obedience in the present to receive future blessings. And this time the lesson will be based on Israel’s rebellions.
         The future blessing is the military defeat of the Canaanites: “Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves, cities great and fortified up to heaven” (Deuteronomy 9:1). But the danger is that they will grow prideful over their military victories: “Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you” (Deuteronomy 9:4). The memory of their rebellions will serve a double function, then: 1) it will remind them that they do not deserve the victories; they only received them by Yahweh’s grace, and 2) it will teach them that if they continue in rebellion, they will end up like the Canaanites that they forced out of the land.
         Note too, that Moses not only speaks of their rebellions but also describes his intercession for Israel in great detail. This emphasis is not because he wants to show off in front of the Israelites; remember that Moses was very meek, more than all of the people who were on the face of the earth (Numbers 12:3). Part of his reason for describing his intercession is so that the Israelites will learn to distinguish Yahweh’s true prophet from a false one: “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers – it is to him you shall listen” (Deuteronomy 18:15). Besides looking for the characteristics that he will identify for the Israelites in the following chapters, they should look for an intolerance of idolatry, constant intercession for Israel, a love for the covenant and exhortations preached to the people just as Moses himself exemplifies in Deuteronomy 9 y 10.
         And besides their rebellions, the Israelites must remember that Yahweh multiplied them from a group small in number and redeemed them all with a powerful hand and extended arm (Deuteronomy 10:22 – 11:4); He also punished their disobedience (Deuteronomy 11:5-6). They have seen the historical examples of blessing and condemnation, and therefore: “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known” (Deuteronomy 11:26-28). The Israelites will enjoy the future blessings only if they keep the lessons of their history; if they neglect those lessons, if they look for new spiritual paths, they will suffer the condemnation that Yahweh exercised against His enemies.

Deuteronomy 7 - 8 and Psalm 101

2/26/2012

         We had an introduction to holy war in Numbers 31 when the Israelites destroyed the Midianites living in the area of Moab. Now Deuteronomy 7 declares more laws on holy war, specifically against the Canaanites. Besides the laws and the reasons for them, the blessings for obeying them and the curses for disobedience, recall what we saw about historical narrative in the last two days and notice the historical reference that will motivate their obedience: “You shall not be afraid of them but you shall remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the LORD your God brought you out. So will the LORD your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid” (Deuteronomy 7:18-19). Once again: the past, to motivate present obedience, to enjoy future blessings.
         While Yahweh’s powerful deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt is the historical axle for the laws in Deuteronomy 7, the next chapter takes its lessons from the historical event of the desert wanderings.
The past: “And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness…” (Deuteronomy 8:2-5)
The present: “So you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him” (Deuteronomy 8:6).
The future: “For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land…” (Deuteronomy 8:7-10)
Point of thanksgiving in worship: “As a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you” (Deuteronomy 8:5; see also Hebrews 12:5-13).

Then there is a variation on this structure in Deuteronomy 8:11-20:
The prohibited future: “Take care…, lest when you have eaten and are full…, then your heart be lifted up…” (Deuteronomy 8:11-14)
The problem? They forgot their past: “And you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery…” (Deuteronomy 8:14-17)
The solution? In the present: “You shall remember the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 8:18-20).
Point of thanksgiving in worship: “You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth” (Deuteronomy 8:18).

         As they conquer the Promised Land and enjoy the wealth of the land, the Israelites will walk in obedience to Yahweh through their living historical memory.

Deuteronomy 4 - 6 and Psalm 19

2/26/2012

         Deuteronomy 4 – 6 is a perfect example of what we learned yesterday about historical narrative in the book of Deuteronomy. Moses tells the story of Exodus 19 – 20, the arrival of Yahweh’s Presence on Mount Sinai and His presentation of the Ten Commandments. He doesn’t do it out of an interest in historical artifacts nor as a psychological exercise in self-identity; instead, he narrates a historical event (the past) to motivate the people of the Mosaic Covenant to passionate obedience (the present) to receive the fulfillment of the promises (the future).
         For example, in Deuteronomy 4:10-12 Moses retells the impressive events at Sinai in Exodus 19:16-19 like the fire, the darkness and the sound of Yahweh’s voice, and he adds an observation that wasn’t stated in Exodus 19: “You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice” (Deuteronomy 4:12). This is more than a simple historical observation; it is a lesson worthy of their undivided attention: “Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure” (Deuteronomy 4:15-16).
         And Moses tells them that they have not only the present obligation of keeping this lesson but also the responsibility to keep and teach it in the future: “When you father children and children’s children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, so as to provoke him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed” (Deuteronomy 4:25-26). If they keep the lesson of Exodus 19:16-19, they will recognize that Yahweh is incomparable, and they will enjoy the fulfillment of future blessings: “Know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time” (Deuteronomy 4:39-40).
         In the same way, they need to remember the Ten Commandments. They will remember not only the commands themselves repeated in Deuteronomy 5:6-21 but also the attitude with which they received them historically: “Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, we shall die” (Deuteronomy 5:25-26). Yahweh approves of this attitude: “Oh that they had such a mind as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever!” (Deuteronomy 5:29) A lesson from the past, to stimulate obedience in the present, so that they are capable of receiving blessing in the future: “You shall walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess” (Deuteronomy 5:33).
         The Israelites not only must agree with this way of understanding history; they must be able to reproduce it: “When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?” (Deuteronomy 6:20) The Israelites will answer by repeating their history with the same purpose of awakening their son’s present obedience so that he can experience the future fulfillment of Yahweh’s promises, too: “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand… And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day… (Deuteronomy 6:21-25)
         As we also saw yesterday, this manner of narrating history should impact the Israelites’ souls not only for obedience but also for holy worship in recognition of Yahweh’s unique attributes: “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?” (Deuteronomy 4:7) “For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deuteronomy 4:24). “For the LORD your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them” (Deuteronomy 4:31). “To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him” (Deuteronomy 4:35). That is to say, the narration of Israelite history proposes to encourage the believing soul to a living relationship with his incomparable God: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).

Deuteronomy 1 - 3 and Psalm 136

2/24/2012

         As we continue our readings through the fifth unit of the Bible on the preparation, entrance and conquest of the Promised Land (Numbers 11 – Joshua 24), we cross from the book of Numbers to the book of Deuteronomy. Some observations will help us understand this new book.
         First, notice the importance of the book of Deuteronomy in the whole Bible. All of the books of the Bible are God’s word; all of them have a unique importance in Yahweh’s revelation of Himself to humankind. But among them, some have a greater impact than others. Deuteronomy is one of the most influential books in the entire Bible. Its concept of history will govern all the historical books of the Old Testament. Its identification of a true prophet will govern all of the prophetic books. Of all the books of the Old Testament, Deuteronomy is the one most often quoted by Jesus Christ. And in the rest of the New Testament, only the Psalms and Isaiah are quoted more frequently. In other words, if a reader of the Bible today does not understand the book of Deuteronomy, he will have great difficulty understanding the rest of the Bible. On the other hand, if he understands it well, he has a good foundation to grow in his understanding all of the rest.
         Second, it would be very difficult if not impossible to understand Deuteronomy if we forget everything that we learned about the Mosaic covenant between Yahweh and Israel from the book of Exodus to the end of Numbers. Deuteronomy is a pause on the way to the Promised Land to collect, explain and confirm Yahweh’s covenant with a new generation that by faith is on the point of entering into its promised inheritance.
         Third, to understand Deuteronomy, it is necessary to recognize its presentation of sacred history. The observations of Peter Craigie (The Book of Deuteronomy, New International Commentary on the Old Testament, Eerdmans, 1976) about history in the book of Deuteronomy are very helpful; therefore I am going to quote an extended portion of them:
         "History, then, in ancient Israel, was not a scientific discipline; nor was it a search for the past provoked by antiquarian interests, or even a philosophical quest for self-understanding in the context of past events. History revealed what God had done for his people; it intimated his will. The role of history in Deuteronomy is related to this central point. First, history was utilized to evoke memory; second, history served to produce vision and anticipation. That is to say, history embraces both the past and the future, but is only critical for the present; memory of God’s past course of action and anticipation of his future course of action provide the framework for the present commitment to God in the renewal of the covenant. History is thus one dimension of a continuing relationship between God and his people. The past portrays the faithfulness of God within the relationship and holds the promise for the continuation of the relationship. Conversely, the past may remind people of their unfaithfulness, or the unfaithfulness of their predecessors, and it may therefore press upon them more urgently the need for present commitment in order that the future of the relationship might be secured. This sense of history creates an air of immediacy and contingency which permeates the whole book of Deuteronomy" (Cragie, pg. 40).
         For example, notice in today’s reading that Moses retells the previous generation’s unbelief that we read about in Numbers 14 (now described in Deuteronomy 1:26-33). And when he spends so much time talking about the travels around Edom, Moab and Ammon in Deuteronomy 2:1-23, he’s not doing it by accident or because he likes geography. He’s pointing out to the Israelites that these people with no covenant with Yahweh… they have received their land directly through His benevolence! “I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession… I have given Ar to the people of Lot for a possession… I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot for a possession” (Deuteronomy 2:5, 9, 19). That is one point Moses wants to underline for the Israelites in recounting this part of their travels: if Yahweh has given great blessings in the lands to these pagan relatives, how can He possibly not give even greater blessings to His chosen people, a holy nation? The purpose of telling them the past is to motivate and encourage them in their present relationship with Yahweh, to prepare them for the near-future fulfillment of His promises.
         Did you notice that Moses told them how these nations received their land inheritances through military conquest… even against giants? “The Emim formerly lived there, a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim… the people of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them and settled in their place… Rephaim formerly lived there – but the Ammonites call them Zamzummin – a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim; but the LORD destroyed them before the Ammonites, and they dispossessed them and settled in their place” (Deuteronomy 2:10, 12, 20-21). If Yahweh worked like that with their relatives, whom will His chosen people fear? Yahweh has given them victory over a giant already: “For only Og the king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bed was a bed of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its breadth, according to the common cubit” (Deuteronomy 3:11; approximately 4 meters by 1.8 meters or 13.5 feet by 6 feet).
         Therefore, history in Deuteronomy portrays the past with a view toward the future, to motivate and bring urgency to the present commitment to the Mosaic covenant. But it does more, too. History tells the glory of the dominion of God who exists above time but who enters time, the God who invades time to carry out His plan of salvation by grace for His chosen ones. The Israelites act, but always in relation to Yahweh’s just, merciful and saving dominion: “O Lord GOD, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours?” (Deuteronomy 3:24). History in Deuteronomy launches the souls of His servants into worship.
         And this historical perspective, anchored in Yahweh’s glorious dominion, portraying the past to motivate the present toward the future fulfillment of the Mosaic covenant, will resonate not only in Deuteronomy but in the narrative of all the historical books of the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther. It is going to inform the Christian historical perspective on the New Covenant through Jesus Christ. And even today it grinds the lenses through which many Christians examine our personal histories, our national histories and even global events in relation to the New Covenant with God through Jesus Christ.

Numbers 34 - 36

2/24/2012

         Numbers 34 – 36 continues the Israelites’ preparation for entrance in the Promised Land. It identifies the boundaries of the Promised Land, names a new generation of leaders for the tribes, describes the cities that will be given to the Levites and resolves the possible confusion that could follow the decision regarding Zelophehad’s daughters in Numbers 27:1-11. But notice that it is much more than a final list of tasks to complete before entering the Promised Land. It lays out a new understanding of holy space that will undergird the rest of our readings from the Old Testament.
         Remember how the Israelites were organized through Numbers 10: they were positioned by tribe around the tabernacle, living in tents and prepared for movement at any time. The tabernacle established not only their spiritual center but their geographical center as well. It didn’t matter if they were in the terrain of Sinai, Hormah or the plains of Moab; every tribe had its place around the tabernacle. Numbers 33 puts an end to that thinking. From now on, the tribes will look for their geographic center in the Promised Land itself. The tabernacle will continue to be their spiritual center, but their geographical center has been transferred to the space designated in Numbers 34:1-15.
         For that reason it is essential that the Israelites understand the following:
         1) The land is given by Yahweh: “I have given the land to you to possess” (Numbers 33:53). Just as they feared and acted in accordance with Yahweh’s holiness in the desert, they are to fear and act in accordance with His holiness in the land.
         2) Therefore, they must rid the land of all spiritual contamination: “You shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places. And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it” (Numbers 33:52-53).
         3) There will be severe consequences if they do not fear Yahweh’s holiness in the land: “If you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell. And I will do to you as I thought to do to them” (Numbers 33:55-56).
         4) Yahweh sets the borders of the Promised Land; they are not determined only by the Israelites’ ability to conquer it or not: “This shall be your land as defined by its borders all around” (Numbers 34:12).
         5) Yahweh will determine where the tribes will live in the land: “Moses commanded the people of Israel, saying, ‘This is the land that you shall inherit by lot, which the LORD has commanded to give to the nine tribes and to the half-tribe” (Numbers 34:13).
         6) Yahweh even chooses the leaders that will receive the portions of the land (Numbers 34:16-29).
         7) Even the list of tribes in Numbers 34:16-29 reflects this new reality. The order of the list of tribes is unlike any that we have seen up to this point, but generally they fall in the order of their future settlement in the Promised Land from south to north (if Manasseh and Ephraim change places).
         Notice too, that the Levites not only will live near the tabernacle like before but also will settle in cities throughout the Promised Land according to Numbers 35:1-8. Just as they guarded the holiness of the tabernacle, now they will guard the holiness of the land. That is why the cities of refugee are presented along with the Levitical cities – they are instructions to preserve the land’s holiness: “You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, for I the LORD dwell in the midst of the people of Israel” (Numbers 35:34). Yahweh’s holiness is associated not only with the tabernacle and His people but with the land itself where the Israelites will live.
         To maintain the integrity of the tribes in the land, they must resolve a potential problem resulting from the inheritance of Zelophehad’s daughters. When they traveled through the desert, a family from the tribe of Reuben could not move their tent to accompany the families of Naphtali; a family from Ephraim could not divorce itself from its tribe and decide to march in the front lines with the tribe of Judah. Everyone had to establish himself geographically according to his tribe and submit to their corresponding authorities for their protection. But if a woman received a land inheritance and married someone from another tribe, the land would pass to him… and to the husband’s tribe. Instead of geographical integrity by tribe, within a few generations the whole land would be a confused patchwork of alliances among different tribes, an administrative nightmare that would change and grow worse with each generation. Therefore a woman who receives a land inheritance is commanded to marry within her tribe, and: “The daughters of Zelophehad did as the LORD commanded Moses” (Numbers 36:10).
         To summarize, in closing the book of Numbers in today’s reading, we open a new chapter in our understanding of Israel and sacred space that serves as a foundation for the rest of our readings from the Old Testament.  Yahweh's holiness is extended from the tabernacle to all of the land where the Israelites soon will reside.

Numbers 31 - 33

2/23/2012

         Numbers 31 fulfills the command that Yahweh declared before the second census: “Harass the Midianites and strike them down, for they have harassed you with their wiles, with which they beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the chief of Midian, their sister, who was killed on the day of the plague on account of Peor” (Numbers 25:17-18). But the battle is much more than just vengeance for the deceit and idolatry that caused the death of 24,000 Israelites. In Numbers 31 we read for the first time in detail that war is a ritual, a holy act commanded by Yahweh and fulfilled in obedience just like the presentation of offerings or laws of purification.
         Notice the following observations which are very different for thinking regarding war today:
         1) As we saw above, the decision to wage war against Midian was not made through a consultation of Israelite leaders; it was commanded by Yahweh.
         2) They take the vessels of the sanctuary with them: they represent Yahweh’s Presence with them.
         3) They treat the Midianites just as Yahweh commands in the book of Deuteronomy for non-Canaanite people: “And when the LORD your God gives it [a city] you’re your hand, you shall put all its males to the sword, but the women and the little ones, the livestock, and everything else in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as plunder for yourselves. And you shall enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the LORD your God has given you” (Deuteronomy 20:13-14). But Moses gets angry with the leaders because they allowed the women, the cause of the sin at Baal-peor, to live, as well as the boys who possibly lead a rebellion against Israel in the future. Therefore, he commands them to exterminate these two groups.
         4) Numbers 31 spends a lot more time discussing the treatment of the captives, the purification of the soldiers and the assimilation of the booty than it spends on narrating the battle itself. Since the battle is a ritual and sacred act, all of these actions are extremely important and open the possibility of contaminating the entire nation if they are not performed in agreement with the law.
         5) Remember that when we studied the atonement money in Exodus 30:11-16, we saw that the Israelites received guilt when they were counted in a census, and therefore each one paid an offering of a precious metal to atone themselves. Now we see the same idea in Numbers 31:49-50. They count the soldiers after the battle and discover the miracle that no Israelite soldier died. And since they were counted, they pay the atonement money: “And we have brought the LORD’s offering, what each man found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and beads, to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD” (Numbers 31:50).
         All of the conquest of Canaan will be a holy war, but in Numbers 32, it seems like two of the tribes don’t want to participate. The tribes of Reuben and Gad want to settle the land east of the Jordan River, outside the Promised Land, because Israel took it from Sihon and Og and because it is good for cattle-raising. From the petition, “Do not take us across the Jordan” (Numbers 32:5), Moses sees a rebellion just like the one a generation earlier in Numbers 14; he reproves them for disobedience and for discouraging their brothers. But they come to an agreement to accompany their brothers in the conquest of the Promised Land, leaving their families in fortified cities in the meantime. Remember this suspicion of the tribes east of the Jordan; to a certain point, it seems like it will remain hidden and then reappear in Joshua 22.
         Numbers 33 looks back and remembers Yahweh’s faithfulness, from Israel’s redemption on Passover night through the journey in the desert until the present time. It mentions places of miracles and national growth like Marah (“Bitter”; Exodus 15:22-26) and Sinai; it mentions places of national shame like Kibroth-hattaava (“Tombs of Covetousness”; Numbers 11:4-35) and Hazeroth (where Aaron and Miriam rebelled against Moses; Numbers 12); it mentions significant events like Aaron’s death and the first contact with the Canaanites under the king of Arad. And the purpose of recalling the past is to encourage the nation to look to the future: “And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it… But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell. And I will do to you as I thought to do to them” (Numbers 33:53, 55-56).
         Therefore, the holy battle that was waged against Midian is only the first step of all that they will do in all of Canaan. It serves as one example for the Israelites to follow, all of their tribes united in obedience to Yahweh.

Numbers 28 - 30

2/22/2012

         Numbers 28 – 30 continues the preparation of the Israelites to enter the Promised Land, centering their national daily life and their entire calendar on Yahweh.
         These chapters also are important because they remind the Israelites of the festivals described in Leviticus 23 and 25, many of which they have never celebrated because they depend on their residence in the Promised Land. As Yahweh goes back and presents them again, He confirms to a new generation that He is about to fulfill His promise.
         Numbers 28:3-8 confirms the daily offering explained in Exodus 29:38-42. That reading inserted it among the commands to consecrate the priests. To review, remember all of the daily responsibilities of the priests: they have to put wood in the base of the bronze altar to keep the fire burning (Leviticus 6:12-13); they must present the daily offering and dispose of the ashes of the burnt offerings (Exodus 29:38-42; Leviticus 6:9-11; Numbers 28:3-8); they must present the grain offering for their consecration (Leviticus 6:20-23); they burn incense on the golden altar twice daily (Exodus 30:7-8) and tend the lamps of the lampstand (Exodus 27:20-21; 30:7-8). Notice that this offering and all the rest of these priestly duties are continual: they are not replaced by the offerings on the sacred days.
         Numbers 28:9-10 describes the Sabbath offering presented in addition to the daily one. The Israelites celebrated the Sabbath with rest from work and a sacred assembly while they were in the wilderness (Exodus 20:8-11; Leviticus 23:2-3; Numbers 15:32-36); now for the first time, Yahweh commands a special offering for this day.
         Numbers 28:11-15 commands the offering for the beginning of the month, also for the first time in all the Mosaic Law. We can see the importance of this celebration by the number of sacrifices involved. Notice that the fine flour, oil and wine offered with each animal agrees with what we read earlier about all of the sacrifices (Exodus 29:38-40; Numbers 15:3-12).
         Numbers 28:16-25 describes the offering for Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Notice that the offering is the same as that of the new month, but it is offered on every one of the seven days of the feast (Leviticus 23:8; Numbers 28:24). Although it is not mentioned here, remember that the day after the Sabbath following Passover, the Israelites will present the sheaf of the firstfruits of the barley harvest. Along with that sheaf they will offer a one-year-old lamb without defect as a burnt offering to Yahweh. They will not eat the grain of the new harvest until that offering is fulfilled (Leviticus 23:10-14).
         Numbers 28:26-31 commands the sacrifices for the Feast of Weeks (or in Greek, Pentecost) that celebrate the wheat harvest. Notice again that they are the same as the sacrifices for the new month. Notice too, that there are some differences with the offerings mentioned in Leviticus 23:15-21: Leviticus 23:17-18 mentions two loaves baked with leaven as firstfruits to Yahweh, and then a bull and two rams among the sacrificial animals; Numbers 28:27 says two bulls and one ram and makes no mention of loaves. According to Jacob Milgrom, Numbers (Jewish Publication Society, 1990, pg. 244), the rabbis understood that these passages referred to two separate series of sacrifices offered the same day. That way the sacrifices of Numbers 28:26-31 would sanctify the day and those of Leviticus 23:15-21 would thank Yahweh for the harvest.
         Numbers 29:1-6 gives more detail about the Feast of Trumpets, one that is only described briefly in Leviticus 23:23-25. Notice that the sacrifices for this day are added to those for the first day of the month mentioned in Numbers 28:11-15. That is, on the first day of the seventh month the Israelites offered the daily sacrifices, the ones of for the beginning of the month and the ones for the Feast of Trumpets. And if this day happened to fall on a Sabbath, they would offer a total of three bulls, two rams, 18 lambs, all with the appropriate flour, oil and wine offerings, and two male goats for atonement.
         Numbers 29:7-11 describes the additional sacrifices for the Day of Atonement. We read about the main sacrifices for this day in Leviticus 16 and Leviticus 23:26-32. Once again, we see that the additional sacrifices mentioned here do not replace the daily offerings or the sacrifices for atonement on that day.
         Numbers 29:12-40 commands the sacrifices for the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths that we read about in Leviticus 23:33-43. The changes in the number of sacrifices each day are interesting, but notice that for the seven main days of the feast, all of the sacrifices add up to numbers divisible by seven: 70 bulls, 14 rams and 98 lambs in all.
         Notice too, that in addition to the daily offering, Numbers 28 – 29 describes seven sacred Israelite celebrations. If we were to calculate holiness as equal to the number of sacrifices and feasts, the seventh month would be the holiest of them all. It makes sense that the number seven is seen as a symbol of Yahweh’s holiness and completeness!
         Notice too, that the daily sacrifices and those of the feasts do not cover all the tabernacle sacrifices: “These you shall offer to the LORD at your appointed feasts, in addition to your vow offerings and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, and for your grain offerings, and for your drink offerings, and for your peace offerings” (Numbers 29:39).
         The mention of personal vows fulfilled in the tabernacle in Numbers 29:39 brings us to the additional laws on vows in Numbers 30. Notice that these protect the integrity of a woman’s vow under authority without demonstrating any disrespect to that authority.
         In all these ways, Yahweh prepares the Israelites to continue to relate to Him through the tabernacle even after they have entered and settled in the Promised Land.

Numbers 25 - 27 and Psalm 42

2/21/2012

         We’ve just heard some beautiful prophetic poetry about Israel, proclaimed from the lips of a foreigner: “How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your encampments, O Israel! Like palm groves that stretch afar, like gardens beside a river, like aloes that the LORD has planted, like cedar trees beside the waters” (Numbers 24:5-6). Despite the king of Moab’s intentions of cursing Israel, Balaam confirms Yahweh’s covenant blessings… and immediately we enter the ugliness of Numbers 25.
         “While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to @#!*% with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods” (Numbers 25:1-2). Do you remember Exodus 32, when the divine instructions for the tabernacle given on Mount Sinai ended with the revelation of idolatry with the golden calf? Here Yahweh’s glorious blessings announced on the top of Peor end with the revelation of a new idolatry: “So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel” (Numbers 25:3).
         Yahweh’s wrath will bring an end to the leaders of Israel: “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Take all the chiefs of the people and hang them in the sun before the LORD, that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel’” (Numbers 25:4). And while Moses and the Israelites weep at the entrance to the tabernacle over Israel’s sin and the arrival of this death sentence, an unbelievably shameless event takes place: “And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel” (Numbers 25:6).
         Notice that the Midianites were in league with the Moabites in their desire to curse Yahweh’s people (Numbers 22:4, 7). They did not agree with the praise of Yahweh that Jethro, a Midianite priest and the father-in-law of Moses, declared in Exodus 18. Now they present the Israelites with the temptation that Yahweh warned them about decades before: “You shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they @#!*% after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of this sacrifice, and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters @#!*% after their gods and make your sons @#!*% after their gods (Exodus 34:14-16). And the undeniable truth of these words shone forth when, before the eyes of all Israel in anguish from Yahweh’s punishment, this young Israelite man and his idolatrous girlfriend, without tears or shame, stride to their family tent as if nothing was wrong, as if their private actions had no impact on the congregation.
         We saw a brief mention of Phinehas a long time ago; he is the son of Eleazar, the new high priest, and Aaron’s grandson (Exodus 6:25). When he spears the couple, it is believed that they were in a compromising position. What we can say with certainty is that this action done in zeal for Yahweh’s holiness saved the people: “Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped” (Numbers 25:8).
         Just as the Levites were dedicated to Yahweh because of their zeal in the episode of the golden calf (Exodus 32:29), Phinehas was singled out for a special covenant by Yahweh, a covenant of peace and perpetual priesthood, “because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel” (Numbers 25:13). And Yahweh hands out not only a perpetual covenant with Phinehas but also a decree against the Midianites: “Harass the Midianites and strike them down, for they have harassed you with their wiles, with which they beguiled you in the matter of Peor” (Numbers 25:17-18). We’ll see the fulfillment of this decree in Numbers 31.
         This decree against the Midianites is the most immediate motive for the second census of Numbers 26: “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, by their fathers’ houses, all in Israel who are able to go to war” (Numbers 26:2). But its focus is not just war against the Midianites but also the future wars to take the land from the Canaanites and distribute them to the Israelites: “The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Among these the land shall be divided for inheritance according to the number of names. To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance; every tribe shall be given its inheritance in proportion to its list’” (Numbers 26:52-54).
         At the same time, the census motivates the petition of Zelophehad’s daughters in the first part of Numbers 27. Yahweh decides in their favor that yes, in situations where there is no son to receive an inheritance for the next generation, the daughters can receive it to carry on its possession within the family.
         The census also indicates the coming-of-age of the next generation to receive Yahweh’s blessing in accordance with his decree in the Desert of Paran: “But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected” (Numbers 14:31). Now the census informs us: “These were those listed by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who listed the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. But among these there was not one of those listed by Moses and Aaron the priest, who had listed the people of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. For the LORD had said of them, ‘They shall die in the wilderness.’ Not one of them was left, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun” (Numbers 26:63-65).
         But there is another unfinished matter, the prohibition of Moses and Aaron to enter the Promised Land (Numbers 20:12-13). Aaron died on Mount Hor, but Moses still is leading the people. Today’s reading also prepares the people for this last step by informing Moses that his death soon will take place, and Yahweh selects Joshua as the leader for the new generation (Numbers 27:12-23).
         Today’s reading indicates a decisive step for the fulfillment of Yahweh’s promises. Despite the sin of Baal-peor and Yahweh’s just punishment of His people, nobody can stop the grace with which He will bless His people, not Balaam, not the king of Moab, not even the sin of His people. Yahweh is just and zealous for His holiness… and His mercy is unstoppable.

Numbers 22 - 24

2/19/2012

In today’s reading we have a fascinating change of perspective. Since Pharaoh’s words in the first chapters of Exodus and Jethro’s visit in Exodus 18, we have not seen a foreigner’s extended viewpoint of Israel. Almost all of our attention for the last month has focused on Israelite topics within Israel. Today we suddenly look at Israel from the outside for three chapters. And this reading teaches us that Yahweh is sovereign over the nations and completely committed to blessing Israel.
And since this reading occurs after so many on Israelite worship and laws, today’s reading gives us a fascinating perspective on the religions of Israel’s neighbors. Through Balak’s attempts to curse Israel, we see a religion centered on human desires, one that tries to manipulate blessings and curses through magic. After reading so much about Yahweh’s holiness, we’re surprised to see the attempts to move a spiritual lever through magical words from a renowned spiritual man, through sacrifices offered in the correct geographical locations, through an insistence in getting what you want. From Balaam we’re surprised by religion for sale, a spiritual leader who wants to be manipulated by money and fame. Their religion is empty, useless and desperate in comparison with everything we’ve read about the tabernacle and a holy and living relationship with Yahweh. And that is exactly the lesson that the Israelites will need to remember through their generations.