Day 39 – October 21, 2023: Numbers 32-36 and I Corinthians 11

I find it somewhat tragically ironic that the chapters we have left in Numbers are basically accounts of the doling out of the land to the tribes of Israel. This very land that the Israelites were commanded to subdue and conquer while today there is too much subduing and conquering taking place. We have forgotten the commands of Jesus who came bringing peace and not a sword. But that is where we find ourselves in Numbers. Moses is getting the people prepared to enter into the land and take their allotted places while Aarong dies and Moses is going to be next.

I Corinthians provides us with a couple of points of interest. The first is the provision that men should not cover their heads and women should cover their heads. Interestingly in Jewish culture we see the opposite take place today. The men cover their heads and the women do not cover their heads. Within Mennonite and Amish culture we see this Scripture followed literally for the women at least, where the women have their heads covered and the men, well, they also have their heads covered just not in worship. Paul gives an explanation that the covering is a sign of being under someone else’s authority. I like that image.

He then transitions to the Lord’s Supper and chastizes the Corinthians because they were taking advantage of the supper as a time when they were able to come and revel and some would indulge in gluttony and drunkeness, and others would go home thirsty and hungry. He reminds the Christians of the church that the Lord’s Supper was not their table, but the table of the Lord. Our current Lord’s Supper is less of a meal and more of a religious rite and ritual. I wonder what it would look like to do it different.