Author: Pastor Bob

We continue our journey through Numbers.  We see whole series of commandments on what the sacrifices ought to look like and when they need to be made.  Chapter 29 continues that thought and puts it in the perspective of Moses merely repeating what the Lord had commanded him, he passes on to those around him.  Chapter 30 we see the directives geared to women who make vows for fasting or other situations and when they are able to be upheld.  If the husband, or the father for an unmarried woman, hears of her vows he can acknowledge them in silence.  If he speaks up and objects at the time that the vow is made then it is null and void.  Basically, you can’t object down the road if you figure out it is harming you.  You knew she had made the vow and said nothing about it, now you have to live with it.

Chapter 31 takes us to God reaping vengeance against the Midianites and sending his troops into a victory against them.  He is not thrilled that after their victory they only killed the men and kept all of the women alive.  He attributes the following after false gods to the men being with the pagan women and they influencing them to follow false gods.  Remember when we talked about the marriages in Italy to non-Protestants and how that weakened the faith lines.  So, as a result, God commands that all of the married Midianite women be put to death.  Now, not a solution that I would have chosen, but then again I am not God, so we have that…

We jump to Corinthians and here Paul makes a case for offerings going to cover the work of those who are proclaiming the Gospel.  He spends quite a bit of time defending himself and laying out his resume in regards to his faithfulness and how he has worked so hard for the sake of the Gospel.  When we get to chapter 10 we see repeated the very important line in vs.23 where we read: “All things are lawful but not all things are beneficial.  All things are lawful but not all things build up.”  

I will leave you with the verse that is also very powerful in this Scripture that can be our calling card in all times of our life.  Look at vs.31:  So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.

We have a variety of events that take place in these four chapters in Numbers, and then a pretty significant Scripture in I Corinthians that is used for a variety of reasons, so let’s start in Numbers.  We begin in 24 with a continuation of the life of Balaam, a prophet of the Lord, who was hired by the enemies of Israel, Balak, to prophesy negatively against Israel.  Instead, we see in chapter 24 that he gives a blessing upon the troops which absolutely infuriates the king of Midian.  As a result Balaam prophesies against the Midianites and the two men separate on probably less than favorable terms.  

Chapter 25 gives us an insight into what is God’s worst nightmare, which is that His people would turn from him and worship other gods.  This happens within the context of Israelites marrying the women of Moab and then turning to the gods of Moab as a result.  When we served in Italy it was very important for the very small Protestant community that their children would marry other Protestants.  This didn’t always happen and so as a result the community would decrease in size because when their children married outside of the faith in which they were raised it inevitably led to the decline of that faith being passed on from generation to generation.  Moses had a solution for that, a spear through both the man and the woman who had disobeyed God.  

Chapter 26 contains a census of the men who were of fighting age and chapter 27 has a great story of the daughters of a man who died and so they were not on the books to receive land like the rest of the Israelites.  They appealed to Moses and actually won the appeal.  From then on even if there were no sons in a family, upon the death of the father the daughter was able to inherit the land.  This was quite a shift from previously laws which only recognized the male as one being able to inherit land.

I Corinthians speaks about the need to marry for the sole purpose of making sure that our passions are not out of control.  Not normally why we say a couple should marry, which is for the sake of love.  Paul is a pragmatist to the end, realizing that Jesus was coming soon so it is better not to get bogged down in the world.  Notice he makes it very clear that it is not a sin to be married, just that it is better for a person to spend their time concerned about the matter of God rather than the matters of family life.  When I started seminary I was convinced that God has called me to a life of celibacy.  Well, that didn’t last long, as soon as I met Stacy, which was during orientation and even before classes had started, I realized that I had heard God’s command wrong.  

Paul also gives recommendations in regards to divorce and the eating of food sacrificed to other gods.  I go back to that verse that we read earlier, all things are allowed, but not all things are beneficial.

In the previous chapters we see that the people disobeyed God and so he commands that they would be forced to wander the wilderness for 40 years, but Aaron and Moses are still on track to enter the promised land with that new generation of Israelites who would enter as the clock expired on 40 years.  Well, chapter 20 removes that possibility as God tells Moses to speak to the rock so that water would come out but Moses, never one to miss an opportunity for drama, strikes the rock as if he were the one in whom the power resides to bring water from a rock.  Not good, beyond not good.  

We then find Israel’s wandering is filled with crossing borders of nation states that are inherently hostile and simply do not want the Israelites either in their back yard or on their front porch.  God spares Israel a number of times and even destroys a number of their enemies.  Then we get the interesting and amusing story of Balaam, who is able to hear the voice of God and speaks on behalf of God.  

One of the kings, the king of Moab at the time, summons Balaam for the sole purpose of cursing the Israelites which would result in giving the battle over to the Moabites.  Balaam refuses to go because God tells him that the Israelites are his people and he is always on their side.  He tells the king no, the king sends another entourage to have Balaam come and curse the Israelites, this time God tells him to go but to only speak the words that God commands him to speak.

He gets on his donkey to go and God sends an angel to kill him because he went, even though God told him to go.  The donkey takes different paths in order to avoid the angel, which apparently Balaam never sees, until he crushes Balaam foot and leg and then falls over on him.  Then of all things the donkey speaks to Balaam and extols his own faithfulness.  Then the angel of the Lord speaks to Balaam and says that you are lucky you have that donkey because I was about to kill you but the donkey took a separate path and it saved your life.  Now go to the king, but only speak the words I give you.

He makes it to the king and three times he blesses the people of Israel instead of cursing them, just as God commands him to.  As you can imagine, King Balak was not happy.  

Then we get to Corinthians and a description of the sin that is present within the congregation is that a man is sleeping with his father’s wife.  He tells the church in Corinth that it is better that the man is kicked out of the church rather than he influence anyone in the church, a little yeast makes the whole bread rise, which is not what you want in regards to sin.  

I think the most memorable verse for me in this Scripture is 6:12 where Paul states: “Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial.”  This is a great principle by which to live.  God does not set up a barrier of rules and regulations in our lives.  We are given the task to discern, with the help of the Holy Spirit, that which is beneficial to us in our lives.  We can do all things, there is nothing that is unclean for us, but not all things are helpful to us.  We ought to seek out those things that are helpful to us and to our relationships with God and with each other.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  Three of the main families of the Levitical branch approach Moses and Aaron and let them know that they are not happy that only Moses and Aaron can approach the tabernacle and the innermost sanctum where the Lord resides.  The Levites, except for Moses and Aaron’s family, were given the gopher tasks and asked to do things that did not involve direct contact with the Lord or with those things that were considered the holiest of things.  You would think that when they see God speaking to Moses face to face that they would understand that maybe, just maybe, this was what God wanted.  But they complain and say that they should also have a part in serving God in this most intimate of ways.

Moses establishes a way in which to discern whom the Lord has chosen but the families refuse to take part in it.  As a result Moses and Aaron call upon the Lord and they perform the discernment ritual that they had said that they were going to do and the families which spoke out against Moses and Aaron were swallowed whole and alive by the ground and the others were consumed by fire.  But not to worry, their censors were kept in order for people to be reminded of the power of the Lord.  Then one more discerning act was done with the staff of Aaron and the staves of the others where Aaron’s staff buds and grows flowers and has tasty almonds on it.

The last two chapters of our readings this morning contain more rules and regulations that were to be followed especially in relationship to cleansing the unclean and the importance of making sure that if anyone or anything comes into contact with a dead body that they go through what they must go through in order to be cleansed.  

We then move to chapters 3 and 4 of I Corinthians and we find here Paul admonishing the Corinthian community to ensure that they do not choose sides between him and Apollos or any other laborer in the Lord’s field, because God and God alone is the foundation.  It is in these verses where we read that we are God’s temple.  Think about that for a minute or longer, what does it mean when you hear that you are God’s temple?  How precious are you in the sight of God that He would make you His temple?  That’s pretty significant and something that must turn our understanding of ourselves from being without value, to being precious in the sight of God.  

Paul’s reprobation of the church centers on those within the church who boast on their positions of power within the community and trust in those positions as if they will save them and provide them with all that they need.  Paul uses himself as a foil against them and states that he has shown the way in which we ought to interact with those around us: when reviled, we bless, when persecuted, we endure, when slandered, we speak kindly.  This is quite the opposite of what we see happening around us, so this is a good measuring stick for us to see if we are able to hold up to the standards that Paul sets for us.

We enter into the territory of the people of God complaining constantly about the state in which they find themselves, namely, non-meat eaters.  The meat eaters of the group, they were called those with a strong craving, continued to complain even when God sends a fire to quash their dissent.  It is interesting to see that Moses even gets caught up with the complaining and makes the statement that he did not bear all of these people on his own, so can he get a little help from God?  God helps and sends His Holy Spirit upon 70 other folks so that Moses can get some help and he also sends the quail to appease them and we move on from there.  

Chapter 12 contains a story that obviously was not written in the times of democracy.  The brother and sister of Moses, Aaron and Miriam, complain to the people that Moses married a foreigner.  As a result God calls the three of them into his tent of meeting and strikes Miriam down with leprosy and she is kicked out of the camp for 7 days.  Don’t talk against God’s anointed one because it is like talking against God Himself.  Chapter 13 we have the spies going out into the land to see what it was like.  It was pretty amazing, and this is where they call the land one that is flowing with milk and honey.  But there is a problem, it is going to take a little bit of work to conquer this land, so let’s kind of tell the people that it isn’t all that it is cracked up to be, and probably not worth the effort.

Up to this point God has promised that the people would enter the promised land.  But as a result of this unfaithfulness God gets so angry that he tells the people that only Caleb and Joshua will be able to enter this land flowing with milk and honey and the rest of the population over 20 will die in the wilderness.  This is where we get God’s punishment that creates the reality of the people of Israel having to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, because they refused to obey God by giving a true report, but preferred to not say to truth in order to protect themselves and not trust that God would give them the victory.  Kind of an important chapter here.

Chapter 14 we see the people trying to appoint someone other than Moses to be their captain so that they could return to Egypt where they had things so much better.  So it is actually a combination of both chapter 13 and 14 where you see God’s decision to make them wander.  He first wanted to destroy all of them there and then, but Moses and Aaron talked him out of it by saying, how do you think the Egyptians would take that?  You would be a laughing stock.  Good point and point well taken by God.  He makes them wander for 40 years instead.  

We then get to Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth. Remember, this is a church that he founded and that he loves, even though, as we shall see, they are not completely obedient to the Word of God.  He begins with an appeal to unity wrapped around the topic of baptism.  Baptism is not in any person’s name, but rather in God’s name.  That is where we find our unity, not in who baptized us, but rather in whose name we are baptized.  

This theme of God using  that which is weak and lowly as the basis for his kingdom is powerful, especially in a church that values education so much, we must be sure that our reliance on education for our pastors does not take the place of our reliance on a relationship with Jesus Christ as being the primary factor to serving God powerfully.  

Just when we thought we had moved away from the rules and the regulations we find ourselves knee deep in rules and regulations.  Chapter 6 gives us the rules for how the Nazarites are to be prepared for the service of the Lord.  I hope you noticed a primary role that they served was to replace the required offering of the oldest to the Lord for his time to do service to the Lord.  Remember how Samuel was presented to the Lord because he was the oldest in the family?  Well this was supposed to happen with each family, and also each livestock, but of you look at 8:17-18 you’ll see this explanation.

Do not miss what is called the Aaronic blessing in 6:24-26 which is probably the best known Scripture in all that we will be reading for today.  It is powerful, and if you have young children it is something you can say over them as they are falling asleep.  Chapter 7 gives us the offerings of all 12 of the families of the tribe of Jacob, or Israel.  Chapter 8 carries on the theme of the Nazarites being set apart.  Did you see at what age they are to retire?  Look at 8:25.  Shees, I’m putting in overtime!

Chapter 9 speaks to the mandatory celebration of the Passover and chapter 10 gives us the marching orders for the Israelites and how they are to break down and move within the wilderness as they make their way to the promised land.  

Then we get to Jude.  Not the nicest letter in the Bible, but one that speaks to being wary of perversions that might infiltrate into the church and considering sin as a normal course of action within the church.  That is never the case, the church should never be a party to sin no matter what form it takes.  Today this lesson makes me think of how many wars could have been prevented if the church had risen up with their counterparts in the countries where there are feuds and said enough, we will not allow this to happen.  If the church had done that in Germany, there would have been no slaughter of the Jews and no war, but it remained silent, or worse yet, it was complicit.  It is not too late for the church to rise up to spare war from happening in the Ukraine.  Churches are present and could be involved if they so wished.

And so we begin Numbers.  If any book of the Bible has a description of itself in the title, Numbers would definitely be one of them.  I guess most of them do.  Genesis means the beginning.  Exodus is the exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt and across the wilderness and so on.  Numbers is an account of a census that the Lord has asked Aaron and Moses to take in order to number the Israelites.  The first chapter gives us those numbers and then ends with the statement that the Levites are not a part of those numbers because of their role with the tabernacle.

The second chapter gives the description of where the tribes are supposed to be overnight in relationship to the tabernacle and the tribe of Levi.  The third chapter gives more detail for the houses of Levi and the children of Aaron and what their responsibilities are in regards to the set up and the break down of the tabernacle.  This carries on into the fourth chapter.

In the fifth chapter we have regulations for husbands who are jealous of their wives and the excruciating test that they are allowed to put their wives under in order to ascertain whether they have been faithful or not.  Again, this is another example of how the wife is seen not much more than a possession and how they are not full participants in the covenant that up to this point has been established by God and the people of Israel.  Thanks be to God that Jesus brought a new covenant!

Third John brings us to a conclusion in these epistles of John.  Gaius is addressed although John does not know him personally.  He warns the church of false teachers and those whose actions bely that they are not really doing God’s will, but rather pursuing discipline and actions merely on behalf of their own self-interests.  Again, another warning for us in this day and age.

We read the first two of John’s Epistles.  Keep in mind that one of the primary reasons that these epistles are written are in order to combat the heresy of arianism, which is a belief that Jesus was created by God, and so not God in God’s fullness.  As Trinitarian believers we consider that a heresy.  The opposite of that would be docetism that believes that Jesus was actually in spirit form while he was on the earth and not truly human but rather strictly divine and seemed to be human.

Wow, that is a lot of theology, but keep that in mind as you read I and II John as it takes us on a very clear course that not only defines Jesus as God, but also as fully human.  Chapter one identifies that sin should not be present in our lives once we accept Jesus as Savior.  A good reminder for all of us.  He says in chapter 2 that he is writing these things so that we would not sin.  But he also says in chapter 1 vs.4 that he is writing these things so that our joy would be complete  in Jesus.  

Chapter 4 is the most significant chapter on love that we have in the Bible.  Even more so than I Corinthians 13 which is primarily descriptive of love, here John gives us the origin and the reason for love and the purpose that it serves as well as a description.  We see that love originates and has as its standard the love that God has for us in that he sacrificed his own Son for our sake.  The love that we have for each other is important, but ought to be measured against the love that God has for us, which is incredibly sacrificial and not self-serving at all.  It is a difficult measuring stick to achieve.  

John’s second letter is only one chapter and is addressed to and “elect lady” who is thought to be a local church.  The new commandments that are given are actually old commandments which are to love one another and to reject false teachings.  Pretty much sums up all the readings.

We finish up the book of Leviticus with more requirements for sacrifices, as well as an introduction to the year of Jubilee.  Chapter 24 gives us a story of a young man who is the product of an Egyptian dad and an Israelite mom, not something that was addresses as wrong, but who blasphemed and took the Lord’s name in vain.  As a result he was stoned to death.  

We then are introduced to the year of jubilee.  I’ll never forget living in Italy and the Roman Catholic Church preparing itself for the jubilee year which took place in 2000.  Every 50 years there is the year of jubilee and the great door leading into the Vatican which is sealed up is broken down by the pope.  It is very exciting.  But here the Scripture describes a year when all the slaves are set free, when debts are zeroed out, where property is returned, where fields lay fallow.  It is really a year of Sabbath and an opportunity for the people and the land to recover and heal.  Sounds like something we need right about now as well.

From there 26 discusses what the Lord will do to those who are obedient…and what he will do to those who are disobedient.  It is all connected to being able to enter the land that is promised to the people of Israel or not.  If you obey you will enter without fear, if you disobey you will always be fearful.  Then 27 closes out with more regulations that must be followed in order to please God, and just like that we are done with Leviticus.  

We see two psalms that are assigned.  Let’s focus just a bit on 19.  I really hope that vs.14 sounds familiar.  I say these words every Sunday before I am about to preach.  Psalm 19 is a Psalm that I say could be called a Psalm of Providence (I just made that up), which means that the entirety of the Psalm brings the reader to the realization that all things are under God’s control and under God’s loving guiding hand.  

We now transition to details about the priest and who they can marry and what they must do.  Keep in mind the priests were a part of the “priestly class” and the rules for them in a variety of ways were completely different.  They had to come from the family of Aaron and we see in chapter 21 that they could have no known and seen physical defects.  This theme of describing the priests and who they could be and who they could marry continues into 22 until we transition to the types of sacrifices that had to be presented.  All sacrifices had to be pure and perfect, you can’t give God that which you don’t want yourself.

Chapter 23 then describes a series of festivals that the people were commanded to follow.  I remember when I was in college during the last one that is described in this chapter, the festival of booths, or the feast of tabernacles, below my dorm were a series of huts that some of the students had made to live in during this time, made literally out of palm branches.  It made me look at this chapter and see how God commanded the people to live in these booths for 7 days.

When we look at Hebrews we close the chapter out with some of the most memorable verses in Hebrews.  Look at 11:1 which describes faith in the most succinct and memorable way possible.  Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen.  I love that definition.  We then get a listing of all those who lived in faith and this verse stuck out to me this time that I read this chapter in vs.6: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”  That is powerful to me because it does tell me that there is a role that faith plays which is not insignificant.

Chapter 12 includes the verse which points us ot the fact that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, and those witnesses are spelled out in chapter 11.   We are called in 12 to live in peace with all people and to be holy in vs.14.  Chapter 13 gives us some concluding remarks that remind us how important it is to keep our marriage pure and not to pursue money as the ends.  Great book of the Bible, one that should be read again and again, but alas, for now, we come to an end.