Bible in 90, Day 11: Power, Provision, and Promises

Numbers 9-21

Originally at Words of Reason

Bible in 90, Day 13: I believe the children are our future… seriously

Numbers 32-Deuteronomy 7

*image courtesy of jayofboy at www.sxc.hu

So, they finally made it to the Promised Land!  Some of these people were teenagers when they left Egypt, and now they’re in their 60’s and 70’s!  That’s a long time to wait on a promise to be fulfilled!  But God is faithful.  Before they go in, Moses lays down some ground rules: tribal allotments and boundaries, cities of refuge, Levitical towns, and inheritance standards.  This brings us to the end of Numbers.

Deuteronomy begins with a recounting of the last forty years, right up to the defeating of Sihon and Og.  Here, Moses reminds the people of God’s faithfulness, the unfaithfulness of their parents’ generation, and the reason behind the forty years of wandering.  Then begins one of the foundational passages of Judaism.  Chapters 4-6 of Deuteronomy are amazingly important chapters in the Old Testament.  In chapter 4, Moses commands the people to obey God and reminds them of their incredibly unique situation.  They are God’s chosen people and have heard His very voice speaking to them from the fire.  This prepares them to hear once again the Ten Commandments in chapter 5.  In chapter 6, we encounter the Jewish declaration of faith.  It is known as the Shema.  Shema is the first Hebrew word in v. 4 and it translates to “Hear!”  

Bible in 90, Day 12: Can’t Touch This!

Numbers 21-32

*image courtesy of demordian at www.sxc.hu

One of my favorite Old Testament stories was in our passage today – the story of Balaam’s Donkey.  This one is especially fun to bring up around small kids or teenagers who don’t know their Bible!  As comical as the story of a donkey who was both more spiritually aware, and more in control of its own mouth than its owner can be, the real comedy takes place right after this part of the story of Balaam.

So, King Balak hires him to put a curse on Israel.  Seems simple enough, I mean this guy apparently has some spiritual authority of some kind!  (What bothers me about Balaam is whether or not this guy was a genuine believer in the one true God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  I mean, he does call Him the Lord my God!)  But he’s smart enough to know that he can only speak what the Lord tells him to.  So, he goes up on the mountain, does some special ceremonies, and opens his mouth to try and curse the Israelites and out flies a blessing!  Balak is dismayed, but not as dismayed as he’s about to be when Balaam blesses them three more times!  He even begins prophesying about powerful rulers to come from Israel!  In the end, Balaam goes back home to his people and Balak is left with an enemy that has now been blessed four times by their God.

You can’t touch the people of God!

“If God is for us, who can be against us?”  When Paul wrote this, he was not saying that believers would not have enemies.  What he was saying is that it doesn’t really matter who is against us, they’re no match for God!  He also told us that there is no more condemnation for those who are in Christ.  If God does not condemn us, who can?!  If God is for us, who can be against us?  Even those who try to curse us may end up being used of God to bring us blessings.

Bible in 90, Day 11: Poor Moses!

Numbers 8-21

*image courtesy of Rene at www.sxc.hu

There are several recurring themes in today’s reading – complaining, God being furious, leadership challenges, and Moses & Aaron on their faces. And Moses really takes a lot in this passage!  Every time you turn around, someone is asking why Moses and/or God brought them out to the wilderness to die, or trying to usurp authority from Moses, Aaron, or even God!

The people complain that they are sick of manna.  They actually wish for the “good ol’ days” back when they were slaves in Egypt!  In one of my favorite lines in the Old Testament, God declares that they will have so much meat it will come out of their nostrils and they will loathe it!

Tee hee! God humor!

Bible in 90, Day 10: The First Born

Leviticus 26-Numbers 8

*image courtesy of ugaldew at www.sxc.hu

Ten days!  We are 1/9th of the way there!  We picked up a thread today that we began back on days 5 and 6 – the first born.  The first born occupy a special place.  I should know, I’m one of them!  In the Old Testament, the first born, especially the first born son, had certain rights no other child had.  Some of these rights (known as the rights of primogenitor, which is a fancy word for “first born”) were prevalent in ancient cultures.  However, the first born occupied a special place in God’s economy for more than just cultural reasons.

In Exodus 11, God struck down the first born son of all livestock and people in Egypt.   Think of the magnitude of this.  It goes beyond children, because it refers to all the first born.  That means you could have lost your oldest child, oldest grandchildren, an older brother, your father, a grandfather, anyone who was the one to open the womb.  While this happened, God spared the first born of all the Israelites.  Because of this, God declares later that all the first born in Israel belong to Him.  They are to be devoted to Him.  For animals, this meant that the first born of every animal was to be sacrificed to God.  For humans, this meant that a redemption price was to be paid.

There’s something about a first born.

Later on (in our reading today), God sets the Levites apart in a very special way.  He makes them the servants and keepers of the Tabernacle (and later the Temple).  In doing so, He claims them as His special possession in place of every first born son in Israel.  He takes them as wholly His, and makes them the substitute for every first born son.  From now on, the first born son is to be redeemed instead of being completely devoted to the service of the Lord.

This is part of why my son’s name is Corbin.  It is a Hebrew word (originally Korban) that means “dedicated to the Lord.”  As my first born son, he dedicated in a very special way to God.  While I’m not going to ship him off to a monastery, I have very intentionally dedicated him to the service of the Lord.  I desire that all my children serve God, but as I contemplated the coming of my first son, I had a special desire to see him consecrated to God.  My mother, too, dedicated me as a child, asking God to use me in a special way.  I know that this is a big reason that I am in the ministry today.

But let us consider God’s Firstborn.  Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten (or One and Only) Son of God.  When we become Christians, we become joint-heirs with Jesus, but never the Firstborn.  Jesus is the Firstborn of the Resurrection, and we will join Him in it.  Unlike the first born sons of Israel, whose lives were spared through paying a redemption price, God’s Firstborn died to pay the redemption price for our very souls.  As the Passover lamb was killed, and its blood spared the first born in Israel, so the final Passover Lamb, Jesus, died and His blood spares all those who call upon His name.