Who is Theophilus?
This is often the first question people ask when they read the book of Acts.
Chapter 1 verse 1 tells us that this book is addressed to this person, so it’s a little embarrassing as a Christian leader discipling recent converts to admit that we really don’t know.
The thing is, it’s quite a valid name. So on the one hand, it simply could be a member of the church named “Theophilus”.
On the other hand, it could be a code-name for someone. It literally means “One who loves God”, so it would be quite an appropriate codename for a Christian who wishes not to be identified (and fair enough, too, considering what used to happen to early Christians).
On the OTHER other hand, it could be YOU.
What do I mean? Well, you’re someone who loves God – you must be, if you have dragged yourself along this far reading my commentaries! – and you’re reading the book. That could mean that you’re the person it is addressed to! In other words, it could simply mean “Friend who loves God” – a title for any person who reads the book.
Anyway, we don’t know. We DO know that the Gospel of Luke is addressed to the same person, so that links this book with Luke’s Gospel. In fact, it is this book which actually spills the identity of the Gospel writer in the first place. But I’m getting ahead of myself here – that happens in a later chapter!
A breakdown of the first chapter is as follows:
* Vs 1 – 11: Wrapping up the story of Jesus – the ascension.
* Vs 12 – 14: A list of who was present, as well as the disciples’ agreement to include Mary, Jesus’ mother, his brothers and a couple of other women in their group.
* Vs 15 – 26: Replacing Judas.
It is the replacement of Judas that arouses a lot of comment from readers of this book. Firstly, it seems to fly in the face of the assertion in the Gospel of Matthew that Judas went away and hanged himself – in Acts, Luke spills more of the gory details (if you’ll pardon some grossly inappropriate puns there!) and tells us that he plunged headalong and burst . .
In the past this is one of those passages atheists like to look at and scream “Owned! Contradiction there!”
This never impressed me a lot. As far as I can see, the two are far from mutually exclusive, and if he hanged himself in a bad place, it could have easily been both. Anyway, that’s not a big deal.
What MAY be a big deal is this method of choosing the replacement – by drawing lots. This causes a lot of consternation among Christians. Conservative Southern Baptists, who are REALLY not into gambling, dislike it just on principle; Anglicans, many of whom have no such hang-ups, still dislike the idea of choosing a leader of the church at random. They (fairly!) ask if this is any way to select the best person for the job?
Of course, there’s more to this than meets the eye at first. It’s actually not a bad way of picking a leader when you carefully read what they did.
Note that the disciples did NOT just say “Okay, we’ll draw lots, and the first person the dice favours is the leader.” No the first thing they did can be found in verses 21 and 22, and it’s obvious once it gets pointed out to you (though if this is the first time you’ve picked this up, it may be a comfort for you to learn that I didn’t pick it up either until I was in my mid-20s).
Firstly, the Disciples select all the people among them who QUALIFY to be a disciple! This process yields two candidates, Justus and Matthias. Do you get this? They’re already screening out anyone undesirable by simply saying that the preferred candidate had to have been among Jesus’ disciples from the beginning of his ministry to his ascension.
The trick is to understand that the lot was cast ONLY after the disciples had already made a sound choice of the candidates. Once we were at this point, presumably from a human perspective, the two candidates are more or less equal. God is basically being asked to break the tie, which he does.
An episode of Yes Prime Minister refers to this passage when Jim is being asked to recommend the appointment of a bishop to the Sovereign. He asks the Church of England representatives how it was done in Bible times; they respond “They let the Holy Ghost decide by drawing lots.”
Jim, puzzled, asks why don’t they let the Holy Ghost decide this one?
The answer given is “They’re not certain the Holy Ghost has a good idea of what is required of a modern Bishop!”
Yes, it’s a funny call, but there is a deadly serious side to all this. We often don’t trust God anywhere near enough!
It’s strange how, when given two options that from our point of view appear equal, we are reluctant to let God make a decision. Yet here the Disciples are allowing God to decide the replacement leader in this way! Let’s face it, people – most of us would find that really hard to do.
Yet it seems to work. Matthias, if not reaching the heights of fame the other disciples did, at least he doesn’t screw up in any deep level.
Tonight’s reminder is fairly simple – the church belongs to God. YES, we are required to make the wisest decisions we can. Yes indeed, that’s important – and as we have seen, the Disciples did that too. But it’s equally important to recognize that if it is His church, He can be trusted to do right by it.
06 February 2011
Introduction to Acts
I breathed a sigh of relief. The results of the poll were finalized now, and my readers weren’t sadistic enough to set me on to Revelation.
(Most of them, anyway. There were two of you . . )
After doing my chapter-by-chapter commentary of Numbers, Acts seemed at first to be a relief.
It’s only now that I am reading the first chapter that it’s occurred to me that this undertaking is going to be just as difficult as going through Numbers – but for an entirely different reason.
You see, Numbers is fairly obscure. Yes, most of us know a couple of the stories there, but I’ll bet even the average Christian knows nothing about Zelophehad, or why his daughters are significant! And if you know the story of Balaam and the Donkey, odds are that you won’t know what he was actually on his way to do when God decided to use his donkey to make him look like a donkey.
Acts, by contrast, is well known to Christians. It can be an intimidating book, because it shows a church with a fire that deep down we suspect that we lack, getting results that we know we’re not getting. It can be hard going because of that very fact. But make no mistake, most of us have read it and know its stories well.
I’m going to have to come up with something meaningful from that!
Well, no time like the present. I invite you to join me and Dr Luke as we track the progress of the Church from its founding.
(Most of them, anyway. There were two of you . . )
After doing my chapter-by-chapter commentary of Numbers, Acts seemed at first to be a relief.
It’s only now that I am reading the first chapter that it’s occurred to me that this undertaking is going to be just as difficult as going through Numbers – but for an entirely different reason.
You see, Numbers is fairly obscure. Yes, most of us know a couple of the stories there, but I’ll bet even the average Christian knows nothing about Zelophehad, or why his daughters are significant! And if you know the story of Balaam and the Donkey, odds are that you won’t know what he was actually on his way to do when God decided to use his donkey to make him look like a donkey.
Acts, by contrast, is well known to Christians. It can be an intimidating book, because it shows a church with a fire that deep down we suspect that we lack, getting results that we know we’re not getting. It can be hard going because of that very fact. But make no mistake, most of us have read it and know its stories well.
I’m going to have to come up with something meaningful from that!
Well, no time like the present. I invite you to join me and Dr Luke as we track the progress of the Church from its founding.
05 February 2011
Chapter 36
So today finishes my survey of Numbers.
Fittingly, the book ends with an incident that will be quite difficult to find a real-life application for. Somehow I should have expected that.
We meet up with Zelophehad’s daughters again (see chapter 27). And again the question that is being asked is about their inheritance rights.
The question that is being asked seems downright ridiculous to people from our society – so what if they marry out of their tribe? It’s not their problem if any land they inherit leaves their tribe. Why is this such an issue?
It’s doubly significant to us that the upshot of this is to force them to marry cousins (although the word “cousin” doesn’t necessarily imply the relational closeness to them that it would in our world – it could be second, third, fourth or fifth cousins). To us this just seems gross, and we wonder why this was necessary!
Yet Moses is being commanded by God (v5) when he gives the response, which is that they must stay within their tribes. So logically God must have some reason for this.
I’ll admit that this passage mystified me enough that I decided to look up some other commentaries and see what their writers had to say. Most of them seem to plonk the entire chapter right into the “too hard” basket, and this even includes one or two shrill American ultra-conservative Pentecostal all-King-James commentaries. Darby (my first port of call, as a good Brethren boy) has little to say, and even Wesley simply explains one or two of the difficult words.
The only really useful one of the old classic commentaries, Matthew Henry, says that
“it is probable that this was not a bare surmise, or supposition, but that they knew, at this time, great court was made to them by some young gentlemen of other tribes, because they were heiresses, that they might get footing in this tribe, and so enlarge their own inheritance[1].”
This isn’t scripture, of course, but some shrewd thinking there. Probably this question wasn’t asked just for curiosity – they needed a ruling! To translate Henry’s comment from Early Modern English to today’s talk, it’s quite likely that some young man had noticed that the daughters were quite wealthy.
Of course, NOBODY marries for money today. We’re beyond that now . . . (Yeah, right)
What this law does is plugs a hole in the law that might have allowed someone to use marriage with one of these girls as a tool for enriching himself or his family.
The whole passage also brings out the importance of family to Jews of the day. To us, marriage is really a personal affair, and although your close friends and family can offer their opinion, you really do make your own decisions. But to the Israelites (and to most societies at this time), marriages were negotiated between two families. So it really was important that the interests of the family were considered, even though this seems odd to us today.
Once again, we have the point that God ensured that in a totally male-dominated world, the interests of a woman were still important. This entire situation occurred because of a decision that these women deserved as much chance to look after themselves as any male enjoyed.
--
So now we have finished Numbers. Where does it leave us?
It leaves us having walked [a lot of!] miles in the shoes of people who really had to rely on God for everything. They weren’t heroes, for the most part. They weren’t villains either, though they had their moments. There is certainly a lot they could have done better; when we see those things, we can learn the lesson and try to do better in our own lives. On the other hand, they could do worse, and in those circumstances we’d do well to follow the Israelites’ examples (especially those of characters like Joshua and Caleb).
I was going to finish off some other way, but by chance I happened to listen to a little Sermon/Song combo by Keith Green – you can find it on Youtube here. Something that Keith says in this little moment is interesting. The ultimate insult to God is, after all He has done for the people of Israel, for them to say “It was better back in Egypt”.
There are many different messages we could find from the book of Numbers, but perhaps a good one to take away as the big one is this – When God makes you free, you WILL face problems. Lots of problems. Freedom is like that; sometimes you wind up wishing that you were still in slavery. But persevere. Freedom beats slavery any day of the week.
Even when you end up having second thoughts and wanting to go back to Egypt, press on. Even if you have to wander in the desert for another 40 years, press on. Even if you yourself won’t make it to the Promised Land but have to bequeath the dream to your children, or your children’s children, PRESS ON.
In Christ, God has made you free. So don’t ever again allow yourself to be enslaved. Keep on walking through the Wilderness, and one day sooner or later you’ll be at the door to the Promised Land.
[1] Matthew Henry (1708)
Fittingly, the book ends with an incident that will be quite difficult to find a real-life application for. Somehow I should have expected that.
We meet up with Zelophehad’s daughters again (see chapter 27). And again the question that is being asked is about their inheritance rights.
The question that is being asked seems downright ridiculous to people from our society – so what if they marry out of their tribe? It’s not their problem if any land they inherit leaves their tribe. Why is this such an issue?
It’s doubly significant to us that the upshot of this is to force them to marry cousins (although the word “cousin” doesn’t necessarily imply the relational closeness to them that it would in our world – it could be second, third, fourth or fifth cousins). To us this just seems gross, and we wonder why this was necessary!
Yet Moses is being commanded by God (v5) when he gives the response, which is that they must stay within their tribes. So logically God must have some reason for this.
I’ll admit that this passage mystified me enough that I decided to look up some other commentaries and see what their writers had to say. Most of them seem to plonk the entire chapter right into the “too hard” basket, and this even includes one or two shrill American ultra-conservative Pentecostal all-King-James commentaries. Darby (my first port of call, as a good Brethren boy) has little to say, and even Wesley simply explains one or two of the difficult words.
The only really useful one of the old classic commentaries, Matthew Henry, says that
“it is probable that this was not a bare surmise, or supposition, but that they knew, at this time, great court was made to them by some young gentlemen of other tribes, because they were heiresses, that they might get footing in this tribe, and so enlarge their own inheritance[1].”
This isn’t scripture, of course, but some shrewd thinking there. Probably this question wasn’t asked just for curiosity – they needed a ruling! To translate Henry’s comment from Early Modern English to today’s talk, it’s quite likely that some young man had noticed that the daughters were quite wealthy.
Of course, NOBODY marries for money today. We’re beyond that now . . . (Yeah, right)
What this law does is plugs a hole in the law that might have allowed someone to use marriage with one of these girls as a tool for enriching himself or his family.
The whole passage also brings out the importance of family to Jews of the day. To us, marriage is really a personal affair, and although your close friends and family can offer their opinion, you really do make your own decisions. But to the Israelites (and to most societies at this time), marriages were negotiated between two families. So it really was important that the interests of the family were considered, even though this seems odd to us today.
Once again, we have the point that God ensured that in a totally male-dominated world, the interests of a woman were still important. This entire situation occurred because of a decision that these women deserved as much chance to look after themselves as any male enjoyed.
--
So now we have finished Numbers. Where does it leave us?
It leaves us having walked [a lot of!] miles in the shoes of people who really had to rely on God for everything. They weren’t heroes, for the most part. They weren’t villains either, though they had their moments. There is certainly a lot they could have done better; when we see those things, we can learn the lesson and try to do better in our own lives. On the other hand, they could do worse, and in those circumstances we’d do well to follow the Israelites’ examples (especially those of characters like Joshua and Caleb).
I was going to finish off some other way, but by chance I happened to listen to a little Sermon/Song combo by Keith Green – you can find it on Youtube here. Something that Keith says in this little moment is interesting. The ultimate insult to God is, after all He has done for the people of Israel, for them to say “It was better back in Egypt”.
There are many different messages we could find from the book of Numbers, but perhaps a good one to take away as the big one is this – When God makes you free, you WILL face problems. Lots of problems. Freedom is like that; sometimes you wind up wishing that you were still in slavery. But persevere. Freedom beats slavery any day of the week.
Even when you end up having second thoughts and wanting to go back to Egypt, press on. Even if you have to wander in the desert for another 40 years, press on. Even if you yourself won’t make it to the Promised Land but have to bequeath the dream to your children, or your children’s children, PRESS ON.
In Christ, God has made you free. So don’t ever again allow yourself to be enslaved. Keep on walking through the Wilderness, and one day sooner or later you’ll be at the door to the Promised Land.
[1] Matthew Henry (1708)
04 February 2011
Chapter 35
They say that you learn something every day.
Now, sometimes it’s as simple as “Don’t put your trousers on inside-out”.
(It never happened again)
But every now and again, there’s something awesome you discover. And tonight I have made such a discovery.
Chapter 35 is the second last chapter of Numbers. It starts with a command to ensure that the Levites are given suitable towns to live in when the Israelites arrive in the Promised Land. So far, so good. Practically necessary. Dull.
But THEN we start talking about “Asylum Cities.” NOW you’re talking.
To understand this fully, though, we must first go through and pick up a little of Israelite law of the time. When a person was killed, either intentionally or by accident, a member of the family was appointed “go’el”. The go’el (the Bible translates it here as “Avenger of blood”) was expected to track down the person responsible for the family member’s death, and ensure that they are killed or otherwise brought to justice.
I knew very little about this enigmatic Avenge, so I checked it out in a Jewish site online.
This is where that thing was learned today – It turns out that the word “go-el has TWO meanings.
The other meaning is found throughout the book of Ruth – here it’s translated “Kinsman Redeemer”.
Do you get the significance? The Kinsman Redeemer and the Avenger of Blood are the same person!
Now, let’s make sure we know what’s going on. The Avenger is a legally recognized role; he’s not just a person coming in to take revenge willy-nilly. He is appointed by the leadership of the tribe to give justice.
He’s also the person who will inherit the estate of the dead person.
I think there’s a great deal of significance in this, but more about that later.
Anyway, the Avenger is to hunt you down if you are guilty of murder; but if the death you’re being chased for is in fact accidental, you still have a recourse. You are to head immediately to the nearest Asylum City (you may be more familiar with the term “City of refuge), and stay there until the death of the next High Priest. Then you’d be free to go.
This was advanced in the culture of the day – most people who were responsible for the death of another by accident in the ancient world were in severe trouble. So God provided havens for his people. So that’s settled.
But I want to think about the Avenger of Blood and the Kinsman Redeemer.
It’s significant to us that in our own scenario, we are being tracked down by the Avenger of Blood. We have committed crime after crime, and the Avenger has caught up with us.
We look down the barrel of the man’s gun. And then it is that we recognize our redeemer. He says “the crimes you have committed have been paid for.”
THAT’S the situation we’re in. Once again, we can see how the pictures from Israel’s History are divinely inspired!
Now, sometimes it’s as simple as “Don’t put your trousers on inside-out”.
(It never happened again)
But every now and again, there’s something awesome you discover. And tonight I have made such a discovery.
Chapter 35 is the second last chapter of Numbers. It starts with a command to ensure that the Levites are given suitable towns to live in when the Israelites arrive in the Promised Land. So far, so good. Practically necessary. Dull.
But THEN we start talking about “Asylum Cities.” NOW you’re talking.
To understand this fully, though, we must first go through and pick up a little of Israelite law of the time. When a person was killed, either intentionally or by accident, a member of the family was appointed “go’el”. The go’el (the Bible translates it here as “Avenger of blood”) was expected to track down the person responsible for the family member’s death, and ensure that they are killed or otherwise brought to justice.
I knew very little about this enigmatic Avenge, so I checked it out in a Jewish site online.
This is where that thing was learned today – It turns out that the word “go-el has TWO meanings.
The other meaning is found throughout the book of Ruth – here it’s translated “Kinsman Redeemer”.
Do you get the significance? The Kinsman Redeemer and the Avenger of Blood are the same person!
Now, let’s make sure we know what’s going on. The Avenger is a legally recognized role; he’s not just a person coming in to take revenge willy-nilly. He is appointed by the leadership of the tribe to give justice.
He’s also the person who will inherit the estate of the dead person.
I think there’s a great deal of significance in this, but more about that later.
Anyway, the Avenger is to hunt you down if you are guilty of murder; but if the death you’re being chased for is in fact accidental, you still have a recourse. You are to head immediately to the nearest Asylum City (you may be more familiar with the term “City of refuge), and stay there until the death of the next High Priest. Then you’d be free to go.
This was advanced in the culture of the day – most people who were responsible for the death of another by accident in the ancient world were in severe trouble. So God provided havens for his people. So that’s settled.
But I want to think about the Avenger of Blood and the Kinsman Redeemer.
It’s significant to us that in our own scenario, we are being tracked down by the Avenger of Blood. We have committed crime after crime, and the Avenger has caught up with us.
We look down the barrel of the man’s gun. And then it is that we recognize our redeemer. He says “the crimes you have committed have been paid for.”
THAT’S the situation we’re in. Once again, we can see how the pictures from Israel’s History are divinely inspired!
03 February 2011
Chapter 34
Picture this – you’re about to do something you’ve dreamed of for a long time. Maybe it’s going on a trip on a cruise ship, or visiting some long-lost relative. Perhaps it’s something as simple as going to climb a mountain, or something as complex as learning to fly.
Everyone’s been there. For ages it seems like the dream is just that – a wish. A longing. A desire. In short, nothing real.
Then a short time before the big day, you do something that brings it home to you. Most often it’s packing the bags, or dropping pets off with a relative; something like that. There’s this heady moment, when you think something like “My goodness – this is real. I’m not imagining this, I’m really doing it.”
The longer it has taken to get to this point, the more amazing that moment.
Well, the dream of the Israelites – of bringing an end to their wandering, of finally having a homeland of their own – has been put off for forty years. I’m guessing that to many it would seem like . . .
. . . like the dream we have of the place God has prepared for us.
Remote.
Distant.
Far away.
Almost make-believe.
Suddenly, though, we’re no longer talking about “when we go to the Promised Land.” We’re actually making preparations to enter.
Moses, his lieutenant Joshua and Aaron’s successor, Eleazar, are drawing lines on the map, in Numbers chapter 34, lines to delineate the boundaries of the new land that will become “Israel”.
As well as drawing the boundaries, they are making other practical preparations – they are setting up a committee of leaders who will be a part of ensuring everyone settles in the correct area. This committee is composed of leaders of the tribes, although probably the only name that will be familiar to most of us is that well-known antique firebrand Caleb. To us, though, that’s not really a big deal (Once again, it would have significance if you could trace your ancestry back to one of these names, and to Moses’ original readers that may well have been possible; so this actually matters a lot to them).
It’s really happening . . we’re actually doing this . . we’re finally going to the Promised Land!
You can feel the excitement building. There’s also some sadness – for the parents’ generation, who except for Caleb and Joshua never got to see this day; and for Moses, who has been told that he too will die before the Israelites cross the border into the Land.
There is tension too – especially for Joshua. He’s been the right hand man to Moses for forty years! How is he going to manage alone?
It is with some sense of ceremony that the records list the leaders who would distribute the land allocations. When people say “Let the record show that . .” this kind of history is what they have in mind.
Let the record show that the people of Israel have taken their second chance and will now enter the land promised to them so long ago.
It’s a little hard to find an application for this passage, but one did occur to me if you’ll pardon me drawing a bit of a long bow. It’s one that I alluded to earlier.
God has promised us a land too. Our Promised Land is different; instead of a country here on Earth, it’s a country in the future recreated universe, presumably in the new Earth (talking about “going to heaven” has always seemed to me to be a misunderstanding, although I don’t usually correct people about it; I know what they mean). And like the Promised Land for the Israelites, I have often found the promise of that place to be far too remote to have any motivational importance at all.
I find that I can’t even imagine what it MIGHT be like.
Oh, sure, it’s a comfort to realize that I’m not going to simply vanish when I die(one wonders how a person who believes that death is completely the end can face it). It’s even more comforting to consider the friends and family that have passed away before me who I will be reunited with – two best friends, my grandfathers (one of which died before I turned five, so I’d love to chat to him for a long time), and oodles of others.
But for all that, I still find the prospect so remote as to be hard to imagine.
My Dad tells me that as you get older, the idea of dying and being recreated in a new place has a lot of attractiveness. Maybe as you approach, it becomes more real. And I guess it has been a bit that way – the next life is certainly more real than it was when I was in my teens.
Maybe it’s like the Israelites – reality began to set in when they started drawing the maps. For us, reality sets in when we realize we’re getting old, whenever that might be.
But maybe we should see it as an exciting adventure – one that we should wait until we’re commanded to go on, of course, but exciting nonetheless.
Not long now. . . Almost time to go . . I can hardly wait!
Everyone’s been there. For ages it seems like the dream is just that – a wish. A longing. A desire. In short, nothing real.
Then a short time before the big day, you do something that brings it home to you. Most often it’s packing the bags, or dropping pets off with a relative; something like that. There’s this heady moment, when you think something like “My goodness – this is real. I’m not imagining this, I’m really doing it.”
The longer it has taken to get to this point, the more amazing that moment.
Well, the dream of the Israelites – of bringing an end to their wandering, of finally having a homeland of their own – has been put off for forty years. I’m guessing that to many it would seem like . . .
. . . like the dream we have of the place God has prepared for us.
Remote.
Distant.
Far away.
Almost make-believe.
Suddenly, though, we’re no longer talking about “when we go to the Promised Land.” We’re actually making preparations to enter.
Moses, his lieutenant Joshua and Aaron’s successor, Eleazar, are drawing lines on the map, in Numbers chapter 34, lines to delineate the boundaries of the new land that will become “Israel”.
As well as drawing the boundaries, they are making other practical preparations – they are setting up a committee of leaders who will be a part of ensuring everyone settles in the correct area. This committee is composed of leaders of the tribes, although probably the only name that will be familiar to most of us is that well-known antique firebrand Caleb. To us, though, that’s not really a big deal (Once again, it would have significance if you could trace your ancestry back to one of these names, and to Moses’ original readers that may well have been possible; so this actually matters a lot to them).
It’s really happening . . we’re actually doing this . . we’re finally going to the Promised Land!
You can feel the excitement building. There’s also some sadness – for the parents’ generation, who except for Caleb and Joshua never got to see this day; and for Moses, who has been told that he too will die before the Israelites cross the border into the Land.
There is tension too – especially for Joshua. He’s been the right hand man to Moses for forty years! How is he going to manage alone?
It is with some sense of ceremony that the records list the leaders who would distribute the land allocations. When people say “Let the record show that . .” this kind of history is what they have in mind.
Let the record show that the people of Israel have taken their second chance and will now enter the land promised to them so long ago.
It’s a little hard to find an application for this passage, but one did occur to me if you’ll pardon me drawing a bit of a long bow. It’s one that I alluded to earlier.
God has promised us a land too. Our Promised Land is different; instead of a country here on Earth, it’s a country in the future recreated universe, presumably in the new Earth (talking about “going to heaven” has always seemed to me to be a misunderstanding, although I don’t usually correct people about it; I know what they mean). And like the Promised Land for the Israelites, I have often found the promise of that place to be far too remote to have any motivational importance at all.
I find that I can’t even imagine what it MIGHT be like.
Oh, sure, it’s a comfort to realize that I’m not going to simply vanish when I die(one wonders how a person who believes that death is completely the end can face it). It’s even more comforting to consider the friends and family that have passed away before me who I will be reunited with – two best friends, my grandfathers (one of which died before I turned five, so I’d love to chat to him for a long time), and oodles of others.
But for all that, I still find the prospect so remote as to be hard to imagine.
My Dad tells me that as you get older, the idea of dying and being recreated in a new place has a lot of attractiveness. Maybe as you approach, it becomes more real. And I guess it has been a bit that way – the next life is certainly more real than it was when I was in my teens.
Maybe it’s like the Israelites – reality began to set in when they started drawing the maps. For us, reality sets in when we realize we’re getting old, whenever that might be.
But maybe we should see it as an exciting adventure – one that we should wait until we’re commanded to go on, of course, but exciting nonetheless.
Not long now. . . Almost time to go . . I can hardly wait!
02 February 2011
Chapter 33
If you read chapter 33 you may notice it takes a slightly different tone to much of the rest of the book.
Rather than telling a particular story, this chapter is a formal history. Like much of the Old Testament (especially), it’s intended to be a verbal history that a person can remember, which is why you get the patterns that you can see in the text.
Basically, Israelite kids will grow up knowing where their ancestors went, and in what order. They have in fact kept an incredibly detailed record of their entire stay in the wilderness, all forty years of it!
Here and there you see a place name that we might recognize from our survey of this book. Such places as:
The Wilderness of Sin (pronounced “Zin” – it has nothing to do with being thought of as an evil place!)
Rephidim, where Moses struck the rock to give the Israelites water.
Abel Shittim, where the Midianite women seduced many.
Interesting history, to be sure. But does it have anything to teach us?
I think so. But rather than one big lesson, rich in theology, I think this chapter is more a place where a whole lot of loose ends are finally tied up; so similarly there are small lessons throughout the book.
Firstly, there’s the fact that God wanted the whole exodus recorded in such fine detail. The reason He does this is simply because God wants us to know what He has done for His people through history. So he ensures that not only is the History of His people clear, it’s also easily remembered (and presumably frequently memorized over time).
It’s therefore not unreasonable for a kid of ten or eleven to be able to recite the journey of the Israelites. God doesn’t want this whole thing forgotten. He wants it REMEMBERED! He wants people years later to be able to look back on what was done during the journey.
If you remember where you’ve been, it helps you to understand where you’re going!
Also God takes some time to help people prepare for what they will encounter in the Promised Land. Once again, God tells his people to ruthlessly wipe out their neighbouring countries, but there is method to the madness. God is making sure that His people can obey Him when push comes to shove.
Finally we have the renewal of the contract, in that God once again gives His promises as to what will happen if they are faithful or unfaithful to Him. There are problems.
So how can we apply this?
1) Know where God has taken you, and where you are both going now. We can trust Him to do what is right.
2) Here we can see more evidence that God understands exactly what we will face, and how we will respond. Yet before we do, He has promised to be with us every step of the way. We need to simply grab onto His coat tails and ride with Him!
Rather than telling a particular story, this chapter is a formal history. Like much of the Old Testament (especially), it’s intended to be a verbal history that a person can remember, which is why you get the patterns that you can see in the text.
Basically, Israelite kids will grow up knowing where their ancestors went, and in what order. They have in fact kept an incredibly detailed record of their entire stay in the wilderness, all forty years of it!
Here and there you see a place name that we might recognize from our survey of this book. Such places as:
The Wilderness of Sin (pronounced “Zin” – it has nothing to do with being thought of as an evil place!)
Rephidim, where Moses struck the rock to give the Israelites water.
Abel Shittim, where the Midianite women seduced many.
Interesting history, to be sure. But does it have anything to teach us?
I think so. But rather than one big lesson, rich in theology, I think this chapter is more a place where a whole lot of loose ends are finally tied up; so similarly there are small lessons throughout the book.
Firstly, there’s the fact that God wanted the whole exodus recorded in such fine detail. The reason He does this is simply because God wants us to know what He has done for His people through history. So he ensures that not only is the History of His people clear, it’s also easily remembered (and presumably frequently memorized over time).
It’s therefore not unreasonable for a kid of ten or eleven to be able to recite the journey of the Israelites. God doesn’t want this whole thing forgotten. He wants it REMEMBERED! He wants people years later to be able to look back on what was done during the journey.
If you remember where you’ve been, it helps you to understand where you’re going!
Also God takes some time to help people prepare for what they will encounter in the Promised Land. Once again, God tells his people to ruthlessly wipe out their neighbouring countries, but there is method to the madness. God is making sure that His people can obey Him when push comes to shove.
Finally we have the renewal of the contract, in that God once again gives His promises as to what will happen if they are faithful or unfaithful to Him. There are problems.
So how can we apply this?
1) Know where God has taken you, and where you are both going now. We can trust Him to do what is right.
2) Here we can see more evidence that God understands exactly what we will face, and how we will respond. Yet before we do, He has promised to be with us every step of the way. We need to simply grab onto His coat tails and ride with Him!
01 February 2011
Chapter 32
The events of chapter 32 don’t seem all that interesting to the casual observer; but to someone living in ancient Israel they would have been very important.
This chapter tells us about why two and a half tribes of Israelites live on the wrong side of the Jordan River, and yet still get considered part of Israel!
A piece of terminology that is useful here is “Transjordan.” Literally, this just means “Across the Jordan,” and refers to the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh (the other half-tribe being on the Israel side of the Jordan river).
Let’s go through the passage quickly.
Verses 1 – 5 lay out the reasoning of the Transjordan tribes. “The land here is good for livestock,” they say. “And we have livestock. If you think we’ve done a good job so far, give us this land as our inheritance.”
Moses throws a wobbly here. Verses 6 – 15 lay it out a little – he’s upset because he thinks that these tribes are about to give up the fight and leave it to the rest of Israel. Not surprisingly, Moses is a little flummoxed. He (quite reasonably) challenges the tribes in question by basically asking them “Are you going to help conquer the rest of the land, or are you just going to go off and go home now?
In verses 16 – 29, then, Moses is reassured. The Transjordan tribes have no intention of depriving their brothers and sisters of their assistance; so their plan is for the wife and kids to stay at home while the armies travel with Moses (and later Joshua).
The chapter is rounded out by yet another list. of who went and who did not.
Is there anything we can learn, aside from the heritage that it grants the Jews?
I believe there is one little thing here. Moses here makes a mistake by going off half-cocked, though it is true that fortunately cooler heads prevail before he says anything really stupid.
Its quite easy to make snap judgements. Sometimes our judgements are good; other times, though, we can get things badly wrong.
And boy, has Moses ever screwed up here!
The lesson for us is so simple that for the first time since I started this commentary, it feels possible that I might not fill up this page and start on a second! Nah, I’ve nearly finished this page . . .
Seriously, though, we can make similar mistakes to Moses if we don’t watch it. Notice that Moses doesn’t attempt to listen to the real story at first; nor does he ask God about it. He just REACTS.
When we’re faced with information, the temptation to blow up instead of listening could be quite difficult to resist. After all, we know everything, don’t we?
Oh yeah, that’s right, you haven’t read ahead yet!
Well, Moses thinks he knows where this conversation is headed, and starts storming down from on high on them. It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who makes such errors!
Which leads us to a very practical moment. What should Moses do?
Well, he should (and does eventually!) cool down and just listen. Whereupon he finds that the request is actually not so unreasonable after all.
Similarly with us, when we find ourselves in a situation where we’re tempted to go off as soon as we hear about it, we often make our decisions rashly. But if we just take a little time and listen to God, maybe, JUST MAYBE, we might avoid a big fight and be just a little more glorifying to Him.
This chapter tells us about why two and a half tribes of Israelites live on the wrong side of the Jordan River, and yet still get considered part of Israel!
A piece of terminology that is useful here is “Transjordan.” Literally, this just means “Across the Jordan,” and refers to the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh (the other half-tribe being on the Israel side of the Jordan river).
Let’s go through the passage quickly.
Verses 1 – 5 lay out the reasoning of the Transjordan tribes. “The land here is good for livestock,” they say. “And we have livestock. If you think we’ve done a good job so far, give us this land as our inheritance.”
Moses throws a wobbly here. Verses 6 – 15 lay it out a little – he’s upset because he thinks that these tribes are about to give up the fight and leave it to the rest of Israel. Not surprisingly, Moses is a little flummoxed. He (quite reasonably) challenges the tribes in question by basically asking them “Are you going to help conquer the rest of the land, or are you just going to go off and go home now?
In verses 16 – 29, then, Moses is reassured. The Transjordan tribes have no intention of depriving their brothers and sisters of their assistance; so their plan is for the wife and kids to stay at home while the armies travel with Moses (and later Joshua).
The chapter is rounded out by yet another list. of who went and who did not.
Is there anything we can learn, aside from the heritage that it grants the Jews?
I believe there is one little thing here. Moses here makes a mistake by going off half-cocked, though it is true that fortunately cooler heads prevail before he says anything really stupid.
Its quite easy to make snap judgements. Sometimes our judgements are good; other times, though, we can get things badly wrong.
And boy, has Moses ever screwed up here!
The lesson for us is so simple that for the first time since I started this commentary, it feels possible that I might not fill up this page and start on a second! Nah, I’ve nearly finished this page . . .
Seriously, though, we can make similar mistakes to Moses if we don’t watch it. Notice that Moses doesn’t attempt to listen to the real story at first; nor does he ask God about it. He just REACTS.
When we’re faced with information, the temptation to blow up instead of listening could be quite difficult to resist. After all, we know everything, don’t we?
Oh yeah, that’s right, you haven’t read ahead yet!
Well, Moses thinks he knows where this conversation is headed, and starts storming down from on high on them. It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who makes such errors!
Which leads us to a very practical moment. What should Moses do?
Well, he should (and does eventually!) cool down and just listen. Whereupon he finds that the request is actually not so unreasonable after all.
Similarly with us, when we find ourselves in a situation where we’re tempted to go off as soon as we hear about it, we often make our decisions rashly. But if we just take a little time and listen to God, maybe, JUST MAYBE, we might avoid a big fight and be just a little more glorifying to Him.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)