Voting: We have a result! After Numbers finishes, Johno’s Commentary will turn its attention to . . .
. . . Drumroll . . .
ACTS!
We come today to a part of the Bible that challenges me deeply. Troubles me, in fact. Simply because it seems to be so foreign to the personality of the God I have come to love and worship.
Chapter 31 of Numbers is where Israel gets a little payback from the Midianites.
Now, in context, it is worth mentioning that the Midianites DID hire Balaam to put a curse on the Israelites (and the fact that he ended up being unable to doesn’t change the fact that he did his best). They WERE an enemy of Israel, and they DID try a campaign of seduction to try to get the Israelites to stop their progress. I know that.
I also know that in the ancient world, farming techniques were far from perfect, and war was a way of ensuring that your own people had enough to eat. It wasn’t done for the fun of it. This is why wars were so merciless in this time – it was literally a matter of “them or us”. I know that too.
I even know that God has reasons for doing things that we really can’t understand because we don’t know what God can see that we can’t. I know that as well.
But for all that I still find it hard to reconcile the God that I love with the God who orders the execution of ALL the people in the Midianite towns. Why, Lord? What was so irredeemably evil about the people in these places that they deserved death without prejudice?
It’s also quite horrifying from a modern perspective to see the attitude towards women – the people who are eligible to be spared from death are in fact the women who are eligible for marriage!
God’s blessing is very evidently on this attack, one way or another – the soldiers come back not having lost a man. So there’s something going on here that we may not understand.
As I say, I find this all very hard to cope with.
However, God has a plan. And that plan involves the salvation of an entire world. So maybe this path that God gives is the best option.
Maybe it’s just a matter of God working within the violence of the time. Certainly, God has given these people the Ten Commandments, and all his other laws. We know that after the entry into the promised land this nomadic nation will be forged into a mighty (but good and righteous) country.
But this is simply guess work. Frankly I don’t know what God has in mind.
I do know that I can trust Him. For now, I guess, that’s enough.
31 January 2011
30 January 2011
Chapter 30
Voting: Last day!
Chapter 30 is an interesting chapter – a bit of a Rorschach test, really, because I think you’d be generally likely to see what you expect to see from it.
The bald facts of the chapter, with no emotional content are as follows. It’s about women and their vows and promises. Put simply, in Israelite society a man was required to follow through on all his vows, even if later on it turns out that such vows are unrealistic. In this, we’re still fairly similar today – if one signs a contract with another person, they are obliged to go through with it, or else they will suffer any consequences of failure stipulated in the contract.
Now, having this sort of contract law apply to verbal promises is a little disconcerting for us, but in fact it’s not as big a deal as you might think. Remember, this is a pre-literate society. People who can read and write are very much in the minority, and paper and ink are expensive. Copies of a document take a long time to produce, and require a person to look at them and write or draw what he sees. So few people would need a document to commit to something. On the other hand, some things remain fairly constant, and the need for people to make commitments between them is one such thing. So for the Israelites of this period, it was understood that if you made a promise you had to keep it.
So far so good, but it gets a little more complex. If a woman makes a rash promise, there are some other things that can come into play.
An unmarried woman still living with her parents is under the authority of her father, such that he has the right to countermand any promise that she makes which is rash or unwise (vs 3-5). If he does not countermand it, she is bound to keep it.
Similarly, if she gets married after making this pledge, the power of veto passes to her husband (vs 6-8). Therefore a widow or divorced woman is bound by her promises. A married woman’s husband can annul a promise made by his wife, but if he doesn’t do so at first and then later cancels the promise, he is to be treated as though it was him making the promise (vs 10 -15).
What are we to make of all this?
A modern feminist may look at this passage and deplore the condescension shown. What? A woman is to be always under the control of a man? Why should God be so sexist?
Yet as in many things we see in life, not all is as it seems. An historian looks at this and gasps – at a time when women were property in most cultures, even some quite advanced cultures, a race of nomads is traveling over the desert with a concept of women having complete legal rights! By comparison, a Greek woman had no right to enter contractual agreements except through their kurios[1]. An Israelite woman’s kurios could overturn her contracts if he believed it prudent to do so, but nonetheless she was permitted to enter contracts as she chose nonetheless, and women without a kurios were able to pretty much master their own destinies.
The feminist might well see a religion chaining people here. Forgive me for being different, but here I see a God who wants to push His people to be as accepting and tolerant of others as they are of themselves. No, far from being extra chains for the people of Israel, this was one step towards allowing more equality among His followers. Ultimately God wanted things so that there was no “male or female, jew nor gentile, slave nor free.”
[1] I use the Greek word “kurios” here because it’s a useful concept describing the kind of relationships discussed in Numbers 30. Usually translated “lord” or “master”, a woman’s kurios was her legal keeper. Until she was married, a woman’s kurios was usually her father, or if he happened to be deceased, her eldest brother. After marriage, of course, her husband took over the duties of kurios.
Chapter 30 is an interesting chapter – a bit of a Rorschach test, really, because I think you’d be generally likely to see what you expect to see from it.
The bald facts of the chapter, with no emotional content are as follows. It’s about women and their vows and promises. Put simply, in Israelite society a man was required to follow through on all his vows, even if later on it turns out that such vows are unrealistic. In this, we’re still fairly similar today – if one signs a contract with another person, they are obliged to go through with it, or else they will suffer any consequences of failure stipulated in the contract.
Now, having this sort of contract law apply to verbal promises is a little disconcerting for us, but in fact it’s not as big a deal as you might think. Remember, this is a pre-literate society. People who can read and write are very much in the minority, and paper and ink are expensive. Copies of a document take a long time to produce, and require a person to look at them and write or draw what he sees. So few people would need a document to commit to something. On the other hand, some things remain fairly constant, and the need for people to make commitments between them is one such thing. So for the Israelites of this period, it was understood that if you made a promise you had to keep it.
So far so good, but it gets a little more complex. If a woman makes a rash promise, there are some other things that can come into play.
An unmarried woman still living with her parents is under the authority of her father, such that he has the right to countermand any promise that she makes which is rash or unwise (vs 3-5). If he does not countermand it, she is bound to keep it.
Similarly, if she gets married after making this pledge, the power of veto passes to her husband (vs 6-8). Therefore a widow or divorced woman is bound by her promises. A married woman’s husband can annul a promise made by his wife, but if he doesn’t do so at first and then later cancels the promise, he is to be treated as though it was him making the promise (vs 10 -15).
What are we to make of all this?
A modern feminist may look at this passage and deplore the condescension shown. What? A woman is to be always under the control of a man? Why should God be so sexist?
Yet as in many things we see in life, not all is as it seems. An historian looks at this and gasps – at a time when women were property in most cultures, even some quite advanced cultures, a race of nomads is traveling over the desert with a concept of women having complete legal rights! By comparison, a Greek woman had no right to enter contractual agreements except through their kurios[1]. An Israelite woman’s kurios could overturn her contracts if he believed it prudent to do so, but nonetheless she was permitted to enter contracts as she chose nonetheless, and women without a kurios were able to pretty much master their own destinies.
The feminist might well see a religion chaining people here. Forgive me for being different, but here I see a God who wants to push His people to be as accepting and tolerant of others as they are of themselves. No, far from being extra chains for the people of Israel, this was one step towards allowing more equality among His followers. Ultimately God wanted things so that there was no “male or female, jew nor gentile, slave nor free.”
[1] I use the Greek word “kurios” here because it’s a useful concept describing the kind of relationships discussed in Numbers 30. Usually translated “lord” or “master”, a woman’s kurios was her legal keeper. Until she was married, a woman’s kurios was usually her father, or if he happened to be deceased, her eldest brother. After marriage, of course, her husband took over the duties of kurios.
29 January 2011
Chapter 29
Voting: Anyone who has yet to vote, please do so – we’re stuck in No Mans’ Land!
Chapter 29 continues on the theme of the sacrifices that God demands of His people. However, as well as the regular daily sacrifices, now we’re looking at a couple of important feasts.
The most important of these is Passover, which was dealt with at the end of yesterday’s passage. Camel-bump chapters again, I’m afraid. But today we look at another of the festivals that were important to the Israelites, specifically the Feast of Trumpets. Note that we’re looking at it from a particular point of view, however – it’s not so much a detailed explanation of what is to be done on each day of the festival. Instead we have instructions to the priests and Levites about what animals are to be sacrificed and how many. So in this respect it’s a little unrevealing.
However, this brings us to the topics of festivals. Christians have had an amazing variety of stances on festivals over the years. Catholic and Orthodox Christians have a festival for nearly every day of the year. It’s almost always some saint’s day! And there are those familiar to Protestants such as Christmas and Easter as well.
On the whole, Protestants seem to be less excited about festivals. Mostly we’ll celebrate Easter and Christmas, and that’s about it[1]. And sometimes we’ll even do so apologetically, for example recognizing from the pulpit that yes, Christmas isn’t actually likely to be close to Jesus’ birth day!
Of course, there’s always another extreme. The quasi-Christian group known as the Jehovahs’ Witnesses don’t celebrate any festivals at all – not even their own birthdays.
Is there a Biblical stance on this? Well, we read here that God commands people to keep the Feast of Trumpets. So we can see that at least some festivals are important enough to Him to issue a directive to His people. . . .
. . . . ISRAELITES, that is!
Now comes the tricky part – are any festivals required of the Christian?
As I said in yesterday’s commentary, we are free as Christians to do as we please, so long as we don’t disgrace the Lord’s name. So really, we don’t have to participate in any festivals – but there are good reasons for doing so!
1) God’s command to the Israelites at least indicates that God thinks some festivals are important.
2) People all over the world celebrate festivals, even those in agrarian societies. They serve an important sociological purpose in that they bind the community together tightly,.
3) Festivals are a great opportunity to participate in public worship.
So some degree of celebration would appear to be warranted for Christians.
But since we’re given no commands as to what and how we are to celebrate, a bit of common sense is called for (celebrating something every day, for example, would be misguided).
One thing that IS important is to remember that the main purpose of these festivals that were kept by the ancient Israelites was to provide the people with an opportunity to worship God Himself. They weren’t about having fun (though clearly people enjoyed them) or taking time off (though that was one of the observances people probably enjoyed).
Similarly, there is no problem for (for example) Christians celebrating Christmas at the time we do (i.e. the date of the old Roman festival of Saturnalia!). But we need to be honouring God when we do celebrate. If our main thought in ANY Christian festival is about our own enjoyment, we may well be in serious danger of missing the point.
On the other hand, we’re not being asked to live miserable enjoyment-free lives either. Enjoyment of festivals is right and proper, and as it happens, inevitable if we are celebrating festivals correctly. The key thing is this – why is it being done at all? If part of the answer is “To glorify God”, then we’re on our way to getting our celebrations right.
[1] We also, oddly, celebrate some of the really commercial holidays such as Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day. But to be fair, we usually do this because we have an ironclad excuse for dragging non-Christian parents and friends to church on those days.
Chapter 29 continues on the theme of the sacrifices that God demands of His people. However, as well as the regular daily sacrifices, now we’re looking at a couple of important feasts.
The most important of these is Passover, which was dealt with at the end of yesterday’s passage. Camel-bump chapters again, I’m afraid. But today we look at another of the festivals that were important to the Israelites, specifically the Feast of Trumpets. Note that we’re looking at it from a particular point of view, however – it’s not so much a detailed explanation of what is to be done on each day of the festival. Instead we have instructions to the priests and Levites about what animals are to be sacrificed and how many. So in this respect it’s a little unrevealing.
However, this brings us to the topics of festivals. Christians have had an amazing variety of stances on festivals over the years. Catholic and Orthodox Christians have a festival for nearly every day of the year. It’s almost always some saint’s day! And there are those familiar to Protestants such as Christmas and Easter as well.
On the whole, Protestants seem to be less excited about festivals. Mostly we’ll celebrate Easter and Christmas, and that’s about it[1]. And sometimes we’ll even do so apologetically, for example recognizing from the pulpit that yes, Christmas isn’t actually likely to be close to Jesus’ birth day!
Of course, there’s always another extreme. The quasi-Christian group known as the Jehovahs’ Witnesses don’t celebrate any festivals at all – not even their own birthdays.
Is there a Biblical stance on this? Well, we read here that God commands people to keep the Feast of Trumpets. So we can see that at least some festivals are important enough to Him to issue a directive to His people. . . .
. . . . ISRAELITES, that is!
Now comes the tricky part – are any festivals required of the Christian?
As I said in yesterday’s commentary, we are free as Christians to do as we please, so long as we don’t disgrace the Lord’s name. So really, we don’t have to participate in any festivals – but there are good reasons for doing so!
1) God’s command to the Israelites at least indicates that God thinks some festivals are important.
2) People all over the world celebrate festivals, even those in agrarian societies. They serve an important sociological purpose in that they bind the community together tightly,.
3) Festivals are a great opportunity to participate in public worship.
So some degree of celebration would appear to be warranted for Christians.
But since we’re given no commands as to what and how we are to celebrate, a bit of common sense is called for (celebrating something every day, for example, would be misguided).
One thing that IS important is to remember that the main purpose of these festivals that were kept by the ancient Israelites was to provide the people with an opportunity to worship God Himself. They weren’t about having fun (though clearly people enjoyed them) or taking time off (though that was one of the observances people probably enjoyed).
Similarly, there is no problem for (for example) Christians celebrating Christmas at the time we do (i.e. the date of the old Roman festival of Saturnalia!). But we need to be honouring God when we do celebrate. If our main thought in ANY Christian festival is about our own enjoyment, we may well be in serious danger of missing the point.
On the other hand, we’re not being asked to live miserable enjoyment-free lives either. Enjoyment of festivals is right and proper, and as it happens, inevitable if we are celebrating festivals correctly. The key thing is this – why is it being done at all? If part of the answer is “To glorify God”, then we’re on our way to getting our celebrations right.
[1] We also, oddly, celebrate some of the really commercial holidays such as Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day. But to be fair, we usually do this because we have an ironclad excuse for dragging non-Christian parents and friends to church on those days.
28 January 2011
Chapter 28
NOTE: Voting is fierce - neck a neck! There is a three way tie, with three days left. Break it please!!!!!!
Well, before we start, I thought it was important to work out what was happening next. I cheated and read ahead!
It turns out that this is the beginning of Moses’ passing, but not the end; he has maybe a few weeks or a few months to live. Certainly he was aware that he was going, but there were a couple of tasks for him to do before he shuffled off this mortal coil, and God has given him a little list of things to accomplish.
So he knows that his time is almost up, but he also knows that he has enough time to sort things out and get them into order. Firstly Moses hands over the leadership to Joshua. Now what?
With the issue of leadership settled, now Moses turns his attention to laws. The new generation of Israelites were not present when the law was read out before, so it’s time for them to be told what sacrifices are needed when one comes before God.
I have written much about these in previous pages, so I won’t do so again. Suffice it to say that a powerful and holy God is approached carefully – unless one has become a child of His!
But what can we learn from these sacrifices that we haven’t heard before? I can see something straight out, and it’s something that a lot of 21st century Christians will struggle with – in several places where the sacrifice or festival is described, the instructions say “On that day do no regular work.”
One of the things Christians (and most especially protestant evangelical Christians) are known for is their work ethic. We tend to work ourselves into a frenzy, and as a result we control a disproportionately high percentage of the wealth in our society. That’s nice, of course, but on the other hand we often risk the problem of burnout. If that's how we behave in our secular jobs, it's no great surprise that we behave that way in our Church lives also.
I’ve had one of those weeks from this point of view – I have volunteered for a lot of the stuff my church does. It’s hard work. Worth it, to be sure, but really hard work.
Contrast this with the worship of the God spoken of in Numbers – the hallmark of worshiping Him is RESTING! God says “Do no work.” And this is something that is honouring to Him!
Note here that we’re not suggesting you should skive. There is plenty to be done for the Kingdom, and relatively few people to do it all. But it is IMPORTANT that we recognize the value of rest and relaxation. We miss out on these things to our own peril. Not only that, but we risk damaging our witness if we overwork ourselves! We need to remember that our lives are supposed to be worthy of imitation. When we work ourselves too hard, we don't look like something people want to copy.
There are times when we’re required to do something for God. It may even be something that takes a lot of effort. But sometimes, all God asks of us is simply to “Be still and know that I am God.” In fact, God commands His people to do this for one day in every seven.
You and I are not Jews, of course, so this commandment doesn't apply to us. We're not sinning if we don't keep the Sabbath day. But we ARE being foolish, and it's worthwhile us remembering that the person who commanded the Sabbath rest was in fact the creator of all humankind - the one who wrote the manual!
Well, before we start, I thought it was important to work out what was happening next. I cheated and read ahead!
It turns out that this is the beginning of Moses’ passing, but not the end; he has maybe a few weeks or a few months to live. Certainly he was aware that he was going, but there were a couple of tasks for him to do before he shuffled off this mortal coil, and God has given him a little list of things to accomplish.
So he knows that his time is almost up, but he also knows that he has enough time to sort things out and get them into order. Firstly Moses hands over the leadership to Joshua. Now what?
With the issue of leadership settled, now Moses turns his attention to laws. The new generation of Israelites were not present when the law was read out before, so it’s time for them to be told what sacrifices are needed when one comes before God.
I have written much about these in previous pages, so I won’t do so again. Suffice it to say that a powerful and holy God is approached carefully – unless one has become a child of His!
But what can we learn from these sacrifices that we haven’t heard before? I can see something straight out, and it’s something that a lot of 21st century Christians will struggle with – in several places where the sacrifice or festival is described, the instructions say “On that day do no regular work.”
One of the things Christians (and most especially protestant evangelical Christians) are known for is their work ethic. We tend to work ourselves into a frenzy, and as a result we control a disproportionately high percentage of the wealth in our society. That’s nice, of course, but on the other hand we often risk the problem of burnout. If that's how we behave in our secular jobs, it's no great surprise that we behave that way in our Church lives also.
I’ve had one of those weeks from this point of view – I have volunteered for a lot of the stuff my church does. It’s hard work. Worth it, to be sure, but really hard work.
Contrast this with the worship of the God spoken of in Numbers – the hallmark of worshiping Him is RESTING! God says “Do no work.” And this is something that is honouring to Him!
Note here that we’re not suggesting you should skive. There is plenty to be done for the Kingdom, and relatively few people to do it all. But it is IMPORTANT that we recognize the value of rest and relaxation. We miss out on these things to our own peril. Not only that, but we risk damaging our witness if we overwork ourselves! We need to remember that our lives are supposed to be worthy of imitation. When we work ourselves too hard, we don't look like something people want to copy.
There are times when we’re required to do something for God. It may even be something that takes a lot of effort. But sometimes, all God asks of us is simply to “Be still and know that I am God.” In fact, God commands His people to do this for one day in every seven.
You and I are not Jews, of course, so this commandment doesn't apply to us. We're not sinning if we don't keep the Sabbath day. But we ARE being foolish, and it's worthwhile us remembering that the person who commanded the Sabbath rest was in fact the creator of all humankind - the one who wrote the manual!
27 January 2011
Chapter 27
The first part of chapter 27 relates to an interesting incident if you are a student of ancient history, especially the history of the Hellenistic world. This is the term we give to the “Greek” (actually mostly Macedonian[1]) culture that pretty much took over the world in the last part of the BC era.
Background: in the Hellenistic world, a woman basically had few legal rights. A citizen woman’s rights were exercised through her “Kurios” (Lord – usually her father, her husband or her eldest brother).
In the Hellenistic world, the answer to the daughters of Zelophehad would have been “Too bad, so sad, tough luck.” Their situation was unfortunate, but little or nothing would have been done for them.
In this we see a stark contrast between the God of the Bible and the gods of most of the ancient world – He saw EVERYONE, male and female, as important. And sure enough God grants the daughters their inheritance.
A lot of people see the Bible as misogynistic. There’s an idea that women are seen by the Bible as second class citizens.
To be sure, by today’s standards they were; but an historical source must be judged by contemporary standards, and here we see that a woman among the Israelites was able to gain access to some level of rights, whereas in other [typical] cultures of the day, she would not have had that opportunity.
It is true that this part of the Bible was written many years ago. But God is in the business of breaking chains, and the chains one receives as the freight of their culture’s attitude to their gender are no exception. We get further confirmation of this concept when we read Galatians 3:28 – “In Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, MALE NOR FEMALE.”
Where does this put us in dealing with that most contentious of issues, the so-called “Womens’ issue”? The question of how a woman may participate in worship?
It’s a thorny issue, with good biblical arguments on both sides. I do not intend to get into the discussion of this issue right now, but there’s one thing I CAN tell you. It is this. God cares about women, and if we wish to honour Him, it is vital that we understand this. This may or may not mean that they have the same role in worship as men, but the point is that when discussing this issue we must remember that care. Whatever one’s view on this issue (and many others), the important thing is that to God, freedom is more important than traditions of people! So we must bear this in mind – with all its complications.
But at the end of this chapter, God gives Moses the bittersweet news – that he is going to die, and that he’ll not see the Promised Land.
I’m guessing that Moses secretly hoped God would forget the crime he committed at Meribah, where he lost his temper against his people. But God did not. So it is now time for Moses to pass the baton of leadership on.
We saw yesterday that the Israelites had been in the desert a significant amount of time. Joshua was Moses’ deputy for the bulk of this time, and had real zeal and enthusiasm, combined with a very long apprenticeship!
Joshua would go on to become an excellent leader in his own right. And here we see the transition of leadership.
Strong leadership is something that God values among his people. And strong leadership is made stronger when there is clarity about whom comes next in order.
It’s almost a proverb – the ministry that does brilliantly, then falls apart under its second leader. Do you know one of these situations? This is precisely what God wishes to avoid – the plan of the Messiah DEPENDS on these people. So God cannot afford to allow them the squabbling that would inevitably follow. Rather He cuts it off at the pass by ensuring that Joshua is not only Moses’ successor, but importantly seen by the people as Moses’ successor.
By doing this, God ensures an orderly and smooth transition.
Now, you may or may not end up in a position of leadership. Maybe you’re already there. If you are (or if you will be), I am going to put it simply – one of your important duties is to train your successor! Godly leadership, especially, is more about service than actually exercising power. That’s not a natural thing for humans – we’re big on power, small on service. But as a Christian, you and I are called to better things.
A simple way to honour God in whatever your ministry is to make sure that you SERVE rather than simply exercise power – and that you teach others to serve too!
What would become of your ministry if you were hit by a bus tomorrow? Of course, you cannot really prepare for everything. But ideally, the next leader(s) should already be selected, as much as that depends on you.
That way you might be able to avoid or minimize the cost of the burned-out leader. God doesn’t want you so overwrought by years of leadership that we can’t move any more. God wants you to be able to lead wherever you do, for many years yet!
[1] Macedonian culture resembles Greek culture in much the same way a Scotsman speaking English resembles an Englishman speaking English; rustic and incomprehensible!
Background: in the Hellenistic world, a woman basically had few legal rights. A citizen woman’s rights were exercised through her “Kurios” (Lord – usually her father, her husband or her eldest brother).
In the Hellenistic world, the answer to the daughters of Zelophehad would have been “Too bad, so sad, tough luck.” Their situation was unfortunate, but little or nothing would have been done for them.
In this we see a stark contrast between the God of the Bible and the gods of most of the ancient world – He saw EVERYONE, male and female, as important. And sure enough God grants the daughters their inheritance.
A lot of people see the Bible as misogynistic. There’s an idea that women are seen by the Bible as second class citizens.
To be sure, by today’s standards they were; but an historical source must be judged by contemporary standards, and here we see that a woman among the Israelites was able to gain access to some level of rights, whereas in other [typical] cultures of the day, she would not have had that opportunity.
It is true that this part of the Bible was written many years ago. But God is in the business of breaking chains, and the chains one receives as the freight of their culture’s attitude to their gender are no exception. We get further confirmation of this concept when we read Galatians 3:28 – “In Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, MALE NOR FEMALE.”
Where does this put us in dealing with that most contentious of issues, the so-called “Womens’ issue”? The question of how a woman may participate in worship?
It’s a thorny issue, with good biblical arguments on both sides. I do not intend to get into the discussion of this issue right now, but there’s one thing I CAN tell you. It is this. God cares about women, and if we wish to honour Him, it is vital that we understand this. This may or may not mean that they have the same role in worship as men, but the point is that when discussing this issue we must remember that care. Whatever one’s view on this issue (and many others), the important thing is that to God, freedom is more important than traditions of people! So we must bear this in mind – with all its complications.
But at the end of this chapter, God gives Moses the bittersweet news – that he is going to die, and that he’ll not see the Promised Land.
I’m guessing that Moses secretly hoped God would forget the crime he committed at Meribah, where he lost his temper against his people. But God did not. So it is now time for Moses to pass the baton of leadership on.
We saw yesterday that the Israelites had been in the desert a significant amount of time. Joshua was Moses’ deputy for the bulk of this time, and had real zeal and enthusiasm, combined with a very long apprenticeship!
Joshua would go on to become an excellent leader in his own right. And here we see the transition of leadership.
Strong leadership is something that God values among his people. And strong leadership is made stronger when there is clarity about whom comes next in order.
It’s almost a proverb – the ministry that does brilliantly, then falls apart under its second leader. Do you know one of these situations? This is precisely what God wishes to avoid – the plan of the Messiah DEPENDS on these people. So God cannot afford to allow them the squabbling that would inevitably follow. Rather He cuts it off at the pass by ensuring that Joshua is not only Moses’ successor, but importantly seen by the people as Moses’ successor.
By doing this, God ensures an orderly and smooth transition.
Now, you may or may not end up in a position of leadership. Maybe you’re already there. If you are (or if you will be), I am going to put it simply – one of your important duties is to train your successor! Godly leadership, especially, is more about service than actually exercising power. That’s not a natural thing for humans – we’re big on power, small on service. But as a Christian, you and I are called to better things.
A simple way to honour God in whatever your ministry is to make sure that you SERVE rather than simply exercise power – and that you teach others to serve too!
What would become of your ministry if you were hit by a bus tomorrow? Of course, you cannot really prepare for everything. But ideally, the next leader(s) should already be selected, as much as that depends on you.
That way you might be able to avoid or minimize the cost of the burned-out leader. God doesn’t want you so overwrought by years of leadership that we can’t move any more. God wants you to be able to lead wherever you do, for many years yet!
[1] Macedonian culture resembles Greek culture in much the same way a Scotsman speaking English resembles an Englishman speaking English; rustic and incomprehensible!
26 January 2011
Chapter 26
I’m going to be very blunt today and say that I REALLY don’t feel like writing a blog today. If I hadn’t promised you all that this was coming, I suspect that I’d not have done it.
There’s an advertisement doing the rounds at the moment which compares will power to a muscle – if you use your will power, it gets stronger. Well, I’m hoping that works. Today it has taken a real act of will to write; so thank you for reading it and making me take that extra step!
Anyways, let’s get to it.
At first, your natural reaction at this passage is to groan and think something like “Oh, no . . not again!!!” And you’d be forgiven for that – once again, the people of Israel are being counted. And the result is about the same (just a couple of thousand fewer).
Why are they doing this again?
Simple – a lot of water has gone under the bridge (or perhaps, this being the desert, maybe it’s a lot of sand) since the count in chapter 1. Obviously Numbers isn’t giving us an exhaustive account of the journey of the Israelites; there must be a lot of incidents in 40 years that don’t rate a mention. Perhaps this gives us an unkind picture of the Israelites; five or six incidents of grumbling over a forty year period might actually be a fairly good record. On the other hand it might be giving us a sample of what they were really like. Meh, whatever.
Anyway, this is the SECOND counting. Rather than their parents’ generation, this is the generation that WILL take the Promised Land.
Their parents muttered and complained, wanting to go back to the place where they may have been slaves, but at least they were secure. THESE Israelites don’t remember Egypt, and they don’t want to go back.
Their parents were born slaves; THESE Israelites were born free, wandering in the desert, maybe; but wandering where they wanted to anyway.
Their parents thought they would live their entire lives as slaves until Moses came on the scene, fresh from an encounter with a Burning Bush. THESE Israelites have had it drummed into them from the earliest possible age that they will take the land that God has promised. It’s not even a “might,” it’s a “will”. There’s no doubt, it’s a done deal. They have a destiny, and they know it.
Their parents are discouraged. THESE Israelites are motivated like you wouldn’t believe. They can hardly wait to begin the conquest of Canaan.
In short, the reason that the Israelites are counted again is because this is a moment of new beginnings.
One of the themes you find throughout the scriptures is new beginnings. Many of God’s people strive, then fail; but God gives them another chance. You can see it in the flood narrative, where God starts again with the human race. You can see this in the life of Moses – he starts off as a prince of Egypt, then he fails when he kills the slave driver; then God gives him a new beginning. And Samson, and David, and most of the disciples, and . . the list goes on.
This is important to us because we each have required a new beginning. Like all these heroes of the faith, we too have failed. We need to start again, and in the Cross God gives us a chance to do just that.
In a symbolic sense, the “old you” and the “old me” have been crucified on the Cross and no longer live (Galatians 2:20). For us, life is new from the point where we accept this fact, although allowing this experience to work itself out in our lives is a life-long thing.
What does it mean to us recognizing that we have been made new? Lots of things!
- It means that we can forgive ourselves for things which have gone before. The old has gone, the new has come.
- It means that we can be free to live Christ’s way. When we fail, return to point number 1!
- It means that we need to extend to others the same courtesy – allow others to be imperfect sinners who need a new beginning too!
You are not what you once were. You have been created anew. Don’t sell yourself short!
25 January 2011
Chapter 25
You know, there’s not a lot about chapter 25 that is easy to write about. Even the name of the place is a swearword (I can remember that when my Grandad used to read the Bible to us, occasionally this place name would come up . . he’d always say “acacia” instead!). But remarkably, the Israelites have found something to do there that is more obscene than the name of the place!
The trouble begins (as it so often does) with a group of men who think with their genitals instead of their brains. And the next thing you know, you have an orgy happening.
Now, as evangelical Christians we’re generally fairly familiar with the concept of certain forms of sexual behaviour being sinful. So much so, in fact, that it’s almost what we’re known for in the USA – some of my atheist friends describe evangelical Christians as “Gay haters”. Frankly I’m not all that keen on being known mainly for what I’m against, but we’ll press on.
In this case, though, there’s more to things than what meets the eye. The religion followed by (at least some of) the Midianites was of a type that was fairly common in the ancient world – ancient people had noted the similarity between the fertility of the soil and the . . . fertility of people, so religions about fertility tended to be strongly tied up with sex.
A goddess whose worship will cause no end of trouble in later books is Astoreth (or Asherah), a fertility goddess. You may have noticed references to “Asherah poles”? Well, these long cylindrical objects were designed to appear similar to certain anatomical features involved in fertility rituals. I’ll give you three guesses what, but the first will probably be right!
One feature of worship found in these religions was literally prostitution. Sex was part of the sacrifices accepted by the god or goddess, and so it was convenient for prostitutes to wait for customers in or near the temple.
In verse 1 – 3 it is spelled out clearly – the men of the Israelites have been invited to participate in these sexual rituals, and they’re just too happy to join in.
God’s certainly not all that keen on promiscuous sex, that much is clear. But the key thing to understand here is that by participating in these acts, the men in question were doing far more than displeasing God by their sexual behaviour.
Bluntly, they were also worshipping other gods. And it wasn’t an accident. It was completely and utterly deliberate, a premeditated act.
This gives us the context to understand why God takes it so seriously. At this point in the history of God’s people, worshiping other gods is a capital offence (whether we are comfortable with it or not is beside the point); so it’s not surprising that a plague breaks out.
Now, God’s anger is obvious, and the people start to repent. It in this background that we hear that a person, IN FULL VIEW OF EVERYONE ELSE, takes a Midianite woman into his tent. I don’t have to paint a picture here. Every member of the assembly could see what was happening.
Why do you think he did this? Some might do it for the attention, some for the risk. But the impression I get is that this is a simple act of defiance – “You can’t tell me what to do.” This explains the seemingly severe actions of the Priest Phineas.
What does this mean for us?
Well, there’s the simple part – that sex is a powerful lure, and that we must be careful to guard our minds, and to make sure that we are in control of the sex drive, not the other way around. If we are not, the consequences can be terrible. Sexual sin can poison our relationships, make us doubt ourselves and if we’re not careful, we may end up doubting God.
More than that, though, is the fact that God does not tolerate open rebellion against Him. Today we live in an age characterized by God’s grace rather than His wrath, something for which we can and should be grateful; yet God is still the same. Our rebellion isn’t just illegal, it is offensive to our creator.
We may not end up with a spear through our chests, but there are other consequences of rebellion – ultimately unpleasant enough that we want to avoid them if we can.
The trouble begins (as it so often does) with a group of men who think with their genitals instead of their brains. And the next thing you know, you have an orgy happening.
Now, as evangelical Christians we’re generally fairly familiar with the concept of certain forms of sexual behaviour being sinful. So much so, in fact, that it’s almost what we’re known for in the USA – some of my atheist friends describe evangelical Christians as “Gay haters”. Frankly I’m not all that keen on being known mainly for what I’m against, but we’ll press on.
In this case, though, there’s more to things than what meets the eye. The religion followed by (at least some of) the Midianites was of a type that was fairly common in the ancient world – ancient people had noted the similarity between the fertility of the soil and the . . . fertility of people, so religions about fertility tended to be strongly tied up with sex.
A goddess whose worship will cause no end of trouble in later books is Astoreth (or Asherah), a fertility goddess. You may have noticed references to “Asherah poles”? Well, these long cylindrical objects were designed to appear similar to certain anatomical features involved in fertility rituals. I’ll give you three guesses what, but the first will probably be right!
One feature of worship found in these religions was literally prostitution. Sex was part of the sacrifices accepted by the god or goddess, and so it was convenient for prostitutes to wait for customers in or near the temple.
In verse 1 – 3 it is spelled out clearly – the men of the Israelites have been invited to participate in these sexual rituals, and they’re just too happy to join in.
God’s certainly not all that keen on promiscuous sex, that much is clear. But the key thing to understand here is that by participating in these acts, the men in question were doing far more than displeasing God by their sexual behaviour.
Bluntly, they were also worshipping other gods. And it wasn’t an accident. It was completely and utterly deliberate, a premeditated act.
This gives us the context to understand why God takes it so seriously. At this point in the history of God’s people, worshiping other gods is a capital offence (whether we are comfortable with it or not is beside the point); so it’s not surprising that a plague breaks out.
Now, God’s anger is obvious, and the people start to repent. It in this background that we hear that a person, IN FULL VIEW OF EVERYONE ELSE, takes a Midianite woman into his tent. I don’t have to paint a picture here. Every member of the assembly could see what was happening.
Why do you think he did this? Some might do it for the attention, some for the risk. But the impression I get is that this is a simple act of defiance – “You can’t tell me what to do.” This explains the seemingly severe actions of the Priest Phineas.
What does this mean for us?
Well, there’s the simple part – that sex is a powerful lure, and that we must be careful to guard our minds, and to make sure that we are in control of the sex drive, not the other way around. If we are not, the consequences can be terrible. Sexual sin can poison our relationships, make us doubt ourselves and if we’re not careful, we may end up doubting God.
More than that, though, is the fact that God does not tolerate open rebellion against Him. Today we live in an age characterized by God’s grace rather than His wrath, something for which we can and should be grateful; yet God is still the same. Our rebellion isn’t just illegal, it is offensive to our creator.
We may not end up with a spear through our chests, but there are other consequences of rebellion – ultimately unpleasant enough that we want to avoid them if we can.
24 January 2011
Chapter 24
Indulge me for a moment. I promise I’ll tell you why when we’ve done this! Simply tell me whether you think “good guy” or “Bad guy” for each of the following. Ready?
Adolf Hitler
Indiana Jones
Aragorn (from Lord of the Rings)
Darth Vader
Yosemite Sam
Mother Theresa
Whilst many people of history are hard to categorise, there are some people who get universally put into the same categories. I’d be surprised if anyone had any arrangement other than Indy, Aragorn and Mother Theresa on the “good guys” side, vs Adolf, Darth and Yosemite on the “bad guys” side.
The reason I mention this is that in Hebrew culture Balaam is universally on the “bad guys” side. If you ever notice him being mentioned in the New Testament, he’s always being used as an example of an evil person.
This makes it all the more remarkable when we look at Balaam’s bad day, part 3.
King Balak has moved him to a third place, asking him to curse the people of Israel (this should really have been part of yesterday’s chapter, but the chapter breaks are weird). But Balaam has promised that he’s only going to say what God gives him to say, and he’s going to follow through. So once again he clears his throat.
This time what he says is basically a comment of the beauty of Israel’s tents (really! I’ve personally never quite seen tents that way, but there’s all types in this amazing world), followed by a stern warning that “whoever blesses you is blessed, and whoever curses you is cursed.”
Well, the King is furious. He’s paying this guy to curse, and three times he’s not followed through on the deal! Needless to say, he’s not planning on paying Balaam one red cent. But it turns out that Balaam isn’t finished.
He looks at the leaders arranged around him in turn. First he looks at Balak, telling him that Moab is to be crushed. Then in verse 20, he reports the bad news to the Amalekites, followed by the Kenites in verses 21 and 22. Finally he gives a general prediction that Israel will arise, and that anyone who sets themselves up against Israel will lose.
Balak is presumably not terribly impressed, but when someone gives such a strident prophecy against you, there’s little you can say that would be sufficiently Chuck Norris-like to stop you looking a goose, so the best thing to do is what Balak does, which is to hightail it out of there really quickly.
It’s all very interesting, but what does it matter to us?
What I’d like to point out here is something you may not have noticed. Remember I said at the beginning of this that Balaam is a universal bad guy to Jews? He’s enough of a bad guy that if he were a character at a pantomime, the audience would be yelling “boo” every time he comes onto the stage, and his musical theme would be something like this. But here we have him not only failing to curse properly (like you’d expect any proper bad guy to do, along with a twirl of the moustache and a “mwahahahahaHAHAHAHA!”) – he then goes and lays three BLESSINGS on the people of Israel! What gives? Why is this evildoer speaking God’s words?
We have been seeing as a running theme throughout Numbers (and the rest of the Bible!) that God works by grace. This is part of the answer – if God works by grace, then it doesn’t matter whether you are a faithful follower or not, He can still use you. And more than that, if God works by grace, even the most evil people could realistically have God commandeer their voices. It’s like in the movies, the Army usually have the right to commandeer any vehicle they like; in comedy movies, the heroes invariably wind up commandeering a clown car or a wedding limo. And hilarity ensues. Sure, God usually chooses to use people who are faithful to Him, but that’s a convention and not a rule. You may feel that you’re too much of a sinner for God to speak through you, but that’s not actually right. God can and will use anyone who makes themselves available – even if that’s someone like Balaam, whose availability is reluctant!
More than that, though, as well as working by Grace, God is SOVEREIGN. Because God grants us so much freedom, this can sometimes be forgotten. But this is the God who made the heavens and the Earth. Even that phrase, so easily and glibly said, can shatter our illusions if we really think it through. The God who created us also created the Sun, the planets, the Moon, the black holes, the galaxies, the clusters of galaxies . . you name it, He made it. Who are we to say that God must or must not do something? He has the authority to do as He wishes, and we would do well to remember that. Just like Balaam, we may want to do something else – but God is in charge, and in the end what He says goes.
Adolf Hitler
Indiana Jones
Aragorn (from Lord of the Rings)
Darth Vader
Yosemite Sam
Mother Theresa
Whilst many people of history are hard to categorise, there are some people who get universally put into the same categories. I’d be surprised if anyone had any arrangement other than Indy, Aragorn and Mother Theresa on the “good guys” side, vs Adolf, Darth and Yosemite on the “bad guys” side.
The reason I mention this is that in Hebrew culture Balaam is universally on the “bad guys” side. If you ever notice him being mentioned in the New Testament, he’s always being used as an example of an evil person.
This makes it all the more remarkable when we look at Balaam’s bad day, part 3.
King Balak has moved him to a third place, asking him to curse the people of Israel (this should really have been part of yesterday’s chapter, but the chapter breaks are weird). But Balaam has promised that he’s only going to say what God gives him to say, and he’s going to follow through. So once again he clears his throat.
This time what he says is basically a comment of the beauty of Israel’s tents (really! I’ve personally never quite seen tents that way, but there’s all types in this amazing world), followed by a stern warning that “whoever blesses you is blessed, and whoever curses you is cursed.”
Well, the King is furious. He’s paying this guy to curse, and three times he’s not followed through on the deal! Needless to say, he’s not planning on paying Balaam one red cent. But it turns out that Balaam isn’t finished.
He looks at the leaders arranged around him in turn. First he looks at Balak, telling him that Moab is to be crushed. Then in verse 20, he reports the bad news to the Amalekites, followed by the Kenites in verses 21 and 22. Finally he gives a general prediction that Israel will arise, and that anyone who sets themselves up against Israel will lose.
Balak is presumably not terribly impressed, but when someone gives such a strident prophecy against you, there’s little you can say that would be sufficiently Chuck Norris-like to stop you looking a goose, so the best thing to do is what Balak does, which is to hightail it out of there really quickly.
It’s all very interesting, but what does it matter to us?
What I’d like to point out here is something you may not have noticed. Remember I said at the beginning of this that Balaam is a universal bad guy to Jews? He’s enough of a bad guy that if he were a character at a pantomime, the audience would be yelling “boo” every time he comes onto the stage, and his musical theme would be something like this. But here we have him not only failing to curse properly (like you’d expect any proper bad guy to do, along with a twirl of the moustache and a “mwahahahahaHAHAHAHA!”) – he then goes and lays three BLESSINGS on the people of Israel! What gives? Why is this evildoer speaking God’s words?
We have been seeing as a running theme throughout Numbers (and the rest of the Bible!) that God works by grace. This is part of the answer – if God works by grace, then it doesn’t matter whether you are a faithful follower or not, He can still use you. And more than that, if God works by grace, even the most evil people could realistically have God commandeer their voices. It’s like in the movies, the Army usually have the right to commandeer any vehicle they like; in comedy movies, the heroes invariably wind up commandeering a clown car or a wedding limo. And hilarity ensues. Sure, God usually chooses to use people who are faithful to Him, but that’s a convention and not a rule. You may feel that you’re too much of a sinner for God to speak through you, but that’s not actually right. God can and will use anyone who makes themselves available – even if that’s someone like Balaam, whose availability is reluctant!
More than that, though, as well as working by Grace, God is SOVEREIGN. Because God grants us so much freedom, this can sometimes be forgotten. But this is the God who made the heavens and the Earth. Even that phrase, so easily and glibly said, can shatter our illusions if we really think it through. The God who created us also created the Sun, the planets, the Moon, the black holes, the galaxies, the clusters of galaxies . . you name it, He made it. Who are we to say that God must or must not do something? He has the authority to do as He wishes, and we would do well to remember that. Just like Balaam, we may want to do something else – but God is in charge, and in the end what He says goes.
23 January 2011
Chapter 23
So we have Balaam, a chastened man, who has been given a very close brush with angel-conveyed sharp pointy death. It’s been made extra specially clear to him that he MUST say what God has said, and ONLY what God has said. Or else.
Oh yeah, and all that was conveyed to him via a talking donkey.
Balaam presumably isn’t in a terribly good mood. It’s not been a good day.
It’s about to get worse, from a financial point of view at least. Let’s face it, if your employer wants you to curse someone and you wind up blessing them, your employer is entitled to be a little flummoxed[1].
Numbers chapter 23 is basically the continuation of Balaam’s story. As you may recall, God wasn’t overly keen on him going with Balak in the first place, but since Balaam so insisted, God reluctantly let him go, on the condition that he ONLY say what God told him to. And the angel with sword/donkey incident is designed to drive this point home.
In this chapter, Balaam starts off with giving his instructions on how a prophecy is to happen – Seven bulls and rams burning on altars! – and then gives his “oracle,” the verses of prophecy that he is to speak. This basic pattern is done three times, although the last time spills over into tomorrow night’s chapter.
One thing here – there’s no question that Balaam is telling what he believes to be the truth. These oracles are going to cost him dearly, yet he still gives them.
We’re going to look briefly at the two oracles. The first oracle is based around a simple theme – “How can I curse someone God has not cursed?” Balaam sees the camp of Israel, and witnesses the number of people. He compares it to the particles in a cloud of dust.
Not surprisingly, Balak isn’t pleased. For some reason, though he thinks that if he puts Balaam somewhere that he can’t see as many tents, he might be able to do a better job of cursing the Israelites.
It’s often said that to do the same things and expect a different result is a very definition of insanity. You can see this here, because when Balak takes Balaam to a different place and has him try again, once again Balaam’s oracle is very different from what was expected.
This time, Balaam’s theme is that God doesn’t lie. “God is not a man that he should lie,” is something I have known for most of my life as a memory passage, and here I get the chance to see where it comes from!
Although I have had this verse quoted as an encouragement, in its correct context it is a stinging rebuke against someone who expected God to change His mind with a change of scenery.
I think we can sometimes be guilty of the same idiocy as Balak. We want God to bless what we do, which is understandable; but we come to that inconvenient realization that what we intend to do is something that is outside of God’s revealed word.
A friend of mine once told me that she was seeking to divorce her husband. She told me that she was “seeking God’s will for her life,” and that she didn’t believe that this will included him.
The fact is that God DOESN’T condone divorce, although it is a regrettable necessity sometimes. There was no violence or infidelity, she simply wanted out. I told her that I couldn’t see how God’s will could be for her to divorce; she went ahead anyway. I later found that there had been another man in her life.
God’s revealed word makes his stance on divorce (and infidelity!) clear, but my friend had made up her mind anyway. She wasn’t looking for guidance, really, but a pretext to do as she wished.
This is a big example, but it’s not like this person is alone. Frankly, I think we can ALL think of situations in which what we want has come first, and what God wants has come second. Sadly, I think most of us could probably think of examples of how we have even distorted God’s word in our own minds so we could justify things we wanted to do that, if we were honest with ourselves, were purely and simply wrong, wrong, wrong. Maybe for us these situations have not been as life-destroying as my friend’s choice; if so, that’s because of the grace of God. Our rebellion (let’s call it what it is) is less obvious than hers, but exactly the same in character.
In recognizing that Balak was stupid, we recognize that we are worse – Balak didn’t know God as we claim to, and many gods of the ancient world were capricious and prone to change their minds easily. No such mitigating factors apply to us. We know God, we know that He doesn’t lie or change; but we do what we know is wrong anyway.
At this point I have to admit that there are some things I need to repent from, and maybe there’s some for you too. The good news – the flipside of this issue if you like – is that we worship a God who is changeless – and part of that changelessness is His willingness to give grace, to put aside His wrath at Christ’s expense.
I have just realized that this particular chapter has turned from a lighthearted tone into a very serious tone. Sin is a major downer, especially when we come to the ugly realization that we are ourselves sinners – perhaps sinners that God is working on fixing, but sinners anyway.
[1] You COULD argue that there’s a breach of contract issue here, but I suspect that Balak was a little spooked by the events described in this chapter and didn’t want to annoy God further!
Oh yeah, and all that was conveyed to him via a talking donkey.
Balaam presumably isn’t in a terribly good mood. It’s not been a good day.
It’s about to get worse, from a financial point of view at least. Let’s face it, if your employer wants you to curse someone and you wind up blessing them, your employer is entitled to be a little flummoxed[1].
Numbers chapter 23 is basically the continuation of Balaam’s story. As you may recall, God wasn’t overly keen on him going with Balak in the first place, but since Balaam so insisted, God reluctantly let him go, on the condition that he ONLY say what God told him to. And the angel with sword/donkey incident is designed to drive this point home.
In this chapter, Balaam starts off with giving his instructions on how a prophecy is to happen – Seven bulls and rams burning on altars! – and then gives his “oracle,” the verses of prophecy that he is to speak. This basic pattern is done three times, although the last time spills over into tomorrow night’s chapter.
One thing here – there’s no question that Balaam is telling what he believes to be the truth. These oracles are going to cost him dearly, yet he still gives them.
We’re going to look briefly at the two oracles. The first oracle is based around a simple theme – “How can I curse someone God has not cursed?” Balaam sees the camp of Israel, and witnesses the number of people. He compares it to the particles in a cloud of dust.
Not surprisingly, Balak isn’t pleased. For some reason, though he thinks that if he puts Balaam somewhere that he can’t see as many tents, he might be able to do a better job of cursing the Israelites.
It’s often said that to do the same things and expect a different result is a very definition of insanity. You can see this here, because when Balak takes Balaam to a different place and has him try again, once again Balaam’s oracle is very different from what was expected.
This time, Balaam’s theme is that God doesn’t lie. “God is not a man that he should lie,” is something I have known for most of my life as a memory passage, and here I get the chance to see where it comes from!
Although I have had this verse quoted as an encouragement, in its correct context it is a stinging rebuke against someone who expected God to change His mind with a change of scenery.
I think we can sometimes be guilty of the same idiocy as Balak. We want God to bless what we do, which is understandable; but we come to that inconvenient realization that what we intend to do is something that is outside of God’s revealed word.
A friend of mine once told me that she was seeking to divorce her husband. She told me that she was “seeking God’s will for her life,” and that she didn’t believe that this will included him.
The fact is that God DOESN’T condone divorce, although it is a regrettable necessity sometimes. There was no violence or infidelity, she simply wanted out. I told her that I couldn’t see how God’s will could be for her to divorce; she went ahead anyway. I later found that there had been another man in her life.
God’s revealed word makes his stance on divorce (and infidelity!) clear, but my friend had made up her mind anyway. She wasn’t looking for guidance, really, but a pretext to do as she wished.
This is a big example, but it’s not like this person is alone. Frankly, I think we can ALL think of situations in which what we want has come first, and what God wants has come second. Sadly, I think most of us could probably think of examples of how we have even distorted God’s word in our own minds so we could justify things we wanted to do that, if we were honest with ourselves, were purely and simply wrong, wrong, wrong. Maybe for us these situations have not been as life-destroying as my friend’s choice; if so, that’s because of the grace of God. Our rebellion (let’s call it what it is) is less obvious than hers, but exactly the same in character.
In recognizing that Balak was stupid, we recognize that we are worse – Balak didn’t know God as we claim to, and many gods of the ancient world were capricious and prone to change their minds easily. No such mitigating factors apply to us. We know God, we know that He doesn’t lie or change; but we do what we know is wrong anyway.
At this point I have to admit that there are some things I need to repent from, and maybe there’s some for you too. The good news – the flipside of this issue if you like – is that we worship a God who is changeless – and part of that changelessness is His willingness to give grace, to put aside His wrath at Christ’s expense.
I have just realized that this particular chapter has turned from a lighthearted tone into a very serious tone. Sin is a major downer, especially when we come to the ugly realization that we are ourselves sinners – perhaps sinners that God is working on fixing, but sinners anyway.
[1] You COULD argue that there’s a breach of contract issue here, but I suspect that Balak was a little spooked by the events described in this chapter and didn’t want to annoy God further!
22 January 2011
Chapter 22
I am not right in the head.
I see things that make me laugh. And it happens at the darndest times. Including funerals and staff meetings (you have to disguise it as a cough).
Worse still, I often find stuff funny in the Bible. I know I’m not supposed to. I put it down to my not-rightness.
That’s why I love Numbers 22. What we have here is a rare opportunity – what happens to Balaam is absolutely hilarious. Ridiculous even. And you laugh – and YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO. This story is intended to be funny!
Let’s start at the beginning.
Success breeds success, and the Moabites are starting to realize that not being nice to the Israelites was a seriously bad career move when they hear that said Israelites have opened up a can of industrial grade whoopings and liberally smear it over the Amorites. Their king, Balak, is particularly worried, because he knows who will take the blame for deciding to be all unfriendly. And he knows that the slippery Grand Vizier will never take the blame.
Remember a couple of chapters ago the Israelite spies argued against going in and taking the Promised Land?
Ironically, the very Canaanites that the Israelites felt would defeat them are ALSO terrified of the Israelites!
So their king sends for a prophet. Or perhaps that should be a profit, given how negotiable words from the Lord seem to be from him!
Now, Balaam had a reputation for being an effective cursor (is that really a word?). Verses 9 and beyond tell us how that comes about – Balaam really is on the line to God. And he’s about to have one of those really awkward encounters with God that tend to change peoples’ lives!
When Balak offers him money, Balaam asks God if he can curse these people; the answer is an emphatic “No!”
Balak then offers him MORE money. Apparently the wages of sin are pretty good at the moment! Now, the correct answer would be for Balaam to respectfully tell the king to shove his extra money up his jumper – but Balaam is starting to find the allure of the large fee that Balak offers just a little too much to ignore. So he asks God again[1], who reluctantly agrees to let Balaam go to Balak. But God is intending to teach him a very important lesson shortly.
Along his way, Balaam’s donkey sees that there’s a sword-carrying angel blocking the path. Not surprisingly, he wants nothing to do with this, and turns aside (later offering the donkey the once in a lifetime opportunity to get a whipping if she does this again). But the Angel blocks their path again, and again the donkey evades the angel (earning her master’s ire again).
The third time the donkey steps away from the angel, Balaam is so irritated that he starts yelling at the creature – and doesn’t seem to notice when the creature starts talking back to him!
And he’s told in no uncertain terms that if it were not for the donkey, he’d be dead. He is now going to have to do whatever God tells him to – you kind of wonder if He was going to before!
So what is this here for? For once the message is fairly clear and straightforward.
Balaam gets himself into trouble here when he compromises. To be exact, he compromises the truth that God has placed in his mind, all for a few coins. He wants God to say things differently to what He has already said.
Sometimes the truth of God is inconvenient. Sometimes we don’t want to accept what He says. At the very least He wants us to avoid some activities we like, and accept adventures we don’t actually want. And at times like this, it can be tempting to imagine Him changing His mind.
Guess what – God is constant. That’s not going to happen. Whatever God has already decided, that’s what He’s going to stick with. So whatever our selfish reasons for doing otherwise, we’d better take note – unless we want to have a little conversation with a previously inanimate object or animal.
(I don’t!).
[1] What is Balaam expecting? “Actually, Balaam, I think I might have got that one wrong. And darn it, the extra money clinches the issue!”
I see things that make me laugh. And it happens at the darndest times. Including funerals and staff meetings (you have to disguise it as a cough).
Worse still, I often find stuff funny in the Bible. I know I’m not supposed to. I put it down to my not-rightness.
That’s why I love Numbers 22. What we have here is a rare opportunity – what happens to Balaam is absolutely hilarious. Ridiculous even. And you laugh – and YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO. This story is intended to be funny!
Let’s start at the beginning.
Success breeds success, and the Moabites are starting to realize that not being nice to the Israelites was a seriously bad career move when they hear that said Israelites have opened up a can of industrial grade whoopings and liberally smear it over the Amorites. Their king, Balak, is particularly worried, because he knows who will take the blame for deciding to be all unfriendly. And he knows that the slippery Grand Vizier will never take the blame.
Remember a couple of chapters ago the Israelite spies argued against going in and taking the Promised Land?
Ironically, the very Canaanites that the Israelites felt would defeat them are ALSO terrified of the Israelites!
So their king sends for a prophet. Or perhaps that should be a profit, given how negotiable words from the Lord seem to be from him!
Now, Balaam had a reputation for being an effective cursor (is that really a word?). Verses 9 and beyond tell us how that comes about – Balaam really is on the line to God. And he’s about to have one of those really awkward encounters with God that tend to change peoples’ lives!
When Balak offers him money, Balaam asks God if he can curse these people; the answer is an emphatic “No!”
Balak then offers him MORE money. Apparently the wages of sin are pretty good at the moment! Now, the correct answer would be for Balaam to respectfully tell the king to shove his extra money up his jumper – but Balaam is starting to find the allure of the large fee that Balak offers just a little too much to ignore. So he asks God again[1], who reluctantly agrees to let Balaam go to Balak. But God is intending to teach him a very important lesson shortly.
Along his way, Balaam’s donkey sees that there’s a sword-carrying angel blocking the path. Not surprisingly, he wants nothing to do with this, and turns aside (later offering the donkey the once in a lifetime opportunity to get a whipping if she does this again). But the Angel blocks their path again, and again the donkey evades the angel (earning her master’s ire again).
The third time the donkey steps away from the angel, Balaam is so irritated that he starts yelling at the creature – and doesn’t seem to notice when the creature starts talking back to him!
And he’s told in no uncertain terms that if it were not for the donkey, he’d be dead. He is now going to have to do whatever God tells him to – you kind of wonder if He was going to before!
So what is this here for? For once the message is fairly clear and straightforward.
Balaam gets himself into trouble here when he compromises. To be exact, he compromises the truth that God has placed in his mind, all for a few coins. He wants God to say things differently to what He has already said.
Sometimes the truth of God is inconvenient. Sometimes we don’t want to accept what He says. At the very least He wants us to avoid some activities we like, and accept adventures we don’t actually want. And at times like this, it can be tempting to imagine Him changing His mind.
Guess what – God is constant. That’s not going to happen. Whatever God has already decided, that’s what He’s going to stick with. So whatever our selfish reasons for doing otherwise, we’d better take note – unless we want to have a little conversation with a previously inanimate object or animal.
(I don’t!).
[1] What is Balaam expecting? “Actually, Balaam, I think I might have got that one wrong. And darn it, the extra money clinches the issue!”
21 January 2011
Chapter 21
Chapter 21 of Numbers is a bit of a grab-bag of incidents. There isn’t a main theme running through the book, really; it’s perhaps one of the best pieces of evidence for the camel-bump theory of the origins for the chapter breaks (See chapter 10!). Anyhow, let’s get into it.
Verses 1 – 3 give us a very brief description of an attack on a city known as Arad. In this case the Israelites have been attacked first, and they vow to destroy the city if God gives it into their hands.
This is a little troubling for our mindset today, but this is fairly standard in religious practices of the day. When you gave something to a god, the usual method of doing so was to destroy it. You can see this in the practice of giving God burnt offerings. So to destroy a city was the ultimate donation – giving God everything that was in the entire town!
From here (in vs 4 – 9) we go to the curious incident of the snake on a pole (this could be a good title for a whodunit . . ). This occurred because the people of Israel were grumbling and asking to go back to Egypt (no, really?), having complained bitterly of how Moses took us out here to die in the desert (just hear the melodrama!). God sends punishment – poisonous snakes, and many are bitten. When the people repent, God relents, and tells Moses to have a bronze snake put on a pole. Anyone who is bitten can look upon the snake and live. You guessed it – more about this later!
Verses 10 to 20 give us a travelogue of the Israelites’ journeys, telling of their destinations in order.
We next arrive at the incident between Israel and the Amorites, in verses 21 – 32. In many ways, this is similar to the interaction with Moab at the end of the last chapter; but whereas the Moabites simply refused passage to the Israelites, the Amorites not only refused but also attacked them. So the Israelites meet their enemies; once again, with God’s blessing, they kick bu-
*ahem*
Since this is a commentary, perhaps I should simply say that they fight well and win!
Finally, they meet with the armies of Og, king of Bashan. The curious thing is that Og is only really encountered in this passage, yet in the book of Revelation he is seen as a symbol of the enemies of God’s people. He is obviously an important figure in the folklore of the Israelites; but what his importance really is, I cannot say.
For us, the story of the snake on a pole is significant. We’re often left to make our own conclusions about what parts of the Old Testament connect with what parts of the New Testament; this can sometimes lead to tinfoil helmet territory, as people draw longer and longer bows as to what really matters. But I think we’re justified in this particular case – in John 3:14, Jesus Himself uses this metaphor explicitly – “Just as Moses lifted the snake in the desert, I must be lifted up.”[1]
What exactly is this snake all about? God never really asks for images before; in fact, He teaches against them! This can be seen all the more because when people start worshiping this snake (in 2 Kings 18:4), the king of Israel is forced to destroy it. No, the metal snake doesn’t have the power to heal. It’s not meant to be worshiped.
So if it’s not an idol, what is this snake?
Simply put, it’s a focus. When someone is bitten, they look up a the snake – and they are reminded that the God who asked the snake to be placed there is BIGGER than snakebite. Effectively, God provides a way by which someone can offer an instant prayer for healing, and as a nice touch, “the symbol of their suffering became a focus for their faith”[2]!
Some Christian traditions (notably the Catholics and Orthodox) tend to use icons a lot. Christians are free to do this (no matter what my late grandmother used to say!), but there is a danger of us losing sight of the fact that it is God who is important, not the icon itself.
As an illustration, I have seen people claiming a miracle, where (frequently) a statue of Mary appears to be weeping real tears. All very nice, but here we’re risking losing sight of God – in concentrating on the crying statue, we’re forgetting about the person who makes it happen (that’s assuming it’s not a leaking roof!).
Okay, so far so good. Most of my readers are from the protestant tradition, so you’re with me all the way so far. “Stick it to them!” you might be saying. “No graven images! Woohoo!”
Yeah, but we do the same. Some of us wear crosses. Now, I’m assuming here that it has a meaning to us, and isn’t just a fashion statement. Good. But the question is simple – is this cross a way of remembering Christ and what He has done for us? Or is the cross itself taking on an unhealthy significance?
A good test here: Let’s just say that the cross was worn out or broken somehow. Would you feel okay about throwing it away and replacing it[3]? Or would you feel obligated to do something else (say, bury it or retire it into a special box)?
If you couldn’t throw it away, you might be emphasizing the symbol (rather than its meaning) a little too much.
In recent vampire fiction, the old idea that a vampire recoils from crosses has been revisited. Some authors are saying now that a vampire in fact recoils from the faith of the person, focused through the cross. Whilst this is totally fictional, I like it.
God has no problem with us using symbols to focus our faith. But let’s not forget that the important thing is not the symbol itself, but the God who is symbolized by the symbol.
[1] Hughes International Version (HIV) again.
[2] I wish I could claim credit for this wording, but I’m actually stealing from the singer Michael Card here.
[3] It is also possible that the cross may have some sentimental value. Discount that for the purposes of this thought experiment.
Verses 1 – 3 give us a very brief description of an attack on a city known as Arad. In this case the Israelites have been attacked first, and they vow to destroy the city if God gives it into their hands.
This is a little troubling for our mindset today, but this is fairly standard in religious practices of the day. When you gave something to a god, the usual method of doing so was to destroy it. You can see this in the practice of giving God burnt offerings. So to destroy a city was the ultimate donation – giving God everything that was in the entire town!
From here (in vs 4 – 9) we go to the curious incident of the snake on a pole (this could be a good title for a whodunit . . ). This occurred because the people of Israel were grumbling and asking to go back to Egypt (no, really?), having complained bitterly of how Moses took us out here to die in the desert (just hear the melodrama!). God sends punishment – poisonous snakes, and many are bitten. When the people repent, God relents, and tells Moses to have a bronze snake put on a pole. Anyone who is bitten can look upon the snake and live. You guessed it – more about this later!
Verses 10 to 20 give us a travelogue of the Israelites’ journeys, telling of their destinations in order.
We next arrive at the incident between Israel and the Amorites, in verses 21 – 32. In many ways, this is similar to the interaction with Moab at the end of the last chapter; but whereas the Moabites simply refused passage to the Israelites, the Amorites not only refused but also attacked them. So the Israelites meet their enemies; once again, with God’s blessing, they kick bu-
*ahem*
Since this is a commentary, perhaps I should simply say that they fight well and win!
Finally, they meet with the armies of Og, king of Bashan. The curious thing is that Og is only really encountered in this passage, yet in the book of Revelation he is seen as a symbol of the enemies of God’s people. He is obviously an important figure in the folklore of the Israelites; but what his importance really is, I cannot say.
For us, the story of the snake on a pole is significant. We’re often left to make our own conclusions about what parts of the Old Testament connect with what parts of the New Testament; this can sometimes lead to tinfoil helmet territory, as people draw longer and longer bows as to what really matters. But I think we’re justified in this particular case – in John 3:14, Jesus Himself uses this metaphor explicitly – “Just as Moses lifted the snake in the desert, I must be lifted up.”[1]
What exactly is this snake all about? God never really asks for images before; in fact, He teaches against them! This can be seen all the more because when people start worshiping this snake (in 2 Kings 18:4), the king of Israel is forced to destroy it. No, the metal snake doesn’t have the power to heal. It’s not meant to be worshiped.
So if it’s not an idol, what is this snake?
Simply put, it’s a focus. When someone is bitten, they look up a the snake – and they are reminded that the God who asked the snake to be placed there is BIGGER than snakebite. Effectively, God provides a way by which someone can offer an instant prayer for healing, and as a nice touch, “the symbol of their suffering became a focus for their faith”[2]!
Some Christian traditions (notably the Catholics and Orthodox) tend to use icons a lot. Christians are free to do this (no matter what my late grandmother used to say!), but there is a danger of us losing sight of the fact that it is God who is important, not the icon itself.
As an illustration, I have seen people claiming a miracle, where (frequently) a statue of Mary appears to be weeping real tears. All very nice, but here we’re risking losing sight of God – in concentrating on the crying statue, we’re forgetting about the person who makes it happen (that’s assuming it’s not a leaking roof!).
Okay, so far so good. Most of my readers are from the protestant tradition, so you’re with me all the way so far. “Stick it to them!” you might be saying. “No graven images! Woohoo!”
Yeah, but we do the same. Some of us wear crosses. Now, I’m assuming here that it has a meaning to us, and isn’t just a fashion statement. Good. But the question is simple – is this cross a way of remembering Christ and what He has done for us? Or is the cross itself taking on an unhealthy significance?
A good test here: Let’s just say that the cross was worn out or broken somehow. Would you feel okay about throwing it away and replacing it[3]? Or would you feel obligated to do something else (say, bury it or retire it into a special box)?
If you couldn’t throw it away, you might be emphasizing the symbol (rather than its meaning) a little too much.
In recent vampire fiction, the old idea that a vampire recoils from crosses has been revisited. Some authors are saying now that a vampire in fact recoils from the faith of the person, focused through the cross. Whilst this is totally fictional, I like it.
God has no problem with us using symbols to focus our faith. But let’s not forget that the important thing is not the symbol itself, but the God who is symbolized by the symbol.
[1] Hughes International Version (HIV) again.
[2] I wish I could claim credit for this wording, but I’m actually stealing from the singer Michael Card here.
[3] It is also possible that the cross may have some sentimental value. Discount that for the purposes of this thought experiment.
20 January 2011
Chapter 20
This chapter begins and ends with the death of someone much-beloved of both Moses and the rest of the people of Israel.
At the beginning of the chapter, both of his siblings are alive; at the end, both Miriam and Aaron have died.
I’m guessing this wasn’t the best week that Moses had ever had – and that was only part of what had gone wrong.
Yeah, you guessed it – the people started bickering. Again. What a surprise!
This time the issue was water, it being in short supply at this place in the Wilderness of Zin, called “Meribah” (Hebrew word meaning “bickering”). And once again, the mantra of “You brought us out of peace, plenty and the joy of volunteering to build the Egyptians’ cities to die out here in this lonely stinking desert, with nothing to eat except a miraculous bread from heaven in the morning and enough quail to choke a horse at night” is heard throughout the camp.
Moses loses his temper at the people – and this is to have terrible consequences for him. More about that later. But he acts very put-upon as he performs the heart-wrenchingly difficult task of whacking a rock with a staff.
Woah. You de man.
Water comes out, and the bickering ends. For the moment.
Just when Moses week couldn’t possibly have been any worse, it gets worse! The Edomites (distant relatives of the Israelites) refuse to let them pass, even traveling by the main highway. In a way it sucks to be them, because they’re actually (without realizing it) setting themselves up for a long term conflict by getting people who will ultimately be neighbours REALLY PEEVED with them.
Not that that helps the Israelites, who are now forced to go around the land of Edom. And that’s a long way.
So what is the cash value for us today?
It is here – Moses will ultimately be banned from the Promised land for this incident at Meribah – he allows his temper to get the better of them, and sarcastically pretends to be doing a magic trick when the water comes out.
Now some people ask if God wasn’t being a little harsh – isn’t it a bit mean to lock Moses out of the land for such a small indiscretion?
The problem is not so much that God dislikes conjuring – it’s more that God dislikes it when we throw a wobbler or when we claim credit for what He has done for us. And it’s a serious matter – to take credit for what God has done is ALWAYS risky!
Biblical heroes are portrayed warts and all. There’s no attempt to preserve an image of them. Moses made mistakes like you and I. If we were in his place, we’d not be going either!
It’s important to recognize that things which may not matter to us might where we are might just matter to God.
Our own sin is almost invisible to us, because we are good at finding the right Christian words and can hide it from ourselves. But make no mistake, we are sinners just like Moses. We’d be locked out of the Promised land too.
But God’s love is great. and as a result of that, we can have our sin overlooked; something that Moses never could have.
At the beginning of the chapter, both of his siblings are alive; at the end, both Miriam and Aaron have died.
I’m guessing this wasn’t the best week that Moses had ever had – and that was only part of what had gone wrong.
Yeah, you guessed it – the people started bickering. Again. What a surprise!
This time the issue was water, it being in short supply at this place in the Wilderness of Zin, called “Meribah” (Hebrew word meaning “bickering”). And once again, the mantra of “You brought us out of peace, plenty and the joy of volunteering to build the Egyptians’ cities to die out here in this lonely stinking desert, with nothing to eat except a miraculous bread from heaven in the morning and enough quail to choke a horse at night” is heard throughout the camp.
Moses loses his temper at the people – and this is to have terrible consequences for him. More about that later. But he acts very put-upon as he performs the heart-wrenchingly difficult task of whacking a rock with a staff.
Woah. You de man.
Water comes out, and the bickering ends. For the moment.
Just when Moses week couldn’t possibly have been any worse, it gets worse! The Edomites (distant relatives of the Israelites) refuse to let them pass, even traveling by the main highway. In a way it sucks to be them, because they’re actually (without realizing it) setting themselves up for a long term conflict by getting people who will ultimately be neighbours REALLY PEEVED with them.
Not that that helps the Israelites, who are now forced to go around the land of Edom. And that’s a long way.
So what is the cash value for us today?
It is here – Moses will ultimately be banned from the Promised land for this incident at Meribah – he allows his temper to get the better of them, and sarcastically pretends to be doing a magic trick when the water comes out.
Now some people ask if God wasn’t being a little harsh – isn’t it a bit mean to lock Moses out of the land for such a small indiscretion?
The problem is not so much that God dislikes conjuring – it’s more that God dislikes it when we throw a wobbler or when we claim credit for what He has done for us. And it’s a serious matter – to take credit for what God has done is ALWAYS risky!
Biblical heroes are portrayed warts and all. There’s no attempt to preserve an image of them. Moses made mistakes like you and I. If we were in his place, we’d not be going either!
It’s important to recognize that things which may not matter to us might where we are might just matter to God.
Our own sin is almost invisible to us, because we are good at finding the right Christian words and can hide it from ourselves. But make no mistake, we are sinners just like Moses. We’d be locked out of the Promised land too.
But God’s love is great. and as a result of that, we can have our sin overlooked; something that Moses never could have.
19 January 2011
Chapter 19
Some parts of the Bible are easy to interpret. The meaning is clear from the moment you look at them. They can still be difficult to put into practice, but understanding them isn’t the problem.
Some parts are hard to understand. You find them hard to reconcile with your knowledge of God, or you don’t entirely grasp some of the social nuances needed to “get it.”
And then there’s Numbers 19.
HUH?
I read this passage this evening with mounting huh-ness. Why is the red cow being burned? Why is it that ash from the burning of a red cow makes water holy?
What is a red cow?
From this passage, however, you do catch a glimpse of the reason behind something which will be seen over and over again in later books – the mania for religious cleanliness that pervades the people of Israel.
A common phrase you read here is “ceremonially clean.” A person needed to be ceremonially clean to involve themselves in just about any part of Israelite public life. And it was a big deal – if you weren’t clean when you participated in ceremonies, you were ostracized. Once again, it was a picture to the people of how Holy God is, and how much our sin had offended Him.
And whilst I don’t get some of the details, I do get that it was important for people to prepare before facing God.
Another thing I thought I’d mention – notice how much of this ceremonial uncleanness has to do with death. This is actually a really important thing, because if we can get through our heads the concept of “death = unclean”, we can understand a lot of what happens in the New Testament.
For example – in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan, the priests cross on the other side of the road from the wounded man. This is callous even in our culture, but in theirs, they are basically saying “He’s dead anyway, so I’ll treat him that way!”
Another example – Jesus called the Pharisees “Whitewashed tombs” – tombs were painted white so you couldn’t possibly miss them. It wasn’t to make them presentable, it was to make sure you don’t touch them. So when Jesus applies this picture to the Pharisees, it was about as offensive as it was possible to be.
This puts the resurrection in a very different light.
Yes, death is an enemy. Yes, it is exciting that Jesus defeated this enemy.
More than that, however, death is the ultimate expression of the uncleanness brought about by sin! So when Jesus dies, He becomes unclean; yet in Him, things work backwards.
Normally, when the clean and unclean touch, the clean becomes unclean. But in the case of Jesus, His cleanness is so great that He can make the unclean clean! Death itself is “cleaned away”, if you like, and it is such a great cleanliness that we cannot become unclean again!
Once again, therefore, the book of Numbers is seen to be looking forward to Christ Himself.
Some parts are hard to understand. You find them hard to reconcile with your knowledge of God, or you don’t entirely grasp some of the social nuances needed to “get it.”
And then there’s Numbers 19.
HUH?
I read this passage this evening with mounting huh-ness. Why is the red cow being burned? Why is it that ash from the burning of a red cow makes water holy?
What is a red cow?
From this passage, however, you do catch a glimpse of the reason behind something which will be seen over and over again in later books – the mania for religious cleanliness that pervades the people of Israel.
A common phrase you read here is “ceremonially clean.” A person needed to be ceremonially clean to involve themselves in just about any part of Israelite public life. And it was a big deal – if you weren’t clean when you participated in ceremonies, you were ostracized. Once again, it was a picture to the people of how Holy God is, and how much our sin had offended Him.
And whilst I don’t get some of the details, I do get that it was important for people to prepare before facing God.
Another thing I thought I’d mention – notice how much of this ceremonial uncleanness has to do with death. This is actually a really important thing, because if we can get through our heads the concept of “death = unclean”, we can understand a lot of what happens in the New Testament.
For example – in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan, the priests cross on the other side of the road from the wounded man. This is callous even in our culture, but in theirs, they are basically saying “He’s dead anyway, so I’ll treat him that way!”
Another example – Jesus called the Pharisees “Whitewashed tombs” – tombs were painted white so you couldn’t possibly miss them. It wasn’t to make them presentable, it was to make sure you don’t touch them. So when Jesus applies this picture to the Pharisees, it was about as offensive as it was possible to be.
This puts the resurrection in a very different light.
Yes, death is an enemy. Yes, it is exciting that Jesus defeated this enemy.
More than that, however, death is the ultimate expression of the uncleanness brought about by sin! So when Jesus dies, He becomes unclean; yet in Him, things work backwards.
Normally, when the clean and unclean touch, the clean becomes unclean. But in the case of Jesus, His cleanness is so great that He can make the unclean clean! Death itself is “cleaned away”, if you like, and it is such a great cleanliness that we cannot become unclean again!
Once again, therefore, the book of Numbers is seen to be looking forward to Christ Himself.
18 January 2011
Chapter 18
It’s a bit of a relief to get away from the constant bickering, fighting and God’s eventual retribution to the people of Israel!
In chapter 18 God gives some important instructions about the priesthood. The priests are to be a connection between God and humans, and they are to be alone in this. The command is that a certain family (namely the sons of Aaron) are given this ministry as a gift of God. I’m not going to make a big deal about it today, but once again, God operates by grace.
The priests are doing an important job for the Israelites – namely they are to take charge of the Tabernacle offerings and the Tent of Meeting. In verses 5 – 7, God makes it clear that the reason He wants a particular caste of priests to do this work is so that it gets done correctly – to avoid further outbreaks against the people.
Also, the other Levites are there to assist the Priests so long as they don’t touch the things they shouldn’t touch.
In return for the service that these people are to render, the priests are given:
In chapter 18 God gives some important instructions about the priesthood. The priests are to be a connection between God and humans, and they are to be alone in this. The command is that a certain family (namely the sons of Aaron) are given this ministry as a gift of God. I’m not going to make a big deal about it today, but once again, God operates by grace.
The priests are doing an important job for the Israelites – namely they are to take charge of the Tabernacle offerings and the Tent of Meeting. In verses 5 – 7, God makes it clear that the reason He wants a particular caste of priests to do this work is so that it gets done correctly – to avoid further outbreaks against the people.
Also, the other Levites are there to assist the Priests so long as they don’t touch the things they shouldn’t touch.
In return for the service that these people are to render, the priests are given:
- The remains of all offerings, whether animal or grain. Anything that isn’t burned up.
- All wave offerings, the best new olive oil, the best wine, the firstfruits of the harvest.
- The redemption price of every totally devoted gift (from humans or animals).
- The meat of all firstborn sheep, goats and cattle (after the fat has been burned and the blood splashed on the altar).
Now, right up to this point the job of Priest isn’t looking too bad. But then God does something which might surprise you – he bans the priests from owning property[1]! Suddenly it’s looking shaky. If this doesn’t seem a problem to you, remember you live in an urban society, where it’s quite easily possible to live in a rental property because of specialist farmers producing easily and cheaply available food. But even though (as I have said in previous chapters) the people of Israel are living lives of equivalent complexity to any city, they are perforce an agrarian society, and to not have access to land is to make survival difficult.
No wonder God makes sure that the Priests receive the best of everything – they need to rely on God’s gifts for their livelihood! In turn, God wants to ensure that they have no reason to regret relying on Him.
In addition, the tithes of the Israelites (i.e. a tax of 10% of their income) are to support the Levites.
It is interesting to compare and contrast this attitude to those in full-time ministry with the way that Christian workers are treated today. By and large, Christian workers are paid poorly and given little reward. There is a general feeling among many Christians that wealth is unspiritual, and we aspire to ensure that our ministers are as spiritual as it is possible to make them.
To their credit, few complain. But it should give us pause to look at how God sees things. Does God skimp on the workers? Not on your life! The full-time religious workers are given the best of everything! It is true that they are not permitted to own land, but this is because they are to implicitly trust God for everything they need.
Do we believe that our Christian workers do valuable work?
If we do, then maybe we should demonstrate it by paying them well. In any other area of life, we expect that a good worker will be paid a good salary. Why should someone be denied this if they choose a career with eternal significance?
[1] We know that they often ignored this rule in later days – Barnabas, a levite, owned a field (which he sold, giving the money to the Disciples), and Caiaphas, High priest at the time of Jesus, owned a PALACE. That’s right, a freakin’ PALACE. So much for not even owning a small plot of land!
17 January 2011
Chapter 17
We have seen that there has been constant bickering among the people of Israel for the last few chapters. In some ways this is reasonably understandable. The people left Egypt under the promise of the “Land Flowing with Milk and Honey™"; Now they’re not going to see it, but it will belong to the next generation.
Of course, this is mostly their own fault. But it doesn’t change the fact that there is now a need to drag these warring factions back together. The disasters of the last few chapters, culminating in the mass execution (by God) of rebels and a plague, have at least stopped the fighting; but one thing history tells us is that threats of force, whilst effective in bringing a pause to unrest, rarely solve problems long-term.
What God needs to do is to make it abundantly clear who he has chosen to lead the people. Once this is done, and once the people have accepted this, there is likely to be some level of peace restored. But how can it be done in a way that won’t be denied or ignored?
There’s a simple thing God can do, and that’s to do something that is unmistakeably “God-stuff”.
What are quintessentially God’s abilities?
Well, He can create universes. Probably not something that can help here.
He can turn stuff into other stuff (e.g. water into wine). Impressive. But maybe we can do better than that.
He can create life. Something that can’t be done by people, then or now. Dead things remain dead, and only God can fix that. BINGO!
So in verses 1 – 5, we see leaders being picked from the Tribes, and Aaron being listed as the leader of Levi. And each man is given a staff. God informs them that the staff of the man he chooses will bud.
Sure enough, Aaron’s staff is the one chosen. And in a nice touch, not only does it bud, it grows almonds!
The people are well aware that they’ve crossed the line here, and demonstrate fear in even going near the Tabernacle. We’ll catch up with this in later passages.
So what for us?
I could fob you off with a rhapsodic rambling on how “Only God can create life.” I could even zoom off onto the tangent of discussing abortion or euthanasia. With care and a tinfoil helmet, I could even turn it into a polemic against contraception (it can be done!). But that would not only drawing an incredibly long bow, it would be treating my readers like idiots (i.e. dragging in stuff that doesn’t belong in the passage just because I have to write something!).
One thing I believe that I CAN say is that this passage demonstrates God’s care and concern for His people, in that this idea of confirming Aaron’s leadership via the miracle is clearly aimed at preventing further outbreaks of rebellion, and hence further bloodshed.
Also this is going to become a significant thing for years to come. The rod will become part of the contents of the Ark of the Covenant, as a way of giving the people of Israel a physical connection to these early days. It is a way of God saying “These stories you read? They’re not simply fables or tales. They’re the story of your ancestors – I was faithful to them, and I will also be faithful to you.”
We don’t have physical reminders like this today, and people often crave them. I think this is why so many “relics” of people from the Bible abounded during the Middle Ages, and why to this day we have so many people wanting to believe that the Shroud of Turin really is the burial cloth of Jesus (despite the fact that burial shrouds of this type only became common in the Middle ages – it’s like claiming you have the iPod of King Richard the Lionhearted!) or that Noah’s Ark has been found. But we as Christians are asked to believe without such artifacts.
It can be difficult at times. But then we have the words of Christ to Thomas: “You have seen and believe. How blessed are those who have not seen, and yet still believe.”
Of course, this is mostly their own fault. But it doesn’t change the fact that there is now a need to drag these warring factions back together. The disasters of the last few chapters, culminating in the mass execution (by God) of rebels and a plague, have at least stopped the fighting; but one thing history tells us is that threats of force, whilst effective in bringing a pause to unrest, rarely solve problems long-term.
What God needs to do is to make it abundantly clear who he has chosen to lead the people. Once this is done, and once the people have accepted this, there is likely to be some level of peace restored. But how can it be done in a way that won’t be denied or ignored?
There’s a simple thing God can do, and that’s to do something that is unmistakeably “God-stuff”.
What are quintessentially God’s abilities?
Well, He can create universes. Probably not something that can help here.
He can turn stuff into other stuff (e.g. water into wine). Impressive. But maybe we can do better than that.
He can create life. Something that can’t be done by people, then or now. Dead things remain dead, and only God can fix that. BINGO!
So in verses 1 – 5, we see leaders being picked from the Tribes, and Aaron being listed as the leader of Levi. And each man is given a staff. God informs them that the staff of the man he chooses will bud.
Sure enough, Aaron’s staff is the one chosen. And in a nice touch, not only does it bud, it grows almonds!
The people are well aware that they’ve crossed the line here, and demonstrate fear in even going near the Tabernacle. We’ll catch up with this in later passages.
So what for us?
I could fob you off with a rhapsodic rambling on how “Only God can create life.” I could even zoom off onto the tangent of discussing abortion or euthanasia. With care and a tinfoil helmet, I could even turn it into a polemic against contraception (it can be done!). But that would not only drawing an incredibly long bow, it would be treating my readers like idiots (i.e. dragging in stuff that doesn’t belong in the passage just because I have to write something!).
One thing I believe that I CAN say is that this passage demonstrates God’s care and concern for His people, in that this idea of confirming Aaron’s leadership via the miracle is clearly aimed at preventing further outbreaks of rebellion, and hence further bloodshed.
Also this is going to become a significant thing for years to come. The rod will become part of the contents of the Ark of the Covenant, as a way of giving the people of Israel a physical connection to these early days. It is a way of God saying “These stories you read? They’re not simply fables or tales. They’re the story of your ancestors – I was faithful to them, and I will also be faithful to you.”
We don’t have physical reminders like this today, and people often crave them. I think this is why so many “relics” of people from the Bible abounded during the Middle Ages, and why to this day we have so many people wanting to believe that the Shroud of Turin really is the burial cloth of Jesus (despite the fact that burial shrouds of this type only became common in the Middle ages – it’s like claiming you have the iPod of King Richard the Lionhearted!) or that Noah’s Ark has been found. But we as Christians are asked to believe without such artifacts.
It can be difficult at times. But then we have the words of Christ to Thomas: “You have seen and believe. How blessed are those who have not seen, and yet still believe.”
16 January 2011
Chapter 16
Last week in Brisbane, we heard that Suncorp Stadium was underwater.
Owing to an electrical fault, it was also on fire.
Could things get any worse? I’m guessing an alien invasion is about the only way things could deteriorate any further.
Similarly, in Numbers chapter 16, things have deteriorated so much that you’re thinking that a meteor shower right onto the desert where they’re staying would be fairly par for the course.
I find this a genuinely difficult passage to understand. I said yesterday that the God I saw there was hard to correlate with the God I know and love; today’s passage is even more so.
Numbers 16 is where God gets ANGRY.
Much has been written on whether or not God’s wrath is justified here. But I’d like to take a slightly different tack here. God has been offended – grossly so – by the actions of some of the Levites.
Do you remember several chapters ago we talked about how the Levites represented the firstborn of all Israel? They were ordained as priests, and given the task of directing the worship of God. And it is THESE VERY PEOPLE – the ones whose main role is to intercede between the people and God – who have become the ringleaders in ANOTHER rebellion! This at least gives some context to God’s anger.
Starting from the beginning we have Korah, in vs 1 – 5, asking Moses what right he has to speak for God.
At first this seems like a fair question, until you put it in context. This isn’t a normal situation. Back in chapter 11 we listed the miracles that had happened to bring the People to where they were. We need to ensure that we understand, these people aren’t acting in isolation. They’ve seen all this, and even after God has led them so ably through Moses and Aaron – yes, and even after both of these men have sacrificed so much – they still rise up against the leadership God has appointed.
Now, remember – here in the desert, Unity is critical. The people are in grave danger of completely falling apart, and if they scatter, people will die.
It is hard to understand God’s anger, but it needs to be understood in this context – if God can punish effectively enough to deter further rebellions, it will ultimately keep the rest of the Assembly united enough that they make it to the Promised Land intact. Remember also that they are now having to stay together for another 40 years, so unity is now more important than ever.
And it is in this situation that Korah foments rebellion.
That would be bad enough, but look at verses 12 – 14. Two of Korah’s co-conspirators, Dathan and Abiram, are so disrespectful of Moses that they refuse to come to meet with him, so as to settle the issue. More than that, they offer God the ultimate insult. They suggest that EGYPT is in fact the land flowing with milk and honey, and accuse Moses of firstly wanting them to die in the desert, and secondly of wanting the people of Israel as his slaves.
Do you see the irony? They have things completely backwards.
Now, God’s dealings with this rebellion make uncomfortable reading, and even though I know that in the ancient world a man was explicitly connected with his family – the idea of an individual being legally independent of his family is actually a post-Christian concept – I am still not at all comfortable with understanding God’s wrath against them as well as their fathers (of whom it can at least be said that they bear the penalty for their own actions). Nor can I easily accept God sending a plague against the rest of the people for the actions of a few. I am willing to trust God and understand that in this circumstance there are issues that I don’t get that might change how I see it, but it is still very disquieting.
But even in all this, there is still something that we can apply to our own life. It’s this – when Moses’ position is questioned by the religious leaders (i.e. the people who should know better), he doesn’t try to argue them around. He doesn’t bully them, try to shut them up or avoid them. No, he pulls them into a public meeting, and asks GOD HIMSELF to be the judge.
I wonder how different the history of the Church would be if we were willing to do this. Church has risen against church so many times over the last 2000 years. My own family come from Northern Ireland, and my grandmother used to speak of what her folks called “The troubles,” but what you and I would call “Civil war.” That was the Protestant vs Catholic divide, of course, but there’s been plenty of protestant vs protestant and catholic vs catholic conflict too. Admittedly a lot of it didn’t actually become open war – but it DID lead to open sores in the leadership, people and emotions of Christians around the world. It usually starts with someone trying to force someone else to see how they’re wrong; and regrettably we can’t, so violence (whether physical or emotional) is often the result.
If we would only let God sort out our differences – in His time. It would certainly lead to a whole lot less schisming over minor nonsense!
So if you find yourself in an argument with another Christian about some issue of doctrine, it is important to remember what Moses did – rather than trying to handle it himself, he went to the God who judges justly and asked HIM to deal with the situation.
Owing to an electrical fault, it was also on fire.
Could things get any worse? I’m guessing an alien invasion is about the only way things could deteriorate any further.
Similarly, in Numbers chapter 16, things have deteriorated so much that you’re thinking that a meteor shower right onto the desert where they’re staying would be fairly par for the course.
I find this a genuinely difficult passage to understand. I said yesterday that the God I saw there was hard to correlate with the God I know and love; today’s passage is even more so.
Numbers 16 is where God gets ANGRY.
Much has been written on whether or not God’s wrath is justified here. But I’d like to take a slightly different tack here. God has been offended – grossly so – by the actions of some of the Levites.
Do you remember several chapters ago we talked about how the Levites represented the firstborn of all Israel? They were ordained as priests, and given the task of directing the worship of God. And it is THESE VERY PEOPLE – the ones whose main role is to intercede between the people and God – who have become the ringleaders in ANOTHER rebellion! This at least gives some context to God’s anger.
Starting from the beginning we have Korah, in vs 1 – 5, asking Moses what right he has to speak for God.
At first this seems like a fair question, until you put it in context. This isn’t a normal situation. Back in chapter 11 we listed the miracles that had happened to bring the People to where they were. We need to ensure that we understand, these people aren’t acting in isolation. They’ve seen all this, and even after God has led them so ably through Moses and Aaron – yes, and even after both of these men have sacrificed so much – they still rise up against the leadership God has appointed.
Now, remember – here in the desert, Unity is critical. The people are in grave danger of completely falling apart, and if they scatter, people will die.
It is hard to understand God’s anger, but it needs to be understood in this context – if God can punish effectively enough to deter further rebellions, it will ultimately keep the rest of the Assembly united enough that they make it to the Promised Land intact. Remember also that they are now having to stay together for another 40 years, so unity is now more important than ever.
And it is in this situation that Korah foments rebellion.
That would be bad enough, but look at verses 12 – 14. Two of Korah’s co-conspirators, Dathan and Abiram, are so disrespectful of Moses that they refuse to come to meet with him, so as to settle the issue. More than that, they offer God the ultimate insult. They suggest that EGYPT is in fact the land flowing with milk and honey, and accuse Moses of firstly wanting them to die in the desert, and secondly of wanting the people of Israel as his slaves.
Do you see the irony? They have things completely backwards.
Now, God’s dealings with this rebellion make uncomfortable reading, and even though I know that in the ancient world a man was explicitly connected with his family – the idea of an individual being legally independent of his family is actually a post-Christian concept – I am still not at all comfortable with understanding God’s wrath against them as well as their fathers (of whom it can at least be said that they bear the penalty for their own actions). Nor can I easily accept God sending a plague against the rest of the people for the actions of a few. I am willing to trust God and understand that in this circumstance there are issues that I don’t get that might change how I see it, but it is still very disquieting.
But even in all this, there is still something that we can apply to our own life. It’s this – when Moses’ position is questioned by the religious leaders (i.e. the people who should know better), he doesn’t try to argue them around. He doesn’t bully them, try to shut them up or avoid them. No, he pulls them into a public meeting, and asks GOD HIMSELF to be the judge.
I wonder how different the history of the Church would be if we were willing to do this. Church has risen against church so many times over the last 2000 years. My own family come from Northern Ireland, and my grandmother used to speak of what her folks called “The troubles,” but what you and I would call “Civil war.” That was the Protestant vs Catholic divide, of course, but there’s been plenty of protestant vs protestant and catholic vs catholic conflict too. Admittedly a lot of it didn’t actually become open war – but it DID lead to open sores in the leadership, people and emotions of Christians around the world. It usually starts with someone trying to force someone else to see how they’re wrong; and regrettably we can’t, so violence (whether physical or emotional) is often the result.
If we would only let God sort out our differences – in His time. It would certainly lead to a whole lot less schisming over minor nonsense!
So if you find yourself in an argument with another Christian about some issue of doctrine, it is important to remember what Moses did – rather than trying to handle it himself, he went to the God who judges justly and asked HIM to deal with the situation.
15 January 2011
Chapter 15
Chapter 15 is a return to instructions for how to present a sacrifice to God. There are a lot of things to remember, so let’s break it down into a précis:
- Whenever you present an offering by fire to the Lord, you are to also present an amount of fine flour mixed with oil. The amount of flour and oil to be presented varies with the beast, but there is a fixed quantity.
- The rules are the same for native born Israelites and foreigners living with them (more about this later).
- When you make bread from each seasons’ first batch of dough, make a loaf to be presented to God.
- When the Assembly sins unintentionally, there is a particular sacrifice to be given.
- There is a similar (obviously smaller) sacrifice to be given if an individual sins unintentionally.
- If a person sins defiantly – that is, unrepentantly – he or she is to be ostracised from the community.
- All clothes are to have tassels on the corners. This is a little weird. But there is a logical reason for it. It is to be yet another way that the people are to be reminded of to whom they belong.
One important thing that comes out of this passage is a seemingly minor part of the passage, specifically v16. In this passage we learn that the rules are to be the same for those who are native born Israelites and those who come from outside the community. This is really significant when you look at the level of stratification you find in ancient societies. Generally speaking, communities either kept to themselves or, when they met, they traded or fought. There was little other that could happen.
When you understand this, it makes sense of the way that the gods were seen – for the most part there was a “god of the amalekites,” a “god of the Canaanites,” “gods of Egypt.” There was something inherent in this – a god was therefore uninterested in those who were not a part of their own nation.
But the God of Israel was different. This is again expressed completely in the Cross, but even here we can see that God is demonstrating an active interest in those who are not nominally His own.
God cares about all, regardless of their birthplace.
A troubling part of this passage (for me at least) is when a man is executed by the community for violating the Sabbath (vs 32 – 35). At first glance this seems awful – such a severe punishment for something which in our world isn’t even a crime. Isn’t God being harsh?
The first hint that it’s not necessarily that way is when you see that the man was not caught by an act of God – it was people from the community who caught him and dragged him before Moses. So firstly we can see that to the people of Israel it wasn’t a trivial thing – it was too serious to be dealt with by the usual procedure of bringing the person before the magistrates. They took him straight to the head honcho. More than that it was serious enough that Moses had to ask God what needed to be done.
So at least to the people, it mattered.
Why was it so important to them?
I have to confess that I don’t really know for certain. But I have an idea. In order to survive, the Assembly depended on a high level of unity and togetherness. This man was doing busywork during the time that was important to the people in connecting with their God.
It was doubly significant when you realise that in all societies of this period – the people of Israel being no exception – there was no separation of Church and state. Therefore a person who absented himself from the Sabbath Day events wasn’t just declaring his indifference to God – a serious matter, but one between himself and God – he was declaring indifference to the entire community around him.
It is for this reason that he faces execution. The manner of execution – stoning by the entire community – sounds awful, and indeed it is; but there’s a reason for that too. By forcing the entire community to participate, you eliminate the disconnectedness we see in executions today (in those countries that still have capital punishment). Today it is usually cold, clinical and handled by professionals. Among the population of Israel, there was no such disconnect – if someone was to die, the blood was clearly and unambiguously on the hands of everyone.
This makes you much less likely to condemn someone to death – you know that it won’t be someone else handling it, it will be you. Can you look the man in the eye that you falsely condemn to death?
Okay, so what do we get out of this?
I can tell you one thing that’s important – I can’t think of a place that’s much farther from ancient Israel than Sydney 4000 to 5000 years later! I am about as different from the Israelites as a person can possibly be.
If God was only interested in Israelites, there is no chance that he’d be interested in me.
So it’s critically important to me that God cares about ALL people. The fact that God saw no difference between the Jews and the foreigners in the area is a comfort. Since God hasn’t changed, that means He still cares about me!
The other thing that I learn from this is that God doesn’t see things the way I do.
Partly this is negative. Sins that I think are trivial in fact matter immensely to God. My perceptions are warped by sin, and I want to justify myself. So often I think “Well, it’s actually not that bad.” But to God, it may well be.
“I only told a little lie.” No – I told a lie. And that’s sin.
“Speeding – that’s not a sin.” No – you broke the laws that God commanded you to keep (the laws set down by the secular authorities). And that’s sin.
“It’s not a sin if I don’t actually say it.” No – Jesus says that if you hate your brother, that’s just as bad as committing murder.
So it’s possible that things that I see as completely unimportant may be a terrible stench to the God who loves me; I could be hurting him without intent to do so.
On the other hand, there’s a positive side to this. Just as the things that we think are unimportant may matter to God, so things that we think are unimportant may matter to God!
No, I’m not repeating myself!
You think you’re just having the depressed person over for a coffee. But God sees that as looking after a child of His!
You think you’re telling someone what you believe. But God sees you sharing the words of life to someone who desperately needs it!
You think you’re just worshipping as you do every week. But God sees it as entering the place where He can work through you!
What is important to you is different to what is important to God. That may be bad news (it was for Mr Collecting-Sticks-On-The-Sabbath). But it could also be the very best of good news.
14 January 2011
Chapter 14
For about the 4th straight chapter, things have gone from bad to worse for the Israelites.
Yesterday we saw how the spies poured cold water on the idea of attacking the Promised land. I pointed out that the spies probably weren’t cowards, even if they couldn’t see that God was going to help them. Their decisions were sound, military thinking based on the numbers of soldiers and their equipment versus the defences.
I will defend the spies, but that defence isn’t available to the people of Israel! They heard the comments of the spies (incidentally, it was rather bad form them leaking to the people behind Moses’ back!), and they freaked. There’s no other way to put it. They heard discouraging messages, and they panicked.
Panicking is stupid, but it’s not a crime. So why did God get so angry that he needed to be talked out of destroying the entire assembly?
Simple – panic was acceptable, but panic turned to cowardice – and cowardice turned to rebellion.
Open rebellion. Pure and simple. Verse 4 tells us that the people of Israel started discussing deposing Moses, and GOING BACK TO EGYPT.
Do you see that? Do you see the tragedy? These people have been miraculously delivered from slavery, with miracle after miracle after miracle. And yet they not only aren’t willing to do what God asks of them, they are basically saying to God “Stuff you, what you did isn’t good enough.”[1]
No wonder God was angry.
Was God really going to kill the people? I find this tough, because it seems to go against the image of God I have always seen. It’s hard to match this angry God against the loving and forgiving God that we understand.
I believe God WAS willing to kill the people. But moreover, it is important to understand that as a whole, they weren’t innocent victims – in the legal structures of basically every society until World War two (and not a few even today!) treason was a capital crime, and that is exactly what they have done – fomented open rebellion against their leadership.
I said that God was willing to kill, and within His rights to do so. I do not believe it was part of His plan, however. He knew that Moses and Aaron would ask for the people to be forgiven; but unless he was serious, the people wouldn’t realise how serious their crime was!
It is here that we see the ever present dichotomy of God – He is merciful (as we see when the people of Israel are forgiven), but He is also just. This is why mercy is needed – if there are no consequences to our behaviour, not only is God unjust, but mercy itself is a cruel lie.
I mentioned in yesterday’s chapter that the spies’ decision would have serious consequences, and here they are – apart from the irrepressible Caleb and the faithful Joshua, the entire generation of Israel would die in the desert. Effectively they are sentenced to 40 years of wandering.
This has an interesting and very practical consequence – the generation that finally enters the Promised Land will be the ones who are born in freedom. Apart from Caleb and Joshua, none of those who enter the Land will remember slavery – and none of them will therefore have the mental patterns of slavery and dependence. If you skip ahead to the book of Joshua (currently being studied by at least one reader – You know who you are, mate, and hope you’re enjoying it! ), the difference is striking!
But it is heartbreak for the current generation.
They are sorry, of course, and vow to take the land now; but ironically, without God’s blessing on the attack, the people of Israel discover that the spies’ assessment is correct. On simple military strength, the Israelites aren’t capable of beating the Canaanites; and naturally they go home with their nose in a sling (vs 44 – 45).
So what does this mean for us?
There are a few things we can say. For one thing, we can accept this chapter as a study in the interrelationship of justice and mercy. We can see how God’s justice demands that sin be punished, but that His mercy demands relenting.
The cross is the obvious place where love and justice meet – the innocent willingly takes the punishment for the guilty, and the guilty go free.
Even though this passage doesn’t mention the word “cross”, and even though Calvary is literally a thousand years in the future, we can still see the shadow of the Cross here.
Also we can see a little problem that, dare I say it, many of us have; when we’ve done the wrong thing, we want to make things right, even when we don’t have the ability to do so. When the people tried to take the Promised Land without God’s help, how did it work out for them?
Not good.
When we sin, we naturally want to try to make restitution. That can be good, and sometimes it’s the right response. But sometimes, sin leads us to miss once-only opportunities. In those circumstances, trying to recapture the opportunity may be counterproductive (or even, as in this case, disastrous!).
That’s the bad news. The good news is that God’s mercy is too great for us to be left without hope for one sin (even a grievous sin). LOOK OUT for the opportunities God will give you in its place!
The people of Israel obviously wanted to avoid the forty years of wandering, but that opportunity was gone. Rather than trying to jemmy a door that God had closed, the people should have taken this time to say “Okay Lord – since you don’t want us to go to the Promised Land now, what DO you want us to do?”
It would possibly have been much more fulfilling and far less frustrating.
It certainly would have led to fewer casualties.
[1]Stronger language might even be correct, but I choose not to put it here!
Yesterday we saw how the spies poured cold water on the idea of attacking the Promised land. I pointed out that the spies probably weren’t cowards, even if they couldn’t see that God was going to help them. Their decisions were sound, military thinking based on the numbers of soldiers and their equipment versus the defences.
I will defend the spies, but that defence isn’t available to the people of Israel! They heard the comments of the spies (incidentally, it was rather bad form them leaking to the people behind Moses’ back!), and they freaked. There’s no other way to put it. They heard discouraging messages, and they panicked.
Panicking is stupid, but it’s not a crime. So why did God get so angry that he needed to be talked out of destroying the entire assembly?
Simple – panic was acceptable, but panic turned to cowardice – and cowardice turned to rebellion.
Open rebellion. Pure and simple. Verse 4 tells us that the people of Israel started discussing deposing Moses, and GOING BACK TO EGYPT.
Do you see that? Do you see the tragedy? These people have been miraculously delivered from slavery, with miracle after miracle after miracle. And yet they not only aren’t willing to do what God asks of them, they are basically saying to God “Stuff you, what you did isn’t good enough.”[1]
No wonder God was angry.
Was God really going to kill the people? I find this tough, because it seems to go against the image of God I have always seen. It’s hard to match this angry God against the loving and forgiving God that we understand.
I believe God WAS willing to kill the people. But moreover, it is important to understand that as a whole, they weren’t innocent victims – in the legal structures of basically every society until World War two (and not a few even today!) treason was a capital crime, and that is exactly what they have done – fomented open rebellion against their leadership.
I said that God was willing to kill, and within His rights to do so. I do not believe it was part of His plan, however. He knew that Moses and Aaron would ask for the people to be forgiven; but unless he was serious, the people wouldn’t realise how serious their crime was!
It is here that we see the ever present dichotomy of God – He is merciful (as we see when the people of Israel are forgiven), but He is also just. This is why mercy is needed – if there are no consequences to our behaviour, not only is God unjust, but mercy itself is a cruel lie.
I mentioned in yesterday’s chapter that the spies’ decision would have serious consequences, and here they are – apart from the irrepressible Caleb and the faithful Joshua, the entire generation of Israel would die in the desert. Effectively they are sentenced to 40 years of wandering.
This has an interesting and very practical consequence – the generation that finally enters the Promised Land will be the ones who are born in freedom. Apart from Caleb and Joshua, none of those who enter the Land will remember slavery – and none of them will therefore have the mental patterns of slavery and dependence. If you skip ahead to the book of Joshua (currently being studied by at least one reader – You know who you are, mate, and hope you’re enjoying it! ), the difference is striking!
But it is heartbreak for the current generation.
They are sorry, of course, and vow to take the land now; but ironically, without God’s blessing on the attack, the people of Israel discover that the spies’ assessment is correct. On simple military strength, the Israelites aren’t capable of beating the Canaanites; and naturally they go home with their nose in a sling (vs 44 – 45).
So what does this mean for us?
There are a few things we can say. For one thing, we can accept this chapter as a study in the interrelationship of justice and mercy. We can see how God’s justice demands that sin be punished, but that His mercy demands relenting.
The cross is the obvious place where love and justice meet – the innocent willingly takes the punishment for the guilty, and the guilty go free.
Even though this passage doesn’t mention the word “cross”, and even though Calvary is literally a thousand years in the future, we can still see the shadow of the Cross here.
Also we can see a little problem that, dare I say it, many of us have; when we’ve done the wrong thing, we want to make things right, even when we don’t have the ability to do so. When the people tried to take the Promised Land without God’s help, how did it work out for them?
Not good.
When we sin, we naturally want to try to make restitution. That can be good, and sometimes it’s the right response. But sometimes, sin leads us to miss once-only opportunities. In those circumstances, trying to recapture the opportunity may be counterproductive (or even, as in this case, disastrous!).
That’s the bad news. The good news is that God’s mercy is too great for us to be left without hope for one sin (even a grievous sin). LOOK OUT for the opportunities God will give you in its place!
The people of Israel obviously wanted to avoid the forty years of wandering, but that opportunity was gone. Rather than trying to jemmy a door that God had closed, the people should have taken this time to say “Okay Lord – since you don’t want us to go to the Promised Land now, what DO you want us to do?”
It would possibly have been much more fulfilling and far less frustrating.
It certainly would have led to fewer casualties.
[1]Stronger language might even be correct, but I choose not to put it here!
13 January 2011
Chapter 13
Have you ever choked?
No, not getting something caught in your throat, that’s not what I mean. I mean the sporting definition – in position to achieve something, then losing your nerve . . .
Because what we’re looking at in Numbers chapter 13 is the day that the people of Israel choked. And that led to really drastic consequences.
In verses 1 – 16 we are given a list of people who are sent on a vitally important mission (itself outlined in vs 17 – 20) – to spy out the land of Canaan, assess its strengths and weaknesses, and to verify that it really is as God has described it – “a good land . . . a land flowing with milk and honey (Exodus 3:8 and several others). Note that this isn’t so much a matter of “Find out if God is telling the truth”. God has commanded the mission, so it’s actually “See for yourself that what I’m telling you is true!”
I have heard several sermons on this event, and usually they give pretty bad press to the spies. To be fair, I’m about to do just that, but before that I wanted to point out something I have noticed about these 12 spies.
It’s in verse 2 and 3 – the men are described as “Leaders”. Did you catch that? God didn’t say “Pick some random from each tribe. Better make each one someone expendable just in case they get caught during the mission!” No, God told them to send leaders. These 12 men were the best that the tribes of Israel had to offer. They weren’t cowards; they were experienced military men.
The point I am getting to here is this – Most Christians know that the 12 spies recommended against going into the land of Canaan (their report is seen from vs 21 – 33). But I think we usually infer from the passage that of the 12 guys, 10 of them were chickens and two of them were REAL MEN. With GUTS.
That’s not how it was at all. All 12 of these guys were brave leaders. No, they weren’t chickening out.
When you read the report, the first part is a description of the monster cluster of grapes the men brought home. And in verses 28 and 29, a précis is given of the assessment these experienced military men gave.
They had looked at the tactical situation, and considered the resources they possessed. And in their opinion, they did not have the resources needed for this mission. They saw the defences they would have to overcome, the soldiers arrayed against them, and came to the conclusion that they simply couldn’t win.
No, they weren’t chickening out. They were making a sober and seemingly wise decision.
Caleb, on the other hand, is someone we first really get to know in verse 30. I just love the drama of this sequence. It says that he “interrupted, calling for silence.” Can you just see it? These men are all delivering their “Serious” report, with their “Serious” faces on, when suddenly Caleb gets tired of the naysaying and tells them to all “SHUT UP!”
And then, when all eyes are on him, he gets that gleam in his eye (Nobody knows it, yet, but Canaanites forty years and more into the future are going to get to know that look – and fear it!), grins and says “We can take them!”
As I said, these men aren’t wimps or cowards. So why is it that they are different to Caleb?
It’s not about their guts or their spines. It’s not even about their military mindset. It’s about trust. Or to use the words coined by J.B. Phillips, “Your God is too small!”
The problem was that if you looked at this situation from a purely military perspective, the ten spies were RIGHT. They knew that there were about 603,550 fighting men in the army of the Israelites – and that that was far too small an army to take such a large land. And to be fair, the military situation wasn’t good. The Israelites probably were armed with little more than a dagger or a bone spear (with the occasional “hero” carrying a sword or a bronze-tipped spear), and they lacked siege engines like catapults and rams (which were important when attacking well entrenched positions such as Jericho). If you relied on what was seen, they had no chance. So the spies were absolutely, 100% correct. By the way, I won’t be hassling their military skills or their bravery!
But they hadn’t taken into account the things they’d already seen along this journey. In applying normal military logic, they failed to take into account that they’d been commanded to take this land by a God who had ALREADY led them out of Egypt without even drawing their swords, and who had (as we saw a couple of days back) kept the miracles coming. They’d forgotten this.
Caleb hadn’t. He (and as we later learn, Joshua) recognized that God had His hand on the entire assembly, so he took the approach that we learn from Proverbs 3:5 (Trust the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight[1]) and from 2 Corithians 4:7 (For we live by faith, not by sight).
This isn’t to say that Caleb was reckless, or a fool. He was anything but. He knew the facts of the situation as well as the other guys. But he had better Situational Awareness (to use a military term) in that he recognized that the Lord, the God of Israel, was one enormously potent asset that these other military minds had failed to take into account!
So what about us? Are we facing a situation where to do what God wants is going to take more than we’ve got?
I think this is very often the case. God really wants us to live supernatural lives, and whilst we are looking at the physical situation, that’s hard to do.
So really the question is simple. Of course we have a good knowledge of how things look from an Earthly perspective; but do we see GOD like Caleb – or like the rest of the spies?
If you had to choose whether to be Caleb or one of the ten forgotten spies, I think Caleb’s the one to go for!
[1] This may be an awkward hodge-podge of Bible versions. It’s the wording I remember off by heart, which is probably drawn from a couple. My close friends have taken to calling my own version of the Bible the Hughes International Version (HIV) . . .
No, not getting something caught in your throat, that’s not what I mean. I mean the sporting definition – in position to achieve something, then losing your nerve . . .
Because what we’re looking at in Numbers chapter 13 is the day that the people of Israel choked. And that led to really drastic consequences.
In verses 1 – 16 we are given a list of people who are sent on a vitally important mission (itself outlined in vs 17 – 20) – to spy out the land of Canaan, assess its strengths and weaknesses, and to verify that it really is as God has described it – “a good land . . . a land flowing with milk and honey (Exodus 3:8 and several others). Note that this isn’t so much a matter of “Find out if God is telling the truth”. God has commanded the mission, so it’s actually “See for yourself that what I’m telling you is true!”
I have heard several sermons on this event, and usually they give pretty bad press to the spies. To be fair, I’m about to do just that, but before that I wanted to point out something I have noticed about these 12 spies.
It’s in verse 2 and 3 – the men are described as “Leaders”. Did you catch that? God didn’t say “Pick some random from each tribe. Better make each one someone expendable just in case they get caught during the mission!” No, God told them to send leaders. These 12 men were the best that the tribes of Israel had to offer. They weren’t cowards; they were experienced military men.
The point I am getting to here is this – Most Christians know that the 12 spies recommended against going into the land of Canaan (their report is seen from vs 21 – 33). But I think we usually infer from the passage that of the 12 guys, 10 of them were chickens and two of them were REAL MEN. With GUTS.
That’s not how it was at all. All 12 of these guys were brave leaders. No, they weren’t chickening out.
When you read the report, the first part is a description of the monster cluster of grapes the men brought home. And in verses 28 and 29, a précis is given of the assessment these experienced military men gave.
They had looked at the tactical situation, and considered the resources they possessed. And in their opinion, they did not have the resources needed for this mission. They saw the defences they would have to overcome, the soldiers arrayed against them, and came to the conclusion that they simply couldn’t win.
No, they weren’t chickening out. They were making a sober and seemingly wise decision.
Caleb, on the other hand, is someone we first really get to know in verse 30. I just love the drama of this sequence. It says that he “interrupted, calling for silence.” Can you just see it? These men are all delivering their “Serious” report, with their “Serious” faces on, when suddenly Caleb gets tired of the naysaying and tells them to all “SHUT UP!”
And then, when all eyes are on him, he gets that gleam in his eye (Nobody knows it, yet, but Canaanites forty years and more into the future are going to get to know that look – and fear it!), grins and says “We can take them!”
As I said, these men aren’t wimps or cowards. So why is it that they are different to Caleb?
It’s not about their guts or their spines. It’s not even about their military mindset. It’s about trust. Or to use the words coined by J.B. Phillips, “Your God is too small!”
The problem was that if you looked at this situation from a purely military perspective, the ten spies were RIGHT. They knew that there were about 603,550 fighting men in the army of the Israelites – and that that was far too small an army to take such a large land. And to be fair, the military situation wasn’t good. The Israelites probably were armed with little more than a dagger or a bone spear (with the occasional “hero” carrying a sword or a bronze-tipped spear), and they lacked siege engines like catapults and rams (which were important when attacking well entrenched positions such as Jericho). If you relied on what was seen, they had no chance. So the spies were absolutely, 100% correct. By the way, I won’t be hassling their military skills or their bravery!
But they hadn’t taken into account the things they’d already seen along this journey. In applying normal military logic, they failed to take into account that they’d been commanded to take this land by a God who had ALREADY led them out of Egypt without even drawing their swords, and who had (as we saw a couple of days back) kept the miracles coming. They’d forgotten this.
Caleb hadn’t. He (and as we later learn, Joshua) recognized that God had His hand on the entire assembly, so he took the approach that we learn from Proverbs 3:5 (Trust the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight[1]) and from 2 Corithians 4:7 (For we live by faith, not by sight).
This isn’t to say that Caleb was reckless, or a fool. He was anything but. He knew the facts of the situation as well as the other guys. But he had better Situational Awareness (to use a military term) in that he recognized that the Lord, the God of Israel, was one enormously potent asset that these other military minds had failed to take into account!
So what about us? Are we facing a situation where to do what God wants is going to take more than we’ve got?
I think this is very often the case. God really wants us to live supernatural lives, and whilst we are looking at the physical situation, that’s hard to do.
So really the question is simple. Of course we have a good knowledge of how things look from an Earthly perspective; but do we see GOD like Caleb – or like the rest of the spies?
If you had to choose whether to be Caleb or one of the ten forgotten spies, I think Caleb’s the one to go for!
[1] This may be an awkward hodge-podge of Bible versions. It’s the wording I remember off by heart, which is probably drawn from a couple. My close friends have taken to calling my own version of the Bible the Hughes International Version (HIV) . . .
12 January 2011
Chapter 12
It’s amazing – just when you think things can’t get worse, sometimes they do . . .
So in chapter 11 the people of Israel have had to deal with grumbling in the ranks. God organized a restructuring to help deal with this, with less of the responsibility falling on Moses.
You’d think things are going to get better, but a problem’s about to strike at the very heart of Moses’ leadership, and it’s going to come from the most unlikely source – his brother and his sister!
Verses 1 and 2 tell us that Miriam and Aaron started gossiping, ostensibly about Moses’ wife – but you can immediately see the real problem behind the problem. The real issue is in verse 2: “Is it only through Moses that God speaks? Doesn’t He also speak through us?”
O-kay. So it’s not really poor old Zipporah[1] that’s the problem, is it, kids? Let’s not be dishonest. It’s good old fashioned JEALOUSY.
Jealousy is a curse, as they say. But jealousy of someone’s ministry or relationship with God is even more destructive. More about that later (you know my pattern, don’t you?).
So eventually God knows that He has to intervene. The three siblings are commanded to appear at the Tent of Meeting, where God tells Miriam and Aaron in no uncertain terms to back off and let Moses do his job.
Miriam is struck with leprosy, and ironically is only healed (after a week’s waiting outside the camp) when Moses prays for her.
I don’t know if this has ever happened to you, but I have experienced the terrible feeling of jealousy at God’s work in others. In theory it’s fairly easy to accept – God has different work for different people, and He gives each person the gifts they need to do his work. We know that.
God’s work is important regardless of how big or small it appears to be; a big, imposing ministry is no more or less important than a small, one or two person ministry. We know that too.
But sometimes, just sometimes, when you’re working your little hiney off on your small, struggling ministry, it can really be difficult to stop yourself from feeling jealous at God, particularly when nearby there is a large and thriving ministry of a similar type.
I have been there a very large part of my life, because I am committed all-in at a small church in Baulkham Hills. . .
Yeah, THAT Baulkham Hills. The one in which you find the big Church, whose name escapes me but which always writes the popular Christian music. . .
And you find yourself griping against God because “we work as hard as they do, and you don’t bless us as much.”
And it’s not just the size of the ministry. When you see God’s gifting in someone else, sometimes you feel jealous of that too, especially when you see the spectacular gifts like healing or prophecy.
Sometimes that jealousy leads people to the point where they fake having those gifts (we see this all the time – there is a veritable graveyard of great pastors and leaders who have been exposed as phonies). Or it may lead people to be suspicious of particular gifts, when they’ve seen one too many fake – they assume that because the $20 note they saw was counterfeit, all $20 notes must be counterfeit.
At the base of jealousy, there is a little, cringing thought, a thought which stands on a box and screams for attention. It’s the thought that asks “Hey God, don’t you like me? Aren’t I as important to you as him?”
Next thing you know, you’re making disparaging remarks about someone else’s work and implying that if they were doing things right, they’d be struggling too – they’re too populist, and that’s why they’re doing so well.
In doing so, we sin. I hate that, because it’s MY sin (I’ll talk all day about YOUR sin, because that’s safe for me – my sin is dangerous ground).
And it fails to understand a basic feature of God’s relationship with us, and it’s one that you know completely. His relationship with us is based on GRACE, not on MERIT. And that’s good, because none of us MERIT anything at all!
When I first understood this (and it was only a couple of years ago), a burden was lifted from me. Suddenly I could accept that the big church was big because God meant it to be big, and because in His purpose, the big church is useful that way, just as my own church is useful to Him at its small size (for now). And it’s not because God loves me less, or because I am less faithful, or because he thinks this church is less valuable – it’s God’s grace alone! He has assigned each church their duties, and has given them the resources they need to complete their assigned task.
I can accept that if someone speaks more eloquently than me, or has the gift of tongues, or the gift of prophecy[2], it’s okay. It’s not because they have the incredible Spiritual Secret ™ – write to this address! – or because God loves them more than me. It’s because the work that God has for them, which is critically important work, requires those gifts. Oh, and by the way, the work He has for you is ALSO critically important, and requires the gifts you’ve got!
The key thing – the thing that Miriam and Aaron forgot – is that God doesn’t use you because you deserve it. He uses you because He needs to work through someone, and that you happen to be the person who fits the role best for the moment. If God is using you, discharge your duties faithfully and to the best of your ability. Don’t forget, however, God could just as easily used someone else. Even if that someone happened to be an absolute donkey. But more about that when we reach Numbers chapter 22 . . . For now, just remember that God saved you by GRACE ALONE – and that is how His relationship with you will continue.
[1] If you have seen the movie “Prince of Egypt,” you may think that Miriam and Aaron are jolly brave taking on Zipporah.
[2] I have noticed that very few people seem to desire the spiritual gifts of Celibacy or Martyrdom.
So in chapter 11 the people of Israel have had to deal with grumbling in the ranks. God organized a restructuring to help deal with this, with less of the responsibility falling on Moses.
You’d think things are going to get better, but a problem’s about to strike at the very heart of Moses’ leadership, and it’s going to come from the most unlikely source – his brother and his sister!
Verses 1 and 2 tell us that Miriam and Aaron started gossiping, ostensibly about Moses’ wife – but you can immediately see the real problem behind the problem. The real issue is in verse 2: “Is it only through Moses that God speaks? Doesn’t He also speak through us?”
O-kay. So it’s not really poor old Zipporah[1] that’s the problem, is it, kids? Let’s not be dishonest. It’s good old fashioned JEALOUSY.
Jealousy is a curse, as they say. But jealousy of someone’s ministry or relationship with God is even more destructive. More about that later (you know my pattern, don’t you?).
So eventually God knows that He has to intervene. The three siblings are commanded to appear at the Tent of Meeting, where God tells Miriam and Aaron in no uncertain terms to back off and let Moses do his job.
Miriam is struck with leprosy, and ironically is only healed (after a week’s waiting outside the camp) when Moses prays for her.
I don’t know if this has ever happened to you, but I have experienced the terrible feeling of jealousy at God’s work in others. In theory it’s fairly easy to accept – God has different work for different people, and He gives each person the gifts they need to do his work. We know that.
God’s work is important regardless of how big or small it appears to be; a big, imposing ministry is no more or less important than a small, one or two person ministry. We know that too.
But sometimes, just sometimes, when you’re working your little hiney off on your small, struggling ministry, it can really be difficult to stop yourself from feeling jealous at God, particularly when nearby there is a large and thriving ministry of a similar type.
I have been there a very large part of my life, because I am committed all-in at a small church in Baulkham Hills. . .
Yeah, THAT Baulkham Hills. The one in which you find the big Church, whose name escapes me but which always writes the popular Christian music. . .
And you find yourself griping against God because “we work as hard as they do, and you don’t bless us as much.”
And it’s not just the size of the ministry. When you see God’s gifting in someone else, sometimes you feel jealous of that too, especially when you see the spectacular gifts like healing or prophecy.
Sometimes that jealousy leads people to the point where they fake having those gifts (we see this all the time – there is a veritable graveyard of great pastors and leaders who have been exposed as phonies). Or it may lead people to be suspicious of particular gifts, when they’ve seen one too many fake – they assume that because the $20 note they saw was counterfeit, all $20 notes must be counterfeit.
At the base of jealousy, there is a little, cringing thought, a thought which stands on a box and screams for attention. It’s the thought that asks “Hey God, don’t you like me? Aren’t I as important to you as him?”
Next thing you know, you’re making disparaging remarks about someone else’s work and implying that if they were doing things right, they’d be struggling too – they’re too populist, and that’s why they’re doing so well.
In doing so, we sin. I hate that, because it’s MY sin (I’ll talk all day about YOUR sin, because that’s safe for me – my sin is dangerous ground).
And it fails to understand a basic feature of God’s relationship with us, and it’s one that you know completely. His relationship with us is based on GRACE, not on MERIT. And that’s good, because none of us MERIT anything at all!
When I first understood this (and it was only a couple of years ago), a burden was lifted from me. Suddenly I could accept that the big church was big because God meant it to be big, and because in His purpose, the big church is useful that way, just as my own church is useful to Him at its small size (for now). And it’s not because God loves me less, or because I am less faithful, or because he thinks this church is less valuable – it’s God’s grace alone! He has assigned each church their duties, and has given them the resources they need to complete their assigned task.
I can accept that if someone speaks more eloquently than me, or has the gift of tongues, or the gift of prophecy[2], it’s okay. It’s not because they have the incredible Spiritual Secret ™ – write to this address! – or because God loves them more than me. It’s because the work that God has for them, which is critically important work, requires those gifts. Oh, and by the way, the work He has for you is ALSO critically important, and requires the gifts you’ve got!
The key thing – the thing that Miriam and Aaron forgot – is that God doesn’t use you because you deserve it. He uses you because He needs to work through someone, and that you happen to be the person who fits the role best for the moment. If God is using you, discharge your duties faithfully and to the best of your ability. Don’t forget, however, God could just as easily used someone else. Even if that someone happened to be an absolute donkey. But more about that when we reach Numbers chapter 22 . . . For now, just remember that God saved you by GRACE ALONE – and that is how His relationship with you will continue.
[1] If you have seen the movie “Prince of Egypt,” you may think that Miriam and Aaron are jolly brave taking on Zipporah.
[2] I have noticed that very few people seem to desire the spiritual gifts of Celibacy or Martyrdom.
11 January 2011
Chapter 11
It’s probably several weeks between chapter 10 and chapter 11.
At least I HOPE it’s several weeks. Because if it’s right afterwards, then the people of Israel look even worse than they do right now!
Verse 1 – “The people fell to grumbling about their hard life. God heard.”
God demonstrated that He was not to be trifled with, and fire burned around the outside of the Camp. Moses intervened for them, and God’s fire died down.
But this was only the beginning of the problems.
Now, let’s get a bit of context here: The people of Israel are fresh out of chains. With the exception of Moses, a few of his family and the occasional Egyptian who traveled with them (of which there actually were a number), they’d been slaves all their lives.
Freedom is good, but it’s scary if you’ve never been free before. And once the people knew that they received both the good side of freedom (being allowed to go where you want and do what you want) and the BAD side of freedom (nobody takes responsibility for you), they started to moan.
As often happens, the issue that actually started the real trouble was a minor issue, and sometimes people wonder if God was just being petty. He wasn’t.
The problems started with a couple of malcontents who were sick of being miraculously fed with Manna every day (think about that for a bit) and wanted some meat. Ever since I saw the second “Lord of the Rings” movie, I’ve had THIS image in my head . . .
*ahem* ANYWAY. . .
Note that the issue wasn’t meat. It was that people wanted to raise trouble. If they’d been given three course meals every evening, they’d have complained about something else (or even found something to gripe about in the food!). And God knew this, and the issue had to be dealt with, or else there would have been fractures amongst God’s people.
God’s method is interesting:
1) He deals with the ostensible problem miraculously. “You want meat? Fine. Have meat. Have so much meat that you’ll have it coming out of your ears”(v18).
2) He recognizes the REAL problem, the malcontents – and deals with them via a plague (v34).
3) He recognizes the REAL problem behind the REAL problem – that Moses is an overworked control freak, and once again needs to be made to delegate his authority to others (v16).
In other words, God doesn’t just go for a band-aid solution. He provides REAL CHANGE in the community to help prevent future outbreaks of grumbling (note that I say “HELP prevent” – plenty more grumbling is going to happen over the ensuing forty years!).
A nice little coda to all this – Joshua notes that two of the leaders God selected hadn’t turned up at the meeting, then notes that the power of the Holy Spirit comes on them also, and they start to prophesy. He gets indignant, and at the heart of his indignance is a tendency to think “Law” instead of “Grace”.
Joshua, mate, I come from a conservative church background. I hear you. I get it.
It’s interesting to look at what has happened to the Israelites. In the last few months they have:
At least I HOPE it’s several weeks. Because if it’s right afterwards, then the people of Israel look even worse than they do right now!
Verse 1 – “The people fell to grumbling about their hard life. God heard.”
God demonstrated that He was not to be trifled with, and fire burned around the outside of the Camp. Moses intervened for them, and God’s fire died down.
But this was only the beginning of the problems.
Now, let’s get a bit of context here: The people of Israel are fresh out of chains. With the exception of Moses, a few of his family and the occasional Egyptian who traveled with them (of which there actually were a number), they’d been slaves all their lives.
Freedom is good, but it’s scary if you’ve never been free before. And once the people knew that they received both the good side of freedom (being allowed to go where you want and do what you want) and the BAD side of freedom (nobody takes responsibility for you), they started to moan.
As often happens, the issue that actually started the real trouble was a minor issue, and sometimes people wonder if God was just being petty. He wasn’t.
The problems started with a couple of malcontents who were sick of being miraculously fed with Manna every day (think about that for a bit) and wanted some meat. Ever since I saw the second “Lord of the Rings” movie, I’ve had THIS image in my head . . .
*ahem* ANYWAY. . .
Note that the issue wasn’t meat. It was that people wanted to raise trouble. If they’d been given three course meals every evening, they’d have complained about something else (or even found something to gripe about in the food!). And God knew this, and the issue had to be dealt with, or else there would have been fractures amongst God’s people.
God’s method is interesting:
1) He deals with the ostensible problem miraculously. “You want meat? Fine. Have meat. Have so much meat that you’ll have it coming out of your ears”(v18).
2) He recognizes the REAL problem, the malcontents – and deals with them via a plague (v34).
3) He recognizes the REAL problem behind the REAL problem – that Moses is an overworked control freak, and once again needs to be made to delegate his authority to others (v16).
In other words, God doesn’t just go for a band-aid solution. He provides REAL CHANGE in the community to help prevent future outbreaks of grumbling (note that I say “HELP prevent” – plenty more grumbling is going to happen over the ensuing forty years!).
A nice little coda to all this – Joshua notes that two of the leaders God selected hadn’t turned up at the meeting, then notes that the power of the Holy Spirit comes on them also, and they start to prophesy. He gets indignant, and at the heart of his indignance is a tendency to think “Law” instead of “Grace”.
Joshua, mate, I come from a conservative church background. I hear you. I get it.
It’s interesting to look at what has happened to the Israelites. In the last few months they have:
- Been miraculously delivered from Egypt via SEVEN PLAGUES (each one targeting a particular feature of the local religion!).
- Walked through the Red Sea on dry land.
- Received God’s own laws, carved into stone!
- Had God Himself, in the form of a pillar of cloud or fire, lead them personally through the desert.
Heard the promise of a rich and pleasant destination. - Eaten food provided by God Himself!
And yet, after all this, they grumble. They’re not happy. They want more. They have the HIDE, the EFFRONTERY, to demand that God give them a variation to the diet!
If you’re anything like me, you’re probably condemning them in your mind right about now – “If I had God leading me personally through the desert, I wouldn’t grumble!”
Sadly, though, we do the same thing. Think about it – if you’re reading this, you must have a computer – so you’re in the top 1% of the world’s wealthy, right away! God has richly, and I mean RICHLY blessed us. Odds are that we’ll never wonder where the next meal is coming from, and that we’ll never be cold in winter because we couldn’t afford clothes. Most of us, for our entire lives, will sleep indoors (unless you have the regrettable habit of enjoying camping). We will walk into shops for the rest of our lives, and find them stocked from floor to ceiling with whatever foodstuffs our hearts could desire. We’ll generally be able to open the wallet, take out cash or cards and buy pretty much whatever we want.
How much blessing is that? And yet we wonder if God is listening, wish He’d show Himself to us, want Him to help more.
Want more? He died for us! How much more can He give?
And yet when we pray, audacious though it may be to ask Him for more, He delights in answering our prayers.It’s time we realized just how close to these people we really are. Face it, it could have been any of us grumbling about how we didn’t get the menu we wanted.
10 January 2011
Chapter 10
Numbers chapter 10 goes back to the habit of listing things. To be fair, though, it’s a rather significant moment – it’s the day that the people of Israel set out from Mount Sinai on the first leg of their journey to the Promised Land.
It’s been said that the chapter divisions were put into the Bible in the following manner: A scholar sat on his camel reading the scroll; and whenever the camel bumped him, he drew a line – and that was where the chapter would end. I don’t know if this is true (it might be apocryphal!) but in any case, the chapter divisions often seem a little random.
Nowhere is this higgledy-piggledy arrangement of chapters more apparent than in Numbers 10. Just before we get to this momentous occasion of the people setting out under their new marching orders (In my opinion, a great moment to start a new chapter!), we have one more description of how something was to be made – in this case a pair of silver trumpets (vs 1-10).
It’s easy to miss the significance of trumpets to ancient people. This is not surprising – we live in a world where with minimal effort we can get a message around the world; it’s only the fact that nobody currently lives on the moon that prevents us from communicating instantly there too[1]. In short, it’s hard for us to imagine what it was like being unable to send audio messages beyond the range of a shout. But that’s how things were for most of human history. Curiously, we could survive without the internet and mobile phones. One of the things we did was to use trumpets as a way of carrying messages. People were adept at “reading” codes of trumpet blasts.
There was something distinctive about the sounds produced by these particular silver trumpets, because they were used to signal that the assembly was on the move. The Message uses the term “bugle”. Perhaps a term that would be familiar to people of 2011 might be *shudder* a “Vuvuzela”. In any case, the priests were the holders of these trumpets, and a number of other occasions for their use are listed.
Verses 11 to 28 list the order of the march, and we can see the application of the commands they have been given over the previous 9 chapters. Judah’s three divisions headed out, followed by the Gershonites and the Merarites, carrying the dirty great Tabernacle with them. Then Reuben’s three divisions, with the Kohathites carrying the holy Temple articles on their shoulders, having not received wagons (which they were probably still sore about). Then, in turn, came the three divisions of Ephraim, followed by the three divisions of Dan.
One gets the impression that they wanted to make sure this great moment was remembered. The beginning of the triumphant entry into the Promised Land! They didn’t know that things were going to go sour later on; that they would be forced to wander around in the desert for another forty years yet.
It’d all be over by Pesach.
I’ll come back to this shortly. From verses 29 – 32 we have Moses begging (and eventually, it seems, persuading) his brother in law to come along with the Assembly. Verses 33 – 36 tell us where and how far they went on this first journey, and finally we read these two neat little benedictions, one for the Ark of the Covenant being picked up, and another for when it was set down in its next resting place.
Today’s chapter captures the people of Israel in that happy moment when they are beginning a great new enterprise, and they’re really excited. But we know that things are eventually going to become difficult for them. Just how difficult and why, we’re going to read in the next chapter (I’ll admit, I cheated and read ahead!); but for now, let’s just focus for a moment on that difference between the ideal and the reality.
In “The Screwtape Letters” C.S.Lewis (through his character Screwtape) discusses the fact that reality is full of moments where an initial excitement gives way to the reality which is actually much more difficult than expected. The examples he gives are the young lovers after marriage, trying to learn to live with each other, and the schoolboy who used to love the legends of the Olympian heroes actually starting to learn Greek!
We could add the Israelites setting out for Canaan to this list. But wait a minute – most of us are currently in a position of understanding this deeply by ourselves!
Some of you are saying “What’s he talking about?”
Don’t play dumb with me, I’m talking about your New Years’ Resolutions!
And I’m no exception. Sitting down and writing this tonight (or, at the current moment, this morning!) was difficult.
Let’s face it, anything worth doing starts off excitingly and fresh, but sooner or later it gets tough.
And one thing we can all think about is this: What are we going to do when it’s hard to do what we know is right? It might be keeping your resolutions (spiritual or temporal; the principle is the same). Or it could be simply doing what is right when the tough choice comes along.
Yes, we know what we have to do. But it’s so tough. And we’re tired. We know we shouldn’t give in, but we’re exhausted (and no, I’m not being funny – 10 days into the new year is enough time to know that it is difficult to do as we promised). How can we keep going?
I can present three things that make a difference to me. There are lots more, but these ones are a winner.
1) Pray. If what you’re struggling with is something that is worth doing, God is interested. He can give you the strength to do what you need to do.
2) Talk to others (which, if you think about it, is something I’m doing – you are reading this because I asked you to help me stay accountable!). Ask them to help you to remember.
3) Record what you have done. A curious thing about humans is that we seem to do things more readily if we keep track of what is happening.
Incidentally, if you’ve already fallen off the Resolutions wagon, DON’T just say “Ah well, next year”! Let me encourage you that it’s not about not falling down, it’s about getting up one more time than you fell.
[1] Okay, for the pedants who are reading: communicating with a delay of no more than 1.5 seconds each direction totaling three seconds for two way radio messages. Happy?
It’s been said that the chapter divisions were put into the Bible in the following manner: A scholar sat on his camel reading the scroll; and whenever the camel bumped him, he drew a line – and that was where the chapter would end. I don’t know if this is true (it might be apocryphal!) but in any case, the chapter divisions often seem a little random.
Nowhere is this higgledy-piggledy arrangement of chapters more apparent than in Numbers 10. Just before we get to this momentous occasion of the people setting out under their new marching orders (In my opinion, a great moment to start a new chapter!), we have one more description of how something was to be made – in this case a pair of silver trumpets (vs 1-10).
It’s easy to miss the significance of trumpets to ancient people. This is not surprising – we live in a world where with minimal effort we can get a message around the world; it’s only the fact that nobody currently lives on the moon that prevents us from communicating instantly there too[1]. In short, it’s hard for us to imagine what it was like being unable to send audio messages beyond the range of a shout. But that’s how things were for most of human history. Curiously, we could survive without the internet and mobile phones. One of the things we did was to use trumpets as a way of carrying messages. People were adept at “reading” codes of trumpet blasts.
There was something distinctive about the sounds produced by these particular silver trumpets, because they were used to signal that the assembly was on the move. The Message uses the term “bugle”. Perhaps a term that would be familiar to people of 2011 might be *shudder* a “Vuvuzela”. In any case, the priests were the holders of these trumpets, and a number of other occasions for their use are listed.
Verses 11 to 28 list the order of the march, and we can see the application of the commands they have been given over the previous 9 chapters. Judah’s three divisions headed out, followed by the Gershonites and the Merarites, carrying the dirty great Tabernacle with them. Then Reuben’s three divisions, with the Kohathites carrying the holy Temple articles on their shoulders, having not received wagons (which they were probably still sore about). Then, in turn, came the three divisions of Ephraim, followed by the three divisions of Dan.
One gets the impression that they wanted to make sure this great moment was remembered. The beginning of the triumphant entry into the Promised Land! They didn’t know that things were going to go sour later on; that they would be forced to wander around in the desert for another forty years yet.
It’d all be over by Pesach.
I’ll come back to this shortly. From verses 29 – 32 we have Moses begging (and eventually, it seems, persuading) his brother in law to come along with the Assembly. Verses 33 – 36 tell us where and how far they went on this first journey, and finally we read these two neat little benedictions, one for the Ark of the Covenant being picked up, and another for when it was set down in its next resting place.
Today’s chapter captures the people of Israel in that happy moment when they are beginning a great new enterprise, and they’re really excited. But we know that things are eventually going to become difficult for them. Just how difficult and why, we’re going to read in the next chapter (I’ll admit, I cheated and read ahead!); but for now, let’s just focus for a moment on that difference between the ideal and the reality.
In “The Screwtape Letters” C.S.Lewis (through his character Screwtape) discusses the fact that reality is full of moments where an initial excitement gives way to the reality which is actually much more difficult than expected. The examples he gives are the young lovers after marriage, trying to learn to live with each other, and the schoolboy who used to love the legends of the Olympian heroes actually starting to learn Greek!
We could add the Israelites setting out for Canaan to this list. But wait a minute – most of us are currently in a position of understanding this deeply by ourselves!
Some of you are saying “What’s he talking about?”
Don’t play dumb with me, I’m talking about your New Years’ Resolutions!
And I’m no exception. Sitting down and writing this tonight (or, at the current moment, this morning!) was difficult.
Let’s face it, anything worth doing starts off excitingly and fresh, but sooner or later it gets tough.
And one thing we can all think about is this: What are we going to do when it’s hard to do what we know is right? It might be keeping your resolutions (spiritual or temporal; the principle is the same). Or it could be simply doing what is right when the tough choice comes along.
Yes, we know what we have to do. But it’s so tough. And we’re tired. We know we shouldn’t give in, but we’re exhausted (and no, I’m not being funny – 10 days into the new year is enough time to know that it is difficult to do as we promised). How can we keep going?
I can present three things that make a difference to me. There are lots more, but these ones are a winner.
1) Pray. If what you’re struggling with is something that is worth doing, God is interested. He can give you the strength to do what you need to do.
2) Talk to others (which, if you think about it, is something I’m doing – you are reading this because I asked you to help me stay accountable!). Ask them to help you to remember.
3) Record what you have done. A curious thing about humans is that we seem to do things more readily if we keep track of what is happening.
Incidentally, if you’ve already fallen off the Resolutions wagon, DON’T just say “Ah well, next year”! Let me encourage you that it’s not about not falling down, it’s about getting up one more time than you fell.
[1] Okay, for the pedants who are reading: communicating with a delay of no more than 1.5 seconds each direction totaling three seconds for two way radio messages. Happy?
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