Numbers 35-36, Psalm 47

Oops! It appears I skipped over yesterday’s Bible readings and reflected  yesterday on today’s Bible readings instead.  My bad. Here’s hoping I will keep the readings in order tomorrow and in the future. Have a good day...

Numbers 35-36, Psalm 47

I confess to suspicious and/or cynical thoughts concerning the rules and regulations found in the Bible's book of Numbers. The laws listed seem to benefit priests, that is, members of the Tribe of Levi. They receive portions from the sacrifices of all the other tribes, as described elsewhere in Numbers. In Numbers, chapter 35, they are given cities to possess. To me the priests seem very highly benefited.

I understand they have special duties to perform, for examples, going through the rituals of sacrifice and making the judgments required of them in ruling on "clean" and "unclean." I accept that they need resources to support themselves and their families. (Why wouldn't I? I have served as a pastor of Christian churches for decades.) But do the benefits described in the Bible simply meet the needs of the priests, or do those benefits privilege the priests, exalting them socially and economically?

Perhaps the whole system is intended to be fair and just, to meet everyone's needs, and to exalt the LORD who leads. Like any system, it can be abused, and given its unique design, it may be more susceptible to abuse than its alternatives.

Let's see what develops as the migrant Hebrews live with the laws given through Moses...

Numbers 28-31

I don’t know how the instructions to sacrifice were followed, if all the people obeyed all the time. I suspect they did not. I don’t know for how many years the sacrifices took place in history, perhaps for hundreds of years! The Bible’s book of Numbers indicates the sacrifices were an aroma pleasing to the LORD, but to the human sense of smell, I’m not so sure.

Animal sacrifice as worship is hard for me to fathom. I thank God for the tradition of worship as it has been delivered to me. Maybe I can better appreciate my own worship tradition by reflecting on the worship practices of these ancient Hebrews...

Numbers 25-27

When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped... (Numbers 25:7‭-‬8)

This story reports that Israeli men are having relations with Midianite women, and so being led to worship Midian's idols. One Israelite-Midianite pair was killed on the spot by Phineas.

It makes me think how differently Jesus dealt with an illicit relationship, albeit an altogether different context. See the Bible's book of John, chapter 8 verses 2 through 11.

Numbers 22-24

This is the reading for yesterday, February 24, 2019. Since I didn't post a reflection on it then, I do so today...

This story has almost everything--a talking donkey, a wilful king, an obedient prophet, and one persistent message: Those who curse Israel bring curses on themselves, because God is blessing Israel, as promised.

Numbers 21, Psalms 45-46

That is why the Book of the Wars of the Lord says: “…Zahab in Suphah and the ravines, the Arnon and the slopes of the ravines that lead to the settlement of Ar and lie along the border of Moab.” (Numbers‬ ‭21:14-15‬)

It is interesting to me that the Bible’s book of Numbers makes reference to another source here, perhaps a book, a poem, or a storyteller's list. The point is to explain the location of a geographic site pertinent to the story of Moses and the people he leads.

The fact that the Book of Wars is referenced implies that multiple sources were used to compose the Book of Numbers in its "official" written form.

Numbers 19-20, Psalms 43-44

Today, the Bible reading tells how the migrant Hebrews of long ago were challenged by scarcity of water and by opposition in the pathway of their migration by the king of Edom, whose territory they sought to cross. As the story goes, the LORD provided water, but at a personal cost to Moses and Aaron. The migrants did not cross over into Edom, nor did they pass through. They turned back to the wilderness.

Migrant people face many hardships nowadays. As Central Americans migrate to the USA, as Middle Easterners migrate to Europe, they are turned back. They hunger. They thirst. How will they find safety, sustenance, and shelter?

God, help us, and help us help one another...

Numbers 16-18

Leadership is questioned. The LORD is doubted. Rebels die. Today’s reading is hard to contemplate.

Numbers 13-15

When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many.” (Numbers‬ ‭13:17-18‬)

The spies Moses sent into Canaan are blamed for stirring up rebellion against the LORD. Apparently their fear of Canaanite strength outweighed either their fear of the LORD or their confidence in the LORD’s power.

But it seems Moses bears some responsibility for the spies’ negativity. In the charge he gave them, displayed above, he asks if the inhabitants of the land are strong or weak. Why? The LORD promises to fight for them, so the power of the opposition is irrelevant. The potential upside of the spies’ assessment of Canaanite strength seems small, compared to the large possibility of their discouragement when reflecting on the might of their foes. In fact the spies do become discouraged. Except for Caleb and Joshua, they become defeatist. A rebellion ensues. If Moses had phrased his instructions differently, then what?

This story makes me want to be careful whenever I speak.

Numbers 11-12, Psalms 41-42

Because of my integrity you uphold me and set me in your presence forever. (Psalm‬ ‭41:12‬)

“Because of my integrity...”—this is a prideful claim. See how truthful, honest, and faithful I am! Look at my integrity!

But...Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs‬ ‭16:18‬)

I have hope that whether proud or humble, whether upright or not, God upholds us and is present with us, instructing, disciplining, inspiring, encouraging, convicting, perfecting, and loving us.

Numbers 9-10, Psalm 40

I confess to suspicious and doubtful thinking where the tribal duties, privileges, offerings, and rewards are concerned in the Bible's book of Numbers. It seems too perfect to me that the LORD told Moses exactly what to say and do, too perfect that the people did precisely what Moses said, and too perfect that all that was said and done is perfectly recorded in the biblical text, as we have it. The Bible itself shows how the rationale, "because the LORD told Moses, because Moses told the people, because the scriptures tell what the people were told," was later employed to justify questionable decisions and actions. Mark 7:1-13 is an example.

So I wait to see what stories are told about the Israeli tribes and how they will react both to the commands and the mysteries recorded here in the Bible's book of Numbers.

Numbers 7-8, Psalm 39

When you rebuke and discipline anyone for their sin, you consume their wealth like a moth— surely everyone is but a breath. (Psalm‬ ‭39:11‬)

Biblical “wisdom” seems overly simplified here. True, God may dissipate a sinner’s wealth as a rebuke and as discipline, but not necessarily. In my experience God’s rebuke often takes other forms. God’s discipline may have nothing to do with a sinner’s wealth or everything to do with it. Each of us is unique. God deals with the sin of each individual as uniquely as each individual has been created.

Yet everyone is but a breath! Stop the breath and that’s it. Continue the breath and live. Thank You, Breath of Heaven.

Numbers 4-6

The Lord bless you and keep you;  the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;  the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. (Numbers 6:24‭-‬26)

Bless someone today. Bless him with this blessing. Bless her with another blessing. When everyone blesses everyone else our world will be a better world.

Numbers 1-3, Psalms 38

Lord, do not forsake me; do not be far from me, my God. Come quickly to help me, my Lord and my Savior. (Psalm 38:21-22)


How often we need this kind of prayer! I do.

Leviticus 25-27

If an Israeli becomes poor and sells himself to another Israeli, he is not to be treated ruthlessly, as if a slave!

[According to Moses, God says,]
“Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property." (Leviticus 25:44‭-‬45)

The institution of slavery is morally neutral in the Bible's book of Leviticus, apparently, but it is not so elsewhere in the scriptures and not so with me.

Leviticus 22-24

Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse; so they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri the Danite.) They put him in custody until the will of the Lord should be made clear to them.

‭‭(Leviticus‬ ‭24:10-12‬ )

The law and punishment for blasphemy is tested here in the case of a man who is half Egyptian and half Hebrew. Spoiler alert: He is stoned to death a little later. Why did the Israelite man and the half-Israelite man fight? Did the one disrespect the other, or did the other disrespect the one? Is the half-Israelite a frequent blasphemer or was he provoked to blasphemy here for the first time? The context in which the offense took place doesn’t seem to matter.

What does seem to matter is this: that the name of God is spoken in a curse and that the blasphemy is heard by multiple witnesses. They must be willing to bear witness to the infraction by touching the offender (Leviticus 24:14), and they must join the entire community in carrying out the offender’s punishment of death by stoning.

What are the consequences of invoking God’s name in a curse today?

Leviticus 19-21, Psalm 37

I’m not sensing joy as I read through the Bible’s book of Leviticus, chapters 19-21. God is holy. I get that. God wants holy people. I get that. Leviticus lists lots of things not to do in order to be holy. It lists a few things to do—mostly sacrifices—in order to atone for sin. It also lists some things to do—mostly cutting people off or putting them to death—in order to punish sin. People who are punished  and their sins blotted out—are they holy?

Leviticus 16-18

The Bible's book of Leviticus, chapter 16, records the establishment of a national day of atonement for the Hebrew people. Once per year the priests of Israel are to perform an atoning ritual for the sin of the whole nation. The ritual includes sacrifices for the sin of the priests, too, so that everyone is covered. All sinfulness is accounted for.

I need atonement on a daily, if not an hourly or a moment by moment, basis. "For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me." (Psalm 51:3) Frequently, I need personal experiences of confession, forgiveness, and absolution. I am grateful for the weekly acts of confession I go through in Sunday worship services. I feel a sense of community with others whose sins are named, forgiven, and forgotten. It's good for me. 

I wonder how it would be for my country to have a national day of atonement...

Leviticus 14-15, Psalm 36

 

For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light. (Psalm 36:9)

FLOW

LIFE

LIGHT

VISION

Leviticus 12-13, Psalm 35

Ruthless witnesses come forward; they question me on things I know nothing about. They repay me evil for good and leave me like one bereaved. Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting. When my prayers returned to me unanswered, I went about mourning as though for my friend or brother. I bowed my head in grief as though weeping for my mother. (Psalm 35:11-14)

What do you do when your enemy is cut down? Do you celebrate? Do you finish him/her off?

Here the psalmist, presumably David, since Psalm 35 is labeled, "Of David," recalls when ruthless witnesses--those doing evil to him in return for his doing good to them--were ill. It's likely they had been stricken with a life-threatening sickness, because after he interceded for them, after his prayers went unanswered, he mourned for them, as though they had died. The psalmist did not celebrate. He did not finish off his enemies. When they became ill he prayed fervently with sackcloth and fasting. In compassion he mourned their decline.

What do you do when your enemy is cut down?

Leviticus 10-11, Psalms 33-34

For a logical explanation of events in Leviticus, chapter 10, see Commentary by Robert Jamieson.

Psalm 34 is an acrostic poem. The verses begin with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in order.

Leviticus 7-9

Blood everywhere! Blood on the horns of the altar, the sides of the altar, at the base of the altar, on the ears of the priests, the thumbs of the priests, the big toes of the priests, and the clothes of the priests—bull’s blood, ram’s blood, goat’s blood, sheep’s blood, and bird’s blood—don’t eat it, drink it, or touch it!

The life of a creature is in its blood, according to Leviticus 17:11. Blood all around, life all around, and death all around, too—the apparatus set up in order to atone for sin and transform items and persons from the ceremonially unclean state to the ceremonially clean state is detailed and clear. It indicates that all of this is very important and very serious to the Israeli people. They seem to understand the LORD as desirous of their worship, their holiness, and their food. In all these things they are led to please God.

Is this the Bible’s last word on sin, guilt, atonement, and holiness? No, it is not. Before delving into the Bible’s next word on these matters, however, I’ll meditate on this, the word for today.

Leviticus 4-6

With reference to the grain offering and the sin offering described in the Bible's book of Leviticus, chapter 6, there are intriguing statements made: "Whatever touches them will become holy." Experts in the Hebrew language claim that another translation of these statements is equally valid: "Whoever touches them must be holy."

Does one translation negate the other? I prefer to think it does not. I hope that the meaning is to be taken as "both and." There is value in the Israeli priests bringing their best selves to performing these sacrifices. They are to wash. They are to dress appropriately. They are to be anointed. They are to pray. They are to be blessed--all these things leading them toward an encounter with that which is holy.

And there is value in the priests handling holy things, too. They are lay hands on the consecrated offerings. With their own hands they are to set fire to the sacrifices. They are to eat appropriate portions of the sacrificial grains or animals--all these things making them holy, not perfectly holy and perhaps not even visibly holy, but holy nonetheless.

How may we handle holy things? How may we become holy?

Leviticus 1-3

The offerings listed in Leviticus, chapters 1 through 3, are to be burned on the altar as a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the LORD. It seems that provisions are made for worshipers of all income levels--from those who can afford to offer a young bull to those who can offer no more than a bird. Is there is an expectation that everyone makes offerings?

I wonder about the grain offering. Is this a practice to be put into action during the people's migration from Egypt to Canaan or afterward? Migratory people don't harvest their own grain crops. It seems that these people have only manna to eat anyway (Exodus 16:35). Maybe the migrant Hebrews have stores of grain, but those stores are reserved for feeding their flocks and herds. If so, then the grain offering one makes during the travel time from Egypt to Canaan is very, very dear, indeed.

What am I offering to the LORD that is very, very costly?

Exodus 37-40

Compare:

The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.” (Exodus 19:9)

Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. (Exodus 19:18)

To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. (Exodus 24:17-18)

The cloudy, fiery Divine Glory that the Israeli people experienced at Mount Sinai seems similar, if not identical, to their experience of the LORD in the consecrated tabernacle:

So the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels. (Exodus 40:38)

The unapproachable God atop Mount Sinai is God nearby, also. The people sense God inside their hand crafted structure. Both high and low; both near and far; without and within--that's God for you!

Exodus 34-36

When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. (Exodus 34:30)

I wonder at Moses' radiant face. What is that? I imagine a kind of "left over" glory from Moses' intimate encounters with God. 

The Bible gives mixed messages about the relationship between Moses and the LORD. On the one hand Exodus, chapter 33, verse 11a states: "The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend." On the other hand Exodus, chapter 33, verse 20, reads: "'But,' he [the LORD] said, 'you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.'" Which way is it? Does Moses speak with the LORD face to face, or not? And what happens afterwards? Moses is eager to view God's glory. Does Moses' face shine with the same glory he sees in God's face or in God's backside (Exodus 33:23)? 

Who sees so much of God's glory today that others become fearful of their aura? Whose face shines with a kind of divine radiance?

Exodus 31-33

The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Exodus‬ ‭33:14‬)

This is easily the most meaningful sentence to me from the Bible readings assigned for today. God’s presence, a sense of The Divine right here, right now, is the deepest longing of which I am aware. It is always with me. At times it is immediate and powerful. At other times it is ethereal, yet real.

Pippa’s Song
Robert Browning

The year 's at the spring,
And day 's at the morn;
Morning 's at seven;
The hill-side 's dew-pearl'd;

The lark 's on the wing;
The snail 's on the thorn;
God 's in His heaven—
All 's right with the world!

God in heaven, on earth, and in us—Presence!

Exodus 27-30

"De-stressed" becomes "distressed" with the insertion of "I."