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Woo Hoo!  Book 5!!!  We’re almost through the first 5 books of the Bible, called the Pentateuch (pentateuch actually means ‘five books’).  So this week it is Deuteronomy.

What does that word mean?  Anyone?  Anyone?  Beuller?  Beuller?  Beuller?…

Oops… showing my age.

Anyway, the word deuteronomy is not exactly an everyday word.  It surely isn’t as common as numbers and, although a little more difficult, leviticus is at least possible to figure out if you consider that the Levites were the tribe chosen to serve God as priests.

So what does deuteronomy mean?  Well it took me years to learn this (or maybe to ask the question), but it’s name actually makes a lot of sense.  The word is Greek.  Deutero meaning “second” and nomos meaning “law”, this book is essentially entitled, “Second Law” or “The Law a Second Time”.

As we read the Pentateuch we see Israel (formed and described in Genesis) being lead out of Egypt (Exodus) with the promise of a land all their own, The Promised Land.  However Israel rebels (several times) and God finally rules that the adult generation (all those 20 or older) will not enter the Promised Land (Leviticus).  They will wander the wilderness until their children are old enough to inherit it.  The children will enter the Promised Land, but not their parents.

In Leviticus we learn of the Law that the Levites will be in charge of keeping before God (in fact all of Israel must keep the Law, but only the Levites will serve God at the tabernacle).

In Numbers we see a census being taken of Israel, the establishment of the Levites as priests, the dedication of the Tabernacle, the exploration of Canaan by the 12 spies, and the subsequent rebellion of the people when 10 spies bring a negative report.  The punishment makes, “going along with the crowd” a lesson we should all learn.  Right?

So in the middle of Numbers (22-24) we have this weird story about a talking donkey (see last week’s blog) and a prophet-for-hire named Balaam.  After King Balak (king of Moab) is unsuccessful enticing Balaam to curse Israel we find out (later in chapter 31) that Balaam gave the king some parting advice.  Balaam advised that the Moabite women should seduce the Israelite men into turning against their God.

We read in chapter 25 that these women were successful and the Israelite men stirred up the wrath of God, perhaps for the last time.  As a result 24,000 leaders were killed for this act of immorality and idolatry.

This represented the end of the “older generation”; those whom God had condemned to the wilderness and would not allow to enter the Promised Land.

So we see in Numbers 26 another census.  This was to number those who would enter the Promised Land.  We see later in Numbers 31 that the Israelites kill Balaam as they attack the kings of the Midianites.

So that pretty much brings us up to this week’s reading (Deut 1-16).  This understanding of the word deuteronomy meaning, “second law” or “the law a second time” helps us understand that Moses is once again giving the Law to Israel (this time to the younger generation) as they prepare to enter the Promised Land.  The Law is restated and expanded upon in this final book of the Pentateuch.

There are all kinds of things to mention in these chapters that I could go into for pages and pages.

However, I thought I’d simply mentioned a few of them and ask you to begin interacting with the Blog a little more.  Feel free to comment on any of the following topics or ask your own questions on these or other passages!

So..

• We see the theme of teaching the Scriptures to your children mentioned several times (4:9-10 and The Shema 6:4-9) followed by a promise that with obedience comes blessing
• A promise that even after we have rebelled, if we seek God with our whole heart we will find Him (4:29).
• Even though we can get caught up in the “letter of the law” Moses makes sure we realize that it is really all about the heart (8:2)
• God promises that one day He will send a ‘prophet’ like Moses (in other words, Jesus).  [oops!  That’s from today’s reading in chapter 18.]

So interact with us!

Make your comments!

Ask your questions!

Let’s make this a dialogue…

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Almost two months in and things just can’t get weirder!  A talking donkey?!?  Are you kidding me?!?  This makes even less sense than that awkward story of Judah seemingly inserted into the middle of Joseph’s story in Genesis (see Week 2(&1) blog).

Actually the story of Balaam’s Donkey (Numbers 22) is one of my favorite stories in the Bible!  More over, it’s true!  Now some of you, like I at first, may have a difficult time believing that this actually happened.  I mean, whether donkeys are actually intelligent or not, there are physiological issues with the throat, mouth, tongue and teeth of a donkey (all necessary components of speech) that suggest (ok, demand) that speech is impossible for this humble beast of burden.  So how could this be true?

Well, there are different interpretations of this miracle.  Some who believe the story believe that the donkey actually spoke and reasoned (he answered Balaam and followed the conversation).  This view asserts that God temporarily gave the donkey the cognitive abilities that humans enjoy.

Another view suggests that it was actually God speaking through the donkey; therefore it wasn’t really the donkey thinking and following the conversation, but God speaking to Balaam.  The Angel of the Lord, who stood in the path to oppose Balaam, asked the same questions the donkey asked.

Personally, I believe it was the donkey speaking.  Moreover the text is written as an historical narrative, which means, the genre of the writing suggests the author believed it to be historical fact.  It is not written with figurative language or poetic styling.  The author is reporting this as history.

Also Peter who comments on it as if it were fact mentions this story again in the New Testament.  “But he (Balaam) was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey, an animal without speech , who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.” (2Peter 2:15-16) [emphasis mine]

For me, if God can literally speak the universe into existence (Genesis 1), why would it be difficult for Him to make one of His creation behave in a way we would find inconsistent with its physiology, but God would deem completely compatible with His plan and Glory?  For me, it really is a simple matter of faith.  The Bible reports it as fact and I take it at face value.

Maybe you’re not on the same page with me right now.  That’s ok. I’m not out to convince you with fancy speech or lofty rhetoric (see 1Corinthians 2:1-10).  I’m simply explaining what I see and understand.  You should wrestle with this and ask God for clarity that only He can give.

So, having said that…

There is much more going on here than simply a talking donkey!

Chapter 22 can be so enthralling that we miss what God is doing with this story.  If you don’t continue to read and connect chapter 22 with chapters 23 & 24 you miss the deeper significance of Balaam’s talking donkey.

As we follow the story in chapter 22 we see how Balaam is getting more and more enraged with the behavior of this “stupid” animal.  He is finally so out of his mind with anger that he doesn’t realize that it is rather unusual to have a conversation with a donkey!  He actually carries on with his beast as if this happens every day!  Three times the donkey changes direction and irritates Balaam, who is on his way to “curse” Israel for King Balak.

Move on to chapter 23 and we see this same story play out all over again.  Did you catch that?  Yes, the story of the talking donkey (or ‘ass’ as this animal is traditionally called) is played out all over again, only this time there is a complete role-reversal going on.

In chapter 23 the role of the donkey is now played by Balaam (speaking the words that God puts in his mouth – just as God opened the mouth of the donkey to speak to Balaam) and the role of Balaam (from chapter 22) is now played by King Balak, king of the Moabites.

In chapter 22 the donkey makes unexpected maneuvers 3 times.  In chapter 23, Balaam makes unexpected maneuvers 3 times.  King Balak expects Balaam to curse Israel, but each time Balaam blesses them.  Each time King Balak gets more and more enraged with Balaam (just as Balaam grew more and more enraged with his donkey each time in chapter 22).

Balaam’s story began with us seeing the greed and disobedience of a man who is out for profit and gain, not God’s glory and Israel’s blessing.   Balaam, the stubborn prophet, is opposed by his donkey, a stubborn ass.  Even after the encounter with the Angel of the Lord Balaam still makes brash statements, “if you are displeased, I will go back” (Numbers 22:34).  What does he mean, “IF”?!?!  He’s still holding out hope for financial gain.

It takes all of chapter 23 for Balaam to realize that he truly can only say what God tells him to say.  So chapter 24 opens with Balaam finally submitting to God from his heart and God sending his Spirit upon him to speak even more boldly 4 or 5 more times.

So here’s the question for this week…

It took God speaking through a stubborn beast, speaking through a jackass, to get through to Balaam.

Could God still speak through a stubborn jackass to get through to you?

Is he doing that right now?

Hmmm….

What do you think?

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As I was preparing to write this seventh blog entry, I was thinking about the many parallels with Exodus and the constant intervention of Moses.  Don’t these scenes seem to repeat themselves?

Things seem to begin well as the offerings at the dedication of the Tabernacle seem to indicate that all of Israel was fully following and fully dedicated to God (if you can overlook the Kohathite situation in chapter 4).  In fact we’re told that, “the Israelites did all this just as the LORD commanded” (Numbers 1:54 and similarly in Numbers 2:34).

So it seems things are off to a good start, but just as they grumbled at Mt. Sinai when Moses took too long on the mountain and they made a golden calf to worship, they began to grumble again (Numbers 11).  This time it is their appetites that aren’t satisfied.

When are our appetites ever satisfied in this world?

There is the rebellion and complaining about food just as when they first left Egypt.  There is the intervention of Moses, to protect the lives of the people of Israel and to protect the reputation of God (actually, as pointed out before, Moses is a type of Messiah, a type of the one to come… namely, Jesus).

There is the faithfulness of Joshua and Caleb and the fear and rebellion of the rest of Israel (Numbers 14-15).  Did you notice that the children, those innocent of the actual crime, had to pay the punishment as well?  There was forgiveness, but the consequence of their parents’ actions was not removed, not even from them.  As the Apostle Paul tells us, “None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself” (Romans 14:7 – RSV).  In other words, what you do affects others!

As I was thinking about these parallels between the Exodus and the constant intervention of Moses (a precursor to Jesus), I was reminded about an unexpected hospital visit I made a few years ago.  You see, I was an on-call Chaplain at our hospital in Burlington and one night when I was on-call I had the following encounter.

I was called to the bedside of an elderly lady who was at the end of her 4-year battle with lung cancer.  The day before she was alert and talking with her whole family, complaining about the gas prices on the news even though she’d never driven a day in her life, according to her daughter.  This night she was in the ICU beginning Hospice care, as she was so surrounded by her family that many of us could not find room to sit.

Her daughter was quick to tell me that she’d been a life-long believer and valued prayer very highly.  Surrounded by her family I could picture Jesus preparing her room, almost ready for her arrival.

Here she is, this sinner at death’s door, surrounded by sinners in agony at the anticipation of her inevitable departure, being prayed over by a sinner who’s just been introduced to her and knows nothing about her except that she’s loved by many.

Then there’s Jesus!  Preparing a place for her, coming soon to get her.  Oh there are many rooms in His Father’s mansion and due to His great love for us, His sacrifice for us; He now intercedes for us just as Moses did for Israel, to protect us and to bring His Father Glory!

This pattern of sin, rebellion, repentance and restoration is repeated again and again throughout the Bible, I believe, to demonstrate not only God’s amazing grace and love for us, but through this to give us hope that He has always understood our fallen nature and wants us to understand His great patience, love and mercy.

He is, as Moses put it, “slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion…In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now” (Numbers 14:18-19).

Have you come to understand what He has done for you?

Have you confessed the multiple ways you’ve messed up and asked Him to forgive you?… to lead you?… to change you?… have you committed to following Him?

Since the time of being rescued from your “Egypt” have you once again grumbled from an ungrateful and unsatisfied appetite?

I don’t know about you, but I am sure grateful that He is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion.  If He weren’t, who among us could stand?

“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.”

(The Aaronic Blessing, Numbers 6:24-26)

What’s on your mind this week?…

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Six weeks and counting…counting…counting… Why do they call this book Numbers?

Well, if you’re like me you may have trouble reading Leviticus.  It may be difficult to understand and overwhelming in its detail.  However, as I read my Bible more often and read the words of Jesus and His disciples and early followers, I see the traces of Leviticus in their actions and arguments.  Actually the heart of God does begin to come through in Leviticus as I understand Him better.

Still, there may be questions arising in your head when you encounter Leviticus, such as, “How do we know when to take the words in the bible literally and when not to?“

I think the notes in the ESV Study Bible (2008 Crossway Books, pg. 213) describe it best.

   “The book of Leviticus is concerned with what it means to be the holy people of a holy God: it provides instruction for conduct, both in private and as members of the body of God’s people, and it details the ways in which the sacrifices and priesthood are to be administered as God’s gracious provision for his people’s failures.  Without doubt, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the culmination of salvation history, according to which he fulfilled the goals of the various offerings, the holy objects, the role of the chief priest, and the holy feasts.  He also, by his resurrection, entered into his Davidic kingship and has initiated the era in which the people of God include the Gentiles and are no longer defined as a nation-state.  Because of this, Christ’s atoning work made obsolete the literal observance of not only the animal sacrifices and offerings, but also the temple worship as a whole.

   But as long as believers continue to bear their sinful nature (which they do until they die), the atoning grace of Christ does not make Leviticus irrelevant to NT believers, since principles can still be learned from the underlying laws in this book.  In fact, NT writers such as the apostles Paul and Peter employ language taken from Leviticus in their exhortations to believers to follow Christ (e.g., offerings, the tabernacle, priesthood, and feasts).  NT authors use the burnt offering (1Peter 1:19), sin offering (e.g., Romans 8:3; Hebrews 5:3; 13:11; 1Peter 3:18; 1John 2:2; 4:10), and guilt offering (possibly 1Corinthians 15:3, using Isaiah 53:10) to explain what Jesus accomplished on the cross, and the peace offering to explain the Christian Lord’s Supper (1Corinthians 10:16-18).  Thus the book of Leviticus serves as a constant reminder of the person and work of Jesus Christ and challenges believers to apply his gospel.”

Makes you want to read Leviticus again, doesn’t it?

The book of Numbers starts off with a census.  We typically do them every 10 years, but counting (or “numbering”) Israel wasn’t a regular thing for the Israelites.  Notice that God commands Moses to do this only 13 months after the Exodus.  If you read carefully you’ll notice that God only commands him to count the males, the heads of the families, from 20 years old and older.  So how many does that leave out?  If you figure that the ratio of women to men is roughly 50:50 and that there were surely numerous children in each family, you can imagine just how numerous Israel really was.

So why the census and why this methodology?  Well some theologians believe there were two purposes to the census:  (1) to demonstrate the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the sand on the seashore (Gen 22:17); and (2) to count the number of men over 20 years old who could fight.  Both considerations should give the people confidence in their battle for the land.

SPOILER ALERT:      This initial generation of Israelites grumbles and complains and exhibits such a gross lack of faith that God punishes them by refusing to allow them to enter the Promised Land.  Instead they must wander the wilderness for 40 years until the next generation has grown up to be able to take the Land.  So in chapter 26 we’ll encounter another census of Israel.  This time the census is concerned with the number of able fighting men, but perhaps more importantly there is a focus on each of the families (or clans) so as to be able to properly divide the Promised Land for each of the tribes of Israel to inhabit.  With all of the “numbers” is there little doubt why this book was entitled Numbers?

Today, we are almost half way through to Easter!!!  How are you doing with your reading plan?  Are you keeping up?  There is still time to catch up if you are not.  As you prepare your hearts and minds to celebrate Jesus’ substitutionary, sacrificial death on the cross for you and me, and His subsequent resurrection from the dead, think through Leviticus again and how all of Scripture points to Him.

As always, if you have questions or comments, leave them in the blog…

Let’s hear from you!

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Five weeks and running…  Marathon runners call it, “The Wall”.  I call it Leviticus!  I remember the first time I tried reading the Bible from Cover-to-Cover.  Genesis was great!  Exodus was thrilling!  Leviticus was…. well…. frustrating!  What were they talking about?!?

I liked the stories of the Bible.  What’s with all these rules and regulations?!?!  I’m not a lawyer, nor did I ever want to be!

I tried three times to pick up Leviticus and read it… with no success.  So I jumped to the New Testament!  Ahh!  The Gospels!  Matthew, Mark, Luke and John!  My friends!  Stories!!!  Stories about Jesus!

This was more like it.

It took me a few years to realize that I better pick it back up, strap it on and get going with the rest of the Old Testament.  Besides, without the Old Testament we really can’t understand the New Testament, at least not fully.  The Old Testament was the bible of the disciples.  Whenever Jesus quoted from, “The Law and the Prophets,” He was quoting the Old Testament.

And… Leviticus, like it or not, was a part of the Old Testament.  Might as well suck it up, get it over with, get through it, plow ahead, muster on, and all those other metaphors that indicate an unpleasant, but unavoidable task.

Wait a minute!  If God felt it was important to instruct Israel about His Laws, if He felt it was important enough to preserve it in writing for more than 3,500 years, if He intended them (and us?) to take them seriously, maybe I’m missing something.  Maybe there’s a gold mine in this book that I’m not getting…

So we dive in to…Leviticus!

The Hebrew title for this book is wayyiqra (pronounced vai yik ra’). It means, “and he called”.  This is simply the first word in the original in Hebrew (in fact all the books in Hebrew were titled by the first word in the book).  Our chapter 1 verse 1 translation goes, “The LORD called…”

However our English title, Leviticus, comes from a Greek translation of the Old Testament that was the common bible of Jesus’ day.  The Greek version was called the Septuagint, sometimes abbreviated LXX.

LXX is simply the Roman numeral for 70 and septuaginta is the Latin word for 70.  The Septuagint, tradition tells us, was created by 70 translators working in the 3rd Century BC to translate the original Hebrew into Greek (the more common language of the day).  The details are a little more debated, but there is general agreement that the Pentateuch (or the first Five Books) were translated in the 3rd Century BC.

In this translation of the Old Testament the book, wayyiqra, is entitled leyitikon, meaning, “things concerning Levites.”  From this we get Leviticus, which is more descriptive than, “and he called,” but is a little misleading, as we are beginning to see as we read, this book is about more than just priestly duties.

Ok, by now you probably realize that I’m stalling a little here.  What you really want to know is, “What does all this stuff mean!?!?!”

Well, as you’ve already figured out, Leviticus can be difficult to understand, particularly because most of us are not familiar with ancient rituals and the worship practices of the tabernacle.  The end of Exodus showed the Tabernacle completed and God’s presence filling the Holy of Holies.

Leviticus concerns the Laws that God handed down within a month of the completion of the Tabernacle, the ordination of the first priesthood (Aaron and his sons) and the first worship service there.

In a general sense these Laws show the absolute purity of God in contrast to the moral depravity of man.  Despite our depravity God desires a close relationship with us.  However, to be a flawed sinful person and be in close proximity to an all-powerful, perfect God is a terrifying thing.  God’s Holiness demands perfect Justice.  He cannot be in close proximity to sin or His very character would be marred by it.

His character attributes of perfect Justice and Righteousness would demand destruction of the sinful people in His presence.  However, His immeasurable Love for us requires His Mercy and Grace to function if He wants to have a close relationship with us. Thus the sacrificial system with its guidelines for unintentional, and even intentional, sins.

As the Bible makes clear without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sin.  These sacrifices should not only make the point that we fall so far short of God’s perfect standard, but they also point to the Ultimate Sacrifice to come, namely Jesus.

So for an overview of what we’ve read so far in Leviticus…

Chapters 1-5 (approximately) present:

Five Major Offerings

1. The burnt offering (1:1-17)
2. The grain offering (2:1-16)
3. The peace offering (3:1-17)
4. The sin offering (4:1-5:13) and
5. The guilt offering (5:14-6:7)

Chapters 6 & 7 Explain:

The Handling of these Offerings

1. The burnt offering (6:8-13)
2. The grain offering (6:4-23)
3. The sin offering (6:24-30)
4. The guilt offering (7:1-10)
5. The peace offering (7:11-36)

But what about this Clean / Unclean / Holy business?

Many conversations have taken place as to what these terms mean exactly.  Some believe they refer to hygienic conditions, but these aren’t really references to hygiene at all.  They are more references to “ritual conditions”.  In other words, you may be “unclean” or “ritually impure” because you’ve broken one of these laws, which would mean you couldn’t come into the tabernacle grounds, but it does not mean you are unhealthy or unrighteous.

Wow!  This post is getting long…

I think I’m going to stop here for this week.  Don’t worry; we’ll be in Leviticus for most of this coming week, so we’ll have plenty of time to comment more.

In the mean time, give us your thoughts and questions on what you are reading this week.  For instance, what is so special about those “white hairs”?

Let’s hear from you…

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