365 Reflections

So far in Numbers, God has set up the camp of Israel. He has aligned them around His presence in the tabernacle and divided up their responsibilities in the management of the sacred things. He has also directed their order for marching as well as how to disassemble the tabernacle for movement. The camp is in place, Israel is a cohesive unit. At least from the outside looking on. For Israel to be powerful in war they must be united and at peace with each other. For this reason, God establishes laws pertaining to making amends when they experience wrongs against one another. Numbers 5:5-10 (ESV) And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 6 "Speak to the people of Israel, When a man or woman commits any of the sins that people commit by breaking faith with the LORD, and that person realizes his guilt, 7 he shall confess his sin that he has committed. And he shall make full restitution for his wrong, adding a fifth to it and giving it to him to whom he did the wrong. 8 But if the man h...

Numbers 5:1-4 (ESV) The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp everyone who is leprous or has a discharge and everyone who is unclean through contact with the dead. 3 You shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.”  4 And the people of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp; as the Lord said to Moses, so the people of Israel did. God is constantly teaching His people in the book of Numbers about their condition and His holiness. He is also teaching us about the truest nature of ourselves in light of who He is and how much we need Him to intervene in our condition. These verses seem cold and unloving on the part of God. But they are meant to instruct and point us to Jesus. The Bible is about Jesus. The purpose of the Old Testament was to reveal our need for Him, what we need from Him and what He will do to supply our needs in Himse...

Numbers 4:1–3 (ESV) The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 “Take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their clans and their fathers’ houses, 3 from thirty years old up to fifty years old, all who can come on duty, to do the work in the tent of meeting. Reading Numbers 4 can seem irrelevant. It is NOT. It is the procedure by which the Sons of Levi dismantle and prepare the Tabernacle for transport. Each family of Levi has a special function assigned to them. We may ask what this passage is doing here? We could reason that this text is outdated and unnecessary for New Testament saints. We might think a passage like this really needs no attention since Jesus has fulfilled the Old Testament and made it possible for our bodies to become living temples by which God dwells by His Spirit. We would be wrong to do this. This passage exists because we regularly forget just how sacred is the presence of God. We also take for granted the amazing gift God has...

If Numbers is teaching me one thing it is teaching me what God has planned for His community. The third chapter describes the layout for the Levites and priestly families which are responsible for the place where God dwells. First we see God giving the Levite to Aaron to serve the purposes of the gathering place.  Numbers 3:5–7 (ESV) And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him. 7 They shall keep guard over him and over the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, as they minister at the tabernacle. Numbers 3:9–10 (ESV) And you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the people of Israel. 10 And you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall guard their priesthood. But if any outsider comes near, he shall be put to death.” Aaron is given the Levites. The breakdown of the Priesthood is as follows in this chapter: Th...

Numbers 2:1–2 (ESV) The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 “The people of Israel shall camp each by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers’ houses. They shall camp facing the  tent of meeting on every side. Sometimes I wonder how Israel missed the Lord. Here in the second chapter of Numbers we find an otherwise mundane chapter but it gives us amazing truth for how we live with God and who Jesus is. The center of the Israelite camp was to be tent of meeting. Again, the picture of Christ among us tabernacling with His own could not be clearer. A tent made of poles and animal skins, with all the royal colors in modest appearance from the outside could not be a clearer picture than the One born in Bethlehem and raised by two of the most modest of parents hundreds of years later. He came to His own, He dwelt AMONG them. We also see how life is to be experienced with God. First, He is our center. People talk about being centered as if its some spiritual ach...

If Israel was to be a successful nation, it would be because they had God among them. So far in Exodus we have seen God give the plans for the Tabernacle and the people follow the plans to the letter. In Leviticus we have seen the amazing amount of detail that goes into the Tabernacle and its sacrifices and standards. Now here in Numbers, as the people are counted for battle, God makes clear, the Levites are not to be counted, they have a job to do. Numbers 1:47–50 (ESV) 47 But the Levites were not listed along with them by their ancestral tribe. 48 For the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 49 “Only the tribe of Levi you shall not list, and you shall not take a census of them among the people of Israel. 50 But appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it. They are to carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall take care of it and shall camp around the tabernacle. God is teaching His people th...

Numbers 1:44–46 (ESV)  These are those who were listed, whom Moses and Aaron listed with the help of the chiefs of Israel, twelve men, each representing his fathers’ house. 45 So all those listed of the people of Israel, by their fathers’ houses, from twenty years old and upward, every man able to go to war in Israel- all those listed were 603,550. Let's dive into Numbers. To be honest, I'm kind of happy to be past Leviticus. That was tough. Numbers opens with a census of the men able to fight in Israel. This is a nation that went to Egypt 70 in number. They have come out 400 years later at 600k+ men 20 years old and able to fight in war, not including the younger men and all the females. This nation has become enormous in an incredibly short amount of time. Possibly 2.5 million people from 70 in 440 years (if you include the wilderness wanderings). Now, lets address something that keeps coming up in commentaries and in Biblical archeology studies. People usually discredi...

Leviticus 27:1–8 (ESV)   The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, If anyone makes a special vow to the Lord involving the valuation of persons, 3 then the valuation of a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. 4 If the person is a female, the valuation shall be thirty shekels. 5 If the person is from five years old up to twenty years old, the valuation shall be for a male twenty shekels, and for a female ten shekels. 6 If the person is from a month old up to five years old, the valuation shall be for a male five shekels of silver, and for a female the valuation shall be three shekels of silver. 7 And if the person is sixty years old or over, then the valuation for a male shall be fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels. 8 And if someone is too poor to pay the valuation, then he shall be made to stand before the priest, and the priest shal...

Leviticus 26 is wrapping up the context of this most intricate book. The 26th chapter is God's reiteration of the covenant stipulations. There are conditions for the blessing of God upon His people. Make sure you catch that... there are conditions for the BLESSING of God, not the saving of God. The saving has happened. They are His people, His chosen nation. They are even still in existence today. But for His people to experience His blessing, there must be obedience. Leviticus 26:1–5 (ESV) “You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the LORD your God. 2 You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD. 3 “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, 4 then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5 Your threshing shall last to the time o...

The theme of a kinsman redeemer runs throughout the Bible. Someone has become poor through whatever circumstance and a close relative must come and purchase his freedom. We see that theme played out in discussions concerning the year of Jubilee. The last section in the chapter is a peculiar instance whereby a member of Israel may become poor and sell themselves to a stranger. Leviticus 25:47–49 (ESV)   “If a stranger or sojourner with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him becomes poor and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner with you or to a member of the stranger’s clan, 48 then after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him, 49 or his uncle or his cousin may redeem him, or a close relative from his clan may redeem him. Or if he grows rich he may redeem himself. In this case, it is important to note that God instructs His people to purchase their fellow brothers out of slavery. There is not to be a perpetual slavery for God's chosen p...

When you really think about it, all we have is land. Our homes come from the trees that the land produces. Our precious metals are hidden in the land. Our vitamins and healing agents come from mixtures of the components in the land. The Bible opens by telling us that we come from the dust of the land. The land is our life. We eat its produces, we enjoy it's shade, we marvel at it's natural undisturbed beauty. The land is truly God's gift to us. And yet the land reminds us constantly that it is NOT ours. It is unruly and hard to manage. It requires extraordinary patience and incredible amounts of work to get it to produce for us. It is also subject to the curse of sin and awaits its own redemption at the appearing of the Son of God. We need the land, use the land and we must appreciate the land. Leviticus 25-26 is about the Land that God is going to give to His people. Leviticus 25:2 (ESV)   “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the lan...

At the end of Leviticus 24 is a curious story about a boy who blasphemes the name of God. Leviticus 24:10–12 (ESV)   Now an Israelite woman’s son, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the people of Israel. And the Israelite woman’s son and a man of Israel fought in the camp, 11 and the Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the Name, and cursed. Then they brought him to Moses. His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. 12 And they put him in custody, till the will of the Lord should be clear to them. Why is this here? And how does it relate to the passage to come about the legal system God enacts called, "lex talionis" or "eye for an eye"?  The first thing this passage reveals is more information as to Israel's relationship with Egypt. We have a mixed marriage. An Egyptian man took a Hebrew slave as his wife and produced offspring. Then perhaps that man left Egypt with the Israelites out of fear of the Lord? We can...

Leviticus 24:1–3 (ESV)   The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil from beaten olives for the lamp, that a light may be kept burning regularly. 3 Outside the veil of the testimony, in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall arrange it from evening to morning before the Lord regularly. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. We take for granted the ability to light our homes. An electric current that conveniently powers all of our rooms and even outside our homes is one of the modern world's most incredible developments. Yet in the ancient world and even as little as 150 years ago, this idea was unheard of. Think of wandering in the wilderness and living in times before electricity. It had to be fearful. The world gets very dark when there's no lights around to switch on.  It is in that understanding that we come to the rules of the Tabernacle for the people of Israel. The people were to all partake of making ...

Leviticus 23:1–2 (ESV)  The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the LORD that you shall proclaim as holy convocations ; they are my appointed feasts. We come now to the 23rd chapter of Leviticus. It is the chapter that outlines the three festivals for Israel's calendar. There are seven feasts listed in Leviticus. The three main festivals are Passover, Pentecost and Booths/Tabernacles. These three feasts represent the three stages of our life with God. Passover represents our deliverance from bondage to sin. Pentecost represents our fulness in the power of the Spirit and Booths represents our ultimate home in heaven with God where the dwelling place (tabernacle) of God is finally and forever with man. The word that is often repeated in the chapter is "convocation", appearing 11 times. When a word appears that often in one chapter, we need to explore it a bit further. "Convocation"...

Leviticus is known mostly for one main theme: Holiness. Holiness is not moral superiority. Holiness refers to sacredness or set apart(ness) for God and His people. It is clear here in Levitus 22, which wraps up the holiness code begun way back in Leviticus 17 that all that God's stipulations are meant to do two things - to set Israel apart from the nations around them and to set their God apart from all the gods of those nations. Leviticus 22:9 (ESV)  They shall therefore keep my charge, lest they bear sin for it and die thereby when they profane it: I am the LORD who sanctifies them. The word for sanctify here shows up 15 times in Leviticus - more than any other book in the Pentateuch and it means to be hallowed, holy, sanctified; to consecrate, sanctify, prepare, dedicate.  Israel was to obey God's stipulations about sacrifices, priesthoods and daily life because they were dedicated to God's purposes. This nation was to stand apart from all the other nations of t...

The restrictions on the priesthood for Israel in Leviticus 21 are pointing to two realities. First, the priesthood of believers - a people who are presented to Gods service through Christ's atonement for pure and life giving ministry to God's purposes. The chapter continues these them turning now to a strange set of stipulations appears: Leviticus 21:16–21 (ESV) And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may approach to offer the bread of his God. 18 For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or a limb too long, 19 or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, 20 or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles. 21 No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer the LORD’s food offerings; since he has a blemish, he shal...

Christianity is about life. That's one thing the scriptures make patently clear. God brings life, God raise to life, Christ defeats death, Christ is the light of life. Christ has come that we may have abundant life. "Let the dead bury their dead" Jesus says. Our mission is a mission of life. It is in this perspective that we turn to Leviticus 21. This can be a confusing chapter. God gives words of instructions through Moses to His priests. Here's what He says: Leviticus 21:1–4 (ESV) And the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, 2 except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, 3 or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean). 4 He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself. There will be no going to funerals ...

Your body belongs to God. He made it, He formed it, He loves it, He cares for it. The Bible is clear that what we do with our bodies sexually can be either beneficial or tremendously harmful. The laws of Leviticus 20 outline this reality with a repeated word, "nakedness." Leviticus 20:17–21 (ESV) “If a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness, and he shall bear his iniquity. 18 If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and uncovers her nakedness, he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from among their people. 19 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister, for that is to make naked one’s relative; they shall bear their iniquity. 20 If ...

Everyone cherry-picks the Bible. That is, everyone picks what they want and rejects what they don't like. If there is a chapter in the Bible that stands as exhibit "A" for those who would use the Bible against itself it is Leviticus 19. Consider the following directives: Leviticus 19:19 (ESV) “You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material. Leviticus 19:27 (ESV) You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard. Leviticus 19:23 (ESV) “When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten. And of course, 21st Century Evangelical Christianity's most favorite-to-ignore passage: Leviticus 19:28 (ESV) You shall not make any cuts on your body for the...

Leviticus 18:1–5 (ESV) And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord your God. 3 You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. 4 You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God. 5 You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord . The Lord is about to list the sexual laws for Israel in Leviticus 18. How the chapter opens and closes is important. God makes it clear that these rules lead to their life. Breaking these rules will lead to expulsion from the land and God even stipulates that sexual immorality is what defiled both the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan, where Israel is going to take possession.  Throughout these laws there is a close tie in to the "land". ...

Leviticus 17:10–11 (ESV) 10 “If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. 11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. This command to not eat blood clearly illustrates that God has designated blood sacrifice as the means of atonement for sin. God has established that blood flowing from a body in death is the sign by which a person has access into His presence again. It was to be made clear for Israel, they were not to assume that blood was for immediate and physical benefit. Think of this in an ancient world context removed from the scientific data we have available to us today. Blood may have looked nourishing and immediate. Where as meat had to be butchered and cooked, blood could have simply been boil...

Israel had a problem in Leviticus. It seems they were not at all completely sanctified to God and His worship. Even after all he had done for them, they still worshipped false gods. They will continue this throughout the time of Joshua and Judges. It is a sad reality in Israel's history... Here in Leviticus 17 God lays down some interesting instructions concerning sacrifices. Leviticus 17:3–4 (ESV) If any one of the house of Israel kills an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp, or kills it outside the camp, 4 and does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to offer it as a gift to the LORD in front of the tabernacle of the LORD, bloodguilt shall be imputed to that man. He has shed blood, and that man shall be cut off from among his people. There is to be no killing of animals outside the camp. God's people are to bring their animals to the tent of meeting where God dwells and offer the gift first to the Lord and enjoy it in fellowship with the priests.  L...

Only a cleansed and pure High Priest can purify the tabernacle and it's furnishings. Leviticus 16 is describing the day of Atonement, one of the most sacred days of the year for Israel. On this day the High Priest, temple and its altars are purified for the new year of operation in the worship practices of the nation. The Temple was bound to get dirty. All year long it would receive sinners and their blood sacrifices. Israelites would come to God for forgiveness and offer an appropriate sacrifice for sins. That meant one thing, the temple, even though a place for sinners to meet with God would become ritually unclean more and more over time during the year. Every sacrifice offered was offered by someone who needed cleansing. They may have left cleansed but they walked in dirty. All this called for a day of Atonement. All the sins that came into that temple had to be expunged in a symbolic ritual with blood sacrifices and other practices by ONE man - the High Priest of Israel....