Monthly Archives: February 2019

Daily Bible Study

March 1, 2019 Bible Study — Do God’s Will With All Of Your Being

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 5-7.

Moses made a second presentation to the Israelites where he laid out the specifics of the covenant which he called on them to keep in his first address. He starts off by restating the Ten Commandments, or the Ten Statements. He reminds the people that God has spoken these Words directly to the people of Israel at Mt Sinai. I was struck by a different understanding of one of them than how I had previously understood it. The one I am referring to I learned as, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain,…” However, in the NLT it reads, “You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God.” I learned the first one to mean that you should not use God’s name as an expletive. The second reads to me as a warning against using God to promote our own self-interest. When you use the name of God, or a quote from the Bible, to support the position you took on an issue you are running a significant risk of violating this command. When tempted to use the Bible, or your religious beliefs, to bolster your arguments, ask yourself this, “Did I come to my belief because of that Bible passage? Or, do I understand that Bible passage that way because of my belief?” If the former, then the passage is possibly relevant to the discussion. If the latter, use the passage with extreme caution.

Moses goes on to say that we must love God with all of our being. We should commit ourselves to him with all of our heart, with all of our soul, and with all of our strength, with every ounce of what we are. I cannot emphasize enough the value of what Moses says here:

And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

The point of all of the above is that we should go overboard to make sure we know and remember God’s commands. Actually, it tells us that there is no such thing as going overboard in the attempt to know and remember God’s commands. By going back again and again and reading, reciting, learning what God has told us of His will we learn how to not misuse His name. Of course it is not enough to know God’s commands backwards and forwards. We must also desire to DO His will.

Finally for today, Moses reminded the Israelites that God did not choose them because of anything they were or had done. God chose them because He loved them. They did not deserve God’s love, just as we do not deserve God’s love. God loved them because He chose to love them, just as He chooses to love us. Because He loves us, He has told us what we must do to be blessed, but if we reject Him and His instructions He will not hesitate to bring down the full consequences of our actions upon us. The Bible contains account after account of those who suffered the consequences of rejecting God.

Daily Bible Study

February 28, 2019 Bible Study — Search For God With All of Your Heart and Soul and You Will Find Him

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 3-4.

Moses concludes his summary of the journey which the Children of Israel took from Mt. Sinai to the eastern bank of the Jordan River by telling them what all of those events should mean to them.  There were two elements to the lesson Moses wanted the Israelites to take from the history he recited.    The story of their travels taught them the danger of breaking their covenant with God.  If they failed to keep that covenant they would not live in the land they were about to enter for very long.  The most important part of that covenant was that they should not worship any material thing, whether an object they created as representative of God, or a natural object (such as the sun) which they perceived as representing the magnificence of God. 

The other element of what they, and we, should learn from the story of their travels is that there is only one God.  The choice we make in idolatry is not which god we worship.  The choice is whether we worship God, or something He created.   Logic dictates that this is indeed the case.  If God is the Creator of the universe and everything in it, then there can be no other being which deserves our worship (simplifying the logic slightly to keep things short).  On the other hand, if God is not the Creator of the universe, then He is not deserving of our worship in the first place.  The story of the Israelites’ journey provides evidence that God is indeed the Creator.

Which brings us to something of utmost importance. Moses told the Children of Israel that they WOULD, sooner or later, break God’s covenant with them and be exiled from the land God was giving them. However, he made them a promise, a promise which God makes to every human being. If we seek God with all of our heart and soul, with all of our being, we WILL find Him. This is something I have seen again and again among those I know. An important corollary to this is that we must be willing to accept God when we find Him. I have known people who have sought God with all of their being, only to reject Him when they discovered what He was. They were unwilling, for one reason or another, to accept God when they found Him. This is the source of most, if not all, idolatry. The desire to enter into a relationship with God, but the unwillingness to accept Him for what He truly is.

Daily Bible Study

February 27, 2019 Bible Study — Moses Summarizes Israel’s Journey

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 1-2.

As the children of Israel camped on the eastern bank of the Jordan River, preparing to cross into the Promised Land, Moses addressed them and summarized the events since leaving Mt. Sinai.  This summary was important and necessary because only Moses, Joshua, and Caleb were left of those who were adults at Mt. Sinai.  I will note the things which Moses chose to highlight from that journey.  First, Moses tells them how he appointed judges, selected by the people, over the people to share some of the burden of providing leadership and resolving disputes among the people.  He highlights this as his suggestion to the people, who accepted it.  Then he brought up the scouts.  Here he tells them that the scouts were the people’s idea, which he accepted.  In this account Moses places most of the blame for the people’s rebellion against going into the Promised Land at that time on the people.  In the account in Numbers, the scouts are given a larger share of the blame.

Moses skims past most of the time they spent in the wilderness until they approached the land of Edom.  At that point Moses explains how God instructed them not to attack the Edomites, the Moabites, or the Ammonites.  Moses completely passes over the incident with Balaam and the subsequent attack on the Midianites.  Of course, this also explains why in the account of that the Israelites attacked the Midianites, and not the Moabites.  I also find it interesting that the Israelites were instructed not to attack the Edomites, the Moabites, and the Ammonites, but were instructed to attack the Midianites.  They were not to attack the Edomites because they were the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s brother.  They were not to attack the Moabites and Ammonites because they were the descendants of Lot, Abraham’s nephew.  However, they were to attack the Midianites, the descendants of Midian, one of Abraham’s sons.

Daily Bible Study

February 26, 2019 Bible Study — Consequences For Killing Another Human Being

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 34-36.

Having resolved the issue of where the tribes of Reuben and Gad (and half of the tribe of Manasseh) would settle, Moses laid out the boundaries of the land which the rest would conquer when they crossed the Jordan River.  Then, Moses lays out an interesting idea, the cities of refuge.  There are actually two aspects to what Moses lays out here.  First, Moses declares that someone who murders anyone must be put to death by the victim’s nearest living relative.  However, he then specifies an “escape” for someone who accidentally kills someone.  They can flee to one of the cities of refuge.  Then the community will conduct a trial to determine if the death was truly accidental or not.  If the community agrees that the death was accidental, the slayer must remain in the city of refuge until the current high priest dies, after which they may return to their home.  If the “avenger” (the victim’s nearest kin) discovers them outside of the city of refuge in the meantime, the avenger may kill them.  As part of this Moses lays out circumstances which distinguish deliberate from accidental killing.  I want to note that Moses declares that if you hit someone with an object held in your hand and they die, that death counts as murder, not an accident, no matter what your intentions were. 

Daily Bible Study

February 25, 2019 Bible Study — Working Through Misunderstandings

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 32-33.

As the people of Israel prepared to cross the Jordan River into the Promised Land, the tribes of Reuben and Gad realized that the land which they had just conquered east of the Jordan was perfect for their livestock.  So, they asked Moses if they could have that land as their inheritance, rather than land on the other side of the Jordan River.  Moses was concerned that their request was based on the same fear that had led the previous generation to resist entering the Promised Land.  Rather than be offended by Moses’ assumption that they were trying to shirk their duty to their countrymen, the representatives of Reuben and Gad explained their thinking.  They made it clear that they intended to assist the other tribes in conquering the land west of the Jordan River.  They recognized that Moses’ questions were a valid conclusion from their request and addressed his concerns.  Both sides of this handled the misunderstanding correctly.  Moses explained why he was concerned with their request, then listened when they clarified.  The tribes heard Moses concern and understood why he thought that, explaining that was not what they wished.

Daily Bible Study

February 24, 2019 Bible Study — Get Advice Before Making a Commitment

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 30-31.

While we today have a problem with the command here that when a woman makes a vow it can be canceled by her father if she still lives in his household, or by her husband if she is married, there is a lesson to be learned from this.  First, if the father or husband does not see a problem with the vow when they first hear it, they lose the right to cancel it later.  Second,, we should all take the time and effort to run a commitment we are considering past at least one other person before we make it.  If you are married,  I strongly recommend running a commitment past your spouse before you make it.  If you are single, running it past your parents if they are still around (especially the one of the opposite sex to yourself) would be wise, or someone else whose judgment you trust if your parents are not an option.

One thing that struck me was the way that a bunch of laws and other instructions were placed in this account between when God told Moses to destroy the Midianites for seducing the Israelites to idolatry and the account of them doing so.  I think the writer did this to give us the sense that the laws Moses gave the people were spelled out in response to circumstances which arose as they traveled through the wilderness.  I think that the laws recorded in Exodus through Deuteronomy represented Moses’ rulings as cases were brought before him which the previously expressed law did not clearly address.  However, the writer recognized that recording all of those cases would make it too hard to follow what was a command and what was a description of the case brought before Moses.  I do not believe that all of these laws were strictly in response to the specific cases, more a matter of a case illustrated that there were areas where what had already been recorded did not give adequate guidance to resolve an issue.

Daily Bible Study

February 23, 2019 Bible Study — Leaders Must Train Their Successors

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 27-29.

When Moses realized that he would soon die he asked God to appoint a successor to take over leadership of the people.   God told Moses to appoint Joshua to that role.  However, we know that Moses did not wait until he foresaw that he would soon no longer be able to lead the people.  Moses selected Joshua as his aid and assistant some time before the Israelites reached Mt Sinai.  Joshua appears time and again throughout Exodus as Moses’ assistant.  We even have an example of Moses teaching Joshua when they were on Mt Sinai while the people worshiped the gold calf.  Joshua thought the noises coming from the camp sounded like the sound of war.  Moses pointed out that it was neither the sound of battle, nor of victory or defeat.  While this is not a very detailed thing, it indicates that Moses taught Joshua how to use his judgment.

Daily Bible Study

February 22, 2019 Bible Study — Sexual Sin Often Leads Us to Other SIns

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 25-26.

Shortly after the failure of Balak’s attempt to get Balaam to curse the Israelites, Moabite women began having sex with Israelite men and inviting them to take part in the sacrifices to Baal-Peor.  This resulted in a plague among the Israelites, likely a sexually transmitted disease.   While Moses was discussing with the leaders of Israel how to address this issue, a man brought a Midianite woman to his tent, in front of the gathered people, to have sex with her.  Aaron’s grandson, Phinehas, grabbed a spear and killed both the man and the woman, ending the practice.  I want to point out how sexual desire, and sexual immorality, was used to seduce Israelite men into idolatry, resulting in disease being spread among the Israelites.  There are good reasons for the limitations of sexual behavior to marriage, both for our spiritual and physical health.

There are a couple of interesting points here.  First, “peor” was both the name of the mountain the Moabites primarily worshiped at and the Hebrew word for “open”.  The literal translation of Baal-Peor would be “Lord of the Hole” (or something similar).  Another one is that many commentators struggle to explain why the focus of the passage goes from Moabites to Middianites, more or less in the middle.  It was Balak, king of Moab who tried to have Balaam curse the Israelites and it was Moabite women who initially seduced Israelite men into worshiping Baal-Peor.  However, God instructed the Israelites to attack and destroy the Midianites.  Well, Moses had spent time among Midianites and had married one, which suggests that the Israelites would have perceived the Midianites as fellow worshipers of God.  Another point worth noting is that before Balak sent for Balaam he gathered the elders of the Midianites for consultation.

Expanding on why the Israelites attacked and attempted to destroy the Midianites here gets a little involved.  Consider the idea I keep referring back to that there were other people besides the Israelites who were familiar with the creation story they followed.  The Midianites were one of those people, being descended from Abraham.  So, it may have been the Midianites who convinced the Israelites that the worship of Baal-Peor was just another variant of worshiping God.  Related to that is the fact that in the languages spoken by the others in the region, Baal and El had similar meanings.  El is a word which was used from time to time in the Bible to refer to God.  My point in all of this is that the Israelites likely felt more betrayed by the actions of the Midianites to seduce them into idol worship than the same actions by the Moabites.  The Midianites had the background and understanding to KNOW that the worship of Baal-Peor was incompatible with the worship of God, while the Moabites may have genuinely believed them to be interchangeable.

 

Daily Bible Study

February 21, 2019 Bible Study — Listen To God The First Time

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 22-24.

When Balak’s messengers first came to Balaam, he consulted God and was told that he could not curse the Israelites because God had blessed them.  When Balak’s second set of messengers arrived, Balaam went to God again and God told him to go with them.  Yet, the account tells us that God was angry with Balaam for going.  God’s answer the first time was definitive.  The people whom Balak wanted cursed had been blessed by God.  Balak was not seeking a way to live in peace with the people of Israel, he was seeking a way to destroy them.  When God has made it clear that something is outside of His will we should not seek to find a way around that.

I want to circle back to the idea I wrote about earlier in the year that Abraham was part of a tradition which passed on the stories which came from Noah.  There are several theories about where Balaam came from, but the sources which make the most sense to me put it not far from Haran, the city where Abraham’s father died.  This suggests to me that Balaam was part of a tradition which passed down some of the same stories which we find in Genesis.  Balaam is yet more evidence that the Israelites were not the only people worshiping God.  Throughout the Old Testament we see hints and signs of those who followed similar teachings to the Israelites.  Hints and signs which suggest that the practices and stories of the Bible may have influenced the cultures and religions around the Israelites rather than the other way around as many secular scholars suggest.

Daily Bible Study

February 20, 2019 Bible Study — Worship God, Not the Dead

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 19-21.

When the Israelites arrived at Kadesh, Miriam died and was buried.  However, a short time later after they had left Kadesh and arrived at Mt. Hor, Aaron died and was not buried.  When Aaron was dying Moses and Aaron’s son, Eleazar, accompanied Aaron to the top of Mt. Hor, where Aaron died.  We are not told why God told Moses to take Aaron to the top of Mt. Hor with only Eleazar to accompany them, but I believe that it was to prevent the Israelites from turning his grave into a shrine.  Throughout history people have turned the graves of great leaders into shrines where they in essence worship the deceased.  The Israelites were to worship God, not their deceased leaders or ancestors.