Monthly Archives: January 2022

Daily Bible Study

February 1, 2022 Bible Study — What Value Do We Place On Individuals?

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Leviticus 1-4.

There are three types of animal offerings described in this passage: burnt offering, fellowship offering, and sin offering.  In addition, Moses describes the process for making grain offerings.  The animal offerings were to be a representative of their type (cattle, sheep, or goat) which was without defect.  I want to note the significance of which offerings were explicitly to be male and which were to be female.  Since the animals eligible for offering were all herd animals, those who owned the animals could more readily spare a male animal to a female animal (with herd animals a single male breads with multiple females).  Which leads me to a thought that does not come directly out of this passage: a polygamous society values most men as less than fully human.  A polygamous society considers most men to be superfluous.  In such a society, men who have failed to obtain wives are considered disposable, and of less value than those who have wives.  This breaks down the order which the Bible teaches us is God’s intent, that all people were created by God to have value.  Not really when this passage is about, but the thought which the passage inspired in me.

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

Daily Bible Study

January 31, 2022 Bible Study — Understanding How Our Decisions Will Impact Others Should Help Us Interpret God’s Guidance

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Exodus 39-40.

The things I had looked up when the earlier passage talked about the Urim and Thummim being placed in the high priest’s breast piece led me to look closely at the description here of how the high priest’s breast piece and ephod was put together.  In particular I was looking to see if there was anything further about the breast piece being the “breast piece of decision”.  All I got on that was that the breast piece was a single cloth folded over.   So, as the instructions given earlier, the Urim and Thummim would be placed in the pocket thus created.  The other thing I thought seemed relevant, even if only for the symbolism, was the description that the breast piece would have twelve different gemstones mounted on it, with each stone having the name of a different one of Israel’s sons engraved on it.  The presence of those names engraved on the gemstones mounted on the shoulder pieces of the ephod indicate that the stones on the breast piece had more meaning than just a reminder to the high priest that he represented the twelve tribes before God.  I believe these 12 stones related to the usage of this breast piece, in conjunction with the Urim and Thummim which were kept within it, to divine God’s will on issues.

Today is an example of something that happens from time to time when I write my blog.  I started writing this as an exercise in pure curiosity because I saw no spiritual lessons in the passage as I read it.  However, when I finished writing the above I realized that just as the high priest needed to be reminded of the fact that the decisions he sought God’s guidance had an impact on all of the people of Israel, when we seek God’s guidance on decisions we need to make we should identify all of those who will be impacted by the decision we reach, doing so will help us understand God’s guidance.

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

Daily Bible Study

January 30, 2022 Bible Study — Making A Place Which Turns Our Hearts To God

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Exodus 36-38.

Today’s passage provides a description of the process of putting together the Tabernacle.  If, like me, you do not get much out of descriptions of glorious building, this passage may seem redundant since the design for the Tabernacle has been described previously.  However, this passage contains a detailed description of what the artisans actually did to build the Tabernacle.  I also want to also highlight that the artisans had to ask Moses to tell the people to stop providing them with materials for building the Tabernacle because they had enough.  Reading between the lines, the reason the artisans went to Moses was because the people had given so much that the excess was starting to get in the way.  One take away I always get from these passages, and the ones later describing the building of Solomon’s Temple,  is that there is a time for us to expend resources to make a place designed to turn people’s focus to God.

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

Daily Bible Study

January 29, 2022 Bible Study — God, If You Are Pleased With Me, Teach Me Your Ways So That I May Know You

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Exodus 33-35.

I think it was last year that I first noticed that Moses started setting up a “tent of meeting” before he had the Israelites construct the Tabernacle (which then took over that function).   However, I had not noticed until today that this passage implies that anyone could go there to inquire of God, even when Moses was not there.  I am not entirely sure about how that connects with the fact that Joshua never left the pre-Tabernacle tent of meeting.  Did Joshua listen to those who came to inquire of God and perhaps help them determine God’s will?  Or, perhaps relay their requests to Moses?  In addition to that, we have Moses doing more interceding with God for the Israelites.  God told the Israelites that He would not travel with them as they made their way to the Promised Land because He might destroy them as a result of their stiff-necked ways.  In response, the Israelites stopped wearing any ornaments to show their contrition.  I am really not sure where I am going with this. I have been working on it off and on all day trying to put the sentences together which convey what this passage, in conjunction with yesterday’s, is saying to me.  Before asking God to accompany the Israelites in their travel, Moses said that God had told him “I know you by name and you have found favor with me.”  Then, after Moses asks God to accompany the Israelites, God said, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”  But I want to go back to the rest of what Moses said when he quoted God.  Moses said, “ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.”  I think a reason that the time sequence for several things in this passage, where the passage seems to say that people did things before God told them to and then that they did them because God told them to is to communicate the complicated message in that exchange between God and Moses.  God was pleased with Moses because Moses asked Him to teach him His ways, and Moses asked God to teach him His ways because God was pleased with him.  Even there I cannot quite make it come out right.  If we wish evidence that God is pleased with us, let us seek for Him to teach us His ways so that we may know Him.

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

Daily Bible Study

January 28, 2022 Bible Study — Moses Petitioned God To Have Mercy On The Wicked

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Exodus 30-32.

I want to note that when the people asked Aaron to make them gods for them to worship it had been less than two months after they had said, “We will do what the Lord has said.”  And one of the things they were agreeing to was to make no gods out of gold or silver.  However, I want to focus on the fact that Moses intervened with God for the sake of sinners.  It reminds me of when Abraham negotiated with God on how many righteous  people it would take for God not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.   I think both of these instances represent behavior we should follow.  We should pray for God to have mercy on those whom we know have done things which have terrible consequences.  The Israelites did not deserve God’s mercy, but then, neither do we.  Let us petition God to have mercy on those we know do not deserve it.

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

Daily Bible Study

January 27, 2022 Bible Study — Requesting God’s Guidance

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Exodus 28-29.

I have never been particularly interested in ceremonial garb.  As a result this passage tends to go “over my head”.  However, one thing which has always bothered me about this passage is the lack of detail concerning the Urim and Thummim, which were to be used by Aaron, and his successors to consult God in order to make a decision.  I did a little Internet research today and learned more than I had known before (I had previously looked for information and found nothing useful).  Thummim is believed to be derived from a Hebrew word which means “innocent”, while Urim may be derived from a word which means “cursed”.  This leads to the idea that they were two stones of identical size and shape with a marking on them to indicate which was which.  If this is correct, that would mean that questions for which they were used would need to be “yes” or “no” questions.  Of course, I also noticed something about this passage which I have never noticed before.  The breastpiece into which the Urim and Thummim were to be placed  was referred to as the “breastpeice of decision”  (or perhaps, “breastpiece of judgement”), which suggests that the breastpiece may have been used in some manner for more complicated decisions.  Nevertheless, the basic nature of the Urim and Thummim suggest that when we seek God’s guidance we should seek to break the decision we are seeking guidance on down into yes or no questions.  Which is really a good idea for any decision…and right after I wrote that I realized that we should be seeking God’s guidance on every decision we make, even if it is just “What should I eat for lunch?”

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

Daily Bible Study

January 26, 2022 Bible Study — Give As Our Heart Prompts Us

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Exodus 25-27.

So, when God gave Moses the instructions for building the Tabernacle, the place for the Israelites to worship God, He told Moses to accept offerings from everyone whose heart prompted them to give any of the items needed to build it (which God then listed for Moses).  We learn from this that giving for our place of worship should be both voluntary and according to the way in which God’s Spirit prompts us.   Really, all of our giving to charity should be voluntary and according to the prompt of the Holy Spirit.  We do not satisfy God’s direction to give by paying taxes, not even if those taxes are used to aid the poor.

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

Daily Bible Study

January 25, 2022 Bible Study — Finding Ways To Keep The Commitments We Make

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

As I read this it occurred to me that verse 2 and the beginning of verse 3 of chapter 22 resembled the laws in various states which are often called “Castle Doctrine” laws (a slightly oversimplified definition of “Castle Doctrine” laws says that if you catch someone attempting to break into your house you may use deadly force to stop them).  So, the verses say, “If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; but if it happens after sunrise, the defender is guilty of bloodshed.”  It seems likely that the meaning of this law is that if the break in occurs at night, we should assume that the homeowner acted in self-defense, but if it occurred during the day, they had the opportunity to summon assistance in restraining the intruder (who would then be a witness to the intruder acting in a manner which forced the homeowner to protect themselves, which is covered under a different law mentioned later).  I personally do not think this law applies to Christians, but it provides a model to evaluate whether secular “Castle Doctrine” laws are just.

I wrote yesterday about how Moses had trudged up and down the mountain multiple times carrying messages back and forth between God and the people.  When Moses went up the mountain the last of those times in yesterday’s passage, God gave him these commands for the people.  Moses then returned and gave these commands to the people.  The people replied to Moses’ recital of these commands by saying, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.”  Moses then wrote down everything which God had said to him.  The following morning, Moses got up and built an altar.  On that altar, Moses caused a sacrifice to God to be offered and used the blood of the sacrifice to seal the people’s agreement to the Covenant, after once more reading God’s commands to them.   And once more, for the third time, the people said that they would do everything the Lord had said.  The first of the commands which God had given the people through Moses, which echoed what He had said to them directly, was that they were not to make any gods of silver or gold.  Yet, a short 40 days after agreeing that they would follow those commands, they had Aaron make a golden calf for them to worship.  I do not want us to look at the Israelites and think, “How could they so quickly forget what they had promised?”  Rather, we should look at this story and think about how quickly we also lose the commitment we made while experiencing a spiritual high.  We need to find ways to keep ourselves from allowing that to happen to our commitment to God.

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

Daily Bible Study

January 24, 2022 Bible Study — Are We Willing To Have God Talk To Us Directly?

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

Yet another day where I have a few thoughts about the passage, but am unsure what how those thoughts tie together.  So, I am just going to start recording my thoughts and see if a lesson comes out of them.   It starts with Moses going up Mt Sinai to God and God calling out to Moses from the mountain.  Then Moses went back and summoned the elders, got their response and returned up the mountain.  Moses finally returned down the mountain and told the people to consecrate themselves.  Then on the third day, Moses once more went up the mountain to God, returned to the people, and then ascended the mountain once more.    That is a lot of going up and down the mountain.   What God said told Moses to tell the people, and the people’s responses to those messages are important, but I think we miss how much back and forth there was when we look at the words spoken on each end of each trip.  Having written all of that, I don’t see any further comment to make, but I think it is important to highlight how much trudging up and down the mountain did at Sinai.

Now, I want to look a little but about what God said, and how the people responded.  The first time up the mountain, God told Moses to remind the people what they had seen Him do for them in bringing them out of Egypt and that if they obeyed His commands, He would make them His special people out of all of the earth, even though all of the earth was His.  The people responded that they would do everything the Lord had said.  Then, on the third day when Moses went up on the mountain, God told him to go back down and return with Aaron.  I find that interesting because this was before God spoke directly to the people and gave them the Ten Commandments (often referred to by Jews as the Ten Sayings, which I find actually a rather helpful way of thinking about them).  After God directly gave them the Ten Sayings, the people asked Moses to talk to God for them and then tell them what He wanted them to know.  So, God knew that the people would ask that He not continue to talk to them directly.  The request by the people for God not to talk to them directly represents an issue which people have struggled with since Adam and Eve sinned.  Jesus died on the cross to reconcile us with God so that we would be comfortable in His presence again, as Adam and Eve had been in the Garden before they sinned.

 

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

Daily Bible Study

January 23, 2022 Bible Study — God Will Provide For Our Needs

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Exodus 16-18.

Once again we have the people of Israel grumbling because of some hardship they faced, complaining that they would have been better off if they had stayed in Egypt.  And once again, God provided their need.  Throughout Exodus we learn the lesson that we should trust God to meet our needs.  We should not fall into the temptation to complain about the hardships we face.  Instead, we should just pray to God for resolution of our problems.  When we face difficulties, God has a plan to reveal His glory through the way in which He removes them for us.  There is another lesson for us in this passage.  When the people gathered manna, they gathered what they needed.  Five days a week, they gathered only enough for that one day, and if they put any aside for the following day, it went bad.  But on the sixth day, they gathered twice as much and the extra was still good the following day.  Then on the seventh day, there was none to be gathered.  If we put our trust in God, He will provide for our needs, but may not provide more than we need.

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