I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
The first part of this passage assigns tasks concerning the care and transportation of the Tabernacle to the various clans of the tribe of Levi. It then records the number of men in each clan who are between the age of 30 and 50 and eligible to serve in the Tabernacle.
The next section instructs the people of Israel to place those who are ceremonially unclean outside of the camp. The description of things which qualify for this treatment are things which we know now increase the likelihood that someone might be carrying a communicable disease. The passage concludes with a test which a suspicious husband can ask to have applied if he believes that his wife has been unfaithful but has no evidence. We read this and it seems somewhat harsh leaving to chance which women are declared guilty and which innocent, but that viewpoint dismisses the possibility of divine intervention.
Yet another group of religious leaders approached Jesus with a trick question. This group was from the Sadducees, a group that believed there was no resurrection of the dead. Their question was about a woman who married and then was widowed by each of seven brothers and had no children. Their question was to which of the brothers she would be married in the resurrection? This is a clever question. There is no easy out as none of the brothers have any children, so which one would take priority as her husband when they are all resurrected. They thought that this question was the perfect logical conundrum about why there must be no resurrection of the dead. Jesus immediately shoots their argument full of holes. First, He tells them that the reason they don’t believe in the resurrection is because they neither understand the Scripture no believe in the power of God. He then explains that after the resurrection humans will no longer be sexual beings (I want to come back to this in a moment). So that their conundrum is moot, the woman, and everyone else, will not be married to anyone in the resurrection. He then goes on to point out how God spoke in the present tense about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when He spoke to Moses, not in the past tense as He would have if they were dead.
Jesus’ comment here about the fact that we will not be married nor get married after the resurrection says something to us about human sexuality to which we should pay attention. Our society today puts a lot of emphasis on sexual identity. It tells us that who we are is defined by who, and how often, we have sex with. Jesus is telling us that our sexuality is a temporary thing and peripheral who we truly are. That our sexuality no more determines who we are than what food we eat or what clothes we wear. While all of these tell other people things about who we are, they do not define who we are. When we start to allow our sexual behavior to define who we are and to become more important than anything else, we are setting it up in the place of God. We should define ourselves by our relationship with God, not by our sexual desires.
Back to the story: An interesting thing happened next. A teacher of the law who was not part of any of the factions was passing through the Temple and overheard the debates involving Jesus. He was impressed by Jesus’ answer and was curious as to the depth of Jesus’ understanding. So he asked Jesus a question. He asked Jesus which of the commandments was the most important. Jesus answered him fully, completely and directly. Jesus told him that the most important commandment was that God was one God and that we should love Him with all of our being and ability. Jesus followed this up by saying that the second most important commandment was to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Jesus says that these two commands are more important than all of the others. The man who asked the question agrees that those two commands are far more important than all of the others. This exchange, following as it does the several attempts to trap Jesus, makes those who opposed Him afraid to ask Him more questions, since the effect of their attempts to trap Him has been to make even more people be impressed by His wisdom. If we follow these two commands we will do everything else that God desires of us. There are two mistakes that people make regarding this. Some people forget these two and put more emphasis on some other command from God than loving and serving God or than loving our neighbors. However, some people think that they know better than God about what causes harm. All too often people fail to point out the consequences of sin because they want to be seen as loving and not as being judgmental. They forget that it is not loving to fail to warn someone of the danger they are putting themselves in.
This psalm has been used as the basis for worship songs and I certainly understand why. When I read this psalm it reminds me to praise God and to think of why He is worthy of my praise. When men muster their strength and strive to go against God’s will they will be routed no matter how much power they may have at their disposal. On the other hand, those who stand within God’s love, obeying His will, will be safe no matter how weak they are and how strong those seeking their harm. I will meditate on God’s unfailing love and look for His guidance. God will be my guide throughout my entire life. This reminds me that I do not spend enough time in those twin disciplines of prayer and meditation.
This proverb tells us that those who are lazy are intensely irritating to those who employ them. I will strive not to be such an irritant.