DAILY BIBLE READING

 Feb 22: Lev 26-27
Feb 23: Num 1-2
Feb 24: Num 3-4
Feb 25: Num 5-6
Feb 26: Num 7
Feb 27: Num 8-10
Feb 28/29: Num 11-13
Mar 1: Num 14-15; Ps 90

NOTES ON LEVITICUS 26-27

·         The new English Standard Version Study Bible has a free 30-day trial for the online edition.  Try it for some helpful study notes. 

·         Congratulations on finishing up Leviticus!  If you made it this far, you’re doing well.

·         The book closes with the consequences for obeying or disobeying God’s commands.  The key commands are a ban on idols and keeping the Sabbath.  Many of the positive and negative consequences are parallel.

NOTES ON NUMBERS 1-13

·         Numbers is so named because there is a census at the beginning and end of the book.  The Hebrew name of the book means “in the desert.”  It is a record of Israel’s wilderness wanderings from Sinai to the border of the Promised Land.

·         Scholars dispute whether the “numbers” given in chapter 1 are comparable to how we use and interpret data in the modern world.  At the least we need to say that we do not understand everything about census-taking in the ancient culture, and that there is nothing deliberately misleading about it. 

·         The central focus of Numbers is the 40-year delay in entering Canaan due to unbelief and disobedience following the 40-day explorative journey by 12 leaders from the 12 tribes.

·         A strange (to us) part of this section is the test given for a wife accused of unfaithfulness in chapter 5.  While the test seems random and unfair from a modern perspective, remember that it is actually given for the wife’s protection.  In most ancient societies, no “test” would be needed – the accused wife would have no chance in a male-dominated social order and judicial system.  Her odds are much better drinking ‘holy water’ and leaving her fate to God.

DEVOTIONS

Bode Miller is blessed with talent.  Before we start eating, let’s bless the food, because God has blessed us.  I love going to church where we can bless God together.  The pastor always ends the service with a blessing.  I can’t believe that guy blessed me out.  Maybe the best response is to bless him back.

The word “bless” is one of those words that we use in so many different ways it’s hard to connect them all to one root meaning.  The Hebrew word barak means to break down – as in kneeling down before someone.  The purpose of the kneeling is to bestow a gift of some kind.

(The background seems to connect everything but the “bless him out” – probably an ironic twist on the original meaning.)

Most of the time, a blessing is conveyed with words – not tangible gifts.  And so it is that God instructed the Levites in Numbers 6 to bless the people –

“The LORD bless you and keep you;

The LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;

The LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

The earliest archaeological evidence in Jerusalem that uses the name of God (YHWH, the LORD) is a seventh century B.C. amulet (charm) found in a tomb that includes this blessing.    This indicates that Jews treasured and used this blessing throughout their history.

Words have power.  Using your words to convey a blessing to someone – that God would protect, provide, and give peace – can become a magnetic force in that person’s life to draw him or her closer to the Lord.

Who needs your words of blessing today?