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Numbers 32-36
Do to Others
or God Will Do to You
Psalm 26:1-7 Praise Pours from a Pure Heart
1.“Judge me, Yahweh, for I have walked in my integrity. I have trusted also in Yahweh without wavering.2.Examine me, Yahweh, and prove me. Try my heart and my mind.3.For your hesed/loyal love is before my eyes. I have walked in your truth.4.I have not sat with deceitful men, neither will I go in with hypocrites.5.I hate the assembly of evildoers, and will not sit with the wicked.6.I will wash my hands in innocence, so I will go about your altar, Yahweh;7.that I may make the voice of thanksgiving to be heard, and tell of all your wondrous works.”Observations
26:1-3.David appeals to God for help on the basis of steadfast trust and integrity, which he offers to prove.
26:4-5.
Our integrity is manifested by the company we keep and don't keep. (cf Ps 1)
26:6-7.
Because of his innocence David is confident that God will answer his prayer so he can offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving and tell how God answered and delivered him (see rest of Psalm).
Application
Note the things David did and didn't do, and seek to build them into your life.
Prayer
Judge of the earth, who does what's right, show me where I am thinking and valuing incorrectly, so I can do what's right. Amen.
Proverbs 7:10-12 Flee Temptation
10.Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute, and with crafty intent.11.She is boisterous and rebellious. Her feet don’t stay in her house.12.Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner.Observations
7:10.Since he hasn't planned to avoid trouble, he runs into it: an adulterous woman looking for prey.
7:11-12.
The woman is the personification of temptation: illegitimate, designed to attract (“dressed to kill” is more like it if you read the end of the scenario), crafty (the word is used of a guard or watchmen intent on preventing danger, and she's on the prowl to cause it), unrestrained by any higher principle than passion, mobile, aggressive, available, and lurking/lying in wait to ambush the unsuspecting simpleton.
Application
Flee temptation, it's an unfair fight for the unprepared.2Tim 2:22 “Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”
Prayer
Lord, unmask the temptations around me so I can see them for what they are and flee. Thanks. Amen.
Numbers 32-36 Do to Others or God Will Do to You
Numbers 32 Short-Cut to Blessing
1.Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle: and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, was a place for cattle;2.the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke to Moses...4.the land which Yahweh struck before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle; and your servants have cattle.5.They said, "If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession; don`t bring us over the Jordan.6.Moses said to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, "Shall your brothers go to the war, and shall you sit here?7.Why discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which Yahweh has given them?8.Thus did Your fathers, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land.11.Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; because they have not wholly followed Me:12.save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun; because they have wholly followed Yahweh.13.Yahweh`s anger was kindled against Israel, and He made them wander back and forth in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, who had done evil in the sight of Yahweh, was consumed.14.Behold, you are risen up in your fathers` place, an increase of sinful men, to augment the fierce anger of Yahweh toward Israel.15.For if you turn away from after Him, He will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and you will destroy all this people.16.They said, We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones:17.but we ourselves will be ready armed to go before the children of Israel, until we have brought them to their place: and our little ones shall dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land.18.We will not return to our houses, until the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance.19.For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan, and forward; because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side of the Jordan eastward.20.Moses said to them, If you will do this thing...22.and the land is subdued before Yahweh; then afterward you shall return, and be guiltless towards Yahweh, and towards Israel; and this land shall be to you for a possession before Yahweh.23.But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against Yahweh; and be sure your sin will find you out.33.Moses gave to them, even to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land, according to the cities of it with [their] borders, even the cities of the land round about.Observation
32:1-23.What initially looked like self-centered disunity which might have discouraged the rest of the Israelites from obeying God, turns out to be acceptable because of their willingness to secure the inheritance of each Israelite before they claim theirs. The tribes of Gad, Reuben and Manasseh did fulfill their obligations (Josh 4:12-13, 22) but the lack of natural defenses of their territories left them open to future invasions. There is debate about whether their choice (born partially out of temporal advantage, like Lot) was wisest. God said that the land would be distributed by lots, which He would oversee. They chose for themselves, leaving God out of the picture.
Pr 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from Yahweh.
Application
We're usually better off if we let God chose what's best for us. Not only did He create our desires with a plan to fulfill them, He's omniscient.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, I thank You that You can make Your will obvious to me, and that You always give what's best when it's best. Amen.
Numbers 33 Do to Others or God Will Do to You
1.These are the journeys of the children of Israel, when they went out of the land of Egypt under the hand of Moses and Aaron.2.Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of Yahweh...3.They journeyed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the next day after the Passover the children of Israel went out defiantly in the sight of all the Egyptians,4.while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom Yahweh had struck among them: on their gods also Yahweh executed judgments.5.The children of Israel journeyed from Rameses...8.They journeyed from before Hahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness...9.They journeyed from Marah, and came to Elim: and in Elim were twelve springs of water, and seventy palm-trees; and they encamped there...14.encamped in Rephidim, where was no water for the people to drink.15.They journeyed from Rephidim, and encamped in the wilderness of Sinai...38.Aaron the priest went up into Mount Hor at the commandment of Yahweh, and died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt39.Aaron was one hundred twenty-three years old when he died in Mount Hor.40.The Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the South in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the children of Israel.50.Yahweh spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying,51.Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,52.then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured [stones], and destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places:53.and you shall take possession of the land, and dwell therein; for to you have I given the land to possess it.54.You shall inherit the land by lot55.But if you will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then shall those who you let remain of them be as pricks in your eyes, and as thorns in your sides, and they shall vex you in the land in which you dwell.56.It shall happen that as I thought to do to them, so will I do to you.Observations
33:1.Travelogue without slides. Just a few events are mentioned.
33:2. Evidence for Mosaic authorship.
33:15. Surprisingly, there is no mention of the law being given at Mt Sinai.
33:55-56. These are key verses for understanding the Israelite future. Building off the experience with the Midianites, if Israel failed to destroy the pagan idolaters (whom God was judging – Gen 15) then the pagans would vex, and God would destroy the Israelites.
Application
What about destroy do you not understand?
Prayer
Lord, help me drive out of my life anything or anyone that displeases You. Amen.
Numbers 34 Borders and Division
1.Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,2.Command the children of Israel, and tell them, When you come into the land of Canaan (this is the land that shall fall to you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan according to the borders of it),3.then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin along by the side of Edom, and your south border shall be from the end of the Salt Sea eastward...6.For the western border, you shall have the great sea...16.Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,17.These are the names of the men who shall divide the land to you for inheritance: Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun.18.You shall take one prince of every tribe, to divide the land for inheritance.19.These are the names of the men: Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh...29.These are they whom Yahweh commanded to divide the inheritance to the children of Israel in the land of Canaan.Observation
34:17-18.Eleazar, Joshua (religious and civil leadership) and representatives from each tribe divided up the land.
Numbers 35 Cities for Levites and Refuge
1.Yahweh spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying,2.Command the children of Israel that they give to the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in; and suburbs for the cities round about them shall you give to the Levites.3.The cities shall they have to dwell in; and their suburbs shall be for their cattle, and for their substance, and for all their animals.4.The suburbs of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall be from the wall of the city and outward one thousand cubits round about.5.You shall measure outside of the city for the east side two thousand cubits, and for the south side two thousand cubits, and for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the midst. This shall be to them the suburbs of the cities.6.The cities which you shall give to the Levites, they shall be the six cities of refuge, which you shall give for the manslayer to flee to: and besides them you shall give forty-two cities.7....from the many you shall take many; and from the few you shall take few: everyone according to his inheritance which he inherits shall give of his cities to the Levites.11....cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person unwittingly may flee there12.for refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer not die, until he stands before the congregation for judgment.16.But if he struck him...21.he is a murderer: the avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death, when he meets him.22.But if he thrust him suddenly without enmity, or hurled on him anything without lying in wait,23.or with any stone, whereby a man may die, not seeing him, and cast it on him, so that he died, and he was not his enemy, neither sought his harm;24.then the congregation shall judge between the striker and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances;25.and the congregation shall deliver the manslayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge, where he was fled: and he shall dwell therein until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.26.But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the border of his city of refuge, where he flees,27.and the avenger of blood find him outside of the border of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kill the manslayer; he shall not be guilty of blood,28.because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest: but after the death of the high priest the manslayer shall return into the land of his possession.30.Whoever kills any person, the murderer shall be slain at the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person that he die.31.Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death; but he shall surely be put to death.32.You shall take no ransom for him who is fled to his city of refuge, that he may come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest.33.So you shall not pollute the land in which you are: for blood, it pollutes the land; and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him who shed it.34.You shall not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell: for I, Yahweh, dwell in the midst of the children of Israel.Observations
35:1-34.Levites got cities scattered throughout Israel so they would be accessible to the people to teach the law. Special cities of refuge were established for unintentional manslaughter, complete with instructions for trial by jury and sentence terms.
35:33.
God's concern for justice is a requirement for blessing the “holy” land because it reflects His character.
Deut 3:24 He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are just, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He.
Application
Justice is achieved and maintained by teaching and following God's revelation. No Exceptions.
Prayer
God of Justice and Truth, thank You for revealing what is just and right and true, so we can do it and be blessed by You. Amen.
Numbers 36 Preservation of Land Rights
1.The heads...the sons of Joseph, spoke before Moses and...2.said, Yahweh commanded my lord to give the land for inheritance...of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters.3.If they be married to any of the sons of the [other] tribes of the children of Israel, then will their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of our fathers, and will be added to the inheritance of the tribe where they shall belong: so will it be taken away from our inheritance.4.When the jubilee...6.This is the thing which Yahweh does command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them be married to whom they think best; only into the family of the tribe of their father shall they be married.7.So shall no inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe...12.They were married into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph; and their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father.13.These are the commandments and the ordinances which Yahweh commanded by Moses to the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.Observation
36:1-13.The inheritance was the means of production. God mandated that it always stay in the hands of the people. If they sold it, it was only a lease, and would revert back to the original tribe in the year of Jubilee. This mandated individual ownership of land militates against socialism (means of production owned by the state), communism, and exploitative serfdom “capitalism.”
Digging Deeper
God in a nutshell: God is really serious about His people being holy; if we don't take steps to purify ourselves and obediently remove potentially bad influences, He will take steps to punish us. He cares about justice for people, because it is a reflection of His character, and the basis of blessing.
Us in a nutshell: We tend to look for immediate comfort and advantage rather than trust God to provide what's best, when it's best, in effect, usurping His rule in our lives. We tend to think everything's OK if we're not as bad as someone else. When we fail to proactively obey God, we are planning to fail, then we will be vexed by our laxity, and judged for our disobedience; or we could decide to do what God says, and get blessed.