You Can Read the Bible Guided Podcast

You blinked, and almost forty years has passed in the last twelve chapters.  In chapter 26 the book of Numbers hits the Reset button – compiling the census of a new generation.  The warriors of each tribe are numbered, just as in chapter 1.  For a conversation on the different interpretations of the census numbers, look back to the Daily Reader for Day 43.  

Only Joshua, Caleb, and Moses remain from the generation who left Egypt as adults.  The slave generation has died in the desert, and questions of transition and inheritance now become important. 

The first of these questions is brought in chapter 27 by the daughters of a man named Zelophehad.  Their father has died in the Wilderness, though his daughters point out that he definitely did not die during one of the rebellions.  Their concern was valid for the time: traditionally, males could be counted as heirs, but not females.  The LORD settles this question by again stepping out of traditional bounds and setting Israel apart among their contemporaries.

Inheritance questions have often driven our story, ever since Abraham first left his own inheritance behind to follow the promise of a greater one.  One important question that must be settled is who – if anyone – will inherit Moses’ role as they near the borders of Canaan.   Listen to Moses’ concern for his flock as he asks the LORD to name a leader so Israel will not be “as sheep without a shepherd.” 

Another part of resetting the story is recounting for the people of Israel the statutes they are to observe in their new land.   The Israelites are reminded to bring flour and grain and wine along with their animals for sacrifice.  There is promise here: someday, soon, you will own land in which you can sow and reap.    

Our verse for this week is 1 Corinthians 10:4: “And all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.”

Numbers chapters 26 through 28.  Now let’s read it!

Our reading picks up today in the middle of the Balak and Balaam sequence – just after one talking ass leaves the stage and before another has a chance to speak.   Remember the questions I left you with yesterday: Is Balaam a mercenary or a righteous man trying to do right?  Will the LORD allow him to complete his paying mission to curse the Israelites, or will he truly be able to speak only what the LORD wants him to? 

 As with many things in this story, the Balak and Balaam interaction has three acts.  In the first two, seven altars are erected and sacrifices made.  Balaam steps away to do his divining stuff and it says the LORD “met him, and put a word in his mouth.”    Balaam returns, before Balak and the princes of Moab, and declares blessing, not curse, over the Israelites.  “Did I not tell you,” he protests to the enraged King of Moab, “All the LORD says, I must do?” 

The story turns to a conclusion at the beginning of chapter 24.  “when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he did not go, as at other times, to look for omens, but set his face toward the wilderness…and the Spirit of God came upon him…”  Listen as the promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob of land and blessing are re-proclaimed in the mouth of this foreign prophet. 

But as we turn the page to chapter 25, you’ll find that the children of Israel have not used their time well on the plains of Moab.  The text boldly strikes at those who not only chased after the Moabite women, but bowed down to their gods.  We get our first introduction here to Baal, the Canaanite fertility god – which will be such a snare to Israel in coming centuries.  The author again uses singular language to describe both how “Israel yoked himself to the Baal of Peor” and how the LORD’s anger kindled against him. 

Moses, along with Aaron’s grandson, Phinehas, again must take up the sword against his own people in order to turn away the LORD’s wrath.  Consider the LORD’s use of the word “jealousy” as He commends Phinehas for his actions.  

Our verse for this week is 1 Corinthians 10:4: “And all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.”

Numbers chapters 23 through 25.  Now let’s read it! 

“And they possessed the land.”

This message of hope about the conquest of a sliver of Wilderness brings chapter 21 to a close and forms a pivot on which the book of Numbers turns.  The slave generation had lamented that they would “die in the wilderness,” and the LORD had granted their wish.  Those who had lived as adult slaves in Egypt, and so often longed to return there, would fall one generation short of the Promised Land.  However, chapter 21 is a bit of a watershed as years pass in a blink, and Israel is victorious over their enemies. 

There’s another change in tone that you might catch here.  Did you notice yesterday that when Israel and Edom met they were each referred to as “he?”  It was as if the author was highlighting that after hundreds of years, these two brothers – once known as Jacob and Esau – still couldn’t get along.  That same language emerges again in chapter 21, as “Israel” is often used as a proper noun.  Perhaps this is an indication of the nation finally fighting as one man, which would be a welcome change.

The children of Israel sweep southward – which causes some grumbling – but then sweep up toward the Dead Sea and approach the land of Moab.  Chapter 22 begins an almost lighthearted episode as King Balak of Moab sends to northern Syria to recruit the help of Balaam because “I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”  You may recognize that language from the call to Abram in Genesis 12 – and I think we’re supposed to. 

The plot of the story is that Balak wants Balaam to come and pronounce a curse on Israel so Balak and Moab can defeat them.  Balaam, the great prophet-merchandizer, initially refuses when the LORD tells him not to go.  Balak sends even more important princes and offers of greater wealth if Balaam would just come.  The LORD comes again to Balaam at night and curiously changes His mind – though Balaam is only allowed to “do what I tell you.”  So Balaam goes, only to be challenged by a talking donkey.  Yes, you heard that right.  And at the end of this, I promise it will make total sense. 

The lightheartedness is intertwined with a deadly seriousness and masterful bit of storytelling.  Notice how many things happen in threes.  Question why – or whether – the LORD changes His mind.  Ask whether Balaam is righteous or purely mercenary.  Smirk not when Balaam’s animal speaks, but when Balaam responds as though nothing extraordinary has happened.  And wonder whether the LORD will allow him to complete his assigned mission. 

Our verse for this week is 1 Corinthians 10:4: “And all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.”

Numbers chapters 21 and 22.  Now let’s read it!

After the intensity of yesterday, you might actually be relieved to find that chapter 18 settles once again into instruction.  In fact, the first two-thirds of today’s readings are focused on proper fulfillment of the law.  It’s in the last third that our stomachs might turn once again.   

Reflecting on the accusations that led to rebellion, the LORD reaffirms His call of Aaron and Moses in chapter 18.  First, in a rare instance He calls Aaron into the Tent of Meeting and gives instructions to him directly.  And these instructions He gave are not necessarily new, but a reordering – and reaffirmation – of what He required in Leviticus. 

And in a direct rebuke to Korah’s charge that “…all in the congregation are holy, every one of them,” the LORD reminds Aaron that the Levites will receive no territory in Canaan, for “I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.”

Chapter 19 is again a reaffirmation of prior statutes, having to do with purity and uncleanness.  Perhaps this is an important reminder with all the recent death in the camp. 

And finally, we come to Numbers 20, which is among the most tragic sequences in all of Scripture.  If you’ve never read it, I won’t even begin to spoil it for you.  Just breathe it in slowly, and allow questions, and possibly emotions, to wash over you as you engage the story.  Many things happen here, and you need to go slowly to follow the logic and cause of why they happen.  Listen, carefully, to the dialogue.  Remember the history of these characters.  And put yourself in each scene: the Wilderness of Zin, the border of Edom, and Mount Hor, where the priestly garments again become a character unto themselves.

Our verse for this week is 1 Corinthians 10:4: “And all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.”

Numbers chapters 18 through 20.  Now let’s read it!

The Children of Israel have now been consigned to the wilderness for 40 years.  Readers who paid close attention would have seen this foreshadowed in Exodus 16: “And they ate Manna for forty years…”  But it was not the LORD who had failed them.  Neither was it Moses and Aaron.  But as we’ll see today, the community needs someone on which to take out their frustrations – and that someone is usually the leader. 

In chapters 16 and 17 we find one of the most raw passages that we’ve seen thus far, reminiscent of the succession of plagues in Exodus.  Israel’s complaints become more and more unhinged, the LORD’s anger against them grows more and more fierce, and Moses’ and Aaron’s efforts to stand between them become more and more desperate. 

Now it’s important to separate what you know from what the Children of Israel knew.  They weren’t present in the Tent of Meeting when the LORD’s anger burned after the Golden Calf.  They also didn’t see Moses stand up for the Israelites, as the LORD threatened to wipe them out just two chapters ago.  You know from Exodus 33 how the LORD “speaks to Moses…as a man speaks to his friend,” and from Numbers 12 that the author believes Moses to be “more meek than all people who were on the face of the earth.”   

 But there is plenty that the Israelites do know that makes their rebellion incomprehensible.  It was Moses and Aaron who stood before Pharaoh, and they alone who have been summoned to the Tent of Meeting.  When Moses raised his staff before the Red Sea, it parted.  When he raised his staff over the Amalekites, they were defeated.  When Moses spoke to the rock, it produced water; when he promised food, it fell from the sky.  When Aaron offered the atoning sacrifice, fire leapt from the Holy Place and consumed it. 

Yet Korah, and Dothan, and Abiram are fed up with Moses and Aaron’s leadership: “Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?” they ask.  You will feel the author’s anger as their accusation that “You have gone too far!” gets rebounded against them.  You will surely hear the irony as they cry that Moses has “brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness…”  And you can do what you want with the Israelites who grumble that the rebels were treated unfairly.  Ironically, Moses’ and Aaron’s role in protecting them becomes more and more visible with each cycle of complaint. 

Through it all, remember that this Bible is about the LORD.  What do we learn about Him here, and how does it fit into what we already know? 

Our verse for this week is 1 Corinthians 10:4: “And all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.”

 Numbers chapters 16 and 17.  Now let’s read it!