Numbers 10:11-36
From Sinai to Paran

What kind of a guide are you? There are people that need to be led, and there is a place that they need to be led to. Today’s passage is a curious one when you first read it. The people are said to have started out on the journey from Sinai to Paran.… Read the rest

Numbers 10:1-10
Two Silver Trumpets

What does it mean to be remembered before the Lord? How do we take that? The Lord doesn’t forget, and indeed He cannot forget. He is all knowing, or He ain’t God. The thought of forgetting something in the Bible is that of pushing something actively out of remembrance, even if it isn’t actually forgotten.… Read the rest

Numbers 9:15-23
Keeping the Charge of the Lord

There is seemingly a lot of repetition in today’s verses, but each thought complements the previous thought, building upon it and providing a bit more insight into what the life of Israel in the wilderness was like. When you come to repetitive passages like this, you can almost bet they form a chiastic structure.… Read the rest

Numbers 9:1-14
The Lord’s Passover

The words of today’s passage show both a sense of responding to the human condition in mercy, and also a sense of sternness in response to the human condition as well. We will see this as we go along. There is a rigidity in the law which shouts out to us to be careful, lest we fall in to condemnation.… Read the rest

Numbers 8:1-26
Acceptable to Serve

Today’s passage speaks of the purification of the Levites, readying them for service. There are several things they were required to do, and we will go through them as we go along. However, if you noticed, they were all externals. Sprinkling of water, shaving of hair, and washing of clothes.… Read the rest