Numbers 32-36: Polluting the Land

 “‘Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it.  Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell, for I, the LORD, dwell among the Israelites.’” -Num. 35:33-34 NIV.

We have become so accustomed to bloodshed, so used to the nightly press reports of war, murder, school shootings, bombings and suicide, that we don't realize what a stench, what an anathema it is in God's sight.  Bloodshed does polite the land.  The corpses of the innocent cry out for revenge and only God is able to heal those broken and hurt.  None of us are immune.  I've lost more than my share of friends and even family to war, suicide, and murder.  The hurt never goes away.  What does God want from us on this issue?  Can we expect his presence to continue to dwell with us in the midst of the violence perpetuated on this land?