Numbers 10-12: Talking with God

Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their forefathers? Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now—if I have found favor in your eyes—and do not let me face my own ruin.” - Num. 11:12-15 NIV

Poor Moses, one day he was minding his own business, tending his father-in-law's sheep, at an age when he was about to retire, and the next, he is wandering around in the wilderness with a host of ungrateful people.  How did it come to this, what did he do wrong?  Was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time, or was he specifically chosen for the task?  Why did God choose him to lead the people anyway.  He was not a great public speaker.  He did not have a special affinity for his fellow Israelites.  He wasn't a man of great patience.  Why did God choose him?

Perhaps it was nothing more than the fact that he heard God's voice.   As God himself told Aaron and Miriam, “Listen to my words: “When a prophet of the LORD is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams.  But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house.  With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. - Num. 12:6-8 NIV

Moses was not afraid of God, he was not afraid to dialog with God, to question God, to be honest with Him.  Most of us spend our lives arguing with everyone but God.  We challenge everyone else, we listen to everyone else.   We look to everyone else for their approval.  Our lives may be simpler as a result.  We don't have a bunch of whiney, wailing people trailing after us, but are we missing the voice of God?

Numbers 7-9: Led By a Cloud

At the LORD’s command the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the LORD’s order and did not set out. Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle only a few days; at the LORD’s command they would encamp, and then at his command they would set out. Sometimes the cloud stayed only from evening till morning, and when it lifted in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out. Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out. - Num. 9:18-22 NIV

Just imagine this vast host of people:  wives, children, livestock, and all of their tents and possessions being led by a cloud.  How orderly could that have been?  Who was in charge of traffic?  Where were the policemen?  The Children of Israel didn't need any of that.  They knew that they were God's chosen people.  They knew that he had brought them out of Egypt, out of oppression.  He had blessed them abundantly with the treasures that the Egyptians gave them as they left left slavery, with their bountiful herds of livestock and with their children who were spared from the Angel of Death.  They had seen the workings of God, so they were willing to be led by something as nebulous as a cloud.

It is counter-intuitive to think one could be led by a cloud.  Surely we need something more concrete than that!  Perhaps that's why we never get anywhere.  We're expecting God to show us something visible, when He is asking us to follow a cloud, when he's asking us to trust in the unseen.

Numbers 1-6: A Priestly Blessing

“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.”  - Num. 6:24-26 NIV

What would life be like if we blessed our brothers in Christ with this blessing.  After all, we all are priests.  And, even more so, what would happen if we blessed our enemies with these thoughts.  Have we ever thought of asking God to keep our enemies safe?  Have we ever asked God to give our enemies peace?  Could that be what Jesus meant when he told us to love our enemies?  Did he mean for us to bless them?  Did he mean for us to love them into the kingdom?  Did he mean for us to make this priestly blessing our own?

Leviticus 21-27: Fear God and Keep His Decrees

‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.-Lev. 26:3-5 NIV

Why is it that God's decrees, which seem so easy and so profitable, are so difficult to follow?  Basically, all of God's commands in the preceding chapters boil down to one thing:  be holy because God is holy.  God gave his creation such a wonderful place to dwell, with everything we need to sustain an abundant life.  But, we choose the mundane, the sensual, the compromising, the dangerous instead.

So much of our lives now are governed by fear.  We fear the weather.  We fear terrorists.  Some of us fear the police.  Others fear any one of a different ethnicity.  We fear for our safety and we fear that we may not have enough.  All of this would be avoided if we feared the one who truly has control of events.  There is a simple formula for living in safety and plenty:  fear God and keep his decrees.

Leviticus 18-20: What is Holy

“Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.  - Lev. 19:2 NIV

Be holy because I am holy.  This is the command to the Children of Israel and to us today.  What follows is a list of things we are not to do if we want to be holy.  We could say, 'Oh well, I don't have to worry, because all of my sins are covered by the blood.'  But when we commit these acts forbidden to the Israelites, it puts an unholy taint on our lives.  It may not cause us to 'lose' our salvation, but we certainly lose our holiness.

Most of us would say we are not guilty of the egregious sins, such as sacrificing to idols,, but what about some of those forbidden to the Children of Israel?  Below are just a few of the requirements for holiness found in Leviticus 19:,

3 “‘Each of you must respect his mother and father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God.  
15 “‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.  
16 “‘Do not go about spreading slander among your people. “‘Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the LORD.  
17 “‘Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.  
18 “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
28 “‘Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.  
31 “‘Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.  
32 “‘Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD. 
34 The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native–born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.  

Note that most of these are not what we consider sins today.  They are not the sins I was brought up to avoid like:  smoking, dancing, drinking, or going to movies.  I'm not saying that those sins don't make us unholy, but they are relatively easy sins to avoid.  Avoiding the sins listed in Leviticus is somewhat more difficult.  God sets a pretty high standard for holiness, but then he is a holy God.

Leviticus 11-17: Covered by the Blood

For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. - Lev. 17:11 NIV

As the old hymn says 'nothing but the blood.'  There was nothing for the Children of Israel and there is nothing for us now that can cover over all of our transgressions.  Interesting isn't it that only something that costs a life can make us white as snow.  Only a blood sacrifice saves us.  It is only shed blood that keeps us safe from all of the destruction that the enemy would try to foist on us.  Nothing harmful can touch us once we are covered by the blood.  While it may not have looked that way to the Children of Israel as they were hurriedly being pushed out of Egypt, they were saved by the blood.  Nothing can touch those covered by the blood.

The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. - Ex. 12:13 NIV

Leviticus 8-10: The Holy and the Common

Then the LORD said to Aaron,  “You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the Tent of Meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean, and you must teach the Israelites all the decrees the LORD has given them through Moses.” - Lev. 10:8-11 NIV

You would not expect tragedy to fall upon Aaron, the High Priest, chosen and ordained by God.  Only good things should follow him.  But, her was only human after all and so were his sons.  None of them had the close relationship with God that Moses had.  None of them heard the Lord's voice, so it's possible that they didn't truly believe Moses when he told them what the Lord required.

Whether they believed or not, God's commands were true and final.  They were to distinguish between the holy and the profane.  It was a matter of life and death.

How often do we confuse the profane (or common) for something that is holy.  How often do we offer sacrifices that are not what God requires?  Do we wave our unauthorized censers before him and expect results?  If we are wise, unlike Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, we would acknowledge that we are lucky to escape with our lives.  Such is the consequence of not understanding the difference between the holy and the profane.  The common is thought up by man, while the holy is ordained by God.