February 2021 – If Not For Grace

28 Feb 202125 Feb 2021

Weekend Reading (February 28)

As we read Numbers, I think about when I complain or when I speak out of line, or when my report doesn’t line up with the spirit of God. I am human, and I have the same failings and shortcomings as everyone else. We are all sinners and we can all see ourselves somewhere in the camp as we read below. We are bathed in grace. Fire no longer consumes us for complaining, we no longer are smitten with leprosy when we speak out of line, and we won’t even read up to the consequences of giving and believe a report that is not in line with the spirit. However, just because we do not suffer immediate consequences for our sins – doesn’t mean they do not grieve God any less. Let us not let grace abound and let us repent as quickly as we can identify our sins and get right with God. God is slower to wrath under grace – but He is not without wrath and judgment. We must be careful not to think of God as an angry abusive absent father and we must not think of Him as never disciplining and never judging and never correcting. Under grace there is a balance and grace extends more mercy.

Dear Heavenly Father, Please open my understanding as I read the Bible so that I may be able to know you better. Please help your word be planted in my mind, so I may recall it as needed. Bless me with wisdom and knowledge, please. In the name of Jesus we pray ~ amen

RELATIONSHIP:
Do you already have a relationship with a powerful God who cares about your every need because He loves you? Did you know my God can communicate with you and protect you – He has a plan for you to prosper if you just submit to His will and let His plan play out in your life!!! God wants a relationship with you and has already made a plan for your life. He loves you so much He sent His son to this world, to die as a sacrifice for your sins and rise from death with victory over sin and the ability to have a personal relationship with you.
“⁹If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10 NIV
Here is a prayer for you to pray:
Jesus, I believe you are the way, the truth, the life, and the only way to the Father. I believe you are the son of God, you came to Earth and lived. That you died on the cross as a sacrifice for my sins, and rose again so that I may be saved from my sins and be able to get to know you. I declare: Jesus, you are Lord!
Therefore, I confess that I am a sinner and I ask that you forgive me of my sins and come into my life. Help me to turn away from my sins and transform me into what you have lovingly created me to be. Help me through a real personal relationship grow and accept your will for my life – that I may live in your blessings. Please walk with me, and talk with me – I accept a relationship with you and with our Father God, through you. In the name of Jesus I pray ~ Amen

MEMORY WORK: Luke 10:19
NKJV “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
NIV “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.”
ESV “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.”
AMP “Listen carefully: I have given you authority [that you now possess] to tread on serpents and scorpions, and [the ability to exercise authority] over all the power of the enemy (Satan); and nothing will [in any way] harm you.”

Thank you for reading.
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

BIBLE READING: Numbers 11-13 NKJV

The People Complain

11 Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord; for the Lord heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp. ²Then the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire was ^[a]quenched. ³So he called the name of the place ^[b]Taberah, because the fire of the Lord had burned among them.

⁴Now the mixed multitude who were among them ^[c]yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will give us meat to eat? ⁵We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; ⁶but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!”

⁷Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color like the color of bdellium. ⁸The people went about and gathered it, ground it on millstones or beat it in the mortar, cooked it in pans, and made cakes of it; and its taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil. ⁹And when the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it.

¹⁰Then Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent; and the anger of the Lord was greatly aroused; Moses also was displeased. ¹¹So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You afflicted Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the ^[d]burden of all these people on me? ¹²Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a guardian carries a nursing child,’ to the land which You swore^[e] to their fathers? ¹³Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep all over me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ ¹⁴I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me. ¹⁵If You treat me like this, please kill me here and now—if I have found favor in Your sight—and do not let me see my wretchedness!”

The Seventy Elders

¹⁶So the Lord said to Moses: “Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you. ¹⁷Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone. ¹⁸Then you shall say to the people, ^[f]‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. ¹⁹You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, ²⁰but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have despised the Lord who is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, “Why did we ever come up out of Egypt?” ’ ”

²¹And Moses said, “The people whom I am among are six hundred thousand men on foot; yet You have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month.’ ²²Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to provide enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to provide enough for them?”

²³And the Lord said to Moses, “Has^[g] the Lord’s arm been shortened? Now you shall see whether what I say will happen to you or not.”

²⁴So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord, and he gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tabernacle. ²⁵Then the Lord came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and placed the same upon the seventy elders; and it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them, that they prophesied, ^[h]although they never did so again.

²⁶But two men had remained in the camp: the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those listed, but who had not gone out to the tabernacle; yet they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷And a young man ran and told Moses, and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”

²⁸So Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, one of his choice men, answered and said, “Moses my lord, forbid them!”

²⁹Then Moses said to him, “Are you ^[i]zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” ³⁰And Moses returned to the camp, he and the elders of Israel.

The Lord Sends Quail

³¹Now a wind went out from the Lord, and it brought quail from the sea and left them fluttering near the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and about a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the ground. ³²And the people stayed up all that day, all night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail (he who gathered least gathered ten homers); and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. ³³But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was aroused against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague. ³⁴So he called the name of that place ^[j]Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had yielded to craving.

³⁵From Kibroth Hattaavah the people moved to Hazeroth, and camped at Hazeroth.

Dissension of Aaron and Miriam

12 Then Miriam and Aaron ^[k]spoke against Moses because of the ^[l]Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman. ²So they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?” And the Lord heard it. ³(Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.)

⁴Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tabernacle of meeting!” So the three came out. ⁵Then the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both went forward. ⁶Then He said,

“Hear now My words:
If there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision;
I speak to him in a dream.
⁷Not so with My servant Moses;
He is faithful in all My house.
⁸I speak with him face to face,
Even plainly,^[m] and not in ^[n]dark sayings;
And he sees the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid
To speak against My servant Moses?”

⁹So the anger of the Lord was aroused against them, and He departed. ¹⁰And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper. ¹¹So Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord! Please do not lay ^[o]this sin on us, in which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned. ¹²Please do not let her be as one dead, whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb!”

¹³So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “Please heal her, O God, I pray!”

¹⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut^[p] out of the camp seven days, and afterward she may be received again.” ¹⁵So Miriam was shut out of the camp seven days, and the people did not journey till Miriam was brought in again. ¹⁶And afterward the people moved from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.

Spies Sent into Canaan

13 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.”

³So Moses sent them from the Wilderness of Paran according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel. ⁴Now these were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur; ⁵from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori; ⁶from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; ⁷from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph; ⁸from the tribe of Ephraim, ^[q]Hoshea the son of Nun; ⁹from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu; ¹⁰from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi; ¹¹from the tribe of Joseph, that is, from the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi; ¹²from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli; ¹³from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael; ¹⁴from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi; ¹⁵from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.

¹⁶These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to ^[r]spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea^[s] the son of Nun, Joshua.

¹⁷Then Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, “Go up this way into the South, and go up to the mountains, ¹⁸and see what the land is like: whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, few or many; ¹⁹whether the land they dwell in is good or bad; whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or strongholds; ²⁰whether the land is ^[t]rich or poor; and whether there are forests there or not. Be of good courage. And bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.

²¹So they went up and spied out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, near the entrance of Hamath. ²²And they went up through the South and came to Hebron; Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) ²³Then they came to the ^[u]Valley of Eshcol, and there cut down a branch with one cluster of grapes; they carried it between two of them on a pole. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs. ²⁴The place was called the Valley of ^[v]Eshcol, because of the cluster which the men of Israel cut down there. ²⁵And they returned from spying out the land after forty days.

²⁶Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. ²⁷Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly ^[w]flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. ²⁸Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. ²⁹The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.”

³⁰Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”

³¹But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” ³²And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. ³³There we saw the ^[x]giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like^[y] grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

Footnotes

Numbers 11:2 extinguished
Numbers 11:3 Lit. Burning
Numbers 11:4 Lit. lusted intensely
Numbers 11:11 responsibility
Numbers 11:12 solemnly promised
Numbers 11:18 Set yourselves apart
Numbers 11:23 Is the Lord’s power limited?
Numbers 11:25 Tg., Vg. and they did not cease
Numbers 11:29 jealous
Numbers 11:34 Lit. Graves of Craving
Numbers 12:1 criticized
Numbers 12:1 Cushite
Numbers 12:8 appearing
Numbers 12:8 riddles
Numbers 12:11 the penalty for this
Numbers 12:14 exiled
Numbers 13:8 LXX, Vg. Oshea
Numbers 13:16 secretly search
Numbers 13:16 LXX, Vg. Oshea
Numbers 13:20 fertile or barren
Numbers 13:23 Wadi
Numbers 13:24 Lit. Cluster
Numbers 13:27 Has an abundance of food
Numbers 13:33 Heb. nephilim
Numbers 13:33 As mere insects

27 Feb 202125 Feb 2021

Weekend Reading (February 27)

When you need guidance, do not be afraid to ask for it. God provided Moses every detail, as we read here in Numbers. God also provided a cloud by day and fire by night. You may need to really seek Him – until you can hear Him on it. Or maybe He is telling you everything except – in which case He wants you to just learn to trust Him. But do not assume and ask for His detailed guidance in your life. It is such beautiful grace that we can ask – and that He can talk to us as He talked with Moses.

Thank you for reading.
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

BIBLE READING: Numbers 8-10 NKJV

Arrangement of the Lamps

8 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²“Speak to Aaron, and say to him, ‘When you arrange the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand.’ ” ³And Aaron did so; he arranged the lamps to face toward the front of the lampstand, as the Lord commanded Moses. ⁴Now this workmanship of the lampstand was hammered gold; from its shaft to its flowers it was hammered work. According to the pattern which the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.

Cleansing and Dedication of the Levites

⁵Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ⁶“Take the Levites from among the children of Israel and cleanse them ceremonially. ⁷Thus you shall do to them to cleanse them: Sprinkle water of purification on them, and let^[^a^] them shave all their body, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean. ⁸Then let them take a young bull with its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, and you shall take another young bull as a sin offering. ⁹And you shall bring the Levites before the tabernacle of meeting, and you shall gather together the whole congregation of the children of Israel. ¹⁰So you shall bring the Levites before the Lord, and the children of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites; ¹¹and Aaron shall ^[^b^]offer the Levites before the Lord like a wave offering from the children of Israel, that they may perform the work of the Lord. ¹²Then the Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the young bulls, and you shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites.

¹³“And you shall stand the Levites before Aaron and his sons, and then offer them like a wave offering to the Lord. ¹⁴Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be Mine. ¹⁵After that the Levites shall go in to service the tabernacle of meeting. So you shall cleanse them and offer them like a wave offering. ¹⁶For they are wholly given to Me from among the children of Israel; I have taken them for Myself instead of all who open the womb, the firstborn of all the children of Israel. ¹⁷For all the firstborn among the children of Israel are Mine, both man and beast; on the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I ^[^c^]sanctified them to Myself. ¹⁸I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the children of Israel. ¹⁹And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the work for the children of Israel in the tabernacle of meeting, and to make atonement for the children of Israel, that there be no plague among the children of Israel when the children of Israel come near the sanctuary.”

²⁰Thus Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel did to the Levites; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so the children of Israel did to them. ²¹And the Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes; then Aaron presented them like a wave offering before the Lord, and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. ²²After that the Levites went in to do their work in the tabernacle of meeting before Aaron and his sons; as the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

²³Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴“This is what pertains to the Levites: From twenty-five years old and above one may enter to perform service in the work of the tabernacle of meeting; ²⁵and at the age of fifty years they must cease performing this work, and shall work no more. ²⁶They may minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of meeting, to attend to needs, but they themselves shall do no work. Thus you shall do to the Levites regarding their duties.”

The Second Passover

9 Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying: ²“Let the children of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time. ³On the fourteenth day of this month, ^[^d^]at twilight, you shall ^[^e^]keep it at its appointed time. According to all its ^[^f^]rites and ceremonies you shall keep it.” ⁴So Moses told the children of Israel that they should keep the Passover. ⁵And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, at twilight, in the Wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did.

⁶Now there were certain men who were defiled by a human corpse, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day; and they came before Moses and Aaron that day. ⁷And those men said to him, “We became defiled by a human corpse. Why are we kept from presenting the offering of the Lord at its appointed time among the children of Israel?”

⁸And Moses said to them, “Stand still, that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you.”

⁹Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰“Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If anyone of you or your ^[^g^]posterity is unclean because of a corpse, or is far away on a journey, he may still keep the Lord’s Passover. ¹¹On the fourteenth day of the second month, at twilight, they may keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ¹²They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break one of its bones. According to all the ^[^h^]ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it. ¹³But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, and ceases to keep the Passover, that same person shall be cut off from among his people, because he did not bring the offering of the Lord at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin.

¹⁴‘And if a stranger ^[ⁱ^]dwells among you, and would keep the Lord’s Passover, he must do so according to the rite of the Passover and according to its ceremony; you shall have one ^[^j^]ordinance, both for the stranger and the native of the land.’ ”

The Cloud and the Fire

¹⁵Now on the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the Testimony; from evening until morning it was above the tabernacle like the appearance of fire. ¹⁶So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. ¹⁷Whenever the cloud was ^[^k^]taken up from above the tabernacle, after that the children of Israel would journey; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel would pitch their tents. ¹⁸At the ^[^l^]command of the Lord the children of Israel would journey, and at the command of the Lord they would camp; as long as the cloud stayed above the tabernacle they remained encamped. ¹⁹Even when the cloud continued long, many days above the tabernacle, the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord and did not journey. ²⁰So it was, when the cloud was above the tabernacle a few days: according to the command of the Lord they would remain encamped, and according to the command of the Lord they would journey. ²¹So it was, when the cloud remained only from evening until morning: when the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they would journey; whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud was taken up, they would journey. ²²Whether it was two days, a month, or a year that the cloud remained above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would remain encamped and not journey; but when it was taken up, they would journey. ²³At the command of the Lord they remained encamped, and at the command of the Lord they journeyed; they kept the charge of the Lord, at the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

Two Silver Trumpets

10 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²“Make two silver trumpets for yourself; you shall make them of hammered work; you shall use them for calling the congregation and for directing the movement of the camps. ³When they blow both of them, all the congregation shall gather before you at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. ⁴But if they blow only one, then the leaders, the heads of the divisions of Israel, shall gather to you. ⁵When you sound the advance, the camps that lie on the east side shall then begin their journey. ⁶When you sound the advance the second time, then the camps that lie on the south side shall begin their journey; they shall sound the call for them to begin their journeys. ⁷And when the assembly is to be gathered together, you shall blow, but not sound the advance. ⁸The sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets; and these shall be to you as an ^[^m^]ordinance forever throughout your generations.

⁹“When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies. ¹⁰Also in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts, and at the beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be a memorial for you before your God: I am the Lord your God.”

Departure from Sinai

¹¹Now it came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, that the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle of the Testimony. ¹²And the children of Israel set out from the Wilderness of Sinai on their journeys; then the cloud settled down in the Wilderness of Paran. ¹³So they started out for the first time according to the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

¹⁴The ^[ⁿ^]standard of the camp of the children of Judah set out first according to their armies; over their army was Nahshon the son of Amminadab. ¹⁵Over the army of the tribe of the children of Issachar was Nethanel the son of Zuar. ¹⁶And over the army of the tribe of the children of Zebulun was Eliab the son of Helon.

¹⁷Then the tabernacle was taken down; and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari set out, carrying the tabernacle.

¹⁸And the standard of the camp of Reuben set out according to their armies; over their army was Elizur the son of Shedeur. ¹⁹Over the army of the tribe of the children of Simeon was Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. ²⁰And over the army of the tribe of the children of Gad was Eliasaph the son of Deuel.

²¹Then the Kohathites set out, carrying the holy things. (The tabernacle would be ^[^o^]prepared for their arrival.)

²²And the standard of the camp of the children of Ephraim set out according to their armies; over their army was Elishama the son of Ammihud. ²³Over the army of the tribe of the children of Manasseh was Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. ²⁴And over the army of the tribe of the children of Benjamin was Abidan the son of Gideoni.

²⁵Then the standard of the camp of the children of Dan (the rear guard of all the camps) set out according to their armies; over their army was Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. ²⁶Over the army of the tribe of the children of Asher was Pagiel the son of Ocran. ²⁷And over the army of the tribe of the children of Naphtali was Ahira the son of Enan.

²⁸Thus was the order of march of the children of Israel, according to their armies, when they began their journey.

²⁹Now Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel^[^p^] the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place of which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will treat you well; for the Lord has promised good things to Israel.”

³⁰And he said to him, “I will not go, but I will depart to my own land and to my relatives.”

³¹So Moses said, “Please do not leave, inasmuch as you know how we are to camp in the wilderness, and you can ^[^q^]be our eyes. ³²And it shall be, if you go with us—indeed it shall be—that whatever good the Lord will do to us, the same we will do to you.”

³³So they departed from the mountain of the Lord on a journey of three days; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them for the three days’ journey, to search out a resting place for them. ³⁴And the cloud of the Lord was above them by day when they went out from the camp.

³⁵So it was, whenever the ark set out, that Moses said:

“Rise up, O Lord!
Let Your enemies be scattered,
And let those who hate You flee before You.”

³⁶And when it rested, he said:

“Return, O Lord,
To the many thousands of Israel.”

Footnotes

Numbers 8:7 Heb. let them cause a razor to pass over
Numbers 8:11 present
Numbers 8:17 set them apart
Numbers 9:3 Lit. between the evenings
Numbers 9:3 observe
Numbers 9:3 statutes
Numbers 9:10 descendants
Numbers 9:12 statutes
Numbers 9:14 As a resident alien
Numbers 9:14 statute
Numbers 9:17 lifted up
Numbers 9:18 Lit. mouth
Numbers 10:8 statute
Numbers 10:14 banner
Numbers 10:21 Prepared by the Gershonites and the Merarites
Numbers 10:29 Jethro, Ex. 3:1; LXX Raguel
Numbers 10:31 Act as our guide

26 Feb 202125 Feb 2021

The Law of Grace (5)

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21 ESV

This is not a lesson on tithing and giving money into the offering plate at church. Just wanted you to know that up front before you made assumptions and stopped reading, because not much new or interesting can be said about a simple math formula which is the tithe or a prompting of the Lord to give a financial offering. Today’s reading in the Book of Numbers is about the first offering in the tabernacle after camp was set up – Moses anointed it and then the 12 tribes made offerings.

Dear Heavenly Father – As always, please open eye to see and our ears to hear what you are saying! Lord – open our understanding that we may know you. Please do not let us miss out on what you want and need from us today. And please keep us and bless us and shine your face upon us and pour out grace over us and give us peace! Thank you! – In Jesus name we pray, Amen

“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” Romans 6:14 NKJV

In our modern world, as busy as we are, we often think of tithe as 10% of our income and offering as any amount we give which is over that. We think of the widow in Luke 21 who gave her all financially, which was only two copper coins. And we know Jesus saw it, therefore we assume she was well cared for after that moment. We really do not know what came of her. In the version told in Mark we see more of how dire her situation was. It is possible that in graceful mercy the Lord let her die that night so she could be better cared for in heaven. We do not know and my point is, we build up ideas around offerings to make them pretty and easier to handle.

As we read Numbers – just one chapter today. We see the 12 tribes made offerings because the tabernacle was setup and it was time to dedicate the altar to the Lord. They did so because they were told to. But they did so because they had thankful hearts towards God. This might be something we should notice, since later we will see them rebel against God (a lot) and we might forget they do love God and did thankfully make offerings.

21 lives. 21 animals died on the first day of dedicating the altar. Three were a burnt offering, one was a sin offering and seventeen were a peace offering. Each tribe came and made the same offering – there are twelve tribes so that is 252 animals who gave up their lives. As we read this chapter it is easy to glaze over these numbers as they repeat and they do not total them for us. But they are repeated to give each set of animal their honor for standing in as a sacrifice for the tribe. There were other animals sacrificed as well during these days of dedicating the tabernacle and altar to the Lord. This was not a small sacrifice.

This took 12 days just for the tribes to make their offerings. They sacrificed substance that equaled monetary value, it equaled actual life and it took time. Taking a few minutes to read it doesn’t express the actual value of it all.

“Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord.” Psalm 4:5 ESV

Under grace and not the Law, where Jesus is the life sacrifice, what does “offer right sacrifices” mean? First we aren’t wrong in giving financially to the church or volunteering our time at the church. We aren’t wrong in performing “good works” as a sacrifice to God, either. But these are the typical offering sermons and devotionals – and I promised something slightly different.

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” Romans 12:1 NKJV

Paul explains that under grace we are to give ourselves to God as a living sacrifice. And sacrificing our whole self is just our reasonable service. Yep – it is just reasonable that we would do this. In 1 Corinthians 6 Paul reminds us we were bought with a great price. And throughout the New Testament Paul encourages us to participate in Christ’s death (through baptism, through dying to our sins and denying ourselves, and through trials). As Jesus sacrificed, we pick up our cross and follow Him. We are also to be a sacrifice.

Jesus was the sin sacrifice. We are the holy sacrifice of worship – because we willingly lay down our lives for His service. Paul gave himself fully as an example for us to follow. He gave up his hopes and dreams and the life he had and did only what the Lord commanded. Although Paul’s death is actually unknown it is believed that he was beheaded in Rome – meaning Paul literally sacrificed his own life, up to and including death, for Jesus and because of the grace that transformed him on the road to Damascus.

As we read about the hundreds of animal who had to die just because an altar was built, we should think of how grace transformed it to one man’s death on the cross for the remission of sins and our participation and what we offer.
And as we read about only one animal was the sin sacrifice and the burnt offering and peace offering were so much greater, we should ask ourselves how much are we willing to sacrifice.

And before you run away from this thought process saying to yourself – I do not want to be beheaded and I don’t want to die… DO NOT BE AFRAID!

I personally say: Here I am Lord. I give all of me (even unto death, if that is what is required).

By the way – I am still here. He hasn’t require it. I am trusting Him, climbing up into His arms and expecting His goodness and mercies as I am wrapped in grace.

On Facebook, the majority of the “Likes” are people from the United States of America and they haven’t been following us here for very long. The readers of this blog are from all over the world. Some of you very well may be martyrs for Christ. You live with internet access, yet persecution and threat of death for following Christ. The USA is heading that way.

None of us want God to require our life of us. I am not sure why God gave us such a strong will to live. Most of the readers today will not be asked by God to be a martyr. But giving your life to God and loving not your life even unto death is the will of the Father. He wants us to trust Him. He is a good father and He has GOOD planned for us. He will provide all our needs. We are under grace.

Thank you for reading.
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

BIBLE READING: Numbers 7 NKJV
Offerings of the Leaders

7 Now it came to pass, when Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle, that he anointed it and consecrated it and all its furnishings, and the altar and all its utensils; so he anointed them and consecrated them. ²Then the leaders of Israel, the heads of their fathers’ houses, who were the leaders of the tribes ^[a]and over those who were numbered, made an offering. ³And they brought their offering before the Lord, six covered carts and twelve oxen, a cart for every two of the leaders, and for each one an ox; and they presented them before the tabernacle.

⁴Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁵“Accept these from them, that they may be used in doing the work of the tabernacle of meeting; and you shall give them to the Levites, to every man according to his service.” ⁶So Moses took the carts and the oxen, and gave them to the Levites. ⁷Two carts and four oxen he gave to the sons of Gershon, according to their service; ⁸and four carts and eight oxen he gave to the sons of Merari, according to their service, under the ^[b]authority of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. ⁹But to the sons of Kohath he gave none, because theirs was the service of the holy things, which they carried on their shoulders.

¹⁰Now the leaders offered the dedication offering for the altar when it was anointed; so the leaders offered their offering before the altar. ¹¹For the Lord said to Moses, “They shall offer their offering, one leader each day, for the dedication of the altar.”

¹²And the one who offered his offering on the first day was Nahshon the son of Amminadab, from the tribe of Judah. ¹³His offering was one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; ¹⁴one gold pan of ten shekels, full of incense; ¹⁵one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year, as a burnt offering; ¹⁶one kid of the goats as a sin offering; ¹⁷and for the sacrifice of peace offerings: two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Nahshon the son of Amminadab.

¹⁸On the second day Nethanel the son of Zuar, leader of Issachar, presented an offering. ¹⁹For his offering he offered one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; ²⁰one gold pan of ten shekels, full of incense; ²¹one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year, as a burnt offering; ²²one kid of the goats as a sin offering; ²³and as the sacrifice of peace offerings: two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Nethanel the son of Zuar.

²⁴On the third day Eliab the son of Helon, leader of the children of Zebulun, presented an offering. ²⁵His offering was one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; ²⁶one gold pan of ten shekels, full of incense; ²⁷one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year, as a burnt offering; ²⁸one kid of the goats as a sin offering; ²⁹and for the sacrifice of peace offerings: two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Eliab the son of Helon.

³⁰On the fourth day Elizur the son of Shedeur, leader of the children of Reuben, presented an offering. ³¹His offering was one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; ³²one gold pan of ten shekels, full of incense; ³³one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year, as a burnt offering; ³⁴one kid of the goats as a sin offering; ³⁵and as the sacrifice of peace offerings: two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Elizur the son of Shedeur.

³⁶On the fifth day Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, leader of the children of Simeon, presented an offering. ³⁷His offering was one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; ³⁸one gold pan of ten shekels, full of incense; ³⁹one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year, as a burnt offering; ⁴⁰one kid of the goats as a sin offering; ⁴¹and as the sacrifice of peace offerings: two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.

⁴²On the sixth day Eliasaph the son of ^[c]Deuel, leader of the children of Gad, presented an offering. ⁴³His offering was one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; ⁴⁴one gold pan of ten shekels, full of incense; ⁴⁵one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year, as a burnt offering; ⁴⁶one kid of the goats as a sin offering; ⁴⁷and as the sacrifice of peace offerings: two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Eliasaph the son of Deuel.

⁴⁸On the seventh day Elishama the son of Ammihud, leader of the children of Ephraim, presented an offering. ⁴⁹His offering was one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; ⁵⁰one gold pan of ten shekels, full of incense; ⁵¹one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year, as a burnt offering; ⁵²one kid of the goats as a sin offering; ⁵³and as the sacrifice of peace offerings: two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Elishama the son of Ammihud.

⁵⁴On the eighth day Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur, leader of the children of Manasseh, presented an offering. ⁵⁵His offering was one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; ⁵⁶one gold pan of ten shekels, full of incense; ⁵⁷one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year, as a burnt offering; ⁵⁸one kid of the goats as a sin offering; ⁵⁹and as the sacrifice of peace offerings: two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.

⁶⁰On the ninth day Abidan the son of Gideoni, leader of the children of Benjamin, presented an offering. ⁶¹His offering was one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; ⁶²one gold pan of ten shekels, full of incense; ⁶³one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year, as a burnt offering; ⁶⁴one kid of the goats as a sin offering; ⁶⁵and as the sacrifice of peace offerings: two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Abidan the son of Gideoni.

⁶⁶On the tenth day Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai, leader of the children of Dan, presented an offering. ⁶⁷His offering was one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; ⁶⁸one gold pan of ten shekels, full of incense; ⁶⁹one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year, as a burnt offering; ⁷⁰one kid of the goats as a sin offering; ⁷¹and as the sacrifice of peace offerings: two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.

⁷²On the eleventh day Pagiel the son of Ocran, leader of the children of Asher, presented an offering. ⁷³His offering was one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; ⁷⁴one gold pan of ten shekels, full of incense; ⁷⁵one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year, as a burnt offering; ⁷⁶one kid of the goats as a sin offering; ⁷⁷and as the sacrifice of peace offerings: two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Pagiel the son of Ocran.

⁷⁸On the twelfth day Ahira the son of Enan, leader of the children of Naphtali, presented an offering. ⁷⁹His offering was one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; ⁸⁰one gold pan of ten shekels, full of incense; ⁸¹one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year, as a burnt offering; ⁸²one kid of the goats as a sin offering; ⁸³and as the sacrifice of peace offerings: two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Ahira the son of Enan.

⁸⁴This was the dedication offering for the altar from the leaders of Israel, when it was anointed: twelve silver platters, twelve silver bowls, and twelve gold pans. ⁸⁵Each silver platter weighed one hundred and thirty shekels and each bowl seventy shekels. All the silver of the vessels weighed two thousand four hundred shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. ⁸⁶The twelve gold pans full of incense weighed ten shekels apiece, according to the shekel of the sanctuary; all the gold of the pans weighed one hundred and twenty shekels. ⁸⁷All the oxen for the burnt offering were twelve young bulls, the rams twelve, the male lambs in their first year twelve, with their grain offering, and the kids of the goats as a sin offering twelve. ⁸⁸And all the oxen for the sacrifice of peace offerings were twenty-four bulls, the rams sixty, the male goats sixty, and the lambs in their first year sixty. This was the dedication offering for the altar after it was anointed.

⁸⁹Now when Moses went into the tabernacle of meeting to speak with Him, he heard the voice of One speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the Testimony, from between the two cherubim; thus He spoke to him.

Footnotes

Numbers 7:2 Lit. who stood over
Numbers 7:8 Lit. hand
Numbers 7:42 Reuel, Num. 2:14

25 Feb 2021

Happy Birthday to IfNotForGrace.blog!!!

I wasn’t going to acknowledge it and I was going to let it go by uncelebrated – It was just our birthday!!!

Not my personal birthday. It is this blog’s birthday. I celebrated 100 posts and 200 posts…. So why not celebrate 12 months?!? I was just so busy with the new logo and theme colors and the new Facebook and new Instagram and and and…. I don’t know. I was just going to let the birthday slide by.

I was in prayer and praying over this and all of you who read it and I felt like I was not honoring God by not commemorating that it has been a year.

There were more than 247 posts in 2020 and this is number 56 for 2021! The series on guarding our minds were the most viewed series – which is interesting because I have since taken that one (as well as some others down) to rework them. The top five Nations visiting the blog are the USA, China, South Africa, India and Kazakhstan. The USA wasn’t even in the top five a few month ago but Canada and Nigeria were. Before this post there were 542,796 words published on this site!

Just over a year ago, I was sitting in my bed writing my bible study (devotional and or anything else someone can call these). I had a pen, a note pad, and my Bible. I would pray and study and write it all down as if I was writing to someone, as if someone could read these notebooks I would fill with my thoughts and studies. And one day I heard God say, write them down on the internet.
I immediately opened a WordPress account and I set this up as a private blog and started writing them here. I didn’t give much thought to any of it. Just followed God’s lead.
“Oh man, it wants a name. What do we call it, God?” “Ok, If Not For Grace sounds good.” “Hey, God, did you see we can buy a domain and they will host it – for super cheap… there is a sale going on?!” “What? Buy the domain?” “Ok”

“Dot com” was not available – so I grabbed “dot blog”. I figured maybe I was leaving a legacy of studies for my son – I had no idea what I was doing nor did I know what God was doing. I did not set it up associated with my name so I could be genuine about my life and not worry about it’s impact on my family, friends, etc. I did not set it up with metadata or make it searchable in any way (still isn’t, maybe I should change that). This was a perfect example of what NOT to do if you wanted a flourishing blog.

But this was God’s. It was His idea and I followed His guidance all along. He made most of you find this all on your own. He grew it. I just wrote as He told me and I pray over it and all of you. This is our blog and we just turned a year old!

A month later the USA shut down and so did the world – global pandemic. But 5 days a week I posted as God told me to and together we made it through 2020 – which turned out to be quite a crazy year. Missionaries all over the world were stopped, sent home, or made to stay put someplace else. And God starts sending this blog into parts of the world I would not have previously been able to identify on a map. (I have learned now where you all are and I am painting you all on a world map and can’t wait to finish and show you all the picture of how many of you are here!) No one can tell our God to “Stay Home”!!! Nope!! Our God did a “Go, ye, therefore and teach all nations…” And off He went with this humble little blog in his tool sack! Is anyone else amazed daily at the goodness and wonder of our Mighty God?!?! He is so good!

So go buy or make some cake (or some special treat) to celebrate!!! We just turned one!!! And there wouldn’t be much to celebrate if it wasn’t for all of you popping in to see what God has left for us at this URL.

May God bless you and keep you and cover you with grace upon grace!!! Thank you for being so awesome and visiting this blog as well as the Instagram and Facebook!

25 Feb 202124 Feb 2021

The Law of Grace (4)

“²⁴“The Lord bless you and keep you; ²⁵The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; ²⁶The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26 NKJV

This is a prayer for God’s grace upon Israel and a great prayer for us to pray for one another. One of my pastors does a daily prayer and he prays this over us every day. I love starting the day with a blessing!

“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” Romans 6:14 NKJV

Today in Numbers we are reading some very interesting rules – that might seem harsh or difficult in our modern world. The purpose was to establish a people, set apart from the other people of the world. It was the point to be different, set apart and an example of our God.
Now, we live under grace and if we accidently become unclean we are no longer cast out of our cities. But just because we live under grace doesn’t mean we can’t become ceremonially unclean, either. Grace is NOT the absence of law nor is it the opposite. As we see, law and grace worked together back in the Book of Numbers. Now we are under grace and have only one sacrifice, which is Jesus Christ on the cross, which makes us clean when we are defiled. And it is appropriate to apply the Blood of Christ when and if we become unclean – so we can become clean again. And the application of the blood is through a simple prayer. The fundamental principles of the laws did not change in the moment we became free from the Law – it was the work of grace at the cross which changed grace and gave grace transformative powers – it was grace that changed, nay – grace was transformed!

Let us try to reword it – grace was touched by Christ’s death and resurrection leaving the residue to that resurrection power to transform, the power that transforms death to life. Therefore grace now has the power to transform us.

Grace was “God’s undue favor” and then it was transformed into the very transformative power of resurrection – of making a sinner into a righteous man (or woman) of God.

Grace also remains being ‘God’s undue favor’ while it now has transformative powers. Just like Jesus remained to be Jesus after the resurrection. I remained being me (although very different) after my experience with grace.

The Old Testament grace needed the law and the sacrifices – and the New Testament grace has the sacrifice that transforms all things including how the law is appeased, freeing us from the burden of it.

“and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:24 NIV

“Justified” or transformed by grace. Not the Old Testament grace – but the grace THROUGH the redemption that came by the work of the cross – the work of Jesus Christ Himself!

So husbands no longer subject their wives to “bitter water curses’ and jealously sin offerings when they feel insecure – because grace can transform the husband and the wife in ways that burning grain never could and grace can now bring life into a marriage (and if needed, it can bring forgiveness as well).

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” 1 Corinthians 15:10 ESV

Grace now has power – power to help. Yes, grace is God’s undue favor and that is enough to get me excited. But why am I always hung up on grace and trying to express my overwhelming gratitude for it? Why am I always saying you need (and praying you have) a real experience with grace? And if you have, why am I encouraging MORE?! Because grace is no longer just God’s favor (even though having His favor is enough). Grace is transformation from death to life. Grace is WHAT JESUS DID ON THE CROSS. Grace is powerful help in time of need. Graces doesn’t just change us it can change circumstances and even the world.

Grace is one word that summarizes the entire gospel story and power. Grace was there in Genesis and remained throughout the entire Bible. If God is love and shows mercy – then Grace is what God does. When God does what it is He does, when He moves, when He does what He is famous for – He is doing grace!

Thank you for reading.
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

BIBLE READING: Numbers 5-6 NKJV
Ceremonially Unclean Persons Isolated

5 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²“Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever becomes defiled ^[a]by a corpse. ³You shall put out both male and female; you shall put them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camps in the midst of which I dwell.” ⁴And the children of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp; as the Lord spoke to Moses, so the children of Israel did.

Confession and Restitution

⁵Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶“Speak to the children of Israel: ‘When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit in unfaithfulness against the Lord, and that person is guilty, ⁷then he shall confess the sin which he has committed. He shall make restitution for his trespass in full, plus one-fifth of it, and give it to the one he has wronged. ⁸But if the man has no ^[b]relative to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for the wrong must go to the Lord for the priest, in addition to the ram of the atonement with which atonement is made for him. ⁹Every offering^[c] of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his. ¹⁰And every man’s ^[d]holy things shall be his; whatever any man gives the priest shall be his.’ ”

Concerning Unfaithful Wives

¹¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹²“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and behaves unfaithfully toward him, ¹³and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and it is concealed that she has defiled herself, and there was no witness against her, nor was she caught— ¹⁴if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife, who has defiled herself; or if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife, although she has not defiled herself— ¹⁵then the man shall bring his wife to the priest. He shall bring the offering required for her, one-tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of jealousy, an offering for remembering, for bringing iniquity to remembrance.

¹⁶‘And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord. ¹⁷The priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. ¹⁸Then the priest shall stand the woman before the Lord, uncover the woman’s head, and put the offering for remembering in her hands, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that brings a curse. ¹⁹And the priest shall put her under oath, and say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone astray to uncleanness while under your husband’s authority, be free from this bitter water that brings a curse. ²⁰But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has lain with you”— ²¹then the priest shall put the woman under the oath of the curse, and he shall say to the woman—“the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your thigh ^[e]rot and your belly swell; ²²and may this water that causes the curse go into your stomach, and make your belly swell and your thigh rot.”

‘Then the woman shall say, “Amen, so be it.”

²³‘Then the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall scrape them off into the bitter water. ²⁴And he shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter her to become bitter. ²⁵Then the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, shall wave the offering before the Lord, and bring it to the altar; ²⁶and the priest shall take a handful of the offering, as its memorial portion, burn it on the altar, and afterward make the woman drink the water. ²⁷When he has made her drink the water, then it shall be, if she has defiled herself and behaved unfaithfully toward her husband, that the water that brings a curse will enter her and become bitter, and her belly will swell, her thigh will rot, and the woman will become a curse among her people. ²⁸But if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean, then she shall be free and may conceive children.

²⁹‘This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, while under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself, ³⁰or when the spirit of jealousy comes upon a man, and he becomes jealous of his wife; then he shall stand the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall execute all this law upon her. ³¹Then the man shall be free from ^[f]iniquity, but that woman shall bear her ^[g]guilt.’ ”

The Law of the Nazirite

6 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When either a man or woman ^[h]consecrates an offering to take the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord, ³he shall separate himself from wine and similar drink; he shall drink neither vinegar made from wine nor vinegar made from similar drink; neither shall he drink any grape juice, nor eat fresh grapes or raisins. ⁴All the days of his ^[i]separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, from seed to skin.

⁵‘All the days of the vow of his separation no razor shall come upon his head; until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. Then he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. ⁶All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not go near a dead body. ⁷He shall not ^[j]make himself unclean even for his father or his mother, for his brother or his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his head. ⁸All the days of his separation he shall be holy to the Lord.

⁹‘And if anyone dies very suddenly beside him, and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it. ¹⁰Then on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting; ¹¹and the priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned in regard to the corpse; and he shall sanctify his head that same day. ¹²He shall consecrate to the Lord the days of his separation, and bring a male lamb in its first year as a trespass offering; but the former days shall be ^[k]lost, because his separation was defiled.

¹³‘Now this is the law of the Nazirite: When the days of his separation are fulfilled, he shall be brought to the door of the tabernacle of meeting. ¹⁴And he shall present his offering to the Lord: one male lamb in its first year without blemish as a burnt offering, one ewe lamb in its first year without blemish as a sin offering, one ram without blemish as a peace offering, ¹⁵a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and their grain offering with their drink offerings.

¹⁶‘Then the priest shall bring them before the Lord and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering; ¹⁷and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall also offer its grain offering and its drink offering. ¹⁸Then the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and shall take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offering.

¹⁹‘And the priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, one unleavened cake from the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and put them upon the hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved his consecrated hair, ²⁰and the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the Lord; they are holy for the priest, together with the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering. After that the Nazirite may drink wine.’

²¹“This is the law of the Nazirite who vows to the Lord the offering for his separation, and besides that, whatever else his hand is able to provide; according to the vow which he takes, so he must do according to the law of his separation.”

The Priestly Blessing

²²And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²³“Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them:

²⁴“The Lord bless you and keep you;
²⁵The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
²⁶The Lord ^[l]lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.” ’

²⁷“So they shall ^[m]put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.”

Footnotes

Numbers 5:2 by contact with
Numbers 5:8 redeemer, Heb. goel
Numbers 5:9 heave offering
Numbers 5:10 consecrated
Numbers 5:21 Lit. fall away
Numbers 5:31 guilt
Numbers 5:31 iniquity
Numbers 6:2 Or makes a difficult vow
Numbers 6:4 Separation as a Nazirite
Numbers 6:7 By touching a dead body
Numbers 6:12 void
Numbers 6:26 Look upon you with favor
Numbers 6:27 invoke

24 Feb 202123 Feb 2021

The Law of Grace (3)

“⁴There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. ⁵ There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. ⁶And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. ⁷ But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: ⁸ for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, ¹⁰ to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 NKJV

Thank you for joining us again today, reading the Book of Numbers. This book is not one of those books many people love and it is not overly quoted. Honestly, I think it is only popular in Sunday schools and even then, many of the stories are no longer told for fear of scaring the children. Today’s reading isn’t very scary. We continue to read about the different tribes, count them, and learn their function.

“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” Romans 6:14 NKJV

OK, ok…. There is no “law of grace” – you have caught me. Which is exactly the point of the title!! Grace does have some characteristics about it – like we saw yesterday: we are told not to grieve the spirit of grace. I named it in hopes that it would force you to start thinking it through – and start to see the juxtaposition of grace and law, as well as the relationship between them. They are not opposites but they are different, they have similarities and they work together.

Today in Numbers we see how the grace of the Lord made the Israelites a diverse people when it comes to talents, skills and callings. We see how those very differences unifies them – everyone is assigned a different task according to their strengths and their family (or tribe) and then they are counted.

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul points out how the church is also diverse and it is our differences that unify us (as we see in the opening passage). Paul goes on to explain how each of our diverse parts works together.

“¹²For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. ¹³For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. ¹⁴For in fact the body is not one member but many.
¹⁵If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? ¹⁶And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? ¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? ¹⁸But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. ¹⁹And if they were all one member, where would the body be?
²⁰But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. ²¹And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” ²²No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. ²³And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, ²⁴but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, ²⁵that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. ²⁶And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
²⁷Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. ²⁸And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.” 1 Corinthians 12:12-28 NKJV

In Numbers, Moses is counting the people, assigning their tasks and setting up camp with the tabernacle at the center (as God directs) and in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul is showing how we have also been assigned tasks and gifts by God and how they must all work together as a body – with Christ being the center (or the head).

God truly is the same yesterday, today and forever. Under the law, He set His people up the same way He set us up under grace. We all have a part, a task, a job to do and we have been given the gifts and tools to do it. We were born for such a time as this and such a situation as this – and given sufficient grace.

Thank you for reading.
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

BIBLE READING: Numbers 3-4 NKJV
The Sons of Aaron

3 Now these are the records^[a] of Aaron and Moses when the Lord spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. ²And these are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab, the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ³These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, ^[b]whom he consecrated to minister as priests. ⁴Nadab and Abihu had died before the Lord when they offered profane fire before the Lord in the Wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests in the presence of Aaron their father.

The Levites Serve in the Tabernacle

⁵And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ⁶“Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him. ⁷And they shall attend to his needs and the needs of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of meeting, to do the work of the tabernacle. ⁸Also they shall attend to all the furnishings of the tabernacle of meeting, and to the needs of the children of Israel, to do the work of the tabernacle. ⁹And you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are given entirely to ^[c]him from among the children of Israel. ¹⁰So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall attend to their priesthood; but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

¹¹Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹²“Now behold, I Myself have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the children of Israel. Therefore the Levites shall be Mine, ¹³because all the firstborn are Mine. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They shall be Mine: I am the Lord.”

Census of the Levites Commanded

¹⁴Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, saying: ¹⁵“Number the children of Levi by their fathers’ houses, by their families; you shall number every male from a month old and above.”

¹⁶So Moses numbered them according to the ^[d]word of the Lord, as he was commanded. ¹⁷These were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ¹⁸And these are the names of the sons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shimei. ¹⁹And the sons of Kohath by their families: Amram, Izehar, Hebron, and Uzziel. ²⁰And the sons of Merari by their families: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites by their fathers’ houses.

²¹From Gershon came the family of the Libnites and the family of the Shimites; these were the families of the Gershonites. ²²Those who were numbered, according to the number of all the males from a month old and above—of those who were numbered there were seven thousand five hundred. ²³The families of the Gershonites were to camp behind the tabernacle westward. ²⁴And the leader of the father’s house of the Gershonites was Eliasaph the son of Lael. ²⁵The duties of the children of Gershon in the tabernacle of meeting included the tabernacle, the tent with its covering, the screen for the door of the tabernacle of meeting, ²⁶the screen for the door of the court, the hangings of the court which are around the tabernacle and the altar, and their cords, according to all the work relating to them.

²⁷From Kohath came the family of the Amramites, the family of the Izharites, the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites; these were the families of the Kohathites. ²⁸According to the number of all the males, from a month old and above, there were eight thousand ^[e]six hundred ^[f]keeping charge of the sanctuary. ²⁹The families of the children of Kohath were to camp on the south side of the tabernacle. ³⁰And the leader of the fathers’ house of the families of the Kohathites was Elizaphan the son of Uzziel. ³¹Their duty included the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the utensils of the sanctuary with which they ministered, the screen, and all the work relating to them.

³²And Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest was to be chief over the leaders of the Levites, with oversight of those who kept charge of the sanctuary.

³³From Merari came the family of the Mahlites and the family of the Mushites; these were the families of Merari. ³⁴And those who were numbered, according to the number of all the males from a month old and above, were six thousand two hundred. ³⁵The leader of the fathers’ house of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. These were to camp on the north side of the tabernacle. ³⁶And the appointed duty of the children of Merari included the boards of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, its utensils, all the work relating to them, ³⁷and the pillars of the court all around, with their sockets, their pegs, and their cords.

³⁸Moreover those who were to camp before the tabernacle on the east, before the tabernacle of meeting, were Moses, Aaron, and his sons, keeping charge of the sanctuary, to meet the needs of the children of Israel; but the outsider who came near was to be put to death. ³⁹All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the Lord, by their families, all the males from a month old and above, were twenty-two thousand.

Levites Dedicated Instead of the Firstborn

⁴⁰Then the Lord said to Moses: “Number^[g] all the firstborn males of the children of Israel from a month old and above, and take the number of their names. ⁴¹And you shall take the Levites for Me—I am the Lord—instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the livestock of the children of Israel.” ⁴²So Moses numbered all the firstborn among the children of Israel, as the Lord commanded him. ⁴³And all the firstborn males, according to the number of names from a month old and above, of those who were numbered of them, were twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three.

⁴⁴Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ⁴⁵“Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of their livestock. The Levites shall be Mine: I am the Lord. ⁴⁶And for the redemption of the two hundred and seventy-three of the firstborn of the children of Israel, who are more than the number of the Levites, ⁴⁷you shall take five shekels for each one individually; you shall take them in the currency of the shekel of the sanctuary, the shekel of twenty gerahs. ⁴⁸And you shall give the money, with which the excess number of them is redeemed, to Aaron and his sons.”

⁴⁹So Moses took the redemption money from those who were over and above those who were redeemed by the Levites. ⁵⁰From the firstborn of the children of Israel he took the money, one thousand three hundred and sixty-five shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. ⁵¹And Moses gave their redemption money to Aaron and his sons, according to the word of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Duties of the Sons of Kohath

4 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ²“Take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the children of Levi, by their families, by their fathers’ house, ³from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the tabernacle of meeting.

⁴“This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of meeting, relating to the most holy things: ⁵When the camp prepares to journey, Aaron and his sons shall come, and they shall take down the covering veil and cover the ark of the Testimony with it. ⁶Then they shall put on it a covering of badger skins, and spread over that a cloth entirely of blue; and they shall insert its poles.

⁷“On the table of showbread they shall spread a blue cloth, and put on it the dishes, the pans, the bowls, and the ^[h]pitchers for pouring; and the showbread^[i] shall be on it. ⁸They shall spread over them a scarlet cloth, and cover the same with a covering of badger skins; and they shall insert its poles. ⁹And they shall take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand of the light, with its lamps, its wick-trimmers, its trays, and all its oil vessels, with which they service it. ¹⁰Then they shall put it with all its utensils in a covering of badger skins, and put it on a carrying beam.

¹¹“Over the golden altar they shall spread a blue cloth, and cover it with a covering of badger skins; and they shall insert its poles. ¹²Then they shall take all the utensils of service with which they minister in the sanctuary, put them in a blue cloth, cover them with a covering of badger skins, and put them on a carrying beam. ¹³Also they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth over it. ¹⁴They shall put on it all its implements with which they minister there—the firepans, the forks, the shovels, the ^[j]basins, and all the utensils of the altar—and they shall spread on it a covering of badger skins, and insert its poles. ¹⁵And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is set to go, then the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them; but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die.

“These are the things in the tabernacle of meeting which the sons of Kohath are to carry.

¹⁶“The appointed duty of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest is the oil for the light, the sweet incense, the daily grain offering, the anointing oil, the oversight of all the tabernacle, of all that is in it, with the sanctuary and its furnishings.”

¹⁷Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ¹⁸“Do not cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites; ¹⁹but do this in regard to them, that they may live and not die when they approach the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and ^[k]appoint each of them to his service and his task. ²⁰But they shall not go in to watch while the holy things are being covered, lest they die.”

Duties of the Sons of Gershon

²¹Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²²“Also take a census of the sons of Gershon, by their fathers’ house, by their families. ²³From thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, you shall number them, all who enter to perform the service, to do the work in the tabernacle of meeting. ²⁴This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and carrying: ²⁵They shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle and the tabernacle of meeting with its covering, the covering of badger skins that is on it, the screen for the door of the tabernacle of meeting, ²⁶the screen for the door of the gate of the court, the hangings of the court which are around the tabernacle and altar, and their cords, all the furnishings for their service and all that is made for these things: so shall they serve.

²⁷“Aaron and his sons shall ^[l]assign all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, all their tasks and all their service. And you shall ^[m]appoint to them all their tasks as their duty. ²⁸This is the service of the families of the sons of Gershon in the tabernacle of meeting. And their duties shall be under the ^[n]authority of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

Duties of the Sons of Merari

²⁹“As for the sons of Merari, you shall number them by their families and by their fathers’ house. ³⁰From thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, you shall number them, everyone who enters the service to do the work of the tabernacle of meeting. ³¹And this is what they must carry as all their service for the tabernacle of meeting: the boards of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, ³²and the pillars around the court with their sockets, pegs, and cords, with all their furnishings and all their service; and you shall assign to each man by name the items he must carry. ³³This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, as all their service for the tabernacle of meeting, under the ^[o]authority of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.”

Census of the Levites

³⁴And Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites by their families and by their fathers’ house, ³⁵from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the service for work in the tabernacle of meeting; ³⁶and those who were numbered by their families were two thousand seven hundred and fifty. ³⁷These were the ones who were numbered of the families of the Kohathites, all who might serve in the tabernacle of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

³⁸And those who were numbered of the sons of Gershon, by their families and by their fathers’ house, ³⁹from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the service for work in the tabernacle of meeting— ⁴⁰those who were numbered by their families, by their fathers’ house, were two thousand six hundred and thirty. ⁴¹These are the ones who were numbered of the families of the sons of Gershon, of all who might serve in the tabernacle of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of the Lord.

⁴²Those of the families of the sons of Merari who were numbered, by their families, by their fathers’ ^[p]house, ⁴³from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the service for work in the tabernacle of meeting— ⁴⁴those who were numbered by their families were three thousand two hundred. ⁴⁵These are the ones who were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

⁴⁶All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel numbered, by their families and by their fathers’ houses, ⁴⁷from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, everyone who came to do the work of service and the work of bearing burdens in the tabernacle of meeting— ⁴⁸those who were numbered were eight thousand five hundred and eighty.

⁴⁹According to the commandment of the Lord they were numbered by the hand of Moses, each according to his service and according to his task; thus were they numbered by him, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Footnotes

Numbers 3:1 Lit. generations
Numbers 3:3 Lit. whose hands he filled
Numbers 3:9 Sam., LXX Me
Numbers 3:16 Lit. mouth
Numbers 3:28 Some LXX mss. three
Numbers 3:28 taking care of
Numbers 3:40 Take a census of
Numbers 4:7 jars for the drink offering
Numbers 4:7 Lit. continual bread
Numbers 4:14 bowls
Numbers 4:19 assign
Numbers 4:27 command
Numbers 4:27 assign
Numbers 4:28 Lit. hand
Numbers 4:33 Lit. hand
Numbers 4:42 household

23 Feb 202123 Feb 2021

The Law of Grace (2)

“Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying: ²“Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male individually,” Numbers 1:1-2 NKJV

Thank you for joining us while we begin reading the Book of Numbers. This book has drama and a long journey, which begins well and slowly goes downhill. But it begins a little slow for the readers while they begin to take their census (hence the name of the book). Hang in there – it gets good after all the counting.

“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” Romans 6:14 NKJV

Yesterday we discussed sin NOT having dominion over us – but when we get into the book of Numbers you really begin to see the rebellion of the Israelites and their sins. They had the laws which we just read, yet they sinned and sinned and sinned. God disciplined them, corrected them and punished them. He even tried redirecting them by giving them more laws (as we will see throughout the book). But these grumpy, complaining people continued to sin.

HOWEVER – There are some beautiful overreaching themes we should pay attention to while reading this book.

First, and most obvious, is GRACE! Obviously God’s favor is on His chosen people. We are also chosen by God and we have that same grace. We have access to its transformative power while they seemed to take it for granted. Please pay attention to the grace shown throughout this book.

Second is intercession. Moses was an amazing intercessor filled and overflowing with love for the people. Every time God tells Moses that He is mad at the people, Moses intercedes for them. In our modern world we often think of an intercessor as just someone who prays for another person and Moses shows that it is a greater task of love. We do not just pray for the lost – we love enough to go get them. We do not just pray for this person’s needs or that person’s needs – we see if we can help meet those needs or if God can use us to lead them out of their needs or through it.

Third, leadership and order. Intercession is a job of a good leader in God’s community. As we read let us watch Moses, Aaron and Joshua, and how they led and followed within order. And the grace of it all – that a good leader is empty of himself, humble and just a messenger between God and the people. We see in Moses’s leadership more than all the rest, how humility really raises a person up. And how obedience to God and letting God lead is the key. (Although Moses also struggled and failed at times.)

And lastly – look at the chosen people. These stories are taught to our children in Sunday school over and over as examples of what NOT to do. Yet as I look back at my adult life I see how much I am like these people. Although that does bring us back to that glorious grace – I think we should carry it at the forefront of our minds as we read the book that, again, these are examples of what NOT to do.

When you read a book like this, where God sends deadly snakes and God sends earthquakes to swallow people and God shows His might and judgement, it is easy to forget how much grace these people had and refused. Grace is sufficient. But Moses asked for more grace for them and it was more sufficient. Yet the Israelites continued to harden their hearts that grace might abound. God forbade it then and forbids it in the New Testament and will forbid it in 2021. There is a balancing act that must happen in your mind while reading. You must understand that: Yes, God can have the earth swallow you but only after you hardened you heart beyond the power of intercession – But you and I have Jesus Christ, Himself, as our intercessor (not Moses) and God’s own son is much more persuasive and effective as an intercessor. And because we are not under law – we can repent immediately and get ourselves right with God.

The law of grace is just that we are no longer under the law because we are no longer under sin. (Technically there is no law of grace – just grace). So unlike the Israelites we can be individually delivered from our sin and free to metaphorically die to our sin nature. Grace does have certain characteristics that jump out at us while we look at it from this perspective and that was where I came up with the silly title.

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? ²God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Romans 6:1-2 KJV

We can be free from sin’s bondage and therefore we would not grieve the Lord to the point of judgment. We can be free from it as individuals. We may be free from it as communities. I must say that I am not sure if our nations are free from the judgment of the Lord. Because as we see in Numbers and as Paul says in Romans – God forbids us from continuing in sin that grace may abound. (So this is one of those characteristics of grace that could very well be law.)

Either the stronghold MUST come down or the deliverance MUST happen – or if it is just disobedience, then discipline MUST correct it. And if none of that works – then judgment shall come – because God forbids us from continuing in sin that grace may abound.

This isn’t a fearful thing – In Numbers, God’s chosen people were under the law and had God’s grace. But we are not under law, we are under grace alone (and can experience its transformative powers to overcome sin and death). I have experienced it myself. I said to God that I needed deliverance from addiction and He said ok – yet day in and day out I struggled with it. There was a point in which I was free, but disobedient – and therefore continued in sin. God extended me the grace with tender mercies until I finally obeyed and just stopped and accepted the transformative grace to be changed. God did not send snakes or have the earth swallow me.

Maybe we should read the book of Romans at the same time so that we can better compare and contrast the grace without the function to transform in the Old Testament (although there are clear exceptions to this rule) and grace with the sole function of transforming and making new in the New Testament. And of course the New Testament exceptions are greater. They are the people who God has called and purposed but they deny Him because they bought the lies of the world. God has extended more grace to them to draw them in, and they are under grace, but they will not experience the transformative power of grace until they accept it.

So, without further ado, let us begin counting the generation who would rebel to the point of not being able to step into the promise land. Because Numbers is their story. And if we find ourselves counted among them – let us repent so we won’t disqualify ourselves for our promises as they did.

Thank you for reading.
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

BIBLE READING: Numbers 1-2 NKJV
The First Census of Israel

1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying: ²“Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male individually, ³from twenty years old and above—all who are able to go to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall number them by their armies. ⁴And with you there shall be a man from every tribe, each one the head of his father’s house.

⁵“These are the names of the men who shall stand with you: from Reuben, Elizur the son of Shedeur; ⁶from Simeon, Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai; ⁷from Judah, Nahshon the son of Amminadab; ⁸from Issachar, Nethanel the son of Zuar; ⁹from Zebulun, Eliab the son of Helon; ¹⁰from the sons of Joseph: from Ephraim, Elishama the son of Ammihud; from Manasseh, Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur; ¹¹from Benjamin, Abidan the son of Gideoni; ¹²from Dan, Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai; ¹³from Asher, Pagiel the son of Ocran; ¹⁴from Gad, Eliasaph the son of Deuel;^[a] ¹⁵from Naphtali, Ahira the son of Enan.” ¹⁶These were chosen^[b] from the congregation, leaders of their fathers’ tribes, heads of the divisions in Israel.

¹⁷Then Moses and Aaron took these men who had been ^[c]mentioned by name, ¹⁸and they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month; and they recited their ancestry by families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, each one individually. ¹⁹As the Lord commanded Moses, so he numbered them in the Wilderness of Sinai.

²⁰Now the children of Reuben, Israel’s oldest son, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, every male individually, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: ²¹those who were numbered of the tribe of Reuben were forty-six thousand five hundred.

²²From the children of Simeon, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, of those who were numbered, according to the number of names, every male individually, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: ²³those who were numbered of the tribe of Simeon were fifty-nine thousand three hundred.

²⁴From the children of Gad, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: ²⁵those who were numbered of the tribe of Gad were forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty.

²⁶From the children of Judah, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: ²⁷those who were numbered of the tribe of Judah were seventy-four thousand six hundred.

²⁸From the children of Issachar, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: ²⁹those who were numbered of the tribe of Issachar were fifty-four thousand four hundred.

³⁰From the children of Zebulun, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: ³¹those who were numbered of the tribe of Zebulun were fifty-seven thousand four hundred.

³²From the sons of Joseph, the children of Ephraim, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: ³³those who were numbered of the tribe of Ephraim were forty thousand five hundred.

³⁴From the children of Manasseh, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: ³⁵those who were numbered of the tribe of Manasseh were thirty-two thousand two hundred.

³⁶From the children of Benjamin, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: ³⁷those who were numbered of the tribe of Benjamin were thirty-five thousand four hundred.

³⁸From the children of Dan, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: ³⁹those who were numbered of the tribe of Dan were sixty-two thousand seven hundred.

⁴⁰From the children of Asher, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: ⁴¹those who were numbered of the tribe of Asher were forty-one thousand five hundred.

⁴²From the children of Naphtali, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: ⁴³those who were numbered of the tribe of Naphtali were fifty-three thousand four hundred.

⁴⁴These are the ones who were numbered, whom Moses and Aaron numbered, with the leaders of Israel, twelve men, each one representing his father’s house. ⁴⁵So all who were numbered of the children of Israel, by their fathers’ houses, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war in Israel— ⁴⁶all who were numbered were six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.

⁴⁷But the Levites were not numbered among them by their fathers’ tribe; ⁴⁸for the Lord had spoken to Moses, saying: ⁴⁹“Only the tribe of Levi you shall not number, nor take a census of them among the children of Israel; ⁵⁰but you shall appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the Testimony, over all its furnishings, and over all things that belong to it; they shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; they shall attend to it and camp around the tabernacle. ⁵¹And when the tabernacle is to go forward, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall set it up. The outsider who comes near shall be put to death. ⁵²The children of Israel shall pitch their tents, everyone by his own camp, everyone by his own standard, according to their armies; ⁵³but the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the Testimony, that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the children of Israel; and the Levites shall keep^[d] charge of the tabernacle of the Testimony.”

⁵⁴Thus the children of Israel did; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so they did.

The Tribes and Leaders by Armies

2 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ²“Everyone of the children of Israel shall camp by his own ^[e]standard, beside the emblems of his father’s house; they shall camp some distance from the tabernacle of meeting. ³On the east side, toward the rising of the sun, those of the standard of the forces with Judah shall camp according to their armies; and Nahshon the son of Amminadab shall be the leader of the children of Judah.” ⁴And his army was numbered at seventy-four thousand six hundred.

⁵“Those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Issachar, and Nethanel the son of Zuar shall be the leader of the children of Issachar.” ⁶And his army was numbered at fifty-four thousand four hundred.

⁷“Then comes the tribe of Zebulun, and Eliab the son of Helon shall be the leader of the children of Zebulun.” ⁸And his army was numbered at fifty-seven thousand four hundred. ⁹“All who were numbered according to their armies of the forces with Judah, one hundred and eighty-six thousand four hundred—these shall ^[f]break camp first.

¹⁰“On the south side shall be the standard of the forces with Reuben according to their armies, and the leader of the children of Reuben shall be Elizur the son of Shedeur.” ¹¹And his army was numbered at forty-six thousand five hundred.

¹²“Those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Simeon, and the leader of the children of Simeon shall be Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.” ¹³And his army was numbered at fifty-nine thousand three hundred.

¹⁴“Then comes the tribe of Gad, and the leader of the children of Gad shall be Eliasaph the son of ^[g]Reuel.” ¹⁵And his army was numbered at forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty. ¹⁶“All who were numbered according to their armies of the forces with Reuben, one hundred and fifty-one thousand four hundred and fifty—they shall ^[h]be the second to break camp.

¹⁷“And the tabernacle of meeting shall move out with the ^[i]camp of the Levites in the middle of the ^[j]camps; as they camp, so they shall move out, everyone in his place, by their ^[k]standards.

¹⁸“On the west side shall be the standard of the forces with Ephraim according to their armies, and the leader of the children of Ephraim shall be Elishama the son of Ammihud.” ¹⁹And his army was numbered at forty thousand five hundred.

²⁰“Next to him comes the tribe of Manasseh, and the leader of the children of Manasseh shall be Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.” ²¹And his army was numbered at thirty-two thousand two hundred.

²²“Then comes the tribe of Benjamin, and the leader of the children of Benjamin shall be Abidan the son of Gideoni.” ²³And his army was numbered at thirty-five thousand four hundred. ²⁴“All who were numbered according to their armies of the forces with Ephraim, one hundred and eight thousand one hundred—they shall ^[l]be the third to break camp.

²⁵“The ^[m]standard of the forces with Dan shall be on the north side according to their armies, and the leader of the children of Dan shall be Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.” ²⁶And his army was numbered at sixty-two thousand seven hundred.

²⁷“Those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Asher, and the leader of the children of Asher shall be Pagiel the son of Ocran.” ²⁸And his army was numbered at forty-one thousand five hundred.

²⁹“Then comes the tribe of Naphtali, and the leader of the children of Naphtali shall be Ahira the son of Enan.” ³⁰And his army was numbered at fifty-three thousand four hundred. ³¹“All who were numbered of the forces with Dan, one hundred and fifty-seven thousand six hundred—they shall ^[n]break camp last, with their ^[o]standards.”

³²These are the ones who were numbered of the children of Israel by their fathers’ houses. All who were numbered according to their armies of the forces were six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty. ³³But the Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

³⁴Thus the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses; so they camped by their ^[p]standards and so they broke camp, each one by his family, according to their fathers’ houses.

Footnotes

Numbers 1:14 Reuel, Num. 2:14
Numbers 1:16 called
Numbers 1:17 designated
Numbers 1:53 have in their care
Numbers 2:2 banner
Numbers 2:9 Lit. set forth
Numbers 2:14 Deuel, Num. 1:14; 7:42
Numbers 2:16 Lit. set forth second
Numbers 2:17 company
Numbers 2:17 whole company
Numbers 2:17 banners
Numbers 2:24 Lit. set forth third
Numbers 2:25 banner
Numbers 2:31 Lit. set forth last
Numbers 2:31 banners
Numbers 2:34 banners

22 Feb 202122 Feb 2021

The Law of Grace

“These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai.” Leviticus 27:34 NKJV

Today we finish reading the laws Moses received from the Lord; also called the Levitical Law or the Mosaic Law. I enjoy reading law, but I know it is dry and a difficult book to push through, so CONGRATS!! to all of you doing the read the Bible in a year with me for getting through this book.

“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” Romans 6:14 NKJV

It is important to understand the law, without understanding it we would not understand what Paul meant when he says in Romans that we are no longer under it. The law was required for sin – and now under grace we can be transformed and have victory over sin’s ties. And just when you think I am going to type furiously about grace (while you correctly imagine me pacing and talking fast and jumping up and down with uncontrollable passion on the subject) I am actually going to type about LAW.

Nothing God created has ever gone away. He created us and then transforms us through grace. That is the function of grace – yes it saved us, yes it helps us get through things, yes it includes love and mercy, yes it is favor – AND YES, NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD AND THAT IS BECAUSE OF GRACE.

Grace also has a function. It transforms us, with the same spirit that helped Jesus through the work of the cross and raised Him from the dead. The same transformative power of resurrection! Grace transforms everything that experiences it.

Grace touched the Law and the very reason the Law existed was transformed. The law did not stop or end – it changed. Which means we no longer sacrifice animals as well as other things. But with the Law, God spoke certain principles into existence and that did not change! It didn’t.

So, even if you are not reading the Bible in a year with us – read the two short chapters which are below and think back over the book. There are cause and effect rules in place that still exist.

Leviticus 26:3 – if you keep God’s statutes, then… and God gave us promises, one after another through verse 13. And they are good and they would heal our homes and our cities and our lands.
Then God says if you do not keep my statutes, then… and God warned us about the fact that the world would be in the state it is today.

Modern Christians often think God is micromanaging us and judging every little thing (some thought the lens of a good and merciful God and some through the lens of an angry God). But maybe God, although tender and caring about us, our relationship with Him, and what we ask as already place these causation rules in place so He doesn’t need to manage the fine details. Remember when Job asked God “why?” (when we were reading Job). And God’s answer was – do you even understand how much I have on my plate to do every day?! Job thought that he was good and therefore bad things shouldn’t happen. But the good antelope may have to become dinner for the lion because God takes care of the lion’s too.

God has set the rule of nature into motion, the rules of physics for the physical realm, the rules of spirit for the unseen realm, and the rules of law – throughout the book of Leviticus and God blessed them and all that stay within the order and there are also contrary effects for breaching them.

Grace does not remove all the consequences when we repent and turn from law to grace – grace transforms. Grace is the act of God taking what the enemy meant for evil and turning it for good. Grace is the act of us being sinners being transformed.

Thank you for reading.
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

BIBLE READING: Leviticus 26-27 NKJV
Promise of Blessing and Retribution

26 ‘You shall not make idols for yourselves; neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar shall you rear up for yourselves; nor shall you set up an engraved stone in your land, to bow down to it;
for I am the Lord your God.

²You shall ^[a]keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary:
I am the Lord.

³‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them,

⁴then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

⁵Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing; you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.

⁶I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid; I will rid the land of evil^[b] beasts, and the sword will not go through your land.

⁷You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you.

⁸Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.

⁹‘For I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My covenant with you.

¹⁰You shall eat the old harvest, and clear out the old because of the new.

¹¹I will set My ^[c]tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you.

¹²I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.

¹³I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves;

I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk ^[d]upright.

¹⁴‘But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments,

¹⁵and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant,

¹⁶I also will do this to you:
I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed ^[e]in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

¹⁷I will ^[f]set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you.

¹⁸‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.

¹⁹I will break the pride of your power; I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.

²⁰And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.

²¹‘Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins.

²²I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number; and your highways shall be desolate.

²³‘And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me,

²⁴then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins.

²⁵And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant; when you are gathered together within your cities I will send pestilence among you; and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

²⁶When I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall bring back your bread by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.

²⁷‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me,

²⁸then I also will walk contrary to you in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.

²⁹You^[g] shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters.

³⁰I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and cast your carcasses on the lifeless forms of your idols; and My soul shall abhor you.

³¹I will lay your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell the fragrance of your ^[h]sweet aromas.

³²I will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it.

³³I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.

³⁴Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land; then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths.

³⁵As long as it lies desolate it shall rest— for the time it did not rest on your sabbaths when you dwelt in it.

³⁶‘And as for those of you who are left, I will send faintness^[i] into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; the sound of a shaken leaf shall cause them to flee; they shall flee as though fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when no one pursues.

³⁷They shall stumble over one another, as it were before a sword, when no one pursues; and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies.

³⁸You shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.

³⁹And those of you who are left shall ^[j]waste away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; also in their fathers’ iniquities, which are with them, they shall waste away.

⁴⁰‘But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me,

⁴¹and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt—

⁴²then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember; I will remember the land.

⁴³The land also shall be left empty by them, and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them; they will accept their guilt, because they despised My judgments and because their soul abhorred My statutes.

⁴⁴Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, nor shall I abhor them, to utterly destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God.

⁴⁵But for their sake I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.’ ”

⁴⁶These are the statutes and judgments and laws which the Lord made between Himself and the children of Israel on Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.

Redeeming Persons and Property Dedicated to God

27 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When a man ^[k]consecrates by a vow certain persons to the Lord, according to your ^[l]valuation, ³if your valuation is of a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old, then your valuation shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. ⁴If it is a female, then your valuation shall be thirty shekels; ⁵and if from five years old up to twenty years old, then your valuation for a male shall be twenty shekels, and for a female ten shekels; ⁶and if from a month old up to five years old, then your valuation for a male shall be five shekels of silver, and for a female your valuation shall be three shekels of silver; ⁷and if from sixty years old and above, if it is a male, then your valuation shall be fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels.

⁸‘But if he is too poor to pay your valuation, then he shall present himself before the priest, and the priest shall set a value for him; according to the ability of him who vowed, the priest shall value him.

⁹‘If it is an animal that men may bring as an offering to the Lord, all that anyone gives to the Lord shall be holy. ¹⁰He shall not substitute it or exchange it, good for bad or bad for good; and if he at all exchanges animal for animal, then both it and the one exchanged for it shall be holy. ¹¹If it is an unclean animal which they do not offer as a sacrifice to the Lord, then he shall present the animal before the priest; ¹²and the priest shall set a value for it, whether it is good or bad; as you, the priest, value it, so it shall be. ¹³But if he wants at all to redeem it, then he must add one-fifth to your valuation.

¹⁴‘And when a man ^[m]dedicates his house to be holy to the Lord, then the priest shall set a value for it, whether it is good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall stand. ¹⁵If he who dedicated it wants to ^[n]redeem his house, then he must add one-fifth of the money of your valuation to it, and it shall be his.

¹⁶‘If a man ^[o]dedicates to the Lord part of a field of his possession, then your valuation shall be according to the seed for it. A homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver. ¹⁷If he dedicates his field from the Year of Jubilee, according to your valuation it shall stand. ¹⁸But if he dedicates his field after the Jubilee, then the priest shall reckon to him the money due according to the years that remain till the Year of Jubilee, and it shall be deducted from your valuation. ¹⁹And if he who dedicates the field ever wishes to redeem it, then he must add one-fifth of the money of your valuation to it, and it shall belong to him. ²⁰But if he does not want to redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed anymore; ²¹but the field, when it is released in the Jubilee, shall be holy to the Lord, as a devoted field; it shall be the possession of the priest.

²²‘And if a man dedicates to the Lord a field which he has bought, which is not the field of his possession, ²³then the priest shall reckon to him the worth of your valuation, up to the Year of Jubilee, and he shall give your valuation on that day as a holy offering to the Lord. ²⁴In the Year of Jubilee the field shall return to him from whom it was bought, to the one who owned the land as a possession. ²⁵And all your valuations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs to the shekel.

²⁶‘But the firstborn of the animals, which should be the Lord’s firstborn, no man shall dedicate; whether it is an ox or sheep, it is the Lord’s. ²⁷And if it is an unclean animal, then he shall redeem it according to your valuation, and shall add one-fifth to it; or if it is not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to your valuation.

²⁸‘Nevertheless no ^[p]devoted offering that a man may devote to the Lord of all that he has, both man and beast, or the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted offering is most holy to the Lord. ²⁹No person under the ban, who may become doomed to destruction among men, shall be redeemed, but shall surely be put to death. ³⁰And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s. It is holy to the Lord. ³¹If a man wants at all to redeem any of his tithes, he shall add one-fifth to it. ³²And concerning the tithe of the herd or the flock, of whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord. ³³He shall not inquire whether it is good or bad, nor shall he exchange it; and if he exchanges it at all, then both it and the one exchanged for it shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.’ ”

³⁴These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai.

Footnotes

Leviticus 26:2 observe
Leviticus 26:6 wild beasts
Leviticus 26:11 dwelling place
Leviticus 26:13 erect
Leviticus 26:16 without profit
Leviticus 26:17 oppose you
Leviticus 26:29 In time of famine
Leviticus 26:31 pleasing
Leviticus 26:36 fear
Leviticus 26:39 rot away
Leviticus 27:2 Or makes a difficult or extraordinary vow
Leviticus 27:2 appraisal
Leviticus 27:14 sets apart
Leviticus 27:15 buy back
Leviticus 27:16 sets apart
Leviticus 27:28 Given exclusively and irrevocably

21 Feb 202119 Feb 2021

Weekend Reading (February 21)

Thank you for reading.
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

BIBLE READING: Leviticus 24-25 NKJV

Care of the Tabernacle Lamps

24 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²“Command the children of Israel that they bring to you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to make the lamps burn continually. ³Outside the veil of the Testimony, in the tabernacle of meeting, Aaron shall be in charge of it from evening until morning before the Lord continually; it shall be a statute forever in your generations. ⁴He shall ^[a]be in charge of the lamps on the pure gold lampstand before the Lord continually.

The Bread of the Tabernacle

⁵“And you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it. Two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake. ⁶You shall set them in two rows, six in a row, on the pure gold table before the Lord. ⁷And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, an offering made by fire to the Lord. ⁸Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. ⁹And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy to him from the offerings of the Lord made by fire, by a perpetual statute.”

The Penalty for Blasphemy

¹⁰Now the son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel; and this Israelite woman’s son and a man of Israel fought each other in the camp. ¹¹And the Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the name of the Lord and cursed; and so they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.) ¹²Then they put him ^[b]in custody, that ^[c]the mind of the Lord might be shown to them.

¹³And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁴“Take outside the camp him who has cursed; then let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him.

¹⁵“Then you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Whoever curses his God shall ^[d]bear his sin. ¹⁶And whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him, the stranger as well as him who is born in the land. When he blasphemes the name of the Lord, he shall be put to death.

¹⁷‘Whoever kills any man shall surely be put to death. ¹⁸Whoever kills an animal shall make it good, animal for animal.

¹⁹‘If a man causes disfigurement of his neighbor, as he has done, so shall it be done to him— ²⁰fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has caused disfigurement of a man, so shall it be done to him. ²¹And whoever kills an animal shall restore it; but whoever kills a man shall be put to death. ²²You shall have the^[e] same law for the stranger and for one from your own country; for I am the Lord your God.’ ”

²³Then Moses spoke to the children of Israel; and they took outside the camp him who had cursed, and stoned him with stones. So the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.

The Sabbath of the Seventh Year

25 And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, ²“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a sabbath to the Lord. ³Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; ⁴but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. ⁵What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. ⁶And the sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you, ⁷for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land—all its produce shall be for food.

The Year of Jubilee

⁸‘And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. ⁹Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. ¹⁰And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family. ¹¹That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine. ¹²For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat its produce from the field.

¹³‘In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession. ¹⁴And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor’s hand, you shall not oppress one another. ¹⁵According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor, and according to the number of years of crops he shall sell to you. ¹⁶According to the multitude of years you shall increase its price, and according to the fewer number of years you shall diminish its price; for he sells to you according to the number of the years of the crops. ¹⁷Therefore you shall not ^[f]oppress one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God.

Provisions for the Seventh Year

¹⁸‘So you shall observe My statutes and keep My judgments, and perform them; and you will dwell in the land in safety. ¹⁹Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill, and dwell there in safety.

²⁰‘And if you say, “What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?” ²¹Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. ²²And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest.

Redemption of Property

²³‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me. ²⁴And in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land.

²⁵‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold. ²⁶Or if the man has no one to redeem it, but he himself becomes able to redeem it, ²⁷then let him count the years since its sale, and restore the remainder to the man to whom he sold it, that he may return to his possession. ²⁸But if he is not able to have it restored to himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Jubilee; and in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession.

²⁹‘If a man sells a house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year he may redeem it. ³⁰But if it is not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee. ³¹However the houses of villages which have no wall around them shall be counted as the fields of the country. They may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee. ³²Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, and the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time. ³³And if a man purchases a house from the Levites, then the house that was sold in the city of his possession shall be released in the Jubilee; for the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel. ³⁴But the field of the common-land of their cities may not be sold, for it is their perpetual possession.

Lending to the Poor

³⁵‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and ^[g]falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. ³⁶Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you. ³⁷You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. ³⁸I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

The Law Concerning Slavery

³⁹‘And if one of your brethren who dwells by you becomes poor, and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a slave. ⁴⁰As a hired servant and a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the Year of Jubilee. ⁴¹And then he shall depart from you—he and his children with him—and shall return to his own family. He shall return to the possession of his fathers. ⁴²For they are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. ⁴³You shall not rule over him with ^[h]rigor, but you shall fear your God. ⁴⁴And as for your male and female slaves whom you may have—from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves. ⁴⁵Moreover you may buy the children of the strangers who dwell among you, and their families who are with you, which they beget in your land; and they shall become your property. ⁴⁶And you may take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them as a possession; they shall be your permanent slaves. But regarding your brethren, the children of Israel, you shall not rule over one another with rigor.

⁴⁷‘Now if a sojourner or stranger close to you becomes rich, and one of your brethren who dwells by him becomes poor, and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner close to you, or to a member of the stranger’s family, ⁴⁸after he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brothers may redeem him; ⁴⁹or his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him; or anyone who is near of kin to him in his family may redeem him; or if he is able he may redeem himself. ⁵⁰Thus he shall reckon with him who bought him: The price of his release shall be according to the number of years, from the year that he was sold to him until the Year of Jubilee; it shall be according to the time of a hired servant for him. ⁵¹If there are still many years remaining, according to them he shall repay the price of his redemption from the money with which he was bought. ⁵²And if there remain but a few years until the Year of Jubilee, then he shall reckon with him, and according to his years he shall repay him the price of his redemption. ⁵³He shall be with him as a yearly hired servant, and he shall not rule with rigor over him in your sight. ⁵⁴And if he is not redeemed in these years, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee—he and his children with him. ⁵⁵For the children of Israel are servants to Me; they are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Footnotes

Leviticus 24:4 arrange or set in order
Leviticus 24:12 under guard
Leviticus 24:12 Lit. it might be declared to them from the mouth of the Lord
Leviticus 24:15 be responsible for
Leviticus 24:22 one standard of judgment
Leviticus 25:17 mistreat
Leviticus 25:35 Lit. his hand fails
Leviticus 25:43 severity

21 Feb 2021

Under Construction

Please be patient with me as I learn a little bit of web design.

We have a new logo, branding colors and themes and all sorts of fun and nice looking stuff to add to IfNotForGrace.blog across all platforms. The issue is: I do not know how to get these platforms to customize the way I WANT!! So I am compromising where I can.

Also having internet trouble and images just aren’t loading. This is more of a curve than I thought it would be. I honestly thought I would load the pretty art and be on my way.

I appreciate you all hanging in there and being supportive. The pretty artwork is just one of the many things I have for you all while we wait for the book to be published.

As always, please keep me in prayer and I will continue to focus on the word of God and bringing it to you – and put this minor distraction aside! Content will continue to come out while I am figuring this out. I will not take the site offline. Love you all!!! Thank you again for all of your support!!!