Divine Wisdom for Daily Living by Joanne Colvin

Can you remember the beginning of a school or calendar year when you were determined to do well? Perhaps you started well, but your enthusiasm, determination, and vision failed you somewhere along the way, and you didn’t end well. Israel’s time in the wilderness was destined to fail because of the general lack of faith and unbelief of God’s people. The Lord led Israel out of Sinai into the wilderness toward the Promised Land, but his people grumbled, doubted him, and were destined to spend forty years wandering. As we run through these chapters in Numbers, let’s remember Israel’s lessons from the wilderness for greater faith in our Lord in our journey in this life, through Christ’s leadership, power, and redemption. “In the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony, and the people of Israel set out by stages from the wilderness of Sinai. And the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran. They set out for the first time at the command of the Lord by Moses…So they set out from the mount of the Lord three days’ journey. And the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them…to seek out a resting place for them. And the cloud of the Lord was over them by day, whenever they set out from the camp. And whenever the ark set out, Moses said, ‘Arise, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you.’ And when it rested, he said, ‘Return, O Lord, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel.'” (Numbers 10:11-13, 33-36) “If [Israel] had continued [their journey] in the same way they started out, they would have been in the Promised Land within a few short weeks…God was faithful to do what he had promised, and the Israelites knew exactly what they ought to do. The problems that would soon emerge were thus entirely their own fault…At the outset Israel understood that the wilderness life is to be a life of God-centered pilgrimage. It is camping out, not coming home…We need constantly to remember that the Christian life is a journey, a pilgrimage, which necessarily involves discomfort and suffering. Those sacrifices only make sense in the light of the outcome…The Israelites also understood that wilderness life is a life of constant warfare that can only be won in God’s strength.” (1) God led Israel out of Sinai into the wilderness toward the Promised Land, but his people grumbled, doubted him, and were destined to spend forty years wandering. Israel’s lessons from the wilderness can strengthen our faith in Christ’s leadership for our journey in this life.

Oh, these People!

“Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel…wept again and said, Oh that we had meat to eat!’…Moses said [to the Lord], ‘The people among whom I am number six hundred thousand on foot, and you have said, “I will give them meat, that they may eat a whole month!” Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, and be enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, and be enough for them?’…And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Is the Lord’s hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.”…Then a wind from the Lord sprang up, and it brought quail from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, around the camp, and about two cubits above the ground…While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck down the people with a very great plague.” (Numbers 11:4, 21-23, 31, 33) God promised and provided Israel with meat in abundance, and many of them choked on the food they lusted after. “Grumbling is here exposed in all its destructiveness…The grumbling started with the ‘rabble,’ the riff-raff, who lived on the fringe of the camp…the mixed multitude of all nationalities who came out of Egypt with God’s people but never fully assimilated and taken on Israel’s values and standards. The grumbling then spread from the riff-raff to infect the rest of the Israelites…[and it] is extremely contagious…The reason why grumbling typically starts with those who have little or no spiritual insight, those on the edge of the community, is because the root of grumbling is unbelief. The vision of the grumblers was fatally flawed. Their perspective on both the past and the present was distorted. The past suddenly became a golden age in which everything had been wonderful…their perspective on the present [comes down to their demand]…’Manna, manna, manna…we want some other kind of food’…Grumbling distorts your vision. It reimagines the past as the golden land, it despises the good gifts that God has surrounded you with in the present, and it completely ignores God’s promises for the future…[It]… is the exact opposite of faith, which sees the past and present with clear eyes but has its gaze joyfully fixed on God’s promises for the future…[Unfortunately] Moses [also] questioned God’s ability to do what he had promised and to provide the meat that the people craved…What happened was a unique combination of judgment and grace, both for Moses and for the people…Moses got the help he asked for, and the people got their meat…One of God’s most profound judgments on lost sinners is to give them everything they ask for…God’s grace [however] was shown to the one he had chosen…God had chosen Moses and was gracious and merciful to him, but he showed no mercy to the others, to the outsiders. That is God’s prerogative. None of them deserved God’s mercy. Yet God is sovereign; he has mercy on whom he will have mercy and hardens those whom he will harden.” (2) God led Israel out of Sinai into the wilderness toward the Promised Land with every good intention for their rest. But his people grumbled, doubted him, and were destined to spend forty years wandering in the wilderness.

Lord, Help Me!

Moses brought his complaints to the Lord, telling the Lord that the burden of God’s people was getting too heavy to deal with alone. So God had Moses gather seventy elders to share the Spirit so Moses didn’t have to bear it alone. When Joshua became jealous for Moses, Moses rebuked him, saying, “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” Miriam and Aaron were also jealous and wanted to oust him. And God said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?’ And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them…[and] when the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, like snow.” (12:7-10) Moses interceded for them and Miriam was healed after her seclusion for seven days. “Moses longed to see all of God’s people filled with the Spirit, and on the Day of Pentecost that dream came finally true (Acts 2:14-41). Since Christ’s ascension into Heaven, the Spirit is shared not only with seventy elders but with all believers.” (3) Will we remember Israel’s lessons from the wilderness for greater faith in Christ’s leadership for our journey in this life?

Oh, Those People!

Israel’s long-suffering God then instructed Moses to send out twelve spies to Canaan, one from each tribe, to see what the land was like. Ten of them brought back a discouraging report that the people of the land were too big and their cities too walled up for them to take it from them. But, they confirmed it was a land full of milk and honey and fruit, as the Lord promised. Moses had said to the spies, “Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land’…At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, ‘We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large…We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.’ So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land.” (Numbers 13:20, 25-29, 31-32) Caleb and Joshua alone believed in God’s promise to give them the land and encouraged Moses to allow the people to go up. However, after hearing the report from the discouraging men, the congregation wept all night against Moses for bringing them out of Egypt. Joshua warned the people not to rebel against God, nor fear the people of the land, reminding them that Canaan’s defense had left them and that God was with Israel now. When the congregation wanted to stone Joshua God threatened to disinherit the people and make a greater and mightier nation out of Moses. So Moses interceded for the people; he said to the Lord, “‘Please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, “The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.” Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now’…Then the Lord said, ‘I have pardoned, according to your word. But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it. But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.” (Numbers 14:17-24) “Moses made humble intercession for Israel. Herein, he was a type of Christ, who prayed for those that despitefully used him. Moses argued that, consistently with God’s character, in his abundant mercies, he could forgive them. The Lord granted the prayer of Moses so far as not at once to destroy the congregation.” (4)

Continuing the Journey

In Numbers Chapter 15, we have a review of the laws regarding sacrifices. If someone sinned by ignorance, they were commanded to offer a sin offering. However, if someone sinned presumptuously, such a person had to bear his own iniquity because he despised the Word of the Lord. The chapter ends with a man who presumptuously sinned when he collected sticks on the sabbath day. The Lord decreed that the man should be put to death, so he was stoned by the congregation and died for his trespass. The Lord then commanded that the children of Israel wear clothing that reminded them of God’s Law so that in their typical days, they would not forget whose they were. They sowed fringes to the bottom of their clothing to affirm and visualize keeping God’s ways. The fringes or tassels were the reminders for the children of Israel’s job: stay close to the Lord and do His ways. “And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord your God.” (Numbers 15:39-41) “The fringes were not appointed for trimming and adorning their clothes, but to stir up their minds by way of remembrance. If they were tempted to sin, the fringe would warn them not to break God’s commandments. We should use every means of refreshing our memories with the truths and precepts of God’s word, to strengthen and quicken our obedience, and arm our minds against temptation.” (5) “What we need is someone to journey through the wilderness on our behalf and to be faithful throughout the journey. That, according to the book of Hebrews, is exactly what we have in Jesus. he is ‘the trailblazer and perfecter’ of our faith (12:2). As God, we could truly say that it was Jesus who led Israel on their journey through the wilderness. However, it is in becoming man that Jesus has most profoundly traveled the road through the wilderness before us as the ultimate pilgrim…He didn’t just begin well; he ended well, seated in triumphant victory at the Father’s right hand…It wasn’t enough for God to bring Israel out of Egypt, give them his Law, point them in the right direction, and say, ‘Now go, capture the Promised Land.’ They might begin well, but they would never carry it through. A trailblazer alone would not be enough. More still is necessary: God needed to do everything required for our salvation, and that is exactly what he has done in Jesus…He is the one who promises to go with us on our journey and the one who has already gone ahead of us, scouting out the next step in our lives…He himself is the joy that is set before us, the joy into which we will finally enter in fullness and completeness when our wandering days are done.” (6) If I begin a ministry project with great determination to be faithful, it is only right that I will end it in complete submission to God, yielding to his plans for the project. This is my prayer for our upcoming women’s retreat, which has been in the planning stage for ten months. For what project or goal do you need to yield to God’s guidance, faithful to walk with him? “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” (James 4:8-10)

Related Scripture: Exodus 20:8-9; 35:3; Deuteronomy 1:22-46; 9:25-28; 12:32; 34:10-12; Joshua 14:7-10; Psalms 78:29-32; 105:26; 106:13-18, 45; 132:8; Jeremiah 14:9; 31:2; Matthew 23:5-10; Mark 9:38-40; Luke 9:49-50; Hebrews 3:1-2, 5-6; 2 Peter 3:1-3.

Notes:

1. Duguid, Iain M., Numbers—God’s Presence in the Wilderness, Numbers 10:10-36, Crossway Books, 2006.

2. Duguid, Chapter 11, Ibid.

3. Duguid, Ibid.

4. Henry, Matthew, Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Bible, Numbers 14, https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/mhn/numbers-14.html.

5. Henry, Chapter 15, https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/mhn/numbers-15.html.

6. Duguid, Chapter 10, Ibid.

October 12, 2023S

Have you moved your household recently? Preparing for a move takes a lot of time, thought, and energy; but after all the work, a unique feature of moving house is the tradition of neighbors and friends bringing us housewarming gifts. In Numbers Chapter Seven Moses recorded a list of all the offerings brought by the tribes to the Lord at the tabernacle. “What are the best housewarming gifts? They are the gifts given to us by people who know us well enough to know what will be useful and appreciated…the gifts given by Israel to God were no exception to that rule. Every single tribe brought exactly the same housewarming gifts to God’s tabernacle not because they lacked imagination and flair but because they understood the nature and function of the tabernacle…The gifts that each tribe brought were designed to accomplish three things: they provided the means of transport, means of sacrifice, and means of ministry for the tabernacle. This chapter shows us that the twelve tribes all eagerly played their part in providing the resources for a program of worship and fellowship with God…the end result of this generous giving was that the tabernacle functioned exactly as it was intended to do.”(1) “On the day when Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle and had anointed and consecrated…the chiefs of Israel, heads of their fathers’ houses…approached and brought their offerings before the Lord…And when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim; and it spoke to him.” (Numbers 7:1-2, 89) God’s presence, order, and preparation were vital for the Israelites, who were called to be a light to the nations when they resided in the Promised Land. As we apply the principles of Numbers to ourselves, we may consider how the indwelling Holy Spirit’s presence in us, God’s orderly Word, and preparation for eternity will pay great dividends when we pass, with Christ, into the new world.

The Lampstand

“Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to Aaron and say to him, When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand’…[a] hammered work of gold.” (Numbers 8:1, 3) “The lampstand of the tabernacle…had a practical purpose: to give light in the Outer Sanctuary. There were no windows…and there were thick, heavy curtains all around it…Yet the lampstand was never just a utilitarian light: they couldn’t simply have replaced it with a bank of fluorescent tubes…God commanded Aaron to set up the seven lamps on the lampstand in such a way that they faced forward and threw their light in front of the lampstand…[The lampstand] symbolized God himself. That is why this piece of furniture was made out of pure gold, hammered into shape, unlike all the other objects in the Outer Sanctuary, which were made of wood and merely plated with gold. It had seven lamps on it, symbolizeding the completeness bd perfection of God’s presence…It was to ‘give light,’ exactly the same Hebrew word that the priestly blessing used of God’s face shining upon his people (6:25). The light of the lampstand thus represented God’s favor or blessing shingling out into the darkness…It was to shine forward, on the area ‘in front of the lampstand,’ upon the place where the table of the show read stood…[which] had on it twelve loaves representing the offerings of the twelve tribes of Israel…What the priests declared in words of their benediction, the lampstand of the tabernacle proclaimed as a daily reality: the light of the Lord’s blessing rested upon all the tribes of his people, making their offerings acceptable in his sight. God’s love and acceptance of those who were his was depicted at the very heart of the tabernacle.” (2) More on this to come.

The Leviticus’ Consecration & Cleansing

“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Take the Levites from among the people of Israel and cleanse them…you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine…’” (Numbers 8:5, 14) “The Levites were specialist substitutes in ancient Israel. They were called by God to be set apart to his service, taking the place of the rest of Israel in ministry before the Lord…More precisely, they were substitutes for the firstborn sons of Israel (Exodus 13:2). These firstborn sons of Israel belonged to God in a special way because when he brought judgment on Egypt in the tenth and final plague, he passed over the Israelite houses that were marked with the blood of the Passover lamb and spared their firstborn…In place of all these firstborn sons of Israel, God claimed the Levites…set apart as belonging to the Lord…[and] those who serve the Lord must first be purified…by cleaning and by sacrifice…free from all defilement, spiritually clean…Washing could deal with minor impurities, but only sacrifice could take away substantial impurities and neutralize sin’s polluting power. Only the pure could stand in the presence of God.” (3) And God’s presence was crucial for the Israelites, to fulfill their calling as a light to the nations when they resided in the Promised Land. Just so, God, the Holy Spirit, is necessary for us if we are to be God’s witnesses here on earth, as we approach our Promised Land in heaven.

The Annual Passover Celebration and Second Chances

“And the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai…saying, ‘Let the people of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time. On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time; according to all its statutes and all its rules you shall keep it…If any one of you or of your descendants is unclean through touching a dead body, or is on a long journey, he shall still keep the Passover to the Lord. In the second month on the fourteenth day at twilight they shall keep it.” (Numbers 9:1-3, 10) “God told the people not simply to celebrate the Passover but to celebrate it at the appointed time, in accordance with all its rules and regulations…The focus of the passage as a whole is not simply on the fact that God is a God of specifics who expects his rules and regulations to be observed precisely. I also shows us a second principle—namely, that God is a God of second chances. The center of the chapter addresses the situation of a number of Israelites who were unable to take part in the regular Passover meal because they were ceremonially unclean…They had come into contact with a dead body, either accidentally or as a matter of necessity and so were unable to partake at the regular time…Notice that the solution to their problem was not to pretend there was no problem. God didn’t say to them that exact obedience doesn’t really matter, provided their heart was in the right place…[but] he provided for a second-chance Passover…in a fallen world we often find ourselves in situations where precise obedience to God’s Word is simply impossible…some situations where pursuing one biblical principle and meeting people’s needs necessarily brings you into conflict with another biblical principle. The solution is to…seek God’s direction and to do the best you can in the present circumstances, while moving as quickly as possible toward fulfilling all of the biblical principles. God is not just the God of rule and regulations, but the God who extends grace and mercy into the messy world of reality. God’s rules and regulations are nothing less than his wisdom written down to guide and guard our hearts and lives. There is therefore no conflict in the end between God’s precise demands and his loving-kindness. …We who are God’s second-chance people by grace should as a result be eager to worship and serve this God according to all of his revealed will, so that he might receive the praise and glory that is due him.” (4)

The Call of the Silver Trumpets

“On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony. And at evening it was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning…And whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, after that the people of Israel set out, and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the people of Israel camped… At the command of the Lord they camped, and at the command of the Lord they set out…[And] The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Make two silver trumpets…And when both are blown, all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the entrance of the tent of meeting. But if they blow only one, then the chiefs, the heads of the tribes of Israel, shall gather themselves to you…And when you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, that you may be remembered before the Lord your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies. On the day of your gladness also, and at your appointed feasts and at the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings. They shall be a reminder of you before your God: I am the Lord your God.” (9:15-16, 22-23; 10:1, 3-4, 9-10) “God was going to lead them into the Promised Land. He would decide how long they were to remain in a particular place, whether one night or two days or a month or a year…this journey is at the will of the Lord himself and under his direction every step of the way…[This large number] of people was not to progress forward as a disorganized rabble but as a disciplined body, an army arranged by tribes and families…After the journey through the wilderness was over and the people had entered the Promised Land, these trumpets were still regularly to be used for two events: warfare and worship. At the sound of the trumpet, the community would gather together either to fight or to fellowship in praise. The trumpets would issue a continuing call to exercise obedience to God’s tabernacle…The sound of the trumpets also brought them to the Lord’s rembrance. As well as being a call for the people to come together and act as one, it was a cry to God to come and act on their behalf.” (5) God’s presence, order, and preparation were vital for the Israelites, who were called to be a light to the nations when they resided in the Promised Land. The indwelling Holy Spirit’s presence in us, God’s orderly Word, and preparation for eternity will pay great dividends when we pass, with Christ, into the new world.

The Gospel

“The ministry of the Levites points us forward to the ministry of Christ. They were substitutes for the firstborn of Israel…given over to a lifetime of service in God’s house. The result of their ministry was to be that the remainder of the Israelites would be able to approach God without receiving a covenant curse…[Jesus Christ] is the ultimate firstborn, not only the firstborn of Israel but of all creation (Colossians 1:15)…He himself was the tabernacle of God, the glory of God in flesh, and he guarded that tabernacle carefully against sin, remaining utterly without spot or blemish…Now, since we as Christians are united to Christ by faith, we share in this same ministry…[Jesus said], ‘You are the light of the world’ (Matthew 5:14)…God promises to supply the power for us…to be communities that are impossible to ignore, where an inexplicable light beams out, constantly confronting people with changed lives through the gospel…The light of Christ will shine forward into the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it…We are to be a community of believers, a family of God’s people, a military unit that fights together and is committed to the policy, ‘No man left behind.’ When a person hurts, we all hurt; when one person rejoices, we all rejoice…In addition to coming together to serve one another and to fight together, we also need to hear the trumpet call to come together for worship and fellowship. Perhaps the most important thing we do as God’s people is to come together to worship God…there is nothing more useful in all the world than singing God’s praises and studying his Word. This is what reorients our thoughts in the right direction and empowers us for renewed service by filling us with an accurate understanding of who God is and what he is doing in the world…One day the final trumpet will sound, announcing the definitive arrival of God’s presence on earth (1 Corinthians 15:52). This time it will not be in the form of a fiery pillar or as a baby at Bethlehem, but in the triumphant return of Jesus Christ to establish the new heavens and the new earth. The final trumpet will sound and the dead in Christ will rise, and those believers who are still alive will be caught up into his presence (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). Then our wandering and our warfare will finally be over, replaced forever by worship.” (7) “The seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.’” (Revelation 11:15)

Related Scripture: Exodus 12:48-49; 13:21-22; 25:22, 31; 33:9-11; 40:17-18, 36-38; Joshua 5:1-6; 2 Chronicles 13:14-15; Nehemiah 4:18; Psalms 47:1-5; 81:1-5; 96:8; Isaiah 18:3; 27:13; Jeremiah 4:5-6; Joel 2:1-2; Matthew 24:29-31; Romans 8:14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-5; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18; Revelation 8:1-9:14; 10:7.

Notes:

1. Duguid, Iain M., “Numbers—God’s Presence in the Wilderness,” Numbers 7-10:10, Crossway Books, 2006.

2. Duguid, Ibid.

3. Duguid, Ibid.

4. Duguid, Ibid.

5. Duguid, Ibid.

6. Duguid, Ibid.

7. Duguid, Ibid.

8. Duguid, Ibid.

September 28, 2023

At about 7:00 this morning, my otherwise obedient dog chased a maintenance employee carrying a giant step ladder down the hall. He was off-leash because he usually walks with me, and no one moves around then. But when GG gets territorial or frightened by something, he goes off. At least he comes to me when I tell him to come because of his training, which is invaluable. I’m like him when something frightens me, like my hefty car expenses this month—I go off into worry, fear, and pessimism. But, because of God’s discipleship and his help through Scripture, I remember his loving, abundant provisions and faithfulness. Unfortunately, unlike GG, I keep returning to the place of worry and have to keep reminding myself about all I know of God’s help. I’m like the Israelites, who would have gone entirely off the rails without God’s presence, intervention, and reminders of how to live a holy life. As we race through the book of Numbers for the remainder of 2023, we’ll see how God held the Israelites accountable to himself through his holy presence, ordinances, warnings, and spiritual blessings. Having received God’s instructions for living counter-culturally, his presence sanctified them. Today, we can appreciate our accountability to God with the Spirit’s presence in us, God’s sovereign providence, warnings in Scripture, and spiritual blessings through holy living in this life. We, like the Israelites, learn more through our failings than through our successes. But God continues to work in us, for us, and through us and the body of Christ to bless us. So it is with Israel who received the lovely Aaronic blessing from their faithful, merciful Guide and Commander.

Two Generations of Israelites

“Numbers was likely written as a warning to the generation of Israelites born in the wilderness that they should persevere in faith and obedience where their parents had not…The explanation for the death of the first generation comes in the middle two sections of Numbers. The first of these…describes how the Israelites rebel against God when confronted by the challenge of taking the land of Canaan and how they fail to trust God fully to provide for them in the wilderness. For these failures the adult generation is condemned by God to die in the wilderness, and the whole nation must spend forty years in the wilderness…[But] in spite of punishing the Israelites in the wilderness, God has not abandoned His plans for the nation… God’s faithfulness stands in sharp contrast to the book’s repeated depiction of human faithlessness, the utter failure of humanity to meet God’s standards by its own strength…Despite imposing obstacles, great dangers, and the failures of His people, God brings them safely through the wilderness.” (1)

God’s People in God’s Presence

“We follow a God who speaks, who orders the existence of his people. The God who dwells in the midst of his people is holy…Our hearts need to be constantly refreshed by [Christ’s] gospel announced in the preaching of [God’s] Word and tasted in the Lord’s Supper. Our lives need to be resubmitted to his ordering, as his Word challenges us week after week to live a life worthy of the calling we have received. In the wilderness [of this world], we desperately need the blessings that flow to us through the means of grace that God has established in the church.” (2) God held the Israelites accountable to himself in the wilderness through his holy presence, ordinances, warnings, and spiritual blessings. The nation was to be orderly and obedient to God’s particular and peculiar commands for order. “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, by clans, by fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male, head by head…Thus did the people of Israel; they did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses.” (Numbers 1:2, 54) “This set of names and numbers is about commitment…The first privilege of being counted….was to be part of Israel, a part of the family…The second privilege…was having a share in the division of the Pomised Land…This was, after all, the goal of the whole exodus, the end for which they had begun their journey. Being counted in as one of the Lord’s people was therefore an act of faith that what God had promised would one day be theirs, even though in the present they could not yet see it with their eyes…Since God had been faithful to his promises in the past, he could be counted on also in the future…God is going to establish his church and make it an innumerable host from all nations, tribes, and languages, a family brought together in his Son and bonded together into local fellowships…he invites us in his grace to be counted, and thus to count: to have part in his cosmic plan of blessing for his people and the world.” (3) Do we appreciate our accountability to God as his people? Do we demonstrate gratefulness for the Holy Spirit’s presence in us, God’s sovereign providence, warnings in Scripture, and spiritual blessings through holy living in this life? “The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ‘The people of Israel shall camp each by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers’ houses. They shall camp facing the tent of meeting on every side…so they camped by their standards, and so they set out, each one in his clan, according to his fathers’ house.” (Numbers 2:1, 34) “Do we really want God at the center of our lives? That is a challenging test…Is my whole life so camped around the presence of God my King that I can say, ‘Lord, so long as I have you, there is nothing else that I need. My life is yours to command, in sickness or health, for prosperity or poverty, for useful service or an apparently wasted life, given up for you?’ That is a profound test, isn’t it? The most fundamental reality expressed in Numbers 2, then, is that the camp of Israel was to be arranged around the central presence of the Lord.” (4)

Holy to the Lord

“And the Lord said to Moses, ‘List all the firstborn males of the people of Israel, from a month old and upward, taking the number of their names…All those who were listed of the Levites…were 8,580. According to the commandment of the Lord through Moses they were listed, each one with his task of serving or carrying.” (Numbers 3:40; 4:4-5, 46, 48) Iaian Duguid offers three wonderful truths about God in these chapters. “This one tribe [Levi] out of Israel was to be completely devoted to looking after the tabernacle, working on behalf of Aaron and on behalf of the whole community. Other tribes could pursue their own interests and desires, but the Levites were to be entirely dedicated to the Lord from birth…[So, firstly] all of the Levites one month old and older were to be counted. From their earliest days, they belonged completely to the Lord…[Secondly, the Levitical] clan descended from the firstborn son did not merit the most important place. Rather, the clan of the second son, Kohath, was given that lead role…It is not because of any particular sin on the part of Gershwin or his clan or any special righteousness of Kohath and his clan. It is God’s prerogative to choose the younger ahead of the older, as he does so often in Scripture, to demonstrate that standing in his kingdom is a matter of grace and not of works…[And thirdly,] Moving the holy objects in the tabernacle from place to place was a delicate job, as fraught with risk as commissioning a nuclear reactor. One false step, one wrong move, and someone could die (4:18-20). The ministry of the Levites was always a labor of life or death…a ministry that could not be undertaken too carefully…the Kohathnites were not permitted to touch the sacred objects themselves. They had to carry them once they were safely packed up, but only the priests could do the packing. In fact, the Kohathnites were not even allowed [“to look on the holy things even for a moment, lest they die”] (Numbers 4:20) [Duguid continues]…In the Scriptures we meet a God who is utterly transcendent and yet at the same time utterly immanent. Our God lives in a high and holy place (transcendence), yet also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit (immanence) (Isaiah 57:15). He pitched his tent in the midst of the camp of Israel, a radical act of immanence; yet at the same time his tent was surrounded by mystery and danger…The God who dwelt with Israel is a holy God, and all his things are holy…He is not tame, nor even necessarily ‘safe,’ if by ‘safe’ we mean that he will always work things out in ways that make sense to our wisdom. Though he dwells in the midst of his people, his holiness is always threatening to break out and consume the unholy people who are all around him. The warnings that are presented in Numbers 3-4 are found to be true in the rest of the book. An entire generation suffered the ultimate sanction for their unholiness and disobedience, being put to death in the wilderness.” (5)

A Solution For God’s Unholy People

God held the weak, sinful Israelites accountable to himself in the wilderness through his holy presence, ordinances, warnings, and spiritual blessings—just as we are accountable to him and have these graces. As we have Christ’s willing sacrificial life, death, and resurrection, the Israelites had the same God and the same help, but in an Old Testament, pre-incarnation application. “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord, he shall separate himself…Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy.” (Numbers 6:1, 16) “The Nazarite provided a mirror into which Israel was to look and be reminded of who she ought to be permanently as a holy nation…the very existence of the Nazarite vow shows us the weakness and inability of the Old Testament people of God to meet God’s standard of perfect holiness. The Nazarites were called to be holy because Israel wasn’t holy. They were called for a while to be a miniature kingdom of priests because the larger people were not fully and perpetually devoted to the Lord. The same is true for us. We all should have the same level of committed devotion to God that the Nazarites did…The law of the Nazarite exposes our hearts as well as those of ancient Israel…[The] perfect Nazarite is Jesus Christ. He was truly separated to God from birth, not by outward symbols but by inner reality of a holiness that pervaded every aspect of his life…If Israel was supposed to be reminded of their own need to be holy every time they saw a Nazarite, how much more should you and I be convicted of our need to be holy every time we contemplate the commitment of Jesus.” (6) We are gifted with the Spirit’s presence in us, God’s sovereign providence, warnings in Scripture, and spiritual blessings through holy living in this life. We are truly blessed.

The Aaronic Blessing

“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.'” (Numbers 6:22-27) “The Lord, Jehovah, the personal name of God, is identified three times as the one from whom blessings come. Then, at the very end of the passage, just in case you somehow missed it earlier, the Lord sums it up by saying to Moses, ‘I myself’—literal translation, the Hebrew is emphatic here—’I myself will bless them’…True blessing is knowing God face-to-face…God wants our relationship with him to be one where we not only know his protection and keeping, but also where we know his presence…The Lord gives [this blessing] to his people freely…[But] The cross is the very antithesis of the priestly benediction. Did God the Father bless Jesus and keep him when he was on the cross? No, he handed him over into the power of those who hated him and wanted to kill him. Did God the Father make his face shine upon Jesus on the cross? No, he poured out his wrath and his crushing anger against sin upon him. Did God the Father turn his face toward Jesus and give him peace? No, he turned his face away from him, so Jesus cried out in agony, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ As Jesus lifted his eyes toward Heaven, for the first time in all eternity, there was no answering light from the Father’s face. Even the sun turned away its countenance from Jesus, as if for Jesus there was no peace. He was bruised for our iniquity; he was broken for our sin; he was abandoned for our faithlessness; he was cursed for our blessing. But he himself is our peace. In Jesus we now receive God’s blessing…God’s face is turned toward [us] in Christ, and no matter what [we] encounter in life, it can never, ever be turned away from [us, who are in Christ].” (7) As God’s people, we are called to continue to turn toward God in repentance. GG had to endure my silence for a few minutes after his disobedience today. God may be silent with us if we don’t acknowledge our responsibility to be holy. (See Numbers 5.) But, “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.” (2 Chronicles 7:14-15)

Related Scripture: Exodus 19:1; 20:12-16; 28:40-41; 38:1-31; Leviticus 13:45-46; Joshua 7:19; Judges 13:2-5; 2 Samuel 24:2; 1 Chronicles 23:1-6; Haggai 2:13-14; Amos 2:11; Matthew 3:6; Luke 1:13-17; John 8:1-11; Acts 21:23-25; Romans 1:1; Ephesians 1:4; 2 Timothy 2:21; 1 Peter 1:16; 1 John 1:9.

Notes:

1. The Reformation Study Bible, Introduction to Numbers, Reformation Trust Publishing (Ligonier Ministries), Sanford, Fl., 2015.

2. Duguid, Iain M., “Numbers—God’s Presence in the Wilderness,” Crossway Books, 2006. (I will be quoting extensively but selectively from Duguid’s Commentary. I wholeheartedly recommend reading of his entire explanations which are excllent in their specificity, historical context, and application to us.)

3. Duguid, Chapter 1, Ibid.

4. Duguid, Chapter 2, Ibid.

5. Duguid, Numbers 3-4, Ibid.

6. Duguid, Numbers 6:1-21, Ibid.

7. Duguid, Numbers 1-6, Ibid.

September 14, 2023

In 1997, I was working at a new job and starting my volunteer position with Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) as a teaching leader. The small company I was working for was having management issues and was understaffed. The BSF class had lost leadership when the previous leader moved away. The providential events that coincided on Wednesday, August 20 radically changed my life. In a phone call to my supervisor at BSF, I was offered a job at the headquarters in San Antonio. After spending the night in prayer, I found myself in Luke’s gospel. “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62) I accepted the offer, quit my job, and moved from Washington, D.C. to San Antonio. That is the closest I’ve ever come to making a vow to the Lord besides those I’ve made to my godchildren’s parents (having never been married). Ever since then, when I’ve been asked to fill positions, I’ve sought God’s guidance first. Since he arranges our circumstances to align with his plans for us, the answer is usually “Yes.” Every once in a while, when someone asks me to fill a volunteer position that doesn’t line up with my ongoing vocations, I decline, because “It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake.” (Ecclesiastes 5:5-6) Today, we will conclude eight months of meditations on Leviticus with God’s instructions to the Israelites for vows, dedications, and devotions to Him. The book ends with God’s command to His people to also give generously to him, their divine King. On this side of the cross, believers are Christ’s stewards, to manage and use wisely the resources our King has entrusted us with open hands to give what is due back to him.

Vows With Offerings of Living Creatures

At first reading, Leviticus 27 seems far removed form our modern way of life. We don’t “give” our children or relatives in service to the Lord. But we give ourselves to him, as Paul describes in Romans 12:1 “to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” “Human being[s] are in no position to go back on their word to God…people desperate for the Lord’s help might make very difficult promises,…[but] these laws provide a compassionate way for the person to fulfill the vow and yet not be bound by the full implications of the rash promise.” (1) When “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, If anyone makes a special vow to the Lord involving the valuation of persons,” he gave specific instructions about the vow (the people vowed) depending on their age. (Leviticus 27:1-7) He also said, “And if someone is too poor to pay the valuation, then he shall be made to stand before the priest, and the priest shall value him; the priest shall value him according to what the vower can afford.” (27:8) “To put it in blunt modern terms: a tractor that can harvest fifty acres a day simply costs more than a tractor that can harvest thirty acres a day…[But] the Lord makes a way for all people, whether rich or poor, to participate fully in worshipping him, in this case by fulfilling their vows.” (2) “If the vow is an animal that may be offered as an offering to the Lord, all of it that he gives to the Lord is holy. He shall not exchange it or make a substitute for it, good for bad, or bad for good…” (27:9-10) God’s people were to keep their vows and give generously to their divine King. Do we keep our implied promises to the Lord after we’ve prayed for wisdom and self-restraint? Do we wisely manage and use the resources the King has entrusted us, because they ultimately belong to him?

Transition to Dedicating Things to God

“”There is a switch here from vowing living things as holy to the Lord (people and animals) to dedicating inanimate objects as holy to the Lord (houses and land)…Since priests did not have time to care for land ‘dedicated as holy,’ the owners retained control of it until the Jubilee and made a living from it…If they failed to redeem it, or if they leased it during this time, they forfeited it, and it became priestly property…They also forfeited their right to redemption if they sold the land—that is, leased it—to someone else. Perhaps because it would be an insult to dedicate land to the Lord, profit by ‘selling’ it to another person, and then redeem that land from the Lord with money that you did not raise a finger to earn. It is one thing to redeem land from the Lord with money that costs you sweat and blood; it is an insult to redeem it with money that costs you nothing…It is a human tendency to promise God much when we need him, but to thank him little when he meets our needs.” (3) “When a man dedicates his house as a holy gift to the Lord, the priest shall value it as either good or bad…And if the donor wishes to redeem his house…it shall be his….But if he does not wish to redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed anymore. But the field, when it is released in the jubilee, shall be a holy gift to the Lord, like a field that has been devoted. The priest shall be in possession of it.” (Leviticus 27:14-21)

Managing What is Already Dedicated to God

“But a firstborn of animals, which as a firstborn [already] belongs to the Lord, no man may dedicate; whether ox or sheep, it is the Lord’s…no devoted thing that a man devotes to the Lord, of anything that he has, whether man or beast, or of his inherited field, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to the Lord.” (27:26-29) “Verses 26-33 deal with involuntary offerings that cannot be dedicated to the Lord because they are already his (firstborn, tithes)…Since the firstborn [male animals] belonged to the Lord, they were already holy, and could not be dedicated. In other words, Israelites could not vow to give to the Lord an animal they owned and then pay that vow with an animal the Lord already owned himself (the firstborn). This would be like returning someone’s property to them and claiming you had given them a costly gift.” (4) Firstborn animals were usually considered tithes that the Israelites were instructed to give the Lord along with other kinds of tithes. “And every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman’s staff, shall be holy to the Lord. One shall not differentiate between good or bad, neither shall he make a substitute for it; and if he does substitute for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.” (27:31-33) “Although this is the first time the Israelites are commanded to tithe, it comes as no surprise. the Israelites would have understood themselves to be following in [Abraham’s] footsteps…giving a tithe to the king…[which] was a well-known practice in the Ancient Near East. Since the Lord was not only Israel’s God but also their divine King. The initial tithe went to the Levites, who in turn gave a tithe of the tithe to the priests…Deuteronomy 14 adds that the tithe was also intended to provide every third year for those who were needy, in this way demonstrating to them the Lord’s care.”(4) I wonder if we rightly see ourselves, in Christ, as possessors of God’s holy property, “a kingdom, priests to his God and Father,” for God’s “glory and dominion forever and ever”? (Revelation 1:6)

New Testament Examples of Dedication—The Colt

“Many of the precepts in [Leviticus] are moral, and always binding; others are ceremonial, and peculiar to the Jewish nation; yet they have a spiritual meaning, and so teach us…The doctrine of reconciliation to God by a Mediator, is not clouded with the smoke of burning sacrifice, but cleared by the knowledge of Christ and him crucified.” (5) Think of the New Testament’s example concerning giving as worship. “When [Jesus] drew near to Bethpage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, ‘Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’ So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ And they said, “‘The Lord has need of it.'” (Luke 19:28-34) “The triumphal entry contains a reminder that everything we possess has been entrusted to us by Christ. We are ultimately responsible to him for the care and stewardship we provide over things. He is the King and we are his vice-regents. He gives us everything to enjoy and use, transferring ownership to us. Like the colt’s owner, there are times when Jesus needs to repurpose our assets in ways that we had not originally envisioned…as Christians, we understand our ownership or lordship in light of the fact that Jesus is Lord over us and the giver of all things…It is assumed that the reason [the colt’s owners] are standing there with the colt is that they run a ‘rent-a-colt’ business for travelers on their way to Jerusalem. Giving the colt for Jesus to use was sacrificial, and reasonable only if Jesus truly was their Lord… But the colt is not the good news of this passage. Rather, the colt is a vehicle upon which the good news entered Jerusalem…Our generosity is not the good news. Rather, it is the atoning sacrifice of Christ that would come later in the week which continues to be power of God unto salvation. Jesus will build his church, and engage whatever asset he desires to do so. What a privilege to be called on by our Lord to return gifts for his work.” (6)

Joseph’s Tomb

Another example of sacrificial dedication is provided after our Lord was crucified. “When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.” (Matthew 27:57-60) “God has intervened in his life and given Joseph a new heart…Though he possessed great wealth, his life was oriented to following and serving Jesus rather than following and serving his wealth…[but] on account of his wealth [he] had access to Pilate’s inner circle. Joseph uses the access to request and secure the body of Jesus. He was likely motivated by God’s command that explicitly stated, ‘his body shall not remain all night on the tree’ (Deut. 21:23)…Joseph gave Jesus a piece of real estate, a freshly carved tomb…[a] piece of property with the plan of using it over time as a place where all members of his family could be buried. Hence, it was likely large. But after paying for the property and construction, Joseph discovers a new purpose for the tomb as the final resting place of Jesus…But the best part of the story isn’t that Jesus was afforded a dignified burial, as good as that was. The truly good news is that Jesus only made use of Joseph’s tomb temporarily. On the third day, Christ was raised from the dead and eternal life was confirmed. We are united to Christ in his death to sin, and in his resurrection to true life, a life to God in which we cheerfully give the assets he has given to us as he may move us for the good of our neighbor and the glory of his name!” (7) As we finish Leviticus with God’s command to keep vows and give generously to him, we are reminded that we are Christ’s stewards called to manage and wisely manage the resources the King has entrusted us.

Conclusion

“The underlying assumption of this chapter is straightforward: commitments to the Lord must be honoured. This was certainly true of commitments the Israelites chose to make, such as vows or dedications. These were often fulfilled in response to the Lord answering a prayer request or providing a blessing in some way. Failure to honour them was to show deep ingratitude to the Lord. Indeed, it was even more than that: to break a promise to the King of the universe as though it did not matter was to show him the greatest disrespect…Jesus applies this principle to discipleship in general, warning those who commit their lives to him to recognize that it should not be done lightly and, in fact, must be done wholeheartedly; there is no turning back…Christians are to return material blessings to those who lead them in the Lord’s ways, and to the needy…in response to God’s marvelous grace to us in Jesus, a gift so rich and free it causes us to give liberally of our material possessions as an act of grateful worship to the Lord…The Israelites are to be in [the Promised Land] very soon, and…chapters [25-27] whet our appetite for the fulfillment of that long-awaited covenant promise…The first generation of Israel failed in these things, while the second generation largely succeeded. The question now remains: Which generation will we follow?” (8) Have you made a vow to the Lord? Have you fulfilled it? Vows aren’t necessary but devotion to Christ is. By Christ’s grace and with the Spirit’s help, I’ve kept my hand to the plow because I choose to honor the vow I made twenty-six years ago. Frankly, I’m awed by God’s empowerment to do so. I’m sure the Israelites were also amazed at God’s grace in Canaan, which we will consider for the remainder of this year, in the book of Numbers. “God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:7-8)

Related Scripture: Genesis 14:18-21; 28:20-22; 31:13; Leviticus 22:17-23; Deuteronomy 14:28-29;23:21-23; Exodus 19:4-6; Judges 2:6-7; 1 Samuel 1:11, 22, 24-28; 8:7; 15:17-18; Nehemiah 10:38-39; 12:44; Psalms 56:12; 116:14; Proverbs 20:25; Ecclesiastes 5:1-6; Isaiah 7:10-14; Jonah 2:9; Malachi 1:14; Acts 18:18; 21:23-26.

Notes:

1. Sklar, Jay, Leviticus, An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, IVP Academic, 2014.

2. Sklar, Ibid.

3. Sklar, Ibid.

4. Sklar, Ibid.

5. Sklar, Ibid.

6. Henry, Matthew, Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Bible, Leviticus 27, https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/mhn/leviticus-27.html.

7. Jones, Andy, “Gifts for a King: A Five Day Devotional Examining Generosity to Jesus”, PCA Foundation, 2023.

8. Jones, Ibid.

9. Sklar, Ibid.

August 31, 2023

Yesterday I composed a letter to the residents of our community to assist a staff member. Getting started is usually the most challenging part of any writing project. I opened the letter with the main point and repeated the theme in my closing paragraph. The text between the opening and closing supported specified reasons for the request, answering the “Why should we” question. One of my neighbors mentioned that I repeated myself at the end, and I explained my writing process. Bookends are very helpful when trying to get a main point across. The Lord often uses bookends to keep us focused on what is most important. Leviticus 26-27 serve as final bookends to all the instructions the Lord gave Israel in the wilderness, reminding them of their role in honoring him. “These are the statutes and rules and laws that the Lord made between himself and the people of Israel…the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai.” (Leviticus 26:46; 27:34) Some years ago, I decided to begin and end my days journaling to the Lord—bookends for the day with Bible study and prayer in the mornings and praises and thanksgiving in the evenings. I believe these routines help me stay focused on God when I might otherwise be consumed with myself, my plans, or other less worthwhile things. Whether or not I’ve attended to the Lord the rest of the day is questionable, but there are many days when something happens that I think, “I need to add this to my praise journal tonight, as something only God could do.” God began to close his commandments to His people in the wilderness by reminding them they would be blessed for their faithful obedience and cursed for their unfaithful disobedience to him and his commands. Do we begin, live, and end our days remembering that God blesses our faithful obedience with peace and spiritual prosperity through Christ’s grace and presence?

God’s Covenantal Blessings

“I am the Lord. If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely. I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid…You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword…I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you. You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new. I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.” (Leviticus 26:3-13) There are seventeen specific blessings in this passage. Most are physical, relating to the land, harvest, safety, and military victory. Towards the end are spiritual blessings, reminding the Israelites that God has liberated them from slavery in Egypt to enjoy him and their relationship with him. The blessings end with a reminder of this liberty, by God’s grace, to “walk erect.” “Egyptian slavery was oppressive, reducing people to the status of animals dragging heavy burdens attached to yokes around their necks. The Lord’s redemption was gracious, freeing the Israelites from these burdens and transferring them into his service. They could now walk with heads held high, as is fitting for servants of the King of kings…the Lord’s goal is walking among his people as their God (Gen. 3:8). This goal is evident from one end of the Bible to the other; from the exodus, to the vision of the prophets, to the coming of Jesus, to his presence with the church, to the future climax of history when God will walk among his people and ‘wipe away every tear from their eyes’ (Rev. 21:3-4). (1)

Spiritual Prosperity vs. Material Prosperity

“Obedience in the Old Testament is seen as a proper response to grace, and, in particular, to the gracious Lord who has already redeemed his people and entered into covenant relationship with them. Naturally, as in any relationship, faithfulness is necessary is the relationship is to continue, a point Jesus also emphasizes (John 15:1-10). But such faithfulness does not create the relationship. Only the Lord can do that, and it is the privilege of his people to respond with grateful obedience and enjoy the blessings of their redeeming King…These blessings fall under the two categories most necessary to us as human beings. The first is material provision and protection (vs. 4-10). The Lord has created us as physical creatures, and therefore his blessings manifest themselves in physical ways. While the ‘prosperity gospel’ errs by making the material blessings life’s ultimate goal and claiming they will come automatically and abundantly as long as we have enough faith, it would be equally wrong to go to the opposite extreme and say that the Lord only cares about the soul. Jesus teaches us to pray for our physical needs (‘Give us today our daily bread’) and promises that our Heavenly Father will provide for them (Matt. 6:11, 25-34)…But we are also spiritual creatures, and so the second category of blessing addresses the very thing the human soul needs most: relationship with the Lord himself. Indeed, this blessing comes last in the list because it is the climax of them all. To know the Lord is the greatest good we can ever experience.” (2)

God’s Blessed Spiritual Presence

In his book, “The Practice of the Presence of God,” Brother Lawrence writes, “A little remembrance of God, one act of inner worship, even though it is during a march with sword in hand, is sufficient. Such prayer, however brief, is very acceptable to God…Let [a person] think of God as often as he can. Let him gradually develop within himself this small but sacred practice. Nobody notices it, and nothing is easier than to repeat these little internal adorations often during the day…When God finds a soul penetrated with a living faith, He pours into it His grace and blessings plentifully. They flow like a torrent, finding a way around every obstacle, spreading out with extravagant and reckless abundance…Let us make a path for grace. Let us redeem the lost time, for we may have little time left…In spiritual life, not to advance is to retreat. Those who have the wind of the Holy Spirit go forward even in sleep.” (3) “God promised His people His presence. In Leviticus 26:11, He said, ‘I will place My residence among you.’ God has also come to us in Jesus. John 1:14 says that Jesus ‘became flesh and took up residence among us.’ In verse 12 of Leviticus 26, God said, ‘I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be My people’…The promise of His presence with His people is repeated in the New Testament. In Hebrews 13:5, God says to His people, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ Jesus said, ‘I am with you always’ (Matt. 28:20). (4) Do we live as those blessed by Christ’s presence with us?

Warnings About Punishment for Rebellion

Or do we live like the Israelites in Canaan, who chose to conform to the nations around them, rejecting God’s blessings? God warned His people while they were still in the wilderness. “But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you.” (26:14-17) This passage represents the first of five stages of Israel’s rebellion and the specific consequences of Israel’s disobedience “Two things would bring ruin…a contempt of God’s commandments…[and a] contempt of his corrections. If they will not learn obedience by the things they suffer, God himself would be against them; and this is the root and cause of all their misery.” (5) Four more cycles of curses for disobedience follow in Leviticus 26:18-33. “Many of the curses are the exact opposite of the blessings. This makes the contrast between obedience and disobedience all the clearer. We are created to obey the Lord and enjoy the rich blessings that come from covenant fellowship with him, not to turn from him and experience his justice against our rebellion. If the Israelites…rejected God’s covenant by means of gross disobedience…they would be choosing to call down the covenant curses on themselves…like a parent who disciplines his or her child after fair warning.” (6) In addition, God says, “I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins…” (26:21) The warnings grow more and more intense with each cycle of rebellion. Finally, God says, “And you shall have no power to stand before your enemies. And you shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. And those of you who are left shall rot away in your enemies’ lands because of their iniquity, and also because of the iniquities of their fathers they shall rot away like them.” (26:38-39) “The harder the heart, the stronger the hammer used to break it…By removing [His] blessings through drought and famine, the Lord would remind the Israelites that they are completely dependent on him for abundant life.” (7)

The Hope of Mercy

“‘But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant…with Abraham…I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God.” (Leviticus 26:40-43) “Amazingly, after all the ways Israel had broken God’s covenant and rebelled against Him, God still offered His people another opportunity to come to Him. He said He would receive them, not reject them, even after they had abandoned His plan repeatedly… God continued to invite His people to Himself because of His grace, and God’s grace reached further than Israel… God’s plan was for Israel to relate to God in such a way that all the nations could see what it means to walk with God. Then the nations would be attracted to worship God too…God said to Israel, ‘I will make you a light for the nations, to be my salvation to the ends of the earth’ (Isaiah 49:6). (8) “The very things the Israelites had done to the Lord’s laws [spur and abhor them], he would refuse to do to them…in this way underscoring: ‘My repentant people will indeed experience my covenant faithfulness and grace!’…In the new covenant, the blessings are for those who have faith in Jesus, the one who has taken on himself the curse that comes as a result of our own rebellion against the covenant. These blessings…are stated in terms of being rescued by Jesus from the justice our sins deserve and being given the Spirit of God himself as a sign that we have been adopted as God’s own children and will receive an eternal inheritance from him. In the land of that inheritance, God himself will dwell among his people, wiping every tear from our eyes and banishing all manner of death and mourning and crying and pain. The curses will be no more!” (9) “Blessed is the one who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.” (Psalm 1:1-4) We indeed prosper in God’s abundant grace and mercy through Christ, from the beginning one day to the next. Jesus says, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. [30] For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:29-30)

Related Scripture: Genesis 3:8-9; Exodus 29:45-46; Deuteronomy 8:5, 11-19;30:1-10; Psalm 94:12; Proverbs 3:11-12; Ezekiel 37:26-28; Hosea 5:15; Romans 14:10-12; Ephesians 5:5; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Titus 2:12-13; Hebrews 12:5-11; Revelation 21:3.

Notes:

1. Sklar, Jay, Leviticus, An Introduction and Commentary, Leviticus 26, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, IVP Academic, 2014.

2. Sklar, Ibid.

3. “The Practice of the Presence of God”, Brother Lawrence, Translated into Modern English by Marshall Davis, 2013.

4. Moseley, Allen, Exalting Jesus in Leviticus, Leviticus 26-27, Christ-Centered Exposition Series, B&H Publishing Group, 2015.

5. Henry, Matthew, Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Bible, Leviticus 26:14-39, https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/mhn/leviticus-26.html.

6. Sklar, Ibid.

7. Sklar, Ibid.

8. Mosley, Ibid.

9. Sklar, Ibid.

August 17, 2023

The Lord places us in families for particular purposes and blessings. Mine was a middle-class Reform Jewish family in Baltimore, Maryland. I am the only daughter and middle child with an older and younger brother. My parents did their best but had few good parenting skills from their own childhoods. My mother grew up in a wealthy environment until the stock market crash in 1929 when her family lost everything. Her mother died when she was seven, and she never formed good relationships with her stepmother or father. She held onto her hurts tightly, along with the values of her childhood. Money was a volatile subject that she and my father never discussed in my hearing. Later I learned that there were many times when our family was living on the edge of bankruptcy, despite having two housekeepers who also served as nannies. As I began life on my own, my view and practices of saving or spending money were also conflicted. By God’s grace, I learned how to manage my income effectively after I came to faith in Jesus Christ, and I developed a passion for helping those less fortunate who may be oppressed by poverty. When God called me to Africa, I wasn’t surprised since my desire for justice for poor and oppressed people had stayed with me, much as my mother’s values stayed with her. But I was in Africa to help the young and old raise their standard of living, not to rescue anyone. I saw some missionaries giving people all they needed as if they could not earn it while lay farmers worked their land to grow subsistence for their families. Street beggars wanted handouts, but poor volunteers were serving with honor. Some students were willing to work hard, and others resented their poverty, feeling entitled to a better life. But God never intends for us to belittle, oppress, or dishonor the poor by rescuing them if they can contribute to their subsistence. He also never commands us to neglect the less fortunate but to be ready to be respectfully compassionate to them. In Leviticus, we see these principles at work in God’s instructions. If someone had to commit to working for others to repay a debt or earn their keep, the Lord provided regular times of redemption. We, who are God’s people, are called to be respectfully compassionate to poor brothers, sisters, and neighbors through Christ’s grace and mercy. Christians especially strive for their gospel redemption by witnessing Christ’s sacrifice.

Kindness for Poor Israelites

“If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you…If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave: he shall be with you as a hired worker and as a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of the jubilee. Then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and go back to his own clan and return to the possession of his fathers. For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. You shall not rule over him ruthlessly but shall fear your God.” (Leviticus 25:35-44) “God’s directions to His people about taking care of the poor were very practical, since they were about to become farmers in Canaan. In such a subsistence, agrarian economy it was easy for people to become poor. Furthermore, becoming poor was not just tied to a job loss or salary reduction. It came about by crops having too little rain or the death of an ox or a few goats. When tragedies like that happened to people a few years in a row, they would lose the ability to support themselves. That meant having no food. In Canaan virtually all the Israelites were poor farmers by our standards. So when God said in verse 35, ‘If your brother becomes destitute,’ He was referring to desperate, life-threatening poverty.” (1) “Creditors could not oppress their fellow Israelites. Instead, creditors were to provide them with loans, including food staples, so they could eat, and money, so they could buy seed, grow crops and ‘make a living.’ It is assumed that the creditor would let them work the land as tenant farmers, paying back their debt with the crops and making a little extra to support themselves. Creditors were also forbidden from taking advantage of debtors by charging interest on the loans. They were instead to show the same merciful love the Lord had shown them…This law effectively abolished permanent servitude of one Israelite to another (unless they so chose)…They are ‘permanent servants’ of the Lord, who brought them out of Egypt to be their King and they his people…the Israelites must not rule over these servants ruthlessly…the ways in which Egyptians had made Israelites’ lives bitter with hard labor. Naturally, Israelites must never repeat such wickedness, especially because these servants belong to the heavenly King. But in this context, the term ruthlessly might refer specifically to extending servitude beyond the agreed time limit, the Jubilee.” (2)

God’s Word on Slavery

“As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are around you. You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their clans that are with you, who have been born in your land, and they may be your property. You may bequeath them to your sons after you to inherit as a possession forever. You may make slaves of them, but over your brothers the people of Israel you shall not rule, one over another ruthlessly.” (vs. 44-46) As we can see, slavery began a very long time ago. Many of us know about it from what we have learned about the African and other modern slave trades. Unfortunately, the slave trade still exists today. The latest Global Slavery Index reports, “Globally, nearly one in every 150 people are in modern slavery.” (3). “The Hebrew term, ‘ebed’… is sometimes translated ‘slave,’ which is misleading, since many moderns think of a ‘slave’ as ‘a person who is the legal property of another or others and is bound to absolute obedience, human chattel’…[with] no rights…But this type of slavery is forbidden to Israelites. To begin with, servants had legal rights in Israel. Israelite law stipulated that they went free if their masters abused them and that they had the right to rest on the Sabbath (Exod. 20:10). In addition, Israelite masters were commanded to treat their servants with compassion…The word ‘ebed is therefore better translated—depending on the context—as ‘servant,’ ‘indentured servant,’ or ‘permanent servant.’” (4)

Hebrew Servants Were God’s Property

“[Another] problem involving Leviticus 25 is that servants are described with terms normally reserved for property, suggesting to some that they were viewed as less than fully human…[But] In English, we regularly use commercial language to describe people when the context is commercial…To say that servants are property (Lev. 25:45) or inherited (25:46) is not to put them on the level of furniture, any more than to say a sports star who is ‘traded’ puts him on the level of a stock…these types of servitude, if performed under the humane conditions required by the law, ‘could be said to be little different experientially from many kinds of paid employment in a cash economy.’ In both cases, one person submits to the control of another and provides labour in exchange for certain benefits, whether money (in many of today’s economies) or food and shelter (in ancient Israel)….These benefits included protection from poverty, provision of regular food and shelter, and a place in a stable family. For those in poverty or facing it, this type of servitude was literally a lifesaver. The text does make clear that permanent servitude was not to be applied to Israelites (unless they so chose.) The reason is theological: they are servants of the Lord who had delivered them from Egyptian slavery into his permanent service. This rationale does not apply to non-Israelites, who have not experienced such redemption and are not naturally covenant members. But even here, the same legal safeguards applied…even those from foreign lands, would be treated as household members, and thus able to partake in Israelite celebrations like Passover and the feasting of Israelite festivals. This was the very opposite of dehumanization…Even when the ideal world comes [when ‘everyone will sit under their own vine and under their fig tree’ Micah 4:4], servitude will not stop. Indeed, in that world, all the Lord’s people will be permanent servants of the heavenly King—and will consider it the greatest blessing. It was the duty of the Israelite master to imitate his heavenly Master so closely that he gave his own servants a foretaste of that day.” (5)

Gospel Liberty from Enslavement to Sin

In “an attempt to put Leviticus 25 in the context of what the entire Bible says about the issue of slavery,” Mosley lists twelve biblical truths. A few that are relevant to our study are quoted here. “God commanded Israelites to love their neighbors and to treat the weak compassionately, commands that would eventually undermine the institution of slavery. Old Testament laws regulating slavery recognized the worth of persons and the inviolability of the family and required release in the case of harsh treatment. The slavery of fellow Israelites described in the Old Testament was allowed by God only to provide relief from debt and included provisions for the release of slaves [pointing to]…the gospel of Jesus Christ [which] equalizes people, since slaves are free in Christ and freemen are slaves to Christ. The New Testament emphasizes that no matter what our status (married, single, divorced, free, or enslaved) we are to use it as an opportunity to serve God and advance the gospel…As we share the gospel through example and words, people receive Jesus, their hearts are changed, and then societal structures change. Once the gospel is applied by enough people in a society, the elimination of slavery is inevitable…[And] the slave who knows Jesus always has an advantage over the master who does not.” (6) I went to Africa at the Lord’s bidding because he freed me from my enslavement to sin and Satan’s entrapments. Christ liberated me from my prison of self-righteousness and vanity. I was spiritually destitute, worthless to God or anyone else; then Christ redeemed me and continues to call me to exercise my freedom for the benefit of others. I belong to him; I am his permanent servant, saved from a life of never having or being enough. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9)

Onesimus—the Story of a Liberated Slave

Paul wrote to Philemon about Onesimus, who seems to have run away and found Paul in Rome. Paul was God’s witness, used to bring him to faith Christ through God’s grace. Paul wanted to send him back to Philemon to be received as a brother in Christ. “I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment…I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord…no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother.” (Philemon 1:10-16) Is this not a beautiful New Testament account reflecting the principles of Leviticus? The Lord commanded Israel: “You shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan.” (Leviticus 25:10) “Jesus takes the principles of Jubilee and applies them to his mission. This is especially clear in Luke 4:18-19, where he reads from Isaiah 61, a passage that uses the language of Jubilee to describe a future restoration of the people of God…Jesus fulfilled the Jubilee principles on an entirely new level, by releasing people from physical sickness, demonic oppression and, above all, the debt of their sins, giving them present peace and a future hope that they were members of the family of God.” (7) “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. And [Jesus] rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’” (Luke 4:18-21)

Related Scripture: Exodus 21:1-11, 26-27; 22:25; Deuteronomy15:12-18; 16:11-12;23:20; Acts 2:44-47; 4:34; 1 Corinthians 7:20-23; Ephesians 6:5-9; Colossians 3:22-24; 4:1; Titus 2:9; Philemon 14-18.

Notes:

1. Moseley, Allen, Exalting Jesus in Leviticus, Christ-Centered Exposition Series, B&H Publishing Group, 2015.

2. Sklar, Jay, Leviticus, An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, IVP Academic, 2014.

3. https://www.walkfree.org/global-slavery-index/findings/regional-findings/overview/

4. Sklar, Ibid.

5. Sklar, Ibid.

6. Mosley, Ibid.

7. Sklar, Ibid.

August 3, 2023

When I moved to Liberia in 2008, I noticed no animals anywhere except in the ocean—no birds, squirrels, pets, or wildlife. Liberians had eaten everything they could find in desperation during the long civil war. U.N. Peacekeepers were everywhere. On an ordinary drive into town, we usually had to pass through at least two roadblocks where they checked our cars for our protection. It was an awakening to me about the vulnerability of life. But it wasn’t until I had been there for about six months that I realized how difficult it was for people who had owned land and couldn’t prove it. Most official records had been destroyed during the war, including land deeds. The problem was massive. I wasn’t affected because I lived on land purchased by an organization for missionary use after the war. I was, however, responsible for maintaining the new house after its construction. As a former realtor, I knew how important it was to keep the house in the best condition for a good start—not for myself only, but for others who would live there. My responsibility was to do my part as I depended upon the Lord’s provisions to our organization. I commiserated with those who had lost their land because others claimed a right to it based on the absence of a deed. So I tried to encourage those who lost their land to trust the Lord for their needs. Our spiritual security is more important than any earthly comfort. After all, none of us own anything—we’re all stewards of God’s good creation and provisions. God provided good laws for how Israel was to protect and respectfully manage their wilderness land, and if given over because of debts, return it to the ones whom God chose to remain there as they prepared to enter Canaan, the promised land. God gives us all we have here. As His stewards, we are to lovingly manage our possessions and trust God’s provision for all we need, looking forward to our promised land—heaven.

Faithfulness to God’s Covenant

“The covenant law has now been given, and the Israelites may march boldly into Canaan—provided, of course, that they maintain faith in their Redeemer and carry out his covenant mission of filling the earth with his righteous and holy kingdom…Observing the Sabbath principle was important not only because it protected the people and the land from overwork, but also because obedience to it was the fundamental sign of covenant loyalty…Letting the land rest would therefore be a bold proclamation of faith that the Lord would care for the needs of those who followed him.” (1) “The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord.’” (Leviticus 25:1-2) “Hundreds of years earlier, God had promised Abraham that He was going to bless him with many descendants, and He was going to give his descendants the land of Canaan. When God speaks with Moses here, He is about to keep that promise…God’s plan is that they obey, and He blesses…We do the same. We obey God and we trust Him to provide…Jesus told us to trust Him. When we are having difficulty trusting God to provide for us, we should read again what Jesus said [in Matthew 6:25-33]: ‘Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear…your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you’…God wasn’t telling His people how to relate to the land; He was telling them how to relate to Him. The importance of relating to God properly is crucial if we are going to understand Leviticus 25 and most of Old Testament history. Ultimately, the way we think about things and the way we spend money are not about dollars and cents; they are about who is our God.” (2) We are God’s stewards who handle our possessions lightly because we love and trust the Giver.

Sabbatical Year Instructions

“For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. The Sabbath of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves and for your hired worker and the sojourner who lives with you, and for your cattle and for the wild animals that are in your land: all its yield shall be for food.” (Leviticus 25:3-7) “The people lived from what they grew on the land…God said He was going to provide for them. In verses 20-21 God said, ‘If you wonder: What will we eat in the seventh year if we don’t sow or gather our produce?’ I will appoint My blessing for you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years’…God’s people were anticipating leaving the Sinai wilderness and entering the land of milk and honey. They were about to get a big pay raise.This was as close as they could get to winning the lottery. They were moving from slavery to prosperity. God was preparing them for that change by telling them to remember that a He is God. The land is not God; don’t worship the land. The harvest…[and] rain is not God; the real God gives the rain, the harvest, and the land. Worship Him. God knew that in Canaan His people were going to live next to the Canaanites, and the Canaanites worshipped prosperity,…fertility (Baal),…the grain harvest (‘Dagon’),…the river (‘Nahar’),…and the powerful sea (‘Yamm’). We who live in the enlightened, modern West think, ‘What a primitive religion!’ However, many people in our culture have the same religion…Our gods have different names—‘BMW’ and ‘Beachfront Property,’ ‘G.P.A.’ and ‘Popularity,’ ‘Lucrative Career’ and ‘Comfortable Retirement’…We have to choose which God we are going to worship—Jesus or money. We cannot worship both. The Israelites were surrounded by people who worshipped multiple gods. But the one true God told His people to be different. God tells His people to worship only Him. Therefore, we do not worship possessions.” (3)

Jubilee—The Year of Liberty and Fresh Starts

“And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan. That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines. For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You may eat the produce of the field…The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.” (Lev. 25:10-12, 23) “The laws of redemption and Jubilee provided clearance or cancellation of debt, enabling people to go back to their own clans and to the property of their ancestors…Any failure on the Israelites’ part to follow these laws…does not mean that they were impractical. Rather, it indicates that the Israelites had little faith in the Lord’s provision, and their priorities were out of keeping with the Lord’s vision for the world. This should not surprise us; we disobey to this day for the same reasons…The divine King of Israel…set up a system of release at fixed intervals, which was not dependent on arbitrary human leadership. Release for his people was guaranteed…[The Israelites were not to] take advantage of each other, either by paying less than the land’s value or by charging more. It would be easy for sellers or purchasers to commit wrong here, and especially for purchasers to take advantage of desperate sellers. The command to fear God is appropriate: it is issued elsewhere to remind those with power that there is a far greater authority to whom they must give account…[they] will have enough to eat in the seventh year (year 49), in the eighth year, even until the harvest of the ninth (year 51)…The overall point is clear: the Israelites can obey the Lord’s commands boldly because they know he will provide for their needs. Harvested grain could last quite well for at least seven years.” (4) God, who owns all the land, provided good laws for how Israel was to protect, transfer, and return it to the ones whom God chose to manage and protect it lovingly, trusting in His provisions.

Wisdom for Today

God gives us all we have here; as His stewards, we are to lovingly manage our possessions and trust in God’s provision for all we need, looking forward to our promised land in heaven and the new world to come. “And in all the country you possess, you shall allow a redemption of the land. If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property, then his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his brother has sold. If a man has no one to redeem it and then himself becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it, let him calculate the years since he sold it and pay back the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and then return to his property. But if he does not have sufficient means to recover it, then what he sold shall remain in the hand of the buyer until the year of Jubilee. In the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his property…For it is to me that the people of Israel are servants. They are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 25:24-28, 55) “Poverty could force Israelites to sell some of their property. When this happened, they had three options. Ideally, their ‘nearest redeemer’—such as a brother, uncle, or cousin—redeemed it immediately, releasing it from the ownership of the non-family member by buying out the lease…If this was not an option, those who had become poor might redeem it themselves if they acquired sufficient means…If neither option was possible, the Lord himself would act as their Redeemer by means of this law, and the land would return in the Jubilee. It is a characteristic of the Lord to redeem people: he had redeemed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt to be his people, and now, by this law, he redeems them from their debts.” (5) We know Christ our spiritual Redeemer by looking back to the cross; God called Israel to see him as their Redeemer that looking back to their deliverance from Egypt and forward to their occupation of the Promised Land.

The Coming Day of the Lord

“The prophets speak of a day when all will be made right, a day when ‘everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig-tree’ (Micah 4:4a). The Year of Jubilee was to be a foretaste of that great day. All the Israelites would return to their own land, surrounded by their own families, having no debts, enjoying a year of Sabbath rest, looking forward to years of safety and prosperity in a land flowing with milk and honey, and living in soul-satisfying fellowship with their covenant Lord, the one they acknowledged as sovereign over the land and themselves. In short, the Year of Jubilee looks backwards to Eden and forwards to heaven.” (6) God’s intentions for Israel were never to worship the land—they were to worship Him. The gospel and God’s ultimate Redemption of the earth on the coming Day of Judgment isn’t about land. When we focus on national Israel’s right to land, we lose the focus the Lord intends for his people, the true Israel (Romans 11:25-27). He wants us to focus on his gospel covenant and worship Christ, our Redeemer. Jesus has promised his people, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:3).

Related Scripture: Leviticus 26:34-35, 46; 27:21; Exodus 23:10-11; Numbers 36:1-4; Deuteronomy 6:10-12; 8:11-20; 28:8; 31:10-13; Ruth 2:20; 3:9; 4:4, 6; 2 Chronicles 36:20-21; Nehemiah 10:31; Psalm 85:1, 12; Isaiah 5:7-8; Hebrews 4:9-10.

Notes:

1. Sklar, Jay, Leviticus, An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament

2. Commentaries, Leviticus 25, IVP Academic, 2014.

3. Moseley, Allen, Exalting Jesus in Leviticus, Christ-Centered Exposition Series, Leviticus 25, B&H Publishing Group, 2015.

4. Mosley, Ibid.

5. Sklar, Ibid.

6. Sklar, Ibid.

7. Sklar, Ibid.

July 19, 2023

I regularly watch TV programs on the Animal Planet channel. But some of the least interesting to me are those that film park rangers and law officers protecting the environment and holding people accountable for violations. I appreciate their work; I just don’t find programs about people breaking the law entertaining. Unfortunately, many people know the rules and laws of national parks but deliberately break them for convenience. When an officer confronts them, they suddenly either forget the rules or lie. They respond differently to the person in uniform than another citizen, knowing that the officer can apply consequences to their lawbreaking. But every once in a while, before changing the channel, I see a park ranger educating a naive but legally prepared outdoors person about the correct way to hunt or fish. Having their license has freed them from the tyranny of the threat of punishment. That’s encouraging. Sometimes they just moved and didn’t look for the state rules to know what was expected of those using the parks’ resources. Like them, Israel had only been living in the wilderness for a short time when God gave Moses instructions for how the nation must live. His people should have been encouraged by God’s willingness to help them stay accountable in the best way, free from the negative consequences of lawbreaking. “The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt.” (Numbers 1:1) I know what it’s like to suddenly have to live by a new set of expectations, laws, and responsibilities, having moved to a different country on an unfamiliar continent in mid-life. A change of that magnitude shakes you up and makes you pay attention to details like never before. Perhaps that was God’s plan for Israel—for his people to pay attention to every aspect of living for him rather than for themselves. The Lord held his people accountable to live holy lives in his presence, showing respect for the tabernacle where he resided, his holy name, each other, and all life. When God redeems us in Christ, he holds us accountable to live holy lives as God’s holy temple, reverently serving him and each other with esteem for all life.

Living in God’s Presence

“In the old covenant period…God was with His people and He associated His presence with the tabernacle. When people saw the tabernacle, it reminded them that God was among them. In the new covenant age in which we live, God is still with His people. Jesus said, ‘I am with you always’ (Matt. 28:20). In Hebrews 13:5 God says, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ In the new covenant in Christ, God has not given us a tabernacle or a temple; He has made His people His dwelling place…1 Corinthians 3:16 says to believers, ‘Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s sanctuary and that the Spirit of God lives in you?’ Once we are aware of God’s presence with us and in us, what changes about our lives? To borrow a phrase from Francis Shaeffer, once we know that we live in God’s presence, how should we then live?’ What do we do? We serve God daily (Leviticus 24: 1-9)…we relate to God reverently (Leviticus 24:10-16)…[and] we respond to people graciously (Leviticus 24:17-23)…Just as God called Israel into a covenant relationship with Him, He has called us into a covenant relationship in Jesus. 1 Corinthians 1:9 says, ‘God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord’…Amazingly, the almighty, holy God of the universe wants us to fellowship with Him.” (1) God still holds us accountable to him and his ways, but encourages and instructs us through his Word. In Leviticus 24, “the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Command the sons of Israel that they bring to you clear oil from beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually. Outside the veil of testimony in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall keep it in order from evening to morning before the Lord continually; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations.” (Leviticus 24:1-3 NASB) “The olive oil [for the light] was to be clear (not mixed with any spices; and pressed…fit for a king. The lamps were to be kept burning continually through the night. The importance of this is emphasized by using the word continually three times. This light represented the Lord’s presence within the tent, and the priests were to keep it burning continually to acknowledge his constant presence and to show their willingness to serve him always.” (2)

Living to Serve the Lord

God’s instructions continue: “You shall take fine flour and bake twelve loaves from it…And you shall set them in two piles, six in a pile, on the table of pure gold before the Lord…as a memorial portion as a food offering to the Lord. Every Sabbath day Aaron shall arrange it before the Lord regularly; it is from the people of Israel as a covenant forever.” (Leviticus 24:5-8) The laypeople of Israel had to pound olives and make bread for enough to fulfill God’s instructions. The nation was responsible for serving Him regularly and continuously. “God tells His people to serve Him in the New Testament too. Hebrews 9:14 says the blood of Jesus cleanses ‘our consciences from dead works to serve the living God.’ When we receive Jesus as Savior, one result of His saving work in us is that we will serve Him. Romans 12:11 is a command from God to all followers of Jesus: ‘Be fervent in spirit; serve the Lord’…when we serve we are behaving like Jesus. Jesus said of Himself, ‘The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve’ (Matt. 20:28).” (3) Jesus’s statement of his purpose radically differs from what anyone at that time expected. He called his people to an entirely new way of life, imitating his example with his power. “Grace doesn’t just pluck us from the pit of self-striving; it transforms us for fruitful living. If you’re in Christ, your feelings may need to catch up with the truth you are learning, and that’s okay. You are being made new—let’s let that change us from the inside out.” (4) “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Do we enjoy and serve the Lord enthusiastically through Christ, as best we can, in our newfound freedom from sin?

The Penalty for Rebellious Irreverence

In Leviticus 24, verses 10-23 describe an incident where a man of mixed race cursed God’s name and was sentenced to death (vs. 9-12). Some of us are personally offended when we read that God sentenced someone to death. However, the Bible is clear that rejection of God results in his rejection of the rebel. “Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Bring out of the camp the one who cursed, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him. And speak to the people of Israel, saying, Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him.” (vs. 13-16). “Those of us who know and love God are confronted with our need for balance in the way we think about God and relate to God. Theologians refer to this as the balance between God’s immanence and His transcendence…In God’s Word, God…says that He loves us, and He wants us to love Him. He tells us to talk to Him without ceasing. He is the loving Shepherd who carries the sheep in His arms, the loving Heavenly Father who welcomes us home, and He calls the church His bride. All these biblical truths direct us to intimate fellowship with God. On the other hand, passages like Leviticus 24 remind us that the intimacy is not with a mere mortal man, but with the all-powerful Lord of Hosts, Creator of the universe! We must always observe that distinction. God’s holiness, His other-ness, is beyond our ability to conceive. His glory, majesty, and mystery are inscrutable…His judgment of sin is real, and we are sinners. His power and knowledge are unlimited and perfect. We are not perfect, and we have never done anything perfectly except sin. To treat God as if He is one of us, as if we can fellowship with Him in the same way we fellowship with people, is blasphemy of His great name. It is wicked…[Yet, while] we are surrounded by blasphemers, at work, at school, and in the media [who] regularly…scoff at the truth of God’s Word, mock God’s people, and publicly deny God’s existence…God allows them to live another day, and another, and another. He mercifully gives them many opportunities to turn to Him in faith. The apostle Paul referred to such mercy as God’s ‘extraordinary patience.’ Peter wrote that God shows such patience because He does not want anyone to perish in His judgment. Instead, God wants ‘all to come to repentance’ (2 Peter 3:9). Who knows how many opportunities He gave to the man described in Leviticus 24? Also, God’s judgment of him was an act of mercy on everyone in the man’s life, so that they would not learn to blaspheme from him and go into an eternity of suffering and separation from God. In eternity God will be treated as holy; He will be worshipped as God. We relate to God reverently.” (5)

An Eye for an Eye

“Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death. Whoever takes an animal’s life shall make it good, life for life. If anyone injures his neighbor, as he has done it shall be done to him, fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him’…So Moses spoke to the people of Israel, and they brought out of the camp the one who had cursed and stoned him with stones. Thus the people of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.” (Leviticus 24:17-23) “In ancient Israel, as in many cultures, treason against the king was a capital crime…cursing a king was also a capital crime, since those who did so were acting as traitors by speaking evil of the king and holding him in utter contempt. This is exactly what the blasphemer has done with the King of heaven, and so he faced a punishment that fitted the crime. As Wright notes, ‘The death penalty in a sense sealed the offender’s own decision’…To reject our Maker is to forfeit the life he has granted us…crimes against humans are far more serious than crimes against property. This fits well with the biblical teaching that humans are created in God’s image and therefore of special worth. It also explains why murder is a capital offence in ancient Israel, although crimes agains property are not…All life is sacred because it belongs to the Lord, and human life is especially so because humans are created in his image…[and] penalties must be appropriate to the crimes (vs. 19-20)…This approach to justice was far from barbaric and bloodthirsty. Instead, it both limited ‘the scope for revenge, which always tended to escalate indiscriminately and endlessly in any tribal society,’ and ensured that the punishment fitted the crime.” (6) We must remember to take this in context with what the Lord had already said: “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:18). The law in Leviticus 24 was national, not personal—governmental, not individual. “In Matthew 5, Jesus quoted this law: ‘You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also…’ (Matthew 5:38-41)…When [Jesus] was arrested, tried unjustly, and treated brutally…[he] did not retaliate. Neither should we. Paul was writing to individual believers and to the church, not to the government, when he wrote Romans 12:17-21. ‘Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.’…As followers of Jesus, we respond to people graciously.” (7) Israel should have been encouraged and driven to compassion for God’s people through their conformity to His laws. The Lord held his people accountable to live holy lives in his presence because of his great love for them, to protect and guide them. We, who are in Christ, are called to live holy lives as God’s holy temples, reverently serving him and each other with esteem for all life. “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.” (1 Peter 2:16-17)

Related Scripture: Genesis 1:26-27; 9:5-6;Exodus 20:7; 21:26-27; 22:28; 25:22; 29:42; Numbers 15:16; 35:31; 1 Samuel 21:6; Matthew 5:38-42; 26:64-66;Acts 10;1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16.

Notes:

1. Moseley, Allen, Exalting Jesus in Leviticus, Christ-Centered Exposition Series, Leviticus 24, B&H Publishing Group, 2015.

2. Sklar, Jay, Leviticus, An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, Leviticus 24, IVP Academic, 2014.

3. Mosley, Ibid.

4. Simons, Ruth Chou, “When Strivings Cease—Study Guide,” page 95, HarperChrstian Resources, 2021.

5. Mosley, Ibid.

6. Sklar, Ibid.

7. Mosley, Ibid.

July 6, 2023

Pinterest just emailed that they were “updating” their privacy policy. I didn’t read the email since I hardly ever use Pinterest. I’m sure any changes they have made are inconsequential to me, but of course, I don’t know that. However, when my retirement community changes (updates) its rules, I carefully read the notices. One of the reasons some people don’t want to live in a retirement community is because of the rules. But we all live by rules; it’s just a matter of whose rules they are. I am sure you have a rule in your home that trash goes in a trash can and not somewhere else, right? And, of course, there’s the rule that certain things shall not be brought inside the house, such as a dirty shovel or dead animals (like the mouse your cat caught and wants to show you.) Most human-made rules are reactions to whatever someone did that resulted in a problem, to prevent further problems. God, however, did not need to wait for his people to cause problems—he knew their inclinations to do what others did. When we think we are being wise according to the world, we should remember that “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile” (1 Corinthians 3:20). In the wilderness, God instructed Moses about his good rules for Israel’s feasts to be observed during the year, to remember Him, His grace to them, and presence with them. He was preparing Israel for a long history with him as His unique nation, but Israel failed. For four hundred years, God was silent. When Christ appeared on the scene in human flesh, he did all that God required for us to have a long history with him. But, do we celebrate the Spirit’s presence with us, immerse ourselves in his Word, and eagerly worship Him? Do we rejoice, knowing He will return to complete His salvation for the world?

Remembering the Lord on the Sabbath

“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts…for presenting to the Lord food offerings, burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day, besides the Lord’s Sabbaths and besides your gifts and besides all your vow offerings and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to the Lord.’” (Leviticus 23:1-2, 37-38) “This chapter…[focuses] on the Lord’s holy times and. in particular, when and how to observe them…[and] begins with the weekly holy time (the Sabbath) and then turns to annual holy times…During these annual holy times, seven days in particular are identified as days of rest. This brings a Sabbath feel to the entire year and thus a constant reminder of the covenant the Sabbath signifies……With his typical grace, the Lord commands the Israelites to proclaim their loyalty to him in a way that brings them blessing (needed rest and refreshment).” (1) “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places.” (Leviticus 23:3) “God made us to be seekers of joy and pleasure, and He intends for us to seek joy and pleasure in Him. God’s Word compels us to build all of life around Him and direct all of life to Him. When we are happy we express thanks to Him; when we are working we talk with Him and work for His glory; with our families we talk about Him; when we are depressed, lonely, or worried we cry out to Him; our free time is for His glory and in accord with His command we gather with God’s people weekly to offer worship to Him.” (2)

Remembering the Lord in the Beginning of the Year

Perhaps the Sabbath observance for Israel became routine, automatic, or mundane, as it does for us sometimes. There were other “feasts” or “festivals” which God established to draw close to him, to remember not only who he is but what he had done and will continue to do for his people. The year started with the Passover and Feast of Unleaved Bread (usually combined today as the Passover). “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the Lord’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.” (Leviticus 23:5-6) “By [celebrating the Passover] in the first month, they began their year by declaring that the Lord is a God who saves…The New Testament writers use the Passover to explain the death of Jesus, who was crucified at the same general time as the Passover and is described as ‘our Passover lamb’ (1 Cor. 5:7). It is a fitting metaphor, since Jesus’ sacrifice also delivers us from the Lord’s judgment and leads us out of sin’s slavery into adoption as the Lord’s children.” (3) “Of the 365 days God could have chosen for Jesus’ crucifixion, God arranged for Him to be crucified by the decision of wicked men on the Friday afternoon when the lambs were killed in preparation for the Festival of Passover…Jesus delivers from slavery all people who put their faith in Him…from slavery to sin, self, and the Devil…In the timing of Jesus’ death and resurrection God has given us physical, historical illustrations of what He did in Jesus.” (4) Today, many Christians remember Christ’s sacrifice especially on Christmas and Easter. But we are to celebrate the Spirit’s presence with us and eagerly worship every Sabbath and Lord’s Supper—and hopefully, even, every day, from the beginning of the year to its end.

Remembering the Lord of the Harvest

“When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest…And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.” (Leviticus 23:10, 14) “Thankfulness is one of the first emotions to evaporate; this requirement made sure the Israelites gave proper thanksgiving and honour to their bountiful King enjoying his generous provision.” (5) “Our Lord Jesus rose from the dead on the very day that the firstfruits were offered.” (6) Another celebration of the harvest was the Pentecost celebration. “You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the Lord…as firstfruits to the Lord. And you shall present with the bread seven lambs a year old without blemish, and one bull from the herd and two rams…You shall hold a holy convocation…And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 23:16-22) “On the Pentecost after the death and resurrection of Jesus, was there a harvest? Yes, the second chapter of Acts says that on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came upon the church. Acts 2:41 says, ‘That day about 3,000 people were added to them.’ Those new Christians were the harvested fruit of the continuing ministry of Jesus through the Holy Spirit. It was a harvest of souls.” (7) Now we believers are the harvest of the Lord, so we celebrate not only all the spiritual harvests that the Lord has provided but all those that are to come, bringing his elect into Christ’s kingdom.

Celebrating God’s Presence and Peace

“Speak to the people of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation.’” (Leviticus 23:24) “In contexts in which trumpets are blown, it is to acknowledge and request the Lord’s help. The blowing of the trumpets was therefore a musical prayer acknowledging and requesting the Lord’s favour. And since the Lord is the one commanding them to do this, it is his assurance that he will hear their prayer.” (8) “The New Testament says that one day God will order trumpets to be blown to herald the arrival of Jesus and the gathering of His church to His side (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). The book of Revelation also says that during God’s judgment at the end of this age, seven angels will blow seven trumpets to signal that God’s judgment has arrived.” (9) After the Festival of Trumpets came the most solemn holy day, the Day of Atonement.** “Now on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present a food offering to the Lord. And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God” (Leviticus 23:27-28) “[Verses 26-32] emphasize the importance of observing this day, repeating twice the punishment for those who do not observe it, three times that the people must deny (or ‘humble’) themselves on it, and three times that people must do no work on it. This emphasis is no surprise: this is the day on which the people’s sins and impurities were cleansed and removed so that they could continue in covenant fellowship with their holy Lord. Those who did not observe this day were denying either the Lord’s holy hatred of sin or their desperate need of his cleansing and forgiveness (or both). Either way, they were fundamentally rejecting their covenant Lord and their need of him. But those who did observe this day could rest assured that the Lord had cleansed them fully. The holy God who is offended by sin is also the compassionate and gracious God who delights to cleanse and forgive it.” (10) We have no greater memory than Christ’s perfect obedience, sacrifice, and resurrection for our forgiveness and victory over sin.

Remembering God’s Deliverance

One of my most vivid childhood memories is watching our Orthodox Jewish neighbors create a booth in which they would eat for seven days during Sukkoth. This was a significant celebration for Israel after God delivered the nation from enslavement in Egypt. “On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths to the Lord…And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice…You shall celebrate it as a feast to the eighth for seven days in the year…You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.” (34, 39-40, 43) “In the feast of Tabernacles there was a remembrance of their dwelling in tents, or booths, in the wilderness, as well as their fathers dwelling in tents in Canaan; to remind them of their origin and their deliverance. Christ’s tabernacling on earth in human nature, might also be prefigured. And it represents the believer’s life on earth: a stranger and pilgrim here below, his home and heart are above with his Savior.” (11)

“Thus Moses declared to the people of Israel the appointed feasts of the Lord.” (Leviticus 23:44) “When the Israelites forgot that the Lord was their powerful and gracious King, they doubted his care for them and became quick to grumble and disobey. The Lord therefore provides constant reminders of his character and actions in these holy times…the Lord instituted these times to help the Israelites remember his power and grace, enabling them to respond to him with appropriate dependence, obedience and worship. What is more, he did not want the Israelites to come before him simply as individuals; he made these times holy’ gathereings.’ The Lord always calls individuals into a body of covenant keepers, knowing that all believers need brothers and sisters to strengthen and encourage them to live as his holy people. Given these realities, it is no surprise that Jesus institutes a regular feast—the Lord’s Supper—to do in remembrance of him as a regular proclamation of his powerful and gracious act of salvation for his people, a reminder that enables them to respond to him with appropriate dependence, obedience, and worship.” (12) “How should we live differently in light of God’s revealed truth in Leviticus 23?…The sacred calendar of the old covenant says that knowing God is good, life’s blessings come from Him, and going into His presence is a feast…The Dutch statesman and theologian Abraham Kuyper once famously said, ‘There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christs, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: “Mine!”‘ To paraphrase Kuyper, there is not a split second in all our existence over which Christ does not claim ownership!” (13) We, Christ’s beloved, gladly live by God’s holy, sovereign rule through Christ’s intercession and the Holy Spirit’s empowerment. “And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.” (1 John 2:28)

Related Scripture: Exodus 12:25-27, 43-50; 23:14-17; 31:12-17; 34:6-7a, 18-24; Numbers 10:1-10; Deuteronomy 16:1-17; 26:10-11; Proverbs 3:9-10; Micah 7:19; Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20; John 1:29; Hebrews 10:24-25; 1 John 1:9-10.

Notes:

** For a detailed devotion on the Day of Atonement, see my blog “Rejoicing For Atonement—Leviticus 16,” April 28, 2023.

1. Sklar, Jay, “Leviticus, An Introduction and Commentary,” Leviticus 23, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, IVP Academic, 2014.

2. Moseley, Allen, “Exalting Jesus in Leviticus, Christ-Centered Exposition Series,” Leviticus 23, B&H Publishing Group, 2015.

3. Sklar, Ibid.

4. Mosley, Ibid.

5. Sklar, Ibid.

6. Henry, Matthew, Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Bible, Leviticus 23, https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/mhn/leviticus-23.html.

7. Mosley, Ibid.

8. Sklar, Ibid.

9. Mosley, Ibid.

10.Sklar, Ibid.

11.Henry, Ibid.

12. Sklar, Ibid.

13. Mosley, Ibid.

June 22, 2023