Balaam's Ass (Numbers 22)

The story of Balaam and his donkey is one of my favorites of the whole Bible. Why? Because it's quirky and weird. I love how the text makes it seem like a donkey talking to a dude is an unremarkable event. You'd think that after Num 22:28, after the Lord opens the donkey's mouth and she speaks, that the next verse might be something like: "And Balaam exclaimed, 'Holy f^@#*ng $#*t! You can talk?!'" No, he just answers the donkey's question.

The other thing that makes this story odd is that, like Melchizedek the king/priest from Salem back in Genesis 14, Balaam is a guy who comes out of nowhere and seems to have an intimate relationship with God. It doesn't seem like Balaam and God had a great relationship, but they clearly listened to each other and Balaam respected God's power. We don't get much history on him, but it indicates that God had relationships with other individuals outside of his chosen people. I think there's a message of hope in there, that God isn't overly concerned about your ancestry, race, nationality or whatever. He cares about your interest in talking to him and listening to him and having some sort of relationship. It seems to say that God doesn't limit himself to a particular group of people (Jews, Christians). He'll do whatever he wants with whomever he wants, and that's ok.

New thoughts on Leviticus

I thought I blogged about it previously, but couldn't find it, on how out of the Old Testament came medicine and law, and now I'd like to add geography. Moses had to take another census and designate an alottment of land to the tribes depending on how many they represented. So at some point they needed to do some kind of mapping, geography, plotting, whatever it took to have a calculation of who got what piece of land. If you look at it that way, we now have medicine, law, and geography now prefaced by religion.

Deuteronomy

I love this book as a recap of what happened in Numbers. I especially love the passion in Moses's voice as he lays it out for everyone. God has said that Moses is going to die and why, and Moses, with conviction, goes on to say remember all this, take it to heart, and live it every day. I get the feeling that God and Moses had a unique relationship, I think God really enjoyed his company, but because Moses sinned, unfortunatley, he had to pay just like everyone else. Sounds like he just did not trust enough. But God was kind enough to ive him a heads up so he could impart wisdom on future generations. Let me know what you think.

Finishing Numbers

This is just some free flow thinking...After finishing Numbers I feel like there was alot of complaining going on. I get a feeling that God was very frustrated with the amount of complaining that was going on. I don't say that I blame him. He promised these people a land of milk and honey and what do they do, they defy him, build alters to idol gods, complain some more. On the other hand, when they left Egypt, did they really know what they signed up for? How many years did they roam the desert? A family that left Egypt, would never see the promised land, only their descendants. It is interesting that a group of people would leave Egypt possibly knowing that not they, but their 4th or 5th generation would be the ones to benefit from the move. In the same way that is God was unhappy with someone, their family would suffer for generations. It kinda makes you wonder about a Christian life today. Are we suffering for the sins of the figures from our previous generations? An interesting question that the New Testament might answer very easily. I don't feel like I am suffering, is this how the generations the Lord punished felt. Punishment becomes the norm.? You don't notice that you are being cursed? I am sure M or J3 will have some interesting comments to this. I would love to hear it. Let's discuss.

Numbers 14-15

It struck me as interesting that in 14:15 Moses is giving advice to the Lord. This is the first time I have caught this fact and if I recall I think Moses has been doing that for some time. It show what an significant relationship the two have together. So what would you take it to mean in terms of what kind of relationship God wants to have with each of us?

I am also beginning to see how God wants us to trust him implicitly, suffering may be a symptom of what great things can happen if we have faith. Thoughts?

In 15:32 The Sabbath Breaker put to death...I was just wondering how much of the world population would be depleted if that were true today. For that matter, I remember growing up and there were businesses, like Hawkins grocery, that were not open on Sundays. I know there were others so when did big business decide that it was completely acceptable. Was it when they saw their books falling into the red, did they not have enough faith? On the other side of it, A whole business can decide to be open on Sundays, but an individual has the right to say it is their religious belief not work on Sundays or Saturdays. I feel like I might be on the verge of rambling so I will leave it at that.

Numbers

I think it is interesting in Numbers 5 that there is a test for an unfaithful wife but nothing for an unfaithful husband, unless I missed it or haven't gotten that far yet.

Also Numbers 6, what is a vow of separation?

Numbers 11:20 really shows how angry the Lord can be, telling them they will have meat until it comes out of the nostrils and they loathe it. Yikes!

Related Book

Reading about all these rules for the Israelites reminds me of a book I read (listened to on CD actually) that was written by a guy who was part Jewish and tried to live by all the old Jewish laws for one year. His reason for doing it was just to give him material for writing a book about, so it's not super deep or philosophical. It's an entertaining read - part funny, part serious. But it showed how odd and difficult it would be to try to live by those rules all the time in our society. It's easy, casual reading. Check it out if you get a chance:

The Year of Living Bibilically by A.J. Jacobs

Leviticus in a nutshell

Leviticus: not such an interesting book (and I can't say I'm looking forward to Numbers). But the value of it is in learning about what God's holiness requires of sinful people in order for them to connect with God: blood. Each person needed to redeem their own life with the life of an animal. This of course sets the stage for the life of God's own son Jesus to be the ultimate sacrifice and the last one ever needed in exchange for everyone's life.

How's that for succinct? Should fit nicely in any nutshell.

Different Perspectives

I was wondering how one would go forward with a conversation with someone who said they thought of religion as a form of therapy, and you could take it or leave it, depending on who, (you or your spouse) needed it most, and a conversation with a catholic who said it is all in how you interpret the Bible. Both have very different points of view and have very different conversation points.

This is, of course, a side note to the readings we are having but as we have a blog I thought it might be interesting to get points of view.

Catching up a bit in Leviticus

I have had some catching up to do....but I think I have broken thru all the tedious-ness. It is interesting to me in Leviticus 11 Clean and Unclean Food: verse 7, for some reason I never really trusted pork. I love bacon, put I just always felt like pork was a "dirty" meat. It is amazing to me how it goes on about creatures of the sea and birds that you should and should not eat. Alot of it seems socially acceptable, on the other hand I know there are alot of weird societies out there or for that matter starving people in wilderness areas that take full advantage of their food options. How literal do we take this?

Leviticus

I wonder how body conscious the priest were. It sounds like they may have eaten alot of offerings.

It is equally curious as to how they treated famine. It sounds like if certain criteria were not met, the offering wasn't allowed to be eaten, if it wasn't eaten it went to waste. I think we waste alot in our society, but back then it should have been a crime to waste prepared food. On second thought if it was food prepared for sacrifice for sins or fellowship offering was that ok?

Exodus

Exodus was supposedly written by Moses. Why then is Moses referred to in the third person? Kind of odd. Wonder if he talked about himself in the third person in the course of normal conversation. That would be obnoxious.

What's with the specific instruction, repeated twice in Exodus (ch 23 & 34) and again in Deuteronomy 14, that a goat should not be cooked in it's mother's milk? Must be some cultural thing, but why not provide a little context? That would be helpful.

Another thing on Exodus

Something else that struck me was that God knew people would have grievences and appointed people to take care and make desicions on such matters. To me, this means that people were behaving badly. If people are behaving badly where does that put God's tolerances?

For me, reading the Bible and learning about God and his lessons it seems impossible that I will ever be that "good" person God wants me to be. Maybe if he is tolerant of people having jeolousy or arrogance or other behavioral issues, maybe there is hope for me. I hope I am expressing this correctly.

The other thing I wrote down last night was just to mention that Aaron was a good prophet but a bad manager of people.

Oh, and why is yeast so bad. There are some specific notations about bread being made without it.

A few things from Exodus 25-30

I was wondering why God seems to be so specific in his directions for building the ark, and the table, and the tabernacle and the lamp, and the priestly garments. Is this a test to see how well they listen? and what would have happened if they screwed up? Would if they made the courtyard 90 cubits long instead of 100 because they ran out of room?

I was also wondering about Aaron wearing the bells so they sound when he enters and leaves God's holy place so that he will not die? What is that about? (Exodus 28:35) The verses that follow lead me to think this is sounding like catholic tradition.

There also seems to be alot of sacrificing of specific animals. Any idea as to the sybolism in each animal?

Just Curious

I think I missed who Aaron was to Moses. Not sure I remember the relationship.

Secondly, I was thinking of the Israelite people, they were in Egypt for 430 years, (Exodus 12:40) how long do you think it took for each of God's plagues to hit. I mean, was it instantaneous, or was it a process that took some time. I seem to recall from Genesis that the question of time came into view. What exactly is a day in the calendar of God who is omnipresent? (I am not sure that is the word I want to use) If you are God, who has been around for a very long time, is a day to him like 6 months or a year is to us? I am not questioning his miracles by any means. I had to take a few moments to look it up, but I think I am going by Max Lucado's book also. The entry for Jan 5 is: Is anything too hard for the Lord? No! Genesis 18:14 "The God of surprises strikes again. ...God does that for the faithful. Just when the womb gets too old for babies, Sarai gets pregnant. Just when the failure is too great for grace, David is pardoned, ...The lesson in three words is Don't Give Up. Is the road long? don't stop. Is the night black? don't quit. God is watching. For all you know, right at this moment, the check is in the mail. An apology might be in the making. The job contract may be on the desk. Don't quit. For if you do, you may miss the answer to your prayers. "

I would mlike to think the message is patience, and if that is true, how patient did Moses have to be before his miracles affected, then hardened the heart of Pharaoh?

these are things I've been thinking about today, It is late and I hope I have delivered to the extent I wish it be recieved. Ciao