Browsing the blog archives for February, 2012
Thought from today’s Bible reading from Numbers 11-13. “The rabble who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, ‘Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and [...]
Thought from today’s Bible reading from Numbers 8-10. When the time came for the Israelites to observe the Passover, a few of them were unable to observe it. They questioned Moses as to what they could do: “But there were some men who were unclean because of the dead person, so that they could not [...]
Thought from today’s Bible reading from Numbers 7. When the tabernacle was finished, the leaders of Israel brought an offering consisting of six carts and twelve oxen (Numbers 7:1-3). The Lord then gave Moses instructions about what to do with them: “‘Accept these things from them, that they may be used in the service of [...]
Thought from today’s Bible reading from Numbers 5-6. When the Law was first handed down to Moses, adultery was explicitly condemned (Exodus 20:14). If this command was violated, God revealed the punishment for this sin – “If there is a man who commits adultery with another man’s wife… the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely [...]
Thought from today’s Bible reading from Numbers 3-4. In the previous reading, we noticed that the men of Israel, “from twenty years old and upward, whoever is able to go out to war” (Numbers 1:3), were to be numbered. The exception to this was the tribe of Levi because they had a special duty to [...]
Thought from today’s Bible reading from Numbers 1-2. The book of Numbers begins with a census being taken of certain ones from among the people: “From twenty years old and upward, whoever is able to go out to war in Israel, you and Aaron shall number them by their armies” (Numbers 1:3). But those of [...]
Thought from today’s Bible reading from Leviticus 26-27. Leviticus 26 outlines certain blessings and curses the Israelites could receive from God. Whether they received the one or the other would be conditioned upon their actions. “If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out…” (Leviticus 26:3). If the [...]
Thought from today’s Bible reading from Leviticus 24-25. “If a man takes the life of any human being, he shall surely be put to death. The one who takes the life of an animal shall make it good, life for life. [...] Thus one who kills an animal shall make it good, but the one [...]
Thought from today’s Bible reading from Leviticus 22-23. In Leviticus 22, instructions were given regarding who could and could not eat of the gifts that were offered to the Lord. One of these rules affected the daughters of the priests: “If a priest’s daughter is married to a layman, she shall not eat of the [...]
Thought from today’s Bible reading from Leviticus 19-21. Sadly, helping the poor is a contentious issue in our society. It is not so much that people do not want to help the poor – most good, moral people want help to be provided. The issue is over how to best help the poor and whether this [...]