Numbers 21:8 Then the LORD said to Moses, ” [fn] Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live. My first thought when I read this verse was about the serpent. Why would God create something that could easily become an idol? My second thought was, “Why is serpent italicized?” And my last thought was that it’s not about the serpent, it’s about obedience. Generally italicized words mean that they aren’t present in the original text or there’s some question about them. The word used in the text is “seraph” which can mean a fiery serpent or it can mean a being like the seraphim. I’m not sure why it’s in italics since it seems to be in the text. So, that aside, my thinking it, it’s not about what’s on the pole, it’s about whether or not I look. If I put a toy car on a pole and told you that if you looked at is after being bitten by a snake you’d be healed, you’d probably think I was nuts and laugh. You’d probably run to get your first aid kit. But it’s such a simple fix. Will you go and look? Being obedient means life. Being skeptical means death. Do I obey even when it seems weird or silly? Or do I shake my head and walk away? I don’t have to understand to believe. That’s the hardest part for me, since I tend to be such a Greek thinker. But that’s not how God works. Obedience is an expression of my faith in God. Do I trust Him to do what He says? Do I trust Him to be what He says? Do I trust His character and love? Do I obey?
Numbers 20:5 and why hast thou brought us up out of Egypt to bring us in unto this evil place? no place of seed, and fig, and vine, and pomegranate; and water there is none to drink. I think it’s a little crazy how often the Israelites forget why they’re wandering in the wilderness. Okay, maybe crazy, but I do the same thing. Here the Israelites blame Moses and Aaron for making them wander around in “this evil place.” Funny, they also led them to the Promised Land, but the Israelites refused to enter… How often does God bring me to a place or opportunity that He has for me, but I refuse to go in out of fear or uncertainty? Or I am continually disobedient in an area and require some training… which may involve walking through a dark valley. I have a tendency to blame God and ask why He makes me go through this kind of thing. I forget my role in everything – that I asked to be more like Him or that I chose disobedience, or that I didn’t want to enter a situation that seemed too big for me… Also, it may seem the wilderness has nothing to sustain me, but that’s not necessarily true. I may not be able to find or provide sustenance, but it’s not about me – God can provide in any way that He wants, even miraculous ways. I don’t walk the wilderness alone. I don’t provide for myself. God is there in the silence and the emptiness. The very quiet of the desert and the lack of my own provision is the opportunity to hear God and to allow Him to provide for me. I am totally dependent on Him and He has another chance to show me (again) how incredible He is.
Not everyone I know likes Skip Moen’s digging and teaching and viewpoint, but he makes a point in his post today that really states why I am so fascinated by his understanding: When we read Scripture, we enter the world of Hebrew culture. The more we are able to grasp that view of reality, the better we are able to worship the God revealed in Hebrew thought. That is the answer to my “Why?” question. Why learn about Hebrew culture and try to understand the writers as they were when they wrote it, including the actual Hebrew of the text and the idioms and other metaphors that play such a huge role in Hebrew? To know God better. I believe that Yeshua died to cover what ritual sacrifice couldn’t cover – purposeful sins. In covering these sins He also removed the guilt of the unintented/unintentional sin that had previously been dealt with through animal sacrifice. I believe it’s by grace that we receive this forgiveness, through believing that He is who He says He is and choosing to make Him lord of my life. I believe that studying His word, and possibly even following the commands in the Torah (there are only about 20 that are even relevant today), are acts of worship and obedience that come out of my choice to serve God as my liege Lord. My obedience makes me useful to His kingdom purposes, which is to restore what was perfect and was lost in the Garden – the relationship between God and man. Does that mean I am not useful if I don’t follow the commands of Torah (which we only partially do today – yes, we are partially Torah observant in that we believe in one God, we don’t worship idols – unless you count money I guess)? No. I can still be used. Look at the many, many people in history that God has used in HUGE ways even if they didn’t understand or agree with the link between the Old Testament and the New – Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, Martin Luther, etc. But, if they had understood, how much greater an impact could they have had? One of the books that I want to read is called, Constantine’s Bible. It’s about the changes that were solidified in the Messianic Jewish (aka Christian) church in order to separate it from the Jewish synagogues and make it the “official” religion. Most of what we consider Christian today actually came out of the changes made by Constantine. And, according to most scholars (Christian and secular), most of what we consider Christian is actually based on pagan rites and rituals. Ultimately, God is God and will do as He chooses. He knows the heart of man and searches and examines it to see its true motivation. For those of us who have lived out lives in the Christian church, never exposed to the idea that maybe some of the stuff in the Old Testament actually applies still, I can’t believe God would penalize us for that. And I don’t think He’s shaking His head. He is sovereign and as such He can use whatever He wants and do whatever He wants. He is my God despite my imperfections. I want to know Him more and understand Him better. And I do that in the only way I know how… I learn, I read, I listen, I pray. And somewhere along the way, my thoughts get sorted out, and I develop a larger and clearer picture of who I am, and more importantly, who He is.
Numbers 9:23 At the command of the LORD they remained encamped, and at the command of the LORD they journeyed; they kept the charge of the LORD, at the command of the LORD by the hand of Moses. I find it interesting that the 5-7 verses prior to this reiterate the same point over and over in different ways – when the cloud hovered over the tabernacle they stayed put, no matter how long it stayed; when the cloud moved, they moved. Usually in Hebrew that repetition means it’s an important point being made. Ultimately, I think that Moses is emphasizing the importance of obedience – again. The verse above makes it even clearer that all their movement was at the command of God. They didn’t wander around the desert at Sinai whenever they felt like it (if they had, I’d imagine they’d have tried to cut a couple of years off of the journey). Sometimes they stayed put for a day, sometimes for a month, and sometimes for a year. But no matter how long they stayed, it was at the command of the LORD. The tricky thing is applying this today. I don’t have a cloud hovering over a tabernacle to guide me. I have the Holy Spirit, but I’ve found that knowing what He wants of me is often a very difficult task. It doesn’t seem to me that it should be so difficult. After all, I’ve been told that God wants me to know His will. Even if I look back at His faithfulness in the past, how do I use that to make decisions about things today? A practical example of this is that I currently have a teaching contract for next year (yeah!), but my current school is quite far from where I live and I spend a small fortune in gas and tolls getting to and from work. I would like to find a job closer to where I currently live, but how do I know if this is the right thing to do? Do I put in applications and trust God to open or close doors at His discretion? I don’t really know. I want to be obedient, to move at the command of God, but I don’t know how. That’s frustrating. PS. A thought I just had was that the Israelites had to constantly be watching to see when God moved. So, probably part of the process is watching where He’s working… Unfortunately, these days that’s kind of hard to do.
Okay, this is a really cool post! It contains a link to the 613 laws the Jewish community is supposed to follow. Stop hyperventilating! A large portion of them deal with the temple (which was destroyed a long time ago), the Levites (which don’t exist in that capacity anymore), land in Israel (as gentiles we don’t own any), and the theocratic nation of Israel (which also doesn’t exist). And most of them are pretty common sense (like the rules on not committing incest, etc.). Check it out and let me know what you think. I’m only in the 100′s, but it’s pretty awesome.
Leviticus 9:24 And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting, and came out and blessed the people. Then the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people, … The glory of the LORD appeared to all people…. after that a fire consumed all the offerings, the people cried out and then fell down. Can you imagine what that must have been like? I’ve been to services where it seemed like God’s hand was heavy upon the congregation and He seemed to really be speaking to peoples’ hearts. I’ve been hugged by my Abba. Even a small touch by His hand is overwhelming. I can’t begin to fathom how incredibly amazing seeing the glory of God must have been. I probably would have shouted and fallen on my face, too! But I wondered, the glory of the LORD appeared to the people after they had obeyed God’s words and offered the appropriate (lots) of sacrifices. How often do we miss seeing God’s glory because we don’t obey Him the way we need to? I was listening to a sermon about tithing (from a Hebrew perspective) and the rabbi teaching said something interesting. In the early days after the Messiah came Gentiles who believed converted to Judaism after giving up their idols. We don’t do that any more and have mostly lost our Jewish roots. I think that’s sad because there’s a great heritage there with so much symbolism and knowledge. In our ignorance, do we unintentionally limit how useful we are to God’s purposes? Do we limit the times when we could see His glory because we miss out on fully obeying Him?
Daniel 3: 17-18 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, Your Majesty can be sure that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.” I often feel that God can do anything, but I don’t know if He’ll do it for me. It’s kind of pessimistic, now that I think about it. But here we have three young men about to die for standing up for what they believe in, and they tell the most powerful man in the known world that there is no way on earth they’re going to obey him! Whether God chooses to save them or not they are going to be obedient to what they know is right. Even if it means they die. That’s pretty amazing to me! There are times when I have a hard time living up to my own rules, and I’ve never had to deal with consequences as dire as what these three had to. So what’s the point? Even though they knew God could, they declared their obedience even if He didn’t. It wasn’t a definite thing or a conditional thing. It wasn’t definite because they didn’t know for certain that God would rescue them. However, it wasn’t conditional either because they chose to be obedient no matter what the circumstances and no matter what the cost. That begs the question: what about me? Do I obey like that? Do I live like that? Will I trust God even if I’m quaking in my boots and it’s my life on the line?