Numbers 3:49 So Moses took the redemption money from those who were over and above those who were redeemed by the Levites. The Levites were chosen by God to take the place of the first born sons. So instead of the firstborn males being used as redemption, being given back to God (?), the Levites were to serve Him. When they figured this out numerically, there were 273 males who didn’t have a “redeeming” Levite to cover for Him, so God told Moses to redeem those firstborn males with money. This is what he did in the verse here. I don’t know if this tradition continued every time they did a census or if it was a one time for everyone kind of deal. I just think it’s interesting how God used every day things to help Israel understand concepts, and when they were obedient, He used gentle ways to remind them of His sovereignty. We are blessed because the One True God’s own Son took our place, redeeming us, in the same way that the Levites were took the place of the firstborn males of Israel. That’s pretty cool. We are SO blessed!
Romans 15:13 So I pray that God, who gives you hope, will keep you happy and full of peace as you believe in him. May you overflow with hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Two thoughts today: 1. Redemption – what?! More fancy Christian-ese? Redemption just means the act of purchasing back something previously sold. And, no, I’m not talking about salvation. I’m talking about hope. John and I had the privilege to speak at a youth event at a school this week. We were the “what not to do” and “consequences” portion of the event. We were also the visible proof that even when we make mistakes there is hope. Our messages were one that, while we reminded them that there are consequences to their actions, there is redemption for a life gone astray. Both John and I have had things happen in our lives that caused us to go off the path that God originally intended for us to be on. My prayer has always been that God would use those events to reach others (heaven knows, if I had to go through them they’d better be good for something!). And God redeems the past – He takes the years that were lost wandering and restores us to the place He has for us and the plan He has for us. 2. Hope – Interestingly, my life has been filled with various types of hope lately. I spoke about hope in the section above – hope that God can bring light out of a dark time in my life and hope that He will redeem my past and create a beautiful future. The other hope I’ve been spending a lot of time with lately is actually HOPE Inspirational School (http://www.his.edu – still under construction). It’s a school that I’m actually getting to help found! It’s based around experiential and project-based learning. It’s environmentally friendly. It’s community outreaching. It focuses on addressing not only the intellectual growth of its students, but also the emotional, physical, and spiritual growth. It’s incredible! I’m totally not doing it justice in my meager description. Give it a week or two and check out the website for a much more eloquently put description.
Sadly this is a note in passing since Kainoah woke up before me this morning (yeah, 4:50am is really early, even if you normally get up at 5am), and as much as I love him, his wakefulness isn’t particularly conducive to study! The Year of Jubilee has been on my mind since my amazing husband mentioned something that he feels God told him about it. So, today I spent a little time (after trying to figure out where the Year of Jubilee commands were) refreshing my memory and doing some research. In brief: It was the Sabbath Year – the land was to rest without any plantings or harvesting. Anything that grew was for those who were slaves, servants, and foreigners, as well as livestock and wild animals. Interestingly enough, if these laws were followed, the year preceding the Year of Jubilee would provide enough food to last them through the entire year and past it until they could plant and harvest in the next year! Talk about provision – I’m thinking there are some interesting parallels to our lives in that…. It was the year of freedom – land that was sold or lost due to bankruptcy or debt would be returned to its original owner. It was a year of redemption from bondage – those who were slaves to debt had their debt canceled and they were set free. So, I’m not sure what John feels his message means, but I’m going to keep reading because there are definitely interesting implications in it, no matter what our situation.