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The Levite tribe, which makes its basic living from tithes and offerings for service to God, will not receive territories like the other tribes,  However, the other tribes were to give the Levites 48 towns surrounded by pastures.  This unified the Israelites under one God by distributing the priests among them.

Six of the towns, 3 on each side to the Jordan were designated as cities of refuge.  People that killed a person accidentally could flee to one of these cities for a fair trial.  If the person was found that it was “accidental” they could stay in the town until the High Priest died and then could return home.  However, if the person was found guilty of murder they would be executed.

So what’s with the High Priest death you ask?  Good question!  The death of the high priest atoned for the sins of the person who killed someone. The death of the High Priest, therefore, had an atoning value like animal sacrifice did.

Click here for a handout.(But you probably won’t need it)

A verse worth underlining in your Bible is:

³⁰ “‘Anyone who kills a person is to be put to death as a murderer only on the testimony of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.

Why am I bringing this up?  Another good question!  You have lots of good questions today.  Two witnesses are needed to put someone to death:

Matthew 26:  Jesus’ on Trial

⁵⁹ The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. ⁶⁰ But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward.

Finally, two came forward ⁶¹ and declared, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”

That’s all they needed ☹️

Chapter 36

Inheritance of Zelophehad’s daughters.  So if you decided to jump in here is the recap from Numbers 27:

When a man had no sons, his daughters would divide his property. If he had neither sons nor daughters,  brothers, or uncles, then the father’s nearest relative would receive the inheritance. In chapter 36,  the Lord placed a restriction on daughters who inherited their father’s estate. They had to marry within their own tribe, in order to keep the inheritance within that tribe, just as it would have remained if the father had had sons.

So now what?  The last scripture is: ¹³ These are the commands and regulations the Lord gave through Moses to the Israelites on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.

Should we send this next generation in? Or should we teach them the past, present, and future of God’s Promises?

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• I posted 3 maps to look at while reading today.

Chapter 33 recaps the journey from the Exodus to the border of the Promise Land.  Click here to print this map.

The end of the chapter is very important:

‘When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, ⁵² drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places. ⁵³ Take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess. ⁵⁴ Distribute the land by lot, according to your clans. To a larger group give a larger inheritance and to a smaller group a smaller one. Whatever falls to them by lot will be theirs. Distribute it according to your ancestral tribes.

(if you did not see the comments from the other day, these are the Urim and Thummim stones)

⁵⁵ “‘BUT if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain WILL become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live. ⁵⁶ And then I will do to you what I plan to do to them.’”

Chapter 34

Promised Land Boundaries.  Click here to print.

We end with two points worth mentioning:

“‘This will be your land, with its boundaries on every side.’”

¹³ Moses commanded the Israelites: “Assign this land by lot as an inheritance. The Lord has ordered that it be given to the nine and a half tribes, ¹⁴ because the families of the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance. ¹⁵ These two and a half tribes have received their inheritance east of the Jordan across from Jericho, toward the sunrise.”

(From yesterday’s read) TRIVIA:  What is the word we are going to use to title these 2 1/2 tribes on the East side of the Jordan?

The second thing to note today is:

¹⁶ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁷ “These are the names of the men who are to assign the land for you as an inheritance:

I know it is skimmable BUT absorb what you do recognize.  Once upon a time, the names would have been white noise…and now you see something familiar.  It is the 12 sons of Jacob.  The 12 tribes of Israel.

🤓

We only have 4 chapters left of Numbers.

• Tomorrow 33-34
• Wednesday 35-36

Having these maps on your screen as you read will help!.  Feel free to print these maps to finish out the book.

Numbers 33 Click here for map

Numbers 34 Click here for map

Numbers 35 Click here for map

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Chapter 31-Unfinished business!

During the week we read about Balaam the sorcerer who was hired to put a curse on the Israelites.   Plan A (cursing the Israelites) did not work, so Balaam comes back with Plan B (and it bites him in the butt).  Since he cannot curse them, he plans to have the Israelites turn from their Lord in another way.  Sex.  (Men!!)

Back in Numbers 25: While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, ² who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. ³ So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them.

Time for God to take vengeance on  Balaam, the Midianites, and these “fun” women.  The army consists of 1,000 men from each tribe.  The Israelites are successful.  Actually, God protected them and not one Israelite life is spared.  The army recognizes this and gives the Lord a tribute of thanks.  Wait…I said they were to take vengeance on Balaam, the Midianites, and the women….but the women were captured instead (I wonder why they want to keep them? 😠.

This infuriates Moses and orders them to be killed too. I know this is hard for us to understand but you need to think of them as “a cancer”.  You would not go to your Dr. and say “just take some of it out”.  What is left will eventually grow.  When they enter the Promised Land, they will continue to disobey this command and they will not “clean” the land of pagans.  Sure as anything, just like a little yeast (sin), it will grow and take over.

Chapter 32.  We need some visuals:

We are coming up the Eastside to the Jordan River.  Look for numbers 13, 14, 15, 16,  and 17 on your map.  As they travel, the Reubenites and the Gadites really like this land and approach Moses with the idea of it being their settlement.  Well, I just LOVE Moses.  I am sure he is stressed out to the max knowing he will not be entering the land himself;  these are his last days as a shepherd to these sheep (and they need a good shepherd!!).  Visualize this awesome scene: Verse 6-15  Moses goes on a major rant about them wanting to do exactly what their forefathers did!  I picture him standing, waving his arms around, while the men cannot get a word in edgewise.  (That is so me!)  He even went as far as calling them a ‘brood of sinners’.  So he must have stopped to catch a breath and they clarified their plan that they were still going to be in the army.    Moses settles down a little (not completely) and says:

²⁰ Then Moses said to them, “If you will do this—if you will arm yourselves before the Lord for battle ²¹ and if all of you who are armed cross over the Jordan before the Lord until he has driven his enemies out before him— ²² then when the land is subdued before the Lord, you may return and be free from your obligation to the Lord and to Israel. And this land will be your possession before the Lord.

²³ “But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the Lord; and you may be sure that your sin will find you out. ²⁴ Build cities for your women and children, and pens for your flocks, but do what you have promised.”

What great timing that these tribes are asking for this right after we read about keeping your oaths. ❤️  He is just making sure everyone is on the same page!!  See the map below.  The land EAST of the Jordan river will be referred to as “Transjordan” so you can see the land “Transjordan” that we are talking about. (Manasseh will also get part of the Transjordan side.  1/2 the tribe on each side).  If this is confusing, don’t be.  We are not in the land yet…this is a future picture.

What is Jordan now?   It has a huge history with some important events in 1921 and 1946.  But I think this map can give you a modern-day look at the area.  Look at control/influence.  It might as well say “no control”.

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I know what you are thinking….do we have to read this again??  Keep in mind this is a NEW generation, God has to ensure that they get the complete set of regulations for offerings that were given at Sinai. It is ok to skim or listen to it, but how awesome that if it “makes sense”.

Application:  How well are Christians today at making sure each generation knows what their Bible says?

CHANGE OF PLANS TODAY:  We have been reading for 65 days.  Last night I started getting some AWESOME recap questions in the comments.  Take a moment today to grab your Bible and skim through it.  Find something that is confusing.  If it’s not clear…ASK.  (Be prepared for me to say IDK, there is a reason I skip some things 😂😂)

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• Today is a great day to put your earbuds in, listen to the audio and catch up if you are behind.

5 more days (counting today) and we are done with Numbers already.

Chapter 26:

When they get in the Promised Land, the land will be distributed according to size.  These numbers are important.

⁵² The Lord said to Moses, ⁵³ “The land is to be allotted to them as an inheritance based on the number of names. ⁵⁴ To a larger group give a larger inheritance, and to a smaller group a smaller one; each is to receive its inheritance according to the number of those listed. ⁵⁵ Be sure that the land is distributed by lot. What each group inherits will be according to the names for its ancestral tribe. ⁵⁶ Each inheritance is to be distributed by lot among the larger and smaller groups.” (Lot means chosen by God according to the Urim and Thummim)

A new census is necessary because the generation counted in Chapter 1 is now gone.  Well, except Joshua and Caleb. 

• Trivia: 
  • why are Joshua and Caleb the only 2 that are on both Census? 
  • why is the tribe of Levi NOT counted in the census?

⁶⁴ Not one of them was among those counted by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Desert of Sinai. ⁶⁵ For the Lord had told those Israelites they would surely die in the wilderness, and not one of them was left except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

The census is after the plague which reduced the number by 24,000.  The census was only slightly down from the earlier census.  This census includes a few notes about the past such as:

⁸ The son of Pallu was Eliab, ⁹ and the sons of Eliab were Nemuel, Dathan and Abiram. The same Dathan and Abiram were the community officials who rebelled against Moses and Aaron and were among Korah’s followers when they rebelled against the Lord. ¹⁰ The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them along with Korah, whose followers died when the fire devoured the 250 men. And they served as a warning sign. ¹¹ The line of Korah, however, did not die out.

I want you to stop and think about how awesome it is to read that scripture about Korah and recall “If I opened my Bible 3 months ago and read that would I have a clue what it was talking about”  And here you are!  Anyway, Korah’s line did not die out, actually, they become the author of 11 Psalms.

Zelophehad- I love these women.  I think if I was in a woman in the OT, they would be my second choice.  (Deborah the Judge is by far my first)

Moses named a successor: The last 4 paragraphs.  Click here for a reread.

Paragraph 1- A great reminder to honor God.  The story I talked about the other day (the one where I cursed like a truck driver and threw my Bible because I thought it was unfair), is now one of my favorites.  Read John 15:4

Paragraph 2-Rather than argue about politics,  wouldn’t it be great if we just quietly prayed paragraph 2.

Paragraph 3- Super cool.  Joshua and Eleazar are going to be like Batman and Robin. Verse 21:

²¹ He is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who will obtain decisions for him by inquiring of the Urim before the Lord. At his command, he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out, and at his command, they will come in.”

So who is in charge??  God is.  Eleazar will use the Urim and Thummim and tell Joshua the decisions the Lord makes.  If you jumped in and out of the read-through and do not know what these are just put a note in the comments and we will cover.

Paragraph 4…..and Moses did as God commanded. ❤

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Jaxon, yesterday you asked me why the Lord was mad at Balaam.  Great question.  Today’s read will answer that.  I didn’t want to ruin the surprise yesterday.  He knows our THOUGHTS.

Chapter 23 and 24- Balak brought Balaam to the edge of the Israelite community as he attempts to have Balaam curse the nation.  All three attempts conclude with Balaam blessing them rather than cursing them.  God used him regardless of his heart.

Attempt 1: He cannot curse them because God has not cursed them.

Attempt 2:He cannot undo the blessing of God.  God is their King and even warns Balak that they are protected by God.

Attempt 3: He admits that his words are from God himself.  He exalts him even above Agag, the future king of the Amalekites (remember this is an oracle from God, he knows the future!).  He ends the 3rd message restating the blessing on Abraham “may those who bless you be blessed and those who curse you be cursed”.

Balak was done with Balaam and fires him, but I can just see God saying to himself…Balaam is on a roll…let’s give them some more!  God continues to use Balaam to give 4 more messages regarding future prophecies.

Chapter 25-

Why was Balaam’s head down yesterday and unable to see in front of him?  He was brainstorming!  God will not let me use my ‘mouth’ to curse Israel.  He wanted the money so he had to think if a plan.  Apparently, after Balaam was fired, he brainstormed a way to still claim the reward from Balak after all.  He knew that if the Israelites were seduced to worship another god the Lord wouldn’t protect them.  So Balaam said to himself “I am a man…what is my weakness? Sex.”  (He didn’t say that, but I am sure he thought it).  Jaxon, if you don’t know what this is…I will tell your father to have the “talk” with you. 😂

Back in Exodus 34:

¹¹ Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.  Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you.  Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles (idols to worship false gods). Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

¹⁵ “Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices.  And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same.

NOW we can jump into Chapter 25.

If you are tracking the voyage on a map, I want you to see how close they are to crossing the Jordan River into Cannan the Promised Land!

While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, ² who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. ³ So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal (he is the head honcho of the false gods) of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them.

But the men quickly fall into sexual immorality and bowing down before their gods just as Balaam planned.  If you printed the handout on the Priest genealogy,  you will see where Phineas is the son of Eleazar. So Phineas (not Ferb is a priest.   Phinehas puts a quick end to the ordeal by making a sacrifice for their wrongdoing to get them back on track.  While Zimri (from the tribe of Simeon) is doing the horizontal mambo with Zozbi (a Midianite), Phineas drove his spear into both of them at the same time.  I am sure you can imagine HOW this was possible 😂 if not I can text you a picture.  I am cracking myself up today!

One of the last verses today was:

⁶ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁷ “Treat the Midianites as enemies and kill them.

Do they obey and kill these hot ladies??

So here we stand.  When the sun is up we can see Jericho!  Are we ready?  Is the next generation ready?  Let me rephrase, have you taught the next generation the Word of God ready to take on the enemies of the world?

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• Chapter 20- DO NOT SKIM…it’s the chapter I threw my Bible away and said “Well, that’s a bunch of “$^!*, you can keep that book”

Chapter 18-19

These chapters, although I admit I skimmed a little, are the cleansing of the camp after the rebellion.

Our understanding of true worship begins with the sense that He controls and directs true worship; who the priests are and how they function are his concerns. This means that worship is not a game where we may make up the rules as we play.

Often we think of worship in terms of what we like and appreciate. This misses the mark; worship is principally for God’s pleasure.

Chapter 20:

OK. where are we?

We are at Kadesh-Barnea.  If the Israelites stand on your toes, you can see the Promise Land!  It has been about 38 years since their elders sent the spies in to assess it.  The people are thirsty, they complain, Moses talks to the Lord, the Lord tells him to provide water, he does (but with his own little dramatic flair), and Moses is reprimanded and his consequence is “Your ticket is void, you cannot enter the Promise Land” What???

THIS is when I walked over to my mentor’s house and said “This is crap! (may have been a few other choice words for my own dramatic flair).  After all Moses has done for these people, he makes one little mistake and BAM, he’s out!

Well,  I tip-toed back over to her house (she pretended not to see me) and I took my Bible back to wrestle with God over it.

Let’s think for a minute:

• Who brought the plagues to Egypt?  God.
• Who redeemed the people from slavery? God.
• Who parted the Red Sea? God.
• Who brought manna, quail, and turned water from bitter to sweet? God.
• Chapter 17…who brought water from the rock? God
• Chapter 20…who brought water from the Rock? God or Moses.

The Lord said to Moses, ⁸ “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”

This is a NEW generation.  God has patiently waited for the last generation to pass away so that he can continue the plan.  This generation did not see God do any of the miracles listed above, they only heard about it from their parents.  This is a HUGE moment!  GOD WILL PROVIDE SO THAT THIS NEW GENERATION KNOWS WHO IS BRINGING THEM INTO THE PROMISE LAND!  GOD.

⁹ So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as he commanded him. ¹⁰ He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must WE bring you water out of this rock?” ¹¹ Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

What in Sam Hill!! WHO brought the water? This generation will go into the Promise Land trusting Moses, not God. Oh, this would be a big deal.  I totally understand why Moses cannot be leader into the Promise Land now.

¹² But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”

• Moses harshly rebuked the people (v. 10),
• took credit for what God had done (v. 10),
• resented the Israelites (v. 10),
• lost his temper(v. 11),
• disobeyed God (v. 11),
• did not trust God’s power (v. 12),
• failed to glorify God (v. 12),
• and rebelled against God (v. 24).

Now I get the enormity of this chapter and the consequence.  So I kept reading my Bible. 😁 (And it gives me a lot to think about when I use “I” in my own accomplishments.

Edom denies Passage 😢

The Edomites were the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s (Israel’s) brother. (feels like forever so jog your brain or look at your handouts )

The “king’s highway” was a major road through Edom that caravans and armies passed through. In spite of Moses’ peaceful request, the Edomites refused to let Israel pass and God will bring them eastward to enter through the Jordan River.

If you are looking at the map, we leave Kadesh Barnea, continue through the wilderness.  The Edomites refusal to let the Israelites pass through their land WILL come up again in our reading.  God deals with all our enemies in His time, so we should have Peace when wrongs seemed to go unnoticed.

Aaron dies.  Man, what would the obituary say?  Just as God proclaimed, the High priest position is handed to his son, Eleazar.  The clothes were removed before he died so that they were never contaminated by a corpse.  (Spoiler Alert: when we get to the Gospel, who is the High Priest, and how did he get that job??  All this careful planning get flushed down the toilet). If you really want to know ask me in comments, I don’t want to ruin it for those who want to wait.

• ONLY an 8.5 minute read today.  8 minutes!  No EXCUSES.
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Korah, Datham, and Abiram-

This is dramatic chapter.  When you think about all the detailed planning from God we just read, this moment could throw it all away. This is not complaining.  This is REBELLION.   The leaders of this rebellion were “Korah”—a Levite of the Kohathite branch of the tribe and a first cousin of Moses and Aaron. These men gained the support of 250 other men from the other tribes, who were leaders among the Israelites. These men intended to overthrow God’s plan, and to replace it with one that seemed better to them. The rebels attributed Moses and Aaron’s position of leadership to personal ambition, rather than to obedience to God’s commands.

Did you get all that??

• Moses was not the one that brought them out of Egypt.  God did.
• Did they just call Egypt the Land of milk and honey?  Oh no they didn’t!
• What? Moses didn’t bring them into the next land called the Land of milk and honey? He tried!  They refused to trust God.
• Moses and Aaron do not want to lord over them…they fall on their face in prayer for them!

Good Grief!  It is a reality show.  So next we have this horrible scene:

Back in Numbers 14:18 ‘The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’

Such a hard scripture to chew on.  But here is an example this.

²⁷ So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing with their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to their tents. 😢………the ground under them split apart ³² and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all those associated with Korah, together with their possessions.

Chapter 17: Aaron’s staff.

So far:

• Aaron’s rod was the one that turned into a snake in Pharaoh’s court
• It was Aaron’s rod that God used to turn the water of Egypt into blood
• It was Aaron’s rod that summoned the plagues of the frogs and gnats.

God set apart Aaron and his sons as priests. The rest of the Levites were to minister to the Lord in the tabernacle, offer sacrifices, and hear from God for the good of the whole nation.  To put an end to the unrest, God used Aaron’s staff to show them who God chose. God commanded Moses to have the leader of each tribe of Israel bring his rod or staff to the tent of meeting, with Aaron’s rod representing the tribe of Levi. Each of the twelve leaders was to have his name inscribed on his rod. The Lord told Moses, “Buds will sprout on the staff belonging to the man I choose. Then I will finally put an end to the people’s murmuring and complaining against you”.

So did it just SPROUT?  NO!!!  Aaron’s staff, representing the tribe of Levi, had sprouted, budded, blossomed, and produced ripe almonds!

I am not an almond grower BUT I did research the process.  It takes about 200 days to produce an almond AFTER a 3-4 year germination period. (Oh I could make a sermon out of this)

Aaron’s rod didn’t just sprout buds; it brought forth flowers and fruit, a clear demonstration of the power of the One who gives life. Verse 10 says, “And the Lord said to Moses: ‘Place Aaron’s staff permanently before the Ark of the Covenant to serve as a warning to rebels. This should put an end to their complaints against me and prevent any further deaths.’”

You would think!!  Ummmm…

Trivia: What are the 3 items placed in the Ark of the Covenant?