March 4, 2010, Numbers 2:1-3:51, Mark 11:27-12:17, Psalm 47:1-9, Proverbs 10:24-25

Heavenly Father; Lead us through this study of your word towards those virtues which we can find in you.  Help us as we seek your Love through your word towards one another.  May our thoughts and words come from a place within that you have touched and be representative of your righteousness and truth.

Response to Numbers 2:1-3:51

In Numbers 2-3, Moses establishis a functional grouping of the people as they were camped in the desert.  The center of the culture was the tabernacle which faced East. 

Moses and Aaron with Aaron's children, Eleazar and Ithamar, camped in front of the tabernacle to the east. Aaron and His sons performed the priestly functions for all Israel.  Moses sons, Gershom and Eliezer very well may have been invloved religiously with their maternal grandfather, Jethro, priest of Midian. These sons left the Israelite story in Exodus 18, except for a short entry in I Chronicles 23:15-17. 

The tribes of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulan camped under the standard of Judah east of Moses and Aaron.

The Levites descended from Kohath (Kohathites) camped to the south of the tabernacle and were responsible for all the furnishings, the altar, candlesticks, tables, ark and all the utensils.  The tribes of Reuben, Simeon, and Gad camped to the south of the Kohathites under the standard of Reuben.

The Levites descended from Gershom (Gershomites) camped to the west, behind the tabernacle and were put in charge of all the tents and coverings of the tabernacle.  The tribes of Ephraim, Mannassah and Benjamin camped to the west of the Gershomites under the standard of Ephraim.  Ephraim remained a strong tribe mentioned often in the later prophets.

The levites descended from Marari (Merarites) camped to the north of the tabernacle and were given the care of all the beams, frames, crossmembers, and tent pegs of the tabernacle.  The tribes of Dan, Asher, and Naphtali camped to the north of the Merarites under the standard of Dan.

As I noted in yesterday's blog, this is the first assignment of duties for the Levites. Leviticus dealt only with the priestly functions of Aaron and his sons.

As the people left Egypt, following the death of all the first born of the Egyptians, The people were camped along the shores of the Red Sea.  God spoke to Moses in Exodus 13:2 and said: "Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether man or animal."  As Moses shared this with the Israelites, He continued this vow in verse 12-15: "you are to give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the Lord. Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons.  In days to come, when your son asks you, 'What does this mean?' say to him, 'With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.  When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed every firstborn in Egypt, both man and animal. This is why I sacrifice to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.'"

Now, in Numbers 3:40-51, there is a substitution for the firstborn with the Levitical tribe. This tribe is dedicated to the Lord for His service.  Throughout the remainder of the Old Testament, the duties of the Levitical tribe would be to serve as priests throughout the land.  Although many would serve at the tabernacle and eventually in the temple, others would scatter amongst the nation as community priests. This in part was fulfillment of Jacob's curse in Genesis 49:46-47. "Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.

Response to Mark 11:27-12:17

Sometimes, don't you wonder why Jesus doesn't just give a straight answer? "God told me to do it!"

I would guess from today's reading in Mark 11:27-33 (also see Matthew 21:23-27 and Luke 20:1-8), that this speaks of a second day that Jesus returns to the temple to teach.  Mark records that the authority of the temple - chief priests, scribes, and elders - met Him at the doors asking what right he had to cause such commotion!  Instead of answering their question, he placed them on the spot with the people through a difficult question and began to tell all the people gathered the parable of the vineyard.

Mark 12:1-12 and Luke 20:9-19 lead right into the parable of the wicked tenants, although Matthew first tells a parable of the two sons.  This parable was not a new concept in Jewish literature, the concept had been prophecied by Isaiah in Isaiah 5:1-7:

"I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.
      'Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?  Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.'
     The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress."

This is my interpretation of the parable of the vineyard.  If you have other insights to share, please do: 

God chose the Israelites to be His chosen people.  He gave them His Kingdom to make His name known throughout the world.  He had made them Holy so as to bring honor to His name.  However, they turned from the way and stopped producing fruit. They claimed the righteousness, the laws, and decrees as their own.  God sent prophets among them and they rejected their teachings, tortured, beat, and even killed.  Finally, God sent his son, Jesus whom these rulers of the Temple had come at that very moment intending to arrest for the commotion He had caused the previous day.  They wished to do away with Him so that they could go on with the power they held in their religious practice. 

The death discussed had not happened yet, but Jesus knew their hearts, and knew what was to come.  He spoke directly to the leaders as He quoted Psalm 118:22-23: "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes."  This was too much for the temple authorities to overcome.  Their intent to arrest Jesus had to be put off until another time.  If they had arrested Jesus then, there would have been a riot causing more trouble with the Romans.

The account of the parable of the wicked tenants as shared by Luke, and some manuscripts of Matthew record another statement from Jesus in Luke 20:18: "Every one who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but when it falls on any one it will crush him."  I hesitated to mention that as it is not found in today's reading of Mark and the fact it is not found anywhere else in the Bible.  If you know where this quote comes from, I would like to know!  The closest reference I could find comes from Isaiah 8:14-15:

"and he will be a sanctuary; but for both houses of Israel he will be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare. Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured."

Mark continues his gospel with the arrival of the Pharisees and Herodians (According to many interpreters the courtiers or soldiers of Herod Antipas ("Milites Herodis," Jerome) are intended; but more probably the Herodians were a public political party, who distinguished themselves from the two great historical parties of post-exilian Judaism (Pharisees and Sadducees) by the fact that they were and had been sincerely friendly to Herod the Great, the King of the Jews,)*Wikipedia 'Herodians'.

This encounter regarding paying taxes to Caesar is shared by Mark 12:13-17, Matthew 22:15-22, and Luke 20:20-26.  The spokesman for these political and religious leaders initially butter Jesus up saying He "truly teaches the way of God" while mocking him in saying he "cares for no man."  He is then questioned about taxes.  Jesus responds with today's focus verse from Mark 12:17: "Give to Ceasar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's."

Not only were they amazed by His answer, but such a simple statement has motivated individuals into tithing and paying taxes for 2000 years. Money won't get you into heaven, however, the attitude behind tithing is that same concept as the sacrifices of Leviticus.  Through tithing, your heart is set on the things that build the Kingdom of God - If that is truly your ambition - to serve God, tithing is critical!  If you want your country to function properly, pay your taxes, but be involved in government to control expenditures and promote Biblical principals - hopefully, not only your chosen few.

Heavenly Father, Redeemer of captives; We beseech you in our time to release us from our inward hostilities that keep us from the Peace you have envisioned for our world.  Lord, although we trust in you, we confess that we fear the evil among us and fail to trust our fellowman.  Lord, we ask for your protection and for a courage to seek  the Love, Joy, and Peace you have promised in praying for and loving each other - even our enemies.  Through our thoughts and words of reflection on your word today, cleanse our hearts and renew a right Spirit among us that we may more fully understand your will.

Response to Psalm 47:1-9

The worldwide dominion of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords is an obvious theme of the "Sons of Korah" in this psalm.  As the heading for this Psalm says "Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm", I tried to find what was special about "A psalm" with no luck.  I am guessing it is a song or poem of praise from our reading. 

From verse 3, I certainly expect this was written during the reigns of David as the Kingdom experienced great growth during his reign.  Perhaps this was one of the songs which were sung as the Ark of the Covenant was being returned to the tabernacle in Jerusalem in I Chronicles 15:16-28:

"David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brothers as singers to sing joyful songs, accompanied by musical instruments: lyres, harps and cymbals...according to alamoth,...Kenaniah the head Levite was in charge of the singing; that was his responsibility because he was skillful at it. Berekiah and Elkanah were to be doorkeepers for the ark. Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah and Eliezer the priests were to blow trumpets before the ark of God...So David and the elders of Israel and the commanders of units of a thousand went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the house of Obed-Edom, with rejoicing. Because God had helped the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord, seven bulls and seven rams were sacrificed.  Now David was clothed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and as were the singers, and Kenaniah, who was in charge of the singing of the choirs. David also wore a linen ephod. So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouts, with the sounding of rams' horns and trumpets, and of cymbals, and the playing of lyres and harps.

Seeing the word "Alamoth" in this excerpt from I Chronicles makes me wonder if Psalm 46 from yesterday was also written for this occasion.

I think the words they wrote for this song carried a message beyond their - and perhaps our understanding.  I would have loved to have been in that procession, wouldn't you! Love, Joy, Hope, Praise, and Thanksgiving were alive and well!

Response to Proverbs 10:24-25

A law of self fulfilling prophecy. Think negative and negative things are bound to happen. Scheme and fall prey. Think positively, and the world around you becomes postive as well.

Proverbs 10:25 reminds me the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:24-27: "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

May your day be blessed.

Rick