March 9, 2010, Numbers 11:24-13:33, Mark 14:22-52, Psalm 52:1-9, Proverbs 11:1-3

Dear Lord; We want to know more of you, so we have gathered here to seek your face.  Enable us by your Spirit to reach out to one another in Love.  May our thoughts and words bring glory to your name.

Response to Numbers 11:24-13:33

Mark 1:10-13: "As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: 'You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.'
     At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him."


In our reading today, we see a very similar picture with the 70 elders as they are prepared to lead the children of Israel in the wilderness for 40 years.  Moses could not do it alone, God annointed these 70 men with like Spirit to that of Moses.  Just as the dove would not have remained on Jesus, yet the Spirit continued to work, so the Spirit touched 70 of these men, but only 2 continued to prophecy following this initial baptism.  The same is true in our churches following a sermon, few continue to speak the word of God outside the walls of the church.

The Kingdom of God is not built on just the teachings of the Bible and the words of Jesus Christ.  It is not built by a bunch of people going to worship and listening to their teacher or preacher and then going about their business.  It is built on working with the Spirit of inspiration within each one of us as we are touched by God through what we read, hear, observe, or understand through our experiences and sharing our lives with our fellow man.  Enter the tent to be baptised by the Spirit - live in the camp and be a blessing to others by speaking the love of God into the lives of brothers and sisters as they are ravaged by the wild beasts within.

Numbers 11:29; "But Moses replied, "Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!"

Mark 9:39-40; "Jesus said. 'No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us.'"

Yesterday's reading ended with Numbers 11:18-23; "...(18b) The Lord heard you when you wailed, "If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!" Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat it. (19)You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, (20) but for a whole month - until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it - because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, 'Why did we ever leave Egypt?'...(23b)Is the Lord's arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you."

Moses had asked how such a thing could be done for hundreds of thousands of people.  In today's reading, the Lord's arm was revealed! There were enough quail that the peole could eat for a whole month.  We can only guess what plague spread - influenza, botulism, or just starvation sickness! We also are not told whether the people ate for a month! We are only told that there was enough to last for a month (vs. 19-20 above).  Nevertheless, Moses learned a lesson about trusting in the Lord and the people were reminded again against rebelling and complaining before the Lord.  They probably learned something about diet, food preparation, and proper eating habits within their environment in the process.

Numbers 12 speaks of Moses marrying an Cushite woman.  The difficulty here may stem from the families knowledge of history: 

Genesis 9:22-25; " Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside.  But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father's nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 
he said, 'Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers.'"

Personal note: This passage has been used to treat the sons of Ham as slaves for hundreds of years. Biblical curses carry great weight and test the resolves of man to follow the command to love one another.  The Bible never spoke against slavery, but actually spoke into class distinctions. Man has saw fit to treat one another equally as they have felt led of God. Now, back to the history!

Genesis 10:6-12; "The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim (Egypt), Put and Canaan.  The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. Cush was the father (ancestor or predecessor or founder) of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; that is why it is said, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord." The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in Shinar (Babylonia). From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.

Genesis 25:1-6 "Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah... The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah.
     Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_is_a_Jew "The halakhic definition based on Leviticus 24:10 is that a Jew is a person born to a Jewish mother,"
Leviticus 24:10; "Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite."

Hopefully these quotes help set the ideologies of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.  I was unable to find a commentary that claimed this Cushite woman was not the same woman as Zipporah, but I cannot imagine she was as Cush and Midian were completely different people, settling in different parts of the earth.  In reflecting on the visits of Moses Father in Law, Zipporah was either no longer living or refused to leave her father's house.  Of course, this would be tradition as Genesis 2:24 states that the man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife - and that ethnicity passes through the woman!
Needless to say, controversy erupted between Moses and his siblings.  Although I chuckle at verse 3; (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)(KJV), the understanding of what is being said is huge! It is seen in the fact Moses leads a proud people, yet he is married to a woman or two considered to be an outsider or a slave. Listen to Psalm 37:7-12, Isaiah 29:18-20, Matthew 5:5, and I Peter 3:15;

Psalm 37:7-12; "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret - it leads only to evil. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace. The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them;"

Isaiah 29:18-20 (KJV) in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:"

Matthew 5:5; " Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth"

I Peter 3:15 (KJV); "and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear"

The punishment for the dishonor, bigotry, or prejudice was that Miriam became completely leprous, as white as snow.  Aaron did not suffer except through his compassion for his sister and his own guilt.  He speaks in verse 12 of the fact we cannot change who we are when we come out of our Mother's womb.  Due to the sin of their discharge of the mouth, and the resulting unclean-ness of Miriam, she observed the 7 day period of cleansing, and its a pretty sure bet neither of them would say anything about Moses religious or cultural choices again. 

I hope we can all take a lesson here regarding meekness, dishonor, bigotry, and prejudice against our fellowman regardless of their own religious, cultural, or ethnic identities before a loving Father who loves all His children.  We'll look at this passage again on March 10 when Jesus faces the religious rulers.

In Numbers 13, members from each tribe are chosen to enter the land of Canaan.  This has always felt to me like the Lewis and Clarke expedition of the early 1800's in America.  Go into the land and report back on the agriculture, the topography, the strength of culture and military, and the ethnicity.  This is the first time most of these representatives are mentioned except for Joshua (Hoshea vs.8) of the tribe of Ephraim.  He had been introduced to us in Numbers 11:28 as one of Moses' personal minister, one of his chosen men.

Again, the period of time set for the expedition into Canaan was 40 days.  The spies returned praising God for the blessings that lay before them, but lacking faith in their ability to conquer the giants - forgetting the power of God was on their side.  Again, there were more than just the Canaanites listed among the people groups, most if not all of which are mentioned in Genesis, the beginning of the book of life.  From this reading, I question whether the "sea" of verse 29 represents the Sea as represented by today's "Gulf of Aqaba which may have been considered part of the Red Sea at the time or even the Salt Sea further North as both are related to the Jordan.  I question whether the 40 days would have allowed them to run through enemy territory to the western sea (Mediterranian) and back again. I doubt it.  Only Caleb is mentioned as showing faith in Numbers 13:30, Joshua will join him in faith in Numbers 14 and both will receive blessing for their faith, while those who refused to acknowledge the power and will of God would remain lost in the wilderness, leaving the blessing and opportunity before them to their children.

Response to Mark 14:22-52

This observance of the Passover now became the institution of "The Lord's Supper" for Christians as Jesus used the dinner in representation of His impending death and this ceremony would serve in memory.  This passage and it's associated readings from Matthew 26:26-29 and Luke 22:19-24 are often used in communion observance around the world.  Just as the Jewish faith remembered the sacrificial lamb through the unleavened bread and associated celebration and feast of unleavened bread passover, so the Christians celebrate Easter and Communion.

http://www.missionislam.com/comprel/easterchristmas.htm Do Muslims Celebrate Easter and Christmas?

The above article cautions all observance of Holy Days to be in honor to God and our fellowman.  Even our celebration is a witness to our neighbor.

When they had finished eating with the singing of a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives on the east side of the city.  Jesus, knowing what was about to take place was inspired to quote Zechariah 13:7. Listen to the prophecy within context:

Zechariah 12:10-13:9; "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on (to) me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great..., like the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo (perhaps akin to an Assyrian ceremony the people knew well)...On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity. On that day, I will banish the names of the idols from the land, and they will be remembered no more," declares the Lord Almighty.
     "I will remove both the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land. And if anyone still prophesies, his father and mother, to whom he was born, will say to him, 'You must die, because you have told lies in the Lord's name.' When he prophesies, his own parents will stab him. On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his prophetic vision. He will not put on a prophet's garment of hair in order to deceive. He will say, 'I am not a prophet. I am a farmer; the land has been my livelihood since my youth. If someone asks him, 'What are these wounds on your body?' he will answer, 'The wounds I was given at the house of my friends.'
     Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me!" declares the Lord Almighty.
"Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
     In the whole land," declares the Lord, "two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The Lord is our God.' "

As Jesus quoted this prophecy, I wished to copy it here as I feel there is so much revealed!  "they will look on me, the one they have pierced" is declared by the Lord Almighty! Is this not in reference to Christ, the embodiment of His Spirit?  This man, of Jewish birth, was wounded in the house of his friends! His own parents (culture) stabbed him for speaking what they believed to be "lies in the Lord's name!"  All prophecy of a future Christ are now lies - if they say here he is, or there he is, do not believe them.  And yet, He was a fountain flowing from their rich cultural and spiritual history that would forever cleanse them from sin and impurity!  Truly, when they realize the truth of who their Son was, there will be weeping akin to "the mourning of the women who weep for Tammuz-Adon" (Adon means lord)." as referenced in the following website:

http://www.knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/Hadad/

As the prophet who said "I am not a prophet, I am a farmer", Peter would deny that He was a disciple!  When their shepherd was beaten by the hands of his people, his sheep were scattered, they all felt forsaken by their God.  Many would leave the faith, but a percentage would hold fast to the Love they knew had come from the Father.  They would go out into all the world to preach this gospel!  Their lives would face persecution and death, but they would call on His name and He would answer them; He would say, 'They are my children,' and they would say, 'The Lord is our God.'"

Through his boldness in attitude, yet coming weakness in crisis, Peter would be prepared to lead that early Church.  His statement would become their mantra; "If I must die with you, I will not deny you!" (vs.31RSV)

They went to a place called Gethsemane... Did you ever wish a day or a week or a season of your life would pass?  Knowing you have to take a test and just wishing it would be over?  Jesus must have been experiencing that emotion within the Garden.  He had asked his friends to lift Him up as he was having a panic attack, but not understanding what was to come, they fell asleep.  This moment is captured by all four gospel writers: (Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, Luke 22:39-46, John 17).  If it had been up to Jesus, he would have been running!  Yet, knowing the will of the Father, He prayed to calm his own spirit, knowing that although everyone would be scattered, God would not leave His side.  He knew Psalm 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength" and at that moment, He had nothing else. "Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!" Mark 14:42.

In the dark of night! The religious rulers had finally found their moment! Still, they were prepared for a riot and did not look unlike more modern terrorists of the night.  Luckily, there was not more of a battle, or perhaps there was as damage was done as the slave of the high priest lost his ear.  Matthew 26:47-56, Luke 22:47-53, and John 18:1-11 also give witness to the events of that night.  Through them we read that Peter is the one who drew his sword, but Jesus put violence to rest immediately and healed the slaves ear.  Yet, even this kindness did not stop scripture from being fulfilled:

Psalm 88:8 "You have taken from me my closest friends and have made me repulsive to them. I am confined and cannot escape"

Response to Psalm 52:1-9

This Psalm renders David's reflections after dealing with Doeg the Edomite in I Samuel 21-22:

I Samuel 22:6-23; "Now Saul heard that David and his men had been discovered. And Saul, spear in hand, was seated under the tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah, with all his officials standing around him. Saul said to them, "Listen, men of Benjamin! Will the son of Jesse give all of you fields and vineyards? Will he make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? Is that why you have all conspired against me? No one tells me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is concerned about me or tells me that my son has incited my servant to lie in wait for me, as he does today." But Doeg the Edomite, who was standing with Saul's officials, said, "I saw the son of Jesse come to Ahimelech son of Ahitub at Nob. Ahimelech inquired of the LORD for him; he also gave him provisions and the sword of Goliath the Philistine." (see I Samuel 21:1-9)
     Then the king sent for the priest Ahimelech son of Ahitub and his father's whole family, who were the priests at Nob, and they all came to the king. Saul said, "Listen now, son of Ahitub." "Yes, my lord," he answered. Saul said to him, "Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, giving him bread and a sword and inquiring of God for him, so that he has rebelled against me and lies in wait for me, as he does today?" Ahimelech answered the king, "Who of all your servants is as loyal as David, the king's son-in-law, captain of your bodyguard and highly respected in your household?  Was that day the first time I inquired of God for him? Of course not! Let not the king accuse your servant or any of his father's family, for your servant knows nothing at all about this whole affair."
     But the king said, "You will surely die, Ahimelech, you and your father's whole family." Then the king ordered the guards at his side: "Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because they too have sided with David. They knew he was fleeing, yet they did not tell me." But the king's officials were not willing to raise a hand to strike the priests of the Lord. The king then ordered Doeg, "You turn and strike down the priests." So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck them down. That day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod. He also put to the sword Nob, the town of the priests, with its men and women, its children and infants, and its cattle, donkeys and sheep.
     But Abiathar, a son of Ahimelech son of Ahitub, escaped and fled to join David. He told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord. Then David said to Abiathar: "That day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, I knew he would be sure to tell Saul. I am responsible for the death of your father's whole family. Stay with me; don't be afraid; the man who is seeking your life is seeking mine also. You will be safe with me."

The first verse of this Psalm is vastly different in the (RSV) and (NIV) translations I am using.  As we considered the meekness (humbleness NIV) of Moses in Numbers 12:3 today, this verse appears to speak to those who think too much of themselves - puffed up, prideful (perhaps Saul in our reading of I Samuel).  In checking various translations, I feel the New American Standard Bible (NASB) fits the majority of translations:

Why do you boast (Psalm 94:4-5) in evil (mischief), O mighty man? The lovingkindness (Psalm 52:8) of God endures all day long.

Saul had become a drunkard, a jealous and angry man, a man bent on revenge and hatred.  His demons drove him to destroy anything that stood in his way.  He had felt abandoned by God and chose in his torment to abandon God as well.  To David who saw all of this in the man he honored as King, he saw the embodiment of wickedness. (separation from God) 

Psalm 52:6; The righteous will see and fear; they will laugh at him, saying, "Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold but trusted in his great wealth and grew strong by destroying others!"

David spoke of Saul, but who do you know who has abandoned honor to God only to have the demons of life snatch their joy and strength and leave them preying on the righteous and blaspheming God?

Saul met his end on the point of his own sword.  Don't follow him down that path.  Instead, trust in the steadfast love of God for ever and ever.  Know that He loves you and does not desire that any should perish.  In this life, you will meet various trials, but be of good faith, He has overcome the world.  Proclaim his name, for it is good! Sing his praises within the company of the righteous this weekend. It will do your heart good.

Response to Proverbs 11:1-3

Don't steal, honesty within business, among friends, and around family will heap blessings of fellowship upon your head.  Pride goeth before a fall, but the meek shall inherit the earth.  In truth and honesty, there is great reward and reputation among men.  But without these virtues, life is bound to bring struggle and heartache.

It's really not so much about heaven, but about getting along well here on earth.  Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. The BIBLE.

Until tomorrow

Rick.