WHAT I'M LEARNING IN THE BIBLE....

Thursday, February 21, 2008 NUMBERS 33 Rameses was THE STARTING POINT for the children of Israel on their way out of Egypt to the Promised Land. 3b-4: What a contrast of fate! As the Israelites were marching out of Egypt, their land of bondage, with boldness, the Egyptians were all downcast and in great mourning burying their dead firstborns! Only God can wreak such CONTRAST OF FATE when a former downtrodden slave can saunter confidently while his hitherto haughty master looks on morosely. 38: AARON died at 123 on mount Hor on the first day of the fifth month (Jewish calendar) in the 40th year of the journey of the Israelites. 50-53: God’s charge to the people of Israel on WHAT TO DO WITH THE INHABITANTS OF THE LAND of Canaan; they were to be dispossessed and driven out of the land, and their engraved stones, moulded images and high places destroyed. 54: God instructed a DIVISION of the land BY LOT as an inheritance among the families, and then a PROPORTIONATE ALLOTMENT of the land to each family according to their sizes. 55: The consequences of NOT ELIMINATING ALL THE INHABITANTS of the land/territory one is to take over. The remnants will eventually constitute irritants in one’s eyes, thorns in the flesh and a source of harassment to the person. This is also applicable to one’s habits after being born again. Those habits/indulgences that one did not get rid of will constantly be the Achilles’ heels that the devil will use to get one to fall. Wednesday, February 20, 2008 NUMBERS 32 1-3: SELF DETERMINATION is very essential for the expression of self and fulfilment in life. The children of Reuben and Gad saw what they wanted – a good pasture for their large livestock – in the land of Jazer and Gilead, and they went to Moses to seek his permission to allow them settle there, as there was no point for them to go further with the congregation across the Jordan when they had already seen all they needed for sustenance before the Jordan. 9: DISCOURAGEMENT, either external or internal, can prevent one from making the necessary move to take possession of what God has given one. 11: NOT FOLLOWING GOD WHOLLY, that is with unflinching dedication, can also prevent one from ATTAINING THE PROMISE. It halted a whole generation of Israel from attaining what had been given to them by Divine Promise many years before they were even born. 15: TURNING AWAY FROM God can lead to Him abandoning one in the wilderness (the vicissitudes of life), and this might lead to the destruction of the person. 6-33: There is a PRICE TO PAY FOR GETTING WHAT YOU WANT. In the case of the children of Reuben, Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh, it was patiently enduring the castigation of Moses and resolving to go with the army of Israel across the Jordan to fight the battle that would make them the sole occupants of Canaan. 39: For there to a POSSESSION, there must first e a DISPOSSESSION. The children of Machir had to fight and dispossess the Amorites before they could possess their land. Tuesday, February 19, 2008 NUMBERS 31 1-11: MOSES’ LAST ASSIGNMENT was mobilising of the army of Israel to go to war against the Midianites, to take VENGEANCE FOR God for using feminine seduction to draw the hearts of His people away and thereby positioning them against Him. 12-18: Dealing with the outward manifestation of a SIN will not be as effective as dealing with the real cause or SOURCE OF THE SIN. Moses was angry with the army of Israel because they spared the women of Midian, who were the ones that lured them into sin against God in the first place. They had to be killed in order to forestall a re-occurrence. 19-20: SELF PURIFICATION for the army of Israel after the war, a 7-day exercise. 21-23: PURIFICATION OF OBJECTS: Only the items which can endure fire, such as gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead shall be put through fire for purification. The ones that cannot should be put through the water. 25-31-47: Another of GOD’S RECOMMENDATION FOR SHARING: He commanded that the booty gained from the war with the Midianites be divided into two and that the army who went to war took one half while the whole congregation of Israel shared the remaining half. Then to cater for the Levites who did not fall into any of these two categories, God instructed that one out of every 500 of the army’s booty be given to the High Priest as a heave offering to the LORD, while one out of every 50 of the booty accruing to the congregation be given to the Levites as their own portion. Isn’t the LORD simply wonderful and so thoughtful? 48-54: The APPRECIATIVE HEARTS of the LEADERS of the arm of Israel; without being prompted, they came on their own to offer a thanksgiving offering to God after conducting a head count and discovering that NONE of the soldiers whom they took to war died in the battle. Friday, February 15, 2008 NUMBERS 30 1-2: A MAN is bound by his VOWS. In other words, the word of a man is his bond. 3-5: A WOMAN’s VOW, on the other hand, is subject to the ratification of her father (if she is not married) or that of her husband (if she is married) for it to be valid in the eyes of God. 6: God recognises that women are more prone to spontaneous EMOTIONAL REACTION in the heat of the moment than men, and this could lead to them making rash utterances, hence His provision for a review of the vow of a woman by her father or her husband for it to be valid. Unfortunately, men do not have this privilege, and therefore must be very very cautious in making a vow before God if they do not have the will to fulfil it. (Compare Ecclesiastes 5:1-6) 9: A WIDOW or a DIVORCED WOMAN is bound by her vows because she does not have the covering of a man to ratify it. 10: However, if the WIDOW’s or a DIVORCED WOMAN’s VOW was nullified while she had a husband, then it is no longer binding on her. 14-15: By DELAYING TO NULLIFY HIS WIFE’s VOW immediately if he does not agree with it, only to do so a day after or much later, a man will end up bearing the guilt and the consequences of the woman’s failing, and she will be absolved of all blame. Tuesday, February 12, 2008 NUMBERS 28 Vs 1-2: God is particular about OFFERINGS due to Him being offered at their APPOINTED TIME, and not at the convenience of the person. Now offerings to God may not necessarily be money. Vs 16: THE PASSOVER is on the 14th day in the first month of the Jewish calendar. Vs 17: The FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD starts the following day, that is the 15th day, and it is a seven-day affair. Vs 3, 9, 11, 19, 31: God is also very particular that WHATEVER is offered to Him is WITHOUT BLEMISH. In fact, this is one phrase that is recurrent whenever a reference is made to an item to be offered as an offering to God. The story of Cain and Abel was a classical reference to lend credence to God’s disposition where offering is concerned. Monday, February 11, 2008 NUMBERS 27 Vs 1-4: The bravery of the DAUGHTERS OF ZELOPHEHAD; they did not keep to themselves, mourn their lot, nor resort to murmuring and castigating the injustice of God and men in silence. On the contrary, they took their case, on the inheritance of their father, to Moses and the whole congregation of Israel and presented their case dispassionately. Vs 1-5: A lesson in LEADERSHIP: Moses did not make out to have the answer to the question of the daughters of Zelophehad. He simply took the matter to God to know what He had to say about it. This is a show of humility, it requires humility on the part of a leader not to try and show/prove to his people that he has all the answers to their questions at his fingertips. Vs 6-11: What came out of Moses’ session with God was the LAW OF INHERITANCE, a body of regulations which state who can inherit someone’s inheritance after his death. Vs 12-14: God’s grouse against Moses, that prevented him from getting to the Promised Land, was that he allowed the strife of the congregation to get to him and so rebelled against the command of God by not hallowing Him in the eyes of the people. Vs 15-20: THE HEART OF A LEADER: Moses knowing his time had come to die asked God to give the people someone else who would lead them to the Promised Land, and not leave them without a shepherd. Note that Joshua had been Moses’ PA for some time, but that did not make him the automatic choice for the leadership position until God Himself chose him. Vs 18-23: The INAUGURATION OF JOSHUA as the successor of Moses. Vs 18: Joshua was one of the few individuals in the Old Testament who had the HOLY SPIRIT Vs 20: it was not all the AUTHORITY OF MOSES that was passed on to Joshua at the time of his inauguration. The Bible records that it was some of Moses’ authority that was transferred to him. Vs 20: AUTHORITY is needed for a leader to command the obedience of his people. Joshua was conferred with it in order for him to command the respect of the people of Israel.