Who Do You Keep Out of Celebrations That God Wants Them In? And What About Church while on Vacation?

Numbers Chapter 9: Passover and Divine Guidance

Numbers 9:1-14 Sanctification through Celebrating Passover

I am writing part of this study today from the parking lot of my church, where I decided to visit alone, pray and read.  It’s a beautiful day.  Unfortunately, many all over the world feel they still need to be isolating in their homes and will do so until the government gives them the green light to live otherwise. Meanwhile, the damage to their livelihoods may be beyond repair. Meanwhile there is good news. For three days in a row, all three global stats seem to be going in the right direction: percentage of deaths/finalized cases and deaths/all cases is down; percentage of recoveries/all cases is up. Good News.  So, we are thankful, and continue to study the Word of God like never before. Hang in there with us as we look for more gems in Numbers today.

The Passage

Verses 1-14 of this chapter describe how God wanted Moses to let the people celebrate the Passover even while in the wilderness. And the timing was to be the appointed time as per Exodus 12. In verse 6 we are told that some men who had touched a dead person were unclean and could not observe Passover.

They approached Moses (and Aaron) and questioned the rule. Moses thought that was a fair question and told them he would enquire of God as to how to respond. And God told Moses that they, though they were unclean because of a dead person, could indeed observe the Passover to the Lord.

And then passage in verse 13 tells us that God was more concerned about the clean person who is on a journey and neglects to observe the Passover. God says that person will be cut off from his people and bear his sin. Verse 14 tells us that ‘alien sojourners’ may also observe the Passover among the people                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Thoughts on the Passage

The Passover meal and offerings to the Lord were a must. There was no excuse for missing it, even if travelling or on vacation. There is a direct link between the Passover as described here and the Communion services that we hold in our churches. God called for the practice to be annual at an appointed time. Jesus came along and said, “For as often as you do this, (take the communion meal – the bread and wine or juice), you do so in remembrance of me.” [I Corinthians 11] So, based on that, many Christians started to celebrate it monthly and some even weekly (some Brethren assemblies).

I remember growing up my parents used to note how often various groups celebrated communion. I remember some folks found fault with those that observed it on a different schedule. I turned to the New Testament Greek to check out the word “often” to see what Jesus may have had in mind with respect to frequency.  I found out that the word used – οσακις – in Greek, according to both the scholars Strong and Vine simply means “as often as”. Well, where I come from, there’s a big difference in meaning between “as often as” and “do more often”. Jesus was simply saying, when you do celebrate the Passover meal (which was indeed once a year) when He walked on this earth, “do it in remembrance of [Him]. I do not believe He was saying do it “very often”. Personally, I find that doing something very often leads to an impact that is diminishing in value. It becomes rote. And we have to really ask ourselves how well the majority of parishioners prepare for the Lord’s Supper. May I suggest not very well. Nevertheless, that is not the hill I am going to die on. 

Now, it is interesting to me that God says that those who are clean inside (have a sincere desire to take participate in the Passover) may do so even if they are unclean outside. Yes, admittedly, it was on the 14^th day of the second month as compared to the 14^th day of the first month when it was observed by all the others. They had to get past the period of uncleanliness. God made a provision that allowed them to participate. They didn’t have to wait until the next year. But they still had to be clean (from the uncleanliness of touching the dead body).

What does that tell us about who we allow at our Communion Table? I am aware of some closed denominations that only allow people who are members of their church or members of their faction to take communion. Yet God says even the externally physically unclean and those that are just passing by on their travels, can participate. We have to make sure they had met the criteria that God is interested in. What does your church do?

And again, it is wonderful to see Moses, when presented with a question, seeks the input and guidance and direction of God, before he answers. What a model he sets for all that would be leaders in the church.

We all agree that based on both New Testament and Old Testament passages, the Passover (or Communion) is a big deal in the economy of God. And we just read how God is irked for lack of a better word at those who neglect to observe it when they are away on a journey (verse 13). Now what would you say if I were to say to you that according to the apostle Paul in the New Testament, we are to not neglect to meet together regularly. Translate that as “go to church regularly”. We also know that both the O.T. and the N.T. speaks a lot about worship and worshipping together. Now, if we take those ideas and couple them with how God feels about those who neglect to observe the Passover while “away” from home, is it reasonable that we can form some idea about how God feels about us worshipping Him “together” while we are away from home?

I believe that’s reasonable. I believe that short of being laid up in traction on a hospital bed (okay, you get the idea) God wants us to make every effort to be at a church with other believers while travelling, especially while travelling on holidays. I have heard so many Christians say, “I’m on vacation and therefore, I don’t do church.”  My suggestion is that they try saying that directly to God and see what kind of inside response they will get.

Our two lessons today are pretty straight forward. First, we need to be certain that we don’t keep someone from participating in practices that God wants them to participate in (and vice-versa – we don’t allow people to participate when God says they can’t). The example that comes to mind is an experience I once lived through as a young leader of our youth group at a church I was attending. One of the girls had being disabled by polio (yes, it was that long ago) and she wanted to get baptized and join the church. However, because she could not be immersed, our church leaders at the time simply said she was not eligible to be a church member. Clearly, they did not take the time to enquire of God as to what He wanted done.

The second lesson is more for us. This is a good opportunity to consider or reconsider how we treat our trips away from home, especially our vacations. Let me ask straight out – do you make an effort to attend church or hold a worship service of sorts with others while you are away?

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

In one sense, we're going through our own Year of Jubilee Rest.

Leviticus 25:8-55 The Law of the Year of Jubilee

Day 27 of our self-isolation. Some people are actually getting used to this lifestyle. Others are ready to shoot someone. Personally, it gives me a slight (very, very, slight) idea of what it may be like to live the life of a fur hunter in the north, or slighter still – an astronaut taking an isolation trip for the cause.  Meanwhile, we press on with our study in Leviticus.

The Passage

This chapter begins by recounting for us how the Israelites had to count off 49 years. Verse 9 says that on the day of Atonement (7th month, 10^th day) they were to sound a ram’s horn throughout the land.

They would consecrate the 50^th year and each Israelite was to return to his own property, and to their own family. During that year there would be no sowing, reaping, or gathering any new growth. It would be a holy year for them, and they would be fed by the crops of the field (vs. 12).

Verses 13 to 17 describe how land (and crops) shall exchange hands during that time. First, there was to be no short-changing of each other. The prices of the land shall be determined by how many years from the Jubilee, the transaction takes place as what matters is the number of crops one is trading.

Verses 18 to 22 describe how God takes care of their need for food by giving them, in the sixth year, a bumper crop that is three times the usual – one time for the sixth year itself, one for the Jubilee year, and one for the eighth year in which they would be planting again,

Verses 23 to 28 give instruction that no land shall be sold permanently, because it belongs to God, and the Israelites are only aliens and sojourners with Him. If someone is so poor that he sells a piece of land, his kinsman shall buy it back. And if there are no kin members, once the seller recovers, he can buy it back. If that isn’t possible, the buyer keeps it to the next year of Jubilee and then returns to the seller.

Verses 29 to 34 deal with houses as opposed to fields. Houses that are sold within a walled city may be redeemed during the course of one year. After that, it stays with the buyer even after the next year of Jubilee. Houses in villages without walls are considered to be like fields – their redemption period goes on and they do revert to owners in the year of Jubilee. The exception is the houses of Levites in the walled city – they keep their redemption rights and the houses also return to them in the year of Jubilee. Their pasture fields, however, are never to be sold.

Verses 35 to 38 tell the Israelites that they need to take care of those who cannot maintain themselves. They are not to be lent money with interest or given food with the idea of repayment.

Verses 39 to46 describes how those Israelites who are so poor that they sell themselves to another Israelite are to be treated – as hired hands, not as slaves, to serve until the year of Jubilee, at which time he returns to his family and property. God says this is so because they are His servants that He brought out of Egypt, not yours. You are not to boss him with severity, but to treat him as you revere your God.  If you want slaves, you may get both male and female ones from the pagan nations that are around you. Aliens among you may be acquired as slaves too and they may be passed on to your children as inheritance.

Verses 47 to 55 covers the situation where an Israelite, a countryman, becomes so poor that he sells himself to an alien or a sojourner. That individual has redemption rights and can be purchased back by his kin. The price of the sale would be determined by the time from the last Jubilee or the time to the next one. The redeemed person would also be required to refund part of the purchase price to his kin. Nevertheless, he is a free man in the year of Jubilee.

Thoughts on the Passage

Wow, that’s a stunner of a chapter. Let’s wade through it.  For starters, the year of Jubilee starts not on the first day of the first month, but on the day of Atonement (the 10^th day of the 7^th month).

Also, we note that the 50^th year starts after a “Sabbath year”.  So that means every 50 years, there are two years of rest. It’s like a bonus rest after your rest.

In verse 12, we understand that during the Jubilee year there would be food from prior years, or they could eat whatever grew naturally on it during the Jubilee year.

With respect to verse 13, which relates that all land returns to its original owners, Robert Jamieson gives us this gem:

Inheritances, from whatever cause, and how frequently so ever they had been alienated, came back into the hands of the original proprietors. This law of entail, by which the right heir could never be excluded, was a provision of great wisdom for preserving families and tribes perfectly distinct, and their genealogies faithfully recorded, in order that all might have evidence to establish their right to the ancestral property. Hence the tribe and family of Christ were readily discovered at his birth.

No matter what year we are living in, we are to treat our fellowman fairly. That comes out very clearly in God’s instructions with respect to real estate as well as other transactions such as hired hands and servants. There needs to be a set way of arriving at a fair price in all dealings.

Also, some of us are not earning the money we were earning prior to the Coronavirus pandemic. We are resting at home. In a very odd sense, this is our “Jubilee year” period. We need to realize that God has provided and will provide for our needs as He did for the Israelites during their Jubilee year.

I wonder how real estate agents would fit in to the Israelite society with these types of rules in place for returning lands to their original owners each Jubilee year or for how prices of property would be set in between.

What amazes me here in this chapter is how much emphasis God puts on the poor, what happens to them, and what everybody else’s responsibility towards them is. We need, in our own way, to take heed of that and make sure that our relationships with others squares with it.

Of great interest to me is the section on hired hands and slaves. First, what is God saying to those of us today who have employees? I don’t know. Is it possible that it is simply to release them with honor at the end of their service? Maybe we don’t have Jubilee year but each one of them has a year of retirement. We need to know when to let go of them with grace and love and with all they deserve financially.

But also of interest in this section is what is recorded about slaves. The Israelites were not to acquire slaves from among their own countrymen, but only of those who are aliens in the lands or from adjoining pagan nations. So, having owned servants (slaves) verses employee servants was okay as long as they were sourced properly. You can see perhaps where we went astray with our idea of slavery a few hundred years ago.

Interestingly also is the fact that foreign slaves needed not to be returned to their origin in the year of Jubilee. There clearly is a difference between being part of the Family of God and not. The idea here (spiritually for us) is that God, says Matthew Henry, does not make His servants slaves. We have been bought with a price and never to be slaves again.

Allowing alien slaves to be bought is the continuance of the promise God had given to Jacob in Genesis 27:29 where he tells him that other people will serve him (Israel). It points out as Henry suggests, that the benefit of the Jubilee is only for those that are Israelites, or children of Abraham by faith.

Finally, we cannot ignore the theme of redemption throughout this passage. The land is redeemed and hired hands and slaves belonging to God’s family are redeemed. It is clearly a foretelling of the great redemption that Christ made possible for all of us.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

God's take on Social Order w.r.t. prostitution, sabbaths, new agers, elderly, strangers, and business dealings.

Leviticus 19:29-37 – Social Order Basics Part V – Miscellaneous Commands

Free at last. Our self-quarantine period is over. Or is it? The government has asked us to stay home for another month at least. So, we meet with our small groups online and we read the paper, watch the news, do crossword puzzles, play some Scrabble. And we continue to study our Bible, which by the way seems to always have this unique ability to say something about today’s global circumstances. Read on.

The Passage

²⁹ ‘Do not profane your daughter by making her a harlot, so that the land will not fall to harlotry and the land become full of lewdness. ³⁰ You shall keep My sabbaths and revere My sanctuary; I am the Lord.

³¹ ‘Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.

³² ‘You shall rise up before the gray-headed and honor the aged, and you shall revere your God; I am the Lord.

³³ ‘When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.³⁴ The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.

³⁵ ‘You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measurement of weight, or capacity.³⁶ You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah (approx. one bushel), and a just hin (approx. one gallon); I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt. ³⁷ You shall thus observe all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them; I am the Lord.’”

Thoughts on the Passage

This passage has some commands that hopefully many of us will not ever need, but that does not mean there aren’t those who need them. The first command here in verse 29 is one of those. God is opposed to the child sex trade (and the entire sex trade for that matter). Exploiting children and adults in that way is to profane them (that is, it is to treat them with disrespect, or irreverence; it pushes them into things which are not sacred as it desecrates their body which is a holy temple of God). The result God says is harlotry (read that as prostitution; others translate it as profligacy or the reckless extravagance or wastefulness in the use of resources). And when we do that, God continues and says, the whole land we dwell in becomes full of lewdness (the quality of being very sexual or lustful in an offensive way, an example of which is asking people for sexual favors on the streets). Do you ever feel that our land has become ‘full of lewdness’? David Guzuk reminds us that this order stemmed from the practice in the old days, especially in Egypt when men gave their daughters as ritual prostitutes at a pagan temple.

In the next verse (30), God reminds us to keep His sabbaths and revere His sanctuary because He is the Lord. Keeping His sabbaths in the way that most of us have been accustomed to (by going to church) has become impossible recently, even forbidden in some cases, but there are other ways to keep God’s sabbath. The point is that we need to do ‘something’ different on that day. Normally, we are to ‘rest’ on that day. But now, resting is what we do almost every day. So, now, we may need to either think of all our days as sabbaths (not what God had in mind even during Covid-19) or come up with other ways of worshipping on our sabbaths – more prayer, more singing, more praising.  And the sanctuary of God (in this case a physical place where we may normally go to meet with God) may take on a difference location, size, or shape – it may be our ‘closet’ or our den or our office.

In verse 31, we are forbidden to turn to mediums or spiritists (maybe today the better word is ‘spiritualist’). God says, you choose them, and you lose. You will be defiled. Period. So many so-called Christians live their lives with one foot grounded in the faith and the other grounded in the ‘new age’ lifestyle, running to check to their horoscopes or to get their fortune read. God says ‘no’.

Then comes verse 32 where God is speaking to those who are not “gray-headed” or “aged”.  So, at my age, that’s not me, although I suppose if there were older people in the house, it would be me. But listen to what he says to those that are younger. He says first, get up earlier than those that are older than you. I’m so blessed to be able to sleep in these days, to be awakened by my daughter making coffee in the kitchen. Now if only we can get the grandkids following in their mother’s footsteps, that would be really nice. Although I must admit, it does happen that they do beat everyone up at least once a year (on Christmas morning). And secondly, God says, honor those that are older. Each one of us can find ways to do that, so we’ll leave that up to your imagination and your circumstances. The point is that God says we are to do those two things because by doing so, we “revere [our] God” for “[He is] the Lord”. And that ‘revere’ does not mean that we do it because we ‘fear’ our God. No, it means we do it because we want to show that we feel deep respect or admiration for Him. We do it because we love Him.

Then God tells us again we are to do no wrong to any stranger we come across. Strangers who live ‘with us’ are to be like those who belong there. And we are to treat them with love. God told the Israelites they were to do this because they once were ‘aliens’ in Egypt. We are to do it because, He adds, He is the Lord our God. What is interesting here is that the strangers in our land need to be viewed as ‘natives’ among us. I don’t know about others, and I can’t definitely speak for God, but to me that means we are to treat them no different than we would treat our own people. The question arises what is our responsibility to those who come to our land and don’t want to be like us and start demanding that they be treated differently? Perhaps that is best left for another topic, another day. But clearly, the Word here is clear – treat strangers in our land the same way as you treat natives. So, yes, give them all the rights of citizens of the land, but don’t change those rights or add to them, just to please them.

Finally, in verses 35 and 36 God tells we are not to cheat anyone in our business dealings. Establish your rules of operation and stick to them. Don’t take advantage of the weak or foolish. Judge fairly, pay fairly, treat fairly.

All these things God says will allow society to exist within a desired social order. Why do these things work? Because He is God who created us to operate in this way. And we follow His commands, because He is ‘the’ Lord and He is ‘our’ Lord. Now, if He isn’t ‘your’ Lord, well, you’re excused, but at your own peril, as the world is finding out, not just now through this Covid-19 experience, but since the beginning of man’s history.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.