February 20 / Deuteronomy 1-4

Deuteronomy is considered to be one of the most theologically influential books of the Old Testament. The New Testament quotes it directly in seventeen of the twenty-seven books, and alludes to it more than eighty times. It doesn’t contain any new action, but instead reflects on what has already happened in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, and then what is coming ahead in the conquest and settlement of the land as told in the book of Joshua.

One important feature of Deuteronomy is its structure. It is widely believed that God’s covenant with Israel (as described in Exodus & Leviticus) is patterned after legal treaties known in the ancient world between kings and their vassals in a feudal system. Simply put, the king entered into a legal agreement whereby he offered land and other privileges in exchange for soldiering if necessary to help protect the kingdom.

God’s willingness to bind himself to Israel by means of a covenant, like a good earthly king to his subjects, would have made a deep impression on the surrounding pagan nations. “What god would do such a thing?” But Israel’s God did! He entered into relationship with his people, committing himself to bless them with his presence, his commandments & laws, and his provision. The people in turn, promised to honor God by keeping the terms of the covenant.

By adopting the pattern of the ancient king/vassal treaties, Deuteronomy bears witness, by word and structure, that the one true God, (who revealed himself to Abraham, delivered his ancestors from slavery in Egypt, and then gave them land to live in as a holy nation), is a God who desires to dwell with people and bless the world with his goodness and love. 

So, Deuteronomy begins (as the ancient treaties did) with a preamble. The preamble reviewed the king’s past relationship with the people. Accordingly, Moses reminds the people of God’s dealing with them in the events following their escape through the Red Sea from Egypt. When they arrived at Mt. Sinai, where the Ten Commandments were given and the covenant established, Moses notes that they were only a short distance away from where they are now. But forty years have passed! Why? Because of Israel’s constant bickering and unbelief (Deuteronomy 1:2-4).

Moses goes on to review, with commentary, in a single narrative, all the events surrounding Israel that we have covered so far. In chapter 4 (a great chapter) Moses delivers a stirring sermon to remind the people of God’s favor, their privilege to belong to him, and then challenges them to be faithful:

“Has any other god dared to take a nation for himself out of another nation by means of trials, miraculous signs, wonders, war, a strong hand, a powerful arm, and terrifying acts? Yet that is what the Lord your God did for you in Egypt, right before your eyes” (Deuteronomy 4:34).

“So remember this and keep it firmly in mind: The Lord is God both in heaven and on earth, and there is no other. If you obey all the decrees and commands I am giving you today, all will be well with you and your children. I am giving you these instructions so that you will enjoy a long life in the land the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”
(Deuteronomy 4:39-40).

Prayer: Lord, we praise you for wanting to be with us. We thank you for staying faithful to us even in the times and places that we have been unfaithful to you. We say, with Moses, “has anything as great as this ever been seen or heard before?” Amen!

February 14 / Reflection

In Leviticus and Numbers the subject of God’s holiness has been front and center. We see it in the moral and spiritual imperatives of the Ten Commandments, in the civil law establishing justice, in the careful design of the Tabernacle and the priestly garbs, in the ceremonial and symbolic rituals about cleanness and perfection, in the carefully specified way in which worship is done—and in the divine judgment which follows willful rebellion against God’s instructions.

All of this seems a bit over the top to modern sensibilities. Perhaps we children of the Enlightenment have become more secular in our thinking than we realize. Many around us have denied the very existence of God, let alone the blazing holiness of God. Our rebellion against God is equal to anything that the Israelites did while wandering in the wilderness. We too, long for the distracting comforts of Egypt.

Yet we worry about the brokenness of the world, and our own lives. Every once in a while we drop our guard, and secular cynicism and unbelief gives way to a deep longing for perfect love, goodness, beauty and truth. That longing is for holiness. God put it in our hearts and though it is often ignored or redirected, we can’t evade it forever.

The good news is that God won’t leave us alone. He loves us as he loved Israel. He loved Israel enough to get angry with her and to discipline her as a parent disciplines a strong-willed child.

God’s great plan of redemption is a difficult and messy business!

Prayer: Lord, open our eyes to your holiness lest we inadvertently treat you with contempt or apathy. Fortify our hearts so that we may take you seriously. Keep us in your word. Amen.

February 11 / Numbers 5-8

With the huge task of occupying Canaan looming ahead, the people of Israel are challenged to address their moral and spiritual behavior. The challenge of war is significant but so is the challenge of spiritual warfare–to remain obedient to God in the midst of pervasive pagan influence.

In chapter 6, the opportunity is given for men or women to voluntarily take a public vow of special dedication and discipline, called the Nazerite vow. The Nazerites could serve as a role model, challenging the rest of the people to commit themselves to holiness as well.

Chapter 6 ends with what is known as the “Aaronic Blessing,” frequently quoted even today as the benediction to a worship service:

“May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace” (Numbers 6:24-26).

And then God tells Moses in verse 27, “Whenever Aaron and his sons bless the people of Israel in my name, I myself will bless them.” This wonderful verse suggests that the blessing of God is mediated to people we love and serve when we pray for God’s protection, grace, favor, and peace upon them!

Chapter 7 reports on the offerings of the people for the support of the Tabernacle ministry, and then chapter 8  gives instruction for dedicating the Levites to their service of maintaining and then transporting the Tabernacle when God calls Israel to move on.

(Interesting, the Levites can only work for 25 years, before enjoying their retirement. Wouldn’t it be nice!)

Prayer: Lord, we are reminded today that the need for vigilance and discipline in our spiritual devotion and moral behavior never goes away. Thank for those among us who serve as role models of faith and commitment—and for those who continually bless us with their prayers and encouragement. Amen!

February 10 / Numbers 1-4

The book of Numbers covers events starting one year after Israel’s departure from Egypt. The time has come to begin preparation for occupying Canaan, the Promised Land. Remember, the promise of land for Abraham’s descendants was given by God to Abram in Genesis chapter twelve:

“The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessing through you” (Genesis 12:1-3).

Those who presently occupy the land are so depraved that they are described as a sickness in the land. In warning Israel about her own behavior, God warns: “Do not defile the land and give it a reason to vomit you out, as it will vomit out the people who live there now” (Leviticus 18:28).

This is a disturbing metaphor of spiritual and moral sickness. Think of the barbaric behavior of ISIS in the Mid-East today to put the moral depravity of the Canaanites in perspective. We learned early in Genesis that God, out of mercy, was giving them 400 more years to cease from their wickedness. But to no avail. So the agent of God’s judgment against the Canaanites will be the Israelite army.

In Numbers chapter 1, The Lord instructs Moses to take a census of eligible men who are able to go to war. The tribe of Levi is exempted from serving so that they can take responsibility for the setup and takedown of the Tabernacle when Israel is on the move.

In Numbers chapter 2, a detailed template is drawn up for the marching order and then the physical location of each tribe when they move and set up camp elsewhere. As you can imagine, it is a logistical and organizational challenge to facilitate the movement of a nation!

In Numbers chapter 3, we learn that the Levites stand in for the first-born sons of all the other tribes, because the first born of each family belongs to the Lord’s service. The exemption costs each family 5 pieces of silver, to be given in support of the Levite’s Tabernacle ministry.

Finally, in chapter 4, the clans and families of the Kohathite division of the tribe of Levi (that’s a mouthful!) are given the serious responsibility to care for the most sacred objects of the Tabernacle–notably, the Ark of the Covenant which contains the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments.

(By the way, forget everything you learned about the Ark of the Covenant from Indiana Jones’ movies!)

As we are beginning to see, the preparation for entering the Promised Land is extensive; the logistics and organization complex. Each tribe and family has a particular calling and responsibility, including the sending of their sons to war—a heartache familiar to many of us today.

God’s ancient promise to make things right in the world will be furiously resisted by the world. Think of it as spiritual warfare. It will be a constant theme of ongoing story of Israel.

Prayer: Lord, it is sobering to think, both of the depravity that would cause a land to vomit up its inhabitants, and the great cost for you to reclaim the land, for the whole earth belongs to you. This will one day be seen in extremity when your Son dies on a Roman cross—the symbol of both man’s depravity and God’s amazing love. Amen!

February 9 / Leviticus 24-27

The book of Leviticus closes with various instructions: notably, about breaking the third commandment by blasphemy; about the way the land must be treated, and about the canceling of debts every 50 years—the year of Jubilee; about the effects on the land of keeping or breaking the covenant with God; and about vows and freewill offerings being carried out as promised.

A few matters stand out in these chapters:

First, in chapter 24:10-16, we are reminded of the seriousness of breaking the third commandment against misusing the name of God (Exodus 20:7). Blasphemy, in effect, slanders God by misrepresenting him. Whenever we use his name to give sanction to something unworthy of him, we drag his name in the mud. In this way, the true nature of God is hidden from people. This creates a huge obstacle against the very thing God is doing in the world—making himself known so that people can be forgiven and have fellowship with him.

Second, in Leviticus 25, we are given insights into a different way of looking at the earth as we learn about the Promised Land, which Israel will inhabit soon. First, land must not be abused by overwork. The Sabbath rest is for the whole creation. All creation exists to glorify God and not simply as an instrument for human greed and ambition.

We learn also that the land is not “owned” but is given to Israel by God. Although the land may be bought and sold for various reasons during a generation, after 50 years, all debts are canceled and the land returns to the original families to whom it was gifted by God. In this way, wealth and power is not accumulated by the few.

Third, in Leviticus 26, God makes it clear that he will bless or withhold his blessing from the land, based upon Israel’s faithfulness to the Covenant. When Israel is hostile towards God and refuses to obey him, he will curse the land (i.e. withhold his protection and blessing). If the people do not repent, the curse intensifies, bringing to mind the intensifying of the plagues in Egypt when Pharaoh kept hardening his heart.

By the end of the chapter, the potential scenario has become horrifying. If Israel, in the end, like Pharaoh, utterly refuses to repent, but returns to the paganism from which she was delivered, the nation will become desolate, dehumanized, conquered and scattered as exiles among the nations. (It is a chilling prophesy of what actually occurs in the future).

Even so—even when Israel utterly forsakes God, he will not utterly forsake her:

“But despite all this, I will not utterly reject or despise them while they are in exile in the land of their enemies. I will not cancel my covenant with them by wiping them out, for I am the Lord their God. For their sakes, I will remember my ancient covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of all the nations, that I might be their God. I am the Lord” (Leviticus 26:44-45).

There will be much more to say later about God’s amazing faithfulness in the face of Israel’s serial hard-hearted rebellion, but even now we can conclude that the story of the Bible is all about God’s irresistible grace.

Aren’t you glad?

Prayer: Father, we are mystified by your willingness to face and absorb the worst that the human race is capable of doing in its depravity. We abuse one another, and even the earth, as we blaspheme your name in our rebellion. Forgive our sins. Humble us. Transform us. Amen!

February 8 / Leviticus 21-23

Leviticus continues in chapters 21-22 with instruction about the qualifications and duties of priests. The instructions reflect a rigorous attention to the symbolism of God’s holiness—cleanness and perfection.

As we have said earlier regarding Leviticus, don’t get bogged down in the peculiar details, but keep their function in mind. As the Lord said to Moses:

“You must faithfully keep all my commands by putting them into practice, for I am the Lord. Do not bring shame on my holy name, for I will display my holiness among the people of Israel. I am the Lord who makes you holy. It was I who rescued you from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. I am the Lord” (Leviticus 22:31-33).

As an attribute of God, holiness speaks of his “otherness.” He is not like us. He is infinite in his perfection. As sinful people, we cannot see his face and live (Exodus 33:19-23). So his holiness must be seen indirectly through the peculiar requirements and symbolism of the priestly work.

In chapter 23 the Lord establishes the feasts of Israel—joyous times of feasting and reflecting on God’s goodness in dealing with Israel.

In addition to the weekly Sabbath, Israel must celebrate the feasts of Passover, Firstfruits (to celebrate the harvest), Weeks (the Lord as provider, called feast of Pentecost in the New Testament), Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah, the New Year), Atonement and Booths (release from Egypt).

The feasts are celebrations and reminders that God blesses his people with all they need for life when they remember him and keep his Covenant. By keeping God’s Sabbath, and his seasonal feasts, Israel acknowledges that people matter to God.

Old Testament scholar Paul House observes: “As Israel adopts this notion, the people gain rest, freedom from self-enslavement to success, release from greed and an appreciation for community. In other words, they become holy as their God is holy when they recognize that God orders time, directs events, and guides his people through a history they themselves cannot control.”

Prayer: God, you are holy “other” and yet you are also close to us. Out of the sheer joy of your existence, you created us in your image and entered into a relationship with us so that we may share your holy life. What a mystery! Everything comes from you, is sustained by your power, and exists for your pleasure. We celebrate with you! Amen.

February 7 / Reflection

Since God’s mighty deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt through the Red Sea, there have been several significant developments, which purpose was to shape the Israelites into God’s holy people. Chief among them are the giving of the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Mosaic Law, the creating of the Covenant, the building of the Tabernacle and the establishment of the Aaronic priesthood.

The Covenant agreement between God and the people, along with the institutions to support it, were intended to reveal the nature of Yahweh God, and to separate his people from the practices of the nations around them. As the Lord told the people through Moses:

“I am the Lord your God. So do not act like the people in Egypt where you used to live, or like the people of Canaan where I am taking you. You must not imitate their way of life. You must obey my decrees, for I am the Lord your God. If you obey my decrees and my regulations, you will find life through them. I am the Lord. (Leviticus 18:1-5)

But against these great developments, we see an ominous stubbornness among the people. They have continually complained to Moses, wanting to return to Egypt every time they faced a challenge along the way. The incident of the golden calf idolatry, in Exodus 32, was particularly troubling.

These events portend more trouble ahead. It will prove to be, as one person put it, “easier to get Israel out of Egypt than to get Egypt out of Israel.”

However, God is determined do whatever is necessary with his strong-willed people to shape them into the people he called them to be when he delivered them from slavery in Egypt.

Holiness is a gift of God that we must grow into through the development of faith and character over the course of our lives. This, of course, is not easy but God loves us too much to let ease get in the way of his work in our lives. As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians, “I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns” (Philippians 1:6)

Prayer: Lord, we confess that we are a stubborn, willful people, easily squeezed and shaped by the world around us. Help us to become in practice what you have declared us to be in principle by faith—holy and pleasing in your sight. Amen.

February 6 / Leviticus 18-20

We have noted that the central theme of Leviticus is holiness. The Lord says to Israel, “You must be holy for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45). To be holy means to be “set apart” for God in accordance with his will for us.

As our Creator, God has the absolute right to define what it means to be human in his image, and this includes human identity and sexual morality. Of course, this idea is furiously resisted by militant secularists of our time.

Secularism ordinarily denies the existence of God and, consequently, the existence of moral absolutes. Instead, each individual is given autonomy to decide what is right and wrong for themselves. Sound familiar? It is the same lie by which the serpent seduced and deceived Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-7).

Not surprisingly, secularists have a real problem with Leviticus 18-20 because here the Lord defines what is permitted and forbidden for human beings created in his image. God knows that for human life and culture to thrive, we must respect the moral boundaries he has established.

In Leviticus 18, the boundaries are established for human sexual behavior. Incest is forbidden, along with sexual relations within the extended family, biological and legal. Prostitution, bestiality and homosexuality are also forbidden. To do these things is to use our bodies in ways that dishonor God’s will and his natural order: “Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for the people I am driving out before you (the Canaanites) have defiled themselves in all these ways. Because the entire land has become defiled, I am punishing the people who live like them. I will cause the land to vomit them out” (Leviticus 18:24-25).

It is important to remember that the gospel offers forgiveness for all the sexual sins mentioned in Leviticus 18. In addition, the Holy Spirit is given to help us hold all our disordered impulses in check (Galatians 5:16-23)

While sexual sins are never identified as worse than other sins, the fact remains that the emotional and physical consequences of sexual sin can be severe.

There is no getting around the fact that some of us are called to a more difficult life of discipleship in these matters than others, but God knows our hearts, our stories and our struggles. There is no one more compassionate, willing to forgive and able to help. Our lives as believers are permeated with grace and empowered by hope. None of us needs to be enslaved by our passions, nor feel condemned by our failures.

Chapter 19 of our reading today reviews, applies and comments on the social meaning of the Ten Commandments, and chapter 20 establishes God’s judgment in these matters. It needs to be remembered that however severe (or offensive to moderns) God’s judgments may seen, they were all born by Christ on the cross.

Prayer: Lord, it is disheartening to read the long list of ways that we trespass your boundaries—if not in act, then in thought and imagination. But you are the one who lifts our heads when they hang in shame to reassure us that you love us and have joined yourself with us for eternity, in Christ. Thank you that there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus! Amen

February 5 / Leviticus 16-17

Chapter 16 begins with God speaking to Moses about the death of Aaron’s two sons, Nadab & Abihu (chapter 10) because of their disobedience to God’s clear command about how he must be worshiped.

Our first response to this may be, ‘what’s the big deal?’ Why was God so petty about his commandment? Wasn’t their punishment excessive?

Ironically, our offense to God’s offense may illustrate the issue at hand. We presume to tell God what is important; we disobey because we don’t agree with his commandment, or at least don’t take it seriously. The petulant, presumptuous disobedience of Nadab and Abihu reveals the rebellion in their hearts, and in ours.

The Secular Man of our own day boldly enters God’s space and defies him. He judges God according to his enlightened sensibility—challenging his authority (or existence!), correcting him when he is “wrong,” and ignoring him when his commandments get in the way of our desires.

This “heroic” picture of human defiance is just as ridiculous now as it was then. As one wag has put it: “Your arms are too short to box with God.”

The warning to Moses is a preamble to instructions about the most important day of the year in ancient Israel, the Day of Atonement. Two special things happened on the Day of Atonement: first, the high priest entered into the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle to make atonement for the nation’s sins; and a goat called the “scapegoat” was presented to God as a sin offering, but then let go. It symbolically carried off Israel’s sins into the wilderness (Leviticus 16:8-10).

The forgiveness God extended to Israel on the Day of Atonement was a promissory note, deferred from year to year, until Jesus offered his own life for the sins of the world, and the debt was paid in full. Psalm 103:12 anticipates this day by saying: “God has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.”

One of the themes of chapters 16-17 is the blood of atonement. Animal blood is given a sacramental meaning. Consequently, Israelites are forbidden to drink blood or eat raw meat: “I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the Lord. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible”
(Leviticus 17:11-12).

It is in this context that the shed blood of Christ, and the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, is to be understood in the New Testament: “After supper he took another cup of wine and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you” (Luke 22:20).

Prayer: Lord, forgive us our presumption to put you on trial and judge you. How impossible it is to understand your decisions and ways! Everything comes from you and exists by your power and is intended for your glory. Yet, you humbled yourself to enter into time and space, for the purpose of bearing our sins, so that we may be reconciled. Wow! We praise your holy name! Amen.

February 4 / Leviticus 11-15

In this section of Leviticus God directs Moses to give the people laws regarding cleanness and uncleanness. On one level, these laws regarding personal diet, hygiene and medical treatment might be regarded as Hebrew Health Department standards. Disease control was certainly a byproduct.

We can appreciate this. Our culture is obsessed with health and fitness. But the laws point beyond mere health to holiness. The key interpretive verse is Leviticus 11:45, “For I, the Lord, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. Therefore, you must be holy because I am holy.

We should understand the personal, social and ceremonial cleanliness required here as a symbol of holiness.

As we all know cleanliness is next to godliness, right? Well, actually that is not in the Bible, but cleanliness does preserve social unity and wholeness. To put it bluntly, there is a reason why we practice personal hygiene and change baby’s dirty diapers—it’s for our sake and everyone else’s as well!

One scholar argues that the purity laws helped Israel grasp the unity and perfection of God’s creation, which in turn led to a shared worldview and common sense of purpose that set Israel apart from her neighbors.

So the rules benefit Israel in many ways, but the chief benefit is God’s presence among them. Observing these laws protects Israel from falling into the practices of polytheistic religion around them. In this way God creates a people who will fulfill the promises made to Abraham by standing against the sin and personal dissolution that mark a sinful world, and by modeling reverence for the one true God.

As you read through the laws, you’ll be fascinated, puzzled, creeped out and amused. I was relieved to discover, for example, that, “If a man loses his hair and his head becomes bald, he is still ceremonially clean!” (Leviticus 13:40).

Perhaps you are offended by the number, specificity and seriousness of these (at least to our thinking) odd rules. But in their cultural context they expressed a personal and corporate discipline worthy of Marines at boot camp. It created identity, unity and (as we note above) a sense of purpose that set Israel apart from her neighbors.

And being “set apart,” is the meaning of holiness.

Prayer: Lord, help us keep the disciplines of faith which, today, under the New Covenant and guided by the Holy Spirit, keep us close to you, undefiled by the world, and in alignment with your will. More than anything, we want to enjoy your presence in our lives and serve you faithfully in the world. Amen.