Celebrating Numbers: What Inheritance Will I Leave?

Each time I finish a book of the Bible, I want to do something to celebrate it. You can check out my other celebratory posts for Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus. Yesterday, as I studied the end of Numbers, I realized that much of the book deals with an inheritance. The Israelite people are wandering through …

Numbers 36: Inheritance

And the book of Numbers closes on a somewhat awkward chapter about inheritance. Remember Zelophehad’s daughters? Well, from now on if they want to keep that inheritance they got, they have to keep it in the tribe. It’s ok though, they have some strapping young cousins on their father’s side to marry. Once again, this …

Numbers 35: A Prison Run By The Prisoners (Guest post by Mandy Broughton)

Today’s guest post is by Mandy Broughton. Mandy Broughton is a nerdy girl who loved school (M.A. in Clinical Psychology and M.A. in Christian Education).  But as much as she loved school, she loves reading more.  So with that thought in mind, she is attempting to make this “writing thing” a go.  She writes mysteries …

Numbers 33: Journey’s Greatest Hits

Numbers 33 is a chronicle of the Israelite’s 40-year journey from Egypt to Canaan. There is a little bit at the beginning and a little bit at the end that aren’t this but the rest of the chapter can easily make you want to gouge your eyes out and then gouge out someone else’s eyes …

Numbers 32: How Two Tribes Almost Ruined It For Everyone Else

The journey is almost over. Forty years of wandering and the end is in sight. The last obstacle before the Jordan River is gone. The time is now! Israelites, prepare to enter the land that the LORD has promised to you! Not So Fast Um, hey Moses, us Reubenites and Gadites were thinking. See, we …

Numbers 31: The Cursers Get Cursed

Remember that incident with Midian a little ways back? Well, let’s say that some guys from Israel engaged in some inappropriate hanky-panky with some women from Midian resulting in some rather unfortunate idolatry which resulted in a plague that killed 24,000 people. And do you remember how during that time there were a lot of …

Numbers 30: Vow Vetoes

If you knew that you were legally bound to every word you said, would it change how you spoke? Because that how they rolled in Israel. Ok, to be fair, they we legally bound to vows and pledges. But come on, how many times have you said something like, “If Joey says ‘uve‘ instead of …

Numbers 29: Whole Lotta Bull.

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Numbers 29 is basically a continuation of chapter 28. The two chapters seem to be a recap or quick reference for what sacrifices are required for different regular and special days of the year. I thought about making some more formulas but then stuff got interesting. The last part of the chapter is about the …

Numbers 28: Formulas For Offerings

As happens frequently in Numbers, interesting narrative is interrupted by some laws. These laws don’t seem to flow naturally out of the previous story, but may have some relevance to later stories. We’ll see how this one goes. Numbers 28 is a list of five different times when the Israelites should offer sacrifices. When you …

Numbers 27: The Status Quo Gets A Beat-Down

I’ll tell you something. There have been a lot of chapters in Numbers that I have been very excited about. But I am pretty sure Numbers 27 is my favorite so far. Why? God decides to give a couple of long standing traditions a kick in the pants. Women’s Rights Zelophehad was a stand-up guy. …