Numbers 28-31: Preparing the Stage

The stage is being set. After pronouncing Joshua to be his official successor, Moses spends a few chapters basically reviewing ordinances that had already been proclaimed. He reiterates what sacrifices are to be made and the festivals that are to be observed. Some think that during the 40 years spent in the desert, many of these sacrifices and feast days were not observed simply because it would have been impractical. But now that the Israelites had arrived at the threshold of the Promised Land, Moses needed to reemphasize the importance of these ordinances and the fact that they must be followed once they entered their permanent home. There is also, in Chapter 30, a reminder of the importance of oaths. And then, in Chapter 31, we come to a significant altercation the Israelites had with the Madianites. God calls for "revenge" to be taken on the Madianites for drawing the Israelites into sin. The battle that is fought is seemingly short and quite decisive, as the Hebrews lose not one man, and nearly all the Madianite soldiers are killed. Even Balaam is destroyed, which concludes the life of an evil prophet. The Israelite army is proving to be quite formidable, but it is an army guided by God. All impediments are being removed; any obstacle, be it an army or a prophet, that would prevent the Israelites from entering the Promised Land is being handled by God through His people's army.

What all this demonstrates is that entering the Promised Land is not a thing done lightly. Just as entering heaven is no light matter. In both cases, battles must be fought, temptations overcome, obstacles hurdled, evil resisted. The Israelites, though they're having military success, are finding that entering the land that is theirs is taking longer than they expected. What matters, though, is that they persevere. Just as with our spiritual journey in life -- it is going to be a struggle, a battle even, and we may lose at times, but all that matters is that we persevere, that we get up to fight another day.

Numbers 27 - Joshua's Rise

"Moses did as the Lord had commanded. And when he had taken Josue, he set him before Eleazar the priest, and all the assembly of the people,
And laying his hands on his head, he repeated all things that the Lord had commanded." (Numbers 27:22-23)

"These they set before the apostles: and they, praying, imposed hands upon them." (Acts of the Apostles 6:6)

"Neglect not the grace which is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the imposition of the hands of the priesthood." (1 Timothy 4:14)

In this chapter we see the transference of leadership from Moses to Joshua (spelled Josue in the Douay-Rheims). I bring up the other verses above because they show the significance of external ceremonies, e.g., the laying on of hands. It wasn't enough for Moses just to tell Joshua he was now in charge; as instructed by God, Moses had to physically lay his hands upon him as well as bring in the witness Eleazar. So it is still when priests are ordained (as well as with other ceremonies). The laying on of hands is a necessary and significant part of the ordination process.

With Joshua's accession we come to a critical point in the history of the Israelites. Moses has reached his end. God has told him that he will not enter the Promised Land, which must have come as quite a devastating shock. But did Moses throw a tantrum or rebel against God because of this? Of course not! He meekly accepted his fate and immediately turned his attention to making sure his people were left with a worthy leader. I think it is also significant that Moses chose Joshua who is not a direct relation to him. Moses made his choice based on merit, not heredity. I think we can take this as a model. Hereditary succession (though perhaps permissible at times) is not the ideal way to choose a leader. Much like the pope is chosen by careful deliberation using a criteria of character and holiness, Moses demonstrates to us that the responsible thing to do is pass on authority to the one most wise and worthy. And so the Israelites are handed over to Joshua just before making their grand entrance into the Promised Land.

Numbers 26 - A Martial Census

East of the Jordan, with a war looming, the Israelites number themselves, again. Before making their fateful entrance into the Promised Land, it seems they need to take stock of who they've got. This is the second time in the Book of Numbers that we have seen a detailed census take place (hence the name of the book). It strikes me as significant that these numbers seem so precise, so labored over. Names, tribes, families are all taken into account. This very well could be simply to see what their fighting forces would look like. How many men would be bearing arms as they cross the Jordan to claim what is theirs? But what it does essentially is add to the historicity of these books. We don't see these types of things occur in ancient myths and legends from other cultures. The tribe of Zabulon had 60,500 fighting men. This seems like a plain and simple historical record, much like a parishioner count from a medieval church.

As would be expected, the number of Israelites had dwindled some since their last census 38 years earlier when they first started their sojourn through the desert. Many men had died, either by natural causes or by the several punishments that the Israelites brought upon themselves by means of their incessant disobedience. Yet, some particular tribes enjoyed an increase in population. At the risk of getting too "statistical," I thought I'd list the increases and decreases that each tribe underwent during their wanderings in the desert:

The tribe of Ruben originally numbered 46,600. They lost 2,870 men so they now number 43,730.
The tribe of Simeon originally numbered 59,300. They now number 22,200, which means they lost 37,100! This tribe lost more men than any other. Is there a significance there?
The tribe of Gad originally numbered 45,650. They lost 5,100 men so they now number 40,550.
The tribe of Juda originally numbered 74,600. They gained 1,900 people, so that they now number 76,500. A prosperous tribe, and the one Jesus would be born into.
The tribe of Issachar originally numbered 54,400. They also gained men. They gained 9,900 to now number at 64,300.
The tribe of Zabulon originally numbered 57,400. They gained 3,100 to now number at 60,500.
The tribe of Manasses originally numbered 32,200, a small tribe. But they gained 20,500 men! Which gives them an immense increase to reach 52,700 men!
The tribe of Ephraim originally numbered 40,500. And they lost 8,000 men, leaving them with 32,500.
The tribe of Benjamin originally numbered 35,400. They added 10,200 men to reach 45,600.
The tribe of Dan originally numbered 62,700. They added 1,700 men to reach 64,400.
The tribe of Aser originally numbered 41,500. They enjoyed an increase of 11,900 to reach 53,400.
The tribe of Nephtali originally numbered 53,400. They, however, lost 8,000 men so that they now numbered 45,400.

These were impressive numbers, especially for a wandering people. One can see why the local kings were so unnerved by the arrival of this massive body of people to their lands, and why Balac wanted them cursed. And yet, amazingly, virtually all of these people would be barred from entering the Promised Land. Their infidelity to the One True God would catch up to them, and in the end their imperfections kept them out of a promised place. Not even Moses could bring the people into the Holy Land. That job was reserved for one who stood for Christ, Joshua. And we come to that next.

Numbers 25 - Zeal

This chapter packed a punch. Amazingly, the Israelites have again fallen into idolatry and its accompanying vices, i.e., fornication. It seems that there is no end to the failings of God's people. Yet, as I thought of these things, I instantly caught myself pointing a finger, when the finger should really be pointed at me. The Israelites, I must remember, represent all of us; and their journey through the desert is a figure for our journey through life; and their failings in the desert is a figure for our failings in life; and all the second-chances they are given by God is a figure for the forgiveness we are given when we fail. It shouldn't seem so crazy that the Israelites fell back into idolatry so many times when we count up the number of times we have sinned against God. It's frustrating, though, to read about a people so near to their promised land, and yet they still can't stay true to God. But, of course, we are all so near to the promises God has made to us through His Son Jesus Christ, and yet we still find a way to fall short. It doesn't matter that the Israelites are at the border of Canaan, or that we are near the gates of Heaven -- we are weak creatures, and it is only God's mercy that allows us the possibility of eternal life.

The central event of this chapter, though, is the actions of the priest Phinees. The Israelites have fallen into a depraved state of idolatry and fornication (as they intermix with the Moabites and Madianites), and Moses and the judges and priests are of course worried and agitated by this crisis. What Phinees does is quite shocking, but we must remember to keep his action not only in context but in view of God's divine plan for His future Church. For what Phinees does he does out of a zealous love for God. His act of killing two fornicating sinners is done at an acute moment in the history of the Israelites. The people as a whole are abandoning the Law that Moses instituted; they are sinning in the face of God; they are dismissing God, forgetting Him, blaspheming Him. Zambri (the man Phinees kills) is even so upfront about his evilness that he openly enters a woman's tent with obvious intentions in sight of Moses and the priests praying at the Tabernacle! The affront here shown to God is shocking and drastic. Phinees can hardly believe his eyes and is so overwhelmed with a zeal for defending God that he is driven to administer a fatal punishment right then and there. Phinees's action is not exactly to be copied by us, but his zeal is. This was a time when capital punishment was practiced widely in all societies, and for reasons that we are of no authority or expertise to question, God allowed it for those people at that time. The account of Phinees is no doubt though meant to show us the mindset of a true soldier of the Lord. We are to react in defense of our God when He is attacked. But as we have been instructed by Jesus, we are to do this mildly. We must admonish the sinner with love. We must mix Phinees's zeal with a true charity when we are defending our Lord. And so God has allowed us the opportunity to learn from Phinees's harsh actions.

Numbers 24 - "A Star Shall Rise"

Numbers 24 continues the prophecies of Balaam. And what prophecies they are! Reading the words in this chapter really gives a sense of a person enraptured by God. Balaam's prophecies are both grandiose and poetic. To give an example: "How beautiful are thy tabernacles, O Jacob, and thy tents, O Israel! As woody valleys, as watered gardens near the rivers, as tabernacles which the Lord hath pitched, as cedars by the water side" (Numbers 24:5-6). I was stunned by the beauty of this language. This is spoken by a man who is not even associated with the Hebrews. Balaam is a pagan mystic, basically, and yet God is using him as an outside figure looking upon His children and foretelling their fate. I had no idea, though, the gravity of his prophecies that would come later in the chapter. After Balac tries to silence Balaam, the Mesopotamian prophet can't help but continue to speak God's words. And in verse 17 he drops a bomb: "I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not near. A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall spring up from Israel." I immediately assumed this verse was about the Messiah, Jesus Christ. A quick glance at my commentary solidified my assumption. Balaam is indeed seeing a vision of the future Christ. However, his vision as a whole also deals with the coming of the king David, who will smite the Moabites. But there are clear-cut signs pointing to Jesus as the eventual king who will subdue all nations, not just the Moabites. Balaam even prophecies the eventual destruction of the Jews, and many of the other nations of area, when he says, "They shall come in galleys from Italy, they shall overcome the Assyrians, and shall waste the Hebrews, and at the last they themselves also shall perish" (Numbers 24:24). In short, no nation will survive. In the end, Christ the King will overcome all the peoples of the earth. Wow, what a prophecy! It is even theorized that when Balaam says that he "shall behold him, but not near" that he is referring to the Christ Child as seen through the eyes of the Magi; literally that Balaam sees Jesus in the manger through the eyes of men who came from the east, just as he did. Balaam's vision in this chapter is obviously quite grand, and it would take books to deconstruct it and try to understand every word. In basic terms we have a scene here wherein a worldly, pagan king, Balac, wants a particular people destroyed, only to find out through a prophet that said people are highly special, and that they will not be defeated, and that a king shall rise out of their midst who will destroy Balac's people, and eventually an even greater king will arise, the Son of God Himself, out of Isreal, who all nations will bow to, unto the end of the world. Spectacular.

Numbers 23 - The Obstinacy of Balac

Numbers 23 is a very structured chapter of the Bible. It consists in three instances of Balac prompting Balaam to curse the people of Israel. Each time Balaam is given a divine instruction to not curse Israel, but to bless them instead. This of course frustrates Balac, who is bent on ridding his land of Moab of these newcomers, the Israelites. Balac's behavior is very illustrative of human stubbornness. He will not listen to the proclamations uttered by God (through Balaam) and continues to obstinately try to get Israel cursed. He wants to hear only what he wants to hear. If Balaam had returned to issue a curse instead of a blessing, Balac would have been overjoyed. How often is it the case with us, that we will only listen to God when He is telling us things we want to hear. And when He has things to say that we don't necessarily want to hear, we often ignore Him, or modify His message so that it is more in line to what we wanted in the first place. Such a thing is not how we are to abandon our will and adopt God's. Your will, God, but not mine.

One other interesting thing about this chapter is its reference to a strange creature whose identity translators to this day are not sure of. In Numbers 23:22, Balaam prophecies that, "God hath brought [Israel] out of Egypt, whose strength is like to the rhinoceros." The Hebrew word for what is translated as "rhinoceros" is ream. Apparently some translators think ream is the unicorn, while there is a theory that it is actually the Arabian oryx. It apparently signifies a beast with a horn, though I think of those possible creatures, the rhinoceros fits best, as it is notably the largest and strongest of these real and fictitious animals. It's fascinating to wonder what creature Moses had in mind when he originally wrote this verse. One has to think of the animals that were known in that region at that time. And if ream does signify the unicorn, perhaps that legendary creature's myth goes back farther than we thought.

Numbers 22 - Enter Balaam

This was a remarkable story. The first time I read Numbers, which was over six years ago, I must have rushed through this section without retaining much, for I don't remember anything about a prophet and a talking donkey! But sure enough, in Numbers 22 we meet Balaam, who is a soothsayer of suspect motivation. He is a prophet sure enough, for he acknowledges the One True God, but he seems to be influenced by worldly greed and ambition. I found his story truly interesting.

The Israelites, by this time, are advancing quickly toward the Promised Land. They have entered the land of Moab, and have obviously caused the Moabite king, Balac, to become concerned. Balac summons Balaam to curse the Israelites so that they can be defeated and sent away from his lands. This proves that Balaam was a respected diviner of his time and place. But Balaam is instructed by God Himself not to curse the Israelites. What happens next is a lesson for all of us. What are we to do when we must choose between God's will and our will? God's will is that Balaam not curse the Israelites. Balaam's will is that he curse the Israelites so that he may receive famed reputation and the riches promised by Balac. Balaam chooses his own will and is thus taught a lesson. Riding his donkey toward where the Israelites are encamped, Balaam is stopped by an angel, though only his donkey can actually see the celestial creature. After this happens a few times, Balaam becomes angry with his donkey and strikes him! And then, in an amazing miracle, God allows the donkey to speak to Balaam, asking why he is striking an innocent creature. I was astonished at this passage. The only other instance of a speaking animal in the Bible is the serpent in the Garden! The nature of this miracle is quite debated. Some scholars think the donkey didn't really speak, only that Balaam perceived him to. While others think that if God wanted a donkey to speak, he very well could do so. Either way, the point was made, and Balaam was humbled. He then could see the terrifying angel standing in his way with a sword drawn. The chapter ends with Balaam still heading toward the Israelites with Balac's men, but we now believe he has different intentions than to curse God's people.

Numbers 21 - The Brazen Serpent and a Lost Book

As I expected, things are really beginning to move now. The narrative is starting to speed up, and the Israelites have begun their strategic march through the inhabited regions that border the Promised Land. They are stirring up conflicts left and right, though so far their victories have been quick and easy. The central feature of Numbers 21 seems to be the brazen serpent, a serpent sculpted of brass and set on a standard, which, according to God's command, was to heal the Israelites who had been bitten by venomous snakes. It's interesting to note here that we have yet another example of God calling for a graven image to be constructed for the benefit of the people. Just like with the cherubs on the ark, the Bible makes it clear that a graven image can be a beneficial thing. It becomes a problem only when people misuse it, e.g., begin to worship it as if the object itself were divine. Apparently, King Hezekiah, centuries later, faced this problem, and was forced to destroy the brazen serpent that had dated back to Moses's time.

Another interesting thing about the brazen serpent is that, strangely enough, it has been seen as a traditional symbol of Christ. One wouldn't think that a snake, usually associated with Satan, would represent Christ, but the symbolism is actually rather remarkable. First of all, there is the physical symbolism, as the snake was to be set upon a standard, so that it almost looked like the creature was hanging upon a cross. But, more so, the symbolism lies in the fact that the brazen serpent maintains the image of the vile creature without its actual poisonous qualities -- just as Christ came in the form of a human (a vile creature in comparison to God's perfection) but without the sin (the poison) that exists in the rest of us. Also, the brazen serpent was meant to heal, just as Christ is our Healer. I found this to be one of the more fascinating symbols of Christ.

The one other thing I found interesting in this chapter is in the following verse:

"Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord: As he did in the Red Sea, so will he do in the streams of Arnon." (Numbers 21:14)

"The book of the wars of the Lord"? I immediately stopped at those words. Moses seems to be referencing some other book here! Mysterious things like this always fascinate me. What is this book he could be referring to? Is it something even more ancient than the Torah? Is it a contemporary book? My commentary basically says that the jury is out on this one. It appears to be a lost book, something the ancient Israelites knew of, but would be lost before future generations ever could read it. Scholars disagree, however, on the authorship of the mysterious book. Some think it was written by Moses himself, about his skirmishes with the Amalecites found in the Book of Exodus. Others think someone else wrote the book of the wars of the Lord, and Moses is simply referencing it here. It's amazing to wonder about the texts that used to exist, that we know only fragments about, but which will have to remain lost to mankind until the end of days. Perhaps in the next life we will be knowledgeable of these mysteries.

Numbers 20 - The Death of Aaron and Miriam

Numbers 20 relays the deaths of Moses's siblings, Aaron and Miriam. And it seemed to me that this chapter begins to set the tone for the shift in narrative that is approaching. After years and years of sojourning through the barren desert, enduring the people's seditions and murmurings, Moses and all the children of Israel reach the outskirts of the Promised Land. It is very obvious to the reader that there is only one thing that can happen next -- the entering of this Holy Land by God's chosen people. Yet, I've always found it fascinating that God did not intend for Moses to enter this Land himself. Moses, a figure unlike one the world had ever seen, had been doing God's work for quite some time; he had assisted in God's plan to free the Israelites from the bonds of Egypt; he had worked miracles in the desert in order to convince the multitude of God's divine plan; he established the Law that would change the world. And yet he was not admitted entrance to God's Promised Land. And neither were his siblings, Aaron and Miriam.

I think what's so fascinating about this is the symbolism. Moses, Aaron, and Miriam represent, clearly, the Law, the priests, and the prophets of the Old Testament. These things could get the people only so far. They could not, of themselves, open the gates of the true Promised Land.... heaven. Only one person could do that -- Jesus Christ. Therefore, the Old Law and all its accouterments was meant only to bring the people to the brink of the Promised Land, and the New Law, i.e., Jesus Christ, was meant to spiritually and physically lead us into the Promised Land in full glory. The symbolism is immense, especially when one considers the fact that Joshua, the illustrious figure who would physically lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land, is a symbol of Christ. Therefore, we begin to see this immense symbolism play out with the deaths of Aaron and Miriam in Numbers 20. Moses's siblings, though noble and virtuous, cannot enter the Promised Land. They will have to join their deceased brethren and await the coming of Christ from a place not of this world.

Numbers 19 - The Red Cow

Numbers 19 describes a curious ceremony in which a red cow must be immolated as a sin offering, burned, and then its ashes mixed with water to cleanse the unclean. When I read through the chapter the first time, I didn't quite see the point of it. I figured it was an action ordained by God because the people had sinned and needed purification. But there were so many inexplicable details involved in this sacrifice (for instance, why a red cow?) that it had me scratching my head. And, interestingly, I've come to realize that there isn't a lot of explanation in the Old Testament (at least not in the Pentateuch). The Law is laid down, the instructions given, and the ultimate point of it all is left unsaid (not that the people were left completely in the dark, but no one really analyzed what was going on). For me, this leads to one of the most convincing arguments for typology or supersessionism (or whatever other fancy name is out there). When one looks at the Mosaic Law equipped with the New Law given by Christ, one suddenly sees a complete picture, replete with explanations, reasonings, and rationales. It would be as if we were walking around at night in pitch black and suddenly we are given night-vision goggles and everything around us is visible. The Bible gives us no indication that the Israelites understood the ultimate meaning of the rigid code they were told to follow by Moses (in fact, their constant murmuring is indication that they didn't enjoy following something they didn't understand). But for us, living in the age after Christ has fulfilled the Law and illuminated it for us, we can see why the Jews had to do what they did, why the Law was filled with so many seemingly unimportant details, why, for instance, it had to be a red cow! Because it was all pointing to Jesus Christ! When one realizes this, there is no longer a pointless verse in the Old Testament. Every action is symbolic, is a figure for what is to come. The way was being prepared, even as far back as the days of Moses.

The reason I had to touch on the symbolism of the Old Testament is because this particular chapter, Numbers 19, which was originally obscure to me, was illuminated when I realized it was all symbolic. The red cow is Jesus Christ.

"Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee a red cow of full age, in which there is no blemish, and which hath not carried the yoke:
And you shall deliver her to Eleazar the priest, who shall bring her forth without the camp, and shall immolate her in the sight of all." (Numbers 19:2-3)

Christ was sacrificed when He reached the "full age"; He had "no blemish," for He was sinless. He was taken to the High Priest, was led outside the city, and was crucified "in the sight of all." And the parallels continue. The immolation of the red cow was to expiate the sins of the people, as was the sacrifice of Christ. My commentary says, "Thus we perceive the meaning of many things which to the Jews were veiled in shadows." Again, all things were pointing toward Christ. Whether or not Moses knew this is debatable. There are hints in the Bible that he knew vaguely of Someone Who was to come at a later age to save the children of Israel. Alas, it must for now remain as a mystery of faith.

Numbers 17-18: Set Apart

These were some relieving chapters. As a reader, it seems the Israelites have been wandering through the desert for an eternity. And for the majority of their journey they have been murmuring and complaining to Moses. As we saw in Numbers 16, a big part of their discontent is the preferential treatment they see given to Moses and Aaron. Korah tried (and failed) to lead a rebellion against Moses. And the rest of the people couldn't understand why the Levites should be the only ones who could conduct worship, or approach the sanctuary, or receive the first fruits. But God sets this all straight in Numbers 17 and 18. Speaking through Moses, He lays down once and for all the sacred role He wants for the Levites. No one approaches the tabernacle but a priest! No one offers oblations but a priest! No one shall get the best of the oil or the wine but a priest! God wants a certain number of His people set apart.

This, of course, caused me to think of the role of the priest today. Priests of the New Law, just like the Levites of the Old Law, adhere to a completely different set of guidelines. One of my favorite verses from these chapters is this one: "And the Lord said to Aaron: You shall possess nothing in their land, neither shall you have a portion among them: I am thy portion and inheritance in the midst of the children of Israel" (Numbers 18:20). How beautiful! The priest shall have no possessions because he possesses God Himself! One begins to see here just how elevated and sacred God intended His priests to be. This verse also makes me think of the great Saint Francis of Assisi, who kept no possessions and kept himself wholly and completely reserved for God. Unfortunately, through the ages many priests have lost sight of this sacred role of theirs. And when a society's priests begin to accumulate wealth or desire material things, the society itself crumbles. Conversely, when a society's priests live for God alone and forsake the world, the society prospers, in that it enjoys God's favor. Jeremias 31:14 reads, "And I will fill the soul of the priests with fatness: and my people shall be filled with my good things, saith the Lord." It is true that priests enjoy a special place among God's people, but they must sacrifice much in their lives. My commentary notes that when a man decides to become a priest, one of the first steps toward his ordination is a ceremony in which the bishop cuts off a piece of his hair in the form of a cross while the priest-to-be recites Psalm 15:5: "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance, and of my cup; it is Thou that wilt restore my inheritance to me." This of course is a direct reference to Numbers 18:20. I find this to be a beautiful image: the young candidate renouncing the world and all its wealth and possessions, land and commodities, so that he may possess the Eternal One alone. Awesome. Once again we find a direct parallel between the Old Law and the New.

Numbers 16 - The First Schism

It's interesting how one small chapter in the Bible can contain so much significance. Numbers 16 tells the story of Korah (spelled "Core" in my translation) and his sedition. This was a very powerful chapter in that it deals with the ever-present problem of schism and rebellion within a religious system. In a way it was almost relieving to read about a problem that seems so modern yet existed as far back as we can trace religion. It shows that men have always behaved the same. It shows that significant events involving schism, such as the Protestant Reformation, were not unusual or unprecedented. Moses himself had to deal with this issue! Heresies, rebellion, inner strife, and, most of all, man's pride can be seen in Korah's sedition.

It always starts with pride. Korah's main contention was that he couldn't understand why Moses got to be the ultimate authority among the Hebrews in the desert. He questioned Moses's authority, an authority that was granted by God! Korah also questioned Aaron's role as High Priest. (It's interesting to note that Korah himself was a Levite and thus was of the priestly order of the Israelites. Likewise, Martin Luther was a Catholic priest before his defection). Korah, once he had acquired followers, thus created a schism within the hierarchy established by Moses via God's commands. He created a fissure, a rift (making his death by earthquake quite symbolic) among the people of God.

One could say that it was a trying time for the Israelites, and especially for Moses and Aaron. The people had been murmuring for quite some time. They wanted to return to Egypt, they found the desert too unforgiving, they thought they were being led astray, led to their deaths. Of course Moses became a sort of target for all this malaise. As the authority among the people, Moses came to be despised by some of the more grumbling Israelites. And Korah grew the most audacious by calling his authority fraudulent! In another striking similarity, just as Luther preached that every man was his own priest, Korah criticized the highly hierarchical nature of the Levitical priesthood by saying that every man ought to possess the sanctified role that the Levite priests enjoyed. Numbers 16:3 says of Korah and his followers: "When they had stood up against Moses and Aaron, they said: Let it be enough for you, that all the multitude consisteth of holy ones, and the Lord is among them: why lift you up yourselves above the people of the Lord?" The answer to this question is obviously simple: because God said so. What other motive could Korah have had than Pride? Korah believed his own ideas to be superior to the established system God had ordained. And God dealt with him swiftly.

It's safe to say, based on Numbers 16, that God isn't interested in ambitious innovators. The order that God establishes among His people, whether it's the organization of the twelve tribes of Israel or the institution of the Catholic Church, is never going to be flawless because it is run by men. God may initiate the system, but man must carry it out, and man is flawed. Some people see this imperfect system as somehow opposed to God and therefore they take it upon themselves to create a new system. Korah establishes for us a what-not-to-do example. Korah's rebellion caused thousands to perish and created havoc among the Israelites as they struggled on their journey to the Promised Land. Rebellion also caused a war in heaven when Lucifer tried to question God's authority. And rebellion continues to cause strife among God's people, as thousands of schisms plague Christians today. Obedience and humility alone can prevent all of these divisions. Korah had neither of these things.

Numbers 15 - The Great Sin

"The soul that committeth any thing through pride, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, (because he hath been rebellious against the Lord) shall be cut off from among his people." (Numbers 15:30)

In Numbers 15 we see the sin of Pride being highlighted. This sin, which has been called the Great Sin, is often the gateway to other, lesser sins. As C.S. Lewis puts it, "it was through Pride that the devil became the devil." Lewis also says that Pride "is the complete anti-God state of mind." It is through Pride that men reject God, that they convince themselves that they don't need God, that God doesn't exist because their superior intellect tells them so. In Numbers 15 we see an illustration of a man giving in to his Pride: the children of Israel see "a man gathering sticks on the sabbath day" (Numbers 15:32). This verse comes right after Moses has laid down the laws for dealing with sins of ignorance. Moses next gives an example of a willful sin -- a sin of pride. It is implied that this man willfully broke the sabbath laws by doing servile work. As usual, the Word is terse here, but we can assume that this man knew the sabbath laws but broke them because he thought them either too severe or quite foolish. In his mind there was nothing wrong with gathering sticks on the sabbath. He elevated his mind above God's. Humility, the opposite of Pride, would have told him to submit to the law even if he saw no point in it. But this man was not humble. His Pride was his downfall, and his punishment was severe. He was stoned to death. My commentary notes that God seems to always punish most severely when an example needs to be set, such as with Adam and Eve, Cain, and the Sodomites. Numbers 15 clearly demonstrates the grave danger of the sin of Pride. Even in the New Testament, it is written that "that servant who knew the will of his lord, and hath not prepared, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes" (Luke 12:47). The key phrase here is "knew the will of his lord." Breaking laws out of ignorance is to be forgiven, but to willfully break a law is to risk severe punishment.

C.S. Lewis writes so brilliantly on the sin of Pride, that I must include some of his thoughts here:

"There is one vice [Pride] of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves."

"According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride."

"A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you."

"Pride always means enmity -- it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God."

Numbers 13-14: The Insolence Of Man

"As I live, saith the Lord: According as you have spoken in my hearing, so will I do to you.
In the wilderness shall your carcasses lie. All you that were numbered from twenty years old and upward, and have murmured against me,
Shall not enter into the land, over which I lifted up my hand to make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephone, and Josue the son of Nun." (Numbers 14:28-30)

Thus was the fate of those men and women who distrusted God, turned their backs on Him, and relied more on their own "prowess" to sustain themselves. In Numbers 13 and 14 the Israelites are brought to nearly the gate of Canaan, to what would be their Promised Land. Scouts are sent out to survey the land and bring back information, but the news of the people dwelling there is too much to bear for most of the Israelites. It seems to claim the land promised them by God, they will have to fight and defeat giants and men of superior arms. In an act of cowardice, the men openly proclaim that it would be better to return to Egypt! (Though, seeing as they only survived their journey through the desert because God fed them with manna, one wonders how they thought they'd survive a return journey to Egypt!).

This really was a sad couple of chapters. It was sad in a literal sense because it's hard to see such lack of faith, and yet understandable because they were simply weak humans like all of us. And it was sad in a symbolic sense because this still goes on today, and it's not easy to think about the number of people who may be denying themselves the opportunity to live in eternal bliss with God simply because of a refusal or lack of faith. They'd rather trust in themselves than God. The Israelites didn't like the plan God had laid out for them; they thought it foolish, dangerous, unenjoyable. It's easy to think the same things today. God's plan is usually not the easiest plan, or the most pleasurable plan; but it's the plan that leads to life everlasting. Would that more would trust in it.

Numbers 12 - On The Dangers Of Murmuring

It's been almost three months since my last post. The long break was unintentional but almost unavoidable as well, for I found myself burdened by coaching duties, preparing for the end of the school year, and, most recently, welcoming to the world a niece, who was born just six days ago. Life's events piled up and I lost sight of my Bible-reading. I haven't posted since the day after Easter, and with no posts in May I didn't want to let June go by without anything either. So last night I made it a priority to sit down with the Holy Book and continue where I left off.

And so I read Numbers 12, which is a little chapter about a big event. Moses's siblings, Mary (Miriam) and Aaron, begin to murmur against Moses for reasons that are debated. The passage reads as follows:

"And Mary and Aaron spoke against Moses, because of his wife the Ethiopian,
And they said: Hath the Lord spoken by Moses only? hath he not also spoken to us in like manner?" (Numbers 12:1-2)

Some scholars think Mary and Aaron were angry because Moses had married an outsider (an "Ethiopian"). Others think Mary and Aaron were angry with Moses because he had "put away" his wife and so they were defending Sephora. But what is clear from verse 2 is that there was jealousy involved, as Mary and Aaron felt that Moses was getting special treatment by means of his privileged relationship with God. Throughout the Pentateuch there is a notion of murmuring as a significant human defect. God bestows innumerable blessings upon His people and yet they always seem to thank Him my murmuring or complaining about such trivial things. It seems to be most prevalent whilst the Hebrews are wandering the desert. There is constant murmuring that Moses has to deal with (and now even from his own siblings!). This has to be symbolic of the murmuring we are all guilty of in life. For if the desert wandering of the Israelites is symbolic of our wandering years here on earth, then the grumbling and complaining of the Israelites is symbolic of our thankless behavior as we go through life.

There is an even more interesting symbolism going on in Numbers 12, though. According to many of the early Church Fathers, the whole episode of Mary and Aaron's murmuring can be seen as allegoric of Christ's mission on earth. Moses, who is a figure of Christ, takes to wife an "Ethiopian," an outsider, who can be seen as representative of the Gentiles. Mary and Aaron, who represent the synagogue, murmur against Moses for this act, just as the Jews murmured against the idea of Gentile salvation. In Numbers 12 Mary is punished with disease for her insolence, just as the Jews were punished by the destruction of their city, as Christ had prophesied. Moses is described as meek in Numbers 12, and the same description can be applied to Jesus. Moses compassionately chose the Ethiopian, just as Jesus, through His infinite compassion, extended His saving grace to ALL men by His death and resurrection.

Numbers 10-11: We Gleefully Run to the Slavery of Sin

O how fickle we are! The Israelites have hardly begun their march toward the Promised Land when they begin to complain. They are tired of Manna, they long for the decadent food they had in Egypt.... when they were slaves! Initially this amazed me. Why would the Israelites, who had been overjoyed at their release from bondage, want to go back to the shackles simply for the earthly delight of eating flesh?! But my amazement subsided when I realized that we all do this whenever we desire to sin. Through baptism (just as the Israelites were "baptized" through the waters of the Red Sea) we have been released from the slavery of sin, but as we walk with the Lord through the journey of life, how often do we tire of living piously? How often do we get urges to return to our former, sinful ways? We forget completely the utter miracle involved in our escape from sin, how much the Lord did for us in releasing us from the bondage of iniquity, and we want to go back to our old ways for such trite reasons as slothfulness or gluttony or lust! So the Israelites, being gluttonous for flesh instead of the plain Manna, actually wanted to return to the land of their enslavement! God answers their complaints with more meat than they could handle. He gives them millions of quails, which subsequently bring a plague among them. We must be careful what we ask for. The lesson of Numbers 11 is a memorable and profound one.

Numbers 7-9: The New Passover

Today is Holy Saturday. Yesterday our Lord paid the ultimate price by giving up His life for us; His body was laid in a tomb, and today we solemnly dwell on His passion and death. But we also eagerly await tomorrow, Easter Sunday, the day of His glorious Resurrection.

Coincidentally, my Bible reading today (Numbers 7-9) included a reminder of the importance of the Israelites' continuing to observe the Passover. We know from Exodus that the feast of the Pasch was introduced while God's people were still enslaved in Egypt. Now, His people being free and sojourning through the desert, God reveals the extreme importance of the Passover commemoration as the Israelites march toward their Promised Land. So what's the coincidence? The Christian Holy Week is the fulfillment of the Jewish Passover celebration. One of the most loaded statements Jesus Christ ever made was His last on the cross: "It is consummated" (John 19:30). What was consummated? Everything! The entire Old Law was immediately fulfilled, whilst the New Law was instituted. Everything that was foreshadowed in the Old Law was, at that moment, brought into the light, that all might know the true meaning behind God's past covenants. Part of this was the Passover, which, now that the events of Holy Week were finished, could finally be understood for what it really was -- a prefiguring of Jesus Christ's sacrifice. There is no possible way that the similarities between Passover and the events of Holy Week could have been either coincidental or man-made. Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, just as the paschal lamb was being selected for sacrifice; Jesus died on Good Friday, just as the paschal lamb was being killed; not a bone of Jesus's body was broken, just as not a bone of the paschal lamb could be broken; Jesus's blood saved the world, just as the blood of the paschal lamb saved the Israelites from death. Of course I cannot possibly capture the full scope and splendor of the connection between the Passover and Holy Week with my measly words (it has been described much more eloquently by more able writers than I). I only mention it here because it never ceases to affect me profoundly. The alignment of Christ's death to the Passover is one of the most truly remarkable aspects of Christianity. No one but God could have planned it that way!

Numbers 6 - For Greater Sanctity

Reading the Old Testament is enlightening in so many ways. But probably the most rewarding thing about it is seeing just how foundational it is. This is probably an obvious point to many, but I suppose I was just too ignorant to see it before. The customs and traditions we see in the New Law have their origins in the Old Law. The idea of consecrating oneself to God can be traced back to the earliest books of the Bible; one case in point being the Law of the Nazarites found in Numbers 6. I didn't know much about the Nazarites, but their sanctification process sounds like the classic ascetic model. Anyone who wants to achieve greater sanctity through a more zealous lifestyle has the option of abstaining from worldly pleasures and making a solemn vow to be consecrated to God as a Nazarite, for a temporary period, or for the rest of his life. Historically the Nazarites are a pretty significant part of Judaism. I hadn't realized this, but Saint John the Baptist was a Nazarite (though seeing that he secluded himself in the desert, fasting and abstaining from worldly comforts, it should have been obvious to me). Saint Paul was even supposed to have taken a temporary Nazarite vow. I find it truly special that God allows these special provisions to be made for those who need to do more to live for God. Today of course we have many ascetic-like options for those who, in the past, may have been inclined to become a Nazarite. Monasteries and convents house these pious individuals. And even for those who desire to make a more temporary change of lifestyle, there are retreat houses where one can walk much closer to God for a certain amount of time to re-charge their soul. Reading about the ancient Nazarites truly makes me feel like part of a Divine plan that transcends time and space -- for I see a relationship between God and man back then that looks strikingly familiar to how many people approach Him now. (I'm not saying that nothing has changed, but God is still a God that requires reverence and devoutness). For thousands upon thousands of years, God has been inspiring men and women to leave the things of this world behind and devote everything to Him. The thought of it is stirring.

Also of significance in Numbers 6 are the short benedictions at the end of the chapter. These priestly blessings are as beautiful as they are brief:

"The Lord bless thee, and keep thee." (Numbers 6:24)

"The Lord show his face to thee, and have mercy on thee." (Numbers 6:25)

"The Lord turn his countenance to thee, and give thee peace." (Numbers 6:26)

It seems that God Himself always gives us the best words to say. These words uttered by the sons of Aaron had to have been of great comfort and joy to the people of Israel. Indeed, they must still fill us with hope today!

Numbers 5 - The Waters of Jealousy

As I've progressed through the Pentateuch, there have been a few times when I've come across an enigmatic practice or an unusual law. There is such a thing in Numbers 5 when Moses describes the prescription for wives suspected of adultery. The so-called "trial of jealousy" is something quite foreign to us today. And I readily admit that it is things like this that can throw someone for a loop if he or she isn't reading the Word faithfully. The trial, which calls for the woman to drink a "bitter water" to test if she is an adulteress or not, can be interpreted several ways. I think it's important, first off, to note that nowhere in Sacred Scripture is this practice actually described as taking place. This is not to say that it didn't take place, but perhaps the idea of it was more important to remain in the Word than the actual description of any particular woman enduring it. Secondly, it must always be held in mind that these practices as described in the Old Law were specifically suited for the Israelites of Moses's time. They very rightly sound odd to us. And thirdly, for the same reason that death seems to be the primary punishment for transgressors of the Law, the trial of jealousy was meant to be severe to discourage adultery among men and women. I think when Paul writes that "the letter killeth" in 2 Corinthians 3:6, this trial of jealousy is an example of what he is talking about. The Old Law was both imperfect and quite harsh. It suited the ancient Israelites, but was never meant to be permanent. If God chose to reveal Himself in these ways back then, we must be careful not to judge. It is at least comforting to know that the Old Law provided an opportunity for the innocent woman to be exonerated, in contrast to other ancient laws that honored the accusations of a jealous husband and called for the death of the woman without trial.

Numbers 2-4: Due Order

In Numbers 2:17 it is written, "Every one shall march according to their places, and ranks." This seems to sum up all of these early chapters of Numbers. God is basically assigning every person a place in the events that are about to unfold. There are those who will be fighting, and among these there are those who will march out in front, and those who will bring up the rear; there are those who will be in charge of the tabernacle, and among these it is broken up into various orders, pertaining to the various elements of the tabernacle. But cannot Numbers 2:17 be applied to us all, at any time in history? God calls each and every person to a different thing, to have a different role in life. Some people may think they got the short end of the stick, but if it is what God called you to do, it ought to be accepted with a sort of proud humility.

In keeping with this theme, Numbers 3 and 4 stress the sacred roles of the Levites. This is a tribe truly set apart. God literally says, "the Levites shall be mine" (Numbers 3:12). In this sense, the spirit of the law is upheld today in the Christian priesthood. Priests (and all who enter the religious life) give their lives to God in as literal a sense as is possible here on earth. They separate themselves from society (the degree of which depending on their order), they devote their life's work to ministering to God and none other. The rest of us are forced to split our time between worldly concerns and spiritual ones; whereas a monk in a monastery has the good fortune of giving 100% of his time to God. The Levites were the forebears of these religious men and women.

Lastly, in Numbers 4 we are reminded of the total sacredness of the Tabernacle of the Covenant. We begin to see the breakdown of the orders within the Levitical priesthood (foreshadowing the various orders within the Christian priesthood). The Kohathites, the Gershonites, and the Merarites each are given a specific list of duties concerning the transportation of the Tabernacle. I can't help but feel the true and utter holiness attributed to the Tabernacle while reading Numbers 4! A skeptical materialist would probably scoff at such a notion, but I get the sense that the Tabernacle was radiating with a spiritual aura, and that just to be near it would fill a person with extreme reverence and awe. Reading about how crucial was the transportation of the Tabernacle across the desert made me think of the event in the First Book of Paralipomenon when the Israelites attempted to transport the Ark on a measly ox-cart. As a result, Uzzah was struck dead. I wonder why no one thought of what is written in the Torah, that no one but the Levites might transport the Ark. The Israelites must have lost sight, temporarily, of just how sacred were these items. In a modern context, many Christians today have lost sight of the sacredness of the Holy Eucharist. Just as only the Levites could touch the Tabernacle and what was sacred within it, only a priest may open the tabernacle and touch the sacred host within. With the modern allowance of communion in the hand, we risk the fate of Uzzah.

Numbers 1 - Preparing for War

There isn't a whole lot of content in Numbers 1, but there is a definite shift in "tone." As I mentioned in my last post, Leviticus seems to be a great big "pep-talk" in which God is instructing His people on how to live and how to worship Him before allowing them to take Canaan from the Pagans. Then, in the first chapter of Numbers, suddenly the troops are being assembled! It is clear what is coming, and that is war. The people have the Law, they have a new covenant, and now the only thing left to do is march toward the Promised Land and claim what God has given them. It begins.

Concluding Thoughts on Leviticus

On this beautiful spring day, I have finished the Book of Leviticus. Quite unlike Genesis and Exodus, Leviticus is primarily concerned with one thing.... worship. Now that the children of Israel have been freed from slavery in Egypt, now that they have received a new covenant from God via Moses on Mount Sinai, and now that they are on the verge of being led into the Promised Land, the question is, how can they repay God? We do begin to see what exactly that repayment should look like in Exodus, but in Leviticus it is meticulously described. As is implied by the name of the book, the Levites are the focus of Leviticus -- how they should look, how they should act, how exactly they are to offer sacrifices to the Lord. Leviticus captures the essence of the Mosaic Law, that is, the form of divine worship. Now that the new covenant has been established, what will the sacrificial worship look like? We know from reading the Bible that people have been using sacrifice to worship God since virtually the beginning. There is a prayer in the Mass that captures this idea perfectly. As we ask God to accept our sacrifice, we pray: Supra quae propitio ac sereno vultu respicere digneris; et accepta habere, sicuti accepta habere dignatus es munera pueri tui justi Abel, et sacrificium patriarchae nostri Abrahae, et quod tibi obtulit summus sacerdos tuus Melchisedech, sanctum sacrificium, immaculatam hostiam ("And this deign to regard with gracious and kindly attention and hold acceptable, as You deigned to accept the offerings of Abel, Your just servant, and the sacrifice of Abraham our patriarch, and that which Your chief priest Melchisedec offered to You, a holy sacrifice and a spotless victim"). In the words of Martin Mosebach, "Abel, the shepherd, had made a burnt offering of the firstlings of his flock and their fat on the altar of sacrifice; Abraham had been prepared to sacrifice his son and, then, sacrificed a ram in his place; Melchizedek, who was not of the race of Abraham, sacrificed bread and wine." Mosebach is here showing the "evolution" of worship from Adam's son until just before the Mosaic Covenant. Leviticus gives us the next stage of this "evolution." The divine sacrifice is now more lofty than ever, as there is now a permanent priesthood given to the Levites. There is now a tabernacle, an ark, a house of God. Aside from shifting the Divine Presence from the Tabernacle to the Temple, sacrificial worship would remain largely unchanged until Jesus Christ would come to establish Himself as the eternal sacrificial Victim. And that is why Leviticus is so important -- it establishes a foundation for Jewish worship that will set the stage for all the books of the Old Testament that follow.

Worship is the core of what we need to do here on earth. The Commandments begin by telling us to love God before moving on to how we should love our neighbor. Therefore, as worship is our primary vehicle for loving God, it should be rightly appreciated and understood. Continuing the "evolution" analogy, if the nature of worship began with Abel's primitive sacrifice, and then moved on to the Levitical sacrifices, we know that sacrificial worship will continue to advance closer to the perfection God envisions. Bernard O'Reilly writes that "God so ordained it that the Jewish ritual and worship should be a preparation for the Christian liturgy." I found this to be ever so true while reading Leviticus. So much of what is described in this section of the Pentateuch foreshadows the future sacrificial worship of Christians, with Christ as the sacrificial Victim. The concept of atonement, the blood, the incense, the vestments, the Holy of Holies, the veil, the Divine Presence, the bread, etc., all point towards Christian worship. Yet that is not the end. For the "evolution" will continue when this world no longer exists, and then we (if we are so fortunate) will see worship perfected in heaven. O'Reilly further writes, "what God commanded to be done on earth is only the shadow, the preparation, and the foretaste of what takes place in the Heavenly City above, in that divinest of sanctuaries, where He receives unceasingly the worship of Angels and Saints, and in return eternally pours out on them the flood of His blissful love." Worship here on earth, even the Holy Mass, cannot compare to what is waiting in heaven.

Lastly, though I've focused on worship, Leviticus contains a lot of moral precepts as well. It is very instructional. I get the sense that it is a (pardon my lack of reverence) pep-talk given by God to His people before allowing them to lay claim to the Promised Land. In Numbers we see the people resume their journey toward Canaan. In Leviticus there is almost no forward movement, no narrative. It is simply didactic. What good would it have been to allow the people to inhabit the Promised Land with no instruction on how they are to live? In Leviticus God lays it all out there, putting extra emphasis on how His people are to live distinctly different lives from the pagan nations around them. I move on next to the Book of Numbers.

Leviticus 26 - "I Will Make Your Sanctuaries Desolate"

This was quite a prophetic chapter! God reveals all the ways He will reward those who follow His Commands. And He also reveals the ways He will punish the transgressors. It was the latter that really struck me. The descriptions of the nature of these punishments goes on for over twenty verses, and they seem to be all things that have since come to pass. Leviticus 26:17 says, "I will set my face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you." This very thing has happened to the Jewish people numerous times, most notably in our own modern period. Leviticus 26:25 says, "I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge my covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies." Many believe these prophecies were fulfilled during the Babylonian Captivity, but I don't see any reason why they couldn't have been broad prophecies pointing towards events beyond the captivity. In fact, what was the Diaspora but a great exodus by the Jewish people "into the hands of [their] enemies"? It is said further, "I will destroy your high places, and break your idols" (Leviticus 26:30). This prophecy was most definitely fulfilled when the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD. This is followed by even more foreshadowing of the Jewish Diaspora and even the eventual natural transformation of the Holy land: "I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed" (Leviticus 26:33). It is well known that the Promised Land is described as a land "flowing with milk and honey" in the Old Testament. But, as we all know, it is now a land mostly stripped of its fertility. And just to strike the point home, God declares with finality, "You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy's land shall consume you" (Leviticus 26:38). The Jews will be cast out of the Holy Land and the land will be given its Sabbath, the Sabbath the Jewish people didn't give it. It will lie fallow as it was meant to be every seventh year, a law the Jews did not faithfully follow.

Another thing that came to mind while reading this chapter is that the language isn't as harsh as it appears on the surface. The list of God's punishments is frightening to fathom for sure, but no punishment is set forth without a reason. In Leviticus 26:27-28, God says, "If you will not for all this hearken to me, but will walk against me: / I will also go against you with opposite fury, and I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins." All that is being said here is that God will respond to us in the same manner we respond to Him. If we love and adore Him, we can be confidant He will do the likewise to us. If we walk against Him, He will walk against us. And thus I am always puzzled when people react to, for example, natural disasters with the attitude of "how could a loving God do this?!" Look at how we as a collective people treat God. We deny Him, we blaspheme Him, we persecute Him.... we walk against Him. And so He has gone against us with the same fury we have gone against Him!

Leviticus 24-25: Just Price and the Jubilee

It is written: "When thou shalt sell any thing to thy neighbor, or shalt buy of him, grieve not thy brother." (Leviticus 25:14)

"Grieve" here can be translated "deceive not." Therefore, God is telling His people, "when you buy and sell with each other, do not deceive each other." Chapter 25 of Leviticus is almost entirely about the seventh year Sabbath and the fiftieth year jubilee. But throughout the chapter is also a reminder of the charity we are to show one another in imitation of the love God has toward us. It's really a beautiful chapter of the Bible. God's Mercy exists in each of its words.

There were many standout verses, but verse 15 really struck me, mainly because it seemed to indicate an early version of Christian Just Price Doctrine and the concept of Distributism. Just Price Doctrine was, until very recently, something unknown to me. Growing up in a "celebrated" Capitalist system, it had never occurred to me that there could be anything unethical about, for example, selling something for more than it's worth, or buying something for less than it's worth. But that seems to be what God is saying in Leviticus 25:14! We are not to deceive our brother when buying or selling with him. If we have a car that is officially valued at, say, $4,000, and we find some sucker who buys it from us for $6,000, we have effectively stolen $2,000 from him! For this to be the case, the buyer must be completely unaware of the car's actual worth -- he must think he is paying a fair price. That is Just Price Doctrine, and I had no idea it can be traced back to the Torah!

An even worse abuse of Just Price is when a seller takes advantage of a buyer's situation to maximize his profits. For example, at an outdoor event it is over one hundred degrees and only one person is selling bottled water. The seller knows that people will pay almost anything to keep from dehydrating, so he charges $5 for water that is valued at $1.50. This is an abuse that is rampant in a capitalist society. Capitalists see it as smart business, but God sees it as thievery. The just thing to do would be to charge each person $1.50, the fair and agreed-upon value of the water.

The other side of the coin is when a buyer gets a "great deal" on some item. Perhaps a seller is trying to get rid of an old vinyl album. The seller may not know the actual worth of the album and so he sells it for a measly $2. But if the buyer knows the actual worth to be, say, $50, and buys it for $2 without telling the seller (then brags to all his friends about the "steal" he got), that buyer has stolen from the seller! It amazes me that American society doesn't acknowledge these things as offenses. They are deceptions. They are not examples of "loving your neighbor."

All that aside, I found the whole concept of the jubilee and the seventh year Sabbath to be profoundly wonderful and a prime example of God's Mercy -- specifically the idea of releasing all slaves every fiftieth year, and forgiving all debts. What a brilliant way of preventing man from ever getting too haughty! The jubilee shows man who is really in charge. In case any man may think he owns another man, God sets in straight on the jubilee, and the servant is released and the slave owner is reminded of God's authority. No wonder the jubilee has been poorly observed among some of the more worldly Jews throughout history -- to the power-hungry and greedy it is a nuisance!

The same goes for the Law that states that on the seventh year Sabbath all fields shall lie fallow. This requirement does two things. On the one hand, it forces the people to rest on the seventh year -- no tilling the fields, no harvesting or reaping. People are forced to turn their minds to God instead of their work, which God desires. Secondly, and more importantly, it is a test. Leaving all the fields fallow on the seventh year requires a great deal of faith in God. It forces the people to trust in God's Providence, to believe that He will provide food for them during the Sabbath year.

I am almost done with the Book of Leviticus, and after such a careful reading, I can say I never knew the Law would be so intricately rich!

Leviticus 21-23: Holy Days

It was comforting to read about the many holy feasts the Jews were instructed to keep. God obviously desires certain days to be kept holy, for Moses makes special mention of this in Leviticus 23. The feast days encompass the whole year, from the Passover of the spring to the Atonement of the fall. These holy days are the precursors of the Christian feast days that have been a part of western culture for two millennia. Just as the earth experiences a natural cycle of seasons, the feast days provide humans a refreshing cycle of regeneration. These holy days are gifts from God -- they provide us with rest and nourishment, and they can be quite invigorating, both spiritually and physically. They also help us to remember what is ultimately important. It is far too easy to let our daily lives start to seem like the focus of our lives, but when an important holy day comes around, we are forced to put our daily lives on hold and contemplate God, an activity that, if left to our own devices, we would perform far too infrequently. I for one enjoy the feast days immensely, and I am very grateful for them. I know those ancient Jews, wandering through the harsh desert, had to have been overjoyed at the institution of these special days. It is one more instance of God's never-ending Mercy.


(In keeping with the theme of this post, I'd like to make mention of today's Christian feast day in commemoration of Saint Roderick. Roderick was a priest who lived in Spain in the 9th century at a time when Christians were severely persecuted by the Muslims. His own brother converted to Islam and betrayed Roderick by violently attacking him and dragging him through the streets. Roderick was imprisoned because of his Christian faith and endured much suffering at the hands of the Muslim rulers. He was eventually beheaded along with other captured Christians. Today I pay homage to St. Roderick for his bravery and immovable faith.)

Leviticus 20 - A People Removed

Leviticus 20 starts out by re-emphasizing the prohibitions laid out in Leviticus 18. All unnatural lusts are condemned; and what was most striking to me was the attention given to abominable relations between humans and animals. This was obviously an issue that needed to be dealt with, for this is its second mention in the Bible. It's one of the most gruesome and dark practices that people are capable of, and it shows quite blatantly the nefarious tendencies of a Godless society. Herodotus, the famous Greek historian of the 5th century BC, who is in no way associated with the Bible, also described this abominable practice among the pagan peoples. So we have much evidence that it went on (and still does in many cultures today). Some of the Greek myths point to the practice as well, such as Leda and the swan (pictured above). When one really starts to realize what the Godless pagan societies were like, it becomes so clear that the Judeo-Christian Law is the Law, perfectly aligned with the Natural Law, and meant to pave the way to a more God-like society. Without this perfect Law, we are left with floundering philosophies of nothingness. To give an example, the "celebrated" philosopher Peter Singer, who is famous for his work on animal rights, has actually gone so far as to demonstrate the conditions under which sexual relations with animals is not wrong! That's where we're headed, folks. If we continue down a Godless path as a society, we're only going to come full circle, and we'll be right back to where we started: a lustful, worldly, hedonistic people, much in need of a Law to set us straight.

Leviticus 20 ends with some profound verses explaining the reasons behind the Law, and what God wants from His people. These are verses initially directed toward the Jewish people, but they resound with a timelessness that transcends specificity. The following verses refer to all of God's people, which as we know, with the coming of Christ, include people of all nations and ethnicities. These are eternal words that all of Christendom should hear:

"Keep my laws, and my judgments, and do them; lest the land, into which you are to enter to dwell therein, vomit you also out." (Leviticus 20:22) [The "land" of course being heaven.]

"Walk not after the laws of the nations, which I will cast out before you; for they have done all these things, and therefore I abhorred them." (Leviticus 20:23)

"You shall be holy unto me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be mine." (Leviticus 20:26)

I love that last verse, "I have separated you from other people, that you should be mine." What a clear statement of God's Divine Plan. All the rules and regulations are important, because they are outward indicators of our separation from other people (the "other people" being those not wanting anything to do with God). We belong to God; He claims us as His own. Yet He has given us a choice: do we remain with Him, or do we flee? I think a scene from the New Testament (John 6:68-69) illustrates this beautifully. After many of Jesus's disciples decide to follow Him no more, He says to the twelve Apostles, "Will you also go away?" And in response, Peter says something every Christian has probably thought at one time or another: "Lord, to whom shall we go?" What sincere words! For if we don't go with God, our only other option is nothingness. And that nothingness leads to hopelessness. Nietzsche, that famous philosopher of nothingness, literally went mad at the end of his life. No thanks.

Leviticus 19 - Judging and Loving

This was an all-encompassing type of chapter. At times it seemed to mirror the Ten Commandments. Other laws were repeated as well, such as the procedure for a proper sin-offering. But what struck me were a couple of passages that seemed to foreshadow the New Law given us by Jesus. For one, Leviticus 19:18 tells us to "love thy friend as thyself," which of course sounds nearly identical to Christ's words. Further along, Leviticus 19:33-34 says, "If a stranger dwell in your land, and abide among you, do not upbraid him: But let him be among you as one of the same country: and you shall love him as yourselves." It is not hard to see, then, that the Bible truly has only one Author.

I also noticed in Leviticus 19:15 that God says, "judge thy neighbor according to justice." This instantly made me think of the all-too-common situation in which a person will be criticized for a certain wrongful action and the criticized will respond with, "you can't judge me!" or "stop judging me!" Many people (almost always non-Christians) hear Christ's famous words "Judge not, that you may not be judged" (Matthew 7:1) and mistakenly apply it to all situations. The Church is clear about this, and tells us to "admonish the sinner," for we are obligated to help our fellow brothers and sisters to enlightenment in Christ. We cannot falsely judge, or vainly judge, or judge out of spite, or make eternal judgments. But, according to God Himself, we must "judge... according to justice."

Lastly, another interesting passage in this chapter of Leviticus reads: "Thou shalt not sow thy field with different seeds. Thou shalt not wear a garment that is woven of two sorts" (Leviticus 19:19). Without denying the literal meaning of these laws, it seems pretty clear that there are higher moral meanings embedded in these words (as most commentators have mentioned). This seems to be God calling us to avoid schisms and heresies. As my commentary notes, "The sowing of different seeds tends to impoverish the soil." God desires unity among His people, and the more "sects" or "branches" of His followers there are, the more "impoverished" is His Church. There is no doubt that a unified fold would not only be more pleasing to God, but it would be more awe-inspiring to the worldly nations, and more inviting.

Leviticus 18 - The World Outside of God, Part II

"You shall not do according to the custom of the land of Egypt, in which you dwelt: neither shall you act according to the manner of the country of Chanaan, into which I will bring you, nor shall you walk in their ordinances." (Leviticus 18:3)

Leviticus 18 further clarifies how people were living outside of God, building upon what began to be revealed in Leviticus 17. Of course, this isn't brand new information. In Genesis we learn of, for example, the Sodomites and their atrocious practices. It was probably pretty commonplace for the ancient Israelites to be aware of what was going on outside their circle. And it appears it was a constant concern that too many of God's chosen ones were being drawn to the pagan lifestyle of the surrounding nations. It's clear that the people outside of God, the Egyptians, the ancient Canaanites, and so on, represent the world. And it is also clear that God does not want His people to be of the world. He wants them to be a holy nation, set apart from the worldly nations around them.

Leviticus 18, on the surface, is nothing but a long list of forbidden marital and sexual practices. It is directly stated that the mentioned acts and customs are practiced by the pagan nations, to which my commentary elaborates: "The Persians married their own mothers, daughters, and sisters [and] the Egyptians took their sisters to wife." God makes it clear that those acts are condemned. They are in violation of the natural law, which is why it is stated: "For all these detestable things, the inhabitants of the land have done that were before you, and have defiled it. Beware then lest in like manner, it vomit you also out, if you do the like things, as it vomited out the nation that was before you" (Leviticus 18:27-28). The imagery in this passage is striking. According to Haydock's notes, it is as if the "earth [is] sick and disgusted with the crimes of its inhabitants." The natural law was violated so heinously that the earth (which is subject to the natural law) became disgusted and "vomited" out the evil-doers.

It is interesting what is going on here. For on the one hand, God clearly declares these corrupt marriages as a violation of a natural code, yet on the other hand, He repeatedly states throughout this chapter, "I am the Lord your God." After many of these ordinances, instead of explaining why a man can't marry his sister, or his step-mom, or his daughter (etc.), He simply says, "I am the Lord your God," as if to say, That is all you need to know. As God, He has a right to make laws and He doesn't have to explain His reasons to us. It is somewhat like a father telling his child "No." The child may want an explanation, but the father may simply reply, "because I said so." Of course, the father does have a reason why he said no, but he doesn't tell his child the reason because maybe the child wouldn't understand or isn't mature enough to appreciate the decision made by the father. So when God tells us "no," who are we to demand a reason why?! However, as previously mentioned, God does leave us with a vision of the earth spitting out those who break the natural law, and so we can get a peak at the severity of such a transgression.

Lastly, there is an enigmatic reference in Leviticus 18 to possibly another known demon of the ancient world, Moloch. After reading up on it, it appears Moloch was possibly a "deity" that demanded children as sacrifice. It is debated, though, just how this was done. Some think living human children were consumed in the flame dedicated to Moloch, while others think the children weren't killed in the ritual, just "passed through" the flame in a sort of initiation rite. At any rate, we see here another glimpse of the horrors of the world outside of God. And the children of Israel are specifically told not to partake in any of these sacrifices that were going on around them. It is also interesting that Moloch (or his concept) seems quite like the deity known as Saturn. Saturn (and his counterparts) was worshipped throughout the pagan lands of that day, and he was known for devouring his children. The images of Moloch are likewise those of a monstrous god consuming children. Could it be the work of a singular evil force? Just something to ponder.

Leviticus 17 - The World Outside of God

I'm always intrigued when I come across a verse in Scripture that seems to hint at what the world was like outside of God's chosen people. Why did the Israelites strive to be "set apart"? Why did God give them a Law that so profoundly differentiated them from the surrounding nations? What was so bad about these pagan gentiles?

One telling sign is just how alluring the lifestyle of the pagans was. Throughout the Torah God is constantly reminding His people not to do the things that the pagans are doing. The biggest temptation was that of idolatry and all it encompasses. Idolatry seems to be the defining feature of the world outside of God. And it came in many forms: worship of graven forms, worship of natural things, worship of living people, etc. It also consisted in deplorable practices: fornication on a massive scale, human sacrifice, violent rituals, drunkenness, etc. One need only read a handful of Greek myths to understand this. The world outside of the camps of God was one in which demons ran free, soaking up the attention they were given. It was a world of debauchery, licentiousness, and overindulgence. No wonder God's people were constantly defecting to the other side!

The passing mention in Leviticus 17 says that the children of Israel "shall no more sacrifice their victims to devils, with whom they have committed fornication." This brief reference to paganism says quite a lot. For one, it implies that the children of Israel were guilty of sacrificing to devils, at one time at least. It also hints at the abominable sexual practices of the pagans (which will eventually be addressed in Leviticus). The true and historic pagan lifestyle is often downplayed in our society (perhaps because it reminds us too much of our Godless society today?). But viewing it as it was makes the Law given by God shine even brighter (which it should). God's law-filled light scares away the devils and puts an end to their abhorrent practices. The exact same thing can be said of our society today, if only we would let His light shine.

One last note, returning to Leviticus 17:7. I found it interesting that the "devils" in this verse comes from the Hebrew word sehirim, which is sometimes translated as "goats" since the word implies "hairy ones." And it is thought by some scholars to more specifically imply the pagan satyrs, or goat-men, found in Greek mythology and revered and worshiped by the Egyptians in the area near the Israelites. It is entirely possible that God is here condemning the worship of a Pan-like god. I am always fascinated when different historical worlds intersect like this.