Monday, March 16

Hey, alright. Entry two for today. I'm gonna get right to it, it's late, yo.

Reading for March 16
Numbers 24:1-25:18
So there's these two guys, Balak and Balaam. Balak was the king of a nation called Moab and Balaam was a prophet working under Balak. Balak heard about the Israelites as was afraid of them because of their large numbers. Balak ordered Balaam to put a curse on them so they couldn't overtake the nation of Moab. BUT, God came to Balaam and told him to bless the Israelites rather than curse them. Also, God told Balaam this through a donkey, which is hilarious by the way.

Anyway, Balaam does indeed bless Israel here in a beautiful set of verses. Balak freaks out and gets extemely angry with Balaam. This is Balaam's response:

¹³ 'Even if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the LORD -and I must say only what the LORD says'

This is the type of conviction I wish I had. I may never get it, but it is something to strive for. Then again, I don't expect to be spoken to by a God-Donkey anytime soon.

The next section of text showcases a particularly vicious God. The Israelites were camping in a place called Shittim (Really? You can't think of a better name for your town? "Come to Shittim - Not Nearly as Sh***y as it Sounds!") and they all begun to worship the local god/idol Baal. Shittim and Baal...this region needs a marketing guy. Anyway, worshiping another god seriously sets God off.

 ⁴ The LORD said to Moses, "Take all the leaders of [those who are worshiping Baal], kill them and expose them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that the LORD's fierce anger may turn away from Israel."

The next part, I'm not sure I understand, so CDLC and Andy Newberry, I'm looking in your direction for explanations...

It says that after this happened, an Israelite man brought a Midianite woman to his family. Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron killed both the Midianite woman and the Israeli man. Somehow this action quelled God's anger against his people, but why? I'm not quite sure who the Midianites are exactly...Extremely confusing here...


Luke 2:1-35
Something kind of cool I just picked up on in this section: Jesus was the first born son to Mary - according to what we've been looking at in Leviticus and Numbers, God said on multiple occasions, "All first borns belong to me". Luke actually mentions this here:

 ²²When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³(as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord")

I don't think that changes anything about what I believe, but it is interesting to see the customs carry over to Jesus. 

Psalm 59:1-17
There really isn't anything of note here. More of the same "crush my enemies" stuff.

Proverbs 11:14
 ¹⁴ For lack of guidance a nation falls,
       but many advisers make victory sure.

Alright, bedtime. Glad to be caught up.