Reading for March 18
Numbers 26:52-28:15
After the census, which I read about last night, God tells Moses to give the people land according to the size of their family. This leads to an interesting case of a group of sisters who's father died. Their father never had a son, only daughters - so according to the way the decree was issued, they were ineligible for an inheritance of land. Moses brought this to God and God allowed them to inherit the land they were owed.
The next section talks about giving regular offerings to God, but this seems like quite a bit of work:
Every Day: 2 Lambs, 1 year old without defect
Every Sabbath: 4 lambs, 1 year old without defect
Every Month: 2 young bulls, 1 ram and 7 male lambs a year old, all without defect.
I don't even know where to get a lamb. Much less one that's exactly a year old, and without defect. I mean I know these people kept livestock, but two lambs every day? How quickly are you gonna run out of lambs? That's 730 lambs a year, per household! And that's not including the monthly or weekly offerings. Did people actually do this? It seems so wasteful...
Luke 3:1-22
The ministry of John the Baptist
This section focuses on John the Baptist's ministry. He actually sounds very much like Jesus here in Luke. Everyone comes to John and asks how they should behave, he gives them basic moral advice (don't cheat people, or falsely accuse them of things) - and the people saw this and wondered is he was the Messiah. I think later in the Old Testament, there is a lot of talk about a savior coming to earth to rescue the Israelite people. They must have really been on their toes looking for a savior, because John was kind of a weirdo - and as great as he was, he wasn't saying anything revolutionary.
Then John says one of the more famous lines from the Bible:
"I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."I've never really understood what it means to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire, but I think the point on a very shallow surface level is that while people think John the Baptist is so remarkable, there is another who is coming that is even more remarkable and powerful. My pastor is currently doing a series on the Holy Spirit, so I would hope that by the end of it, this verse would make more sense.
Psalm 61:1-8
2 From the ends of the earth I call to you,
I call as my heart grows faint;
lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
3 For you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the foe.
Could that also say, "From the end of my rope I call to you"? I know that David really did have some serious enemies on earth, but I would like the think that "the foe" mentioned here could also be representative of sin. God being a strong refuge against the perils and temptations of sin.
Proverbs 11:16-17
16 A kindhearted woman gains respect,
but ruthless men gain only wealth.
17 A kind man benefits himself,
but a cruel man brings trouble on himself.
This was kind of the conversation I had with my friend, Pete at lunch today. We were discussing the origins of morality, and why, as humans we, on average, default to moral behavior more often than not. Pete said that there have been sociological studies that prove that for a society to flourish, morality will always win out over being a butthole. You may get short terms gains by stepping on the backs of others to get to where you want to be in life, but verse 16 above says it all. You may gain wealth by being ruthless, but true respect comes from kindness.
True fatigue comes from brain exhaustion and work overload. Good. Night.
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