Deuteronomy 17-19:Purity Is Of Utmost Importance

Hi folks,

Yes, it's been months, but I'm determined to continue this for as long as it takes for us to finish reading the Bible. Was chatting with Emily a few weeks back, and she seems ready to get back on it too. Are you all with me??

:)

In these next few chapters we really see God emphasizing holiness and justice in so many different ways.

1. Sacrifices Must be Without Defect
It would be "detestable" to bring a lamb or goat that has a defect.

2. Purge the Evil Among You
God specifically instructs the Israelites to STONE to death anyone among them who is doing evil in the eyes of the Lord. God sets up a system to make sure that this is done as fairly as possible. One can only be stoned based on the testimony of 2-3 witnesses, not just one.

Furthermore, issues that are too difficult to determine will be handled by the Levitical priest and the judge. Anyone who shows contempt for the priest or the judge will ALSO be stoned.

3. The Appointed King Must be "from among you."
God instructed them to choose an Israelite as a king (not foreigner!). Not only that, the king MUST work with the priests and follow all of God's laws and commandments.

4. Do Not Mix with the Foreigners!
The foreigners that the Israelites would replace practiced detestable acts, such as sorcery, divination, witchcraft, child sacrifice, etc. God specifically commanded them not to engage in such practices. Instead, God told the Israelites he would provide them with a prophet, through whom God would speak.

5. Take Care of Your Priests
God specifically gave instructions for the Israelites to support their priests, since the priests serve the people and do not receive their own inheritance. "The LORD is their inheritance."

6. Provide a Refuge
Though God provided many laws to maintain holiness, He understood human nature and provided ways to protect those that might be harmed unnecessarily. He understood the desire that humans have for revenge. He knew that if a person accidentally hurt another, that person's family would want revenge, even if it wasn't his fault.

God asked the Israelites to set aside a few cities that would act as refuge areas for these people.

Of course, if a person murdered with malice aforethought, the rules were completely different. In that case, God instructed them to bring him back to his avengers. "Show no pity."

7. Fairness Is Important
At the end of it all, God reminds them that you can never convict anyone based on the testimony of one witness. God emphasizes how important it is for the judge to listen to all the facts, evidence, before he makes his impartial decision.

Deuteronomy 14-16

What you May or May Not Eat
This looks similar to (if not exactly) what Jews practice to this day - what's kosher and what's not? There are many rules, such as:

animals that have a split hoof divided in two and that chew the cud are CLEAN
OK: the ox, the sheep, the goat, the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep
NOT OK: camel, the rabbit or the coney

sea animals with fins and scales are CLEAN

all birds are CLEAN except the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, the red kite, the black kite, any kind of falcon, any kind of raven, the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, the little owl, the great owl, the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey, the cormorant, the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.

All insects are unclean and you can't cook a goat in its mother's milk

Tithes
Give 10% of your field produce back to God. How? (I found this interesting) by eating it in the presence of God so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always. Every three years you bring your tithe to store in the town so the Levites can have their fill.

Although there seems to be no yearly requirement to give 10% to support the Levites, it does specifically say in verse 27 "And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own." So I think it is implied that we should still monetarily support our pastors/ministers/etc. ;)

The Year for Canceling Debts
This is tough - every 7 years you must cancel all the debts to and from "brothers" (not foreigners). God clearly says "there should be no poor among you." He warns against sinful thoughts of withholding lending because "The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near."

I found this statement powerful:

Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.

Such a good reminder, and something I don't do enough of . . . .

Freeing Servants
If a Hebrew sells himself to you as a servant, you should let him go free after 6 years of service (7th year) and send him with flocks, etc. so he "does not leave emptyhanded." God continually reminds the Israelite they too were once slaves, and this they should understand.

But if a servant wants to stay, then he becomes a servant for life.

Passover
God then gives the Israelites instructions for how to celebrate the Passover, including specific instructions about various feasts to celebrate, and how to celebrate them.

Finally, he tells them to appoint judges to help them arbitrate matters, and most importantly . . .

Do Not Worship Other Gods . . . .

Deuteronomy 11-13

Love the Lord Your God . . .
God reminds the Iraelites that it was not their children, but they who saw all the blessings that God gave them (deliverance from Egypt, etc.) God tells them that they must continue to "love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul." If they do that, he will bless their promised land and bring TONS of rain . . the land will not be like Egypt, which was difficult to farm and required tons of irrigation. No, this land will DRINK UP the rainwater and produce bountiful crops.

Worshipping Other Gods
God warns them to be careful because they will be tempted to turn to other gods. He tells them to remind their children in many different ways of how faithful God was to the Israelites.

Essentially, God tells them He will bless them if they obey his commmands (to love the LORD), but if they turn to other gods, He will curse them.

God them gives further instructions about how they should remove all the places on the high mountains where their conquerees worship. They really MUST NOT worship other gods. God then gives some instructions about how the Israelites are to sacrifice and worship, including instructions on when they can or cannot eat meat and how to eat it.


Finally, God gives some REALLY STRICT instructions about what to do if others Israelites are worshipping other gods. This just continues to demonstrate how strongly God feels about this. Essentially, if you are enticed by a prophet, your own family members, your own spouse, or "wicked men" in the next town over, you must put the enticer to death. God has no room for people who worship other gods and try to entice others to do the same.

Deuteronomy 7-10

 "God will deliver them over to you" (chapter 7)
Moses next describes to the Israelites how they are to drive out the nations on their quest for the promised land. He tells them that they must DESTROY THEM COMPLETELY. He warns against intermarrying with these people, or getting involved with their gods. Instead the Israelites must destroy their gods.

Moses reminds the Israelites again that it was because of God's promise to their forefathers that he loves them and favors them. Moses also warns them that God will keep his covenant of love "to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him."

Moses reminds the Israelites that they MUST FOLLOW & OBEY God's commandments. He tells them to have faith that God will carry them through in defeating all these foreign peoples.

"Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God" (chapter 8)
Moses warms the Israelites not to forget about how good God has been to them. He reminds them of how God brought them out of slavery. Moses tells them they must remember and praise God once they have become comfortable in the promised land. "Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery."

Moses ends with an ominous warning:

"If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God."

 "For you are a stiff-necked people" (chapter 9)
Moses tells the Israelites that they will soon attack Anakites (HUGE GIANTS) and yet the Lord will make the Israelites victorious. He warns them not to think that it was because of their righteousness that they were victorious, but because of God's promise. In fact, he tells them they are a "stiff-necked people."

Moses then goes into describing various instances in history where God wanted to destroy them due to their sinful nature but Moses interceded and plead with God to save them. This was the golden calf incident, and other incidences at Taberah, at Massah Kibroth Hattaavah, and Kadesh Barnea. In all the cases, the Israelites did not trust & obey God and Moses had to intercede for them, praying "forty days and forty nights."


"Do not be stiff-necked any longer" (chapter 10)
Moses finishes off this section by describing how God decided he was not going to destroy the Israelites. He made a new set of stone tablets with the commandments on them. Instead, he told Moses to go and lead the people into the promised land.

I love this last part, so I've pasted it in its entirety. Such a good reminder of who God is, highlighting so many different aspects of his personality.

"And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. Yet the LORD set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today.

Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.

Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. Your forefathers who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Deuteronomy 5-6

Moses reminds the Israelites of the 10 commandments he received at the top of the mountain. He reminds them that God made this covenant with them not just their forefathers.

1. No other gods
2. No idols
3. No misuse of God's name
4. Observe the Sabbath
5. Honor your parents
6. No murder
7. No adultery
8. No stealing
9. No false testimony against your neighbor
10. Don't covet your neighbor's wife or his stuff

After seeing God's power on the mountain, the Israelites were amazed at God's glory. They said to Moses "go near and listen to all that the LORD our God says. Then tell us whatever the LORD our God tells you. We will listen and obey."

God was quite pleased with them. Moses said "So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. 33 Walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess."

Moses continues to give the Israelites more guidance on how to honor and obey God.

1. Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and strength
2. Don't forget the Lord, who brought you out of slavery in Egypt
3. Fear the Lord, and serve him ONLY
4. Do not test the Lord
5. Keep the commands of the Lord

The moral of the story?

"And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness."

Deuteronomy 4

Akkkkk!!  It has been nearly a month! Time to get back on the train. Help, anyone???

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Moses continues to speak to the Israelites, reminding them to obey God's commands. Why?
1. So you may live & take possession of the land
He reminds them of how many that did not follow God died at Horeb.

2. Shows their wisdom & strength to the surrounding nations
Other nations will be amazed at Isralites' god

Moses finally reminds the Israelites not to forget what God has done, and to tell their children about it too.

Moses tells idolatry of any kind is forbidden, and reminds them of the golden calf incident. He warns them - if you don't follow God, you will be mostly destroyed or scattered. Then if you are in distress and seek out God, you will find him, for God is merciful and has not forgotten his covenant with his people.

Moses reminds them to think back in history - nothing like this has ever happened before, where God clearly made himself known to a nation and took them out of oppression with so many wonders and miracles. Why? So that they would know that the Lord is God.

Moses then sets aside some cities as Refuge Cities and begins to lay out the law.

Deuteronomy 1-3 (Summary of their journey thus far)

Moses narrates a summary of the Israelites journey up to this point to the Israelites in the desert east of the Jordan . . .

God told the Israelites at Horeb, "You have stayed here long enough. Go and take possession of the land I had promised to your forefathers." [heavily paraphrased]

Moses asked each tribe to appoint a leader to be judge because he could not personally handle and arbitrate each case. They also sent spies to check out the land that they were going to enter.

The spies reported back of a rich and prosperous land that was walled, heavily fortified, and inhabited by giants. The Israelites began to grumble in fear, complaining that God had brought them out of Egypt to destroy them. They refused to go because they did not trust God. God was angry, telling them that none of them would enter (they would instead die wandering in the desert), with the exception of Joshua and Caleb.

Then the Israelites were remorseful, and changed their minds. "We have sinned against the LORD. We will go up and fight, as the LORD our God commanded us."


Bad idea. They thought it would be easy, but God told them NOT to go because he was not with them. They did not listen, and then totally got defeated.

God then guided the Israelites in a long roundabout way to the promised land. This basically killed time until all of that first generation passed. God would give them commands about how to approach each people group. If the Israelites obeyed God, then things would go their way. Here are some examples of those commands.

Moab at Ar: pass through; land is already given to descendants of Lot
Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his country: defeat, leave no survivors
Ammonites: do not take their land
Og king of Bashan: defeat, leave no survivors

Dividing Up the Land
At this point they had obtained quite a bit of land. If you remember from the end of Numbers, the Reubenites, Gadites, and Half Tribe of Manasseh wanted this to be their inheritance. Moses gave them the land here and they settled with their women and children. The men would continue to cross the river to get the Promised Land.

Moses pleaded with God to let him see the land, but God was angry and told him he would never enter. Instead, he brought him to the top of a hill and let him see it.

Numbers 34-36

The Promised Land
Moses lays out the boundaries of the promised land and then explains that Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun, together with a leader from each tribe, would decide how to divide up the promised land. Reuben, the tribe of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh were not included in this list because they had already received their inheritance.

Giving to the Priests
Moses also made provisions for each tribe to give some of their land for the Levites. Some of these towns would be refuge towns for a person who has killed another to flee. It was to protect him from the avenger before he could receive a fair trial.

Murder
Moses then sets out laws about murder and the refuge cities.

If an accused leaves the refuge city and is killed by an avenger. The avenger will not be guilty of murder. The accused must stay in the refuge city until the high priest dies. Then he can return home.

There are early forms of laws regarding murder and manslaughter.  For example, if you accidentally kill someone out of rage, it's not as serious as premeditated murder. The assembly will judge. If a person is found to be a murderer, he will be put to death.

Zelophehad's Daughters
Remember these ladies? The women's rights activists? Well, some other members of the clan got concerned that if they married non-Israelites, then a part of the inheritance would belong to an outsider. Worse yet, during the year of the jubilee, all debts would be forgiven, and those properties would be lost forever.

The Lord agreed, and stated that women who had inheritances had to marry within their clan. Zelophehad's daughters obeyed the Lord and married some cousins on their father's side, thus preserving the inheritance.

And with that, we finish NUMBERS! Only one of book (Deuternomony) and then we will be done with the first five book of the Bible (plus Job!). Deuternomony should be easier since we've been having sermon series on it. It's almost like we've already read it.

Numbers 31-33

Taking Vengeance on the Midianites
God commanded Israel to go to war against to Midianites to take vengeance for God (because of all their sins). They killed everyone and plundered everything (lots of livestock, jewelry, etc) except the women and children. Moses was angry, reminding the Israelites that it was the women that tempted the Israelites away to other gods. Moses told them to kill all the boys and all the women except women who "had never slept with a man."

They divided the plunder between the fighting men (1,000 from each tribe) and the Israelites.

Wanting to Stay - Skipping the Promised Land
The Reubenites and Gadites, who by trade were in the livestock business, saw that the land they had just acquired from the Midianites was great for herding, and they asked Moses if they could just forget the promised land and instead stay in this great land that God had provided for them.

Moses got really angry and reminded them that this is what their forefathers did. The result? Wandering in the desert for 40 years until they had all died.

Finally, the Reubenites and Gadites proposed building cities here now for their wives and children, but sending the men to go fight for Israel to ensure that Israel would obtain its inheritance (the promised land). Once they had the promised land, then they would come back and get their women and children.

Moses agreed, promising to give the Reubenites. Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph this land if they followed through on their promise to go fight for the promised land. Theses three tribes set up pens for their livestock and built cities here for their women and children.

The Journey that Israel Took

This next section outlines step by step the route that Israel took (starting from when they left Egypt after all those plagues) all the way to Canaan (the promised land).

Number 27-30

Women's Rights - Israel's first proponents . . .
I never knew this story was in the Bible, but it's interesting.

Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah.

These were the daughters of Zelophehad. After Zelophehad had died (from his own sins, not because he was one of Korah's followers who were destroyed when they banded against the Lord), his name was removed from the clan. The daughters (who had no brothers) were upset.

They approached Moses.

"Why should our father's name disappear from his clan because he had no son? Give us property among our father's relatives."

Moses consulted God, who agreed with the women.  He commanded Moses to instruct the Israelites of a new law, which basically gave property to the daughters if there were no son.

Joshua Appointed
God brought Moses up to the mountain to show him the promised land. Of course, neither Moses nor Aaron could not have this land because of their unwillingness to obey God by honoring Him as holy before the Israelites (at the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Desert of Zin).

Moses asked God to provide Israel with a leader, and God provided Joshua, son of Nun.

Offerings and Feasts
God then gave Moses instructions on what kinds of offerings the Israelite should bring, at what time, and also what kinds of feasts to celebrate (and why).

Most of the ones below are accompanied by grain offerings and drink offerings as well

Daily Offering = 2 lambs without defect 
Sabbath Offering = 2 lambs without defect 
Monthly Offering = 2 young bulls, 1 ram, 7 young lambs
Passover = eat unleavened bread and do no work on the first day; 2 young bulls, 1 ram, 7 young lambs
Feast of Week = 2 young bulls, 1 ram, 7 young lambs (hold regular assembly and do no work)
Feast of Trumpets =  one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect
Day of Atonement = deny yourself and do no work; one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect; 
Feast of the Tabernacles = A fifteen day feast where each day they make an offering. As the days progress, the number of bulls reduces by one, although the number of rams and lambs remains constant; thirteen young bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect.


Vow
God then gave instructions regarding vows. Essentially, if a woman makes a vow but either her father (if she is living at home) or her husband (if she is married), disagrees with the vow and speaks up, she is not bound by it. If they are silent, then she is bound by the vow. Widows and divorced women are bound by their vows.

Numbers 25-26

Seduced By the Moabites
Some of the Israelites were tempted by Moabite women and would go and worship their gods with them. This made God very angry. He told Moses to take the leaders of these people (the ones who were cheating) and "kill them in broad daylight." (!!!)

At that moment an Israelite man brought a Midianite woman to his family. Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, followed them into the tent and drove a spear through BOTH of them, killing them. This stopped the plague, although 24,000 people had already died.

God told the Israelites to treat the Midianites as enemies and to "kill them."

Later on, Moses took a second census.

Overall, there were 601,730 men. (wow) The most important fact is that NONE of these men (except for Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun) were of the first group that was counted at Sinai. As the Lord had promised, the Israelites would wander in the desert until each one of them had died. This was the next generation (and lots of them . . man, imagine if you added the women and children you have A MILLION people wandering around in the dessert. That MUST have been a sight to see).

Number 23-24

This continues the story of Balaam and Balak from Number 22

Balak continued to try three times to get Balaam to curse Israel. Each time, he tried to take Balak to a different location. He would set up the seven alters with all the proper offerings and then ask Balaam to curse Israel.

However, each time God would put words into Balaam's mouth and Balaam would not be able to help it but give blessings upon blessings about Israel. Each time, Balak just got angrier and angrier.  After the third time, Balak gave us, telling Balaam he would not receive any of the gifts Balak had originally promised to him.

Balaam was like, what can I do? These are the words that the Lord has put in my mouth. How can I go beyond the command of the Lord?


He continued with his prophesy, warning Balak what God would to do various groups of people, including Balak's own people, the Moabites.

He predicted that the Israelites would conquer and destroy Moab, Edom, and Amalek. The Kenite;s dwelling place would be secure, but they would eventually be destroyed by Ashur. Then ships from Kittim would destroy Asshur and Eber.

Numbers 20-22

The Israelites arrived at the desert at Zin, where Miriam died. There was no water, so the Israelites started grumbling. Moses and Aaron went to the Tent of Meeting, where God told them to strike a rock with a rod. Moses did so, and water came gushing out.

God, however, was angry that Moses & Aaron did not trust Him enough to honor him as holy in the sight of the Israelites, He told them they would not have the privilege of bringing the community into the promised land.

The Israelites then approached Edom and asked if they could pass through their land. The Edomites said no, threatening to attack them "with the sword" if they tried. The Israelite saw the big armies and decided not to try passing through.

The Israelites moved on to Mt. Hor. There, God repeated that Aaron would never enter the land and would die there. God told Moses to take Aaron's garments and put them on his son Eleazar.

The Canaanite king then heard the Israelites were passing through, and captured many. The Israelites pleaded with God, promising to destroy Canaanites if God delivered the Israelites. God heard them, and the Israelites responded by destroying all the Canaanites.

The Israelites then took a circuitous route to get around Edom. While on that long detour, they started to grumble again at their harsh conditions. God sent venomous snakes who killed many of them. The Israelites repented and begged for mercy. God then told Moses to make a snake and put it on a pole. Whoever looked at the snake would live. Moses crafted a snake out of bronze and the Israelites were saved.

The Israelites then moved onto Oboth, and then Beer, where (lol!) God gave them water.

The Israelites then asked for permission to pass through the Amorites' land. The Amorite king refused, and there was a huge battle. The Israelites captured the Amorites, occupied the land, and settled there. They continued to take surrounding lands, and also defeated the king of Bashan.

The Israelites then moved on to camp along the Jordan near Jericho at the plains of Moab. The Moabites saw them coming but were freak out because they had heard of how the Israelites had defeated all these other lands. They summoned  Balaam (who, I guess, they knew was a prophet???) to curse the Israelites.

Balaam told them he had to talk to God and he'd get back to them the next day. God told Balaam he could not curse the Israelites because they were blessed. Balaam came back and told Balek he could not curse them.

Balek sent more distinguished people to talk to Balaam and tried to bribe him. Finally, God told Balaam he could to Balek, but he must do what God told him to do.

The next morning Balaam set out on a donkey. God was angry so he tried to stop Balaam several times by putting an angel of the Lord in Balaam's path. The donkey would see the angel, freak out and try to turn around, but Balaam would get angry and beat the donkey. The third time, God gave the donkey the ability to speak to Balaam. Balaam was angry and accused the donkey of making a fool of him, and how he would kill the donkey if he had a sword.

Suddenly, God opened Balaam's eyes and he saw the angel there. He repented. God told him to go, but to "only speak when I tell him."

When Balaam saw Balek, he told Balek he could only speak what the Lord told him.

Numbers 17-19

God decided to stop the grumbling by clearly showing the Israelites who he had chosen. Moses took staffs from each leader of the 12 ancestral tribes. They placed the staffs in front of the Tent of Meeting. The next morning, Aaron's staff had budded, flowered, and grown some ALMONDS!

God told Moses to put the staff at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting as a sign of the rebellion. The Israelites feared they would all die.

God outlined at the duties of the Levites. They had to take care of the Tent of Meeting, offer sacrifices and offerings. God specifically said that everyone had to tithe 10% and this money would be given to Aaron and the Levites as their inheritance, since they would not inherit any land. The Levites also had to present 10% of their wages (which came from the Israelites' tithes) to God as an offering as well.

God told the Levites to redeem every first born unclean animal, but not the clean "holy" animals. Instead, the fat and blood of the holy animals would be offered to God. The Levites could eat the meat.

God then gave instructions on how to make water for cleansing. Take a red heifer (who has never been yoked), give it to Eleazar the priest, who will slaughter it and burn it. At this point, the priest is unclean. He must bathe, but he will be unclean until morning.

A clean person then takes the ashes to a place outside the camp. The ashes will be used for washing, for purification from sin. Now this previously clean person is also unclean, and will remain so until evening.

God then tells them rules concerning dead bodies. Essentially, if you are in the presence of one, you are unclean for 7 days. The unclean person can wash himself with the cleansing water. A clean person can then dip hyssop in the water and sprinkle it all over the places where the dead body had been.

Now the clean guy sprinkling the water becomes unclean. Anyone who touches the water of cleansing becomes unclean. He must wash his clothes and wait until evening.

Man, lots of contamination happens!

Numbers 15-16

God tells them to prepare an offering after they enter the promised land and every time of the first of your ground meal, and it will be an aroma pleasing to God. It sounds like everyone (including aliens) should bring an offering to God, and that it should be an animal (ram or bull) with grain or wine.

If you unintentionally fail to obey God's commandments, the the whole community has to offer a young bull as an burnt offering, and they also have to bring stuff for grain, drink and sin offerings. That is a lot of offerings, but this is the only way they will be forgiven. But if you knowingly sin and break one of the commandments, then you are cut off from the rest of the people. Then the passage segues into a story about a guy who was found working on the Sabbath and was gathering wood. The village stoned him to death (Harsh! So glad that we don't get stoned for doing chores).

Now God said to Moses that the Israelites have to make blue tassels and wear them on their garments to remind themselves of the commandments.

A Levite named Korah rebels against Moses with 250 Israelites, who were well known community leaders. They accused him of being holier than everyone else. Moses responded by saying that the Levites have gone too far and the Lord will show who is holy tomorrow. They seem to be jealous that they don't get to be priests and that they have not reached the promised land yet. Moses was really angry and told God not to accept their offering. He told the people that they all had to take their incense container and put fire and incense in it, even Aaron. They obeyed Moses. God told Moses and Aaron to move away from the group so he can kill them, but they pleaded with him not to kill all of them when only one guy is responsible. Instead God told him to move the others away, and then created an earthquake to kill the Korah and his family, where the earth literally swallowed them up and the earth closed over them. When Korah's supporters saw that the men were swallowed alive, they panicked too, and then God burned them alive. Aaron had to take the incense containers and scatter the remains. The containers are holy, so they were to flatten them out and put them on the altar and become a sign to the Israelites that no one but the priests should burn incense before God.

People blamed Moses and Aaron for killing those people. God was upset again and planned to kill them. Aaron rushed to make atonement for them but the plague had already started. 14,700 people died from the plague. Wow lots of people died from sin in this passage!

Numbers 12-14

Moses had been married a long time to Zipporah, so for Miriam and Aaron to be upset now at Moses for marrying a Cushite (now modern day Ethiopia) probably meant that he recently remarried or took a second wife. It doesn't say why they didn't like her, but some commentaries believe it was due to the color of her skin. They also started questioning his spiritual authority. God heard the accusation and told all three of them to come out to the Tent of Meeting. God came down in a pillar of cloud and defended Moses and how he's very special because God talks to prophets in dreams, but God actually talks to Moses face to face because Moses is humble. God leaves angrily, and then immediately Miriam contracted leprosy. Both Aaron and Moses plead with God to heal her. God said to quarantine her for 7 days, and she'll be healed.

God tells Moses to send one of its leaders from each tribe to explore Canaan because he will be giving that land to the Israelites. They went to do some recon for 40 days to see what the people who inhabit the land were like and if they were unwalled or fortified.

When they came back, they reported that the land indeed flowed with milk and honey. However, the cities are fortified and lots of different powerful tribes live there. A man named Caleb said that they are certainly able to take possession of the land. The rest of the recon team rebeled and said the inhabitants are so big that they looked like grasshoppers compared to them. Then the Israelites started to complain again and wanted to go back to Egypt and die there instead of dying in war. They wanted to pick a new leader to lead them back to Egypt. Joshua spoke to them and told them not to rebel against God and be afraid. Instead, the people wanted to stone them. God wanted to destroy them, but Moses pleaded with God, saying that other nations will hear that God did not deliver his people to the land he promised. God forgives the Israelites, but he says that all the people older than 20 who disobeyed him will never see the land, except for Caleb and his people. God said they will suffer for 40 years, until the last person in the first generation dies. The recon team, however, were killed immediately of a plague (only Joshua and Caleb survived). The Israelites mourned and then told Moses that they will go to the place the Lord promised now. However, they can't go there now because God was not with them and they would lose. They still didn't listen, and so they lost the battle.

Numbers 9-11

Passover
A little after two years following the escape for Egypt, the Lord told the Israelites to celebrate the Passover. Some, however, were ceremonially unclean at the time, and didn't know what to do. After consulting with God, Moses told the Israelites they should still ALL observe the Passover, but with on the 14th day of the SECOND month (not the first month), and they should eat lamb.

God is very serious about this, and says that anyone who is clean, not on a journey, and does not celebrate the Passover with be "cut off from his people" and will "bear the consequences of sin." Even aliens living amongst them have to celebrate the Passover.

Cloud
God guided the people in a cloud/fire. By day it was a cloud, by night it was fire. Whenever the cloud lifted from the tabernacle, the Israelites knew it was time to move on (and wander some more). Sometimes they would stay in a location for days, sometimes for months. They never really knew, they just obeyed.

Fire
Some complained of the hardship of hearing the Lord. God got mad, sent down fire from heaven,  and "consumed some of the outskirts of the camp." The people cried to Moses, who prayed to God.  The fire went down.

Lesson: craving Meat

The Israelites were getting sick of manna, which they gathered, ground up, and baked into the same olive-oil flavored cakes everyday. They started complaining that they wanted meat. They longed for the days in Egypt when they could eat cucumbers, leeks, garlic, and other fine tasting foods. Moses complained to God saying he couldn't stand leading these grumbling people anymore, and asked God to just "kill me now!"

God asked Moses to gather 70 elders so he could put the Spirit on the 70 elders so they could help out Moses. As the Spirit came onto the elders, they all began prophesying.  In fact, a few other non-elders were also filled with the Spirit and started prophesying.

God then sent wind, which brought in TONS of quail from the sea. The Israelites hungrily gathered tons of quail and cooked it to eat. Yet, while the meat was between their teeth and before they could swallow, the Lord's anger BURNED and he struck them with a huge plague.

They buried the Israelites were had been hungry and have craved meat.

Numbers 7-8

Offering of the Tribes
When the tabernacle was completely set up, Moses anointed and consecrated it. Then the leaders of all the tribes came forth to give their offerings. Carts and oxen were given to the Levites, Gershonites and Mararites to enable them to do their work. However, the Kohathites did not get anything because they had to carry the holy items on their shoulders. (!)

Then, the next 12 days, each of the tribes took turns bringing the same exact offering:

One silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, [a] and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, [b] both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; 14 one gold dish weighing ten shekels, [c] filled with incense; 15 one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 16 one male goat for a sin offering; 17 and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering.

Moses then entered the Tent of Meeting to speak with the Lord.

God told Moses to ask Aaron to set up the 7 lamps to light the area in front of the lampstand, which Aaron happily obliged.

Levites Are Important!
God again emphasizes and declares that the Levites are wholly His in exchange for all the firstborns in Israel. He has given the Levites to the Israelites to do the work at the Tent of Meeting on behalf of the Israelites so that they will not suffer plagues.

God instructed the Levites to remain ceremonially clean. Aaron would then present the Levites as a wave offering to the Lord.

Levites between the ages of 25-50 would work. After 50, they can help out, but are essentially retired.

Numbers 5-6

Here we start to see some laws that were set out.

1. Unclean People Sent Away
Ceremonial unclean Israelites (e.g., infectious disease, discharge, etc) had to leave the camp so that they did not defile the camp.

2. Restitution for Sins
When one wrongs another, he must confess his sin, make FULL restitution for his wrong, and then add 1/5 to it and give it back to the person he has wronged. If that person has no close relative to whom restitution can be made, then he must give it to the priest. Would you give it to a relative if, for some reason, that person is gone? Like . . if you'd killed him or something?? I'm a little unclear on the relative part.

3. How to Know If Your Wife Has Cheated On You
If a husband suspects his wife is cheating on him and feels jealous, he can bring his wife to the priest. He must bring a grain offering for jealousy, a "reminder offering to draw attention to guilt."

The priest takes some holy water, puts it in a clay jar, and adds dust from the tabernacle floor. The water is bitter. The priest then recites the following oath/curse:

"If no other man has slept with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. 20 But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have defiled yourself by sleeping with a man other than your husband may the LORD cause your people to curse and denounce you when he causes your thigh to waste away and your abdomen to swell. May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells and your thigh wastes away."

The woman then drinks the bitter water. If the woman has really cheated, these things will happen to her and she will suffer greatly.

Numbers 6 goes into describing the Nazarites, people who have decided to make a vow of separation for the Lord. During the time of separation, these people cannot cut their hair, nor drink wine. Furthermore, they cannot be in the presence of a dead body. If they are, they must shave their heads and present burnt offerings as an atonement for the sin of being in the presence of a dead body. At the end of the period of separation, he is to shave off the hair of his dedication and the priest will present several offerings to God.

Numbers 3-4

Numbers 3 is about Aaron and the Levites. Only Aaron's descendants were priests and the Levites were appointed by God to serve them. "The Lord also said to Moses, “I have taken the Levites from among the Israelites in place of the first male offspring of every Israelite woman. The Levites are mine, for all the firstborn are mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set apart for myself every firstborn in Israel, whether man or animal. They are to be mine. I am the Lord.” God says this three times in this chapter, so it must be important!

God instructed Moses to count all the Levites by their families and clans and also to count every male a month old or more. The chief leader of the Levites was Eleazar, who was one of Aaron's sons. Since Aaron's two oldest sons died, Eleazar was the next oldest. He was appointed over those who were responsible for the care of the sanctuary.

The rest is just taking census of the Levites. There were clans within the Levites, and each clan had a specific duty, like taking care of the furniture or taking care of the building structure.

Now that they are moving, they need to pack everything up. Everything was holy so they needed to cover everything. Only the priests were allowed to touch it. If a Levite touched a holy object, they would die. Numbers 4:6 says to cover the ark of the Testimony with hides of sea cows (NASB says porpoise, KJV says badger..so the translations are wildly different). What I don't get is where would they find a manatee? Aren't they in the desert?

Numbers 1-2

This passage is good timing because it's about the census, and our country is also conducting a census right now. However, this is mainly for a military draft. The current US census is for social services and redistributing electoral college votes (we have something similar for young men called the Selective Draft though).

God told Moses to conduct a census and to count all the men and their families older than 20 years who can go to war. The head from each tribe is going to help conduct the census. The tribes ranging from 30-70 thousand people. The tribe of Levi wasn't counted in the census because they're responsible for the tabernacle, so I'm assuming they don't have to fight in the war.

Now the camps have to organize themselves before they go into the Promised Land. They were to camp around the Tent of Meeting, and God instructed where each tribe should be in relation to the Tent and who should set out first - east, west, north, or south of the Tent. The Levites set out in the middle of the camps. In all, they totaled 603,550 people (minus the Levites).

Leviticus 25-27

Now we start talking about the Sabbath and the Year of Jubilee!

Sabbath

Every 7 years the Israelites were not to farm, and instead were supposed to let the land rest. I'm a little confused. God says not to reap or harvest, but then He also says "whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you." How to you eat if you don't reap or harvest?

Jen harvesting in Pastor Chuck's garden

Jubilee
The theme of the "Jubilee" seems to be redemption.  A time when everyone returns back to their homes and reclaims what was once theirs.

The Jubilee only occurs once every 7 Sabbath years (7x7 = 49 years) = Day of Atonement. On the 50th year, consecrate the land and proclaim liberty for all its inhabitants! In the year of the Jubilee everyone returns to his own property.
Pay fair prices according to the number of years from the Jubilee.

God then lays down some rules regarding property and land with respect to the Jubilee.  For example, if a person becomes poor and sells himself, you should not treat him as a slave, but treat him as a hired hand until the Jubilee, at which point you should release him to return to his clan/ his family.

Certain properties can always be redeemed at the Jubilee, like houses in villages without walls and the property of Levites.  Other properties, like the open pastureland belonging to towns or a house in a walled city not redeemed within a year, are NOT returned during the Jubilee. In fact, pasturelands can never be sold - they permanently belong to the towns.

God emphasizes that they could never make a fellow Israelite a slave. The "servant" could always be redeemed. God saw the Israelites as "his servants" not as slaves.

Leviticus 23-24

OOh this next section is about sacred feasts: Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Pentecost, Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) and Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)! But before he starts to talk about the feasts, he mentions that the seventh day of the week is a Sabbath day and we don't do any work. You aren't to do any work on a sacred feast day either. Some of these last for 7 days, so you don't do work on the first and last days.

Passover - celebrated on the 14th day of the 1st month.
Unleavened Bread - day after Passover. Don't eat bread with yeast for 7 days.
Firstfruit - bring the first grain you harvest to the priest. Bring a burn offering of the lamb along with your grain offering. No bread or grain until you bring this offering to God.
Feast of Pentecost - count off 7 weeks and present an offering of new grain to God and a burnt offering of seven male lambs, one young bull, and two rams.
Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) - celebrated by trumpet blasts.
Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) - celebrated on the tenth day of the seventh month. Anyone who works today will be destroyed.
Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) - celebrated on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. Present offerings to God for 7 days.

I'm not sure what a booth looks like, but you have to live in one for 7 days to commemorate when they were brought out of Egypt.

The lamps outside of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting is supposed to burn continually, so the Lord commanded the Israelites to bring olive oil. Bread should be set out before the Lord regularly as a lasting covenant. It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who eat it in a holy place, because it is a most holy part of the offerings.

The case of the blasphemer

A fight broke out between a half-Egyptian, half-Israelite and an Israelite. The mixed ethnic guy cursed God, so they brought him to Moses. The Lord said to Moses that anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord must be put to death. The town heard that and stoned the guy to death. God also brought up more punishments like life for life, tooth for tooth, eye for eye.

Leviticus 21-22

Rules for Priests
God begins to give rules for priests. A priest can't make himself unclean except in very rare circumstances (e.g., for a close relative). They can't shave their heads nor their beards. They must be holy because God is holy. For example, they can't marry divorced women or prostitutes. They must marry a virgin. Even the descendants of Aaron cannot come near to offer food to God if they have defect (e.g., disfigured, blind, etc). They can eat the holy food, they just can't present it.

Priests cannot come near the offerings if they are unclean. Only priests can eat the sacred offerings. If a priest's daughter marries a non-priest, she cannot eat the sacred offerings anymore.

Unacceptable Sacrifices
God describes how an offering must be a make without defect. Can't offer blind, lame, ingured, mained animals. God also says not to slaughter a cow and its young on the same day. Furthermore, don't accept them as gifts from foreigners.

Finally, God ends by reiterating the decree - Keep my commands and follow them."

Leviticus 19-20

God lays out a laundry list of laws. A lot of them are not new like honor your mother and father and do not have other gods. He also repeats the laws from earlier in Leviticus, I guess to nail down how important it is to follow these laws or to highlight the really important ones.

Leviticus 20 lays out the punishments for sinning, and the punishments deal mostly with the incest described in detail in Leviticus 18 (also if you curse your parents, you're put to death!). Basically if you sleep with someone that you shouldn't be, like a family member or a friend's wife, you're both put to death. The method of death isn't specified for most of them, but if a man marries both a woman and her mother, they are to all be burned in a fire. If a man marries his sister, then they don't die but are exiled until the sin is atoned for (That's it?). Same with having sexual relations with a woman on her period. If you have sexual relations with your aunt or marry your brother's wife, you're held responsible and die childless. Not sure why having sexual relations with your mother-in-law ends in death, but you only die childless if you have relations with your aunt.

Leviticus 17-18

God said that sacrifices have to be made at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, not in the camp or outside or it, or they will be guilty of bloodshed and will be an outcast. They also can't sacrifice to any others or drink the blood. “You must not eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature is its blood; anyone who eats it must be cut off.” Also, if you eat an animal that's already dead, then that person will be unclean until the evening when he washes his clothes and bathes.

Now God turns to unlawful sexual relations and tells the Israelites that they have to obey God's laws and not the laws of Egypt. There is a whole laundry list of who you cannot have sexual relations with, including close relatives - mother, mother-in-law, sister, daughter-in-law, daughter, cousin, aunt, sister-in-law, threesomes with two relatives, neighbor's wife, wife's sister, and any woman during her period. I'm not sure how verse 21 fits in because it says don't sacrifice any of your children to Molech. Then it says, do not lie with another man or an animal. “Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants...And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you." Wow even the land was defiled! God means business here, and I'm sure they have probably heard stories of previous nations.

Leviticus 15-16

Ok this chapter is gross because it talks about bodily discharges, so I will try to keep it short. If someone has a discharge, then he's unclean and anything he touches will be unclean, like his bed or chair. If someone comes into contact with him, they'll have to wash their clothes and bathes and that person will be unclean until the evening. When he no longer has the discharge, he'll have to wait 7 days for the ceremonial cleansing. Then he can do the cleansing by bringing two birds to the priest and using them for a sin and burnt offering. A woman is unclean during her period and the same rules apply as in the bodily discharge. It says in Leviticus that they Israelites have to be separate so they won't die in their uncleaniness.

Leviticus 16 establishes the Day of Atonement, better known as Yom Kippur. It is one of the most holiest days and you atone for the sins you've made against God over the past year.

God says that Aaron can no longer come into the Most Holy Place whenever he wants to because he'll die. When Aaron enters the sanctuary, he needs "to offer a bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household." He also has to bring two male goats for a sin offering and ram for a burnt offering. One of the goats is for the Lord and the other is for the scapegoat. The one for the Lord is sacrificed for a sin offering while the scapegoat is used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat. "In this way, he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been." Then he has to do make atonement for the Tent of Meeting and the altar. "He is to lay both hands on the head of the liver goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites - all their sins - and put them on the goat's head." Then he sends the goat away into the desert. Then Aaron is to wash his clothes and bathe become going back to camp. Also on this day every year from now on, God instructed them to take a sabbath of rest that day, and the Lord would cleanse them from all their sins!

Leviticus 14

Once you're over your skin disease, the priest examines you. Then he gathers up a bunch of materials (two live birds that are ceremonially clean - but only one is killed, the other is released afterward, a stick of cedar,s some scarlet yarn, and a hyssop branch) and boils them together, then sprinkles it over the person 7 times before he's pronounced clean again. Then that person has to wash his clothes, bathe, and shave off all his hair. He has to wait 7 days before he can come back to the camp, and just before returning, he has to shave all his hair - eyebrows, beard, head, everything! The he has to sacrifice some animals for the guilt offering and grain for the grain offering to the Lord.

What to do if you have mildew in your house

Go to the priest and have him examine your house (So not only is the priest performing tasks of a doctor, he's also a home inspection agent. Busy man!). If he finds mold, then he closes down your house for 7 days. Pray that it doesn't spread, because if he does, then he orders for the moldy stones to be thrown into an unclean place out of town (is it like their version of a landfill?). Then all the inside walls have to be scraped and replastered. If the mold comes back, then the house is torn down. :( If the mold doesn't spread, then the priest will purify the house using the same ingredients for the skin disease.

Leviticus 13

Skin disease

If you have a skin disease, the priest will determine whether it's a serious skin disease or a rash. If it's a rash, you're quarantined until it goes away, but if it's serious, then you're considered unclean. If you have open sores, boils, burns, or shiny white patches and they don't heal, then you're unclean. When they heal, you're declared clean again. If you're considered unclean, then you have to tear your shirt and not wash your hair. You also have to yell "Unclean! Unclean!" whenever you're near anyone so that they don't come near you. You're forced to live in isolation. :( I just found out that although very rare, 150-200 people in the US are diagnosed with leprosy every year.

If you get mold on your clothes, you also have to show it to the priest. If it spreads, then it's unclean, and the priest has to burn it. If it doesn't spread, you just have to wash it and hope it comes out completely, because if it's still faint, th priest will cut out of the fabric. Then it'll be holey again! Lol.

Leviticus 11-12

Leviticus 11 talks about clean and unclean food. Only animals that have a split hoof completely divided and that chew the cud can be eaten. So camels, rabbits, pigs - they are all unclean. As for things living in the water, anything that doesn't have fins and scales is to be detested. As for the birds, eagles, vultures, owls, ravens, they are bad too. Also all flying insects that walk on all fours are to be detestable (but some with joint legs like grasshoppers can be eaten---hmmm...) Also creatures that move about on the ground are unclean. Anything that touches unclean things becomes unclean.
***
DICTIONARY: Cud: "the portion of food that a ruminant returns from the first stomach to the mouth to chew a second time."
***

Chapter 12 discusses women's purification after giving birth to children. If a woman gives birth to a boy, she is to be unclean for 33 days; if daughter, she is to be unclean for 66 days (why??!). After the purification period, the woman will give a burnt offering and a sin offering (to be made ceremonially clean).

Leviticus 8-11

The Lord asks Moses to anoint Aaron. Moses goes through all the steps as the Lord commanded, painstakingly following all the instructions with regards to the burnt offering, wave offering, and ordination offering! When all this had been done, God commanded them to stay at the Tent of Meeting for 7 days. If they did not obey, they would die.

Moses then asked Aaron to make various offerings on behalf of the people (sin offering, grain offering, burnt offering).

Fire came down and consumed the burnt offering and the pat portions on the alter. The people rejoiced and fell facedown in worship.

Aaron's sons offered unauthorized fire before the Lord against his command. As a result, fire came down and consumed them. Just as God said, if you don't follow him, you will die. Moses then warned the other sons (and Aaron) what they must not do if they don't want to die (e.g., leave the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, not drink wine).

Moses then got mad at Aaron's sons for not eating the sin offering in a holy place. Instead, the goat from the burnt offering had been burnt up. Aaron responded "but such things as this have happened to me. Would the Lord have been pleased if I had eaten the sin offering today?"

I'm not positive what this means, but I'm guessing that Aaron had gone through a lot (lost two sons), and perhaps was not fit to take away the guilt of the community today? Not sure, anyone else have thoughts?

Moses was satisfied with Aaron's response.

Clean and Unclean Foods
1.  Can only eat animals with split hoof and chews cud, not either or. (e.g., cow is OK, pig & rabbit are not) What is a coney???

2. Fins & scales are OK, others are bad (fish is OK but no shellfish?)

3. Birds OK except eagles, vultures, kites (?), ravens, owls, gulls, hawks, ospreys, storks, herons . . .

4. Insects are OK!

5.  Nothing that moves on the ground! (snakes? worms?)

If you touch the carcass of these animals, you are unclean! You must wash your clothes!

Leviticus 6-7

Leviticus 6-7 continue with different types of offerings:
Guilt offering: this is when someone deceives his neighbors what is entrusted to him; or if he finds lost property and lies about it. He is to return the lost or stolen property in full, plus 20% more. Also he has to bring to the priest a ram from the flock as a guilt offering so that the priest can make atonement for him.
The Burnt offering: The burnt offering is to remain on the altar hearth throughout the night, till morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altar. (I don't really understand this one, other than the fact that the fire cannot go out).
The Grain offering: A portion of it is to be burnt as an aroma to please God; the rest will be eaten by the priest but without yeast. They are to eat it in the courtyard of the Tent of meeting. Also here it is documented that the priests (Aaron and his sons) will give a tenth to God.
The Guilt offering: It needs to be slaughtered and blood sprinkled against the altar on all sides. Again only the priest lineage can eat the offering that's burned. (and the offering belongs to the priest that offers it).
The Fellowship offering: Thankful offering should have cake without yeast offered alongside it. The offering should also be presented with cake with yeast - it belongs to the priest who offers it.

God also told the Israelites not to eat fat or blood of any bird or animal. If someone does this, he must be cut off from his people. (not sure why - maybe for sanitary/health reason that God warned His people?)

When a fellowship offering is brought, the breast should be waved (a "wave offering) and then the breast is for the priest. A portion of the offering is to be allocated to the priests.

Leviticus 3-5

Offerings and sacrifices were nothing new to the Israelites, but some people were abusing sacrifices, so God had to start regulating them (according to bible.org).

Leviticus 3- Fellowship offering (also known as peace offering) was given to God when the Israelites wanted to give thanks to God. These offerings were optional. This sacrifice is similar to the burnt offering, but you can sacrifice either a female or a male animal, but it can't be fowl/poultry.

Leviticus 4- A sin offering had to be given to God if the person unintentionally sinned by breaking one of God's commandments. That person had to sacrifice a young bull that was also free of sin. If the whole community sins, then they have to give an offering of a young bull when they are aware that they have sinned. If a leader sins unintentionally, then he has to bring a young goat (not sure why a goat vs bull. Which one is more valuable?). If it's a member of a community, then that person has to bring a female goat -- not sure what the difference between a member of a community is and the first person.

Leviticus 5- A few sins are listed, and if anyone is guilty of those, then that person must confess his sins and give a burnt offering of a lamb or goat. A grain substitution can be made if he can't afford a lamb or a goat, and then it's carried on like a grain offering. For all other sins, the person must give a guilt offering, but first "he must make restitution for what he has failed to do in regard to the holy things, add a fifth of the value to that and give it all to the priest."

Leviticus 1-2, Psalm 90-91

I'll start with Psalm 90-91. There is some debate on who actually wrote these Psalms. Some argue that it was written by Moses, but some say that Psalms is written much later. It seems that our Bible plan thinks it's written by Moses or else we wouldn't be reading it so early!

Psalm 90 is titled a Prayer of Moses, so either it's written by Moses or someone writing from Moses' point of view. This Psalm basically outlines how short our lives are, and how scared we are because God can end our lives at any time. To sum up- he anger of God is upon us. But then the mood in the psalm shifts and it's a lot more optimistic ans uplifting. Moses then says "Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days...May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children. May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us."

Psalm 91 is a pretty famous Psalm, and you may recognize the lines from a popular worship song. The shadow of the Almighty will protect all who trusts in him. If people trust in Him completely, then harm will come to them, and God will send his angels to protect them. People won't have to fear anymore because they can live in security through God.

Leviticus 1 describes how the burnt offering should be carried out, and Leviticus 2 lays out the process for the grain offering. The burnt offering has to be from a perfectly healthy male animal. Steps are describes on how to prepare the animal for the offering. For the grain offering, only a handful is ceremonially burnt, and the rest is given to Aaron and the other priests.

Exodus 36-40

The Israelites who had been chosen by God to build the tabernacle (Bezalel, Oholiab and others) were given craftsmans skills.  Moses summoned people to come help both with building (if they had the skills) and providing materials (through freewill offerings).  Amazingly, the Israelites continued to bring offering after offering until Moses had to tell them to stop because there was already enough material.

Bezalel, Oholiab and the other skilled workers began building all the parts of the tabernacle, the Ark, the table, the lampstand, altars, basins for washing, the courtyard, and all the priestly garments (ephod and breastplate) exactly to God's specifications (as outlined earlier in the chapter).

Moses inspected their work, saw that it was good and to God's specification, and he blessed them.  God then gave them explicit instructions on how to set it up.  When this all done, a cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.  No one could enter while the Lord was there.

As they went along on their journey, they would always wait until the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle.  Then they would pack up and move.  By day, the cloud was above the tabernacle, by night, it was a flame.

Some Useful Background Information

Tabernacle: a portable "dwelling place" for God, and derives from the Latin word tabernaculum, which means "tent."  Interestingly, most Jewish synagogues in the last 2000 years have been inspired and/or modeled off of this ancient description of the tabernacle in the Bible!

Ark: made out of acacia wood, this was a vessel that carried the stone tablets, Aaron's rod, and manna.

Lampstand: if you read the description of the lampstand, it sounds like the Jewish menorah.

Six branches extended from the sides of the lampstand—three on one side and three on the other.

Exodus 33-35

So God told Moses to lead the people to the promised land flowing with milk and honey. The Lord, however, will not go with them because they are a "stiff-necked" people and He might just be angry and destroy them on the way. It's quite distressing to hear of God's anger on the people!! But even though the people committed the greatest sin (worshipping man-made gods!) - God extended His grace and promised to send an angel to be with them to protect them along the way.

Now the tent of meeting is where Moses talked to God. it's quite amazing to see how God actually could talk to Moses "as a man speaks with his friend". Moses boldly asked God to continue to show him favor - and asked God to show His glory. God said that no one could see his face or they would die - but He would let Moses see his back...

God also told Moses to bring 2 more stone tablets so that He could write again the commandments. As God passed by Moses, He proclaimed his compassion and grace and love and faithfulness - but also stated that he would not leave the guilty unpunished.

Moses pleaded to God to forgive the people's sin and wickedness, to which God has made yet another covenant--that He would drive out all the pagans, but the Israelites were not to worship any other Gods, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. (NB: I thought it was an interesting choice of word to describe God is a jealous God.) Then God told them how to celebrate the Passover, how to observe the Sabbath, and how people are to bring the first fruits of their soil to the Lord.

So Moses was with God for 40 days and 40 nights (without eating and drinking), writing down the 10 commandments. When Moses came back down from Mount Sinai, his face was radiant because he met with God. So he put a veil on him when he spoke with the people.

Moses told the people about the Sabbath, and he also told what God commanded: for all the skilled and willing-hearted to make the tabernacle the way that God has envisioned/designed. (NB: I didn't detail how the design of the tabernacle would be - but I did a Sunday school class before on the tabernacle, using this model: http://www.the-tabernacle-place.com/) It's actually quite amazing how every little thing has a meaning to it!)

Exodus 31-32

The Lord instructs us to observe the Sabbath beacuse it is a holy day and doing work on that day will result in death (but this is the old testament laws right?) Israelites were instructed to obey the Sabbath for generations to come.

So Chill out and Relax on Sunday and Rest =)

Moses went up to the mountain to get the tablet. the people he led did not know if he was coming back. Aaron gathered all the gold and made idols out of them for them to worship. They started worshiping the idols and made God angry. He was going to destroy them. Moses however pleaded on their behalf and asked Him to remember the servants he promised he will give numeours descendants. God relented and did not destroy the idol worshippers.

When Mosses himself saw the worshippers going amok, he too was very angry. He rallied his troops that were with the Lord and destroyed sent them out to kill those who were against the Lord. Mosses asked for forgiveness on behalf of the idol worshippers and God promised to be with him and his people as they go to the promise land.

Exodus 29-30

Exodus 29 starts by describing procedure to ordain and consecrate Aaron's line as priests. Then the chapter describes how to do sin offering, burnt offering, wave offering, and fellowship offering. Only the ordained priests can eat the ram and bread made for ordination and offering. God was very specific about how to make the altar holy and consecrated, and how frequent the offerings are to be done. He promises that as these instructions are followed, He would dwell among the Israelites and the tent of meeting will be consecrated.

Exodus 30 continues with the specific instruction about the altar where incense is to be burned. Every day the priest will have to burn a specific incense twice, once in the morning and once at twilight. Annual atonement also needs to be done (for sin). Every Israelite over twenty years old has to pay half shekel as an offering to God. For atonement of life, everyone, no matter how rich or poor, would give the same amount. This amount will be used for service of tent of meeting.

God also instructed them to make a bronze basin for priests to wash their feet and hands as they would not die. God also tells them specific formulas to make anointing oil and incense - the same formula is considered as "holy". Using these things as enjoyable items (e.g. as perfume or as something to "enjoy fragrance) is prohibited.

Exodus 27-28

Now they are to make an altar of burnt offering, but this altar is to be hollow and made out of boards. The instructions are just as detailed as before.

Then they are instructed to make a courtyard with curtains. Also, everything else used in the tabernacle need to be made of bronze.

He tells Moses to tell the Israelites to bring olive oil for the lamps (ooh must smell good!). In the Tent of Meeting, Aaron and his sons are told to keep the lamp burning throughout the night. Him and his sons are to serve as priests. God says that all the skilled men are to make sacred garments for Aaron to give him dignity and honor. He's to wear "a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a woven tunic, a turban and a sash. They are to make these sacred garments for your brother Aaron and his sons, so they may serve me as priests." An ephod is a priestly vest, and it closely resembles the shape of an apron. God goes into detail again about how the garments should be made.

What's strange is that God directs Moses to put the clothes on Aaron and his sons, consecrate them so they can serve as priests, and then make linen undergarments. Shouldn't the undergarments be made first and worn first??

Aaron and his sons have to wear the sacred garments "whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting or approach the altar to minister in the Holy Place, so that they will not incur guilt and die. This is to be a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his descendants." Die? What??

Exodus 25-26

The Lord wanted an offering from the Israelites and gives Moses a laundry list of what they can give. Then he wanted a tabernacle built, which is portable dwelling place/sanctuary for God. There is a lot of debate about the tabernacle, but mainly the tabernacle is a symbolic one. God didn't actually live there.

God gives very elaborate plans on how to build this tabernacle, how long everything should be and what materials to use. Then he says to place the ark the Testimoney inside the tabernacle.

They are also instructed to build a table for offerings and to have bread of the Presence there at all times. They also are to make a lampstand, curtains, and a tent.

Exodus 23-24

Exodus 23 continues the teaching/laws that God laid down for His people:

• Be fair and be honest. Do not look at a person's outside and decide on whether he/she is guilty.
• Observe the Sabbath - work for 6 days/years and rest on the 7. Worship only the true God. Celebrate 3 times a year - and present to God the best (for sacrifice/worship).

God promised that He would send an angel to protect His people and prepare a way for them. He told them to drive out the pagans because they worship other gods.

Exodus 24 describes how Moses confirmed the covenant with God by sprinkling blood onto the altar, and everyone said that they would do all that God said. God then told Moses to go up to the Mountain where God would give him the tablets of stone with laws and commands. So Moses went up and stayed there for 40 days and 40 nights. (it's funny how numbers tend to repeat in the bible. There's the 7's; 3's and then 40's....)

Exodus 21-22

This chapter sets out laws for the people, like how to treat Hebrew servants. You can only have a servant for 6 years because you have to let them go in year 7. But if he wants to continue being your servant, then he'll be your servant for life. Then there are other laws like the punishment for murder, assault, or what to do if someone's animal attacks a person.

Exodus 22 lays down the law for property, like stealing animals. Then there is social responsibility like seducing a virgin, bestiality, sacrificing to other gods, mistreating aliens, taking advantage of a widow or orphan, blaspheming God, holding back offerings, etc.

Exodus 19-20

The Israelites came upon the desert at Sinai.  Again, God reminded them of what he had done for them in Egypt.  He also repeated

Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.

God then said was going to come to them at the mountain, and warned them to make themselves clean (wash your clothes, abstain from sexual relations).

On the third day, they went out to the mountain to meet God.  A trumpet sounded, thunder and lightening hit, and the mountain was on fire.  Moses went up to the mountain, but everyone else stayed behind.

God gave Moses the Ten Commandments:

1. Have no other gods

2. Do not make idols

3. Do not use the Lord's name in vain

4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

5. Honor your father and your mother

6. You shall not murder.

7. You shall not commit adultery.

8. You shall not steal.

9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

God told the Israelites not the make idols out of gold & silver, but instead to make an alter of earth and give burnt offerings.

Exodus 14-18

Wandering In the Desert
This next section goes into the Egyptian's time wandering in the desert after they have escaped from the Egyptians.  There are two major themes here.  One, we continue and finish off the theme we have been seeing earlier: God hardening Pharoah's heart and supporting the Israelites.  Two: we see the Israelites continually complaining and wishing they were back in Egypt as slaves when times get tough, and the Lord continues to address their concerns.

Finishing Theme 1: Pharoah's last "hardening" of hearts
Pharoah again finds out the Israelites have left and decides to pursue them.  He brings his chariots to follow them.  The Israelites freak out but Moses assures them to trust in God.  Moses parts the Red Sea and the Israelites cross on dry land.  Pharoah's army follows, but God messes up their chariots and eventually allows the water to run back, drowning all of them.  The Israelites were much awed by this and feared the Lord, putting their trust in Moses.

We see the lyrics to a praise song the Israelites have written about this event: "The horse and its rider he has hurled in to the sea."

However memories are short, and soon, the Isralites begin to complain, over and over again!

Complaint 1: "We are Thirsty!!!!"
The Israelites wander in the desert for three days without water and are thirsty.  They complain.  Moses cries out to God, and God provides wood, which he throws into a bitter pool of water, making the water drinkable.  Here, God set his conditions:

"If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you."

Complaint 2: "We are hungry!"
About 45 days after leaving Egypt, the Isralites head out to the Desert of Sin.  There, AGAIN, the Israelites somehow forget how difficult it was to be slaves, and can only remember how they could eat "pots of meat" while in Egypt.  They wish to be back there.  God told Moses he would rain down manna as food for them, but they were only to collect enough for the day.  Some tried to collect more, but it would go bad, filled with maggots.  On the 6th day they were supposed to collect double because they were not supposed to work (or go out!!!) on the sabbath.  On that day, miraculously the manna did not go bad.

They ate this for forty years!!! (until they reached Canaan)

Complaint 3: We are Thirsty!!! 
The Israelites head out from the Desert of Sin to Rephidim, but there was no water there.  Again, they demanded to Moses "Give us water to drink!!!"   Moses AGAIN pleaded with the Lord, and God gave him a stick, told him to hit a rock, and water would come out.

Soon after, a foreign people, the Amalekites, attached the Israelites!!!!  Moses sent Joshua to bring some people to fight.  God was with the people, and, as long as Moses held his hands up high, the Israelites would be winning.  If he got tired and his hands fell, they would start losing.  With help from Aaron and others to prop his hands up high all night, the Israelites were victorious.

A Judicial System is Born!
Moses had previously sent his wife and sons back to be with her father (Jethro) in Midian.  One day, Jethro heard about the great things God was doing and decided bring his daughter (Moses' wife Zipporah) and their kids to go visit Moses & the Israelites .  They had a wonderful time together, sharing stories.  Jethro was thrilled to hear about the wonderful things God had done.

The next day, Moses again sat and listened to disputes among the people, giving out his advice.  Jethro thought Moses was nuts, and that this would surely tire him out.  He advised Moses to choose a few people to serve as judges.  Moses did just that, appointing a few judges, who took care of most of the disputes.  Moses would only take care of the difficult, complicated ones.

Exodus 10-13

Locusts
Pharoah seems a bit more willing to at least let the men go, but that was not enough, and the Lord brought locusts in.  Similarly, Pharoah repented, asked Moses to pray on his behalf, which Moses did, and the plague was lifted.  But again, like before, Pharoah hardened his heart again.

Darkness
So then God made the land dark for three days. This time Pharoah was willing to even let the women and children go, but then Moses requested livestock as well, and Pharoah said no.

Firstborn
God then gave explicit directions for the last plague.  He told Moses that he would kill every firstborn except for those houses that had the blood of a lamb on the doorpost.  The Israelites were to slaughter a lamb (year old male goats without defect), eat the meat, eat unlevened bread, and put the blood of the lamb on the doorpost.  That would be a sign for the angels to "pass over" that house, thus not killing the firstborn.  God also commanded them to celebrate this day for generations as a festival to the Lord - thus the significance of the Jewish Passover holiday today.

That night, at midnight, all the firstborns in Egypt died (except for those who had the blood of the lamb on the door).  There was great sadness and wailing.  Pharoah could stand it no longer, and told them to leave.  After 430 years, finally, the Israelites were free.

The Egyptians  gave a bunch of stuff for the Israelites to take on their journey.  The Lord proceeded to give the Israelites specific rules about the Passover (foreigner cannot eat of the meat, all Israelites must celebrate it, all males much be circumcised).

The Lord also asked the Israelites to consecrate to Him every firstborn.  He said that they should eat unleavened bread for 7 days in observance of Passover.

Crossing the Sea
God led the Israelites on a longer route toward the Red Sea.  God guided them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night so they could travel day or night.

Exodus 7-9

Moses and Aaron talk to Pharaoh to persuade him to let the Israelites out of the country. God tells them to perform miracles.

The next several events are very repetitive:

Aaron threw down his staff in front of the Pharaoh and it transformed into a snake. But then the Pharaoh called on his magicians who were also able to do it with their secret arts, so the Pharaoh's heart was hard and did not listen to them.

Then Moses and Aaron went and met the Pharaoh by the Nile. He asks him to let his people go, and struck down the Nile river and turned it into blood. The fish in the river died and became undrinkable. However, the magicians were also able it to do this with their secret arts.

Moses asked again to let his people go, and Aaron stretched his hand out to cover the land with frogs. The magicians were also able to do this with their secret arts. The Pharaoh said that if Moses took away the frogs, then he'd let them go, but just as the frogs all died, his heart hardened and would not let the people go.

Same thing happens with gnats, flies, livestock, boils, and hail.

Exodus 4-6

Moses is scared that no one would believe him or listen to him, so God gave him tons of cool miracles to perform!  When Moses threw down his staff, it turned into a snake.  He had to pick it up by the tail in order for it to transform into a staff again.  Also, when he put his hand in his cloak, his hand would have leprosy all over it.  To reverse it, he just had to put his hand back in his cloak again.  If they still didn't believe him, he could take the water from the Nile and pour it on the ground, which would turn into blood!

Even though God equipped Moses with all these miracles to perform, he complained that he wasn't a good speaker.  God offered to teach him what to say, but he still didn't want to do it and asked if someone else could do it instead.  It is interesting here that God got angry, but he actually acquiesced and suggested that Aaron could speak instead.  He still pushes Moses to perform the miracles though.

Moses goes back to his father-in-law and asks permission to leave.  Then the Lord says to Moses that he will harden the heart of the Pharaoh and won't let the people go.  I don't really understand why God hardened the Pharaoh's heart.  Any ideas?

Moses then met up with Aaron, and they performed the miracles.  The Israelites believed and worshipped God.

In the next section, Moses asked the Pharaoh to let his people go, but he refused.  Instead, he made the Israelites work harder and claimed they were lazy.  The Israelites were upset with Moses and didn't listen to them, even after he told them that God will bring them back to the promised land.  Moses grew discouraged because his own people wouldn't listen to him, and now God wanted him to deliver a message to the Pharaoh.

Exodus 1-3

The Next Generation
Joseph's generation died, but the Israelites continued to multiply to the point that the new king of Egypt, who did not know Joseph, got scared that they would become too powerful.  He made them slave laborers.  He also told the midwives to kill all the male babies.  The midwives feared God and refused to do so, telling the king that the Israeli women were "too vigorous" and gave birth before the midwives could arrive.

God blessed the Israelites and the midwives, giving them many offspring.  Then Pharoah commanded that all Israeli boy babies be thrown into the Nile.

Moses
One Levite woman had a baby boy and hid him for three months. Finally, when she could no longer hide him, she put him the Nile in a basket while her daughter looked on.  Pharoah's daughter happened to find the baby and felt sorry for him.  The Levite's daughter asked Pharoah whether she wanted someone to nurse the baby.  Finally, the boy's own mother became the servant that nursed the baby.  Pharoah's daughter named the baby Moses.

One day, after Moses had grown up, he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave.  He killed the Egyptian.  The next day, he saw some Hebrews fighting.  When he tried to break it up, they asked him whether he was going to kill them too, like he killed the Egyptian.  When Pharaoh found out about this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses escaped to Midian.  On his way, he rescued some women from shepherds who were trying to drive the women away from the water well.  He ended up meeting the father of the women who gave him one of the daughters, Zipporah, as a bride.  They had a son.

Meanwhile, Pharoah had a died.  However, the Israelites were still groaning under extreme slavery.

Moses was still in Midian when God called Moses through a burning bush.  God told Moses that he saw that the Israelites were suffering.  He wanted to send Moses to go free the Israelites.  He would free the Israelites and bring them to a land "flowing with milk and honey."  Moses did not feel qualified and resisted, but God promised that He would be with Moses.  He told Moses he would perform all theses signs and strike the Egyptians so they would finally let the Israelites go.  The Israelites would also not leave empty-handed.  Instead, the Egyptians would give them their  jewels, etc.