Numbers 25 – 27 and Leviticus 23
Chapter 26 is full of names and lineages, and we can learn some things about the different clans if you have some extra time today...
How Easily We Forget
Balaam didn’t learn his lesson. He quickly forgot God’s will and devised a plan to try to force God to curse the Israelites. Numbers 31:16 tells us that Balaam advised Balak to send some beautiful Midianite women to seduce the Israelite men. When the Israelite men became involved with these women, the plan was that the men would begin worshiping their idols – which would make God mad – and, hopefully, God would curse the Israelites for punishment for such a sin.
Things were going as planned until Phineas (Aaron’s grandson) acted against this horrible sin and stood up for the honor of his God. Even though there were many men who died who had dishonored God, the nation of Israel was restored because Phineas stood up for God.
Just as Balaam seemed to quickly forget what God had done – so did the Israelites – REPEATEDLY!! God set up seven feasts that would be celebrated throughout the year to help the Israelites remember what He had done for them and to help them keep the story alive from generation to generation. The feasts are also connected to Jesus.
Check out Ray Vander Laan’s website and read about each feast to discover what it was to remind the Israelites of and how it is connected to Jesus.
www.followtherabbi.com then type in the words "jewish feasts" and select "that the world may know".
Think about it:
What do we do to make sure that we remember what God has done for us?
How do we keep the message of Jesus alive?
Further Study: It is interesting to see how the numbers of men in each tribe changed while they were wandering in the desert. The land inheritance was divided based on the size of the group. Compare the numbers with the first census in Numbers 1. The tribes of Judah and Dan remained the two largest tribes, thus getting the most land inheritance. The tribe of Simeon dropped from being the third largest to the smallest tribe and lost much of their inheritance.
What do you think affected the size of these tribes over the years?
Can we learn anything from this?
Saturday, February 7, 2009
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I think that maybe their purity in God's eyes is what changed the population so drastically. I think that this relates to us by showing us that He is what really matters.
ReplyDeleteWe all KNOW that we get everything from God...but do we realize it, or thank him daily? We should step back and thank him for all we get. Including his love.
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