Looking for Exodus

[JLG]

- Shut your eyes and watch!


- Moses then says to Aaron: “Take the fire holder and put fire from the altar in it and put incense on it and go quickly to the assembly and make atonement for them, because indignation has gone out from God. The plague has started!” Aaron at once takes it, just as Moses has said, and runs into the midst of the congregation, and look!


- Thus as usual, Moses must save the Israelites!


- and Aaron has to run to save them and prevent them all from dying!

 

[JLG]

- Shut your eyes and watch!


- He keeps standing between the dead and the living, and the scourge eventually stops.


- Those who die from the scourge amount to 14,700, besides those dead on account of Korah. When at last Aaron returns to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, the scourge has been stopped.


- Can you visualize the scene?


- Unforgettable!


- LET’S REMEMBER IT!


- IT’S A QUESTION OF LIFE OR DEATH!

 

[JLG]

Numbers 17

- God wants to put an end to the murmuring of the Israelites!


- If he doesn’t do anything, they will murmur again against Moses and Aaron!


- So he asks a rod from the chieftains of each tribe!


- And the one chosen by God will have his rod bud!


- So they give 12 rods!


- The next day Aaron’s rod budded and had flowers and almonds!


- And the Israelites are afraid of dying!


- Any time it’s the same story!


- The Israelites rebel and God strikes them and kill many!


- This time he shows who is the high priest before God: Aaron!


- And nobody else!


- And nobody will be able to rebel anymore!


- It’s going to be the same when God strikes this old world!

 

[JLG]

Numbers 18


- God will not tolerate any error against the sanctuary!


- Thus the tribe of Levi as priests will be responsible for any error in their service!


- We should remember that!


- We should take our service to God as a special service, a sacred one!


- It is not a game!


- It is not possible to behave like the Israelites!


- Otherwise there is a high price to pay!


- If it wasn’t so, would we take God seriously?


- That is why it is vital to read and study both Old and New testaments carefully!


- We shouldn’t pay more attention to one!


- Otherwise we will miss what they are supposed to tell us!

 

[JLG]

Numbers 18


- An error to God’s service from the priests can mean death!


- It can also have consequences on the Israelites themselves!


- The priesthood is a gift!


- But it is a serious one!


- The priests will have a portion of the contributions for God!


- We are not God’s priests!


- But we must serve him with all our hearts!


- There is no room for amateurism like in the case of the Israelites!


- It is easy to become an amateur regarding God!


- God doesn’t need amateurs but faithful servants who are hard workers!

 

[JLG]

Numbers 18


The Levites won’t have a portion of the land of Israel but They will receive every tenth part in Israel as an inheritance in return for the service that they are carrying out, the service of the tent of meeting. Nobody can enter into the tent of meeting except the Levites or he will die. If the Levites don’t do their service properly they will die.


- The Levites are the chosen ones from Israel to serve God at the service of the tent of the meeting!


- As a consequence, they have no land in Israel but they receive a contribution that is a tenth part in Israel!


- They are the only ones who can enter the tent of the meeting!


- It is forbidden for the rest of Israel!


- Thus God shows that his service is a serious matter!


- And the consequences can be death or life!


- God’s matter is a serious one and must not be forgotten!

 

[JLG]

Numbers 19


The priest must sacrifice a red cow and then wash his garments and bathe himself in water. Anyone touching any dead person will be unclean for seven days and will purify himself on the third day. If not, he will be cut off from Israel. It will be the same when a man dies in a tent. Everything inside will be unclean.


- Every time we read the first part of the Bible, we must take it as a warning !


- What was written in the past should remind us to prepare our mind for the new world!


- We are contaminated by the old dying world we are living in!


- In the next one, God will purify our minds and hearts, and if we don’t prepare for what comes next, we will get into trouble!

- So let’s prepare now because God will not tolerate people who destroy his earth!


- Never again!


- And our hearts and minds are so contaminated that we need to completely renew our hearts and minds!


- So preparing now means also that we will have a chance to get into the new one!


- But there is so much to do!


- Good luck!

 

[JLG]

Numbers 20


Miriam dies. There is no water and the people gather together against Moses and Aaron. They quarrel with Moses. They always forget that they are responsible for staying in the desert for so long. And they keep moving in this direction. They never repent. It’s written in their hearts. Do they really have hearts and brains? We could ask the same question about human beings! Then God tells Moses to get water from a crag before the Israelites. And Moses strikes the crag twice and they get water. But he says:


“Hear, now, you rebels! Must we bring out water for you from this crag?”


Because they don’t give the credit to God, they won’t get into the promised land. Then Moses asks the king of Edom to let them go through his land, saying that they won’t take anything from his land. But the king refuses and threatens them to fight with them. And Aaron dies in Mount Hor and his son Eleazar gets his clothes of High Priest.


- Moses and Aaron didn’t get into the promised land because they didn’t give the credit to God for the water the Israelites got!


- God deserves respect in any situation!


- There is no question!


- When not, there is always a price to pay and it is high price!


- Men forget it most of the time and they keep paying a high price!


- Sooner or later the price to pay will be death!

- SIMPLE!


- LOGICAL!


- FULL STOP!

 

[JLG]

Numbers 21:

The Canaanite king of Arad attacks Israel and carries away some of them as captives. Then Israel makes a vow to God to destroy all the cities of these people if God gives it into his hand. Then they continue their journey around the land of Edom and they become wary of the journey. And they keep complaining AGAINST GOD AND MOSES. So God strikes them with poisonous serpents and many Israelites die. Then they defeat Sihon the king of the Amorites and they take possession of his land and cities. Then they defeat Og the king of Bashan and they take possession of his land.


- Do you hear the chorus and the Israelites keep complaining against God again and again!


- IS THAT A CHOSEN PEOPLE?


- IS IT POSSIBLE TO BE SERIOUS AND READ THE BIBLE WITH A MINIMUM OF ATTENTION?


- IS THAT SO DIFFICULT?


- IT WOULD BE EVIDENT EVEN FOR A CHILD!

 

[JLG]

Numbers 22-24:

Moab is afraid because the Israelites are numerous. They think they are going to destroy them. So Balak their king sends for Balaam to curse the Israelites. But God prevents Balaam from doing it. Finally Balaam decides to go and God is furious. And he sends his angel with a sword in Balaam’s road. And Balaam’s donkey sees God’s angel and refuses to move. And Balaam beats the donkey on different occasions. Then God makes the donkey speak. Finally God opens Balaam’s eyes so he can see God’s angel with a sword. And Balaam recognizes his mistake. And he is told to go to Balak but he must speak according to God’s will. And he can’t curse Israel.


- God tells Balaam not to go!


- But he finally goes against God’s will!


- And he could have been killed by God’s angel!


- But finally he speaks about Israel according to God’s will!


- And he can come back to his home safely!


- Another good example showing that going against God’s will means paying the price!


- So we should be careful to what we do if we don’t want to pay the consequences!

 

[JLG]

Numbers 25


- First the Israelites commit sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab!


- Second, the women invite the Israelites to the sacrifices of their gods!


- Third, the Israelites eat and bow down to their gods!


- Fourth, God becomes enraged with the Israelites!


- Fifth, God tells Moses to hang the leadersup before God in broad daylight to stop God’s anger!


- Sixth, an Israelite comes with a Midianite woman before Moses and all the assembly of the Israelites!


- Seventh, Phineas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest pierces both the man and the woman with a spear through her genital parts!


- Eighth, Phineas’ action stops the scourge on the Israelites after the death of 24,000 Israelites!


- Thus Phineas saves the lives of many Israelites!


- And God gives him his covenant of peace, to him and to his offspring after him, because he tolerated no rivalry toward his God and he made atonement for the people of Israel!


- Then God tells Moses to harass the Midianites and strike them down according to what they did to them!

- Do you have an idea of what God is going to do when he cleans this world?


- And you call the Israelites a special people, don’t you?


- Think about Phineas: the Bible is about relationships between God and faithful men!


- Phineas reacted fast and God made a covenant of peace with him and his offspring after him!


- What another powerful event we should all remember!

 

[JLG]

Numbers 26


- God tells Moses and Eleazar to take a census to count all the Israelites who can serve in the army in israel!


- So there were a total of 601,730 Men!


- And every man must receive a piece of land!


- But the Levites are not registered because they don’t receive any inheritance because they are the priests!


- Once again we can see that God does everything with order not like men!

 

[JLG]

Numbers 27


- The daughters of Zelophedad ask for a possession among their father’s brothers even if he died without having sons!


- And God says they are right so they will receive their father’s inheritance!


- What a difference between God’s word and man’s tradition and this from the beginning!


- Man never understands anything!


- And God tells Moses to tell the Israelites that if a man dies without having a son, his inheritance must pass to his daughter and if he has no daughter to his brothers or to the closest relatives!


- Then God tells Moses to go to the mountain to see the promised land!


- Then like Aaron he will die because he rebels against God’s order to sanctify God before the Israelites by means of the waters!


- Then Moses tells God to appoint a new leader for Israel to lead them!


- And God tells Moses to take Joshua and lay his hands on him!


- Moses must confer his authority on him so that all the assembly of the Israelites may listen to him!


- We can understand that God is cautious with the Israelites because they easily rebel!

 

[JLG]

Numbers 28


God tells Moses about the different offerings:


- Offerings at appointed times!


- Regular offerings!


- In the morning!


- At twilight!


- On the sabbath day!


- Every month!


- At God’s Passover!

- And others!


- Everything is regulated in the smallest detail!


- We can imagine it is so because of Israel’s attitude!


- It shows that God has no confidence in Israel!

 

[JLG]

Numbers 29


- Offerings during the Day of trumpet blast!


- Offerings during the Day of Atonement!


- Offerings during the festival of Booths!


- All these regulations only tell about Israel’s bad attitude and the lack of confidence from God’s part!


- What a condemnation for a people that only brings trouble!

 

[JLG]

Numbers 30


- More regulations of vows by men, women and daughters!


- They are to be taken seriously!


Numbers 31


- God tells Moses to take vengeance for the Israelites on the Midianites!


- They kill all the men but take the women and children as captives and their animals and possessions and they burn their cities!


- But they have to kill all women who had sexual relations and every male among children because Israel went after Balaam because of them!


- After that, the time will come for Moses to die!

 

[JLG]

Numbers 32


The sons of Reuben and of Gad have a lot of livestock and they want the land of Gilead east of the Jordan because it is a good land for livestock. But the men will cross the Jordan and fight with the rest of Israel till all the land is conquered.


Numbers 33


The different stages of Israel’s wilderness journey:


- Depart from Rameses in the first month, on the 15th day of the month.


- Encampment at Succoth.


- Encampment at Etham.


- Encampment at Migdol.


- Encampment at Marah.


- Encampment at Elim.


- Encampment in the wilderness of Sin.


- Encampment at Rephidim.


- Encampment in the wilderness of Sinai.


- Encampment at Kibrothhattaavah.

- Encampment at Hazaroth.


- Encampment at Rithmah.


- Encampment at Rimmonperez.


- Encampment at Libnah.


- Encampment at Rissah.


- Encampment at Kehelathah.


- Encampment at Mount Shepher.


- Encampment at Haradah.


- Encampment at Makheloth.


- Encampment at Tahath.


- Encampment at Terah.


- Encampment at Mithkah.


- Encampment at Hashmonah.


- Encampment at Moseroth.

- Encampment at Benejaakan.


- Encampment at Horhaggidgad.


- Encampment at Jotbathah.


- Encampment at Abronah.


- Encampment at Eziongeber.


- Encampment at Kadesh.


- Encampment at Mount Hor where Aaron died at the age of 123.

- Encampment at Zalmonah.


- Encampment at Punon.


- Encampment at Oboth.


- Encampment at Iyeabarim.


- Encampment at Dibongad.


- Encampment at Almondiblathaim.


- Encampment in the mountains of Abarim before Nebo.


- Encampment at Jericho.


- Then the Israelites crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan.


- They had to destroy everything in relation to their religions and gods!


- And all the inhabitants of the land had to leave the land otherwise they would harass the Israelites and God would turn against the Israelites!

 

[JLG]

Numbers 34


- In this Chapter we are told about the borders of the promised land!

- Some men are chosen to distribute the land!

- Perfect organization!

- Everything is done with precision!

- What is wrong with man?

- Why is he so disorganized?

- it is a joke!

 

[JLG]

Numbers 35


- The Levites will get 48 cities and their pastures around thes cities!


- There will be 6 cities of refuge for the manslayer to flee to (the one who unintentionally kills someone) before to be judged (Israelite or foreign resident)!


- After the high priest’s death, the manslayer may return to the land that he owns!


- A murderer can be put to death on more than just one witness!

 

[JLG]

Numbers 36


- No inheritance of the Israelites should circulate from tribe to tribe, for the Israelites should hold on to the inheritance of the tribe of their forefathers!


- And every daughter who possesses an inheritance among the tribes of Israel should become a wife of a descendant of her father’s tribe, so that the Israelites may keep possession of the inheritance of their forefathers!