Fr. Mike describes the miracle of the waters of Meribah that God performs for his people in the wilderness. He also explains the logic behind the laws God gives his people to restore their morality as they learn to live in relationship with each other. Today we read Numbers 19-20, Deuteronomy 21, and Psalm 100. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Chapter 1: What is the significance of the Waters of Meribah?
Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline.
We'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 68, and we are reading today from Numbers chapter 19 and chapter 20, kind of a big chapter. 19 obviously is important. All the chapters of the Bible are important, but Numbers chapter 20 is kind of critical when it comes to the story.
We're also reading from Deuteronomy chapter 21 in Psalm 100. We'll be praying Psalm 100. As always, I am reading from The Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. The translation it is is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. If you want to get your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can download that for free from ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year.
And lastly, if you've not yet subscribed, in your podcast app to this particular podcast, please feel free to do that. Again, it is day 68. We're reading from Numbers 19 and 20, Deuteronomy 21, and we are praying Psalm 100. Numbers chapter 19 and 20. Chapter 19, Ceremony of the Red Heifer. Now the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron, this is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded.
Tell the sons of Israel to bring you a red heifer without defect. in which there is no blemish, and upon which a yoke has never come. And you shall give her to Eleazar the priest, and she shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered before him. And Eleazar the priest shall take some of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of her blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times.
And the heifer shall be burned in his sight, her skin, her flesh, and her blood, with all her dung, shall be burned. And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet stuff and cast them into the midst of the burning of the heifer. Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water. And afterwards he shall come into the camp and the priest shall be unclean until evening.
He who burns the heifer shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water and shall be unclean until evening. And a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place. And they shall be kept for the congregation of the sons of Israel for the water for impurity, for the removal of sin.
And he who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. And this shall be to the sons of Israel and to the stranger who sojourns among them a perpetual statute. Laws concerning the dead. He who touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day and so be clean.
But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean. Whoever touches a dead person, the body of any man who has died and does not cleanse himself, This is the law when a man dies in a tent. Everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent shall be unclean seven days.
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Chapter 2: Why are Numbers chapters 19 and 20 crucial in the Bible?
So you shall give drink to the congregation and their cattle. And Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock. And he said to them, here now, you rebels, shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his rod twice.
And water came forth abundantly, and the congregation drank and their cattle. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Because you did not believe in me to sanctify me in the eyes of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.
These are the waters of Meribah, where the sons of Israel contended with the Lord, and he showed himself holy among them. passage through Edom refused. Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom. Thus says your brother Israel, you know all the adversity that has befallen us, how our fathers went down to Egypt and how we dwelt in Egypt a long time.
And the Egyptians dealt harshly with us and our fathers. And when we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice and sent an angel and brought us forth out of Egypt. And here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory. Now let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, neither will we drink water from a well. We will go along the king's highway.
We will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your country. But Edom said to him, You shall not pass through, lest I come out with sword against you. And the sons of Israel said to him, we will go up by the highway. And if we drink of your water, I and my cattle, then I will pay for it. Let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.
But he said, you shall not pass through. And Edom came out against them with many men and with a strong force. Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory. So Israel turned away from him. The death of Aaron. And they journeyed from Kadesh. And the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor.
And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom, Aaron shall be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the sons of Israel, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor, and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son.
And Aaron shall be gathered to his people, and shall die there. Moses did as the Lord commanded. And they went up Mount Hor in the sight of the congregation. And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them upon Eleazar his son. And Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.
And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.
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Chapter 3: What are the laws concerning purity and death in Numbers?
And so here are the people of Israel saying, Hey, we're family, you know, we're long lost cousins. Can we go through your land? We're not going to leave the highway. And the people of Edom are like, yeah, you're not, we don't believe you. If you come through here, we're going to destroy you because you're going to probably take, try to take our land. And so they were refused.
They refused Israel passage through there. And again, it just shows the depth to which brokenness has entered this family. And moving on, just last little note when it comes to Deuteronomy. And in this chapter of Deuteronomy, chapter 21, part of us can see, oh gosh, these laws can be so challenging. At the same time, these laws, you guys are so wise. Now, keep this in mind.
I know that when it says, when you go out to war against your enemies and you see a beautiful woman of your enemy, you can take her for your wife. You're like, what the heck? Are you kidding me? Why? Well, because that's how it went back then, right? That's how kind of life was. But here is how God's word comes into this reality of life and says, but here's the thing.
You are going to treat her in a particular way. She's not just your property. She's not your captive. She's not your slave. So first she's gonna shave her head and trim her nails. What is that a sign of? That's a sign of like, okay, she's leaving behind her old life and she's entering this new life. And then she's gonna put off the clothes of her captivity and reign in your house.
Okay, she's not a slave. If she comes to your house and you're making her your wife, you're gonna be family now. And she's not second class in your home. Thirdly, she's gonna mourn her father and mother a full month. You're gonna give her time
to like you would give anyone you cared about time to mourn the loss of their family the loss of their past life and also if you find her displeasing again that that language just bothers us so much bothers me a lot if you find her displeasing you can divorce her and whatnot but he says but you will not sell her for money she's not your slave she was your wife and you shall not treat her brutally or shall not treat her poorly
If you divorce her, eventually you will divorce her as a fully equal member of your family. She would actually have been your wife. So, so you see what's happening here is the recognition of your hearts. Our hearts are broken and we are, we are a mess and you're going to want to do it like this, but here's the limitation.
You're going to want to take, you know, the beautiful captive woman as yours. But if you do, you actually have to take her as your wife, not as your slave, not as a Make her your full wife. So I see the wisdom here is here's God's word meeting our brokenness. And even the next thing, if a person has two wives, is allowing for this, like, yep, you are a mess. You should only marry one.
That's Genesis chapter two, right from the very beginning of the story. But if you have more than one wife and one is loved and the other unloved, Here's the deal. If the one who's loved gives birth to your second son, you're not going to say, well, I love this second son's mother more, so I'm going to give him the inheritance.
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