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Chapter 1: What are the new laws and customs introduced in Numbers 28-30?
Hey Bible Readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap. Yesterday we updated our census to count the number of current Israelites about to enter the Promised Land, and we got a new law allotting land to women. I hope that those of you who feel like Scripture doesn't hold women in high regard are starting to see God's heart toward women a little bit more.
Today we covered a passage that might have made you bristle a bit, but we're going to talk about that and I hope it will help to smooth over any rough patches. But before we get there, we have two chapters of laws and feasts. There are a lot of things that stood out to me in this section. First, in 28, 3-4, I noticed that each of Israel's days are book-ended with worship.
Chapter 2: How does the Jewish day structure affect worship and daily life?
They offer a sacrifice at twilight and in the morning. And here's something interesting that isn't necessarily clear in this passage, but it shows up elsewhere in scripture as well as in any Jewish literature and culture. The Jewish day starts at sunset. That's why in Genesis 1, the flow of the passage says, there was evening and there was morning the first day.
There was evening and there was morning the second day. And so on. This is going to be important as we continue getting to know this family, seeing how they live and how things play out even with Jesus and his life. One of the practical ways this comes into play is with the Sabbath, which is when they're not supposed to work.
As we've talked about before, the word Sabbath is the Hebrew word for our English word Saturday. Our Saturday technically starts at midnight, even though it's not morning yet, and their Saturday, or Sabbath, technically starts at sundown on Friday, which will vary based on what time zone you're in and what season you're in. For the Israelites we're in the desert with, it would be around 8 p.m.
Chapter 3: Why is the concept of Sabbath important in the Bible?
at the latest and around 4.30 p.m. at the earliest, depending on the time of year. So for instance, in winter when the sun sets at 4.30 p.m. on a Friday, that's when their Sabbath day of rest, their Saturday, would start. And it would continue through the night until the morning through the day and end at 4.30 p.m. the next day when their Sunday would begin.
If you ever happen to be in Jerusalem right before the Sabbath starts, around 2 p.m. on a Friday, you'll see people rushing around like crazy trying to get things done. Then, after the Sabbath starts, you don't see any traffic on the streets. Stores and restaurants are closed, and the city is calm and resting.
Then, once the sun sets again on the next day to end the Sabbath, there are parties and celebrations in the street, stores open back up, music pours out of windows, the whole town comes alive again. They still live out this ancient principle handed down to them by God. The reason I'm describing this at length is because, as you may have noticed, God brought it up again today.
We can hardly get through any chunk of laws without Him saying, don't forget, rest. Hey, remember, one day a week, stop working. And it's not just a day about doing nothing. It's a day about reconnecting with Him. We see evidence of that in our reading today when He commands twice the sacrifices on the Sabbath as on any other day of the week. Sacrificing isn't considered regular work.
Chapter 4: What lessons can we learn from ancient sacrifices about provision?
It's considered worship. All these sacrifices may have seemed extravagant. After all, they were killing their food and their clothes and their source of income in mass quantities. But by requiring sacrifices, God was reinforcing that He has a plan for continual provision. He provides all that He requires of us.
Even though we no longer offer sacrifices, we still need to be reminded of this and trust that He is providing for us. Two of the things in our lives that can still serve this purpose are giving to the church and Sabbath. And here's an interesting thought. We each have 168 hours in our week. If you sleep seven to eight hours a night on average, that means you're awake for 16 to 17 hours each day.
So by taking one of those 16 to 17 hour days and setting it aside for rest each week, you're giving back 10% of your time. By giving back a portion of our time and money, we demonstrate our trust in the God who provides for and sustains us. Then we hit a potentially confusing or frustrating section for some of you, regardless of gender. Let me set up chapter 30 for us.
Sometimes when people were in dire straits, they would make a vow to God. These vows often involved sacrificing something of financial value. Think of something along these lines. God, if you'll just give me a child, I will sell everything we own and give the money to the sanctuary, I swear. Or, God, if you'll help me win the lottery, I promise I'll give half the money to my church.
When men made vows like this before God, there were no outs for them, no get-out-of-jail-free cards. And if you're a man, that might frustrate you. Because if a woman made the vow, the man in her life could let her off the hook for it, if he renounced it.
A woman might feel a little bit disrespected when that happened, but ultimately this was a protective measure for the woman, letting her off the hook for something she might not have been able to pay, but just offered up in a moment of desperation. When someone makes a vow to the Lord and has to break it or cancel it, there's always sin involved.
In chapter 30, verses 5, 8, and 12 deal with the forgiveness and iniquity related to this. And I want to point out, the text doesn't say, women can't make vows because God doesn't take women seriously. Silly women. Women did make vows, and they were meaningful and important. The heart behind this law is to help and protect, not restrict.
This option also served to protect the man of her household who would also suffer financially if she fulfilled her vow. Even though these laws aren't still in effect for us today, many of us still have people in our lives who serve these kind of vow-canceling roles for us. Or at least we should. The kind of person who says, are you sure you want to go out with that guy?
Or, listen, I know you want to spend all our tax refund on tickets to Cabo, but maybe we should pay off the car first. It's important to have people in our lives who see our blind spots and speak into them. Who can catch us before we make a foolish decision. What was your God shot today? I loved seeing him repeat yet again his command to honor the Sabbath.
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