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Chapter 1: What is the significance of finishing the Book of Numbers?
Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. Today we finished our fifth book of the Bible. We are almost 20% of the way through, and most of the toughest stuff is behind us. You've come so far, and I bet you've learned so much. I know I have. I'm excited to start Deuteronomy with you tomorrow, but let's wrap up numbers first.
Chapter 2: Why don't the Levites inherit land in the Bible?
As you know, the Levites don't get to inherit any land. However, they do need a place to live and a place to keep their stuff. So God's plan for this is to have each tribe donate a little bit of the perimeter of their land for the Levites. 48 villages in total. This land not only housed the Levites, but also had six portions devoted to being cities of refuge.
Before we get into what those are, let's back up a little bit. In today's reading, God sets out standards for what constitutes being a murderer versus being a manslayer, and that involves weighing the motives of the killer. That's a tough thing to do since we can't see people's hearts like God can. So God establishes a few things that tend to reveal motives.
Was this person known to hate the person they killed? Did he use a tool that would be certain to cause death? If so, then the avenger of blood was supposed to avenge the murder, provided there were two witnesses to the murder in question. The Avenger of Blood was a role given to the closest male relative. It was his job to put the murderer to death.
One problem that might arise from this, as you can imagine, is that the closest male relative might still want to seek revenge even if the death were an accident. That's where cities of refuge come in. Those who accidentally killed someone could go live in a city of refuge where they would be safe from the Avenger of Blood. If they left the city of refuge, all bets were off.
Chapter 3: What is the purpose of cities of refuge in the Bible?
The Avenger of Blood could kill them. These cities weren't like prisons, they were more like the witness protection program, for lack of a better example. The killers had to stay there until the high priest died. That may sound like a weird law, but here's the premise behind it. Only death can atone for sin and death, even accidental sin and death.
And since the manslayer was not going to be put to death, the high priest's death was viewed as an atonement for the wrongful death since it happened on his watch. The Levites were in charge of running these cities of refuge as a means of helping keep the land clean from murder. This was one of their roles in service to the people, so it was fitting that the tribes donated land for this cause.
As they continued planning for how the land would be divided, it occurred to some of the people of Manasseh's tribe that the five daughters of Zelophehad, who were part of their tribe, might lose their tribe's inheritance if they happened to marry people outside of their tribe, because then their husband's tribe would get ownership of their land.
Chapter 4: How did the daughters of Zelophehad influence inheritance laws?
And that would defeat the whole purpose of the new rule we just established back in Numbers 27. Ownership of land is a big deal because it was handed down by God. So they needed to find a way to maintain the property according to God's commands. Moses talked about it to God, then filled the people in on the verdict.
The people who were concerned about this were right, and there did need to be a plan in place for how this should be handled. These daughters of Zelophehad should marry within their own tribe, then everything would stay in place as God had planned it. And good news, they all married their cousins. That doesn't really sound like good news, but back then it was.
The book ends on kind of a happy note, knowing that everyone is going to be provided for in God's plan for his people. What was your God shot? Where did you see God's character on display today? One thing I've noticed is that there are some scenarios where God gives the instructions beforehand, like with the cities of refuge.
And then there are some scenarios that they have to approach God with on a case-by-case basis, like with the daughters of Zelophehad. Some rules are established at the onset and some rules are established as they progress and find new scenarios unfolding. Surely if you're a parent, you can relate. Maybe you have a household where no one is allowed to eat in the living room. That's always in place.
Then one day your family moves to a new house and you have a pool and suddenly you need to make rules about the pool that you didn't need to have before. In these instances, we can see how accessible God is when we need direction and help. He doesn't say, figure it out on your own. I gave you a brain. Or, I'm too busy. Or, I've already told you all the important stuff.
I don't really care what you do with these little situations. He enters into the details, to the seemingly small things. Of three million people, he pays attention to these five women. He writes a new law addressing their situation. He cares. And what's also beautiful in that is how he keeps us near to himself as a result.
Did he know this situation was going to happen when he was giving Moses all the details on Mount Sinai for six weeks? Of course, he totally could have given Moses that information in advance. But by not just handing out all the instructions at once, He keeps us coming back to Him.
He embeds us a little deeper into this relationship, reminding us that our need for Him and His wisdom and His guidance are constant. I'm glad He wants me to keep coming to Him for direction, because He's where the joy is. We start a new book tomorrow, Deuteronomy. So we've linked to a brief video overview in the show notes that we think will be really helpful for you.
If you've got eight minutes to spare, be sure to check that out. On the last day of each month, we send out a newsletter. We call it the News Cap. It's how we like to encourage our TBR family and update you on all the cool things God is doing in the TBR world. It's got helpful tips and links, plus a free resource each month aimed at helping you grow and study the word more deeply.
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