Key Verses:

Numbers 15.16, 30-31; Numbers 16.3-5; Numbers 17.8; Numbers 18.14, 20,

Themes/Spiritual Applications:

Sin

Holiness

Rebellion

Notes:

Unintentional Sins

There are a lot of commandments in the Old Testament. It would be very difficult to have them all memorized, and then it would be even more difficult to make sure that they were all being observed at all times, all the time. God, because he is a gracious and merciful God, understands that we have a very limited capacity when it comes to things like this. There will be times when we are not being careful, or when we are preoccupied with other things. Rather than cutting off Israelites who made mistakes, God allowed for sacrifices to be made and forgiveness to be received when someone sinned unintentionally.

Sinning with a High Hand

When someone sinned against God intentionally, it was called sinning with a high hand. They lifted themselves up against God and exalted themselves over the creator of the universe. When someone did this, there was no provision of forgiveness made. Someone who willingly sinned against God would have to pay the penalty for their sin. There were times when people did and came to God begging for forgiveness and mercy, but by and large someone who does this is not someone who is going to ask for forgiveness. When there was no repentance, there was no mercy. A child who willingly disobeys their parents should not expect to be rewarded but should look forward to punishment. It is the same with the relationship that Israel shared with God.

Tassels

There were tassels commanded to be worn on the corners of the garments worn by Israelites. Why were those tassels there? To remind them not to listen to themselves when it came to making decisions. They were to trust in the Lord with all their hearts and allow him to guide their lives. The tassels were there to remind them to obey all of the commandments that God had given to them. This also answers a fundamental question: how does one make themselves holy? They listen to God and set themselves apart for his service. When you listen to God’s commandments and obey them, you are being holy. This was the purpose of the tassels, to remind Israel to be a people holy to the Lord.

Korah’s Rebellion

Korah came to Moses with the complaint that all of Israel was holy to the Lord, so there was no reason that Moses should have a position of authority over anyone else. While Korah was right in his understanding that all of Israel was holy, his mistake was in assuming that this meant there were no role distinctions to be made among the people. Korah was not really interested in being holy to the Lord. If this was the case, then he would have been happy to wear the tassels on his garments and to keep all of the commandments of the Lord. The Law clearly states that these are things that make someone holy to the Lord. Korah was interested in having a prominent role in the services offered to God by the Levites. He wasn’t interested in serving God; he was interested in people seeing him serve God. He wanted to be in the spotlight.

Moses said that God would determine who he wanted to draw near to him, a phrase that meant to serve in the tent of meeting. The following day when Korah and his company drew near, they were swallowed by the earth. God made his decisions, and the teaching that there are distinctions between people who are holy was upheld. Simply because there are distinctions made does not mean that any one person is more important than the other. This was true for Israel and it is true for us today. This was true with the priesthood, and it is true with every role that is ordained for mankind today, too.

Payment for Serving the Lord

The Levites were given a portion of the contributions that the rest of Israel made to the Lord. God said that this was their payment for the service that they rendered at the tent of meeting. The principle is here established in the law that those who dedicate their lives to the service of the Lord are to make their living thereby. The apostles and elders of the New Testament churches were to be given financial compensation for their work in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul would say that any man laboring in spiritual pursuits was worthy of reaping physical gain. This is no excuse for people to have their hearts set worldly gain, but there is every reason in the world for us to support people who labor in the gospel. We need to have people who study and learn the teachings of the Scriptures so they can help guide us in our relationship with God and in our understanding of the Scriptures. The responsibility for our understanding is not theirs, they are responsible for themselves and what they teach, but we learn better when we have someone to help guide us along the way. It was for this reason that God has put the treasure of the gospel in earthen vessels, people, so that individuals can teach individuals about the wonderful blessing that we have been given in Jesus Christ.

Questions:

Why do you think the items Korah and his cohorts used to offer things to God were declared holy?

What are some modern role distinctions that exist among people today?

Key Verses:

Numbers 10.1, 9; Numbers 11.1-3, 16-17, 20, 26-30; Numbers 13.2; Numbers 14.2, 18, 26-35

Themes/Spiritual Applications:

Faith

Forgiveness

Grace

Sin

God’s Power/Protection/Leadership

Notes:

Leadership

In a group of people wandering in the wilderness, it usually won’t be long until someone questions the leadership who seems to be getting them nowhere. I’m not sure what the motives were behind Aaron and Miriam questioning Moses’ authority, but the fact remains that this is exactly what they did. Rather than confront him with it directly, they started questioning him about the choice of his spouse. After they had garnered negative attention for Moses, then they bring forward their complaint about his leadership. They made sure to undermine his foundation as their leader and questioned his ability to make wise choices before they challenged his leadership openly. If you’re in a position of leadership and someone is making a lot of noise about decisions that you’ve made, watch and make sure that they don’t have a dagger hidden behind their back.

Another lesson we can learn is that when God decides that someone is the leader, that person is the leader and should not be rebelled against. When Aaron and Miriam question Moses’ role as the leader of the people, they were punished and shamed in front of the entire congregation of Israel. Miriam is struck with leprosy and, though she is cure, she is forced to remain outside the camp for seven days.

Grace

When the nation of Israel is brought to the land of promise, everything that God had been revealing the descendents of Abraham since he left Ur was about to be fulfilled. While Israel sat on the brink of the promised land, they refused to enter because they were afraid that they would not be able to defeat the people who lived in there. Rather than destroying the nation and choosing another people to inherit the land, God deals graciously with the people of Israel. There is still a punishment involved because they lacked faith to obey God, but he does not give them the punishment that they deserved.

Accountability

Numbers 14 again raises the question of accountability. When does God consider that we should be held accountable before him for our decisions and actions? In this case, when the children of Israel refused to enter into the land of promise, God swore that no one in Israel over the age of 20 would be allowed to enter into the land. Why did he choose that age? It could have been that 20 was the age when someone was supposed to go and fight as a man of war. Since it was their job to go and take the land, when they refused to do so, they were the ones who were punished. A 19 year old could not be held accountable for something that was not his responsibility.

If this is the case, then it seems that God only holds us accountable for the things that we have been commanded to do, or he only expects good stewardship of the things with which we have been entrusted. A man will never be accountable for submitting to his wife and a wife will never be accountable for ruling her household well. Neither of those are responsible for the task mentioned. If this is the point being made, then the same would be true for any area where we do not have responsibility.

Another view is that this is dealing with the concept of adulthood and the difference between someone who is 19 and someone who is 20 is that one was legally an adult according to the Law of Moses. If this is the case, then God has selected an age by which someone who is normal in all regards would be competent to make decisions regarding the difference between good and evil. While someone would be able to do this before the age of 20, God gives this age, perhaps, as a way to display his grace and mercy. Since some people “aren’t done growing up” until they get around the age of 20, this may be why he chose this number.

With regard to someone becoming a Christian, with either view the key concept seems to be adulthood. The only commands that a child is given are to honor their mother and father. The only child specific commandments given in the New Testament is that they should obey their parents. Even these two commandments seem aimed at people who are older and more mature than an 11 year old. They really seem to be aimed at people who are older, say like a 20 year old, who would need to start looking after the physical well being of their parents. There is very little, if anything, that a child would be legally responsible for. This would seem to indicate that there is no place to find fault with a child. Perhaps a good view of accountability is that someone is not accountable until they are an adult. Other may suggest that one is not accountable until they are able to distinguish the difference between good and evil. Is this not a sign of adulthood?

Questions:

Why do you think God suggested that he make a new nation out of Moses? Do you think this was a test for Moses?

What was the difference between Joshua and Caleb and the other spies who refused to enter the promised land?

Have you ever wished for something only to realize later that you may have been asking for a curse rather than a blessing?

Key Verses:

Numbers 5.2, 6-7; Numbers 6.22-27; Numbers 7.84, 89; Numbers 9.23

Themes/Spiritual Applications:

Holiness

Sin/Leprosy

Faith/Breaking Faith

Notes:

A common theme with great spiritual application throughout the Old Testament is that of Leprosy with sin.  Just like sin separates us from God, people who had leprosy were to be kept outside the camp.  As we continue to read and study through the Old Testament, we should make it a goal to keep our spiritual eyes peeled for things like this.

Another interesting point made in Numbers 5 is that sin against God is further defined.  This changes the definition of sin from merely breaking a law to something much more personal, the actual breaking of one’s faith with God.  This all but makes impossible the idea that one can find perfection through the law since its violation is not really a violation of some legal code but a violation of faith in God.  Doing the things that God has said is not, nor has it ever been, a legalistic matter; it has always been a matter of faith, and those who have found favor in the eyes of God are those who have displayed the obedience of faith.  Acting according to the law was a statement of faith.

Nazirite Vow

The Levites weren’t the only people who were separated to God legally.  Anyone of the Israelites had the ability to take a vow that consecrated them to the Lord for a given period of time.  During that time, there were special rules that they had to follow in order to set themselves apart from the rest of Israel.  This is, very likely, the vow that Paul took when he traveled to Jerusalem for the last time and some of the Jewish Christians claimed that he was teaching against the Law of Moses.  The most famous Nazirite was Samson who parents kept him in such a condition from his birth, though he would several of the vow’s conditions throughout his life.

The Aaronic Blessing

Like the prayer that Jesus shows to his disciples, it may be that this is not something to be repeated verbatim, but stands as a pattern for the priests to use in blessing the people.  The concluding remarks of this blessing teach us the desire of the words, to make the children of Israel those who are chosen by God, those who dwell with God, and those with whom God dwells.  There is no greater blessing that a people could have then to know that God is with them.  The fact that God had chosen to allow his presence to dwell in the most holy place was a wonderful blessing to the people of Israel.  These words call that to mind, along with all of the blessings (grace and peace) that come with being those who dwell with God.

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

Numbers 7 consists by and large of the gifts that were given by the chiefs of each tribe for the dedication of the tabernacle.  The lesson here is not about the grandeur of the tent of meeting or of the wonderful things that were going to be used in service to the Lord.  None of the Israelites, aside from the Levites, was ever going to see any of these things again if they were to be used in the holy place.  The lesson that we need to take away from this chapter is that God expects us to put our money where our mouth is.  If we are going to claim that we love the Lord, then we had better be willing to do whatever is necessary with our money to serve him.  If we are going to claim that we love our neighbor, then we had better be willing to put our money to use toward that end.  Simply talking about the dedication that we have for God will do us no better than if the cheifs of the tribes had shown up with nothing but empty hands and lofty words.  The dedication that the people were showing to the Lord from a financial standpoint was significant.  This is what we need to remember.

Keeping the Charge of the Lord

Numbers 9.23 tells us that the nation kept the commandments of the Lord as they received them through Moses.  Specifically, this is referring to how long they were to tarry in on place or where they were to travel to when they set out.  The important thing for us to understand is that the children of Israel recognized that commandments could come in other ways than a voice thundering down a mountain.  When the cloud lifte, it was a communication from God that it was time for the people to go.  When the cloud stayed, it was a communication that they were not to leave.  They also understood that when Moses gave them a commandment that came from God, it was just as if the Lord had spoken down from the thundering mountain.  Rather than a massive display of power, God now spoke to a single person from the place he chose to occupy over the mercy seat.  No matter where the voice of God came from, it was still the voice of God.

Questions:

Why do you think it was necessary for the Levites to wash themselves?

What do you think the could/fire was?

Why is it important that they were being led by it?

Key Verses:

Numbers 1.2-3, 47;  Numbers 2.34;  Numbers 3.45;

Themes/Spiritual Applications:

Redemption

Holiness

Historical Accuracy

Accountability

Warfare

Notes:

Numbers is named for the lists that are taken of the people of Israel.  The Hebrew title for the book “In the Wilderness” is also appropriate because this is the book that details their wanderings in the wilderness for forty years.  From the Israelites perspective, this is the starting point of their nation.  God accounts for all of the men that are able to go to war and allots for them a place among the people.

In numbering the men of Israel, there are a couple of qualifications that are important for us to note.  Firstly, they were only counted if they were 20 years old.  Why would God only choose to number those people?  Why would only those who were older than 20 be able to go to war?  The answer seems to be that until you were 20 you weren’t counted as an adult.  Regardless of later traditions that the Jews would establish regarding when someone became a man, the clear indication from the commandments of God is that, at least so far as Israel was concerned, this took place when someone turned 20 years old.  This will become important later when we discuss the idea of accountability when the nation refuses to enter into the land of promise.

Another concept that is built upon in Numbers is that of holiness.  The sons of Levi are not numbered among the people in chapter 1.  This is not because they were unimportant to God; in fact, the exact opposite is true.  The sons of Levi were to be wholly set apart for service to God.  They were not numbered with the other people because they were not to enter into the daily duties of running a nation like the other tribes were.  Rather than being devoted to the survival of the nation, they were devoted to the spiritual relationship that all the people had.  They were special, they were set apart, they were holy to the Lord.

Redemption

The idea of redemption is that one that God has been teaching to mankind from the beginning of time, but here in numbers it is made plain for the hosts of Israel.  The price of God making them a nation was the firstborn of every house.  Like God had taken the firstborn from the Egyptians in the passover, God claimed the firstborn of all the Israelites.  This claim was not one of death, as in Egypt, but it was a claim of service.  Rather than taking all the firstborn children from Israel, God took all the men of the tribe Levi as a redemption.

Redemption is introduced to the nation of Israel as the purchase of one person out of bondage for a price equal to their value.  In this case, God traded the men of the tribe of Levi on a one for one basis with the firstborn children of Israel.  When there were not enough men to cover all of the first born, the remaining 273 had to be purchased.  In the concept of redemption, there is a always a price for the one being bought back.  It never takes place for free.  Like the themes of holiness and accountability, this is something that will occur over and again throughout the Old Testament.

Questions:

Why do you think the valuation of the first born was only five shekels?

Why do you think the age of 20 was selected rather than 19 or 21?  Why20 instead of one much younger like 12 or 13?

Why do you think God would prefer to have a single tribe of people made holy than continually taking the first born male of every couple in Israel?

Key Verses:

Leviticus 24.19-20;  Leviticus 25.8-12, 55;  Leviticus 26.40-42; Leviticus 27.28

Themes/Spiritual Applications:

Holiness

Devotion

Sacrifice

Redemption

Notes:

Leviticus 24.19-20 contains a legal precept which actually displays the justice and mercy of God.  When someone wrongs us, the tendency of retribution is to be more severe with them than they were with us.  God says that this is not a just way to handle a problem.  Whatever injury one has caused, they are to pay proportionally to that.  Even in the method that God proscribed for punishment we can see the love of God.

The concept of Jubille is one that appears throughout the Old and New Testaments.  The idea of being released from bondage or service to someone who is not your rightful master is one of great comfort ande joy.  This theme is developed in the New Testament in the Jesus Christ came to release us from sin, our unrightful master, so that we might becomes slaves of rightesouness.  We were set free so that we could return to God, just like Israel was released on the day of jubilee.

An interesting point made about things dedicated to God is that they are completely and totally his.  There is no way to partially dedicate something to the service of the Lord.  When something that been set apart as holy, the whole thing is holy.   The same may said about our lives.  When we set aside our lives as holy to the lord, then our entire life must be given to him.  Our entire life becomes holy to the Lord.  We must therefore live accordingly in service to God.

Another item of interest is the way that God expected the Israelites to treat one another.  Jesus said that Christians are not to lord themselves over other saints.  This means that there is never to be a master/slave relationship between them.  Rather, everyone should be seeking to serve and care for the other.  This is exactly what we see being commanded throughout these chapters in the personal relationship of Israel.

Questions:

Why do you think homes in walled cities could be sold in perpetuity while fields and homes in villiages could not?

Why do you think God was so particular in outlining the details concerning the day of Jubilee?

Key Verses:

Leviticus 20.7-8, 26; Leviticus 21.22-23; Leviticus 22.31-33; Leviticus 23.44

Themes/Spiritual Application:

Sanctification

Purity

Holiness

Marriage

Feasts and Worship

Notes:

One of the interesting things to note is the repeated claim that God is the one who sanctifies Israel and the priests.  They were not able to cleanse themselves and they were not able to stand before God as holy through their own means.  It was God who took these people and made them holy.  It was God who took these people and made them fit to be his servants.  The same is true for people today.  We are not able to make ourselves holy to God, God is the one who sanctifies.  We are not able to purify ourselves, it is God who does the purifying.  God is the power behind our ability to serve him and minister for him, but we are the ones who provide the willingness to do the serving through the power, mercy and grace of God.

In Leviticus 21.22-23, we find the conclusion to a list of people who are not allowed to enter into the holy place beyond the veil.  None of the people listed are able to do so because they have a defect of some sort.  The same is true of all mankind who has sinned against the Lord.  We have a defect of some sort.  Though we are able to eat of the bread that comes from God and though we are able to serve him, we are not fit to enter into the holy place to offer sacrifice.  Jesus Christ is the only person who may approach the holy place made without hands because he is the only person to have ever lived a life without defect.  He is able to go into the holy place and offer his sacrifice to God for us, and we are able to partake of it.

In chapter 23, the feasts that God wants the Israelites to carry out every year are listed.  These are not optional for the Jews so far as God is concerned, and we know that because he repeats throughout that they are holy feasts to be kept forever throughout their generations.  While we no longer must, or are able, to keep these feast days, we can learn some important points from the principles presented in Leviticus 23.  Firstly, when God wants mankind to do something, he tells us about it in writing.  These feasts were important and every Israelite was to attend them so long as there was a nation of Israel.  God could have had prophets spring up every year and proclaim the time of the feast, but he didn’t.  Instead, God had the dates and particulars of each feats recorded in writing so that every generation of Israel could know when and how and where God wanted the feasts to take place.  When there are things that God desires for us to do, he will tell us in writing.  It makes no sense that God would cause prophets to spring up all over the place telling different people different things at different times.  We have the instructions that God wants us to keep given to us in writing.  Anything that goes beyond these things that are written isn’t necessarily wrong, but it certainly doesn’t comes from God.

Questions:

Why do you think the marriage laws for priests were stricter than they were for non-levitical Israelites?

Why do you tihnk certain ideas are repeated throughout these three chapters, e.g. I am the Lord who sanctifies?

Why do you think God would call yearly convocations for the feasts commanded to Israel?

Key Verses:

Leviticus 15.31; Leviticus 16.15-16, 20-22; Leviticus 18.1-5; Leviticus 19.18

Themes/Spiritual Applications:

Holiness

Uncleanness

Atonement

Sacrifice

Notes:

The idea of cleanness is reinforced throughout chapter 15 of Leviticus.  One may begin to wonder at the elongated list of things that makes one clean and unclean and the process that is required in order to establish ritual purity.  However, in the context of the day of atonement, discussed in chapter 16, these issues are very important.  Leviticus 15.31 shows us that God only wanted the people of Israel to come to the temple or tabernacle when they were clean, that is holy and separated from daily occurrences.  In order to offer service to the Lord, there were certain conditions that had to be met, and one of those conditions was holiness as expressed and defined by the
Lord.  If one was unclean and they approached the Lord, they would die in their uncleanness.

If we are going to understand the thrust of this verse in a spiritual way, when we sin against the Lord we make ourselves unclean spiritually.  We have blotted our garments with sin and we are unclean.  We are then unable to come before the presence of the Lord without being cleansed and made holy in some way.  The only way that we are able to be cleansed from the sins that we intentionally commit against the Lord is to be washed in the blood of the lamb.  It is Jesus Christ who will wash Christians and present us to the father without spot and without blemish (Ephesians 5.25-27).  This is how we are made holy to the Lord spiritually.  This is taught to us in a very physical and carnal way through the purity laws in the Old Testament.

After God instructs Moses on the way the day of atonement is to be handled, he instructs the entire nation not to follow the path of the Egyptians, that is where they had come from.  He also tells them not to be like the Canaanites, that is where they were going.  Whether they were to look to their past or toward their futures, anytime they looked away from God they were not going to be accepted.  God was the key to the past successes, not the gods of Egypt, and God would be the key to the future successes, not the gods of the land where they were going.  There should forever remain on the Lord and the statutes that he has provided for them.

Love Your Neighbor

A popular concept today is to make the “God of the Old Testament” different from the “God of the New Testament”.  They are one and the same person and the message that has been given to mankind is one of harmony throughout the entire Bible.  As an example of this, consider Leviticus 19.18.  It stands as the second greatest of all commands in both the New and Old Testaments.  God has hung all of his regulations in our dealings with other people squarely on this commandment.  In all our dealings with others, we should be acting out of both love and kindness.  If we fail to do so, we are not walking in the statutes and ordinances of the God of love who is being revealed all throughout the Old Testament.

Questions:

Why do you think it was necessary for the high priest to go through so much preparation before he was allowed to enter into the presence of the Lord?

Key Verses:

Leviticus 11.44-45; Leviticus 12.8; Leviticus 13.45-46; Leviticus 14.19-20,

Themes/Spiritual Application:

Uncleanness

Ritualistic Purity

Notes:

These chapters deal a great deal with the concept of being ritualistically clean whether with regard to food or diseases of the body.

Perhaps, aside from general health concerns, the lesson being taught to Israel through these passages is the absolute holiness of God.  Leviticus 11.44-45 declares that Israel was not to eat any of the unclean foods in order to be holy to Jehovah.  They were to be different from the rest of mankind.  They were to set themselves apart to the Lord because God is set apart from his creation.

Even in issues of ritual, we can see the grace of God.  God does not list single requirements for sacrifices and therefore nullify the ability of a poor family to be pleasing.  Instead, there are alternative sacrifices made available to those who cannot afford the more lucrative sacrifices.  An interesting note about these provisions of mercy with regard to sacrifice is that Jesus’ parents could only afford the smallest of the sacrifices due to their poverty.

Questions:

Do you think there are other lessons we can learn from the types of animals that are declared unclean?

Do you think there is a reason why God was so careful to outline the different forms and types of leprosy?

Do you see leprosy presented as a type for sin in any of these chapters?

Key Verses:

Exodus 14.5, 14, 18, 31; Exodus 15.2-3, 11, 16-18, 26; Exodus 16.8; Exodus 17.5-7, 14-16.

Themes:

Faithfulness

Glory of God

Law of God

Notes:

Throughout the chapters that we’ve read today, Israel would grumble about the situation that they found themselves in.  They complained about being trapped with the armies of Pharaoh bearing down on them.  They complained about not having water, and they complained about not having food.  These are three of the primary things that we need to survive.  We must have food and water or we will not last longer than a few days.  We must have protection or we will carried off by those who are stronger than we are.  Israel doubted that God was able to provide them with these things, so they complained to Moses and Aaron.

It seems that they failed to realize that they weren’t complaining against Moses and Aaron, they were complaining against God.  This is something that we would do well to remember as we go throughout our daily lives.  When we find ourselves in situations that aren’t the best, we must take care to be thankful for what we do have and trust in the Lord to provide us what is best.  We must not be caught grumbling and complaining against the Lord like Israel did.

Another item of interest is that God said we would know whether or not Israel was going to keep his law based on whether or not they listened to him about the manna in the wilderness.  If they were going to faithful with something small and unimportant, then they could be trusted to be faithful with something large and important, like the law of Moses.  However, as we read through Exodus, it becomes very apparent that they were neither faithful with the commandments given about the manna, nor would they be faithful with the commandments given later on by Moses.  When we apply this to ourselves, are we faithful to God in the little things?  Are we willing to give everything to God, even the things in our lives that we consider to be small?  Jesus said that he who is faithful with a little will be given much.  We should allow Israel to serve as the example for us and strive to be faithful to God in all things, whether we consider them small or not.

Questions:

Why do you think Moses had to raise his staff for Israel to win defeat Amalek?

What do you think is significant about Moses’ inability to hold his arms up the whole time they were fighting?

What do you think is important about the people who were helping Moses to hold up his arms?

Key Verses:

Genesis 33.3, 11; Genesis 34.31; Genesis 35.2-3, 18-19; Genesis 36.7, 12

Themes/Spiritual Applications:

Family

Vengeance

Fornication

Circumcision

Notes:

Genesis 33 has been interpreted a number of different ways.  In Western culture, to act in the way that Jacob does shows submission and defeat.  In Eastern culture, the same thing is not true.  In the East, a great deal of emphasis is placed on birth order and age.  It would have been a great insult to Esau had Jacob come and acted as though he was not beneath his elder brother.  Even though Jacob had obtained the birthright and the patriarchal blessing, in respect to age, Jacob was still beneath his elder brother.  Because Jacob acts according to the culture he finds himself in, rather than assuming that he is greater than his brother, he is welcomed back with tears and joy.  This is not a passage about tricking Esau in receiving Jacob warmly, this is a passage where Jacob acts as he should and is accepted by his brother, who has forgiven him for the past wrongdoings.

In Genesis 34, the children of Jacob react violently to the actions of Shechem the son of Hamor.  Rather than act according the law that would be given later by God to Moses, that is in a just way, the Levi and Simeon take it upon themselves to kill the males of en entire villiage.  Some people have argued against the concept of an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth calling it primitive and unenlightened.  This law, which we will study again, is actually an expression of God’s mercy and grace.  We see here what kind of justice is performed when making legal decisions is left to the devices of men.  Rather than dealing justly with their neighbors when they are wronged, Simeon and Levi deal treacherously with them.  They destroy families and enslave women and children because of the single misdeed of one young man.

At the same time, this gives us a very graphic picture of what sin has done to the world that we live in.  God created everything good, but when Adam and Eve ate from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they were changed in some way.  Because of their decisions, all of mankind has been changed from the good state in which we were created in the garden and all mankind must suffer the punishment of physical death due to the separation from the tree of life.

When Jacob prepared to leave the area because of what his sons have done, he commands all in his house to get rid of their household gods, to cleanse themselves and to change their clothes.  This great instruction, found in Genesis 35.2-3, is a great parallel for what we are called to do today when we leave our lives of sin and seek to serve the Lord only.  We are to put away all of the things that draw us away from the Lord - we are to repent of our sins.  That is, we are to change the way that we think so that what allures us and pulls away from God is no longer the goal and aim of our lives.  We strive to seek God first in all things.  We do this by being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins - that is we are washed with the washing of regeneration, just like Jacob commands everyone with him to wash themselves.  Then we are clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ.  This is parallel to the new clothes that Jacob commands his house to wear.

In Genesis 36.7-8, an old problem creeps up again between family members: there is not enough land for all of the cattle.  This time, like Abraham before him, Esau determines to move so that there is enough room for the cattle to graze.  We hardly expect Esau to be the one to move his possessions, but that is exactly the thing he does.  Perhaps, because of the way that his brother had been acting toward him since his return, he felt kindly enough toward him to be the one to avoid causing any conflict.  Perhaps he remembered the words of his father’s blessing and understood that the greatness of his brother’s possession came from the Lord.  Rather than finding himself striving with the Lord, he then chose to move himself to another location.  We are not told Esau’s internal dialogue, but whatever the reason, we should be impressed by his willingness to move for his brother’s sake.

Questions:

Why does Shechem’s request to marry Dinah tell us about the relationship between sexual intercouse and marriage?

Rachels request for the Lord to add another son to her resulted in her death during the birth of Benjamin (cf. Genesis 30.24).  What does this tell us about the outcome of a blessing or the answer to a prayer as it concerns our lives here on earth?