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- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
Num. 4
More specific instructions! It’s no surprise, really. God had specific instructions for the design, building, set up and assembly, and daily use of everything related to the tabernacle. So it makes perfect sense that He’d have them for moving it as well. Most of the instructions make good sense to me. There is one bit of minutia, however, that trips me up a bit. What difference did the color of the cloth used to cover this, that, and the other make? Most things were covered with a blue cloth. However, there was one scarlet cloth and one purple cloth in the list.
It’s interesting how rules tend to lose weight with us when we don’t know, understand, or agree with the reasoning behind them. I suppose when we are dealing with human leadership it is often wise to question before complying. But I have a strong feeling that putting a blue cloth where that scarlet one belonged would have resulted in some seemingly overly harsh consequences. When it comes to God, it is undoubtedly best to simply obey, even when what He asks of us makes little to no sense.
Num. 5
“When a man or woman commits any sin against another, that person acts unfaithfully toward the LORD and is guilty.” (Num. 5:6). Turns out how we treat others directly impacts our relationship with God. That’s because in order to love God we need to keep His commands, and His commands involve loving others. What makes this even more difficult is Jesus’ instruction that sin and obedience go far beyond our outward actions. They start in the heart. Thus, even my poor attitude toward another, whether justified from our human perspective or not, is a form of unfaithfulness to my God. Ouch!
Num. 6
There were a whole lot of things the Israelites were supposed to do to keep bad things from happening. Here, however, is one instruction specifically intended to bring God’s blessing on them. How beautiful that, though they were a stiff-necked, stubborn, hard-hearted, faithless people, God still desired to pour out His blessings on them. So much so that He gave them a specific way to achieve that. Since Jesus is now our High Priest, I picture Him saying this blessing over each one of His own. Thus it is He who puts God’s name on us so that God will bless us. Why would we want to take on any other name when the name of Jesus guarantees us the blessings of God?