Ex. 29-30
There is a point in the life of King David where God punishes the people because David took a census. I never understood this. But there is a clue to this right here in Exodus 30 that I have never noticed before. Verses 11-16 talk about a “Census Tax”, where the people are required to pay a ransom for their lives when they are numbered. While I can’t say that I understand why this is, I can now at least understand a little better why it was wrong for David to number the people.
Mark 2
It can often seem like Jesus tried very intentionally to keep His identity as much of a secret as possible. Like keeping the demons silent and telling those He healed not to spread the word. Or speaking in parables all the time. But the more I read the Bible, the more I see that there were many times that He very plainly stated exactly who He was. This would have been especially true for the religious leaders, who’s understanding of scripture would have given them a far better insight to many of the things that Jesus said and did.
The story of the paralytic in Mark 2 is one example of this. In verses 10-11 Jesus says, “’But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’ – He said to the paralytic – ‘I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.’”. The men Jesus was speaking to were thinking that only God could forgive sins and, without having actually voiced their thought, Jesus gave them this reply. How much clearer did He need to be?