For a full description of the (Y4) reading plan, see the “About” page.
Num. 19
I did a little searching on the significance of the cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet used with the red heifer. In that brief search, I ran across a short video that made me realize that God’s instructions in this chapter had practical as well as spiritual purpose. Evidently, hardwood ashes are the basis for lye soap. Also, deadly bacteria can spread from a dead person to a live person through a common contact. Thus, God’s cleansing ritual after contact with death would have prevented a lot more unnecessary death. Very practical and, according to the video, way ahead of scientific knowledge about germs, even up to the mid-1800’s. Ahead of man’s knowledge, anyway.
Ps. 56-57
David is one of the major Old Testament figures God used to teach us about His promised Messiah. I don’t know if the people of Jesus’ day realized that or not. With the advantage of hindsight, however, we can see all sorts of interesting things. One of those things, if people could have connected it, would have prevented the predominant expectation of Jesus as the conquering king. Technically speaking, David became king when Samuel anointed him at a young age. Yet he didn’t step into that role until after many years of suffering. Likewise, though Christ was king even before His birth, the suffering came first.
Is. 8
Hebrew poetic language often repeats the same thought in two slightly different ways. As I read through this chapter, though, I noticed an exact repeat, where Isaiah used the same words twice. He wrote, “Gird yourselves, yet be shattered; gird yourselves, yet be shattered.” (Is. 8:9b). Evidently, God wanted to give that point some extra emphasis. I looked at a handful of trusted translations and they all phrased verses 9 & 10 a little differently. The general gist, however, is that evil can take its best shot, make its best plan, and prepare for the fight, but it won’t succeed. Why won’t it succeed? Every translation ended with the same answer. Immanuel. God is with us. So when things look bad, take heart! Evil will do what evil will do…BUT GOD!