Author: John Tillman

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Numbers 32 Listen: (5:22) Read: 1 Corinthians 6 Listen: (3:03)

Links for this weekend’s readings:

Read: Numbers 33 Listen: (4:53) Read: 1 Corinthians 7 Listen: (6:09)
Read: Numbers 34 Listen: (2:59) Read: 1 Corinthians 8 Listen: (1:54)

Scripture Focus: Numbers 32.14-24

14 “And here you are, a brood of sinners, standing in the place of your fathers and making the Lord even more angry with Israel. 15 If you turn away from following him, he will again leave all this people in the wilderness, and you will be the cause of their destruction.” 16 Then they came up to him and said, “We would like to build pens here for our livestock and cities for our women and children. 17 But we will arm ourselves for battle and go ahead of the Israelites until we have brought them to their place. Meanwhile our women and children will live in fortified cities, for protection from the inhabitants of the land. 18 We will not return to our homes until each of the Israelites has received their inheritance. 19 We will not receive any inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan, because our inheritance has come to us on the east side of the Jordan.” 20 Then Moses said to them, “If you will do this—if you will arm yourselves before the Lord for battle 21 and if all of you who are armed cross over the Jordan before the Lord until he has driven his enemies out before him—22 then when the land is subdued before the Lord, you may return and be free from your obligation to the Lord and to Israel. And this land will be your possession before the Lord. 23 “But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the Lord; and you may be sure that your sin will find you out. 24 Build cities for your women and children, and pens for your flocks, but do what you have promised.”

Reflection: Don’t Rage Out or Tap Out

By John Tillman

Even Moses had flaws and one of his was his temper.

In Numbers 20, the people grumbled about water. God instructed Moses to bring forth water by speaking to a rock. Moses lost his temper, yelled at the people, and struck the rock instead. (Numbers 20.8-12) Because of this, God told Moses he would not enter the Promised Land. Moses remained bitter about this. Near the end of his life, Moses continued to blame the Israelites for provoking him and making God angry with him. (Deuteronomy 3.25-27)

In Numbers 32, three groups of Israelites, Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, came to Moses and requested to take their inheritance of land on the east side of the Jordan. Moses snapped. Moses had just spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness because the fathers of these tribes refused to go into the land. Now, it seemed to Moses these leaders were repeating that mistake. Moses said that they were making the Lord angry. But was that true?

The tribes’ intention was not to refuse to go into the land. They intended to make a vow to lead the military campaigns, fighting for their brother tribes until they all secured their promised land. God must have known what was in their heart, but Moses misunderstood their intentions and leapt to a conclusion in anger. After further explanation, Moses approved their plan and their vow.

There are at least two things to learn from this.

Don’t rage out. Anger has a corrosive effect on our perceptions of things, events, and people. Holding a grudge or a grievance hardens our heart. The angrier we become and the longer we stay that way, the more likely we will be to have misunderstandings and respond with angry outbursts.

Don’t tap out. We mustn’t tap out early when there is still work to be done. When we have secured God’s blessings for ourselves, we mustn’t “tap out” and rest. We must press on, for the good of others, even when we have reached our reward. Just because we have secured God’s blessings for ourselves, obeyed the gospel, experienced freedom of religion and conscience, and are free from want or poverty, doesn’t mean there is not more to do on behalf of our brothers and sisters.

Keep listening to better understand others. Keep working to bring the blessings of our promised kingdom to as many people as will receive it.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Search for the Lord and his strength; continually seek his face. — Psalm 105.4

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime

 by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Who Needs Anger?

Anger is out of control in our society. Two of the main reasons why are that anger feels good and anger is profitable.

Read more: Anger Industrial Complex

Anger will rule us or we will rule it. We must ask, “Why am I angry?” and “How can I turn anger toward loving action?”

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Numbers 31 Listen: (5:52) Read: 1 Corinthians 5 Listen: (1:58)

Scripture Focus: Numbers 31.1-8

1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.” 3 So Moses said to the people, “Arm some of your men to go to war against the Midianites so that they may carry out the Lord’s vengeance on them. 4 Send into battle a thousand men from each of the tribes of Israel.” 5 So twelve thousand men armed for battle, a thousand from each tribe, were supplied from the clans of Israel. 6 Moses sent them into battle, a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, who took with him articles from the sanctuary and the trumpets for signaling. 7 They fought against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and killed every man. 8 Among their victims were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba—the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

Reflection: Not Our Business

By John Tillman

Vengeance is associated with justice in scripture.

Vengeance is repayment to wrongdoers for their treatment of others. The violent suffer violence. The greedy suffer poverty. The powerful suffer enslavement. The abusive suffer abuse. The vain suffer humiliation.

We are often uncomfortable witnessing vengeance in the scripture but we usually don’t mind it in vengeance-themed films and stories, like John Wick. One reason is that vengeance films work very hard to show us how horrifically bad the villains are and how noble and honorable the vengeance-takers are. As soon as we see the gangster kill John Wick’s puppy, all the violence Wick commits in order to kill that gangster seems justified.

God judged the Midianites’ actions as worthy of vengeance. Why does our culture cringe at vengeance on the Midianites when our ticket-buying frenzy turned John Wick into a franchise with three film sequels, a videogame, and a television spin-off series?

The Bible doesn’t play by the storytelling conventions of vengeance films. We don’t see the Midianites kill the Israelites’ puppy, but we do see them attack Israel when they are vulnerable on their wilderness journey.

They attacked them with spiritual means, attempting to curse them. They attacked them with psychological means, seducing them into the sexual practices of a false god. They attacked them with military means in battle. They consistently acted as Israel’s enemies, intending to harm them. Like Balaam, they persisted despite warnings and despite hearing the words of blessing God forced Balaam to declare.

However, we must not misuse or misunderstand passages about vengeance. However justified vengeance is in a passage of scripture, Israel’s wars are not a model for ours. We don’t have “Midianite” enemies to enact vengeance on. We don’t have enemies of flesh and blood at all!

Rather than crucify our enemies, we are to carry our cross. Rather than carry out vengeance on sinners, we are to carry the gospel to sinners. We have been commanded to set down the sword of vengeance and take up the plow of cultivation.

God’s vengeance is holy. Ours is vain. God’s vengeance is on behalf of victims. Ours is on behalf of ourselves. Our pride. Our anger. Our hero complexes.

Vengeance is God’s business, not ours. We must make room for it, (Romans 12.19) but we must not attempt to enact it ourselves. If we do, we may end up a target of God’s vengeance in the future.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lesons

Blessed are they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Matthew 5.6

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime

 by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Our Vengeance is Repentance

Though we and our nation may suffer as violence and extremism gain more ground, we have hope. This hope transcends vengeance on our enemies.

Read more: Abandon Human Vengeance

Vengeance drives a machine of violent rhetoric which leads to physical violence…Christians have a responsibility to break the machine.

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Numbers 28 Listen: (3:51) Read: 1 Corinthians 2 Listen: (2:26)

Scripture Focus: Numbers 28.1-2

1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Give this command to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Make sure that you present to me at the appointed time my food offerings, as an aroma pleasing to me.’

Reflection: A Life’s Liturgy

By John Tillman

God prescribes scheduled offerings for the community—a liturgy of life.

Daily offerings are in the morning and evening. Weekly offerings are made on the Sabbath when no other work was to be done. Monthly offerings were made at the beginning of each month. Then there were the festival offerings. Beginning with Passover at the start of the year, each season’s festival reminded the people of the story of God’s love, mercy, and provision for them.

One practical purpose of these offerings was a steady supply of food for the priesthood and Levites. The people’s sacrifices were part of God’s provision for Levite families who would not own land as other tribes would. The spiritual purpose was a constant reminder and acknowledgment of important truths for God’s people, including us.

God is our provider. In the desert, it was hard to forget God’s provision. With no land to farm, they depended on the Lord’s miraculous supply of manna. But once they were established in the land and prospering, they often forgot God and his providence. We too, forget God’s provision when we are prospering.

Sin is serious and grace is costly. God’s grace is not “cheap grace” that pats us on the back and says, “It’s okay.” Sin is not okay. The sacrifices were a repeated reminder that sin was costly and our efforts to atone are insufficient. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross fulfills and completes the promises made by the Tabernacle and Temple sacrifices.

The promises of Eden will be fulfilled. The Tabernacle and Temple were artistic and ceremonial depictions of the Garden of Eden. God killed animals to cover Adam and Eve’s naked shame and promised Eve a snake-crushing seed to end sin’s shame forever. (Genesis 3.15, 21) Jesus’ naked shame on the cross clothes us in his righteousness. His death and resurrection crush the power of the serpent both now and in the future.

Because of Jesus, we don’t need sacrifices, but we need reminders. We must live relying on God, not human power or wealth. We must not downplay sin’s seriousness and show contempt for Jesus’ sacrifice. We must anticipate and participate in Jesus’ ultimate fulfillment of Eden’s promises.

What is your life’s liturgy? Are you reminding yourself of these things regularly? What are you doing daily, weekly, monthly, and at special times of the year to remember these things?

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy Name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. — Psalm 103.1-2

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime

 by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Style Versus Substance

Paul didn’t mean that when he was last in Corinth he spoke poorly, abandoned using rhetoric, eschewed wisdom, and forgot all his knowledge.

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Links for today’s readings:

Read: Numbers 25 Listen: (2:20) Read: 2 Thessalonians 2 Listen: (2:32)

Links for this weekend’s readings:

Read: Numbers 26 Listen: (7:47) Read: 2 Thessalonians 3 Listen: (2:16)
Read: Numbers 27 Listen: (3:08) Read: 1 Corinthians 1 Listen: (4:03)

Scripture Focus: Numbers 25.3, 10-13

3 So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them.

10 The Lord said to Moses, 11 “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites. Since he was as zealous for my honor among them as I am, I did not put an end to them in my zeal. 12 Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him. 13 He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.”

Reflection: Seduced by Corn Kings

By John Tillman

In his book, Miracles, C.S. Lewis described a type of deity: “the corn king.” Corn kings, were gods, like Adonis or Osiris, who died and were reborn, personifying the cycle of life and death in human and agricultural fertility and fruitfulness. Corn kings promised profit and growth through fertility and harvest. Baal is a god of this type.

Numbers 25 is the first time Israel falls into sin by worshiping Baal. The fall is hard and the consequences harsh. Many Israelites worshiped Baal in this incident, but one man flagrantly brought a shrine prostitute into the camp to have ritual sex with her. A priest, Phinehas, used a spear to stop them. This violence shocks modern readers, but there are important details we might miss. Baal worship didn’t show up by accident. This was a coordinated attack from Israel’s enemies.

Balaam and Balak, who failed to curse Israel in the previous chapters, introduced Baal worship to entice Israel to sin. (Numbers 31.16; Revelation 2:14) This wasn’t mere temptation, it was an act of war. They sought to strip Israel of their identity and force conformity to the Canaanite culture. Giving in to this temptation, wasn’t just moral weakness, it meant rebellion against God.

Phinehas’ zeal was not a zeal against mere sexual sin. Prostitution was a side-dish of sin, not the main course. Worshiping Baal showed flagrant disregard and disrespect for God, his community, and his glory. Siding with a “corn king” for provision and growth, and the enemies of Israel for safety and protection, was a far worse offense than any mere sexual act.

This temptation in the desert is like the temptation of the serpent in the Garden. That temptation and the fall of Adam and Eve was also an act of war. (Genesis 3.1-6; Revelation 12.9)

This war still rages and we are still tempted. Corn kings promise growth, profit, protection, security if only we will do homage, shift our identity, and conform to a few minor moral sacrifices. Corn kings don’t care about exclusivity. They encourage you to worship them right alongside Jesus.

Jesus will not share his glory. With the sword of his word, he is zealous to cleanse the temple of our hearts from other kings. (John 2.15-17; Psalm 69.9) Satan sends corn kings who promise the world. Jesus says, “What profit is that if you lose your soul?” (Mark 8.36) Don’t be seduced. We cannot serve both God and the corn kings of this world. (Matthew 6.24)

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

I call with my whole heart; answer me, O Lord, that I may keep your statutes. — Psalm 119.145

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime

 by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Balaam’s Success

Israelite culture was susceptible to sexual temptations of ancient fertility cults. Greed is the fertility god of our age and our culture is addicted to it.

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