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From Passover to Tabernacles

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Numbers 29 Listen: (5:05) Read: 1 Corinthians 3 Listen: (3:05)

Scripture Focus: Numbers 29.12

12 On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. Celebrate a festival to the Lord for seven days.

Leviticus 23.39-40

39 “ ‘So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the Lord for seven days; the first day is a day of sabbath rest, and the eighth day also is a day of sabbath rest. 40 On the first day you are to take branches from luxuriant trees—from palms, willows and other leafy trees—and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.

Reflection: From Passover to Tabernacles

By John Tillman

What festival are you in?

The Passover festival began the year by celebrating the beginning of Israel as a nation. In many ways it was the most important festival, but the biggest festival by popularity, length, number of sacrifices, and prominence was Tabernacles.

Passover celebrated the journey out of slavery. It freed Israel, identified them as God’s priestly nation, renewed their purpose of bringing God’s blessing to the world, and gave them a destiny in a land that was promised to them.

Tabernacles celebrated the wilderness journey. It reflected on peace and security by looking back to the wilderness when, by the world’s standards, they had neither peace nor security. As homeless migrants and outcasts, they were hated, feared, and attacked by every nation whose borders they approached or land they crossed.

As Christians, Passover also defines our identity, purpose, and destiny. Jesus redefined that festival’s symbols to institute the Lord’s Supper and his “new covenant in my blood.” (Luke 22.19-20)

We see salvation in Passover yet, in Tabernacles we see a picture of life in this world. Tabernacles is the “already and not yet” festival. Israel was promised a place of peace, rest, and plenty. They were sheltered in God, yet not permanently sheltered. Representing this, the instructions for shelters say, “take branches from luxuriant trees…” (Leviticus 23.40) With these luxuriant limbs, their shelters represented resting “under their own vine.” (Micah 4.4)

We live between Exodus and the Promised Land. We live in the festival of Tabernacles, sheltered by the Holy Spirit, but not yet in our heavenly dwelling. (2 Corinthians 5.4-9; 2 Peter 1.12-15) But the end of Tabernacles is coming.

Tabernacles was an eight day festival. In Hebrew thought, the eighth day represented a re-beginning of creation when God made all things new. This last day of the festival is when Jesus raised his voice, saying, “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” (John 7.37-39)

Our eighth day is coming. Our wilderness sojourn will end. Our desert will flow with living water. Our temporary tabernacles will be transfigured into the permanent places Jesus went ahead of us to prepare.

But many are not ready for the eighth day. Raise your voice to call the outcasts, wanderers, sinners, and the lost. Build luxuriant tabernacles for them and invite them to pass through Passover to join you in Tabernacles.

Rest in your shelter. But work for and await the eighth day.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Morning Psalm

Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous; it is good for the just to sing praises.

For the word of the Lord is right, and all his works are sure.

Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon those who fear him, on those who wait upon his love.

Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.

Indeed, our heart rejoices in him, for in his holy Name we put our trust.

Let your loving-kindness, O Lord, be upon us, as we have put our trust in you. — Psalm 33.1, 4,18-22

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

 by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: The Eighth Day

Christians as well as Jews, did not believe that the repetitive cycle of a new week following another, and a new year following another, would be endless. 

The Eighth Day
Read more: Idolatry of Identity

We often treat churches and Christian leaders just like any other brand. We follow them. We compare them.

Idolatry of Identity

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A Life’s Liturgy

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.

Style Versus Substance
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Seduced by Corn Kings

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.

Balaam’s Success
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Hope for the Troubled

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Numbers 24 Listen: (3:37) Read: 2 Thessalonians 1 Listen: (1:52)

Scripture Focus: 2 Thessalonians 1.6-10

6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might 10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

Reflection: Hope for the Troubled

By John Tillman

The Thessalonian believers were “troubled.”

One trouble was being lied to by false teachers who spoke in Paul’s (and God’s) name. Another trouble was being persecuted by Jewish and Roman authorities. To those troubled with suffering, oppression, and confusion, Paul wrote of justice and hope.

Have you felt similar “troubles” as the Thessalonians? Most of us haven’t been persecuted, banned, or arrested for speaking or living out Jesus’ words but we may have been pushed into panic mode by perilous false prophecy. Jesus warned we would have troubles. (John 16.1-4, 33)

As Paul did for the Thessalonians, he does for us—Paul promises justice and holds out hope.

The troubled will be relieved of trouble and God will pay back trouble as justice to those who troubled them and did not “obey the gospel.”

The gospel commands humans to repent of wickedness, be forgiven and reconciled to God in Jesus Christ, and enter the presence and glory of our creator for eternity. (2 Thess 1.8-9) Disobeying the gospel is choosing darkness over light and separation over reconciliation. They demand darkness and destruction and God grants it. (Hosea 10.8; Luke 23:29-30; Revelation 6.15-17)

God’s justice means no one will “get away” with anything, ever. The gospel means anyone can be forgiven of anything forever. Any troublemaker can be saved. Any who reject the gospel will be destroyed.

There is encouragement from knowing our troubles are not overlooked and justice will be done. However there is a difference between being encouraged by justice and longing for vengeance.

Hope shapes our lives, but the wrong object of hope leads to a misshapen life. Hoping in God’s justice is encouraging. Longing for vengeance is embittering.

Placing hope in the gospel, not destruction, changes things.

It changes how you view your sufferings. They are opportunities for faithfulness.

It changes how you view your persecutors. They are lost children in need of reconciliation.

It changes what you desire. Salvation is greater than destruction or vengeance.

It changes how you define victory. Eternal things are greater than earthly things.

Our calling is the ministry of reconciliation, not retribution. (2 Corinthians 5.18-19) Therefore, do not hope for the destruction of those who trouble us but for their salvation. (Acts 26.28-29) Rather than be reactive, panicked, or vengeful, be active, peaceful, and restorative.

Our hearts, filled with the right kind of hope, rejoice in an enemy’s salvation more than in their destruction. In Christ, both outcomes are part of God’s good justice.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting

My God, my rock in whom I put my trust, my shield, the horn of my salvation, and my refuge; you are worthy of praise. — Psalm 18.2

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

 by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Too Good Not to Be True

The preacher is apt to preach the gospel with the high magic taken out, the deep mystery reduced to a manageable size.

Too Good Not to Be True
Read more: Both Parts of Justice

Sometimes protecting or establishing justice necessitates violence. However…Justice isn’t putting out eyes. It’s seeing needs get met.

Both Parts of Justice
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The Puppet “Prophet”

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Numbers 23 Listen: (4:01) Read: 1 Thessalonians 5 Listen: (2:37)

Scripture Focus: Numbers 23:11–12

11 Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!”

12 He answered, “Must I not speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”

Reflection: The Puppet “Prophet”

Erin Newton

A message from God is a force that cannot be equaled. Behind the words is power that is unparalleled and unmatched. Nothing can be formed against it. No human can resist it.

It can speak both judgment and blessing. It can bring life into creation and banish evil to the depths.

We expect the godly to spout the words of God—with joy no less. Shouts of praise and unashamed proclamations of God’s goodness are welcomed reverberations in the walls of churches.

The godly may pause before messages of criticism and judgment, but the power of the word is overwhelming. Jeremiah hesitates, “But if I say, ‘I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,’ his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot” (Jeremiah 20.9).

A prophet, the chosen mouthpiece for God, may falter ever so slightly, but the word burns like a fire.

And so it is even with fools. The word of God is not hampered by the motives of the speaker, for Balaam proves that God is not deterred by any vessel. Balaam and Balak were mouthpieces for a world hostile to God, hoping to bring curses to God’s people. Over and over they try to bring a foul word. Again and again, they fail. Overpowered by the good news of God, Balaam speaks words of blessing and praise to the God of Israel’s salvation.

Do you languish waiting for a godly, prophetic voice to speak words of blessing? Are you discouraged at the presence of leaders who only seem to plot curses? Let us not be dismayed. God has overpowered the minds and mouths of even his staunchest opponents. Through the most unlikely mouths, curses have been turned into hope. Messages meant to destroy have been overshadowed with messages of good news.

It is more likely that we pray for good leaders to rise up and wicked speakers to be silenced—but Balaam’s story reminds us that God’s message will prevail—no matter the vessel he must use.

Let us pray for the embers of God’s word to ignite within the mouths of unlikely people. Let us recognize the divine power behind such words.

And remember, Balaam is no happy conversion story. He is a symbol to all who try to stand against God that they are merely puppets.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

I will bear witness that the Lord is righteous; I will praise the Name of the Lord Most High. — Psalm 7.18

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

 by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Balaams and Balaks

Balaams today claim to speak for God yet seem willing to tickle the ears of the powerful in exchange for assurances of influence and power.

Balaams and Balaks
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