Thursday, Nov. 14
Numbers Chapters 15 and 16 Click here to read
The chapters we’re reading today come with an unfortunately high body count: a Sabbath-breaker is stoned in Chapter 15, and thousands die from disobedience in Chapter 16.
Amidst all the death and destruction, though, some good shines through.
The offerings outlined in chapter 15 are familiar to us, with one thing especially bearing repetition: sacrifices are for atonement of unintentional sin. While there isn’t a real clear definition of “unintentional,” the punishment stories that follow show some examples of intentional sin.
Even the Sabbath-breaker is doing something he had to know was forbidden: gathering wood. This wasn’t a case of accidentally carrying a load a little too large for the Sabbath, or of cooking to feed a suddenly ill child. This was the kind of chore that people had to do every day and that could, and should, plan for.
The much larger occurrence in Chapter 16 is a deliberate rebellion against Moses and Aaron, caused by repeated lack of trust in God’s faithfulness.
That rebellion leads us to another of the positive messages these chapters give us.
As we have seen before, Moses (now joined by Aaron) pleads for God’s mercy on the same people who have rebelled against him. He is here living out the command we will receive much later from Jesus to love one’s enemies and to pray for those who persecute.
Yes, Moses becomes angry. But, as he has done so often in the past, he pleads for God to not punish the many for the sins of the few.
Another part of these chapters that’s interesting to note is the insistence in Chapter 15 that the same sacrificial rules apply to the “foreigner residing among you” as to the native-born Israelite.
We think of welcoming non-Jewish persons into God’s community as being a New Testament development, but it appears early. Obedience to God and faith in God are already more significant than ancestry.