A Journey through the Bible with Tiglath

25. Numbers Chapter 15 to Chapter 20 verse 13.

We now hurry on with our journey. The Israelites are wandering about in the

desert and there is still much dissension in, the ranks. Chapter 15 deals with the

kind of offerings which will be made when the people enter the Promised Land.

As you read through the chapter you will observe the great detail required by

God when sacrificing. Also, no human sacrifices are required. Chapter 15 ends

with a man being stoned to death because he broke the Sabbath. He had been

found gathering sticks!

To remember all his commandments the Israelites were instructed by God to

make tassels like flowers out of violet thread and sew them on the corners of

their garments.

We now come to Chapter 16 where there is a serious challenge to the authority

of Moses. It was a very serious revolt, involving two hundred and fifty

Israelites. They were leading men in the community. The leaders of the

rebellion were Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Korah was a Levite and he was

protesting at Aaron’s monopoly of the priesthood. Dathan and Abiram accused

Moses of being high-handed and they blamed him for not taking them into the

Promised Land..

You should now read the whole of Chapter 16 which describes how God, who

is being attacked in the rebellion, puts down the uprising. I looked into the

punishment meted out by God when the earth opened up and swallowed the

grumblers. Apparently, there are deep lakes of mud in the Arabah rift valley.

They have hard crusty surfaces which sometimes break open in storms. Perhaps

they sank into one of these.

Chapter 17 is most interesting. God instructs Moses to tell the Israelites to give

him twelve staffs, one from each tribe. On Levi’s staff he had to write Aaron’s

name. Then God said the staff of the head of the tribe I will choose as priest will

sprout. The staffs were put in the Tent of the Tokens and next day it was found

that Aaron’s staff had sprouted, blossomed and produced ripe almonds.

If you are wondering how priests and Levites lived in those days when they

couldn’t keep animals or hunt you will find the answer in Chapter 18. The

priests are allowed to have the remains of sacrificial offerings and first fruits

etc. The Levites are given one tenth (a tithe) of all the nation’s produce, flocks

and herds. From this, one tenth is given to the priests.

Chapter 19 tells how a red cow is slaughtered, what is done with it and also how

the people who deal with the slaughter purify themselves. The cow is burnt to

ashes and these are then mixed with water which is used for ritual purification.

Verses 11 to 22 tell how the Israelites were instructed to act in the presence of

a dead body to avoid defilement.

The Israelites are now approaching the Promised Land after wandering about

for 38 years. As they also enter the Promised Land Miriam, Aaron and Moses

both die in the same year. Moses never enters the Promised Land although,

as we shall see later, he

does see it in the distance

from the top of Mount

Nebo. The reason Moses

is denied entry to the

Promised Land is because

he falls out with God. He

does not give the Lord

credit for supplying water

When the Israelites were

very short of this precious

commodity. Moses stood

in front of a rock and struck it twice with his staff and water gushed out. As he

did this Moses said “Listen to me you rebels. Must we get water out of this rock

for you?’

It looked as if Moses was not giving God the credit for the miracle, therefore

he was punished. Next month we see how the Israelites are refused passage

through the land of Edom and we learn the strange story of Balaam’s ass (one

of my favourite Bible stories).