03/30/10

Deuteronomy 31-34

In Deuteronomy 31, Moses tells the Israelites that "I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead you." He tells them that the LORD has told him that he will not cross the Jordan. He then tells that Joshua will lead them and that "your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." Moses wrote down the law and gave it to the priests "and to all the elders of Israel," and told that every seven years during the feast of Tabernacles they should assemble all the people and "read this law before them in their hearing" because "their children, who do not know this law, must hear it and learn to fear the LORD your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess." Moses and Joshua went into the tent of Meeting, and the LORD commissioned Joshua. Then the LORD told Moses that he was "going to rest with [his] fathers" and that the Israelites would "soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering." He taught Moses a song to write down and "teach...to the Israelites and have them sing it so that it may be a witness for me against them." Moses wrote "in a book the words of this law from beginning to end" and gave it to the Levites to carry inside the ark of the covenant.

And in chapter 32, Moses "recited the words of this song from beginning to end." The song praises the Lord, repeatedly calls him "the rock," and condemns the people who have "acted corruptly toward him; to their shame they are no longer his children, but a warped and crooked generation." It is a song of both praise and judgement. Then, that same day, the LORD told Moses to go up to Mount Nebo in Moas and view Canaan, and then he would die and "be gathered to [his] people," just like Aaron died on Mount Hor, because they "broke faith" with God at the waters of Meribah Kadesh.

In chapter 33, Moses blesses the tribes of Israel, each tribe by name. Then, in chapter 34, Moses climbed Mount Nebo, "to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho," and the LORD "showed him the whole land" and told him it was "the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." And Moses died and was buring in the valley "opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is." he was one hundred and twenty years old "yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone." The Israelites grieved for thirty days. And after that, Joshua "was filled with the spirit of wisdom" and the Israelites "listened to him and did what the LORD had commanded Moses."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• Moses's song would fit right in the book of Isaiah or Jeremiah, no questions asked. Parts of it would fit in Psalms, too. There is a common theme running through the Old Testament, and that is how badly the Israelites have strayed from God, no matter what he does for them.
• I've heard it said that the chapters had to be written by someone else, because Moses died, but I don't see any need for change in authorship. The whole Pentateuch is written in third person, and if Moses wrote some of the law specifically himself with his own hand, it seems doubtful that he would have written it all. Surely, there were scribes accessible to him, and whoever put the words down in "the book," they were certainly about Moses and with his cooperation and approval, until the last chapter. But that doesn't mean that there was any scribal change or significant difference in the way the last chapter was recorded. After all, it just says, essentially, "Moses died, the Israelites grieved, Joshua took over."
• Whatever else one wants to say about the relationship between God and the Israelites, one cannot say that they didn't get proper warning. Over and over and over again they were told what to do and what not to do. And over and over and over again they neglected the former and performed the latter.

Psalms 47

A psalm of praise. Unadulterated and exuberant, uninhibited praise of the Lord. The kind of praise we should be giving every day!

Psalm 47
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
1 Clap your hands, all you nations;
shout to God with cries of joy.

2 How awesome is the LORD Most High,
the great King over all the earth!

3 He subdued nations under us,
peoples under our feet.

4 He chose our inheritance for us,
the pride of Jacob, whom he loved.
Selah

5 God has ascended amid shouts of joy,
the LORD amid the sounding of trumpets.

6 Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.

7 For God is the King of all the earth;
sing to him a psalm of praise.

8 God reigns over the nations;
God is seated on his holy throne.

9 The nobles of the nations assemble
as the people of the God of Abraham,
for the kings of the earth belong to God;
he is greatly exalted.

03/23/10

Deuteronomy 17-19

Deuteronomy 17 begins with a reminder that the offerings to the LORD must be without "any defect or flaw," and continues with instructions to stone to death "a man or woman living among you...found doing evil in the eyes of the LORD you God in violation of his covenant," specifically with regard to worshipping other Gods. The punishment is only to be imposed, however, on testimony of more than one witness - "no one shall be put to death on the testimony of only one witness." Moses then discusses the judging of difficult cases, telling the people that if cases come to court which are "too difficult for you to judge," take them to the priests and they will give you the verdict.

He tells them that when they have taken possession of the promised land and say, "Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us," to be certain that the chosen king is the one that God chooses. He must be "from among your brothers." And then he says that the king must not "acquire great numbers of horses for himself...take many wives...[or] accumulate large amounts of silver and gold." The king must "write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law...He is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God."

In chapter 18, Moses reminds the Israelites that the Levites "are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel," and that they "shall live on the offerings made to the LORD by fire, for that is their inheritance." He emphasizes, again, that they are not to "imitate the detestable ways of the nations" whom they are driving out of the promised land. He tells them that though the Canaanite nations "listen to those who practice sorcery or divination" but that the Israelites are not to do so. But the Lord "will raise up for a prophet like me from among your own brothers" and they must listen to him. But a prophet who would speak in God's name without God's word "must be put to death." They would know the truth or falsehood because "if what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken."

Deuteronomy 19 talks about the sanctuary cities, the "cities of refuge," which were first described in Numbers 35. Three of them are on the east side of the Jordan and there are to be three more in the promised land. They exist to offer a place of refuge for one who accidentally, "without malice aforethought," kills his neigbor. If Israel obeys the Lord and prospers, such that their territory is enlarged, they are to add three more. "Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed in your land." And he tells them again that "one witness is not enough to convict a man accused of any crime or offense he may have committed." And if someone perjures himself in order to injure another, the man guilty of perjury should be punished the same way that he tried to have the other man punished. They are told to "show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• Over 200 years ago, our ancestors threw of the yoke of a king, and we feel that monarchy is a bad and outdated idea. The Israelites, however, lived in a time when that was considered to be an acceptable and desirable form of government. This will come up again, as the book of Judges continuously tells us that "everyone did what was right in his own eyes because there was no King." And Moses and the LORD knew that the Israelites would expect and want a king. So there were instructions left for him, and requirements for him.
• I have always tended to think of the Old Testament prophets as ... well, I'm not sure how to say this. Outside of societal norms, I guess. Someone that the average person would look at and tend to ignore. Here, again, we see that the context for those prophets is something that we need to understand. It's actually an official title for the LORD's messengers, and the Israelites know that they'll be coming and that they need to be listened to.
• I have always been a "well, the New Testament is where Christ is so that's the important part" Bible reader. But as I go through these Old Testament books in a more careful (and, hopefully, more thoughtful) way, it seems to me that everything here either points to Jesus or prepares the ground for his arrival. The whole of the law, it seems to me, creates a context in which Jesus can come to earth as a man and perform the act of redemption which enables us to know God, and we would be able to see and understand it. There had to be a sacrificial system for him to fit into. We had to have a context for understanding the "lamb of God." There had to be prophets for us to see that God could talk to man. The Old Testament is the history of the Israelites, but it is preparation for everyone for understanding the ministry and mission of Jesus.

Psalms 43

A psalm of supplication and praise. The psalmist is oppressed and prays God's help ("plead my cause against an ungodly nation; rescue me from deceitful and wicked men") and feels cut off ("Why have you rejected me?"). But still, he has faith in God's will, and that God will help and he will praise God ("Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight.")

Psalm 43

1 Vindicate me, O God,
and plead my cause against an ungodly nation;
rescue me from deceitful and wicked men.

2 You are God my stronghold.
Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?

3 Send forth your light and your truth,
let them guide me;
let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you dwell.

4 Then will I go to the altar of God,
to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the harp,
O God, my God.

5 Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

03/22/10

Deuteronomy 14-16

Chapter 14 of Deuteronomy includes a repeat of the dietary laws from Leviticus chapter 11, which explain that the Israelites "may eat any animal that has a split hoof divided in two and that chews the cud." It also tells them not to "cook a young goat in its mother's milk." Moses also tells them to "set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year" as a tithe for the LORD. He tells them, if the place set aside for the making of offerings is too far away, to convert the offerings to silver and carry that, then convert it again at the other end of the journey. And they are told to bring all of the tithe's and "store it in your towns" every three years, to provide for the Levites "(who have no allotment or inheritance of their own)" and also for the "aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns."

In chapter fifteen, there is a reminder of the obligation to "cancel debts" among fellow Israelites every seven years (Lv 25), as well as admonitions not to abuse that. They are told that a Hebrew who "sells himself to you and serves you six years, in the seventh year you must let him go free." And they are reminded to set apart for the LORD "every firstborn male of your herds and flocks."

Deuteronomy 16 reminds the Israelites of the instructions to celebrate the Passover, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles, as they were told in Leviticus 23. They are also told to appoint judges "for each of your tribes in every town the LORD your God is giving you," and warned, again, not to worship other Gods.

Thoughts, questions, issues

• If I'm not mistaken, Deuteronomy 14:21, "do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk," is the source of the kosher requirements for two sets of dishes, one for meat and another for dairy.
• Three of the Gospels tell the story of Jesus cleaning the money-changers and merchants out of the temple.
  
  

  "It is written," he said to them, " 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a 'den of robbers.' " (Mt 21:13)
  
  And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written: " 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations' ? But you have made it 'a den of robbers.' " (Mk 11:17)
  
  "It is written," he said to them, " 'My house will be a house of prayer' ; but you have made it 'a den of robbers.' " (Lk 19:46)

  
  Many of us, first encountering Jesus' anger in the temple, assume that there's no reason for the "moneychangers" and "those selling doves" to be there in the first place, and therefore, Jesus' anger is prima facie justified. After reading Deuteronomy 14, however, the story makes more sense culturally, but the anger is harder to explain. There must be something behavioral going on beyond the mere fact of the existence and presence of money changers and dove sellers in the temple. That presence is, if not demanded, at least explained and justified in Deuteronomy 14:24-26.
  
  

  If that place [that the LORD orders for the sacrifices] is too distant and you have been blessed by the LORD your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the LORD will choose to put his Name is so far away), then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the LORD your God will choose. Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish...

  
  So those merchants are necessary for Jews traveling too far to bring their sacrifices. Their mere presence should not cause the kind of reaction that Jesus had - there is more going on than that.
• They were certainly told often enough, or more than often enough, not to worship idols and other Gods. It didn't work.

Psalms 42

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God." A wonderful image, and deep down, I believe it's true. But up on top, it's hard. Do we really "pant...as the deer pants for streams of water?" Many of us, I fear, are scared of the commitment that comes from desiring God that way. What if we commit ourselves, our souls "thirst[ing] for God," and then "men say to me all day long, 'Where is your God?'" We fear having to ask, ""Why have you forgotten me?"

Jesus said that "blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled." May it please God to have that be us, all the time, hungering and thirsting for righteousness and for God.

Psalm 42

For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah.
1 As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.

2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?

3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while men say to me all day long,
"Where is your God?"

4 These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go with the multitude,
leading the procession to the house of God,
with shouts of joy and thanksgiving
among the festive throng.

5 Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and 6 my God.
My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.

7 Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.

8 By day the LORD directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.

9 I say to God my Rock,
"Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?"

10 My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
"Where is your God?"

11 Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

03/20/10

Deuteronomy 8-10

Deuteronomy eight is an exhortation from Moses for the Israelites to remember the Lord, to "remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you...as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you." And remembering the Lord means observing his commands, "walking in his ways and revering him." He extols the virtues of the land that has been promised them, and tells them to praise the Lord "when you have eaten and are satisfied," to be careful not to forget. Because "if you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods...you will surely be destroyed."

In chapter nine, Moses warns the Israelites not to attribute God's promises to them to their own righteousness. They are going to drive out the larger nations currently holding Canaan with God's help because of the wickedness of those nations, not the righteousness of the Israelites. He reminds them of the Golden Calf at Mount Horeb, and how "you also made the LORD angry at Taberah, at Massah and at Kibroth Hattaavah," and how, when the Lord sent them out from Kadesh Barnea to take the land, they had rebelled and angered him again. He told them how he has stood between them and the Lord's wrath on many occasions and reminded God that the Israelites are your people, your inheritance that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm."

In chapter ten, he tells them that he chiselled out two tables, like the first ones which he had destroyed, and the LORD wrote on them. And how they made the ark and the tablets with the Ten Commandments lay within. He reminded them how the LORD had set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark and to minister and pronounce blessings in his name. And again, he reminds them to fear the Lord, "to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good." He reminds them that Israel went into Egypt as seventy men "and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• The summary and rehash continues. It's like a valedictory address.
• I don't remember this passage from the last time I read this book:
  
  

  You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." 18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.

  
  There are a lot of people, myself as much as anyone else, who need to remember that.
• That does not, however, give someone else the right to confiscate it.

Psalms 40

A psalm of praise. "I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry...he set my feet on a rock...put a new song in my mouth."

Psalm 40
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.

2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.

3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the LORD.

4 Blessed is the man
who makes the LORD his trust,
who does not look to the proud,
to those who turn aside to false gods.

5 Many, O LORD my God,
are the wonders you have done.
The things you planned for us
no one can recount to you;
were I to speak and tell of them,
they would be too many to declare.

6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but my ears you have pierced;
burnt offerings and sin offerings
you did not require.

7 Then I said, "Here I am, I have come—
it is written about me in the scroll.

8 I desire to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart."

9 I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly;
I do not seal my lips,
as you know, O LORD.

10 I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I speak of your faithfulness and salvation.
I do not conceal your love and your truth
from the great assembly.

11 Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD;
may your love and your truth always protect me.

12 For troubles without number surround me;
my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my heart fails within me.

13 Be pleased, O LORD, to save me;
O LORD, come quickly to help me.

14 May all who seek to take my life
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who desire my ruin
be turned back in disgrace.

15 May those who say to me, "Aha! Aha!"
be appalled at their own shame.

16 But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation always say,
"The LORD be exalted!"

17 Yet I am poor and needy;
may the Lord think of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
O my God, do not delay.

03/19/10

Deuteronomy 5-7

Deuteronomy five continues the summary and review of the law that Moses is giving the Israelites who will take the promised land. It starts with the ten commandments, as previously set forth in Exodus 20, which were then written on stone tablets and given to Moses. He tells them that they "heard the voice out of the darkness" and responded that they would "listen and obey." So they must "walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess." These reminders are followed, in chapter six, with repeated exhortations to "love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." And they were to teach their children about God bringing them out of Egypt, and if they were "careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness."

In chapter seven, Moses tells them that when they take the promised land, and drive out (with God's help) the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, they must utterly destroy those nations, their altars and idols and every remnant of their civilization. "Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD's anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you." He emphasizes the importance of the "commands, decrees and laws I give you today," and stresses that God will bless them if they do that, and punish them if they do not.

Thoughts, questions, issues

• One of things that's interesting in the first seven chapters of Deuteronomy is that the voice being heard is Moses'. We're not getting "the Lord said to Moses" at all, just "Moses said to the Israelites." Now, much of what he's saying is, "remember that the Lord said..." but it's specifically Moses attributing it, and the author attributes to Moses rather than the Lord directly.
• This is, again, a repetition of earlier material. We don't learn, generally, on being told something once, so here God's word is repeated for the Israelites. Moses is not going to cross the Jordan with them, and everyone knows it, and he's the one who has been in direct communication with the Lord. It is important for everyone that he highlight and emphasize the important parts of the message, and repeats it in such a way that they will be able to remember it when he's gone.
• Thus far, there's been no "action," if you will, and no new law or even commentary. This is the summary of the lessons of the forty years in the wilderness.

Psalms 39

Many of the psalms read like proverbs. This reads like a passage from Ecclesiastes. The teacher says many things like "you have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath." And here, the psalmist is aging and, in the words of Dylan Thomas, "rag[ing] against the dying of the light." It's interesting in that this one ends with a plea for God to turn away. There's a strong sense of alienation, and it isn't the joyful or penitent prayer that so many of the psalms are.

Psalm 39
For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of David.
1 I said, "I will watch my ways
and keep my tongue from sin;
I will put a muzzle on my mouth
as long as the wicked are in my presence."

2 But when I was silent and still,
not even saying anything good,
my anguish increased.

3 My heart grew hot within me,
and as I meditated, the fire burned;
then I spoke with my tongue:

4 "Show me, O LORD, my life's end
and the number of my days;
let me know how fleeting is my life.

5 You have made my days a mere handbreadth;
the span of my years is as nothing before you.
Each man's life is but a breath.
Selah

6 Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro:
He bustles about, but only in vain;
he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.

7 "But now, Lord, what do I look for?
My hope is in you.

8 Save me from all my transgressions;
do not make me the scorn of fools.

9 I was silent; I would not open my mouth,
for you are the one who has done this.

10 Remove your scourge from me;
I am overcome by the blow of your hand.

11 You rebuke and discipline men for their sin;
you consume their wealth like a moth—
each man is but a breath.
Selah

12 "Hear my prayer, O LORD,
listen to my cry for help;
be not deaf to my weeping.
For I dwell with you as an alien,
a stranger, as all my fathers were.

13 Look away from me, that I may rejoice again
before I depart and am no more."

03/18/10

Deuteronomy 1-4

The book of Deuteronomy follows Numbers, and opens with the Israelites camped on the east side of the Jordan. Moses "spoke to all Israel in the desert" and for the first three chapters, he reviews with them the events which have followed the Exodus, as they have wandered the desert. In chapter one, he talks about the command to leave Horeb (Num 10), the appointment of leaders among the Israelites to help Moses (Num 11), the spying excursion into Canaan (Num 13) and the rebellion when the people would not go into the promised land (Num 14). Chapter two talks of how they wandered in the desert for thirty-eight years while "that entire generation of fighting men [who rebelled and refused to take the promised land] had perished from the camp," and how they defeated Sihon, the King of Heshbon (Num 21). Chapter three covers the defeat of Og, King of Bashan (Num 21), the division of the land on the east side of the Jordan (Num 32), and of Moses being forbidden to cross the Jordan (Num 20, 27).

Chapter four begins a restatement of the law, starting with admonitions to be obedient to the law of the Lord as he has given it to them. "Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb...He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to follow." Idolatry is forbidden, and if the Israelites "become corrupt and make any kind of idol...you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess." The Lord is God - "acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other." After setting aside three sanctuary cities east of the Jordan, Moses reiterated the "stipulations, decrees and laws Moses gave them when they came out of Egypt."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• "These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the desert..." If I remember correctly (and I'll know for sure in a week and a half), those opening words are an excellent summary of the book.
• The first few chapters are a summary of the things that have happened to the Israelites since they came out of Egypt. No new law is handed down, no new events take place.
• The ways of the LORD are not our ways, and we cannot see all that he sees. How can God allow bad things to happen to good people? "The LORD took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of his inheritance...From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you..." There are no easy answers, and sometimes even the true answers are not comforting.

Psalms 38

The psalmist prays for comfort and help, struggling under a load of guilt. Many of the psalms are martial in nature, with afflictions caused by worldly enemies. This one is penitent, recognizing the wrath which sin has earned.

Psalm 38
A psalm of David. A petition.
1 O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath.

2 For your arrows have pierced me,
and your hand has come down upon me.

3 Because of your wrath there is no health in my body;
my bones have no soundness because of my sin.

4 My guilt has overwhelmed me
like a burden too heavy to bear.

5 My wounds fester and are loathsome
because of my sinful folly.

6 I am bowed down and brought very low;
all day long I go about mourning.

7 My back is filled with searing pain;
there is no health in my body.

8 I am feeble and utterly crushed;
I groan in anguish of heart.

9 All my longings lie open before you, O Lord;
my sighing is not hidden from you.

10 My heart pounds, my strength fails me;
even the light has gone from my eyes.

11 My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds;
my neighbors stay far away.

12 Those who seek my life set their traps,
those who would harm me talk of my ruin;
all day long they plot deception.

13 I am like a deaf man, who cannot hear,
like a mute, who cannot open his mouth;

14 I have become like a man who does not hear,
whose mouth can offer no reply.

15 I wait for you, O LORD;
you will answer, O Lord my God.

16 For I said, "Do not let them gloat
or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips."

17 For I am about to fall,
and my pain is ever with me.

18 I confess my iniquity;
I am troubled by my sin.

19 Many are those who are my vigorous enemies;
those who hate me without reason are numerous.

20 Those who repay my good with evil
slander me when I pursue what is good.

21 O LORD, do not forsake me;
be not far from me, O my God.

22 Come quickly to help me,
O Lord my Savior.

03/05/10

Numbers 31-33

In Numbers 31, the Israelites attack the Midianites. The LORD told Moses to have the Israelites "take vengeance on the Midianites," after which he would "be gathered to your people." So Moses told the people to arm some of their men to go to war. So twelve thousand men, one thousand from each tribe, were supplied and went out to fight, along with Phinehas (son of Eleazar) who took articles from the Sanctuary and the trumpets. They killed every man, including the five kings of Midian, and also killed Balaam. They captured the women and children and gathered all of the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder. When they returned, Moses was angry for them having allowed the women to live, as they were the ones "who followed Balaam's advice" and "were the means of turning the Israelites away from the LORD." He told them to kill all of the boys and women "who have lain with a man" but to save the virgins for themselves. And then they all had to be purified who had killed or touched a dead body. They gave half of the spoils to the men who had fought, and the other half to the rest of the Israelites. Of the soldiers plunder, one five-hundredth went to the priests, and of the rest, one-fiftieth went to the Levites.

In chapter 32, the Reubenites and Gadites, with large flocks, "saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were suitable for livestock." So the told Moses and Eleazar that they would prefer to stay there, but Moses was angry with them, as they were expected to fight with the rest of the tribes to take the land that the LORD had promised them. They said that they would carry arms and participate in the conquest, and Moses agreed that they could, after the conquest, "return and be free from your obligation to the LORD and to Israel. And this land will be your possession before the LORD."

Numbers 33 contains the "travelogue," a list of the places that the Israelites traveled and camped during their forty years in the desert. And the LORD said to Moses to tell the Israelites to "drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places. Take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess... if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• It's rather stunning to see Balaam re-appear here. In his prior appearance, he refused to curse the Israelites for Balak, and did everything the LORD told him. There's no intermediate indication that he did anything wrong, so for them to blame him for Midian's seduction and kill him is more than a little bit surprising.
• The killing of the male children and the non-virgin women is the kind of total war that makes for shocking reading.
• It's easy to look at the Reubenites and Gadites and think, "they are satisfied with what they have - good for them." But it doesn't work that way. There's a covenant, and while GOD's part is to watch over them and deliver the promised land, their part is to follow his laws and take it.
• In the forty years of wandering, the Israelites "camped at" forty-two different places, a little over one per year.

Psalms 28

Again, the psalmist turns to GOD from despair, crying out for mercy from the GOD he praises.

Psalm 28
Of David.
1 To you I call, O LORD my Rock;
do not turn a deaf ear to me.
For if you remain silent,
I will be like those who have gone down to the pit.

2 Hear my cry for mercy
as I call to you for help,
as I lift up my hands
toward your Most Holy Place.

3 Do not drag me away with the wicked,
with those who do evil,
who speak cordially with their neighbors
but harbor malice in their hearts.

4 Repay them for their deeds
and for their evil work;
repay them for what their hands have done
and bring back upon them what they deserve.

5 Since they show no regard for the works of the LORD
and what his hands have done,
he will tear them down
and never build them up again.

6 Praise be to the LORD,
for he has heard my cry for mercy.

7 The LORD is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.
My heart leaps for joy
and I will give thanks to him in song.

8 The LORD is the strength of his people,
a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.

9 Save your people and bless your inheritance;
be their shepherd and carry them forever.

03/03/10

Numbers 25-27

Numbers 25 relates the seduction of Israel by Moab. As they were waiting in Shittim, the men "began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women." This led them into making sacrifices to Baal, to eating and bowing down before and worshiping Baal, "and the LORD's anger burned against them." The LORD said to Moses to take the leaders and kill them, so Moses told Israel's judges to "put to death those of your men" who were worshipping Baal. One of the Israelites (Zimri, son of Salu, a Simeonite) brought a Moab woman "right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel." Phinehas, son of Eleazar (high priest since the death of his father Aaron) took a spear, entered the tent and killed both Zimri and the Moabite woman with one thrust. This stopped the plague spreading through the camp, but 24,000 had already died. The LORD expressed pleasure with Phinehas "for he was as zealous as I am for my honor" and made a covenant of a lasting priesthood with him and his descendants. The LORD told Moses to "treat the Midianites as enemies and kill them" because they had seduced the people of Israel.

In chapter 26, they take another census of the people, finding that the count is essentially unchanged since the exodus, though some tribes have had significant changes. The total count, including the Levites, was 624,730 at the time of the second census. The LORD told Moses that the land was to be allotted to them "based on the number of names," with larger groups getting larger portions and smaller groups smaller portions. The number for the division was 601,730, because the Levites had no inheritance of the land. And there were no men in this census who were also in the first census other than Caleb, Joshua and Moses.

In chapter 27, the daughters of Zelophehad (Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah) of the tribe of Manasseh approached the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and told Moses, Eleazar and the whole assembly that it was not right that their "father's name [should] disappear from his clan because he had no son," and that they should have property among their father's relatives. Moses brought this to the LORD, who agreed and said that they should have property as an inheritance among their father's relatives. And he gave the Israelites the law of inheritance. Then the LORD told Moses to "go up this mountain...and see the land I have given the Israelites." Because of the failure of Moses and Aaron to honor GOD at Meribah Kadesh, Moses was to be "gathered to your people" just as Aaron had been. Moses asked the LORD to appoint a successor "so the LORD's people will not be like sheep without a shepherd." The LORD told him to lay his hands upon Joshua, and Moses did as the LORD had instructed him.

Thoughts, questions, issues

• Obviously, this is not the first time that sex is an issue. Nor will it be the last. It is very possibly the single aspect of our being most easily corrupted and misused.
• The second census:
  

  The Second Census - Numbers 26

  Tribe	Count (2nd census)	Count (first census)	Increase
  Reuben	43,730	46,500	-2,770
  Simeon	22,200	59,300	-37,100
  Gad	40,500	45,650	-5,150
  Judah	76,500	74,600	1,900
  Issachar	64,300	54,400	9,900
  Zebulun	60,500	57,400	3,100
  Joseph (Ephraim)	32,500	40,500	-8,000
  Joseph (Manasseh)	52,700	32,200	20,500
  Benjamin	45,600	35,400	10,200
  Dan	64,400	62,700	1,700
  Asher	53,400	41,500	11,900
  Naphtali	45,400	53,400	-8,000
  Total	601,730	603,550	-1,820
  Levi (Numbers 3)	23,000	22,000	1,000
  Twelve Tribes	624,730	625,550	-820

  • It is not clear exactly how much has elapsed between the first and second censuses. The last specific time reference was much earlier in the book, in chapter 9, when the LORD spoke to Moses "in the first month of the second year" after the exodus. The "wandering" didn't really start until chapter 14, after they balked at entering the promised land following the report of the exploration. Moses is still alive even though he was old when they started. On the other hand,
    

    Not one of them was among those counted by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Desert of Sinai. For the LORD had told those Israelites they would surely die in the desert, and not one of them was left except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

    So some significant amount of time has to have elapsed. Is this the full "40 years" that is traditionally attributed to the wandering in the desert? I don't know, though presumably I'll understand more by the time I get to the end of Deuteronomy.
  • However long it's been, there have been significant population shifts. The most extreme are Simeon, which lost nearly 63% of its population, and Mannasseh, which grew by 63%. On the whole, however, the nation is almost exactly the same size as it was at the foot of Mt. Sinai. At the rate of growth experienced in Egypt, and assuming forty more years, it would have been over 1.8 million people, almost three times the size that it is.
  • Obviously, wandering in the desert isn't the ideal circumstance for having and raising healthy kids. Also, there were several instances in which significant numbers were killed.
    

    Numbers 11:1 - "Then fire from the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp."
    Numbers 11:33 - "the anger of the LORD burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague."
    Numbers 14:45 - "Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah."
    Numbers 16:32 - "and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all Korah's men and all their possessions"
    Numbers 16:35 - "And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense."
    Numbers 16:49 - "But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah."
    Numbers 21:6 - "Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died."
    Numbers 25:9 - "but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000"

    The enumerated casualties (24,000 + 14,700 + 250) equal 38,950, a miniscule portion of the missing 1.2 million, even if the casualties had all been incurred on the first day. But there were many more dead who were not enumerated, and doubtless other instances of mass casualties which aren't mentioned.
  • One can easily understand the LORD's anger with the constant complaining and questioning of the Israelites. But this missing population is interesting, too. Clearly, the population did not grow while wandering the desert. After a survivor birth rate of ~3.4 while in Egypt, the years of wandering produced a survivor birth rate at just about replacement level (~2). It was clearly a hard living, even under the care and protection of GOD.


• Moses is going to die without entering the promised land. Is it kindness or torment to be allowed to see it? One could read it as the latter, as an additional punishment, but I think it's more likely that the former is correct. GOD's saying to Moses, "I've told you that you can't go in, but you can see what you're work has achieved for my people."

Psalms 26

I've written before of the difference in the Christian and Jewish outlook towards judgement, and we see those differences as being very apparent in the psalms. Here, again, the psalmist is claiming GOD's mercy as his due, as something that he has earned.

Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have led a blameless life...I abhor the assembly of evildoers and refuse to sit with the wicked...Do not take away my soul along with sinners...I lead a blameless life...in the great assembly I will praise the LORD.

We pray the psalms, as they are prayers of historic significance, which men through the ages have recognized as great. But this is not a Christian prayer...

Psalm 26

1 Vindicate me, O LORD,
for I have led a blameless life;
I have trusted in the LORD
without wavering.

2 Test me, O LORD, and try me,
examine my heart and my mind;

3 for your love is ever before me,
and I walk continually in your truth.

4 I do not sit with deceitful men,
nor do I consort with hypocrites;

5 I abhor the assembly of evildoers
and refuse to sit with the wicked.

6 I wash my hands in innocence,
and go about your altar, O LORD,

7 proclaiming aloud your praise
and telling of all your wonderful deeds.

8 I love the house where you live, O LORD,
the place where your glory dwells.

9 Do not take away my soul along with sinners,
my life with bloodthirsty men,

10 in whose hands are wicked schemes,
whose right hands are full of bribes.

11 But I lead a blameless life;
redeem me and be merciful to me.

12 My feet stand on level ground;
in the great assembly I will praise the LORD.

03/01/10

Numbers 18-21

In chapter 18, the LORD spoke to Aaron, and told him that he and his sons "and your father's family" will bear the responsibility for any offenses against the sanctuary, and that he and his sons will bear responsibility for any offenses against the priesthood. The other Levites have been given to do the work of the Tent of Meeting, but only he and his sons may serve as priests at the altar and inside the curtain - anyone else would be put to death. With their burdens and responsibilities, they will also be supported by the offerings of the people. He and his sons are to have "\the part of the most holy offerings that is kept from the fire." The LORD gives them that as their portion. That also means that they "will have no inheritance in their land...I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites." They are to have "all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance."

Numbers 19 describes the water of cleansing. A red heifer "without defect or blemish" is to be sacrificed and burned, with cedar, hyssop and scarlet wool tossed on while its burning. The ashes are to be gathered by someone clean and put in a ceremonially clean place outside camp. The ashes, placed in a clean jar with clean water forms the water of cleansing, which can be used to clean unclean people and things.

In chapter 20, Miriam dies and is buried at Kadesh. Then the company grumbles against Moses and Aaron again, because there is no water. Moses and Aaron "fell facedown" in the Tent of Meeting, and "the glory of the LORD appeard to them." He told Moses to gather the assembly and to speak to a rock, and "it will pour out its water." So Moses speaks to the assembly, calls them rebels, and strikes the rock with his staff, and water gushes out. But the LORD was angered with Moses "because you did not trust in me enought to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites," and he told him that he would not lead the people in to the promised land.

Moses sent messages to the king of Edom, telling him about the promises the LORD had made and how he had brought them out of Egypt, and asked permission to pass through Edom. But the Edomites refused and threatened to attack them if they tried. The Israelites sent back word that they would stay on the main road, and take nothing, not even grass or water, but again the Edom said no, and "came out against them with a large and powerful army." So Israel turned away.

After that they left Kadesh and came to Mount Hor, where the LORD told Moses and Aaron that "Aaron will be gathered to his people." At the LORD's command, they went up Mount Hor with Eleazar and transferred the priestly garments on to him, and then Aaron died on top of the mountain. The whole of Israel mourned for 30 days.

Numbers 21 starts with a story of the Canaanite king of Arad capturing some Israelites as they traveled the road to Atharim. Israel pledged to GOD that if he would "deliver these people into our hands, we will totally destroy their cities." The LORD heard, and gave the Canaanites over to them and they destroyed the cities.

But, as they traveled the Red Sea route around Edom, they again grew miserable and grumbled against Moses and against the LORD. The LORD sent venomous snakes among them and many died, but Moses prayed, and the LORD told him to "make a snake and put it on a pole." Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole, and anyone who was bitten could look at the bronze snake and live. They continued on towards Moab, and the book describes places along the way. It also references another book, apparently now lost, called the "Book of the Wars of the LORD."

As they had done with Edom, the Israelites sent a message to Sihon, king of the Amorites, that they would take nothing if allowed to pass through, but, also like the Edomites, Sihon refused. He mustered his army and marched out to attack. The Israelites won, and "took over his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, but only as far as the Ammonites." They captured all of the cities of the Amorites and occupied them. Moses then sent spies to Jazer and captured its settlements and "drove out the Amorites who were there." They then turned towards Bashan, and Og, kind of Bashan, marched to meet them with his entire army. The LORD told Moses that "I have handed him over to you," and they struck him down and his whole army, "leaving them no survivors," and "took possession of his land."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• Among a nation set apart from other nations, the descendants of Aaron are set apart yet again, as a priesthood among the nation of priests. That seems a heavy burden.
• Ps 51:7 - "Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow."
  
  I've recited that many times, as we read the 51st psalms as a prayer of confession before the Lord's Supper at Park Street. But I never understood the context for it. Now I do. It's a reference to Numbers 19 and the water of purification. The ashes from the purification offering, with clean water, are sprinkled using hyssop. And there was hyssop burned as part of the purification offering. The ritual was to be performed to make the unclean clean. So this is a prayer for ritualistic cleansing as the LORD commands.
• It's difficult to be sure what, exactly, Moses did that angered GOD at Meribah. My best guess reading is that Moses said "must we bring you water out of this rock" rather than "must the LORD bring water out of this rock" but I don't know that for sure. I may be misreading. If that's it, again, it seems harsh to treat Moses that way after the service he's given (albeit, not without some grumbling of his own along the way.) Maybe that's part of the lesson. "With GOD all things are possible" and failing to acknowledge the work of the LORD is a sin. And all sin, and fall short, and are in danger of judgement. If Moses can be kept out of the promised land for mis-speaking at this point and in this way, how could any of us possibly think we've "earned" our way in to heaven?
• Aaron's death seems...unseemly. I guess that it makes sense, if dead bodies are unclean, that you don't want him dying in the priestly garments, but the passage reads cold. Aaron also gave good service to the LORD.
  
  But again, all sin, all fall short. Even Aaron, even Moses.
• As some point, you assume that you're going to stop reading things like this:
  

  They quarreled with Moses and said, "If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD! Why did you bring the LORD's community into this desert, that we and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place?

  But no. No amount of convincing seems to work. Here, in chapter 20, complaining about their conditions.
  
  And here again in chapter 21:
  

  ...they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!"

  It's understandable why the LORD was angered against them.
• Yes, GOD told them to make the bronze snake while they made the golden calf on their own, but that strikes me as dangerously close to idol worship. And it's definitely the kind of thing that leads to idol worship - "hey, that bronze snake can protect you from snake bites!"
• It seems likely that Numbers 21 marks the actual start of the conquest of Canaan, which is predominantly documented in the book of Joshua.

Psalms 24

Another psalm of praise, of acknowledgment of the LORD and the debts we all owe to him. "The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it..." But again, we see the Jewish perspective of ritualistic cleansing, of following the law, as preparing a man to "ascend the hill of the LORD." The Christian perspective is that none of us can ever prepare to ascend that hill on our own, that no amount of works or cleansing can enable a man to follow the law well enough to earn that. Only Jesus could ascend that hill, and we can only do it in him.

One of Handel's wonderful Messiah choruses is the last four verses of this psalm.

Psalm 24
Of David. A psalm.
1 The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;

2 for he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the waters.

3 Who may ascend the hill of the LORD ?
Who may stand in his holy place?

4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol
or swear by what is false. [a]

5 He will receive blessing from the LORD
and vindication from God his Savior.

6 Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek your face, O God of Jacob. [b]
Selah

7 Lift up your heads, O you gates;
be lifted up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.

8 Who is this King of glory?
The LORD strong and mighty,
the LORD mighty in battle.

9 Lift up your heads, O you gates;
lift them up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.

10 Who is he, this King of glory?
The LORD Almighty—
he is the King of glory.
Selah

02/27/10

Numbers 1-3

In the first part of Numbers 15, the LORD conveys to the Israelites, through Moses, information about some further detail on some offerings, including the kind of grain and drink offerings to give with various animal sacrifices. He tells them that the rules apply both to native born and aliens, "a lasting ordinance for the generations to come." And he told them again that the offerings to the LORD should come "from the first of your ground meal." These rules are followed with more rules for offerings for unintentional sins. "But anyone who sins defiantly...must be cut off from his people. Because he has despised the LORD's word and broken his commands...his guilt remains on him." The chapter ends with instructions from the LORD that they are to wear tassels on the corners of their garments, to remind them of the commands of the LORD.

Between the offering commands and the instructions to wear tassels, however, there's a story of a man "found gathering wood on the Sabbath day." They put him in to custody, unsure of what to do with him. The LORD said to Moses that the whole camp should stone him, so they put him to death.

Chapter 16 relates the story of a revolt against the leadership of Moses and Aaron, led by three Israelites named Korah, who was himself a Levite, and Dathan and Abiram of the tribe of Reuben. They denounced the way in which Moses and Aaron appeared to claim more holiness than the rest of the community. Dathan and Abiram also denounced Moses for having brought them out of a land of mil and honey "to kill us in the desert." Moses "fell facedown," and told them to put fire and incense in their censers the next morning, and that the man the LORD chooses "will be the one that is holy."

They gathered at the Tent of Meeting, and the LORD wanted to separate Moses and Aaron and then kill the whole assembly, but Moses and Aaron prayed that he not. So he told them to tell the assembly to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Moses told everyone that they would know that the LORD had not sent him "if these men die a natural death and experience only what usually happens to men" but if the ground swallowed them, "then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt." The ground split open and Korah, Dathan and Abiram, with their tents and households and possessions, were "swallowed up" and the the ground closed over them. Then the people fled, fearing that they would also be swallowed up, and the fire of the LORD consumed the 250 men who had joined the leaders and were offering incense. The LORD told Moses to have Aaron's son Eleazar take the censers out of the remains and hammer them into sheets to overlay the altar. "This was to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense before the LORD." The next day, the grumbling continued, now against Moses and Aaron for having "killed the LORD's people." So the LORD sent a plague among them. Aaron offered incense and made atonement for them, and stopped the plague, but 14,700 people had died.

In chapter 17, the LORD told Moses to gather twelve staffs from the Israelites, one from each of the tribes, including Aaron's, and to put them in the Tent of Meeting, where he would make one of them bud. So they did this, and the next day, entering the Tent of Meeting, saw that Aaron's staff, representing the house of Levi, "had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds." So they kept Aaron's staff in the Tent of Meeting, but the people said to Moses, "We will die! We are lost, we are all lost! Anyone who even comes near the tabernacle of the LORD will die. Are we all going to die?"

Thoughts, questions, issues

• There will always be a challenge to leadership. In the case of the Israelites, the younger generation, led by three men, revolted against the leadership of Moses and the elders.
• There are passages in the Bible that make it very hard to worship GOD. This section of Numbers is one of them, as GOD comes across as petty, vengeful and almost sadistic. Does gathering wood on the Sabbath really warrant public stoning? Even if a man challenges the leadership of Moses, does that justify his wife and children and servants being buried alive? The responses to the provocation seem all out of proportion to those provocations.
  
  How are we to understand these stories? What can we read out of them of relevance to us today?

Psalms 20

If there's a better-known piece of scripture than the 23rd Psalm, I don't know what it is. I would guess that, of all the people in the world that know one Psalm by heart, the vast majority know this one. It's certainly the piece of scripture that I know best, and the prayer that I tend to pray in any times of strife and stress. "The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want."

I've used the NIV most of the time during this project, but I love the KJV Psalm 23. That's the one that I know and pray.

I've sung at least four different settings of this text, possibly as many as seven.

1The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

02/26/10

Numbers 10-14

Chapter 11 relates how the Israelites, almost immediately upon leaving Mount Sinai, demonstrated ingratitude towards the LORD again. They "complained about their hardships" and the LORD was angered and sent fire among the outskirts of the camp which consumed some of them. They cried out to Moses, who prayed and the fire stopped.

"And again the Israelites started wailing," complaining that they had no meat and were tired of the manna. The LORD got "exceedingly angry" but Moses was troubled, asking the LORD why he had to deal with all of the burdens of the Israelites. The LORD had him gather seventy elders "who are known to you as leaders" and he put the spirit on them to help carry the burdens. Two of the elders, Eldad and Medad, did not join them, but the spirit "also rested on them." When Joshua heard them prophesy, he encouraged Moses to stop them, but Moses was pleased to have more of the people with the spirit. Then the LORD sent a wind which drove quail in from the sea, three feet deep around the camp in all directions. The people gathered and ate, but the LORD was angry with them and "struck them with a severe plague." From there, which they named Kibroth Hattaavah, they traveled to Hazeroth.

In chapter 12, Miriam and Aaron began to speak against Moses because he had married a Cushite. The LORD spoke to all three to come to the Tent of Meeting, then he "came down in a pillar of cloud." He told them that he normally communicated with prophets through dreams and visions but with Moses he speaks face to face, and wonders why they aren't afraid to speak against him. When the cloud lifted, Miriam was leprous, like snow, but Moses cried out to the LORD to heal her. She was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until she came back. They then left Hazeroth and encamped in the Desert of Paran.

In Numbers 13, the Israelites near the promised land, and Moses, at the LORD's command, sent one man from each tribe into Canaan on a scouting mission, to find out about the land and its inhabitants. They went and explored, and brought back grapes and pomegranates and figs, returning after forty days. They reported that the land was flowing with milk and honey but that the people living their were giants, and too strong to attack.

Again, in chapter 14, the people of Israel rebelled against the leadership of Moses, fearing destruction if they tried to enter the promised land, and telling one another that they should choose a leader and go back to Egypt. Joshua and Caleb, from among those who had explored Canaan said that the land was good and the LORD would give it to them, but the people talked about stoning them. The LORD came down and threatened to destroy the people and make a new nation out of Moses, but Moses, arguing in part that the Egyptions would scoff, talked him out of it. The LORD forgave the people, but decreed that none of those who had come out of Egypt and then disobeyed in the desert would enter the promised land, except for Caleb and Joshua. The rest would stay in the desert, their children being shepherds, for forty years, and "in this desert your bodies will fall." The men who had explored Canaan and returned a bad report were struck down by a plague and died - of the men that explored, only Caleb and Joshua survived. When Moses told the LORD's decree to the people, they "mourned bitterly" and acknowledged their sin. Then they determined that they would go up to the promised land, but Moses told them that they were disobeying again and couldn't succeed. They started towards the hill country, "then the Amalekites and Canaanites...came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah.

Thoughts, questions, issues

• It must be unpleasant to wander in the desert. It would tiresome to eat the same thing every day. When we don't have meat, we want meat. But. For the Israelites of all people, having seen what they had seen, being rescued from captivity, to show so little faith seems astounding.
• Seems. If we stop and examine ourselves, truthfully, it is not, perhaps, as astounding as it seems. Which of us does not quickly become accustomed to good things, to the point of taking them for granted? Which of does not resent an injury, or even an inconvenience, not matter how small? It's part of the sinful nature of humanity.
  
  God wanted to set Israel apart as an example for other nations. Reading this book, would anyone argue that they aren't?
• What is the lesson of the story of Eldad and Medad? Is it that GOD will bestow his blessings where he will, and we need to recognize and accept them? Is it simply to reinforce the description of Moses as "more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth"?
• Certainly, part of the lesson that one can take from is that there is no indispensible man. GOD uses Moses, but he can use others among the Israelites, and will.
• The Israelites have provoked GOD, and pay the price. Some are killed by fire, others by plague, and, when Moses argues against the destruction of the people, all those who came out of Egypt but disobeyed are prevented from entering the promised land.
• Human nature has not changed in the last 3000 years. How many times have we resisted something that was asked of us, or ignored it, only to do it defiantly after it was too late or we were told not to? Some of the Israelites did that, only to find, again, that their plans did not work if the were not obeying the LORD's word.

Psalms 22:12-31

I noted the despair in the first half of this prayer yesterday. It continues. This whole psalm is a cry of despair, a cry to the LORD from the depths. The psalmist is surrounded by bulls, dogs, roaring Lions, evil men. Yet in the end, faith remains, trust in the LORD.

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations.

In his pain, the way out, the comfort and strength, is the LORD, the promises of the LORD and the righteousness of the LORD.

In this psalm, many see the clearest foreshadowing of the crucifixion in the Old Testament.

I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me...my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death...a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet...They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.

Psalm 22 is a yearly reading during Holy Week services.

12 Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.

13 Roaring lions tearing their prey
open their mouths wide against me.

14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted away within me.

15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.

16 Dogs have surrounded me;
a band of evil men has encircled me,
they have pierced my hands and my feet.

17 I can count all my bones;
people stare and gloat over me.

18 They divide my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing.

19 But you, O LORD, be not far off;
O my Strength, come quickly to help me.

20 Deliver my life from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dogs.

21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

22 I will declare your name to my brothers;
in the congregation I will praise you.

23 You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!

24 For he has not despised or disdained
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.

25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you will I fulfill my vows.

26 The poor will eat and be satisfied;
they who seek the LORD will praise him—
may your hearts live forever!

27 All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,

28 for dominion belongs to the LORD
and he rules over the nations.

29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
those who cannot keep themselves alive.

30 Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.

31 They will proclaim his righteousness
to a people yet unborn—
for he has done it.

02/25/10

Numbers 8-10

The first verses in Numbers 8 tell how Aaron set up the lamps to light the area in front of the lampstand as the LORD commanded. The rest of the chapter describes the purification of the Levites. They were taken from among the other Israelites and made ceremonially clean by washing, shaving "their whole bodies" and washing their clothes. They performed a grain offering and a sin offering, and gathered the whole Israelite community to lay hands upon the Levites. After the burnt offerings, the Levites were presented as a wave offering to the LORD, set apart from the other Israelites. The LORD said that the Levites were to perform their duties in the Tent of Meeting from age 26 to age 50.

In chapter nine, the LORD tells Moses to have the Israelites celebrate the passover. Moses told the Israelites this, but some were unable to celebrate due to ceremonial uncleanness because of a dead body. They asked what they should do, and Moses told them to wait until he could find out the LORD's command. The LORD instructs them that one who his traveling or unclean may still partake of the passover meal but one is who is not traveling and is clean who does not partake must be cut off.

The LORD's presence rested in the cloud above the tabernacle. When it stayed, the Israelites stayed. When the cloud lifted from the tent of meeting, the Israelites traveled. "Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out."

In chapter ten, the LORD tells Moses to make two silver trumpets, which are to be used for signalling to the camp when it is time for the leaders to meet and when it is time for the camp to move out. And he tells them to blow the horns when they are in battle in their own land, and "you will be remembered by the LORD your God and rescued from your enemies."

Finally, the LORD deemed that they were ready to move on from Sinai, and on the 20th day of the 2nd month of the 2nd year, "the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle of the Testimony." They left the camp, Judah leading the way, followed by Issachar and Zebulun. The tabernacle was carried by the Gershonite and Merarites next. These were followed by Reuben, Simeon and Gad, before the Kohathites came, carrying the holy things. ("The tabernacle was to be set up before they arrived.") Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin were next, with Dan, Asher and Naphtali as the rearguard.

Moses told Hobab, son of Reuel the Midianite (who was Moses' father-in-law) that they were leaving and encouraged him to come with them. When he said that he was going to return to his own land and his own people, Moses pleaded with him to come, because he knew the desert and could "be our eyes," and told him that they would share with him "whatever good things the LORD gives us." They set out from Sinai ("the mountain of the LORD") with the ark of the covenant going before them and the cloud of the LORD over them. And the chapter closes the ritualistic prayers that Moses would give whenever the ark set out or came to rest.

Thoughts, questions, issues

• One of the striking aspects of the book of Numbers is how mundane much of it is. It has a kind of dry weight of authenticity, in that the vast majority of it, at least thus far, is material that there's absolutely no reason to invent. There are those who contend that the exodus and the conquest never happened, but it's hard to see a good reason that this book would be a late invention.
• Numbers 9:8 is shocking for those of us who have never heard the voice of GOD directly. A procedural question arises, and Moses' response is, "I don't know - let me ask GOD." And GOD answers him. Directly and, apparently, immediately. Which of us hasn't dreamed of having that resource for our questions? For us, our questions tend to get asked and the answers come, when they do, in very indirect and open-to-interpretation ways, if they come at all. It's hard to imagine having that kind of pipeline to the creator of the universe.
• The question arises, again, of how the people of Israel could ever turn away after witnessing GOD's presence the way that they have.

• When you go into battle in your own land against an enemy who is oppressing you, sound a blast on the trumpets. Then you will be remembered by the LORD your God and rescued from your enemies

  There's a passage that I'd completely forgotten about. And so I've read the Chronicles of Narnia many times, and never realized that Susan's horn is yet one more piece of theology that Lewis "smuggled in."
• The story of Hobab is interesting in that he does not say what he decided. We are left to imply that he came, but it doesn't actually say that. What I don't know, as I'm writing this, is whether or not it becomes obvious later. If Hobab plays a prominent role later in the book of Numbers or in Deuteronomy, then this quesion will be answered. But right now, I have it.

Psalms 22

Psalm 22 starts with a cry of despair, a cry that Jesus echoed from the cross. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" I think it's a cry which we can all understand. Even if never the depth of the pain and suffering that Jesus took for us, or that the psalmist felt, we've all had times when we felt distant or disconnected or "forsaken" by GOD.

As an aside, one of my favorite Messiah choruses is from this passage, "He trusted in GOD that he would deliver him." But there's almost never a chance to sing it unless you're doing the whole oratorio. It has a fabulous bass line, but doesn't really lend itself to a stand-alone performance - there's too much context needed.

Psalm 22
For the director of music. To the tune of "The Doe of the Morning." A psalm of David.
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from the words of my groaning?

2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, and am not silent.

3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the praise of Israel.

4 In you our fathers put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.

5 They cried to you and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not disappointed.

6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by men and despised by the people.

7 All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads:

8 "He trusts in the LORD;
let the LORD rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him."

9 Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you
even at my mother's breast.

10 From birth I was cast upon you;
from my mother's womb you have been my God.

11 Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.

02/23/10

Numbers 1-3

The book of Numbers begins on the first day of the second month of the second year after the exodus from Egypyt, and the LORD told Moses to take a census of the Israelites. Chapter one lists the numbers of "men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army" for each of the twelve tribes of Israel, with the exception of the Levites, who are set aside to serve as priests. There were twelve "tribes" enumerated, however, as the descendants of Joseph's sons Ephraim and Manasseh were listed seperately. The Levites were given instructions to maintain the Tabernacle, to take it down and set it up and carry and care for it. And "the Israelites did all this just as the LORD commanded Moses."

Chapter two discusses the arrangement of the tribal camps, with each tribe having a specified spot to occupy. To the east, Judah, Issachar and Zebulum; to the south, Reuben, Simeon and Gad; to the west, Ephraim and Manasseh, and Benjamin; and to the north, Dan, Asher and Naphtali. The Levites were to set up in the middle with the Tent of Meeting.

In chapter three, the census is taken of the Levites, including Aaron and Moses and their families. Aaron had four sons, two of whom, Nadab and Abihu, died in the Tabernacle as we saw in Leviticus chapter 10, without sons. The rest of the Levites were given to Aaron to assist him in the priestly duties, "doing the workd of the tabernacle." The LORD said that he was taking the Levites "in place of the first male offspring of every Israelite woman...for all the firstborn are mine." The rest of the chapter contains the Levite census, 22,000 men at least one month old, as well as the specific duties of the various sub-tribes out of the Levites. But there were 22,273 first-born in the people of Israel, and the LORD instructed Moses to collect five shekels for each of the 273 by which the number of first-born exceeded the number of Levites. "Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and his sons, as he was commanded by the word of the LORD."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• This section is strictly historical data. There is no action, no teaching and no giving of law. There's simply a census and enumeration of the tribes of Israel.
• The largest tribe was Judah. The second largest was Joseph, 72,700 combined. The smallest number listed is Manasseh at 32,200, but that only represents half of the tribe of Joseph. The smallest tribe was Benjamin.
  
  

  The Census - Numbers 1

  Tribe	Count
  Reuben	46,500
  Simeon	59,300
  Gad	45,650
  Judah	74,600
  Issachar	54,400
  Zebulun	57,400
  Joseph (Ephraim)	40,500
  Joseph (Manasseh)	32,200
  Benjamin	35,400
  Dan	62,700
  Asher	41,500
  Naphtali	53,400
  Total	603,550
  Levi (Numbers 3)	22,000
  Twelve Tribes	625,550

  
  


• The size of each tribe is consistent in chapter one and chapter two. The total number, including the Levites, is 625,000, which is consistent with the 600,000 of the exodus, and reasonable for 430 years descent from 69 or 70, as I discussed earlier.

Psalms 20

A short prayer, in which the psalmist asks for the LORD's answer when the reader is in distress. The dedication is "for the director of music," but was this intended for a specific person? Is this a prayer or song written for the uplift or encouragement of a specific person, or a person having a specific title, or is it mislabeled? Whoever it was intended for, it is a prayer for Godly assistance in times of trouble, and praise for the LORD who is known to provide help.

For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 May the LORD answer you when you are in distress;
may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.

2 May he send you help from the sanctuary
and grant you support from Zion.

3 May he remember all your sacrifices
and accept your burnt offerings.
Selah

4 May he give you the desire of your heart
and make all your plans succeed.

5 We will shout for joy when you are victorious
and will lift up our banners in the name of our God.
May the LORD grant all your requests.

6 Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed;
he answers him from his holy heaven
with the saving power of his right hand.

7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

8 They are brought to their knees and fall,
but we rise up and stand firm.

9 O LORD, save the king!
Answer us when we call!

02/18/10

Hebrews 1-4

The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews starts his letter by talking of the way that GOD spoke to the prophets in the past, but that now he spoke through his son, "appointed heir of all things...as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs." And he makes the point by identifying many scriptural references which identify and speak of Jesus in a way that no one would speak of the angels.

In chapter two, he notes that this places an obligation on us to "pay more careful attention...so that we do not drift away...How shall we escape if we ignore sucha great salvation?" The quotations continue, including the lovely passage from the 8th psalm, "what is man that you are mindful of him?" And he emphasizes the sovereignty of Jesus, as "GOD left nothing that is not subject to him." And he makes clear the understanding of Jesus as savior - "he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone." But he also emphasizes the humanity of Jesus. He was not only fully GOD, he was fully man, and shared humanity to "destroy him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil..."

Chapter three begins with a mention of Jesus being greater than Moses. And again, he quotes the psalms (95) in warning against unbelief. "See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God." He encourages his readers to encourage one another every day, and not to let them be "hardened by sin's deceitfullness." And he reminds them of the way that those led out of Egypt still rebelled in the desert and incurred the LORD's wrath for forty years, and were not able to enter the promised land "because of their unbelief."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• It was thought by some that Hebrews is a Pauline epistle but most scholars agree now that it is not. There are schools of thought suggesting Barnabas or Silas, among others, but no one knows for sure. Except one - as Origen said, "Yahweh only knows."
• As with the authorship, the time and place of its writing are also unknown. It is, therefore, not clear under what circumstances the epistle was penned. The target audience is clear, however, as the frequent Old Testament references make it clear that it was aimed at scripture-reading Jews.
• The angels are, as we are, creatures, made (created) and not begotten.
• It is hard for us, but it was hard for them, too. Even the disciples, the ones that were with Jesus and saw with their own eyes the miracles, had difficulty in following his instructions. How much harder is it for us 2000 years removed? That's one of the hardest transitions of Christian faith, in my opinion. It's one thing to believe, on an intellectual level, that Jesus came and died on the cross for our sins. It's another thing entirely to actually live as if we believe it.
• Not that there is any question, but the reference to Moses is one of the items that makes the target audience clear. For the Jews, Moses was the great prophet, and to tell them that Jesus was greater than Moses is to make a strong statement, a statement that would be weak or meaningless to a gentile, a Roman or a Greek.
• There are fourteen Old Testament references in those three chapters, mostly from Psalms, but also from 2 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, Deuteronomy and Isaiah.

Psalms 17

The psalmist cries out for salvation, or for justice. But the most striking things about this psalm to a Christian is the way that the psalmist justifies himself before God - he calls his plea "righteous," saying that "it does not rise from deceitful lips...My steps have held to your paths; my feet have not slipped." This is a psalm that is uncomfortable coming from Christian lips. We are more familiar and comfortable with Psalm 51 ("against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. ") The psalmist is asking for justice, where we rightly fear it.

Psalm 17
A prayer of David.
1 Hear, O LORD, my righteous plea;
listen to my cry.
Give ear to my prayer—
it does not rise from deceitful lips.

2 May my vindication come from you;
may your eyes see what is right.

3 Though you probe my heart and examine me at night,
though you test me, you will find nothing;
I have resolved that my mouth will not sin.

4 As for the deeds of men—
by the word of your lips
I have kept myself
from the ways of the violent.

5 My steps have held to your paths;
my feet have not slipped.

6 I call on you, O God, for you will answer me;
give ear to me and hear my prayer.

7 Show the wonder of your great love,
you who save by your right hand
those who take refuge in you from their foes.

8 Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings

9 from the wicked who assail me,
from my mortal enemies who surround me.

10 They close up their callous hearts,
and their mouths speak with arrogance.

11 They have tracked me down, they now surround me,
with eyes alert, to throw me to the ground.

12 They are like a lion hungry for prey,
like a great lion crouching in cover.

13 Rise up, O LORD, confront them, bring them down;
rescue me from the wicked by your sword.

14 O LORD, by your hand save me from such men,
from men of this world whose reward is in this life.
You still the hunger of those you cherish;
their sons have plenty,
and they store up wealth for their children.

15 And I—in righteousness I will see your face;
when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.

02/16/10

Leviticus 22-24

In chapter 22, the LORD emphasizes the importance of proper handling of the sacred offerings by the priests "so they will not profane my holy name." The priests must be clean, and if any condition of uncleanness occurs, they must be cleansed before handling the sacrifices. "The priests are to keep my requirements so that they do not become guilty and die for treating them with contempt. I am the LORD, who makes them holy." He also reiterates the instructions regarding the sacrifices - they are to be "without blemish."

in chapter 23, the LORD repeats the instructions for the appointed feasts. The sabbath is "a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work." The Passover, the festival of the First Fruits, the Feast of Weeks, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of Tabernacles are all mentioned with times and rituals.

Leviticus 24 features the first narrative of any kind since the deaths of Nadab and Abihu in chapter 10. First, the LORD commands the Israelites to bring clear olive oil for the lamps and tells them that Aaron is to tend the lamps continually in the Tent of Meeting. Then, in verse 10, a son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father got into a fight with an Israelite and "blasphemed the Name with a curse." They put him in custody "until the will of the LORD should be made clear to them." The LORD told Moses to take him outside the camp, and that the entire assembly should stone him, "anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death." He reiterates the principle of justice, "eye for eye, tooth for tooth." And the Israelites took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him, as the LORD had commanded.

Thoughts, questions, issues

• For the vast majority of the book of Leviticus, nothing happens. The stoning of the blasphemer is the first narrative of any kind since the deaths of Nadab and Abihu in chapter 10, and is really only the second piece of narrative in the book. It's a book of law, and that's it, at least through the first 24 chapters.
• It's interesting to get the stoning of the blasphemer at the same time as the reminder to let the punishment fit the crime. It's hard to get into the mind-set where death is an appropriate punishment for blasphemy.

Psalms 15

The psalmist reflects, briefly, on the good things that come to he "whose walk is blameless."

Psalm 15
A psalm of David.
1 LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may live on your holy hill?

2 He whose walk is blameless
and who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from his heart

3 and has no slander on his tongue,
who does his neighbor no wrong
and casts no slur on his fellowman,

4 who despises a vile man
but honors those who fear the LORD,
who keeps his oath
even when it hurts,

5 who lends his money without usury
and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things
will never be shaken.

02/11/10

Leviticus 9-11

In chapter nine, Moses summoned Aaron and his sons and his elders, "on the eighth day." They gathered to begin the priestly ministry of Aaron and his family. Aaron offered a calf as a sin offering from himself and a lamb as a burnt offering. He then sacrificed a goat as a sin offering for the people. He offered hte burnt offering and the grain offering. He then sacrificed an ox and a ram as a fellowship offering for the people, then he turned and lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them. Moses and Aaron entered the tent and blessed the people when they came out. And the glory of the LORD appeared, and fire came out and consumed the offerings on the altar, and the people prostrated themselves.

Chapter ten opens with Nadab and Abihu, two of Aaron's sons, offering unauthorized fire before the LORD, and fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them. Moses told Aaron that the LORD had warned people not to approach him in an unworthy fashion. He then called two of Aaron's cousins and had them remove the dead bodies outside the camp. He then warned Aaron and his other two sons Eleazar and Ithamar to maintain a calm demeanor "or you will die and the LORD will be angry with the whole community." And he told them that they couldn't leave the entrance to the Tent of Meeting because they had the anointing oil on them. Then the LORD gave Aaron and his sons more instructions, including that they were not to drink when they went to the Tent of Meeting. "This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean, 11 and you must teach the Israelites all the decrees the LORD has given them through Moses."

Moses told Aaron and his sons to take the grain offering left over and eat it "in a holy place, because it is your share." When he asked after the goat from the sin offering and discovered that it had been burnt up, he was angry, but Aaron asked, "Would the LORD have been pleased if I had eaten the sin offering today?" That appeased Moses.

In chapter 11, the LORD began to lay out the dietary laws to Moses and Aaron.

Thoughts, questions, issues

• Chapter 9 starts "on the eighth day," but eighth day of what, I don't know. I've lost track of what the timeline is, and am unsure of the reference. Is is the eighth day of the first month? The eighth day after the erection of the tabernacle? I do not know.
• The deaths of Nadab and Abihu seem almost extravagantly unnecessary. "They offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to his command," but I don't understand what command is being referenced. The only thing that I see that comes close in from chapter 6, but that just said that the fire on the altar should be kept burning, not that fire couldn't come near to the altar from other places. I just don't understand what the background is, what command has been violated.
• I presume that there is some logic to the list of clean and unclean animals. I haven't done any research into it, but there is nothing obvious to me.

Psalms 11

Number 11 is a psalm expressing trust in the LORD.

I never noticed before how many verses in the psalms sound exactly like verses from proverbs. Consider verse 5 - "the LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates." Out of context, would you be able to identify the source?

1 In the LORD I take refuge.
How then can you say to me:
"Flee like a bird to your mountain.

2 For look, the wicked bend their bows;
they set their arrows against the strings
to shoot from the shadows
at the upright in heart.

3 When the foundations are being destroyed,
what can the righteous do [a] ?"

4 The LORD is in his holy temple;
the LORD is on his heavenly throne.
He observes the sons of men;
his eyes examine them.

5 The LORD examines the righteous,
but the wicked [b] and those who love violence
his soul hates.

6 On the wicked he will rain
fiery coals and burning sulfur;
a scorching wind will be their lot.

7 For the LORD is righteous,
he loves justice;
upright men will see his face.