Stone 8 - Ruth

In Judges we saw quite a bit of rebellion in the time when there was no king and people just did what was right in their own eyes. Let's see where Ruth comes into all of this.

A Journey
So we start out learning about a famine that was taking place in the time of the judges where a man and his wife decided to head off to Moab from the land of Israel (Ruth 1:1). We also learn very quickly a man and his two sons that pass away leaving behind the man's wife and the wives of his two sons (Ruth 1:3-5). The man's wife was Naomi and the wives of the two sons were Orpah and Ruth. A tragic beginning, no doubt, but things are about to get interesting.

Now that all the guys are dead, the three ladies start to head back to the land of Israel because they heard that the food situation was better there (Ruth 1:6-7). However, not long into their trip, Naomi urges them to go back (Ruth 1:8-9). It is worth noting that Orpah and Ruth were from Moab to begin with so I imagine that this may be a reasonable request at first glance. The two girls decline and Naomi urges them a second time stating that they don't have much hope to start a new family if they are with her (Ruth 1:11-13). Naomi convinces Orpah but not Ruth.

There are some subtle things here - in verse 15, Naomi urges Ruth now for a third time but appeals to her by stating that Orpah went back to her people and her god. What I notice is that in the text 'god' is written with a lower case 'g'. So let's remember now that the land of Moab was outside of Israel and had other objects of worship. Ruth was a Moabite to begin with but notice how Ruth's response in verse 16 uses God with a capital 'G'. It would appear that Ruth recognizes something. Finally Naomi gives up trying to send her back.

Naomi was an Israelite woman but tries to send the women back to a false god. Ouch.

The New Girl in Town
Naomi and Ruth finally make it back to Bethlehem and Ruth goes out to gather food. Turns out that she ends up in a field that is owned by a man named Boaz. We learned in Ruth 2:1 that Boaz is a relative of Naomi. Boaz notices Ruth and urges her to stay in his field (Ruth 2:8-9). This is also interesting as this could go a couple ways. In one way - perhaps Boaz likes her and wants her to stay for that reason. In the other way, we will need to review Judges for a moment. Remember the fiasco that happened with the Benjamites (Jud 19)? There was a great deal of sexual immorality going on in Israel. The man that brought the traveller and his concubine into his home knew that it was not safe to stay out in the square. Perhaps Boaz also recognized that this new girl in town was not going to be safe in another man's fields. Naomi provides further support for this idea later in Ruth 2:22.

Of course, there is also the third possibility that both the possibilities could be true. We read later that Boaz has heard about Ruth and her devotion to Naomi (Ruth 2:11). Boaz has some respect for her. Ruth later goes back to tell Naomi about Boaz (Ruth 2:19). Naomi lets Ruth know that Boaz is a family redeemer. I understand that a family redeemer is one that marries widows in order to keep the family lineage going.

Moving Forward
Now that Naomi is in the know, she sets about playing matchmaker (Ruth 3:1-4). Ruth follows her directions and Boaz responds favorably but lets her know that another redeemer gets first dibs (Ruth 3:11-13).

Boaz quickly gets together with the other redeemer and several witnesses to settle the matter (Ruth 4:1-2). Boaz offers two things, really. The first is a parcel of land that Naomi is selling. What I find interesting is that the man is happy to buy up the land but when Boaz mentions that Ruth comes with the land, he backs up the bus and tells Boaz that he can have it all (Ruth 4:3-6). It sounded as though he may have already been married or had another engagement that was preventing this union.

Good news for Boaz and Ruth. They are married and Ruth eventually has a son (Ruth 4:13). The son's name is Obed. Now the book as a whole finishes with a little more geneaology that lets us know that Obed eventually has a son named Jesse and that Jesse eventually has a son named David (Ruth 4:21-22) This is the same David that becomes King of Israel. King David's great grandma is Ruth!

Next week we will journey through the book of 1 Samuel.

Here is the video from the Bible Project on the book of Ruth.

Stone 7 - Judges

In Joshua we learned that the Israelites finally moved across the Jordan and won some battles to take the promised land. There is still some work to do, however, since there were people still out there who had not been wiped out.

Cry Out For Leadership
Up unto this point we have seen very clear leaders that stand out such as Joseph in Genesis, Moses, and Joshua who had done a significant amount for the Israelites. Now that Joshua has passed away, we see right away in the first verse that the people are seeking who is to lead. While the response from the Lord is that Judah will go (Jud 1:2) - Judah is not a person - Judah is a tribe. Remember that the Israelites were divided up into twelve tribes. *Listed in no particular order*

Judah		Zebulun
Simeon		Reuben
Gad		Manassah
Ephraim		Benjamin
Asher		Dan
Naphtali		Issachar

While Judah and Simeon had some successes, they eventually come to an end (Jud 1:19). We also see that several of the other tribes were met with losses as well.

• Benjamin in verse 21
• Manasseh in verse 27
• Ephraim in verse 29
• Zebulun in verse 30
• Asher in verse 31
• Naphtali in verse 33
• Dan in verse 34

In all of these cases we also see that there were people that continued to live among them. In other words, the Israelites did not completely wipe them out as they were told to do (Josh 10:40). Recall that Joshua was successful in his campaign because he did as he was directed.

Disobedience

God affirms the failure of the Israelites (Jud 2:1-2). Just as it was predicted, the Israelites were negatively affected by the Canaanites who remained in the land (Josh 23:12-13, 16), (Jud 2:12-13, 20-21), (Jud 3:6).

Patterns
Throughout the book of Judges we find a pattern of a disobedient people crying out to God and putting their trust in the Lord when He provides a judge for them and then falling into sin and disobedience again when that particular judge dies.

...Rinse and Repeat...

Here Come Da Judges
1. Othniel is listed as the first judge. Note how we begin this introduction to Othniel in 3:7 - "The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord's sight..."

2. Ehud then comes on the scene, with a similar introduction (Jud 3:12).

3. Shamgar is next but is only mentioned in all of one verse (Jud 3:31)

4. Deborah is also introduced with the evil of the Israelites (Jud 4:1).

5. Guess what? Yup, Israel does what is evil in the sight of the Lord. As a result, Midian comes in and controls Israel for seven years (Jud 6:1). Now Gideon comes on the scene. You might recognize Gideon as having a bit more name recognition. Gideon is the one who constantly considers himself the weakest and the runt of the litter (Jud 6:15), He also is the one who brings out the fleece as a test. God either wets the fleece with dew or wets everything but the fleece with dew on two separate occasions to confirm to Gideon that He is indeed with him (Jud 6:36-40). The size of the army that Gideon used was only 300 men after God stripped it down from over 30,000 as suggested by Jud 7:3 and He used the very small number to ensure that the people of Israel would know that it was the work of the Lord and not their own doing (Jud 7:2). Interestingly, the people of Israel wanted Gideon to rule them, giving him the credit for the victory anyway (Jud 8:22). Gideon knows better (Jud 8:23), but unfortunately makes an ephod from the spoils that Israel ends up worshipping anyway (Jud 8:27).

6. Tola comes next but before that happens we have quite a bit going on. Judges 8:33 tells us that the Israelites didn't waste much time falling back into their evil ways after Gideon died. The big deal next is the oppression we expect now and where it begins. Abimelech, Gideon's own son conspires to take leadership by killing off his many brothers but missing one - Jotham. OOPS - Jotham gets up and spills the beans as it were on the whole ordeal and within three years (Jud 9:22) things came crashing down for Abimelech. The interesting take away here is that these problems we have been seeing originate both externally and internally.

7. Jair is next.

8. Jephthah arrives to bring peace this time. In Judges 10:6, however, we have another statement of evil Israelites. He makes this odd vow with God about handing over the first thing that comes out of his house to greet him (Jud 11:30-31).

9. Ibzan

10. Elon

11. Abdon

12. Samson is listed as the last of the judges. Judges 13:1 lets us know that Israel was once again evil in the sight of the Lord. Samson and Delilah is probably the most widely recognized account from the book of Judges. Samson helps to deliver them from the Philistines. The downfall of Samson is women and Delilah finally goads him into sharing the secret of his strength (Jud 16:16-17)

I am counting 12 judges and I cannot help but note the connection to the number of tribes of Israel being 12 as well.

Where is the King?
After Samson dies we hear about a fellow named Micah was not really on the right path. He was pretty much just doing his own thing and we are told that there was not king in Israel at that time (Jud 17:6). He even had some idols in the house that he had been worshipping and he later hires a Levite to be his personal priest. Later we have a group of spies show up from the Danites and come across Micah's house where the priest tells them that the Lord is watching over them. The spies find some easy prey and come back later with a larger party for the battle. On their way back through, they swing in to Micah's place and steal his stuff including the priest by sweet talking him to join them. Turns out the priest is the grandson of Moses and they settle in the land they just took and set up the idols for worship.

So Judges 18:1 and 19:1 also remind us that there was no king in Israel at that time. This becomes a key phrase in the book of Judges.

We continue to hear of a horrific event that takes place within Gibeah which is part of the Benjamin tribe. This traveller comes through with his concubine and stays at a man's place for the evening. In a night reminiscent of Sodom and Gomorrah, men come to the house and ask to have the man brought out so they can have sex with him (Jud 19:22). They refused and the traveller sent his concubine out. The concubine was raped, abused, and left for dead (Jud 19:25-28). The traveller took her back to his home, cut her up into 12 pieces and sent a piece to each of the 12 tribes of Israel (Jud 19:29).

This ends up starting a civil war between the tribe of Benjamin and the rest of the Israelites and the tribe of Benjamin is almost wiped out. The book finishes with the reminder that there was no king and people did what they wanted (Jud 21:25)

So, to recap, we see this pattern of Israelites doing their own thing rather than following the instructions that God had laid out for them for their own good. They were unsuccesful in becoming settled in the land that was given to them because they continued to disregard the covenant with the Lord and worshipped other false gods instead. They continued to cry out to the Lord for help and He would provide a way to deliver them but they would soon fall back to their own devices.

Is it not interesting that they "had no king" and wanted someone to rule over them all the while God was there - capable and willing to lead them? They simply refused the King that was among them the whole time. Irony, it would seem.

Stone 6 - Joshua

At the end of Deuteronomy Moses passes away and Joshua takes command. Let's see how moving into the promised land plays out.

If you like a good military historical genre, you'll find that the Book of Joshua is filled with some good stuff.

Making Preparations
Joshua starts by giving some orders to get ready (Josh 1:10-11) and then sends out a couple of spies for a little route recon action (Josh 2:1). What is interesting to note is that the spies stop at a house at the edge of the city of Jericho (Josh 2:15) that belonged to a prostitute named Rahab. We quickly learn that the King of Jericho had been informed of this and sent men to Rahab's house to find them. Instead of turning them in, she helps provide concealment and gives the King's men the wrong information allowing the spies to escape.

The Israelites developed a reputation and news spread through the land. Rahab shares that she knows that the Lord has given the land to them (Josh 2:8-9) and spares their lives in exchange for that of her family (Josh 2:12-13).

I also find this particular portion of interest for two reasons.

1. The spies were not visiting the Red Light District of Jericho on their recon mission. Of all the places along the wall that they could have hit - they somehow managed to find the place of a citizen willing to risk the lives of their family to protect them - spies... Can you imagine how that would have played out if the King found out that some prostitute lied to protect the enemy? Lucky...? I think not.

2. Rahab lied. Isn't it wrong to lie? Sure it is. I do not take this as evidence that the Bible promotes deception. This is simply a record of what happened. Now, that said, it does seem to fall in line with God's plan. Is there such a thing as lying for a good cause? I do think that sometimes we are faced with decisions where any choice we make involves loss or morally suspect action. We have often heard this as taking the lesser of two evils. Even Hebrews 11:31 remarks on this. Rahab stuck her neck out in faith. I find this to be an interesting discussion topic.

Miracle Number One
Now we see the first of three miracles found in Joshua - crossing the Jordan River (Josh 3:15-17).
It is worth noting here that while Joshua is the commander of the people now in place of Moses, it is God who is really running the show and calling the shots (Josh 3:7-8).

In addition, shortly after crossing, Joshua meets the Commander of the Lord's Army. It is a seemingly short encounter but appears to once again serve as reminder that God is calling the shots. The commander tells Joshua to remove his sandals because he is standing on holy ground (Josh 5:15).

Miracle Number Two
I can only imagine the thoughts going through the heads of the soldiers during this military campaign. "You want us to do what...!?" They are asked to march around the city once a day for six days and to march around it seven times on the seventh day while priests blow trumpets (Josh 6:3-4). How many of them do you think were questioning the week-long parade?

As odd as things may seem to us and our imperfect hearts and minds - God's plan is perfect. We may not understand the how or why - we need only to trust and obey, knowing that it is best.

Jericho knew that the Israelites were coming. They were not planning to let their city go easily - at least I imagine that is what they are thinking. The city had been well fortified in advance with knowledge they were coming (Josh 6:1). The 7-Day march around Jericho would bring down the walls and allow the Israelites to enter and take what God had given them.

A good reminder here - God had given this to them not because of their righteousness but because of the wickedness of those being removed from the land (Deut 9:1-6).

The next interesting thing to note here is that God is not allowing any looting to take place after this first victory (Josh 6:17-19).

Unfortunately, there were some who did not listen (Josh 7:1). (Are we really surprised by this...?) The disobedience caused them to fail in their battle with Ai (Josh 7:5). Of course, Joshua did not know about this disobedience until God revealed it to him (Josh 7:11-12).

Achan and his family are eventually found out (Josh 7:20-21), and destroyed for their disobedience. No games.

Ai was then conquered and so Gibeon decided to be deceptive in order to protect themselves by playing that they came from far away and wanted a treaty because of the reputation they had developed (Josh 9:9-11). They found out shortly after agreeing to the treaty that Gibeon was actually their neighbor (Josh 9:16). As a result, those people were to be servants.

Miracle Number Three
Word is still getting around. Several neighboring kings decided to join forces in the hopes of defeating the Israelites. This was really a pretty massive conquest of five kings and their territories. At a certain point, Joshua prays to the Lord asking for the sun to stop so they can finish the battle (Josh 10:12-13).

God grants the prayer and the sun stops for almost a day. Now this is interesting, too. I mean, yeah, time standing still for nearly 24 hours is interesting but another subtle point not mentioned here is that the people being destroyed here, the Canaanites, worshipped gods of the sun and moon. So here, God takes what they worship as god and uses them to help the Israelites. This pretty effectively makes the religion of the Canaanites rather insignificant.

Time to Divvy Up the Spoils
A majority of the rest of the book describes how the land was divided between the tribes. However, remember the group that was happy to stay on the other side of the Jordan? They got to go there but on the way built an altar and that got the tribes on the other side pretty riled up (Josh 22:11-12). Ultimately, this was viewed as a division of the unity of Israel as a whole and a violation of the covenant. It turns out that the altar that was built was done only to signify that although they were on the other side of the Jordan that they did, in fact, have a legitimate claim to the inheritance as well and it was not to be used for sacrifices or offerings of any kind (Josh 22:24-26).
Crisis averted.

Joseph's Final Words
In a way that was reminiscent to the final words of Moses, Joseph gathers the people, shares some history and encourages them to remain faithful to the covenant. Remember what Moses said to the people once in Deut 10:13? Compare that with what Joshua tells them in Josh 23:11.

Over the course of the first six books we see God remain faithful to His promise by bringing the Israelites to the "land of milk and honey". Joshua charges them to choose who they will worship (Josh 24:14-15). The people are pretty adamant that they will follow the Lord because of all the things He has done for them (Josh 24:16-18). Also in a similar way to Moses, Joshua appears a bit skeptical (Josh 24:19-20).

We will see how that turns out next week when we look at Judges.

Stone 5 - Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy is the final book of what is known as the pentateuch and culminates with the death of Moses. Let's see what is going on.

I find this to be interesting...

Remember back in Exodus when God first called upon Moses to confront Pharoah? Moses gives God objections that he is not so good at speaking (Ex 4:10).

So get this... in Deuteronomy, Moses totally gets up and speaks to the crowd in a sort of final speech as if he were the valedictorian of his class. He calls on them to - as I will word this - get their act together. I picture an old man who sort of smack a younger man on the back of the head and questions them - "Seriously? What are you thinking?" I see no indication that Moses hesitated in this like he did back in Exodus. There is no question in my mind that God did some amazing things in the life of Moses.

Let's Review
So Moses begins his speech to the masses by summarizing the last 40 years and their journey to the current location. As he recalls the history, he does not hold back sharing the events of rebellion and disobedience by the people (Deut 1:26, 1:43). So he reminds them to obey (Deut 4:1-2). I can just hear the frustration in the voice of Moses as he recalls the events of the past, pleading with the people to obey. Multiple times he calls them to listen - like a teacher at the front of the class who snaps their fingers to get the attention of those who may have been drifting off because there is an important point coming up (Deut 4:1, 5:1, 5:27, 6:3, 6:4, 9:1).

So we get a great deal of things we have already read about in prior books but remember that they have been in the wilderness for the last 40 years waiting for the prior generation to die off because they were not going to enter the promised land. This may very well be some new information for those currently in the crowd. Remember that Moses was banned from going into the promised land so this is where his journey will end. Moses wants them to move forward successfully. (Deut 11:8-9)

Remember the Law
So in addition to a retelling of the history, Moses shares with the Israelites all of the laws that God had given them. He covers the ten commandments again, rules about proper worship, rules about leadership, rules about societal activity, etc.

Again at chapter 9, I see Moses snapping the fingers... LISTEN! Guys! C'mon! You are on the verge of whooping up on a group of guys way bigger and stronger than you and take their land because God is giving it to you. Don't get all high and mighty on yourself because it has nothing to do with you. God is evicting them because they are wicked - not because you people are righteous. (Deut 9:1-6)

He tells them the account of the golden calf incident and calls once again on them to obey and follow God. (Deut 10:12-13) Again, I see Moses as exasperated as he indicates 'for your own good' in verse 13. So here we have a recount of more laws given by God - again, for their own good.

Final Plea
After covering all the laws, Moses gives one more appeal to obey and follow God. This is another major point where I imagine Moses snapping his fingers to gain attention to the class. Although since the crowd was likely pretty large, perhaps a shout would be more effective. LISTEN! (Deut 27:9-10)

Moses is kind enough to share the consequences for obedience and the lack thereof (Deut 28) and gives a small bit of encouragement and assurance that all is within their reach (Deut 30:11-20)

Change of Command and Concluding Remarks
Near the conclusion of the speech, Moses informs the people that Joshua will be their new leader. Moses, despite all of his efforts, learns from God that they won't listen anyway (Deut 31:16-18). How sad Moses must have felt in that moment. God has Moses record a song to share with the people as evidence that this was foretold (Deut 31:19-22).

Moses gives a blessing to the people and eventually makes his way to the top of Pisgah at Mount Nebo (Deut 34:1) where he finally came to rest.

Additional Comments on Deuteronomy
I am going to reference Luke Chapter 4 from the New Testament. This tells of when Jesus was in the wilderness facing some temptations. I find it interesting that Jesus quoted Deuteronomy each of the three times he responds to Satan. In Luke 4:4, Jesus quotes Deut 8:3 - In Luke 4:8, Jesus quotes Deut 6:13 - then, interestingly, Satan tries to use scripture as well by twisting it in his attempts to test Jesus. Satan quotes Psalm 91:11-12 in Luke 4:10-11 to which Jesus quotes Deut 6:16 in reply.

Jesus was well aware of scripture and used it often. Remember that the laws for Israel were there to help set them apart or make them holy. Clearly, Jesus was set apart and holy.

Jesus used Old Testament scripture to combat Satan and this helps us to reinforce the words of Paul in his letter to Timothy that all scripture is good for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. (2Tim 3:16)

Next week we will see how Joshua moves forward with the Israelites.

Here is the video for Deuteronomy from the Bible Project.

Stone 4 - Numbers

Numbers is a book that is not for the mathematician as the name might imply. There are, however, a great deal of numbers found here due to the taking of a census.

Now - as a military guy, I could not help but notice a resemblance to some military activity so here is an 'armed forces' take on the events in the book of Numbers.

Company... Attention!
I was a part of OIF I, the first wave to go over back in 2003. As such, when we arrived, there was nothing there. We had to build it. At the Tallil Air Base we dug in and created Camp Badger.

Okay, so I am comparing the Israelites digging in and building camp at Mount Sinai to us building camp at Tallil. We were a group around 500 and I recall taking up quite a bit of space which means that this group of Israelites was massive. The group of able-bodied men age 20 or older came to over 600,000 (Num 1:20 and 1:46). This did not include any women and children and it did not include the Levites (Num 1:47-49). That means that this group was likely well over a million people if not two or three million! Can you imagine them all moving en masse? WOW. Just wow. I thought the mall was crowded.

So you have Moses and Aaron pretty much leading a couple million people through the wilderness under the divine leadership of God. The Lord basically gave the instructions to Moses and Aaron and it was up to them to disseminate the information and carry out the orders.

When I was serving, it was not uncommon to hear something along the lines of "In war you follow orders or people die". This certainly seemed to be the case here too (Num 1:51) God doesn't play games. He is just, fair, and merciful. We see all of this come out.

Formation!
We have quite a bit of detail about how this enormous group of people were to be organized around the tent of meeting as well as what the responsibilities of several groups of people were.

Drill and Ceremony and the UCMJ
What organization would be complete without some policies, procedures, and a little direction on how to handle insubordination? God shares how the unclean were to be handled, how people were to be compensated, how to make vows, and how to prepare the tent of meeting.

Forward... March!
After all of the logistics are taken care of, we find it is time to break camp and move out. The ensemble was to head to an area known as Paran (Num 10:12).

Morale
Well, you would think they were doing a doubletime out to Paran with full battle rattle because they did not take long to start complaining (Num 11:1 and 11:4-6). Remember Moses who was basically the human representative here? Imagine if a couple million people started complaining to you...

Well, Moses, under considerable stress cries out to God (Num 11:11-14) for some help. What I find interesting is that Moses increased his staff not by a couple more guys to share the load but by 70 people (Num 11:16-17)!

If it wasn't bad enough that a couple million are whining about stuff to you - how about having two who are very close to you start complaining about your position of leadership in a sort of jealous way (Num 12:1-2)? God nips that in the bud right away (Num 12:5-11).

Reconaissance Missions
Twelve guys get sent out on a recon mission to check out the land of milk and honey (Num 13:17-20). They came back to report that it was indeed the land of milk and honey (Num 13:27). However, 10 of the guys were pretty negative and pessimistic about the possibility of taking the land from the powerful group currently there.

Oh - c'mon - you know how easy it is for us to latch on to the negative things people say... That is exactly what happened, and of course they griped about Moses and Aaron some more, (Num 14:1-2) despite the pleas of the other two guys who were optimistic about doing it with the help of the Lord (Num 14:8).

As stated before - God doesn't play games and he grants them their rebellious desire (Num 14:28-30). So a trip from Sinai to the promised land that should not have taken a super long time ended up taking 40 years until the generation died off (Num 14:34).

More Bad Morale
Later on, 250+ guys gathered to confront Moses and Aaron, accusing them of going too far (Num 16:1-2)
Challenge accepted.
In the end, this uprising ended up taking many thousands of lives (Num 16:49). God does not tolerate rebellion.

Roll Out, Men!
Finished in Paran, it was time to head out towards the promised land to Moab - only this leg of the journey was going to take a while. Again the people rise up and complain to Moses and Aaron about food and water (Num 20:2). God gives them a plan but Moses, however, makes the mistake of placing himself and Aaron on too high a plane (Num 20:10-11). he should have given God the credit for bringing water to the people. As a result, they will also not be able to enter the promised land (Num 20:12)

The Israelites seem to have been slow to learn as they continued to complain and incur the wrath of the Lord (Num 21:5-6).

The Israelites won a number of battles during their time in the wilderness and sort of developed a reputation (Num 22:2-3). Balak was the king in Moab so he thought he might hire this guy named Balaam to curse the Israelites and try to gain an advantage (Num 22:5-6). Balaam tried to warn him that he could only say what God says to say (Num 22:38) but Balak didn't listen.

So Balak's plan backfires and Balaam ends up blessing the Israelites three times rather than cursing them.

Divine Defenses and Divine Rules
Early on we mentioned that we would see aspects of God being just, fair, and merciful. he punishes those who deserve it, feeds them and provides water, and even has this guy blessing them without their knowledge. He prepares, punishes, provides, and protects his people. Who better to have in your corner?

They aren't getting it though... the Israelites end up worshipping Baal (Num 25:3). Remember that God doesn't play games. This was a commandment that was being blatantly broken. What do you suppose happened...? Yup (Num 25:5)

Field Promotions
Remember that Moses lost his opportunity to enter the promised land so he appeals to God for a new leader that can take them in (Num 27:15-17). Also recall that there was two guys that went out on the recon missions to the land of milk and honey who were optimistic while the other ten were not - well, joshua was one of the two and he gets the field promotion (Num 27:22-23). I bet he was not expecting that.

Skirmish
Next we have a pretty big battle with the Midianites. Since the Lord is on their side, the Israelites win pretty handily and take a pretty huge plunder - including over half a million sheep and goats - that can only be messy...(Num 31:32-35)

SITREP, OPORD, and ROE
Now Chapters 33 thru 36 gives a movement log from when the Israelites left Egypt followed by some directives for when they cross the Jordan. Who gets what and how it is to be divided up amongst the people. Pretty detailed. We will get to see how this part of history plays out in Deuteronomy.

Here is the overview of Numbers by the Bible Project.

Stone 3 - Leviticus

Welcome to the book of Leviticus - a book with many guidelines over which a great deal of controversy still remains.

We Are Sinful
The Isrealites were rescued from Egypt and were on the way to the promised land. My understanding is that many guidelines were provided to the Isrealites in order to set them apart as a nation that they might live in the presence of God. Well, sin and God simply do not mix, as it were. They cannot share space together. The Levitical Law made some provisions.

I will admit that Leviticus was a challenge to read as there was a great deal of repetition but what I find most striking about the book is the message of Christ hidden within.

The only way for people to be in the presence of God was if they were pure - thus the sacrifices and other procedures. Jumping to New Testament for a second in order to draw a comparison, Romans 6:23 states that the wages of sin is death. I see the sacrifices were the animals paying the price for our sins but the effect was temporary since we would ultimately sin again and those wages would need to be paid again. Our actions have consequences. Eventually, Christ came as the ultimate sacrifice such that all sin has been atoned for and we no longer need to perform sacrifices. However, the sin in our lives still needs to be atoned for so as individuals, we need to accept the gift God has provided. Rejecting Christ would be like one of the Israelites of Leviticus choosing not to make themselves pure. As soon as they try to enter the presence of God, they will die. God will exact the punishment.

We see this happen to Aaron's sons (Lev 10). Their actions were unauthorized - they were impure.

All These Laws
As I understand it, there are three categories of laws - ceremonial, civil, and moral. Today we recognize the moral law which is based on the holiness of God. The moral law transcends time.

Ceremonial Law
The ceremonial law centered around the rituals needed to be pure which would allow them to be in communion with God. In the majority of these cases - it was simply a matter of being impure from natural event that were not sinful in and of themselves. For example having a skin rash, having touched a dead body, or giving birth are not sinful but simply things that made people 'unclean' or impure.

Since Christ offered himself as the perfect sacrifice, there is no longer a requirement to perform these sacrifices. The animal sacrifices were to take the place of our own deaths due to sin. Christ's death on the cross was enough to cover all for all time. The gift is available to all but the gift must be accepted.

Civil Law
Probably the most elusive of the three. An everchanging landscape of law over the years as cutures have tried to define right and wrong, moral and immoral, and distinctions between good and evil. These laws were basically about how to deal with those who were in violation of the law and were provided to the Israelites at that time. Since then cultures have changed and so have these laws. As a citizen of the United States, I need to obey the laws that are established here - not the ones given to Israel thousands of years ago.

Moral Law
While civil law continues to morph over time and ceremonial law is no longer necessary, moral law as based upon God's holy standard is still in effect. As Christians, we no longer have to sacrifice an animal nor are we expected to stone people to death for their crimes but we are still expected to strive to become more Christ-like.

Why Bother?
So what good is Leviticus? Why bother reading it? As members of the 21st Century, I think we grapple with most if not all of the concepts in Leviticus. Let me suggest to you a couple of things to consider.

1. We are told in 2Tim 3:16 that all of scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, and for training in righteousness. All would include Leviticus.

2. Go back to that time some 3000+ years ago when sacrifice was a common thing among all peoples as a way to try and appease the gods. This is what they understood. What if God used this as a strategy to help the people understand the real meaning of Christ's ultimate sacrifice that would eventually come? God speaks to them on their level in a way that they will understand. For us, in 2016, at the time of this writing, it seems barbaric but it was commonplace then - they got it - now that it is no longer required of us - we don't get it and find it repulsive.

I do not want to diminish the importance of the laws and commands given to the Israelites. While not all of it is applicable in today's culture it still retains immeasurable value. Leviticus is about how the people at that time could be pure. It was a preparation for Christ. We should not surrender our attempts to gain a closeness with God, to worship Him and develop a relationship with Him. How should we be preparing our hearts for a relationship?

Let's try to make ourselves ceremonially pure through repentance and the acceptance of the atoning sacrifice of Christ.
Let's become obedient followers of the law as established by our leadership.
Let's continue to live more like Christ and strive to behave according to the moral law established by the good and holy nature that is God.
Let's continue to pick up the Word of God and read books like Leviticus. It won't be easy. Following Christ won't be easy either.

Being holy is to be set apart. God details how the Israelites are to be set apart in Leviticus (Lev 19:2).
Let's set ourselves apart as well.

Here is another great review from the Bible Project on Leviticus.

Stone 2 - Exodus

The second stone is on the book of Exodus.

New Leadership Bring Change
At the end of Genesis, Joseph was in a position of high status in Egypt. As a result, when his father and brothers and the rest of the family came during the famine they lived comfortably and thrived.

This came to an end when it was time for a new king to come into power. Unlike the old king, the new one did not know Joseph (Ex 1:8) and he was afraid that the numerous outsiders might one day turn on them. Remember that God had changed Jacob's name to Israel (Gen 35:10)? Well, all these descendants are now refered to as the Israelites. Pharoah enslaves them and forces them to do hard labor (Ex 1:13-14)

Also remember how Joseph had mentioned that the situation his brothers put him in were meant for evil but God meant it for good (Gen 50:20)? I find an interesting parallel here in Exodus. So the new Pharoah decided he wanted to kill all of the sons of the Hebrews by having them thrown into the Nile River (Ex 1:22). Moses was one of the sons born at that time. He was placed in the river in a basket (Ex 2:3) and at some point downstream, none other than the daughter of the very Pharoah who ordered him killed picked him up (Ex 2:5). What Pharoah intended for evil, God intended for good.

That Hebrew outsider known as Moses got to grow up in the home of the Egyptian king. Wow!

It would appear that Moses was aware that he was an "outsider" and not really an Egyptian. In fact, he actually kills an Egyptian for beating a Hebrew (Ex 2:11-12) It states that the Hebrew was one of his people which makes me think that Moses knew he was not truly an Egyptian despite being raised in the house of the King of Egypt. Afraid, Moses runs away for a while (Ex 2:15) - I understand, though, that Moses was not necessarily afraid of Pharoah but possibly something else such as the Israelites refusing to accept him.

Some time later Moses encounters the infamous Burning Bush. While this seems preposterous for many, I cannot help but think that if we believe that God created the universe and all the life within it, why is it so hard to think God is capable of this? He spoke it all into existence so we know He can speak. How about burn a bush without consuming it...? Easy. Even in chemistry class I have had students soak dollar bills in a solution of alcohol and water and set them on fire and watch as they do not get consumed. So, yeah, I am pretty sure God can handle this one.

What I find to be a bit more curious is yet again another similarity to the people of today when it comes to doing what God calls them to. God calls Moses to go back to Egypt and help the Israelites get out. There is a pretty lengthy exchange between Moses and God where Moses tries to peddle off a bunch of excuses as to why he is not the right guy for the job or other generic objections. (Ex 3:11, 4:1, 4:10, 4:13, 6:12) I know I have been guilty of this at times too. Our flesh wants nothing more than to rationalize it away.

So Moses hooks up with his brother Aaron and together they go to tell Pharoah to let them all go. They are denied and the plagues start coming and Moses and Aaron ask Pharoah several times more and still they are denied and the plagues keep persisting - a total of 10 in all.

The tenth one is to kill all the firstborn sons (Ex 11:5) unless you have the mark of blood on the door (Ex 12:7). Exodus 12:13b says "...when I see the blood I will pass over you." What a striking connection to the lamb who was slain and whose blood covers us so that on judgement day when God sees the blood of Jesus he will pass over us as well.

After this plague Pharoah finally lets them go. However, it is not long before Pharoah changes his mind and chases after them (Ex 14:5). Fast forward to the Red Sea where the waters are parted, the Isrealites cross and the water comes crashing down on the Egyptians (Ex 14:28-29)

Freedom
How quickly we fall back on our selfishness! All these Israelites, who were just freed from some pretty harsh conditions are complaining about food and water. No doubt, feeding that large a crowd for several days in the wilderness would be no small task. I am pretty sure there were not MREs back then, either. Nonetheless, God is able to provide. Oh, how we grumble. Perhaps if we only knew...

After a long time wandering around the countryside the Israelites finally come to Mount Sinai and God works up the Ten Commandments for Moses to bring to the people along with several other rules that will help to set them apart as a nation - to bring them closer to becoming holy. How awful, then, to see the group blatantly violating the first two laws - and so soon after experiencing what they just had experienced at the base of the mountain.

Much of the second half of the book of Exodus is sort of slow, dry, and repetetive. In short, there are lots of instructions for creating several things followed by all of the instructions repeated as they are completed. The main attraction is the tent for the Lord. This tent is to be a holy place where the Lord can come and dwell among the people. Right in the middle of these instructions and creation, though, is the golden calf story (Ex 32) which is the violation of the first two commandments. This really angers God. Luckily for the people, Moses was there to intercede.

There seems to be a great deal of confusion over some of these Old Testament books and all the rules within them. However, I think it is really important to take the entire book in context rather than just reading a single verse.

Here are a couple more videos from the Bible Project that do a really nice job walking through in an easy to understand way.