We come to the last Chapter in Numbers, Numbers 36. We read chapter by chapter and and go on with our activities and concerns. The Book of Numbers encompasses 39 years of the people wandering in a wilderness and who are now on the brink of entering into a land promised to their Patriarch Abraham,…

I love the word provision and I always think of it when I think of all God provides. The action of providing or supplying something for use; an amount or thing supplied or provided. In getting the people ready for entering into the Promised Land God leaves nothing undone. In Numbers 35 He makes way…

Can you imagine God showing you the boundaries of a new land He has promised to you as an inheritance? The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. All the land that you see I will…

On 2 pages of my Bible, in Numbers 33, are recorded 40 years of wandering; each sentence a stage on that epic journey. Here are the stages in the journey of the Israelites when they came out of Egypt by divisions under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. At the Lord’s command Moses recorded the…

Do you ever feel discouraged? It’s such a stark place where you can no longer see possibility. I can’t help but think that’s what Moses felt here in Numbers 32. Did he think, “Here we go again!” when the Reubenites and Gadites approached him and all the leaders of the community for them to stay…

I confess it’s difficult to read Numbers 31 in light of what is happening in this world of ours. The Lord said to Moses, “Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. They fought against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and killed every man. Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who…

The definition of a vow is a solemn promise. Our vows, our solemn promises to God are important and have weight. In Numbers 30, God is making provision for a parent or a husband to protect their young daughters or young wives should they make a vow to God that those with more experience and…

Numbers 29 continues with God setting forth the the special times the people are to observe and with each of the final three observances are the words hold a sacred assembly v. 1, 7, 12. In reading each of these I can’t help but think about the future time when all will worship God in…

This morning there was the most beautiful sunrise infusing the world in soft orange. Even as I basked in the light, I couldn’t help but think of the saying “red in the morning sailor take warning” and yet, surrounded as I was by color so intense and pure and palpable, I couldn’t help but delight…

In centuries past in human tradition women couldn’t inherit land. It was given to the nearest male relative leaving women vulnerable. Not so here in Numbers 27. There are five daughters of Zelophehad of the tribe of Manasseh and no sons to receive property as an inheritance. They go before Moses, Eleazar and the leaders…