February 14

Joshua Named as Successor - Numbers 27:15-23; Two-and-a-Half Tribes East of Jordan - Numbers 32:1-42, Deuteronomy 4:41-43; Preparations for Conquest and Settlement - Numbers 33:50-56, Deuteronomy 25:17-19, Numbers 34:1-29, 35:1-8

A Joshua Tree.

How did the Joshua tree get its name?  The story goes that the Mormon pioneers thought the Joshua Tree's limb look like the upstretched arms of Joshua leading the Children of Israel to the Promised Land.

After so many years and miles and memorable moments with Moses as the leader, Joshua is made his replacement in just a matter of verses.  I wonder if the people felt the suddenness of the transition?  Sort of like moving from Bush to Obama.  Remember Bush?  

It makes me pause and wonder.  Such an important change handled with such brevity in scripture.  Joshua steps into a very different job than the one Moses had.  He doesn't have Aaron to speak for him.  He doesn't have a Miriam's female influence.  It's just Joshua.  The wandering is done.  The people don't need the same type of leadership.  

It's time for war and not wandering.

My post from last year on this date.

February 13

Israel's Second Numbering - Numbers 26:1-65

(Zelophehad son of Hepher had no sons; he had only daughters, whose names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah.) [Numbers 26:33]

(Asher had a daughter named Serah.) [Numbers 26:46]

Two parenthetical mentions of daughters in a culture so dominated by men.  Tucked away in the long lists of men.  Like whispered asides.  Almost apologetic.  But so remarkable that they can't be hidden or suppressed.  I imagine these women were exceptional to merit some mention here.  

Lest we think our God is a respecter of persons, a sexist, a number of extraordinary women are step from the pages of the Bible as prophetess, leaders, teachers, warriors, lovers, disciples, witnesses, blessed.  We use far fewer text for scriptural authority to pay preachers or abstain from instrumental music in the worship.  

Women have a role worthy of mention.  And so the Bible does.  Again and again.

My post from last year on this date.

February 12

Israel Sins in Moab - Numbers 25:1-18; Destruction of the Midianites - Numbers 31:1-54

A really thoughtful art installation where every person on the Earth is represented by one grain of rice.  It's by James Yarker and is called "Of All the People in the World."  I wonder how the 24,000 grains of rice representing the Israelites killed by God through the plague (or for that matter all the people killed by an "Act of God") compares to all of the people killed by other men.

"'Your servants have counted the soldiers under our command, and not one is missing.  So we have brought as an offering to the Lord the gold articles each of us acquired -- armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces -- to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.'" [Numbers 31:50]

Isn't that just the way it is?  Isn't it?!  In today's reading, 24,000 Israelites die because of their sin, but not a single man goes missing in a war that brings total annihilation to the Midianites.

It's not what we fear will kill us that kills us.  It's the things we do every day that slowly rob us of this life and the next.  We see the death totals daily from Iraq and mourn for the parents and spouses and children while all around us greater misery and destruction and devastation goes on without notice or acknowledgement.  

We fear our children going off to war.  Never seeing that they're already in the middle of battle.

My post from last year on this date.

February 11

Blessings and Prophecy of Balaam - Numbers 22:1-41, 23:1-30, 24:1-25

Popular culture's adaption of Balaam and the talking ass?

God doesn't act the way we would have Him act.  He doesn't choose for His purposes the people we would have Him to choose.  Take for example this curious character called Balaam.  He's a seer and oracle who practices divination.  And yet, this outsider calls upon the Lord and is heard.  In some ways, Balaam seems more faithful to God's wishes than the children of Israel do.

"I will bring you back the answer the Lord gives me."  [Num. 22:8]

"But Balaam answered them, 'Even if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the Lord my God.'" [Num. 22:18]

"I must speak only what God puts in my mouth." [Num 22:38]

"Perhaps the Lord will come to meet with me."  [Num.23:3]

"The oracles of Balaam son of Beor, the oracle of one whose eye sees clearly, the oracle of one who hears the words of God, who has knowledge from the Most High, who sees a vision form the Almighty, who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened." [Num. 24:15-16]

We try to explain it away - Balaam's power to curse and to bless.  And why does God care if Balaam blesses or curses Israel?  Would his curse actually take without the Lord empowering it?  Can he curse or bless on his own or with help from some other power?  

God even meets with Balaam! [Num. 23:4]  Not reveal Himself to him or thunder on him or strike him with fear at the Glory of the Lord.  He meets with him.

I think Balaam honestly believes in the power of this God.  Enough so, that he will forego riches from the King.  He will defy the King and obey the Lord, blessing instead of cursing Israel.  

His story might have been completely different if he'd not schemed and found another way to attack God's people.  If he believed in the God of Israel, how did he ever think he would get away with tempting Israel to sin?  Lord knows.

My post last year on this date.

February 10

From Kadesh to Moab - Numbers 20:1-29, 21:1-35; Moses' Journal of Israel's Trek - Numbers 33:1-49

Memorial on the road....

"At the Lord's command Moses recorded the stages in their journey." [Numbers 33:2]

As a hiker and a writer, I couldn't help but note Moses' hiking journal.  A pretty succinct read for 40 years of wandering around.  I can't imagine living in a tent and being on the move for that long.  Even on a good day hike, I'm usually ready to see trail's end.  While I love God's nature and experiencing it on a Smoky Mountain Hike, I'm as anxious to end a trek as I am to begin it.  It's having experienced something and savoring it in your ease that's as rich as the experience itself.  

God's for hiking, for living in a tent and for writing.  I like this God.

One of the first scenes Moses' journal of the journey paints is a chilling one -- "They marched out boldly in full view of all the Egyptians, who were burying their firstborn...." [Numbers 33:3-4]

How could you ever forget that?  One moment shared by two peoples with two very different responses.  The Israelites march out upright in promise and celebration and possibility.  The Egyptians are bent over in defeat and mourning and the death of so many dreams for their children.  How could they not remember that moment when times got tough and know that God was with them?  All of the death and mourning and wailing of mothers who've lost a child as you walk out and into life.

My post from last year on this date.

February 9

Challenge to Leadership - Numbers 16:1-50, 17:1-13, 18:1-32

What were they thinking?  Korah and the "250 well-known community leaders?"  This isn't a nameless or faceless mob.  It's not a bunch of rabble or rebels.  It's the leadership challenging Moses' authority.  Why?  They saw him lead them through the Sea on dry land.  They've witnessed him in God's presence.  Yes, they lost the battle Amalekites and Canaanites.  But that wasn't Moses' fault.  It was their own because they listened to the statistics.  They listened to what 10 out of 12 had to say rather than the One God.  

So why are the leaders doing this?  Are they using Moses as a scapegoat because of their own shortcomings?  Has the power gone to their head?  Well...they're about to get in over their heads...literally.  One of the toughest things for a group of men to do is to consider that they might be wrong.  And when they've found themselves to be wrong, to acknowledge it.  Why don't people come forward or open up and ask for prayers and admit their weakness?  Because they are not lead to...only told to do it.  

Leadership isn't telling.  It's doing.

"Ahhh, everyone take a step back from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, please."  

The wives and children seems a little excessive, don't you think?  Unless some of the wives badgered their men into taking a stand.  Now, I'm not saying they did.  But I wonder.  I don't understand the taking of innocents?  It seems on the surface like a total disregard for human life made in the Creator's image.  That's what it seems like to me on the surface and, Lord knows, that's as deep as I can fathom or see.  But I have faith even when I don't see.  

So the 250 leaders are dead.  

Then the people complain about what happened to the people who complained and a plague kills another 14,700.  What irony.  Those that the Lord's plagues had freed are now claimed by the Lord's plagues.  

And so the distance between God and man continues.  First we walked with God in the Garden.  Then He made personal appearances with the tribal leaders.  He had a meal with the Children of Israel's leadership on the mountain.  Then He was in the smoke and in the fire and at the Mercy Seat and His glory shown at the Tent of Meeting for all to see.  Now He wants the people to take step back.  Our sin is destroying His desire to be close to us.  

"From now on the Israelites must not go near the Tent of Meeting, or they will bear the consequences of their sin and will die." [Numbers 18:22]

Another sad sentence in the history of man's dealings with God.  Forgive us, Lord.  Thank you for drawing near when we were powerless to be worthy of your company.

My post last year on this date.

February 8

Moses Rebuked by Miriam - Numbers 12:1-16; The People Lack Courage - Numbers 13:1-33, 14:1-45

From the beginning, God has been with us, close enough to touch and always reaching.  This is not just a Christ thing.  It is the loving nature of our Father.

The Lord comes down twice in this reading and both times to respond to a crisis of leadership.

Miriam and Aaron murmur against Moses apparently because they didn't approve of his marriage choice.  Looks like their disappointment was racially motivated.  They question Moses' authority and God is quick to move to reestablish it.  He comes down.

"Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud; He stood at the entrance to the Tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam." [Numbers 12:5]

Of Moses, he reminds them that to prophet's he appears in visions and dreams but to Moses "I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord."  [Numbers 12:8]

Then again, the leaders of the Twelve Tribes who go into the Promised Land to spy come back with a fearful report [except for Caleb and Joshua] and God is quick to respond.

"Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the Tent of Meeting to all the Israelites." [Numbers 14:10]

Moses deflects the Lord's anger over these leaders' lack of faith by using the very fact that God is among these people as a reason not to destroy them.  He says that the Egyptians "have already heard that You, O Lord, are with these people and that You, O Lord, have been seen face to face, that Your cloud stays over them, and that You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night." [Numbers 14:14]

God is.  And He has always been for us and with us.  His presence among us is a constant and the greatest display of His love and caring.

My post from last year on this date.