The tribal leaders gave great offerings to the sanctuary for the dedication of the altar. The date of the Passover was fixed as the fourteenth day of the first month, with special rules for those who could be excused from the Passover feast. The divine cloud covered the camp. This cloud led them forward and told them when to stop and rest. The trumpets were used to command the Israelites when to move or not move. They got their marching orders from Yahweh. Moses with the Israelites set out on the long trek to the Promised Land. The complaints began to emerge, first about the manna and then about Moses himself. Yahweh was upset that the people were not listening to Moses. Yahweh sent an effusion of his Spirit among the various elders and leaders of the Israelites to help Moses. Then Yahweh sent the quails for meat all around the camp. Miriam and Aaron began to complain against their brother Moses. Guess what, Yahweh was not pleased. Miriam had leprosy for a month, after the intercession of Aaron and Moses saved her life. Have you ever complained about anything?
Month: June 2024
The laws in Numbers
Numbers has some special laws that may have been among other ancient people, but received a special Mosaic value. There were regulations about how and when the impure or unclean people had to leave the camp. Restitution with the next of kin was important. If there was no one alive to make restitution, the restitution would go to the priest. The jealousy offering was a strange law about how any jealous husband could accuse his wife of infidelity. She then had to go before the priest and drink a special water to see if she was faithful or not. The Nazirite vows for a short period of time meant separation from others, letting your hair grow, and not having anything to do with grapes or its product wine. Finally, there was the beautiful priestly blessing. Do you follow laws?
Conclusion
In Numbers, chapter 36:13, there should be no confusion. This book can come to end. These were Yahweh’s commands that he had given to the Israelites via Moses on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan River, opposite Jericho, before they entered the Promised Land of Canaan. Yahweh had spoken. Moses had spoken. There was no need for anyone else to speak. The word of Yahweh via Moses was there for them to follow. Do you follow the word of God?
The inheritance of the married women
In Numbers, chapter 36:1-12, there was this dilemma. Since the women had become part of the new tribe they had married into, their inheritance left the original tribe. What were they to do? The heads of the ancestral houses of the clans of the descendants of Gilead son of Machir, son of Manasseh, of the Josephite clans, came forward and spoke in the presence of Moses and the leaders, to the heads of the ancestral houses of Israelites. They said that Yahweh had commanded Moses to give the land for inheritance by lot to the Israelites. Thus, Yahweh gave the inheritance of Zelophehad to his daughters. But if they married into another Israelite tribe, then their inheritance would be taken from the inheritance of their ancestors, and added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they married. Thus, it will be taken away from the allotted portion of their inheritance. When the jubilee of the Israelites came, then their inheritance would be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they have married. Their inheritance would be taken from the inheritance of their ancestral tribe. This question went back to the daughters of Zelophehad problem and their inheritance. Moses said that they were right. Let these women marry whom they think best. Only it must be into a clan of their father’s tribe that they are married. Thus, no inheritance of the Israelites shall be transferred from one tribe to another. All Israelites shall retain the inheritance of their ancestral tribes. Every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the Israelites shall marry someone from the clan of her father’s tribe, so that all Israelites may continue to possess their ancestral inheritance. No inheritance shall be transferred from one tribe to another. Each of the tribes of the Israelites shall retain its own inheritance. Thus, it was very clear, they had to marry in their own clan. There would be no intermarriage with the different Israelite tribes. The inheritance must stay in the same tribe. Not only are they not to marry non-Israelites, they cannot marry anyone not from their own tribe. Thus, the five daughters of Zelophehad married their first cousins as was indicated in chapter 36. They kept their inheritance within the same tribe and clan. Do you believe in marrying outside your own religion or culture?
Murders
In Numbers, chapter 35:16-34, there were very specific rules about murderers, with a distinction between intentional murder and unintentional killing. Anyone who deliberately killed another person with an iron object, a stone in his hand, or a wooden weapon was a murderer, if that person who was struck died. These murderers should be put to death because of blood revenge. The avenger of blood, normally the next of kin of the one murdered, could execute the murder sentence. We might call this street justice today. If anyone committed murder out of hatred with their hands or any object, then the avenger of blood, the next of kin of the dead person, could kill him. This assumes that this was premeditated and the person struck died. The same rule applied to those who struck anyone with their hands that killed the one struck. If there was death, the avenger of blood could avenge the death. However, if someone pushed another person suddenly without enmity, or hurled an object without lying in wait, or while handling any stone unintentionally dropped it on another person, and death occurred, this was a different story, since this was an inadvertent murder. If they were not enemies and no harm was intended, then the congregation should judge between the killer and the avenger of blood, in accordance with these ordinances. The congregation shall rescue the killer from the avenger of blood. Then the congregation shall send the killer back to the original city of refuge. The killer should live in the refugee city until the death of the high priest. But if the killer would at any time go outside the bounds of the original city of refuge, and is found by the avenger of blood outside the bounds of his city of refuge, and is killed by the avenger, no blood guilt shall be incurred. The killer must remain in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the killer may return home. These things shall be a statute and ordinance for them throughout the generations wherever they live. The inadvertent murderer would be safe in the refugee city, but if he left the refuge city, the avenger of blood could kill him. However, there was an amnesty if the high priest died. If anyone killed another person, the murderer should be put to death on the evidence of witnesses. But no one shall be put to death on the testimony of a single witness. Moreover, they should not accept any ransom for the life of a murderer, who is subject to the death penalty. A murderer shall be put to death. They shall not accept any ransom for someone who has fled to a city of refuge, enabling the fugitive to return to live in the land before the death of the high priest. They should not pollute the land that they live in, since blood polluted the land. No expiation could be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it. They were not to defile the land in which they were going to live, because Yahweh also lived there among the Israelites. Any trial needed two witnesses. No one could buy their way out of being a murderer in the refuge city with a ransom. A murderer should be put to death. All the land of Yahweh was to be blood free. A bloody murder polluted the land. A murderer had to spill his blood in order not to defile the land of Yahweh, who lived among them. Do you like these clear statutes on how to treat a person when another person had been killed?
The refugee towns
In Numbers, chapter 35:9-15, Yahweh once again told Moses to set up refugee towns. The refugee towns were to be selected in Canaan. In other words, these towns would be where a killer, who may have accidentally killed someone, might flee until he had a trial to determine his guilt or punishment. There were going to be six designated cities for refuge, three on each side of the Jordan River. These cities were also a place for residents or transient aliens to flee, or even residents who unintentionally killed someone. Do you like the idea of a refugee town or city?
The towns for the Levites
In Numbers, chapter 35:1-8, once again before the battle, on the plains of Moab, Yahweh, via Moses told the Israelites what to do about the Levites. Although the Levites would not get a portion of Canaan, they were to get special towns with pasture land around them. There were explicit rules about the surrounding pasture lands. The pasture lands of the towns would be 1,000 cubits all round. A cubit is from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, approximately 18 inches or a foot and a half. On each side of the town, east, west, north, and south, they would get 2,000 cubits, with the town in the middle. Well, the Levites were not so bad off. They received forty-eight towns including the six refugee towns, which will play an important role in Israelite history. The larger tribes would give more towns than the smaller tribes. However, the Levities would get some towns from each tribe in proportion to their inheritance. Do you think that Levites or priests should get special towns or areas to live?
The leaders who would propose the divisions
In Numbers, chapter 34:16-29, Yahweh told Moses who would decide how to apportion the inherited Promised land. This took place even before the battles had begun. They would make the divisions of the newly conquered land. First, there was the priest Eleazasr and then Joshua, the son of Nun. From the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; from the tribe of Simeon, Shemuel son of Ammihud; from the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad son of Chislon; from the tribe of Dan, Bukki the son of Jogli; from Joseph, the tribe of Manasseh, Hanniel son of Ephod; from the tribe of Ephraim, Kemuel son of Shiphtan; from the tribe of Zebulun, Eli-zaphan son of Parnach; from the tribe of Issachar, Paltiel son of Azzan; from the tribe of Asher, Ahihud son of Shelomi; and from the tribe of Naphtali, Pedahel son of Ammihud. Yahweh had specifically mentioned these men, but this was the only time that any of these ten men were mentioned in the biblical works, except for Caleb. Missing from this list were the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and Levi. Gad and Reuben stayed out of the Canaan inheritance, while the Levites had a special role. Do you think that individuals should divide lands?
The frontiers or borders of the Promised Land of Canaan
In Numbers, chapter 34:1-15, once again Yahweh told Moses what the borders were going to be in this Promised Land. He explained the explicit borders of this new land on the south, west, north, and east. The southern border was vague with only a few know landmarks, like the desert or wilderness of Zin and the Dead Sea. The border should be along the side of Edom. Their southern boundary should begin from the end of the Dead Sea on the east, then south of the ascent of Akrabbim, and across to Zin, with its outer limit south of Kadesh-barnea. Then it should go on to Hazar-addar, and across to Azmon. This southern boundary shall turn from Azmon to the Wadi of Egypt and terminate at the Great Sea and its coast. The Mediterranean Sea was the clear simple western boundary. The northern boundary was from the Great Sea to Mount Hor. Then from Mount Hor to Lebo-hamath, with the outer limit the boundary of Zedad, extending to Ziphron and ending at Hazar-enan. This northern border was even more difficult to locate, probably north of Damascus, but it was not clear. The eastern boundary was from Hazar-enan to Shepham, then to Riblah on the east side of Ain. This boundary should do down and reach the eastern slope of the Sea of Chinnereth, the Sea of Galilee. Then the boundary shall go down to the Jordan, ending at the Dead Sea. This eastern border seemed to be close to the Jordan River since the Gadites, the Reubenites, and the Manassites have already taken the eastern portions across the Jordan. Moses commanded the Israelites that this was their land that they would inherit by lot. Yahweh had commanded Moses to give this land to the nine tribes and to the one half-tribe of Manassah. The tribe of the Reubenites, the tribe of the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had taken their inheritance beyond the Jordan eastward. Everything was settled in theory. Two and a half tribes had the vague east side. The rest of the land west of the Jordan River would be split up by ancestral tribe. If only it was that easy? Should you give land away that you do not own?
The division of Canaan
In Numbers, chapter 33:50-56, while they were in the plains of Moab, before they attacked Canaan and the west bank of the Jordan, Yahweh via Moses told them what to do when they entered Canaan. They had to drive out all the inhabitants of the land. They had to destroy all their figured stones, all their molten images, and all their high places. When they finally took possession of the Promised land, they would divide the land by lot according to their ancestral family size. If they did not drive out the inhabitants then those who remained would be like barbs in their eyes and thorns in their sides. They would have trouble wherever they were settling. If they did not do this, Yahweh would turn on them. How would you divide land?
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 