Archive for the ‘Numbers 14’ Tag
Above: Icon of Jesus Cursing the Fig Tree
Image in the Public Domain
Curses and Punishments
NOVEMBER 10, 2024
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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,
which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236
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Numbers 14:1-27 or Malachi 1:1; 2:1-10
Psalm 73:12, 15-23
Hebrews 12:1-9, 22-24, 28-29
Mark 11:12-33
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What is the chief and highest end of man?
Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.
–The Westminster Larger Catechism, quoted in Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), The Book of Confessions (2007), 195
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We read of the opposite behavior in today’s readings, with pious material in Psalm 73, if one consults the complete text. Priests are supposed to lead people to God. A fig tree is supposed to show evidence of figs in development outside of fig season. People are supposed to trust God, especially after witnessing dramatic, mighty divine deeds and manifestations.
The two-part story of the cursed fig tree bookends the Temple Incident, as scholars of the New Testament like to call the Cleansing of the Temple. The literary-theological effect of this arrangement of material is to comment on corruption at the Temple just a few days prior to the crucifixion of Jesus. One does well to apply the condemnation to corruption anywhere.
Perhaps we usually think of punishment as something we do not want. This makes sense. In legal systems, for example, probation, fines, and incarceration are forms of punishment. Parents sometimes punish children by grounding them. However, the punishment of which we read in Numbers 14 (comprehension of which depends on having read Chapter 13) was to give the the fearful, faithless people what they wanted–never to enter the Promised Land. As an old saying tells us, we ought to be careful what we wish for because we may get it.
What do we really want and what do we really need? May God grant us what we really need. May we be grateful for it.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JULY 27, 2019 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF BROOKE FOSS WESTCOTT, ANGLICAN SCHOLAR, BIBLE TRANSLATOR, AND BISHOP OF DURHAM; AND FENTON JOHN ANTHONY HORT, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF CHRISTIAN HENRY BATEMAN, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF JOHAN NORDAHL BRUN, NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN BISHOP, AUTHOR, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM REED HUNTINGTON, EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND RENEWER OF THE CHURCH; AND HIS GRANDSON, WILLIAM REED HUNTINGTON, U.S. ARCHITECT AND QUAKER PEACE ACTIVIST
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2019/07/27/curses-and-punishments/
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Above: Effects of Acid Rain on a Forest in the Czech Republic, 2006
Photographer = Lovecz
The Sins of the Fathers
OCTOBER 6, 2024
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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,
which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236
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Exodus 34:1-10 or 1 Kings 22:29-43
Psalm 62:1-8, 11-12
Hebrews 5:12-6:12
Mark 9:30-37
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The key mark of discipleship is servanthood.
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Some themes recur in the readings for this week:
- God is faithful.
- Trust in God.
- Do not commit apostasy.
- People reap what they sow.
- Christ is the exemplar of the type of service that defines greatness.
Exodus 34:7 requires unpacking. The principle that God punishes or forgives members of subsequent generations based on the sins of an ancestor exists also in 1 Kings 21:29, Nehemiah 9:17, Deuteronomy 5:9, Numbers 14:18, Psalm 103:8, Joel 2:13, and Jonah 4:2. Yet we read the opposite view–individual moral responsibility–in Ezekiel 18 and Jeremiah 31:29-30. The Bible contradicts itself sometimes.
The best explanation for the opinion we read in Exodus 34:7 comes from Professor Richard Elliot Friedman: effects of one’s actions are apparent generations later. I recognize ways in which actions of two of my paternal great-grandfathers influence me indirectly. This is one example of something, that, from a certain point of view, looks like intergenerational punishment and reward by God.
The decisions of others influence us. Some of them even restrict our options. We may suffer because of the decisions of those who have preceded us; we may suffer because of their sins. This is the way of the world. Yet we are morally responsible for ourselves and each other, not those who have died. No, they are responsible for their sins, just as we are responsible for ours.
May we–individually and collectively–refrain from visiting the consequences of our sins on those who will succeed us. We owe them that much, do we not?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JULY 25, 2019 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT JAMES BAR-ZEBEDEE, APOSTLE AND MARTYR
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2019/07/25/the-sins-of-the-fathers-part-ii/
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Above: Return of the Spies from the Land of Promise, by Gustave Dore
Image in the Public Domain
Rest in God
OCTOBER 7 and 8, 2021
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The Collect:
Almighty and ever-living God, increase in us your gift of faith,
that, forsaking what lies behind and reaching out to what lies ahead,
we may follow the way of your commandments
and receive the crown of everlasting joy,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 50
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The Assigned Readings:
Deuteronomy 5:1-21 (Thursday)
Deuteronomy 5:22-33 (Friday)
Psalm 90:12-17 (Both Days)
Hebrews 3:17-19 (Thursday)
Hebrews 4:1-11 (Friday)
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FYI: Those of you who compare and contrast versification in translations of the Bible might notice that Deuteronomy 5:1-30 in Jewish, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox versions equals 5:1-33 in Protestant translations.
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So teach us to number our days
that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.
–Psalm 90:12, The Book of Common Prayer (2004)
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Trust and obedience to God undergird the readings for these two days.
Deuteronomy 5, which contains the Ten Commandments, concludes with these words:
Be careful, then, to do as the LORD your God has commanded you. Do not turn aside to the right or to the left: follow only the path that the LORD your God has enjoined upon you, so that you may thrive and that it may go well with you and that you may long endure in the land you are to possess.
–Verses 29-30, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
One had to arrive first, however. In Numbers 14, after spies had returned from their mission to Canaan, fear and faithlessness spread through the population.
I the LORD have spoken: Thus will I do to all that wicked band that has banded together against Me: in this very wilderness they shall die to the last man.
–Numbers 14:35, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
The author of the Letter to the Hebrews, who assumed that David had written Psalm 95, referred to that text:
Forty years I was provoked by that generation;
I thought, “They are a senseless people;
they would not know my ways.”
Concerning them I swore in anger,
“They shall never come to my resting-place!”
–Verses 10-11, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
The Promised Land is the resting-place in Psalm 95, as is one meaning of the Greek word katapausis in the readings from Hebrews. There are two words for “rest” in them; the other refers to sabbath rest. Katapausis has two other meanings in the Letter to the Hebrews:
- The rest God took after the sixth day of creation; this definition has eschatological overtones; and
- The peace of God.
The latter is the ultimate meaning of katapausis in the readings from Hebrews. Entrance into the peace of God requires trust and obedience.
But what does that mean in practical terms? Many voices compete to answer that question. Many of them horrify me. Those, for example, who argue that fidelity to God requires mutilating offenders and killing heretics and unbelievers appall me. (Some of those sources quote the Bible word-for-word while ignoring inconvenient passages.) Those who justify their violence by placing a false stamp of divine approval on it offend me. I do not pretend to know the mind of God, for I affirm the mystery of the divine. Yet I state clearly that one can, by considering the example of Jesus, learn much about the requirements for being a Christian. Loving one’s neighbors as one loves oneself (presuming, of course, that one loves oneself) is part of obeying God, I affirm.
The author of Hebrews referred to Joshua, son of Nun, in 4:8. May we who call ourselves Christians follow our Joshua–Jesus–into the peace of God. May we lay aside the fear which leads to disobedience to and lack of trust in God. May we, by grace, come into that divine rest and lead others to it.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JULY 3, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF HENRY THOMAS SMART, ENGLISH ORGANIST AND COMPOSER
THE FEAST OF ELIZABETH FERRARD, ANGLICAN DEACONESS
THE FEAST OF IMMANUEL NITSCHMANN, GERMAN-AMERICAN MORAVIAN MINISTER AND MUSICIAN; HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW, JACOB VAN VLECK, U.S. MORAVIAN MORAVIAN BISHOP, MUSICIAN, COMPOSER, AND EDUCATOR; HIS SON, WILLIAM HENRY VAN VLECK, U.S. MORAVIAN BISHOP; HIS BROTHER, CARL ANTON VAN VLECK, U.S. MORAVIAN MINISTER, MUSICIAN, COMPOSER, AND EDUCATOR; HIS DAUGHTER, LISETTE (LIZETTA) MARIA VAN VLECK MEINUNG; AND HER SISTER, AMELIA ADELAIDE VAN VLECK, U.S. MORAVIAN COMPOSER AND EDUCATOR
THE FEAST OF JOHN CENNICK, BRITISH MORAVIAN EVANGELIST AND HYMN WRITER
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2015/07/03/rest-in-god/
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Above: The Sinai Peninsula (Gemini 11, 1966)
Image in the Public Domain
Consequences of a Slave Mentality
AUGUST 9, 2023
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Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), of The Episcopal Church, contains an adapted two-years weekday lectionary for the Epiphany and Ordinary Time seasons from the Anglican Church of Canada. I invite you to follow it with me.
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Numbers 13:1-2, 25-14:1, 26-35 (Richard Elliott Friedman, 2001):
And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying,
Send men and let them scout the land of Canaan that I’m giving to the children of Israel. You shall send one man for each tribe of his fathers, every one of them a chieftain.
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And they came back from scouting the land at the end of forty days. And they went and came to Moses and to Aaron and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, to the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; and they brought back word to them and all the congregation and showed them the land’s fruit.
And they told him and said,
We came to the land where you sent us, and also it’s flowing with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nonetheless: the people who live in the land are strong. And the cities are fortified, very big. And also we saw the offering of the giants there. Amalek lives in the land of the Negeb, and the Hittite and the Jebusite and the Amorite live in the mountains, and the Canaanite lives by the sea and along the Jordan.
And Caleb quieted the people toward Moses and said,
Let’s go up, and we’ll take possession of it, because we’ll be able to handle it.
And the men who went up to him said,
We won’t be able to go up against the people, because they’re stronger than we are.
And they brought out a report of the land that they had scouted to the children of Israel, saying,
The land through which we passed to scout it: it’s a land that eats those who live in it, and all the people whom we saw in it were people of size! And we saw the Nephilim there, sons of giants ffrom the Nephilim, and we were like grasshoppers in our eyes, and so we were in their eyes.
And all the congregation raised and let out their voices! And the people wept that night.
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And YHWH spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
How much farther for this bad congregation, that they’re complaining against me? I’ve heard the complaints of the children of Israel that they’re making against me. Say to them: As I live–word of YHWH–what you have spoken in my ears, that is what I’ll do for you! In this wilderness your carcasses will fall; and all of you who were counted, for all your number, from twenty years old and up, who complained against me, I swear that you won’t come to the land that I raised my hand to have you reside there–except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. And your infants, whom you said would become a spoil: I’ll bring them, and they will know the land that you rejected! And you: your carcasses will fall in this wilderness. And your children will be roving the wilderness forty years, and they’ll bear your whoring until the end of your carcasses in the wilderness. For the number of days that you scouted the land, forty days, you shall bear your crimes a day for each year, forty years, and you shall know my frustratration! I, YHWH, have spoken: If I shall not do this to all the bad congregation who are gathered against me: in this wilderness they shall end, and they shall die there!
Psalm 106:6-14, 21-23 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
6 We have sinned as our forefathers did;
we have done wrong and dealt wickedly.
7 In Egypt they did not consider your marvelous works,
not remember the abundance of your love;
they defied the Most High at the Red Sea.
8 But he saved them for his Name’s sake,
to make his power known.
9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up,
and he led them through the deep as through a desert.
10 He saved them from the hand of those who hated them
and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
11 The waters covered their oppressors;
not one on them was left.
12 Then they believed his words
and sang him songs of praise.
13 But they soon forgot his deeds
and did not wait for his counsel.
14 A craving seized them in the wilderness,
and they put God to the test in the desert.
21 They forgot God their Savior,
who had done great things in Egypt,
22 Wonderful deeds in the land of Ham,
and fearful things at the Red Sea.
23 So he would have destroyed them,
had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach,
to turn away his wrath from consuming them.
Matthew 15:21-28 (J. B. Phillips, 1972)
Jesus then left that place and retired into the Tyre and Sidon district. There a Canaanite woman from those parts came to him crying at the top of her voice,
Lord, son of David, have pity on me! My daughter is in a terrible state–a devil has got into her!
Jesus made no answer, and the disciples came up to him and said, “Do not send her away–she’s still following us and calling out.”
“I was only sent, ” replied Jesus, “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
Then the woman came and knelt at his feet.
Lord, help me,
she said.
It is not right, you know,
Jesus replied,
to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.
The woman replied,
Yes, Lord, I know, but even the dogs live on the scraps that fall from their master’s table!
Jesus returned,
You certainly don’t lack faith; it shall be as you wish.
And at that moment her daughter was healed.
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The Collect:
Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern it always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Sometimes I wish that biblical authors had noted the tone of voice in which a person, such as Jesus, spoke, when writing about certain incidents. The story of the conversation between Jesus and the Gentile woman is such a case. But some details in the account provide fascinating clues.
Most importantly, Jesus was in the district of Tyre and Sidon, which was Gentile central. And he went there voluntarily. If he had a serious attitude problem regarding Gentiles, he would not have gone there voluntarily. It is also vital to note that he granted the woman’s request to heal her daughter, even after his comment about throwing table scraps to dogs, who were allegedly impure and unclean animals, not beloved furry family members, as many North Americans think of domesticated canines. But the woman expected our Lord’s mercy and made her case for it to his face. She had faith and was persistent in it, and she went away satisfied. She passed the test.
The Gentile woman did not have a slave mentality. But the generation of Israelites that escaped from Egypt did.
Professor Richard Elliott Friedman makes the case for the existence of this slave mentality in his Commentary on the Torah. Time after time the children of Israel had waxed nostalgic about Egyptian table scraps and complained about how God provided for them in the wilderness. Mentally, they were still in Egypt, where they depended upon their overlords. But YHWH offered them something far better–freedom. Alas, they were not ready for it. They were afraid of so much, mostly that they would die in the desert. So they reacted fearfully. Those actions had consequences, including their death in the wilderness. Those who lacked a slave mentality were destined to reach the promised land.
This is what is really going on the the reading from Numbers. The origin of the Nephilim is an interesting intellectual and mythological knot to attempt to untie, but it serves no useful devotional purpose for me today. The Nephilim scared many Israelites; that is the important detail about them today. The lack of faith and prevalence of fear in this matter constituted the last straw for YHWH in Numbers 14. That is vital in this account.
At this time my mind turns to James 4:1-6. It reads:
What causes fighting and quarrels among you? Is not their origin the appetites that war in your bodies? You want what you cannot have, so you murder; you are envious, and cannot attain your ambition, so you quarrel and fight. You do not get what you want, because you do not pray for it. Or, if you do, your requests are not granted, because you pray from wrong motives, in order to squander what you get on your pleasures. Unfaithful creatures! Surely you know that love of the world means enmity to God? Whoever chooses to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy. Or do you suppose that scripture has no point when it says that the spirit which God implanted in us is filled with envious longings? But the grace he gives is stronger; thus scripture says, ‘God opposes the arrogant and gives grace to the humble.'” (Revised English Bible, 1989)
Humility, contrary to a widespread misunderstanding, is not beating one’s breast and considering oneself a worthless excuse for a human being. That is low self-esteem. No, being humble is having a realistic self-image in relation to God. So a healthy ego–one neither too small nor raging out of control–is part and parcel of humility. We humans bear the image of God, and therefore have inherent dignity others are obligated to recognize and respect. The Gentile woman knew that she and her daughter had inherent human dignity Jesus was obliged to recognize and respect. She insisted on this, and Jesus granted her request. She asked–properly–for a just cause, and she received what she requested. She was humble.
On the other hand, those Israelites with a slave mentality were not humble. And neither did they expect the best, which they did not receive. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy. They were responsible for what happened to them.
Which story more nearly describes you? If the answer to that question is damning, you can rewrite the rest of your narrative. The children of Israel had many such opportunities, and they wasted them. Learn from these ancient accounts.
KRT
http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/consequences-of-a-slave-mentality/
ORDINARY TIME DEVOTIONS 
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