The Field is the World (Matt. 13:38)

How would I have felt, if I'd been among the generation about to enter the Promised Land, only to hear Moses give the divine perspective on the wilderness wandering? It makes me think of a Life Review. It's common for someone going through a Near Death Experience to experience a review of their entire life, including an understanding of the impact on other people from the perspective of those other people in incredible, 3-D detail. One thing that's said to be a common result of the experience is a type of repentance from materialism and selfishness . To have Moses summarize the 40-year history of the wilderness wanderings must have had this effect on the generation that entered Canaan.

Who is the manslayer? I am. ( Romans 7:9 ) Satan deliberately  laid the trap for all mankind, and is a "murderer from the beginning" ( John 8:44 , cf., Numbers 35:16-21 ) Who is the Avenger of Blood? This word is the same word in Hebrew as Redeemer ( ga'al) It has to be someone:  Of biological kinship  to you Unencumbered by personal guilt/debt Able to redeem and the same person who could Buy back your sold/defaulted property, Buy you back  if enslaved / sold into indentured servitude Raise up seed on behalf of/in the name of a dead relative Jesus became flesh ( John 1:14 ,  Hebrews 10:5 ) in order to become my Redeemer. He is also my city of Refuge. ( Psalm 46:1 ) as well as my High Priest ( Hebrews 4:14-16 ). Isaiah 44:6 pulls His deity and His kinship-redeemer status together into one passage:  "Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God."( https://www.bible.c...

Did the people fully understand that they were acting as God's agents in judgment? He had predicted this in His covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15:16, 18-21. In 33:55-56, we see the first of the predictions of what will happen to Israel if they fall short of the judgment God has in mind.

What made Balaam counsel Balak to get the cult prostitutes of Midian to seduce the Israelite men? He boldly blessed Israel while being paid and commanded to curse them from chapters 23-24. Balaam "rose up and returned to his place" in Numbers 24:25 and afterward the plan of Balaam is implemented , leading to the Lord's command to smite them (Numbers 25:16-18). I've always assumed there was an untold story of a threat by Balak that Balaam was unprepared for. Being outside of God's will he could not count on God's protection so he offered advice. But this is reading into the text.

Does the explicit description of sacrifices and holy convocations help solve the problem of how Jesus was "in the heart of the earth" three days and nights (Matthew 12:40)? These sabbaths are counted from days of the month, not days of the year. (John 19:31 explicitly says "that sabbath was an high day") Christ rose  on Sunday morning ( Mark 16:9). So He must have been crucified on Thursday, spent Thursday night and Friday morning, Friday night and Friday morning, Saturday night and Sunday morning in the grave, with Thursday being the seventh day of Passover and Luke 23:56 describing the Saturday Sabbath.

Why does Moses, in effect, suffer the same penalty as the generation which provoked God at Kadesh-barnea? According to God, it was unbelief in both cases (Numbers 14:11, 20:12, cf., Hebrews 3:7-19). Unbelief is serious; we must continually REST in our trust of God (Hebrews 4:9-11) that our hearts do not grow hard and rebellious against Him.

 Is there a more mysterious character than Balaam in the book of Numbers? Despite his perverse "way",  (22:32, 2 Peter 2:14), his great "error", (22:34, Jude 11), and his corrupting "doctrine" (25, 31:16, Revelation 2:14), the gentile prophet Balaam made accurate predictions about the future of Israel (24:7, 22) and even Christ. (24:17)

Is there a unifying theme to these three chapters? Moses misrepresents God and disobeys Him. His error costs him entry into the Promised Land. Balaam persists in a perverse way before the Lord (22:32). His error costs him a death like that of the people he had blessed. (23:10) What stands between? The serpent on the pole, to which Christ Himself referred as a type of His propitiating sacrifice (John 3:14, 12:32-33). The way for those who have corrupted themselves to nevertheless be blessed and enter the promised land.

How many Old Testament observances were symbolic of resurrection? Some are explicitly said to be (Genesis 22:5 / Hebrews 11:19) but others, like the dead rod of Aaron, though mentioned in the New Testament (Hebrews 9:4) are not called out as such. Does this mean we can look forward one day to a Bible lesson like the one in Luke 24:27?

How easily are people caught up and swayed by passionate words? gThey fled from the death of Korah and his followers, concerned that the ground would swallow them up as well (16:34) but then gathered to threaten Moses after the burning of the 250 who held censers. (16:42) God had literally appeared to them in a cloud before the tabernacle (19) and executed judgment exactly as predicted by Moses. (28-30)

(Numbers 13:28-33) Is there a positive example in Scripture of a democratic vote? Sometimes people point to Acts 15:23: 'Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren: ' (Acts 15:22 https://my.bible.com/bible/1/ACT.15.22 ) What I notice is that the decision happened before this (v. 19) and the people agreed, in order: Apostles, elders and the whole church. It's troubling to me that the word Laodicea can be translated, the assembly's judgment.

In Numbers 9:18, what was "the commandment of the LORD?" This reminded me of the Experiencing God principle, that God loves us and is at work all around us. When we become aware of His work that is an invitation to join Him. So the Israelites joined Him when He departed, and remained with Him when He stayed, no matter how long the journey and no matter how long the encampment. May I have eyes to see His work and the will to join Him in it always.

Would Jacob have made such a testimony as 48:15-16 before coming to Egypt? Does this prefigure Isa. 66:8, Zech. 3:9, 12:10?

I wonder if the priests thought about the threefold nature of the blessing God prescribed to "put His name upon the children of Israel?" In doing this they formed their hands into a letter "shin" with three prongs, and their practice (as shown on ancient gravestones) left a triangle in the negative space.

The numbering and substitution of the Levites for the firstborn of the Israelites seems mysterious. Does it point to something greater? God says He has '…taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn…' (Numbers 3:12, https://my.bible.com/bible/1/NUM.3.12 ) And then later, of those above the number of the Levites, God commanded a ransom, (Numbers 3:46-51, https://my.bible.com/bible/1/NUM.3.46-51 ), . Early in Christianity, one theory of the Atonement was called the "Ransom" theory, that Christ's blood paid the ransom for believers. (See Mark 10:45) Some believed the "ransom" was to God; others, to Satan. Since the God claims He owns the firstborn among the Israelites, (Exodus 13), and the ransom is paid to Him.

If, as Jesus said, (John 5:39-46), Moses wrote about Him, and indeed, the entirety of the scroll, (Ps. 40:7, Hebrews 10:7; every section, Luke 24:44), is about Him, might even the seemingly-mundane accounting of the camp's order even illustrate something to us? See https://thevoiceofonedotorg.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/israel-camped.jpg

There's a connection between Leviticus 26:40-44 and Daniel 9:3-19. Who will be the one to serve as the intercessor for us today?

Who was the Sabbath year (to let the land lie fallow every 7th year) for? For the LORD.(Leviticus 25:4) Not for the benefit of the land itself; not for the poor, but for the LORD. It would have demonstrated great trust in Him if His people could refrain from agriculture for an entire year and live on the store of the previous seven.

Isn't it interesting that the one feast where the people are commanded to bring their offering WITH LEAVEN…'Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord . ' (Leviticus 23:17, https://my.bible.com/bible/1/LEV.23.17 ) …is the birthday of the Church, celebrated in advance? I've always been troubled by the consistent use of the metaphor of leaven as sin, false doctrine, pride and the parable given in Matthew 13:33. So I used to say emphatically that the leaven is sin here as well; yet the Bible LITERALLY SAYS "The Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven…" not, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a loaf that becomes leavened." Still wrestling with this, but it may indicate the (initial) "uncleanness" of the gentiles, which ultimately make up almost all of the church.

were the people who received these laws hopeful that they could keep them? (Exodus 19:8, 24:3) Or did their consciences strike them immediately? I read it thinking of the many examples of broken laws in the Old and New Testaments, (such as David's adultery, Manasseh's human sacrifice to Molech, the Pharisees' failure to bring the man taken in adultery, Caiaphas' rending of the high priests' garment to add emotion to Jesus' illegal trial). By comparison, when He came, Jesus should have been immediately identifiable by His holiness alone.