Bible in a Year: Desert Wanderings
I am humming along on my Bible listening journey and it continues to be interesting. There’s a lot of repetitiveness in readings and storytelling I imagine to help it sink in for the reader to remember but doesn’t make it fun.
Both of these books were supposedly written by Moses himself.
Books in the Desert Wanderings include:
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Pslam (Continued)
Here are some of the highlights, learnings and take aways.
Numbers
Overall Story: To show God’s judgement but also his faithfulness and love for Isrealites.
The book of numbers starts out exactly as you might think, with taking census of the 12 tribes of israel to understand the amount of people able to bear arms (adults 20+). In the wilderness of Sinai, there are a total of 603,000+ Israelites found to be fit for military service to help protect these chosen people on their journey to the Promised Land.
Numbers is a lot about God setting up laws and a judicial system for the people. These laws include things like the Duty of priests, sexual relations, murder (and accidental murder), and even how to live day to day. There’s even More about offerings that made my eyes glaze over and the phrase “The smell pleases the lord” was said dozens and dozens of times (18 to be exact in this book). The Lord loves the smell of animal blood.
Overall, in the beginning of the book the census was taken, and near the end it was taken again. With the plagues and moving around the desert only 2,000 were lost over about 40 years.
Notably, Aaron, the older brother of Moses, dies on top of Mount Hor.
Deuteronomy
Summary: Devote yourself wholeheartedly to God.
The book of Deuteronomy was a bit more entertaining than Numbers. Moses reiterates the ten commandments, renewed the covenant with God with the Israelites and documents the journey through the desert to the promised land. Moses wrote this book around 1400BC.
It went through all of Gods desires and rules for us to live by. The one’s that stuck out to me especially for modern times are:
“Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.” Deuteronomy22:11
talks about Cross dressing is forbidden (Deuteronomy 22:5)
"A woman shall not wear man's clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman's clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God."
Women are not disposable. We are talked about as second class but to be treated justly in multiple exerpts:
The Right to Happiness: (Deuteronomy 24:5) prioritized the woman's emotional well-being and the stability of her marriage over the needs of the state.
stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married."
Protection for the Vulnerable: (Deuteronomy 24:17-21) The "widow" is mentioned repeatedly as a class of person who must be protected.
Restraints on Power: (Deuteronomy 21:10–14) established strict rules for how female captives of war. If A man wanted her, he had to marry her but also give her a full month to mourn her family. If he later changed his mind, he was forbidden to sell her or treat her as a slave.
A third rferenced to the known phrase: “an Eye for eye. Tooth for a tooth”. this time in reference to not taking false witness. (Deuteronomy 19:21)
"Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot."
Sabbath is a way to show hebrews they aren’t slaves anymore. They’re free and are called to rest.
"Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day." — (Deuteronomy 5:15)
Big take away. God is setting rules and showing love by demonstrating a great equality between the Israelites, knowing that they just came from a place of inequality and slavery.
Then, after so long with Moses, he dies in the final chapter of Deuteronomy while overlooking the promised land.
"I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there" (Deut 34:4).
"no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face" (Deut 34:10).
Pslam
We continue the prayers in Pslams, verse 118:8 stuck out to me as it reminded me of when My mother was dying and we tried so hard to get a priest over to read her last rights. it took neighbors and family members in GA and Ohio to call the church when finally a priest did show up. I was resentful by that point. Humans err. Humans aren’t perfect, even at a priestly level.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans.
