Day 68— Now that we’ve passed Day 66, it’s 100% likely that we have established a “habit.” So CELEBRATE our habit of daily Bible reading! We are in the THIRD month so far! Praise God!
Before entering the Promised Land, Moses takes time to document Israel’s journey so for, since they left Egypt, and to review what they are to do once they cross the boarder. (Chapter 33)
Many of the places he mentions are familiar, but quite a few are not, especially in the final 38 years of just wandering around the desert until all the older generation dies. Forty times, Moses writes of Israel, “they set out from” and “they camped at.” What a tedious journey of packing up and setting up, all resulting from their disobedience. (How often have I also endured long trials as a result of deciding MY way instead of GOD’s way?)
At the end of the chapter the LORD reminds Moses to repeat His instructions about entering the land of Canaan. “You shall DRIVE OUT ALL the inhabitants of the land from before you, and DESTROY ALL their figures and images, and DEMOLISH ALL their high places.” And then they could enjoy the Land that God promised them.
BUT “If you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as BARBS IN YOUR EYES and THORNS IN YOUR SIDES, and will trouble you. (Let’s see how that works out when we get to the book of Joshua.)
Next, in Chapter 34, God tells Moses the boundaries of the Land He has Promised them – South, West (Mediterranean Sea), North, and East (the shoulder of the Sea of Galilee, Jordan River, Dead Sea). God also allows the 2.5 tribes to inherit the hill country of Gilead, and the lands of Ammon and Moab on the East of the Jordan River.
The LORD also names Eleazar the priest, and Joshua as the two who will divide the land up by lot according to the size of each tribe. A head man from each tribe is also named to help in the allotments.
It sounds so exciting! They will soon enter and conquer their Promised Land and find where they all will live! (And no longer camp & move.) But first, a lot of work, lessons, and refinement must be endured. Are they up for it?
Day 67— Now that we’ve passed Day 66, it’s 100% likely that we have established a “habit.” So CELEBRATE your habit of daily Bible reading! We are in the THIRD month so far! Praise God!
Day 67 – Numbers 31 – 32 (War on Midian, The questionable spoil, Special request of some tribes.)
In Chapter 31, the LORD speaks to Moses to go to war against the Midianites, as an act of divine vengeance. WHY?? You remember in previous chapters how, when he couldn’t “curse” Israel, that Balaam told the king to “conquer” Israel by deviate actions. If they sent their seductive women (with their Baal idols) into the camp, Israel would grab the women and forsake their God.
This happened, and you remember the outcome. Death and plague, and Phinehas’ bold move in killing an arrogant leader with a pagan woman.
Now, Israel was to get a taste of what they would be doing once inside the Promised Land – fighting, conquering, destroying the pagan Canaanite peoples to purify worship of the one and only true God. 12,000 soldiers (with our hero Phinehas) are sent against Midian and they kill every male, including the five kings and their chief men. AND…the false prophet, Balaam got his due as well.
BUT!!!! Another lesson needed to be taught. The now available pagan women with their idols were once again inside God’s holy nation! NO! Moses was angry with the commanders and ordered all of the women killed. Young male children as well. YIKES! Only the young girls could be eventually, safely, assimilated into the nation.
WOW. Sounds harsh, right? But think of the invasiveness of sin. If you know some future history of Israel, you know how just a few idols could lead to massive national disobedience. Like us, sin must be nipped in the bud.
Once the commanders obey, they take stock of the plunder. Lots of gold etc., animals and persons (16,000). The spoil was divided among the tribes (a process that continued in all their wars), and a portion set aside for the Levites, as well as that offered to God.
And in the fray, NOT A SINGLE ISRAELI SOLDIER was killed!
In Chapter 32, we see Moses angry again. (He’s probably just wanting to die and be done with these people!!) The tribes of Reuben and Gad (farmers & ranchers at heart) see the lush hills of Gilead on the East of the Jordan/Promised Land, and want to settle their tribes there.
Moses thinks they are rebelling, just like the 10 spies 38 years previously had coerced them not to enter the Land, but to turn back. He rants and rails on them, but they say, “No, we are not turning back. We promise that all our soldiers will go into the Promised Land and fight with our brothers until they are all settled in their areas. Just let our families and animals settle here.”
Moses finally agrees but makes them VOW before the LORD that they would do as they’d promised. If not, they would be sinning against God, and to be sure, “your sin will find you out.” And so, Moses gave to Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh the kingdoms of King Sihon and King Og and all their territories and cities as their permanent possession.
Day 65— We have begun the THIRD month of Bible reading! We’ve been reading for over a 1/6 of a year! Praise God! I hope it’s become a GOOD habit that we will continue.
Day 65 – Numbers 26 – 27 (A new census, Passing the baton)
Chapter 26 is maybe a bit tedious to read with all its names and numbers. But it was very important to Israel. They are now about to conquer the Promised Land, and it will be divided up among the 12 tribes according to their number; bigger areas to bigger tribes, etc.
This census was also to determine that ALL of those who rebelled against God 38 years earlier and refused to go into the Land were dead. Remember at this point, only Joshua and Caleb (in their 80’s now), and their families, plus Moses remained. (26:64-65)
In the count of tribes, SEVEN had grown in size, while FIVE had decreased. The total number of Israelites 20 years of age and older (suitable for the army) was 1,820 fewer than the tally in chapter one. The Levites, who would receive no land as inheritance since the LORD Himself was their inheritance, had increased in number by 1,000.
Chapter 27 begins with a new problem. Five women, daughters of one man, came to Moses saying that their father had no sons and had died in the wilderness. Was their family to lose the rightful inheritance because there was no sons? Moses inquired of the LORD, Who said that the daughters were correct and they were given their father’s inheritance.
Then a NEW LAW was written for Israel about the Land and the absence of male heirs. The inheritance would first be given to the daughters, or, if none, to the diseased man’s the brothers, and then uncles. If none of these were alive, the “nearest kinsmen” of the tribe would possess it. (This very law will come up in the book of Ruth.)
Then, THAT time comes. God tells Moses to set apart Joshua to lead Israel in his place – because of his sin of “failing to uphold God as holy in the people’s eyes” at the waters of Meribah. So Moses takes Joshua before the high priest, Eleazar in the presence of all the people, and lays his hands on him as a symbol of passing his authority and leadership. And so, in the eyes of God and the people, Joshua is officially commissioned to lead the people into the Land when the time came.
Moses was not to die yet, but the people had confidence that they would not be left without a leader when he did.
Day 63 & 64— We have begun the THIRD month of Bible reading! We’ve been reading for over a 1/6 of a year now! Praise God! I hope that it’s become a GOOD habit that will continue till the end of the year. (Note: SUNDAY’s reading is combined with MONDAY’s)
Day 63 – Numbers 21 – 22 (War begins, snakes, singing, a prophet & donkey)
Numbers 21. After mourning for Aaron a month, the people begin the Canaanite campaign. The king of Arad attacks and takes some captives. Israel prays and they completely destroy them at Hormah. (Where 40 years earlier they’d try to do it against God’s will and been soundly defeated. (14:45))
Next they began the trek AROUND Edom and get impatient. They again complain against Moses, and the desert, and no food, and no water, and they are sick of Manna. Enough! God sends fiery serpents among the people to bite and kill them. Eeek! They repent and beg Moses to pray for them.
He does. God tells him to make a representative snake out of bronze and put it on a pole. He tells Moses that if the people LOOK on (not worship) the bronze snake in faith they will be healed. Moses did, they did, and they lived. (Jesus referenced this pole in John 3:14-15, saying that HE would be lifted up on a pole like that bronze snake, and people who looked on Him in faith would have eternal life.)
(Note: later Israel did begin to worship that bronze snake and it had to be destroyed. 2 Kings 18:4)
Perhaps with the excitement of finally approaching the Promised Land and defeating enemies and surviving poisonous snakes, Israel is seen/heard singing, first about a well that God provided for them, and then a song of anticipation of defeating Heshbon and Moab, and King Og of Bashan and Sihon, king of the Amorites.
Chapter 22 begins the confusing, and sometimes humorous story of King Balak and the seer/diviner Balaam. The king offers to pay Balaam to curse the hoard of Israel that he sees coming toward his land. Balaam inquires of the LORD, who says, NO, in no uncertain terms. They offer him more money, and he asks the LORD again, who says, Okay, you can go, but say only what I tell you.
(Why does God change his mind? Always for His glory we know! But after a firm denial, why say, okay. Well, isn’t Balaam like us? We don’t like a “no” answer, especially if we are losing a profit, and we keep praying (pestering) God who maybe says, Okay, go ahead, but it won’t be good. Perhaps that is happening here.)
So… Balaam goes along with the kings men, but says he will only say what God tells him (Boy, won’t THAT be true??) As Balaam is merrily riding along on his donkey, perhaps thinking of that huge monetary reward from King Balak, God’s anger is revealed. He sends what seemed like one of his mighty angels, but could be a very manifestation of God Himself to stop Balaam.
Balaam is blind to God in front of him, just as he was deaf to God’s instructions. But the DONKEY could see very well and shied away three times, making Balaam absolutely livid. (He must have looked so foolish to the kings men, not able to even control his own donkey! Tee-hee.)
He beats the donkey in anger, until God allows that animal to SPEAK! And then, BALAAM ARGUES BACK WITH THE DONKEY!!! (I wonder if the other men could see/hear what was going on, or if they only perceived Balaam as being totally crazy… or perhaps speaking to unseen spirits.) Anyway, Balaam finally is able to see the fiery being with a drawn sword. He confesses he has sinned and offers to go back home. But God, perhaps observing Balaam as more compliant now, sends him on, emphasizing again that he will only (be able to) speak what God says.
Once he arrives, and after King Balak makes a bunch of sacrifices, he takes Balaam up a high hill where he could view a fraction of the hoard of Israelites (To be continued tomorrow.)
In chapter 25, we left Balaam and King Balak on a hill overlooking a portion of Israel’s camp, but before he proclaims any curses, Balaam insists on seven bull & ram sacrifices and King Balak complies. (One wonders to whom or what they are sacrificing.) Then Balaam goes higher up the hill “to get the Word from God.” He returns and tells the King and the princes of Moab, “How can I curse what God has blessed?”
The King is understandably angry. “WHAT??? That’s what I’m paying you for!!
They try a different view, from Mt. Pisgah and offer another seven bulls and rams. Balaam inquires of God and returns with –
“God is not a man that He should lie,
Or the son of man that He should change His mind.
Has He said, and will He not do it?
Or has He spoken, and will He not fulfill it?
Behold, I received a COMMAND to bless
He has blessed and I cannot revoke it.”23:19-20
King Balak is furious. “Don’t bless. Don’t curse. Don’t speak at all!” But….. he takes Balaam to another hill, ditto on the sacrifices, but this time Balaam just begins his “blessings” on Israel, ending with part of the Abrahamic covenant, “Blessed are those who bless you, and cursed are those who curse you.” 24:9b
Anger fills King Balak, but Balaam reminds him piously that he cannot but speak GOD’S WORDS. Then almost as a final jab, he prophesizes about how Israel will overcome their enemies…. including Moab. The two men part ways and return to their homes.
But Balaam, ACTS in favor of King Balak even though he cannot SPEAK curses. According to Numbers 31:16, he instructs the Moabites and Midianites how to provoke God’s anger against His own people, and they send in beautiful, seductive (idol-carrying) women to entice Israeli men.
And in Chapter 25, they fall for it. Sure enough, God’s anger is provoked and He instructs Moses to take all the chiefs (elders?) of the people and “hang them in the sun.” So as they were told, the judges of Israel kill those men who had yoked themselves to the idol Baal, via the women. But God also sends a plague among them.
Phinehas, grandson of Aaron, zealous for the LORD, takes a spear and goes after Zimri, the Simeonite, an arrogant man, who openly brought a Midianite woman into this tent in front of all the people in defiance to God. Phinehas thrusts the spear through the two of them while they were in the act.
God was pleased with Phinehas’ zeal and jealousy for His holiness, and stops the plague. God also blesses Phinehas’ line with a perpetual priesthood.
Day 62— Today we begin the THIRD month of Bible reading! We’ve been reading for over a 1/6 of a year! Praise God! I hope that it’s become a GOOD habit that we will continue.
After the last few days of Levite rebellion and God’s swift punishment & affirmation of Aaron & Moses, it’s suitable in Chapter 18 for God to review the duties of Priests and Levites, and their compensation for service. The LORD reminds them that in the Promised Land, they will get no real inheritance of property, but will have Himself as their inheritance and provider.
Chapter 19 reviews the laws of purification after touching a dead body. (Remember in chapter 16, how God’s plague killed 14,700 rebels. Lots of handling and burying!)
Chapter 20, (as the end of the 40 wilderness years approaches) lists several SAD, but necessary, things. First, Miriam, Moses’ oldest sibling, dies and is buried in the Wilderness of Zin.
Next, at the “Waters of Meribah (“questioning”), the people – yes, this newer generation – again grumble about not having water for themselves and their animals, and yearn for the figs, grapes, and pomegranates of Egypt. (YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING, how can they even remember that?) And Moses loses it.
God tells him to take the staff (Aaron’s rod that budded?), assemble the people before a rock, and SPEAK to the rock, which will yield abundant water for them all. Moses is so fed up with these people (he’s 120 years old and has been with the grumblers for 40 years), that he, 1) gets the staff, 2) takes the people to the forementioned rock, and 3) speaks…. but NO! Moses STRIKES the rock, not once, but TWICE!!
God is faithful. Water flows to the ingrate people, but Moses’ fate is sealed. He WILL NOT lead the people into the Promised Land, but die at its boarder. Wow. Seems harsh, right? I mean, which of us wouldn’t be as frustrated at those millions of “babies” and lose our cool? Why would God condemn him for this ONE little human mistake?
Well, it is abject disobedience, of course, before the Priest and all the people. Punishable for a leader.
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But I’d like to consider a few other possible things. I’m thinking that in striking the rock this time, Moses “ruined” the “picture” or “type” of Christ’s work on the cross. Jesus our Lord is often called our ROCK of our salvation. He’s referred to as the corner stone. Jesus died for sin and experienced the wrath of God ONCE, on the cross. God approved and raised Him to life again. After that, Jesus told His disciples they could pray to God for anything in his name. They could (and should) confess their sin and ASK for forgiveness, and God would hear and answer (for Christ’s sake).
Jesus did NOT have to be crucified (sacrificed) again and again, like the bulls and rams in Moses’ time. He – once and for all time – took the wrath of God for sin, and whoever believes in Him can have eternal life (rivers of living water).
Picture Jesus as that rock at Mt. Horeb, struck once, and yielding abundant water for Israel. Then, Moses was just to SPEAK to the rock (ask, if you will) and water would flow. But he STRUCK the rock. It could be seen as having to crucify Jesus again to receive that eternal life.
This is how I see Moses’ sin. It does not say specifically in God’s Word that this is so, so take it as a possible suggestion. And also remember direct disobedience of a leader of God is very serious in it’s own right.
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After this incident, Moses continues to lead Israel toward the Promised Land. They are taking the route to the East of the Jordan River Valley/Dead Sea, which will take them right through the land of Edom. These people are descendants of Isaac. Esau/Edom was Jacob’s brother, so these would be their closest relatives. Moses asks permission to move through the land – NOT march forward as against enemies – and Edom refuses twice, and then brings out their army.
God had told Moses (Deut. 2:5) NOT to wage war on their “brothers” or even take any food or water from them, so Moses leads Israel the long way, around Edom and Mt. Seir, the land God had given to the descendants of Esau.
But before they start, at Mt. Hor, on the boarder of Edom, God tells Moses to take Aaron and his son Eleazar to the top of the mountain, remove the priestly vestige from Aaron and put it on his son, for Aaron will die there. It seems he was involved in some way in striking that rock, so he also could NOT enter the Land. Moses obeys, and when the people see him coming back with only Eleazar in priestly garb they know Aaron is dead, and they weep for him 30 days.
Day 52 — We are in the second month! We’ve been reading for over a 1/12 of a year! Praise God! I hope that it’s become a GOOD habit that will continue. TODAY IS THE LAST READING IN LEVITICUS.
Leviticus 26 is much like the closing chapters of Deuteronomy. In it, God, through Moses, tells the people how He wants to bless them and WILL bless them in the Promised Land with goodness and plenty if they will obey Him..
“If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase…. and (you will) dwell in your land securely. I will give peace in the land….” (Leviticus 26:3, 4a, 5b, 6a)
“I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my People. I am the LORD your God… And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.” (Lev. 26:12, 13b)
But….. God then warns the people of FIVE, increasingly strong waves of discipline He will bring on them if they do NOT obey all His commandments, and instead break His covenant when they get to the Promised Land. (Sadly, if you know Israel’s history, this is exactly what happens.)
(I too, often disobey and then feel God’s hand of discipline. But it is because God loves me that He disciplines me. Read Hebrews 12:5-9.)
After God lays out these waves of curses, there is another “BUT.” IF His people will confess their iniquity…. IF their uncircumcised hearts are humbled…. THEN God will remember His Covenant with Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham… “I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I AM the LORD.
(It reminds me again of 1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleans us from all unrighteousness.”) (Because of Jesus)
The last chapter in Leviticus (27) is about vows and the valuations of things. God tells the people through Moses that they should be involved with and help to support the spiritual aspects of living with Him. Their vows and dedications of themselves (paid in shekels), their animals given as gifts, and their tithes of land will all help to support the priesthood once they are in the Promised Land, and will remind them of being the chosen people of the LORD God who redeemed them.
Day 52 — We are in the second month! We’ve been reading for over a 1/12 of a year! Praise God! I hope that it’s become a GOOD habit that will continue.
Day 52 – Leviticus 24 – 25 (blasphemy, retaliation, Sabbath years, Jubilee & restoration)
Leviticus 24 opens by reminding the people about holiness in the making of the oil for the Tabernacle Lampstands, and the flour in the bread for the Table of Presence, both are holy to the LORD.
Then there’s a cautionary story about a half-Egyptian son of a Jewish woman who blasphemes the Name of the Lord, and curses (Him). God said to Moses to take him outside the camp and stone him to death. Pure and simple. Do not blaspheme the Name of I AM.
God then establishes the rule of retaliation that was first mentioned in Genesis 9:5-6, whoever kills a human, is to be executed. Life for life. Here, more details are added to RESTRICT, not INFORCE, retaliation. (Only) a fracture for a fracture, (only) an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Not more. Not death.
Chapter 25 deals with the time when Israel will be in the Promised Land. Currently they are to celebrate with rest the seventh DAY in every week. Then, they and their land would rest in the seventh YEAR. No harvesting or planting. What grew of itself would be food for them to eat, but not for harvesting and storing.
Besides the seventh-year rest, all the land was to rest after 7×7 weeks of years, in the 50th year. it was to be called the year of Jubilee. Again they could eat the produce of the land for themselves, but not sow and harvest for storage or profit.
PLUS, in that year any land or person who had been sold to pay for debts would be returned to the owner, and released from servanthood. The LORD would provide extra harvest in the year before, to carry them over until the harvests of the 51st year. God would be faithful provide their daily bread as they obeyed Him. If they did not…………..
(It is interesting that the prophets of Judah who observed them going into captivity said that the length of their exile was because they’d neglected this sabbath rest for their land. Seventy years the land would rest while they were in Babylon… making up for the sabbaths they were deprived of, out GREED and lack of faith in their God.)
(Compare Leviticus 26:34-35 with (2 Chron. 36:21) “To fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths, all the days of its desolation it (the land) kept sabbath until seventy years were complete.”)
Won’t you read the Bible with me this year? It only takes a few minutes. (You can also listen to an audio recording.)
Day 19 – Genesis 22 – 24 (A sacrifice, a death, a marriage)
Chapter 22 begins with God testing Abraham with the words, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go…offer him as a burnt offering…”
That isn’t any way that I’d like my day to begin! But Abraham’s immediate response was obedience. There are no questions, complaints, or refusals. He gets up early with the boy, the wood and the fire, and heads to the place God will show him…. to kill his only son. He builds an alter, lays the wood on it, binds and places Isaac on top (the boy is about 20 years old!), raises the knife to kill him, and is micro-seconds away from plunging it into the “son he loves,” the son of the Covenant, through whom the Messiah would come. Yet Abe is willing to do it.
Hebrews 11:17-19 gives us the bulwark of his faith. He believed God would raise Isaac from the dead in order to fulfill His promise. God’s promises are always YES! and AMEN! God never changes. God later imputes “righteousness” to Abraham because of his faith.
1 Corinthians 10:13 — “No temptation (testing) has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted (tested) beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also PROVIDE the way of escape that you may be able to endure it.”
And this is what God did for His friend, Abraham. STOP! Now I know that you fear God. (God knew this all the time of course. He’s omnicient. But now ABRAHAM knew it too.) And Abraham immeditely saw a ram caught in the brambles. This animal became the sacrifice. And the place became know as “Tthe LORD provides.” And indeed it was on that very mount that God Almighty “provided” His only begotton Son to the world, as a sacrifice and payment for their sin. (John 3:16)
Oh my! God renews His promises and gives even more:
I will surely bless you
I will surely multiply your offspring (as the sand on the seashore)
Your offspring will possess the gate of his enemies
In your Offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed
In chapter 23, Abraham’s faithful wife of 62 years dies. He negotiates with his long-time friends near Hebron to buy a burial ground, and he buries her there. (He, Isaac & Rebekah, and Jacob & Leah will all be buried there as well. It is the first concrete piece of the Promised Land that Abraham actually OWNS.)
Isaac is 37 when his mother dieds and Abraham thinks it’s high-time that the “boy” is married. Through the 66 verses of chapter 24 we are treated with a remarkable love story. Abe sends his faithful servant (who HAD BEEN in the line of inheritance) back to Haran where Abraham’s brother’s family still lived to acquire a wife for Isaac. (No Canaanite wife for the Son of Promise!)
The story shows the sovereignty and plan of God in very wonderful ways as the 85-year-old faithful steward, Eliezer, travels the long distance, and relies solely on God to choose the woman whom he will take back to his master’s son. Read it again. It’s beautiful.
And Isaac (40 years old now) sees the beautiful Rebekah and takes her as his wife. The last words of the chapter are, “So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.”
Eden, fresh from the hand of the Creator. Beautiful beyond imagination. Self watering and weed free. Every tree bearing delicious fruit, just for the picking. Yes, there were two special trees in the very heart of the Garden. The Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
There was only one prohibition. Do not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
They why plant it there? To see if man would choose life.
Then from His loving heart, the Creator put the man into a deep sleep, took one of his ribs and closed the flesh. Out of the rib, He made a perfectly matched and fitting together, helpmate. A woman. And the man was “wowed!”
Naked and unashamed the roamed and worked the Garden, eating fruit as they desired, learning about each other. Heaven on earth.
One day, walking together, the woman laughing and frolicking, her toes treading deep in the soft dewy grass, they came upon a magnificent tree.
“No, Eve. Let’s go on. We aren’t to eat the fruit on that tree.”
“Why not?” she asked her husband.
“The LORD God said so,” Adam told her.
“But why not?” she said again, walking toward the tree, her eyes wide with wonder.”
“He said we would surely die.”
“What does ‘die’ mean, Adam?” she said circling the trunk of the enticing tree, delight on her face.
“Why, hello there,” came a silvery voice from the heavily laden branches. “Did God actually say ‘you shall not eat of any tree in this lovely garden?”
The woman peered closer and saw a beautifully colored serpant weaving before her. “We may eat of all the trees here except this one. He said we would ‘surely die’ if we did. We may not even touch it,” she added coyly.
“You shall not surely die,” came the sensuous, deep voice. “For God knows that when you do eat of it, you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
He paused then continued, “Here, try one. It is sweeter than any fruit you have ever eaten.”
The woman saw that the fruit would be good for food, and wasn’t that her tummy growling?
It was a beautiful fruit as well, so shining and deeply hued. She fancied she could even smell the warm fruitiness. Her mouth began to water.
And, if eating the fruit would make her wise, well, why wouldn’t anyone want that. She reached up, touched one of the fruits, and it fell into her hand. She put it to her mouth and took a bite. It was so sweet and juice ran down her chin. “Ohhhhhh!” she moaned in pleasure.
“Here, husband, you must have one too!”
And Adam also ate.
Instantly the eyes of their soul were opened and the knew they were naked and they were ashamed. They crept into the trees, hands and arms covering the parts of their bodies they had deemed beautiful before. The half-eaten fruit lay in the grass, already beginning to rot. Flies hovered nearby.
Later, in the cool of the evening when they always walked and talked with their Creator, they heard His voice. That voice that had inspired such great joy within them, now struck terror.
“Where are you, my children?”
Adam crept out from the bushes, the hastily woven leaves covering his genitals. “I… we…heard your voice and were afraid because we are naked.”
“WHO told you, you were naked?” thundered the voice of God. “Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you not to eat?”
“The woman you gave me to be with, she gave me the fruit and I ate.” Adam answered his voice quavering.
God turned to the woman, “What have you done?”
“The…the…serpent deceived me… and… I ate,” her voice barely a whisper.
The God of the Universe turned to the serpant and roared, “You are cursed above all things. I will put enmity between you and the offspring of the woman. You shall bruise His heel. But HE, He shall crush your head!”
“And as for you, woman, you will have pain now in childbearing. Your desire will be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
Majesty turned then to Adam. And in a still but intense voice, He said, “Because you listened to your wife, cursed is the ground because of you. In pain you shall eat of it all your days. Prickling, painful thorns will it bring forth for you, to tear your flesh. You will sweat and toil and in the end you will return to the dust from which I made you.”
Then in saddness and anger the Creator drove the humans He’d created out from the Garden He’d made for them. He placed one of His myriads of cherubim with a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the Tree of Life.
Lest the man and woman now eat of it and live eternally in their SIN.
The picture represents Eve in shame before Mary who is carrying the promised offspring, the Son of God, who will indeed die by the serpant’s wiles, but who will rise from the dead triumphant to crush death and Satan forever.
LORD, help me to seek Your face and Your ways, and to love and obey you with my whole heart. Lead me not into temptation and deliver me from the Evil One.
A beautiful girl chosen by the King of Persia to be his new Queen, unbeknownst to him, a Jewess. Pampered and Primped in the king’s haram spa until she was fit to be called to spend a night with Him. She found favor.
Meanwhile, a proud and pompous descendant of the Amaekites approached the King with a wicked plan. He hated all Jews and tricked the King into agreeing that a “subversive people group” needed purging from Persia.
Esther got wind of the plot from her uncle Mordecai. He asked her to save her people by doing the impossible – going into the king’s inner court without first being called to beg his favor. The law stated that the one who did so was to be put to death…. unless the king held out the golden scepter.
Her uncle’s words, “Do not think to yourself that in the King’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
While the Jews in capitol city fasted and prayed – Esther and her women as well – Esther made a plan. She went in the strength of Almighty God with the simple, yet sly plan, to see the King.
And miracle of miracles King Ahasuerus held out the scepter!
Twice the King and the Amalekite were invited to Esther’s private quarters for a sumptuous meal. During the second, when the King was sated with rich food, Esther told him about the Amalekite’s plot to kill her.
In a rage, the king ordered his death by hanging, and since the Law of the Persians could not be cancelled, he ordered that the Jews could fight and defend themselves when the henchmen came.
After that, a great celebration was held to honor the Jews’ victory. It’s called Purim, and is celebrated today.
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PS: The whole story of Esther in the Bible is a delightful, intriguing read. I’ve left out many of the unbelievable details. But read it on your own. It almost sounds like an episode of the Keystone Cops.
LORD, help me to be willing to stand up against evil and proclaim the righteousness of God and the Son regardless of my own safety.
Day 68 – Numbers 33 – 34 (Israel’s journey, Tribal boundaries)
Morning Meditations 