The Devotional Journey: Bible Reading 73

Yahweh allows the Israelites to scout out the land of Canaan

Read Numbers 13:1–33.

At Yahweh’s command, the Israelites broke camp and headed to the southern part of the Promised land, to a place known as Kadesh-Barnea. They were supposed to enter Canaan from here. This was an important moment for them as God was acting on His covenant promises to Abraham to give his descendants the land.

The Bible tells us that the people wanted to survey the land first. In the book of Deuteronomy (the last book that Moses wrote), Moses recorded that the original idea to spy out the land came from the people. Yahweh agreed to their request and told Moses to choose 12 men, one from each tribe of Israel. They would go on this survey trip.

Deuteronomy 1:19–25
[19] “Then, just as the LORD our God commanded us, we left Mount Sinai and traveled through the great and terrifying wilderness, as you yourselves remember, and headed toward the hill country of the Amorites. When we arrived at Kadesh-barnea, [20] I said to you, ‘You have now reached the hill country of the Amorites that the LORD our God is giving us.

[21] Look! He has placed the land in front of you. Go and occupy it as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. Don’t be afraid! Don’t be discouraged!’

[22] “But you all came to me and said, ‘First, let’s send out scouts to explore the land for us. They will advise us on the best route to take and which towns we should enter.’

[23] “This seemed like a good idea to me, so I chose twelve scouts, one from each of your tribes. [24] They headed for the hill country and came to the valley of Eshcol and explored it. [25] They picked some of its fruit and brought it back to us. And they reported, ‘The land the LORD our God has given us is indeed a good land.’

In July, these 12 men entered the land to see what it was like (Verse 20 says it was the season of the first ripe grapes, which is around July). It was filled with good and plentiful food! They gathered pomegranates, figs and a cluster of grapes so huge that two men had to carry it on a pole!

Forty days later, when the 12 men retuned to give a report, it almost seemed as if the scouts had gone to two different places!

Ten of them gave a bad report. They admitted that the land was wonderful, flowing with milk and honey, meaning that it could sustain lots of livestock and animals and also, there was plenty of fruit trees and vegetation. They even showed the fruits they had brought back. (Notice how this description matched what Yahweh had already told them. They actually didn’t need to investigate as God had told them what it was like!)

However, the scouts added that Israel wouldn’t be able to conquer the people of the land. One of the people groups was extremely tall, so they seemed like giants to the ten men. The ten scouts told the people they shouldn’t enter the land for Israel would be defeated. (Notice how this assessment didn’t agree with what God had promised to do for Israel! Their fear made them distrust Yahweh.)

One of the other two remaining scouts, Caleb, said they could and should go into the land. They would definitely be able to conquer it! Both Caleb and Joshua shared the same perspective.

Why was there such a difference in the reports by the scouts?

All the men had seen Yahweh at work at the time of the Exodus. All of them experienced God supernaturally using natural forces to show His power to Egypt during the 10 plagues. All of them experienced how Yahweh had led them out of Egypt without a single loss of life. All of them saw God stop the Egyptian army from capturing them at the Red Sea.

Caleb (and Joshua) knew what Yahweh was capable of. They had seen and experienced Him! They trusted that just as God had defeated the Egyptian army, He would easily defeat the Canaanites. They focused on who Yahweh is and His history and track record. This gave them the faith and courage to say that they could and should enter the land. With God, they would win! Their faith was built on Yahweh’s demonstrated character.

On the other hand, the remaining scouts focused on the threat: the enemies seemed so big! Their cities were so well fortified! They focused on their fear. They focused on their emotions and made a decision based on feelings rather than truth. They blocked out all memories of Yahweh and what He had already done for them. They chose not to trust God’s Word and His promises to them. Unbelief in the life of God’s people is serious because it challenges the character of God and rebels against His will.

When we are faced with choices, do we focus more on our feelings or do we focus on our God? Are our eyes set on the threat and challenge ahead of us or are our eyes set on God and what He has already done and can do?

Let us learn from Caleb. He knew what Yahweh had promised: God would lead them into the land. God would win the battles for them. He chose to trust in Yahweh. He remembered what God had already proven: He is all-powerful and all-loving. He is their God. And Caleb’s choice was to do as God said: move into the land. Caleb exercised a faith that was based on a reliable track record of God.

Think about the choices that lie before you. Pray to God about these choices. Ask God to guide you on the decision to be made. Is God guiding you to make the choice that seems very hard? If so, review the kind of God that He is. Is Yahweh a promise-making, promise-keeping God? Is He all-powerful? Is He all-loving? What is His track record like? When our faith is being tested by a tough situation, pray and ask God to help you be like Caleb instead of the ten faithless men.

Archaeological Note

Canaan was the ancient name of the Promised Land that Yahweh promised to Abraham and his descendants. In a collection of ancient clay tablets known as the Amarna letters, written between the representatives of Canaan and Egypt, the name “Canaan” was used to refer to the land that would later be called Israel.

An example of the Amarna Letters, written in Canaanite alphabetic cuneiform script. Photo by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg) - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikimedia Commons.

At the time when Israel reached the borders of Canaan, the Canaanite culture was at its strongest and most influential. Excavations at several sites reveal strong, fortified towns and cities, a semi-agricultural economy and the worship of false fertility gods like Baal, Asherah and Ishtar. These idols were worshipped at specially constructed high places or at sacred trees. There was gross immorality and lots of pagan practices by the peoples of Canaan. The Canaanite beliefs, culture and paganism were a direct contrast to Yahweh and the way of life He gave to Israel.

Royal fortress gate found at Hazor in northern Canaan. This is an example of the fortification that the Israelites encountered. Photo by By Davidbena - Own work, CC0. Wikimedia Commons.

The Devotional Journey: Bible Reading 72

Yahweh responds to the people’s complaints

Read Numbers 11:1–35.

A month after Passover, Yahweh instructed Israel to break camp.

Numbers10:11–12
[11] In the second year after Israel’s departure from Egypt—on the twentieth day of the second month—the cloud lifted from the Tabernacle of the Covenant. [12] So the Israelites set out from the wilderness of Sinai and traveled on from place to place until the cloud stopped in the wilderness of Paran.

Perhaps travelling after a year of not moving was a drastic change because even though Yahweh was providing everything they needed, the people began to complain. The same thing had happened a year ago when God first led them to Sinai (Exodus 16). It took faith to accept God’s leading and Israel’s faith wasn’t very strong. As soon as they experienced discomfort, they complained.

Yahweh was displeased with their attitude and judged them with fire from heaven (possibly lightning) to burn those who grumbled bitterly. This swift judgment showed Yahweh setting expectations. He showed them what He expected of their behaviour. (We’ll see this pattern again and again.)

Then the “foreign rabble” complained about the food. These were non-Israelites who had followed Israel. Perhaps they followed in faith, or perhaps they wanted to escape from Egypt after all that happened. In any case, they were tired of the manna that Yahweh had provided for a year. (Verses 7–9 describe how the manna was actually good, fresh and had some variety to it.) They whined about the foods they missed in Egypt, for meat they claimed they ate in abundance. This was likely an exaggeration as they were slaves in Egypt and only had what the Egyptians permitted them. Sometimes, our memories of the past can seem better than the past actually was. (The people did have meat in the form of their livestock. But to eat their livestock would mean the loss of the means to make a living from the animals.)

Their complaints even got Moses so upset, he wanted to die! Even faithful servants of God can be worn down by persistent negativity, criticism and complaints. Moses lost perspective in the difficult circumstances.

Thankfully, Yahweh helped with both problems:

1. how to spiritually lead so many people and

2. how to provide meat for everyone.

For the first problem, Yahweh commanded Moses to select elders to assist him in leading the people spiritually. Earlier (Reading 50; Exodus 18:1–27), Moses had appointed leaders to help settle personal disputes among the people. Now God told Moses to select another 70 elders. During Old Testament times, the Holy Spirit did not permanently indwell believers. So here, God visibly demonstrated that He was providing these 70 elders with the Holy Spirit too, to enable them to share Moses’ load of caring for the people’s spiritual needs.

For the second problem about lack of meat, Yahweh supernaturally blew in countless numbers of quail. The birds flew so low to the ground that it was easy for the people to catch them. God overloaded the people with so much meat that they were overwhelmed. Not only that, God struck them with a plague!

There are lessons we can learn from this incident.

1. The people showed a lack of faith in God and were dissatisfied with His provision. In our own lives, do we think God is providing enough? Are His blessings too little? Is His Word too boring? Have we stopped talking to Him about our concerns and instead, resorted to complaining? God is more than powerful enough and caring enough. We need to remember that God cares, He listens, and His Word is the “daily bread” that is sufficient for our daily sustenance and growth.

2. God provides help. We don’t have to handle challenges on our own. God provided Moses with 70 Holy Spirit-guided elders to help him manage the people. Moses wasn’t indispensable. God enabled others to help. Similarly, do we find ourselves overwhelmed? God can provide help in the form of godly friends or counsellors. We don’t need to be alone in our challenges.

3. Even faithful leaders can sometimes lose sight of God in the face of criticism. When we face discouragement, let us run to God in prayer, and also to His Word. Do it quickly so that our negative thoughts don’t take over. Rather, we let God’s truth remind us of who He is and who we are in Him—we are dearly beloved children.

4. When God wants to judge people, He sometimes does so by letting people have their way. When we observe the choices of others, we might wonder why God allows certain things to happen. This is because God honours the free will He gives us. And sometimes God’s judgment is to let the people have their way and then suffer the consequences of their evil choices.

We need to cultivate the habit of going to God in prayer about everything. A consistent, humble attitude will help us be obedient and we can avoid the heartbreak that comes from following our own selfish desires.

Let’s pray and talk to God about these four lessons now.

The Devotional Journey: Bible Reading 71

Yahweh reminds Israel that He protects and leads them

Read Numbers 9:1–23.

A year had passed since Yahweh miraculously rescued Israel from Egypt. He reminded the people it was time to celebrate the Passover. This would be the first celebration since the actual event and it was to be on the 14th day of the first month (called Abib, which is between March and April in our calendar. Later on in history, Abib would be also called Nisan due to Babylonian influence).

The lamb and the unleavened bread (bread without yeast) of the meal reminded Israel of how Yahweh saved all their firstborn sons and animals from death. God had accepted an innocent lamb dying in the place of the firstborn sons. The Passover meal not only looked back at what God did but also looked ahead to His future provision of the promised Saviour, who would come to be the sufficient substitute, dying in place of sinful mankind. In fact, the gospel of John refers back to Numbers 9:12, to the instruction not to break any bones of the sacrificial lamb.

John 19:36 records that the Saviour, the sacrificial Lamb of God, died on the cross without having his bones broken and this fulfilled the picture of the Passover lamb not having its bones broken. God was foreshadowing the work of the Saviour in the feast of the Passover so people would make the connection that Jesus is the real substitute.

And the bread without yeast reminded them of how God wanted them to break away from the old life of sin in order to live by God’s good ways every day.

But there was a practical problem. Some men approached Moses to say that they had recently handled a dead body. They were considered ceremonially unclean, meaning they could not participate in the Passover. What should they do?

Though Moses was the leader, he wasn’t hasty in his response. Instead, he went to speak to Yahweh at the Tabernacle, the portable tent of worship. In Numbers 7:89, the Bible recorded that Moses would regularly go to the Tabernacle to speak with Yahweh and God responded audibly to Moses’ questions. So now, Moses did the same and went to speak with Him. This showed how Moses as the leader did not handle problems based on his own ideas, but relied on Yahweh’s guidance. And so God gave him instructions.

God said to allow the men to celebrate the Passover one month later, when they would be considered ceremonially clean. God also allowed Israelites who were travelling during the Passover to celebrate it one month later. In this way, no Israelite would miss the opportunity to celebrate the Passover annually.

We see that while God was meticulous about how Israel should live, He was also kind, making provisions due to special circumstances. God also allowed foreigners who wanted to celebrate the Passover to participate but the requirement was that they first had to become Jewish as prescribed in the Mosaic Law. This meant that foreign men had to be circumcised because only circumcised males could take part in Passover.

But any Israelite who wilfully neglected the Passover would be cut off from the community. Israel’s national identity was shaped by remembering who Yahweh was to them. The Passover was so significant that Yahweh often identified Himself as “the God who rescued you from Egypt”. He wanted Israel to keep being grateful for who He was and what He had done for them.

While the Passover was about looking back in thankfulness, the next instructions were about looking ahead for God’s continued guidance.

Yahweh directed when and where the nation would go by His personal presence as represented by the column of cloud by day and the column of fire by night. His presence hovered over the most important room of the Tabernacle, the Holy of Holiness, the square-shaped closed room where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. Day or night, His presence was a constant reminder that He was with His people. If Yahweh wanted the nation to move to a different location, the cloud would move and the people packed up their belongings, broke camp and followed.

Christians can learn two lessons from today’s passage. First, we should regularly reflect and be thankful for all that God has done for us. He provided the Saviour for us, He took care of our sin problem and brought us into a relationship with Him.

Second, He offers His continued presence and guidance to us. It may seem nice to be able to see God’s presence physically in a column of cloud. But God did that to direct an entire nation who were living and moving together. Today, believers in Christ are all over the world, so instead of a visible presence, God the Holy Spirit resides in each of us. Just as Moses could go to God and ask for instructions, we also have direct access to God for His Spirit lives in us. We too, can ask God in prayer for guidance. And we have God’s Word, recorded for us to teach us how to live in ways that honour Him.

We worship a God who is ever present in our lives. Let us continually thank Him for what He has done and continues to do in our lives, and let us make it a habit to continually turn to Him and His Word for guidance.

The Devotional Journey: Bible Reading 70

Yahweh allows non-Levites to temporarily dedicate themselves to Him

Read Numbers 6:1–27.

The tribe of Levi had the privilege of being the only tribe where priests and those who served at the Tabernacle (and later, the Temple) could come from. But Yahweh also made provisions so that any man or woman who were not Levites, could make a promise to dedicate themselves to serve Him for a designated period of time. This was entirely voluntary. Today’s reading addresses the process for a man, while Numbers 30 goes into more detail for women wanting to make a vow.

People who make such vows were called Nazirites. This is a Hebrew word that means to be “set apart” or “to dedicate”.

Yahweh said that people who wanted to be Nazirites had to, for the period of their vow:

• not drink wine or have grape juice, raisins, grape seeds or even the skin of grapes, or any other alcoholic drink

• not cut their hair or beard (for the men)

• not go near any dead body (which was a picture of sin and death).

These people did not have to isolate themselves. They still lived as part of society but their attitudes and motives during this time of being set apart for God and was focused on serving God.

If a Nazirite happened to come upon a dead body during the period of their promise, God gave them instructions to stop the vow and how to later restart it again.

However, to restart, they would need to go through a cleansing ceremony. On the seventh day after being exposed to the dead body, they had to shave their head (signifying a restart), and on the eighth day, bring animal sacrifices. Yahweh was showing how serious He was about purity and how serious He took the person’s vow.

At the end of the time period of the vow, the Nazirite would have to undergo a ceremony to show that he completed his time of being set aside to serve Yahweh. This again involved sacrificing animals. The Nazirite would also shave his head and burn the cut hair with the fellowship offering. This signified the completion of the vow. After this, the Nazirite went back to normal life with no further Nazirite restrictions.

Yahweh also gave instructions for the priests, Aaron and his sons, to bless the nation of Israel. The first part of the blessing asked for God’s action which would then result in people’s benefit in the second part.

Numbers 6:24–26
[24] ‘May the LORD bless you
and protect you.
[25] May the LORD smile on you
and be gracious to you.
[26] May the LORD show you his favor
and give you his peace.’

Nazirite vows might seem very far removed from our daily lives today. However, here is a thought.

God never restricted those who wanted to dedicate themselves to Him from doing so. Even though God chose the Levites to serve Him, He didn’t prevent anyone else in Israel who loved Him and wanted to serve Him in a special way from doing so. To be clear, these people were not priests and would never become priests, but this special vow was something they could do to show their dedication to Yahweh. This was why God made provisions for the Nazirite vow. It was entirely voluntary. People could do this if they wanted to.

This type of vow belonged to national Israel and doesn’t apply to the church today. However, just thinking about why God gave national Israel this provision helps us see that God is happy to have people who want to dedicate themselves to serve Him in a special way be able to do so.

In our daily lives, we know that God wants us to be set apart for Him in the way we live. And He wants us to tell others about Him and the salvation He offers everyone.

Can people look at us and say that in our everyday lives, we live very differently from those who do not know Yahweh and do not worship Him? Can people see that our values are based on God’s Word rather than the world’s values?

Or do we feel drawn to dedicating ourselves to God in other ways? Some people choose to dedicate themselves to full time service for God in areas such as being a pastor, missionary or a worker in ministries that reflect God’s heart for people such as orphanages, schools, hospitals, crisis help, emergency relief, humanitarian aid, etc.

If so, seek more information and pray and ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance in your life to direct you the way that God wants you to go.

May our everyday lives and our decisions in life reflect our love and devotion to Yahweh.

The Devotional Journey: Bible Reading 69

Yahweh organises the work of the Tabernacle for proper worship

Read Numbers 3:1–13, 40–51.

Recall that when the Israelites were still slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, Yahweh sent 10 judgment plagues to get Pharaoh to release them. The tenth plague was the death of the firstborn males and animals in every household. This tenth plague would affect everyone, both the Egyptians and the Israelites.

However, God told Israel that He would spare the lives of their firstborns if they would sacrifice a lamb and paint the blood on the doorframes of their houses. Everyone in Israel did that and none of their firstborns died.

After that, Yahweh declared that in acknowledging what He did in sparing the lives of their firstborns, all firstborn males and animals would belong to Him. He had saved, or redeemed each one of them from death. So this meant that the firstborn males in each household would now serve God all their lives.

However, recall also that while Israel was at Mount Sinai, while Moses was talking to Yahweh on the mountain, the people created a golden calf idol to worship. When Moses came down the mountain and saw what they did, he commanded all who were loyal to God to take away the lives of those who worshiped the idol.

The Levites showed their loyalty to God by standing on Yahweh’s side and they executed God’s punishment on the idol worshippers.

Because of this, Yahweh rewarded the Levites by choosing their tribe to serve Him instead of all the firstborn males.

In addition, God later also said that one particular Levite family, Aaron (Moses’ brother) and his sons, would serve Him as priests. Aaron was to be the High Priest (or chief priest) and his four sons would serve under him as priests.

Alas, as we had read in an earlier event in Leviticus 10 (Reading 63), Nadab and Abihu were put to death by God for their rebellion against Him. This left Aaron’s other two sons, Eleazer and Ithamar to be the priests.

However, it was impossible for just these men to handle all of the work themselves. There was just too much to do. So God chose the entire tribe of Levi to be assistants to Aaron and his sons, by taking on certain responsibilities.

In today’s reading, God was giving instructions to the Levites. They were to do the work needed in the Tabernacle. But they had to be careful not to go too near to the parts of the Tabernacle that only priests were allowed to go.

But Yahweh wanted to ensure that the exchange of firstborn males with the Levites was an equal value exchange. He asked for a count of all the firstborn males in Israel. There were 22,273.

That meant that the tribe of Levi needed to have 22,273 males to replace the firstborns in serving God. But the tribe of Levi only had 22,000 men. There was a shortfall of 273 Levite men.

What could be done? The Levites just could not suddenly come up with 273 more men. So God said He would accept money in exchange for the shortfall. He set the redemption price at five shekels a man.

This meant a total of 273 x 5 =1,365 shekels.

In this way, Yahweh received the full value of all the firstborn males in Israel. He received it through the 22,000 Levite men and the 1,365 shekels.

Why was God doing all this? Why is it helpful for us to know all these details?

Yahweh was preparing the Israelites to engage with enemy nations and defeat them. In making all the arrangements of the people’s roles, detailing the way people were to worship Him and who was responsible for which job, God was showing the importance of organisation. It was important that the camp be orderly. If the camp were not orderly:

• the people would experience nothing but chaos and confusion

• they would not be worshipping God properly and

• they would not be able to fight the enemy successfully.

As we ponder about the character of God, consider if we are like Him in this way.

Do we take the organisation of our lives seriously so we can accomplish the work He wants us to do? Or is our life filled with chaos and confusion? Ask God to help us appreciate His orderly character and also help us order our lives in a way that honours Him, reflects Him and helps us accomplish His will.

Think also about how God gives different jobs and roles to the people: Aaron had certain jobs, the priests had certain jobs, and the Levites had certain jobs. Working together by each doing their work well, the whole camp could run well.

As we think about the different people in our lives and the different roles that they play and jobs that they do, do we treasure and value each one of them for what they contribute? Or are we envious or jealous of their contribution? Let’s talk to God about our attitudes towards our family members, co-workers, project team mates, church friends and others. Let’s ask Him to help us have the right appreciation and attitude towards each of them.

The Devotional Journey: Bible Reading 68

Yahweh prepares national Israel’s military

Read Numbers 1:1–54.

In this Bible reading, we move on to the book of Numbers. This book contains many statistics and numbers, hence its name. The first section of Numbers records a census of the people by tribe. When we read these lists of names, they seem like just a list to us. But for that generation of Israel, it showed that Yahweh knew them all by name and each person was important to Him. They were His people and He was organising them before their entry into the Promised Land.

The rest of Numbers contains key events that happened over the course of the next 40 years of Israel’s national life. Though they were supposed to follow God’s leading and enter the Promised Land, the people responded in fear after hearing a report that it might be hard to take over the land. As a result, Yahweh disciplined them for their disbelief and distrust. God’s people had to learn how to follow Him and trust His power rather than giving in to their own fears and limitations.

In today’s reading, it was now one month after the Tabernacle had been erected in the wilderness of Sinai. Yahweh told Moses to count up all the men in Israel who were of military age, meaning 20 years and older. Moses was to count them up by tribe, clans and families. One man from each tribe was to help Moses with this job.

Here was what Moses found:

The Levites were not counted because they were exempted from military service. This was because Yahweh had chosen them to serve Him by taking care of the Tabernacle and all its furniture. They were the only ones responsible for erecting and dismantling it. God allowed no one else in Israel to do this. The important work of the Levites in assisting the priests was their contribution to the nation.

Yahweh also gave instructions for how the people would arrange their tents whenever Israel stopped to camp. The Tabernacle would be in the middle of the camp. The Levites would pitch their tents adjacent to the Tabernacle while all the other tribes would pitch their tents on the outer perimeter of the camp. In Numbers 2, God gave the details on where each tribe was to place their tents.

Notice how God was very intimately involved in the life of Israel. If God did not give clear and detailed instructions to Moses to give to the Israelites, they would not have known what to do, how to organise themselves, how to live. We see that God did not leave Israel alone to try to figure things out. He was very close to them. He helped them.

If we have ever wondered what Yahweh is like, we can see here that He is not a God who is far away, indifferent to His people and His creation. He is very interested and wants to be involved even in the daily lives of His people.

We can be sure that God loves us greatly and wants to be intimately involved in each of our lives as well. We need to feel free to talk to Him about even the details of our lives. He wants to be very close to us and wants us to be very close to Him. Let us therefore approach Him with confidence, knowing He wants to hear from us about even the smallest details of our lives.

Some people wonder why God wanted Israel to prepare for battle. We will see in later readings that the people living in the land that God gave to Israel were tremendously wicked. God is also a God of righteousness and justice. He will not let evil go on un-dealt with or unpunished.

This is important for us to remember. Sometimes, when we look around the world or around us and we see all kinds of wickedness and evil, we might be tempted to think that God can’t see or He doesn’t care. This is not true at all.

This is what one of the writers of the Psalms said:

Psalm 75:1–2
[1] We thank you, O God!
We give thanks because you are near.
People everywhere tell of your wonderful deeds.
[2] God says, “At the time I have planned,
I will bring justice against the wicked.

Let us trust that God will indeed judge the world with fairness and righteousness.

Today, as we pray, let us share intimate details of our life with God. Nothing in our lives is too small for Him.

Let us also thank Him that He is a God of justice and righteousness and that He will indeed judge the world to take away all wickedness in the future.

The Devotional Journey: Bible Tour Stop 6—The Wilderness Years

To recap where we are in the Bible tour, here is what we have seen in the Bible so far since the beginning.

We first read that Yahweh created the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, to have a personal relationship with Him. However, we saw that with the free will that God gave them, they chose to rebel against Him and instead, put their trust in the words of Satan.

From then on, every person was born separated from God. While some of Adam and Eve’s descendants chose to trust in Yahweh, most rebelled and continued to make God their enemy. Their wickedness became so bad, it exceeded the limits of God’s tolerance. So Yahweh sent a global Flood judgment. Only believing Noah and his family survived the flood. Everyone else who did not believe God, refused to enter the ark to be saved and so they died in the global floodwaters.

After the Flood, unfortunately, most of Noah’s descendants also chose to rebel against God. This would lead them to be eternally separated from God forever in the lake of fire. This was not good news for mankind.

So Yahweh started a different programme. He wanted to give all mankind an opportunity to know real history and truth and put their trust in Him to send a rescuer. But since mankind as a whole had already rejected Him, He chose to work through one man, Abram (later renamed Abraham).

Abraham trusted in Yahweh. And so God’s plan was that Abraham and his family would record His words and share it with the world. We saw how God kept Abraham’s family safe and grew them into a large nation while they were living in Egypt.

After living in Egypt for many years, the nation was enslaved by the leader of Egypt, the Pharaoh. While in great suffering, they called out to Yahweh for help. God sent Moses to lead the people out of Egypt. Through many miracles, the people saw how powerful Yahweh is.

Yahweh led them into the desert and at Mount Sinai, He established the nation of Israel as His people. He gave them their law, teaching them how they were to relate to Him, as well as how they were to relate to each other. His plan was for the nation of Israel to live by His good and righteous standards and in this way, be a model to the other nations around them of how it was to have a relationship with Yahweh, the Creator-God of the universe.

Earlier on, God had made Abraham three promises.

1. He would give Abraham land.

2. He would give Abraham many descendants.

3. Through Abraham and his family, God would bless the whole world.

In the next set of 14 readings, we will see what happens as Yahweh continues to prepare the nation to take possession of the promised land that He had given to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants.

We will see Yahweh prepare Israel’s military and appoint the tribe of Levi to be the one to support the priests in their duties at the Tabernacle.

When the Israelites reach the southern border of the Promised Land, they send in twelve scouts to explore the land. But alas, ten of the scouts give a bad report and the people refuse to enter the land as Yahweh had instructed. This rebellion against God is punished. Yahweh tells the people they will be wandering in the wilderness for 40 years until the rebellious generation dies.

This doesn’t make them repent and they rebel again, this time against God’s choice of leaders. Yahweh disciplines them once more.

Then as the first generation dies off and the 40 years come to an end, the children, now grown, proceed towards the Promised Land. Yahweh leads Israel to successful battles against enemy nations. One nation, Moab, fearful of military action, decides to take spiritual action instead. The king of Moab hires a wicked prophet named Balaam to curse Israel.

The Devotional Journey: Bible Reading 67

Yahweh teaches the people how He wants them to show care

Read Leviticus 25:1–22.

Yahweh created the world in six ordinary days and rested on the seventh. He told mankind that they should reflect Him and also work six days and rest on the seventh day. The seventh day was for their rest, refreshment and restoration.

Similarly, God told the Israelites that they were to give their land rest on the seventh year. They could plant and reap for six years. But on the seventh year, they had to let the land rest and rejuvenate. They were not to abuse the land by constantly working it. In addition, during that year of rest (known as the Sabbath year), whatever the land produced naturally could be eaten by anyone: the landowner, neighbour, stranger and animal.

Even though Yahweh had practical reasons for calling for rest for people, animals and land, He was also teaching a spiritual lesson. He was the One who was the real provider of all.

Yahweh provided for them through their work (such as during the six years of regular farming). But He was also the One who provided for them even when they rested. In fact, He was always providing for them by sending rain and sunshine for their crops.

However, God knew that some people would be worried about what they would eat during the seventh year if they did not plant and harvest. God assured them that if they trusted Him and obeyed His instructions, on the sixth year, He would give them so much harvest that their food would be enough to last three years! This meant they didn’t need to fear going hungry on year seven, the year of rest!

Aside from giving instructions for this special Sabbath year, God also told them about another special year: the Year of Jubilee.

Every 50th year, after seven sets of seven years (49 years), they were to declare the Year of Jubilee.

What was this about?

When Yahweh first distributed the Promised Land to the people of Israel, each family had a permanent inheritance of land. Their God-given land would always remain with the family so they could grow crops and animals, make money from the produce, take care of their needs and pass down the land to the next generation. Each generation would have the means to make a living.

However, for various reasons, a family might become very poor. At that point, they would have the option of renting out their land for a period of time. The one who rented it could farm on it and reap its harvests. However, God’s law stated that the land could never be sold to the renter.

On the 50th year, the renter had to return the land to the landowner.

In this way, Yahweh protected family inheritances for all His people.

God gave all these instructions because He wanted His people to live in such a way that they would reflect His good character. Like Him, they would show concern and love to creation and to each other.

In thinking about today’s reading, here are three things we can reflect on.

1. Because Yahweh is a loving God who is deeply concerned for all His creation, the instructions He gave were for His creation to thrive. Think about how detailed and careful He is even with the land. As people made in His image, how much more concerned do we think He is of us? Do you truly understand how much He loves you?

2. God provided for the Israelites whether they were working or resting. In our lives, do we also see God as our ultimate provider? If we rest one day a week, are we afraid that He would not be able to provide for us? Who do we think is our ultimate provider? Let us pray and ask God to examine the attitude of our hearts towards Him, especially regarding resting from work.

3. God didn’t want the Israelites to take advantage of each other. In thinking of our own lives, what is our attitude towards others? Do we care for others? Are we careful not to take advantage of them? Pray and ask God to reveal areas in our lives or people in our lives we might need to talk to Him about.

The Devotional Journey: Bible Reading 66

Yahweh’s law is a reflection of His all-righteous character

Read Psalm 119:97–120.

Since we have been looking closely at the laws that Yahweh gave Israel, in today’s reading, we hop over to Psalm 119 to examine the attitude of someone who loves God’s law and loves to obey it.

Psalm 119 is the longest psalm in the Bible. It was written much later than the events of the Exodus and it is filled with appreciation for Yahweh’s laws and praises God’s instructions as being of greater value than any human wisdom. Each of its twenty-two stanzas begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. We could think of the psalm as a love song to God’s law for Israel.

In verses 97–104, the psalmist says he loves studying Yahweh’s instructions and he thinks about them all day long. He recognises that God has revealed Himself in Scripture and thinking carefully, or meditating on His Word, gives deep insight about God’s character and about life. One can get more insight than one’s teachers!

And keeping Yahweh's commandments is the best way to live. God’s laws demonstrate His wisdom and living by His instructions makes one wiser than a tribal elder.

When we learn what righteousness is like through the study of Yahweh’s law, we will want to avoid walking down evil paths, that is, behaving in evil ways. The path of evil is a false way of life that leads to misery and separation from an all-loving and all-righteous God.

The psalmist ends this stanza by declaring that God’s words are sweeter than honey for those who are eager to obey.

Then in the next stanza of verses 105–112, the psalmist starts by declaring that God’s Word is a lamp to guide one’s feet and a light for one’s path. This is a picture of how Scripture gives us direction and guidance in all circumstances of life. We have already seen how Yahweh's laws address so many areas of life and they are based on His all-good nature. Living by God’s Word guides a believer down right paths.

This doesn’t mean the believer will have a problem-free life. By nature, the enemies of God go after the people of God. But the believer who clings to God and obeys His laws will enjoy close fellowship with Yahweh and will still experience the joy of a close relationship even if the circumstances of life turn hard. Having tasted the happiness of being close to God in the midst of trials, such a believer will be determined to keep following God.

This is in contrast to people of divided loyalties. In the next stanza (verses 113–120), people who are double-minded often choose to obey their pride and sinful desires. Such people end up not obeying God’s Word and they lose that close fellowship with Yahweh. They stray away from God to their own harm. But the loyal believer continues to love God’s instructions and God is their shield.

“Lord, sustain me as you promised, that I may live! Do not let my hope be crushed.” (Verse 116.) We see once more that the loyal believer is not free from suffering or trials, but God will rescue and sustain those who delight in Him.

Then in the closing words of this stanza, the psalmist writes in verse 119: “You skim off the wicked of the earth like scum; no wonder I love to obey your laws!” Here, the psalmist is looking ahead into the far future where Yahweh will judge evil permanently. The believer who has studied God’s Word carefully knows where Yahweh is taking history. He knows how world history will end with Yahweh’s complete victory over evil. So knowing what happens in the future provides the motivation to keep going on in life, even when circumstances are hard. It motivates one to keep obeying God.

Slowly read through today’s reading once more. Reflect on the emotions of the psalmist.

• Are you also as excited to study God’s Word?

• Does learning about Yahweh's character fill you with joy?

• Does it motivate you to obey His Word and live in the way He instructs?

If so, thank God for the gift of His Word.

If you’re feeling less than enthusiastic about God’s Word:

• Ask the Holy Spirit to give you insight when you next read Scripture.

• Ask the Holy Spirit to rekindle the excitement of learning about God and where He is directing history.

• Ask the Holy Spirit to move you into deeper fellowship with God through an increased understanding of the Word He has given us.

The Devotional Journey: Bible Reading 65

Yahweh teaches the people how to live according to His righteous standards

Read Leviticus 19:1–37.

In today’s reading, Yahweh gave Moses a detailed list of instructions for how His people should conduct themselves in their everyday lives. God is all-righteous, all-just and all-loving. These characteristics set Him apart from everyone else. This is what being holy means, to be set apart from everything else.

Yahweh instructed His people to live like Him even though He knew that Israel was sinful. In following the nation’s history so far, we have already seen how sinful they could be. They were stubborn, disobedient, idol-worshipping, constantly complaining, and very often ungrateful. But God still expected better of them.

They were to be His representatives and so He didn’t want them to live in such sinful ways. He called them to change their behaviour and model their daily lives after Him. He set the moral standards for their daily lives by giving them His regulations.

In today’s passage, we can see God give Israel regulations regarding many areas of life:

• how to have love and respect in personal relationships

• how to be distinct in the way they practised agriculture and animal husbandry

• how to be ethical in business and personal dealings

• how to take care of the poor and the foreigners and more.

There were even warnings against attempting to seek help from other sources like fortune-telling. Living in the way He prescribed would transform their lives and their society. They would stand apart from all the nations around them.

Let’s look into one example: taking care of the poor and the foreigners who have chosen to live with Israel. Yahweh knew there would be poor people for various reasons. So He instructed the people that during the harvest, they were not to harvest the edges of their grain fields or pick up dropped grain. This meant that there would be some grain left in the fields. Similarly, He instructed the people not to harvest every last bunch of grapes from their vineyards. They were to leave some of the fruit behind. This was to ensure that the poor could go into their fields and have something to eat.

Both the poor Israelites and foreigners living within Israel were entitled to take these parts of the harvest, which were known as the gleanings. These instructions, along with other similar ones, showed Yahweh’s heart for all the people. God was instructing the people to care for everyone in their society.

Yahweh’s regulations were meticulous. If the people understood God’s heart in giving them these rules, they would know that God wasn’t being legalistic, but rather, he was detailed in how far He wanted them to really take care of each other, respect each other and show honour to one another.

The key principle of God’s laws regarding living together is in verse 18: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”

Though church-age believers like us are not bound by the laws that God gave to Israel, we worship the same God. So we can take note of the principles in the laws that Yahweh gave to Israel.

In the New Testament gospel of Matthew, an expert in religious law asked Jesus the following question.

Matthew 22:36–40
[36] “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”

[37] Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ [38] This is the first and greatest commandment.
[39] A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ [40] The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Jesus quoted from today’s reading: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” He said loving God (through our thoughts, words and actions) and loving others as we would love ourselves were both equally important. Why? Because God is all-righteous, all-just and all-loving. And when His people model themselves after His characteristics, they would also love righteousness, justice and each other. God made mankind to be His representatives, to reflect who He is. So if we focus on these two loves, we will be living in a God-honouring way.

As we reflect on our own lives, think about how we are showing love and care for the people in our lives, from loved ones, family members, to friends, neighbours, co-workers and others.

Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to bring to mind people and areas of our lives where we can improve in the way we relate to them.

God may be pointing to some relationships that are more difficult to change. For these tough relationships, pray for courage, wisdom and the willingness to take the first step to “love your neighbour as yourself.”

The Devotional Journey: Bible Reading 64

Yahweh teaches more about how He forgives using the Day of Atonement

Read Leviticus 16:1–34.

In today’s reading, Yahweh gives instructions for a special annual sacrifice that is performed by the high priest on behalf of the nation of Israel.

In Hebrew, it came to be known as Yom Kippur, which in English is called the Day of Atonement. This was the second of three appointed times or festivals in the autumn (part of a total of seven annual festivals that Yahweh appointed for Israel).

Over the course of the year, Israel would have accumulated sins that God said polluted the nation and the Tabernacle. So God said the Day of Atonement was a day to purify or cleanse the nation from a year’s worth of sin.

Through a series of rituals, the high priest would purify the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle (the closed-off room where the ark of the covenant was kept and where God’s presence dwelled). From there, the purification would spread throughout the Tabernacle and then to the entire camp of Israel.

The high priest started the process by first making a bull sacrifice to purify himself and his family. Then he took some of the bull’s blood and sprinkled it on the cover of the ark of the covenant. The lifeblood of the substitute bull cleansed the ark.

Then he selected two flawless goats and casting special lots (that is, a system of random selection), he would select one goat as the sin sacrifice and the other to be the scapegoat. (This word scapegoat was made of the words “escape goat” and this English word was invented as the translation of the Hebrew word.)

The goat for the sin sacrifice was killed and some of its blood sprinkled on the cover of the ark of the covenant. And some of the blood of the bull and the sin sacrifice goat was also applied to the altar of the Tabernacle (this was where the sacrificed animals were burnt). All the blood would purify the Tabernacle from the sins of Israel.

Next, the high priest, representing the nation, would lay both hands on the scapegoat’s head. This signified identification, that the scapegoat would take on the sins of the people. The high priest would confess the sins of the people before Yahweh and symbolically, the scapegoat would take on the sins of Israel.

Then Yahweh commanded that an appointed person lead the scapegoat away. As the carrier of the people’s sins, the scapegoat was taken out of the camp and led far, far away from Israel. The scapegoat was released into the wilderness and would never be seen again. It was a powerful visual reminder of what Yahweh would do with the people’s sins, once a sin sacrifice was made. God would not count the people’s sins against them any longer. He had removed their sins from them. God said these annual sacrifices would purify or cleanse Israel of its unintentional sins of the past year. In this way, Yahweh would then remain with Israel for another year.

This annual ceremony on the Day of Atonement also pictured for the people the cleansing work of the coming, promised Messiah. This was especially seen with the two sacrificial goats. On one hand, the Messiah would die and pay for mankind’s sin. His death would cleanse people from their sins, allowing God to declare them righteous.

On the other hand, the scapegoat that was led far, far away and abandoned into the wilderness demonstrated that Messiah’s sacrifice would truly remove the people’s sins and God would not count it against them any longer because they have been paid for. What a wonderful picture of the Messiah’s work!

Let’s be thankful again for God’s initiative in providing the Messiah, or the Saviour, to take away our sins by personally paying for our death penalty. Now that we are forgiven through Christ, we should not feel guilty about past sins and think that God still holds them against us. Like the scapegoat, He has removed our sin far, far away from us.

In Psalm 103, King David makes this observation.

Psalm 103:7–12
[7] He revealed his character to Moses
and his deeds to the people of Israel.
[8] The LORD is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
[9] He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
[10] He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
[11] For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
[12] He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west.

David recognised that when God forgives, our sins are removed far from us, as far as the east is from the west.

But God recognises that even as believers, we will still sin. But we can go to Him immediately to confess our sins and He will forgive us.

1 John 1:9
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

However, we must not take God for granted. We must not think that we can be casual about sin. When we accumulate sin and don’t confess them to God, our fellowship with Him becomes strained. And when it becomes strained over time, we shy away from Him and this makes it easier for us to sin and make things even worse.

Let’s not do that. Let’s be ready to confess sin and restore our fellowship with Him.

Examine your past week and month. Have you done anything that drove you away from God? If so, confess it now and He will forgive and restore your fellowship with Him.

The Devotional Journey: Bible Reading 63

Yahweh shows the people how serious it is to violate His instructions

Read Leviticus 10:1–20.

In the previous reading, we witnessed a solemn but exciting event, the investiture of Aaron and his sons as priests of Yahweh. They were to manage the Tabernacle and lead the people in their worship of Yahweh. Yahweh had described in detail how the priests were to conduct every ritual in the Tabernacle.

Moses had clearly written down the rules and instructions and taught them to the priests. We saw how Yahweh’s instructions were very specific. He wanted to demonstrate how sinful man could only approach an all-righteous God in the way that He prescribed.

Aaron and his four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar knew what to do. But Nadab and Abihu did not take Yahweh seriously and disregarded His instructions about how to light the incense burner for the Tabernacle. They were supposed to take live coals from the altar and use those in the incense burners. But they took live coals from somewhere else instead. They ignored God’s instructions.

Yahweh’s punishment on them was swift. Though they were believers, God took their lives away in a dramatic fashion. He wanted to show the nation how serious He was about the law and instructions He had given them. As priests, they were not only supposed to teach the people God’s law, they themselves must be obedient to Yahweh.

Aaron, the father of two priests, knew his sons had done wrong and so he was silent before Moses and Yahweh. He knew God was right and just to take the lives of his sons.

This generation of Israelites, including Nadab and Abihu, had experienced Yahweh’s all-powerful nature. They were the ones who were saved from the judgment plagues that Yahweh had brought on Egypt and they were the ones who had crossed the Red Sea safely. And God had given specific instructions on how to build the Tabernacle and all the details about the priests’ clothing and their duties. Nadab and Abihu had experienced God’s character but still, they did not take Him seriously. They had such a casual and unconcerned attitude towards Him.

So Yahweh punished them. He literally put an end to their careers as His priests. The people got the message. They mourned the loss of the two men but Moses did not permit Aaron nor Eleazer and Ithamar (the two brothers of the dead priests) to mourn. This was because holy, ordained priests could not mourn the rightful death of their rebellious family members.

Through His actions, God also demonstrated that He did not show any favouritism. Though all of them were part of Moses’ family, God expected all of them to obey His instructions and stick to His standards.

Later that day, Moses found the remaining meat from the sin offering missing. With some of the sacrifices, Yahweh had given instructions that the priests could eat a portion of the offered sacrifice. This was how the priests were to be fed. Now, Moses learnt that all of the meat from the sin offering had been burnt up. Moses wanted to know why Eleazer and Ithamar hadn’t eaten the meat. Aaron replied that it didn’t seem right to them to eat from the altar food that day after what had happened with God’s punishment on Nadab and Abihu. Moses agreed with their answer.

What can we learn about Yahweh our God from this stark incident? Though God had saved Israel and placed them into an intimate Father-son relationship, He still had standards for His people. He expected them to obey all of His instructions. At this early stage of nation-building, Yahweh had to demonstrate that He was very serious about how His people were to live. What had happened to Nadab and Abihu would serve as an example for the rest of the nation to be serious about their relationship with Yahweh. While He is a loving God, He is also righteous and just.

As a point to note, we see that while believers are counted as righteous by God, and are in a relationship with Him, God still applies discipline and punishment when His children disobey Him. One of His tools of discipline is physical death. Dying physically doesn’t end one’s relationship with Yahweh, for there is life after physical death. Dying physically simply ends one’s mortal life on earth.

As church-age believers, we are not given elaborate rituals and rules about daily life that we have to obey. There is much freedom in Christ! Nevertheless, Jesus has standards of behaviour that He expects from us. For example, Jesus said the highest command is for us to love God with our entire lives (our thoughts, actions, words) and to love each other as Christ has loved us (Matthew 22:37–39; John 13:34, 15:12–13).

As people who have been declared righteous through faith in Christ:

• Do we now take our relationship with Jesus seriously?

• Are we intentional about obeying Christ or are we too casual and unconcerned?

• Do we strive to follow His instructions on how believers should live?

Let’s take some time to reflect on our lives to see whether or not we are serious about our relationship with Yahweh and are concerned about pleasing Him with our lives. And then speak to God about it.

The Devotional Journey: Bible Reading 62

Yahweh sets Aaron and his sons apart as priests

Read Leviticus 8:1–36.

In Exodus 19:6, Yahweh had announced His job for Israel.

Exodus 19:6
And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.’ This is the message you must give to the people of Israel.”

Israel was to be a nation of priests to the rest of the world. They would mediate between Yahweh and mankind. What did that look like?

Israel learnt by observing the tribe of Levi. God had selected them to be priests for Israel. (In Exodus 32:27–29, the Levites remained loyal to Yahweh and executed the golden calf worshippers. God made them His priests as a reward.)

The Levitical priests mediated between Yahweh and Israel. They demonstrated Yahweh’s holiness by ensuring that all who entered Yahweh’s presence at the Tabernacle were holy (that is, appropriately set apart from everything else).

Yahweh called for a seven-day installation ceremony at the Tabernacle. The people watched as Yahweh officially installed Aaron and his sons (Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar; see Exodus 6:23) as priests.

Before donning their robes, they underwent a ceremonial washing. This was a visual reminder that though they were already in a right relationship with God, they still had to be cleaned from the daily dirt and grime of life. The literal washing was symbolic of cleansing oneself from the influence of sin and evil in everyday life.

The impressive robes of the priests reminded everyone of Yahweh’s glory. In their robes, the priests represented God’s presence among the people. And when the high priest wore the breastpiece with the twelve semi-precious stones (each one representing one of the tribes), the people knew the high priest also represented them before God. The people could appreciate how the priest was indeed the mediator between God and the people.

Then there were the animal sacrifices. The priests placed their hands on the sacrificial animals. It was a means of identification, symbolising that the animals took on their sins. Then the animals were killed, dying in place of the priests. The sacrifices pictured the priests’ sins being paid for and allowed Yahweh to establish a relationship with them.

Blood from the ram sacrifice was applied to the priests’ right ear lobe, right thumb and right big toe. It symbolised the purification of every part of the body, from head to toe. These body parts were involved in hearing (ear), doing (hand) and walking (toe). In other words, the priest was to yield all areas of life for God’s use.

These men were set apart—the biblical word is “anointed” and also “consecrated”—for their special roles. Setting them apart from ordinary life was a picture of sanctification. They were removed from the sinful influences of daily life and cleaned for service to God.

Then finally, the priests ate a meal at the Tabernacle, symbolising the fellowship they now enjoyed with Yahweh!

What a detailed ceremony! Yahweh was demonstrating that to have a close, personal relationship with Him, sinful, fallen mankind needed a perfect, sinless and obedient mediator. He had to provide a suitable sacrifice for the sins of mankind. Who would this ultimately be?

The answer of course, is Jesus, God the Son. He became human but remained sinless and perfect. He offered Himself as the suitable sacrifice, paying for mankind’s sin, and made it possible for any person through faith in Jesus to have a close, intimate relationship with God.

The author of Hebrews uses this picture of the Levitical high priest to explain Jesus’ work.

Hebrews 10:8–12
[8] First, Christ said, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them” (though they are required by the law of Moses).
[9] Then he said, “Look, I have come to do your will.” He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect. [10] For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.

[11] Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. [12] But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.

What a loving and gracious God we have! He took the initiative to solve our sin problem that separated us from Him. He provided Himself as the perfect, sinless, substitute sacrifice, dying on the cross to pay the eternal death penalty for us. Let’s thank God again for His great salvation!

Now as believers in a relationship with Jesus, let’s consider how sanctified our daily lives are. The priests were symbolically cleansed by the washing of water and the application of the blood on their ear, hand and foot. We should also strive to keep ourselves from the damaging influence of sin and evil in every aspect our lives. In other words, be mindful of what we listen to or watch, what we say and where we go. (This is not to be legalistic but to be wise and careful.)

When God calls us for a task, will we be ready because we have been diligently setting ourselves apart from worldly influences? Or will Jesus find us in need of cleansing, that is, the washing away of worldly influence before we are ready for His work?

Pray and ask God today how He sees us. And ask Him to help us be clean and ready for whatever He calls us to.

The Devotional Journey: Bible Reading 61

Yahweh teaches the way to approach Him is by sacrifice

Read Leviticus 1:1–17.

Today we move on to the third book of the Bible. The book of Leviticus is also written by Moses, and contains many instructions that Yahweh gave to the people regarding how to come before Him and worship Him. It is a book that is most helpful to the priests who can use it to guide the people on what they should do. In a sense, it can be considered the priests’ handbook, as they lead the people to worship Yahweh and teach them how to live as God’s people.

Yahweh taught the people about the different kinds of sacrifices that they were to bring to Him. In today’s passage, we read about one special type of offering known as the burnt offering. It was so-called because the animal was to be completely burnt.

God said that the people could bring Him an offering from (i) the herd (e.g., the bull), (ii) the flock (e.g., sheep or goat) or (iii) birds (e.g., turtledove or pigeon). The range of animals permitted were of different costs, with the bull being the most costly and the birds being the least. God made it such that all people, whether richer or poorer, would be able to make this burnt offering.

However, they could not just bring any animal. God specifically said that:

• The bull, sheep or goat had to be a male animal without any defects.

• The person bringing the offering must lay his or her hand on the head of the animal, signifying that the animal is taking on the sin of the person.

• The animal is then to be killed (by slitting its throat) and its blood drained.

• The priest would then splash the blood of the animal against the sides of the altar.
  

• Parts of the animal that would have come into contact with dung (such as the legs and the inner parts like the digestive system) had to be washed.
  

• After that, the animal was burnt completely on the altar.

While there are slightly different instructions given for the bull, animals from the flock and the birds, Yahweh says that through these burnt offerings, He would accept the death of the animal as a substitute death for the person. The animal’s spilt blood would purify the person, making the person right with God.

Yahweh used these very visual instructions to teach the people many truths.

Yahweh taught them that He is an all-righteous God.

Because He is all-righteous, He taught the people that sin separates them from Him.

They cannot come to Him in their own man-made ways and with their own ideas; God has to give the instructions on how man can approach Him.

To approach Him, they needed to come with a blood sacrifice, that is, an animal has to die, shedding its blood. It is the blood that purifies a person, making the person acceptable before God.

Yahweh was actually showing people how He planned to save people from eternal death: a suitable substitute would die in the place of the guilty person.

God was teaching mankind that He would accept a substitutionary death. And at that point in history, He would accept animals as temporary substitutes. However, the real substitute had to be a real man.

We know that these substitutionary sacrificial animals were pointing towards how Yahweh would later in history send Jesus as the sinless, perfect, substitute human, who would die in the place of sinful mankind. Yahweh was teaching the people that anyone who trusted in Him, He would count them as righteous and save them from eternal death.

And later, when Jesus finally came as a man and died for people, the salvation information (the gospel) became more specific: anyone who puts their faith in Jesus as their substitute, would be counted as righteous before God and be saved from eternal death.

But during the time of Israel’s nation building, when Yahweh was giving them their sacrificial system, He was already giving them a “visual aid” to help explain these spiritual truths.

Today, let’s thank Yahweh once again that He sent His chosen substitute lamb, the God-man Jesus, to die as the perfect, sinless substitute in our place, so that we can be counted as righteous before God. It is because of Jesus’ death on the cross for us that we can have a relationship with Him and eternal life. Let us never take this great gift of Jesus for granted but to thank God daily for what He has done for us through Jesus.

The Devotional Journey: Bible Reading 60

Yahweh’s presence fills the Tabernacle

Read Exodus 39:32–40:38.

One year after the Israelites left Egypt, they completed the building and preparation work for the Tabernacle. Everyone who took part in the work of building and constructing the different parts of the Tabernacle brought what they had done to Moses for inspection.

Yahweh had given Moses very specific instructions on how the people were to build the Tabernacle. And all throughout today’s passage, we read that the people followed all of Yahweh’s instructions. Moses was pleased and blessed the people.

Then Yahweh told Moses to erect the Tabernacle on the first calendar day observed by their nation. This would be around March or April (because it was based on the lunar cycle) in our modern Gregorian calendar.

Specifically, God told Moses:

• the physical arrangement and where everything was to be placed, both inside and outside

• what and how to anoint everything (meaning to set apart) for use in the worship of Yahweh

• the washing, dressing and anointing (the setting apart) of the priests to serve God and the people.

(Note that the act of anointing was to pour oil onto an object or person to set that object or person apart for special use. In other words, what was set apart was no longer for ordinary use. To call something holy meant that it is set apart from everything else.)

God told them to anoint everything in the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle must not be treated as just any common ordinary tent. Everything about the Tabernacle and in the Tabernacle was special and unique. This tent was to be the place where Yahweh Himself would be worshipped, and where He would meet with Israel.

After Moses finished all the work of setting up and erecting the Tabernacle in the middle of the Israelite camp just as God had commanded, the cloud symbolising God’s presence filled the Tabernacle. Earlier on, while the Tabernacle furniture was being built, God would meet Moses in the special tent of meeting outside the camp of the Israelites. There, God’s presence in the form of the cloud would appear when He met with Moses. But now, God’s presence filled the Tabernacle and remained there, right in the middle of the camp of the people. God was saying that He was with His people, right in the middle of all of them.

And this was how God guided them. The cloud of Yahweh’s glory and presence stayed in the Tabernacle when He wanted to people to remain at their present location. But when God wanted the people to move to a different location, this cloud would rise and move. Then the people knew that God wanted them to follow where the cloud went. The people knew that Yahweh’s presence was with them all the time. In the daytime, the cloud was clearly visible. At night, fire was seen inside the cloud, so everyone, whether by day or night would know that God’s presence was with them.

In today's passage, we learn that the people of Israel could see God’s presence with their eyes. God was with them in their camp. For us as church-age Christians, God’s presence is not just with us, the Bible tells us that the moment we put our faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit lives inside of us. Jesus told His Jewish disciples of this change.

John 14:15–17
[15] “If you love me, obey my commandments.
[16] And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. [17] He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.

What a privilege we church-age Christians have. God is inside us, leading and guiding us from within us. As we spend more time with God’s Word, reading the Bible and praying to Him, the Holy Spirit in us will use all that we have learnt to minister to us and guide us in our relationship with Yahweh as well as in our daily living.

Today, let us pray to thank God for this wonderful privilege, that we are never alone. The Holy Spirit, God’s own Spirit, is in us wherever we go. Let us pray that we will always pay attention to how the Holy Spirit is helping us.

The Devotional Journey: Bible Reading 59

Yahweh equips the people for their jobs

Read Exodus 35:30–36:7.

The Tabernacle that Yahweh instructed Moses and the people to build was a big project which required people with skill. So God Himself provided the skills needed.

He chose a man called Bezalel who was from the tribe of Judah to be the head craftsman. And God filled him with His own Spirit, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gave Bezalel skill, intelligence and knowledge over all kinds of craft and materials. With the Holy Spirit’s enablement, Bezalel had the ability to work with gold, silver, bronze, stone, wood and fabric. He himself could do the fine work of an engraver, designer, embroiderer and weaver.

God also gave Bezalel a helper, Oholiab. Oholiab was given mastery over all the work of engraving, designing, embroidering and weaving. Yahweh also ensured that both men were able to teach others well in order for all the different aspects of the Tabernacle construction to be done to perfection. In addition, Yahweh also gave others in the community the different skills needed for the work.

While God chose Bezalel and Oholiab to direct the construction work, the rest of the people were free to volunteer to help. Both men trained all those who came to contribute to the work.

Building everything that Yahweh required for the Tabernacle required a lot of materials. Recall that when the people left Egypt, they left with a lot of materials and wealth, including gold and silver. Out of their own free will and generosity, the people brought all that was needed for the construction project each morning. In fact, the people were so generous that they gave all that was needed and more, to the point where Moses had to call for a halt to the contributions.

In this way, Yahweh ensured that the people were fully equipped with both skill, people and materials to build the Tabernacle.

When God called the people to this job, He ensured that the people had what they needed to get the work done. God set them up for success. But the people also had a cooperative heart. They wanted to be part of the work and they wanted to contribute in whatever way they could. Those with resources and materials brought them till there was more than enough. Those with skill and ability in craftsmanship volunteered their time and work. They knew they were doing this so that the place where they could worship Yahweh, the Tabernacle, could be built.

As we think about the different kinds of roles and jobs necessary in the Christian community today, do we have the same heart of generosity in volunteering our time and resources so that Yahweh can be worshipped? While Yahweh did not ask the church to build a Tabernacle, He still has lots of jobs for us.

• Are we contributing in any way to making disciples of all nations?

• Are we involved in the lives of Christians and non-Christians, showing God’s love?

• Wherever God is giving us the opportunity to contribute and play a role, are we helping with our time and resources?

And as we think about the skill and ability that God gave Bezalel and Ohioliab, think also, is there some skill and ability that God has given us that would be a blessing to others?

Let’s examine our hearts and pray and ask God where He’d like us to play a part and help and be a blessing.

The Devotional Journey: Bible Reading 58

Yahweh reveals the meaning of His name

Read Exodus 33:7–34:11 and 34:27–35.

Even though Yahweh had instructed Moses and the people to build the special worship tent called the Tabernacle, it would take some time. Meanwhile, Moses pitched a tent far away from the camp where all the Israelites were. This “tent of meeting” was where Moses would go to meet Yahweh. The location of the tent away from the people reminded them that their sin separated them from God.

Yahweh had a personal and intimate friendship with Moses. When Moses came to the tent of meeting, God’s presence in the form of the pillar of cloud come to the entrance of the tent. Yahweh would speak to Moses face to face and openly, just as one would speak with a friend. What a remarkable experience!

At one of their meetings, Moses brought up a concern that He had. Previously, when God was angry with the people for worshipping the golden calf, He said that He would no longer journey with the people personally. Moses was not happy about this. He wanted God to continue having a close relationship with him as well as with the people. So he made three requests of Yahweh:

1. Moses asked God to teach him and Israel His ways so that they would know how to please Him and find favour in His eyes. Moses dearly wanted to continue to learn from God and enjoy His presence, grace and favour.

2. Moses said that unless God went with them personally on their journey, they would not leave camp and set out. Moses recognised that the reason why Israel was special and unique among all the peoples of the world was because Yahweh was with them.

3. Moses asked to see Yahweh’s glory.

Yahweh agreed to Moses’ three requests.

As for seeing God’s glory, Yahweh told Moses that He would call out His own name to Moses when He appeared to him. What did that mean? It meant that God would tell Moses the meaning of His name as well as reveal His character. Yahweh told Moses that He is:

• compassionate

• merciful

• slow to anger

• filled with unfailing love

• filled with faithfulness such that He would show love to a thousand generations as well as forgive sins

• righteous and just and will not overlook sins of guilty ones, but He will limit the impact of a person’s sins to the third and fourth generation and no more.

Notice how the meaning of Yahweh’s name focuses on His attributes in relating with people?Yahweh is truly a relational God!

And Moses’ response to God’s revelation of His benevolence and justice was worship! He recognised how great Yahweh is and how sinful mankind is in comparison and he just had to worship and honour God.

Interestingly, Yahweh told Moses that he would not get to see His face, meaning His essential essence. This is because no fallen human can look upon the all-righteous God and live. (In earlier parts of the Bible, we saw that God did appear to Hagar and also to Jacob and they could live. This is because they saw the pre-incarnate Jesus (“Pre-incarnate” means before Jesus took on a human body. We will learn more about this later.)

God also told Moses to cut out two new tablets of stone. Yahweh would once again write the Ten Commandments on them, since Moses had smashed the previous stone tablets. These stone tablets were to be a tangible token of God’s unique relationship with Israel. After that, Moses continued to record more of God’s words for the people. In fact, he stayed with Yahweh on the mountain for 40 days and nights and God sustained him even without food and water.

Moses spent so much time with God that his face reflected God’s glory even after he left the mountain. But Moses wore a veil over his face to hide the fact that slowly, the glow was fading from his face.

Think about the meaning of Yahweh’s name. Look through the attributes He mentioned to Moses. What do you think of each of them as He relates to you? Is there any attribute that surprised you? Or does any of them change the way you think about Him or relate to Him?

Think about what we have learnt about Moses. Moses treasured God so much that he yearned to know God more and never wanted God to leave his side. Do we share Moses’ hunger and thirst to know God more and His yearning to have God with him at all times?

Pray and talk to God about these things today.

The Devotional Journey: Bible Reading 57

The first major rebellion against Yahweh in the desert

Read Exodus 32:1–33:6.

Earlier, the people had asked Moses speak to Yahweh for them and then report what God said.

But after Moses spent 40 days on the mountain with Yahweh, the people grew impatient and falsely claimed they didn’t know what had happened to Moses. They insisted that Aaron, Moses’ brother, make them some gods.

Aaron should have reminded them that Moses was mediating for them, but he didn’t. Instead, he made a calf idol and called it Yahweh! The people lied to themselves, saying it was the calf idol that led them out of Egypt. These people had seen Yahweh work miracles for them by sending 10 judgment plagues upon Egypt and rescuing them through the Red Sea. But now they rejected God and wanted to pretend they had been saved by the calf idol!

On the mountain, God told Moses that the people had turned against Him. As the Creator-Owner-Ruler of the universe, Yahweh had every right to be angry with the people. He was the One who rescued them, not a lifeless, hand-made, man-made calf idol. In righteous anger, Yahweh said He would destroy them.

Moses reminded God that Israel belonged to Him and His plan was to use Israel to show the world who He is by the way He interacted with Israel. Moses argued that God could not destroy them or the peoples of the world would get the wrong idea about Him. Then he reminded God of His covenantal promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that he knew God would not break.

Because of Moses’ intercession, Yahweh decided not to eliminate the people. Why did He listen to Moses? Actually, God was teaching Moses about prayer. He was showing Moses that He allowed and in fact, wanted genuine interaction with mankind. And He would respond.

After this, Moses went down and upon seeing the people celebrating and worshipping the calf idol, he smashed the stone tablets containing the 10 Commandments which God had written, showing that the people had broken the contract.

Then Moses confronted Aaron who lied, saying he threw the gold from the people into the fire and the calf miraculously appeared. He was trying to make it look like he wasn’t responsible for making the idol.

Moses also confronted the people. He commanded those who were loyal to God to kill everyone who had worshipped the idol. The loyal tribe of Levi responded and because of their loyalty that day, God chose the tribe of Levi to be His priests, to represent Him to the people.

The next day, Moses went up the mountain again to plead for God’s mercy. God kept His promise not to eliminate Israel but He sent a plague to punish them.

Then Yahweh told Moses to lead the people into the land He had promised to Abraham. But He would not go with them personally because they had rebelled against Him. Instead, He would send His angel. The people were alarmed at this. So God told them to remove their jewellery as a sign of remorse.

Instead of a warm, loving relationship, the people now had a tense and strained relationship with Yahweh.

There are many lessons we can learn from this account. Here are three:

First lesson: The people knew the truth about Yahweh, that He was their rescuer. But they chose to deceive themselves that the calf idol was their rescuer.

Similarly, it is God who counts us as righteous through our faith and saves us from eternal separation from Him. But some Christians like to think that it’s because they are good people that God saved them. Instead of attributing to God what He did, they turn the focus on themselves. They lie to themselves and choose to believe their own made-up “truth”.

When we pray and God answers our prayers, do we sometimes give credit to something else or our own abilities or say it’s a coincidence? Let’s not forget what God has done and continues to do for us.

Some Christians diligently keep a prayer journal or record how God responded to their prayers. This way, they can remember what God has done for them and thank Him.

Second lesson: God invited Moses to genuinely engage with Him in prayer. Moses didn’t need to act nice or pious. God was teaching Moses that He can handle hard conversations.

When we go to God in prayer, we can engage with Him in an authentic way when we know His character well. Moses knew that Yahweh is a promise-making, promise-keeping God, so he appealed to God’s character and asked for compassion upon Israel.

How well do we know Yahweh? Let’s determine to learn more about His character and what He’s like and then take up His invitation to have a deeply personal, intimate prayer life with Him.

Third lesson: God holds people accountable for their actions. As God of all, Yahweh has every right to punish people when they go against Him and His standards of righteousness.

Let us examine our hearts daily and check our attitude towards Yahweh and His words. Will we be like Moses who was loyal to Him? Or will we be like Aaron and the people, and make up our own truth?

The Devotional Journey: Bible Reading 56

Yahweh’s instructions for the priests’ uniforms

Read Exodus 28:1–43.

Yahweh continues with His instructions for setting up the Tabernacle. He provides detailed instructions on the priests’ “uniforms”, what they are to wear when they perform their roles as mediator between Yahweh and the people of Israel.

The clothes were made of beautiful materials and were the same colours as the Tabernacle. They were so different from the everyday clothes of the Israelites. Such elaborate uniforms were designed to impress both the people who came to worship Yahweh and the priests themselves. It reminded everyone that the priests performed unique duties so unlike the average Israelite. It helped the priests recognise whom they served and how they ought to live holy lives.

The priests’ clothing included a breastpiece which had twelve precious and semi-precious stones, an ephod which was like an apron, a robe, a tunic, a turban on their head and a sash.

On the shoulders of the ephod were fixed two onyx stones. On each stone was engraved the names of six of the twelve tribes. The significance was clear: the priest was representing the whole nation every time he put the ephod on. Every time he went into the Holy Place of the Tabernacle, he carried the nation with him.

Then there was the breastpiece with its twelve stones, each with the name of one of the tribes. Again, it signalled how the mediating priest brought all the people to meet with Yahweh.

And as part of the breastpiece, there was a pouch positioned at the priest’s heart and it contained the Urim and Thummim. These were Hebrew words meaning the “lights” and the “perfection”. These two special stones in the pouch apparently helped the priests determine the will of Yahweh for the nation.

Bible scholars are not completely sure how the two stones helped in decision making, but it’s possible the stones were used like flipping a coin to make a decision. Today, believers in Christ do not need such a device but rely on God the Holy Spirit, prayer and God’s Word to make decisions.

At the hem of the priest’s robe were little bells. The tinkling of the bells told those outside the Tabernacle that the unseen priest remained alive in his godly duties, obeying and pleasing God.

Finally, on the priest’s head was a turban which had a gold plate attached. On the gold plate were the words“Holy to the LORD [Yahweh]”. This was the most prominent feature of the priest. It reminded the people that the priest acted as the sanctifying presence of Yahweh. Sanctifiying meant to make one holy or acceptable to Yahweh. As part of his role, the priest acted as Yahweh’s agent, making all of the Tabernacle acceptable to Yahweh. It reminded the people that all mankind was sinful and it was Yahweh who would make people acceptable.

From these detailed instructions, we see that Yahweh cared about how He was to be worshipped. All of the Tabernacle and the priests’ clothing was designed to make the people think carefully about what was happening when they approached Yahweh.

When we come before God in prayer and worship, how do we approach Him? Yes, He has restored our relationship with Him through Christ’s sacrifice but how do we treat God on a day-to-day basis?

• Do we honour Him as our heavenly Father? Do we go before Him humbly? Do we care what He thinks about us and how we are living?

• Do we treat Him casually and think nothing of coming to Him when our lives have not been lived in God-honouring ways?

• Do we pay attention to Him only when we want something from Him? Do we treat Him merely as someone who answers wishes?

Take some time to reflect on this. Speak to God regarding this.

The Devotional Journey: Bible Reading 55

Yahweh’s instructions for the Tabernacle

Read Exodus 26:1–37.

As can be seen from today’s Scripture passage, not all of Scripture is historical narrative. Just as we had read Yahweh’s detailed instructions for the big boat in Genesis 6, now we learn of Yahweh’s meticulous plans for Israel to build Him a portable worship tent.

When Yahweh explained that His personal name meant “I AM”—meaning He was present with His people—He really meant it. And to make the point, He asked Israel to construct a dwelling place for Him, a worship tent, to be placed in the center of Israel’s camp. It was called the Tabernacle. Here, His presence in the form of the column of cloud would rest over the tent. It would be a visible sign to every Israelite that Yahweh was indeed present with them.

The Tabernacle consisted of two sections. Today’s reading of Exodus 26 gives the details of the inner tent which became known as the Holy Place. This was a completely enclosed tent where no external light could enter. It was tall—24 metres (15 feet).

Within the Holy Place, there was an inner room called the Holy of Holies, or the Most Holy Place. It was sectioned off by a specially decorated curtain (verses 31–33). The Holy of Holies was a cube—its width, length and height were the same dimensions.

The ark of the covenant was placed in this room. This was the special wooden box overlaid inside and out with gold. It contained the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments written by Yahweh Himself. And it was over the Holy of Holies that Yahweh’s presence hovered, in the form of the column of cloud.

In Exodus 27, God gave details of an altar for burnt sacrifices to be placed outside of the Holy Place. And in Exodus 30, God also gave details for a washbasin to be placed near the altar. The altar symbolised the need for a sacrifice to be made for the people and the washbasin symbolised the need to be cleansed before God.

The Holy Place, the washbasin and the altar were all in a courtyard that was surrounded by an outer wall made of portable wooden frames, metal fittings and curtains (long cloth pieces). When assembled it was approximately 46 metres long and 23 metres wide (150 feet by 75 feet).

The entire structure was a visual reminder of two important truths.

1. Yahweh would be in the midst of His people.

Wherever the Israelites were in their camp, they could look towards the centre and see the Tabernacle with Yahweh’s presence hovering over it. What a sight it must have been and what a comfort to know that God was near.

2. Sin separates people from Yahweh.

The Tabernacle was closed off with curtains. There was a main entrance made up of highly-decorated curtains, and the Holy of Holies was closed off with another set of highly-decorated curtains. Only on a specific day could the High Priest enter, and only by bringing in the blood of a sacrificed animal (God explained the procedure in Leviticus 16). These curtains and strict rules reminded the people that sinful mankind could not approach the Creator-God casually. They had to be righteous, covered by the blood of an innocent substitute before they could approach God. The message was this: Yahweh was with them and yet Yahweh would only relate to people whom He had declared righteous through their faith.

For us, Yahweh also wants to be at the centre of our lives. Knowing God loves us, is with us, and wants to lead and guide us is very comforting. For believers, God has declared us righteous through the blood of Christ. Our Father-child relationship with Him is secure and permanent.

But in our daily lives, we need to walk in God-pleasing ways or risk spoiling our daily fellowship with Him.

How do we treat God each day? Are we grateful for how He has justified us? Do we live in ways that will honour Him or will our behaviour cause God to be distant from us? If we have lived in a way that would displease God, remember that He is ready to forgive us when we go to Him and confess (See 1 John 1:9). As a child of God, we have the privilege of going to Him to repent, and have our fellowship restored. Be grateful for what God has done for us but do not take Him for granted.