Thursday, February 28, 2008

Numbers 22-24, 2nd Peter 2

An angel in the road with flaming sword, a talking donkey, a reluctant (?) prophet, blessings rather than curses... People get stirred up over this whole event. Was God being tricky with Balaam or is there more to this story? Was King Balak just stubborn? dense? confused? uninformed? Had Balaam been hired before and cooperated with Balak's requests? Check out 2nd Peter 2:15, 16 (in context preferably). Does this shed more light or was the author of 2nd Peter just adding his own interpretation?

Numbers 19, Hebrews 9

Numbers 19:13 "All those who touch a dead human body and do not purify themselves in the proper way defile the LORD's Tabernacle..." And those who weren't Levites weren't even allowed in the Tabernacle. Does anyone see any parallels to Hebrews 9?

Monday, February 25, 2008

Numbers

God seems to offer on many occasions to wipe out the Israelites. Would he really have done this? What was God's larger purpose in these threats in light of his rescue of them from Egypt? Why didn't he annihilate them? Was God expecting Moses to stand up for them?