Day 43, February 12 Bible Reading
Day 43, February 12
By Jen Fishburne
Num. 15:37-41 Tassels on garments – remembering God’s laws
Lev. 26:3-46 Blessings for obedience / Curses for disobedience
Ex. 23:20-33 God promises an angel to guard and guide the Israelites
Ex. 24 God confirms his covenant with Israel
Num. 15:37-41 Tassels on garments – remembering God’s laws
Even today, “Jewish” men wear the tzitzit on the fringes of the four corners of their garments. I am not sure “tassels’ is the best interpretation for that! The white threads are woven in a puzzle, of sorts, to remind them of the 613 commandments of God given through Moses, but there is also a blue thread woven throughout the white, which stands out. The meaning of that is a pattern of association: first, they are reminded of the ocean, which God created; then they are reminded of the sky, which God created; then they are reminded of heaven, and specifically, the throne of God, which is sometimes described as being like a sapphire.
Whenever you see someone wearing the tzitzit with a blue thread woven throughout the white threads, it should immediately reminded that God is not only the Creator of heaven and earth, but that he still sits on the throne!
Are we required to wear these today? Of course not! This was an outward reminder given to Israel only until Jesus, who is now the Law written on our hearts and minds today.
Lev. 26:3-46 Blessings for obedience / Curses for disobedience
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,”
This verse above is a summary of all the blessings and curses that God proclaims to Israel regarding obedience to the Law. He is essentially saying that the whole world will know if Israel obeyed God because He would bless them with outward blessings, and likewise, the whole world would know if Israel disobeyed God because He would bring outward curses upon them. That is how heaven and earth would be witnesses to their obedience.
Let’s look at some of blessings of obedience:
- Plenty of rain and plenty of food -- never run out
- Peace in the land
- No violent animal attacks
- Defeat their enemies
- Lots of kids
- God will dwell with them and walk with them
- They will not be slaves
And the curses for disobedience:
- Panic attacks
- Diseases
- Famine
- Enemies eat their food
- God is against them
- Enemies will win and rule over them
- Run from imaginary enemies
- If that doesn’t cause them to repent, then God will punish them seven times worse.
- The wild beasts will eat their children and their animals
- Invade them with bugs of all sorts
- Their enemies will win
- Eat and still be hungry
- They will eat their own children
- God would destroy their high places and altars, and cast their own dead bodies upon the dead bodies of their idols
- Cities destroyed
- Sanctuaries destroyed
- Land devastated
- Scattered among the nations.
This section should really begin with verse 2 in order to make any sense in the latter part. Now God explains what would happen if they don’t keep the Sabbaths He has commanded them to keep.
If they do not keep the land sabbaths every seventh year, as God commanded them to, when God has finally had enough, He will scatter them from their land and the land will have the Sabbath rest after all.
Here God is trying to give them a year-long vacation every seven years, but do they want this benefit? Do they actually obey God’s commandments and receive all those blessings, or do they disobey and receive all the curses to the full extent? God was very clear what would happen to them either way. They had a choice to make, and they knew full well the consequences of their choices.
So this is how heaven and earth were called to be witnesses as to whether or not they obeyed YHVH. The whole world knew if they were obeying or being rebellious. We will find out which path they chose as we read through the Bible this year!
Question: Do you think these outward blessings and curses apply to us today? Why or why not?
Ex. 23:20-33 God promises an angel to guard and guide the Israelites
YHVH is now promising specific blessings to them as they get ready to enter the land of Canaan if they are diligent to defeat the specific enemies that He tells them to: Amorites, Hittites, Perizites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites. These are not just random names we encounter in Canaan, but the enemies God has warned them to defeat far in advance. YHVH knows their wickedness and He knows how they worship other gods and He desires to protect His bride from adultery. He knows that if they do not destroy all these enemies, that they will be prone to worship other gods beside Him, which is the equivalent of spiritual adultery, and He will have none of it. He is going to fiercely protect His marriage covenant with them, even if it means killing all those who are trying to pull them away.
So YHVH promises to send an angel before them and help them. Other blessings, if they cooperate and obey:
- Plenty of food
- No sickness or disease
- Lots of kids
- Live long lives
And little by little, He will help them defeat their enemies and establish their own cities and farms, so that they are not overtaken by wild animals and weeds, and they lose everything that has already been established and have to start over again.
In all the commandments YHVH gave to His bride, they were always for their own good. They may not have recognized the value of these commands, but we will see all the horrific things He was trying to protect them from.
Is God trying to protect you from harm today? Are there areas of your life where you are trying to claim “grace, grace!” but then you wonder why you are sick, or have enemies, or you don’t have enough money to live well, or you have problems in your marriage, or any number of other things in your life? Perhaps there is a cause and effect that you are missing. While there may not always be a direct cause-and-effect in all areas of our life, there often is, and we may just be blind to what we need to change. These may or may not be areas of sin, so don’t think that I am saying that if you sin today that God will immediately bring some punishment into your life. Not at all. But the consequences that we covered today were simply a matter of reaping what they sowed. That is a major principle in all of life, even today. God always desired to bless us with many good things in life, and so He gave us principles to guide us in making wise choices in life that lead to those blessings! Seek them diligently!
Ex. 24 God confirms his covenant with Israel
And in this grand marriage ceremony, Israel took her vow of obedience to YHVH and said, “I do.”
And, like a marriage ceremony, Moses went up on the mountain and entered the glory of YHVH for six days, until YHVH called out to him on the seventh day. This was the consummation of the marriage. This is the consummation that we should each be desiring in our own lives as well. And Moses stayed up there for 40 days, celebrating their honeymoon.
Interestingly, we see the correlation here of the blue thread we began today’s reading with: Ex. 24:10 “There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness.”
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