Week 8 Bible Reading Review

Week 8 Numbers 16:1 to Numbers 33:1

Num 16 Korah’s rebellion.  Another example, like Miriam and Aaron of men trying to appoint / exalt themselves.  This is not acceptable in God’s kingdom.

Num 16:40  Again God instructed a sign to be placed to remind the people to not step outside their calling and be consumed.

Num 16:42 The people rebelled instead of humbled themselves, the result was more death.  Moses and Aaron again interceded to stop the plague.  Being humble before God instead of complaining and rebelling is a better approach in my opinion.

Num 20:3 How quickly we can forget.  So not having water makes them wish they were dead?  Did they forget their lot was to die in the wilderness already?  Did they forget complaining brought more death?

Num 20:8 Moses was to speak to the rock yet God tested him and said to take his staff.  Moses then struck the rock as he had done before. V10, Moses not only deviated from God’s instruction but claimed the result for himself, “must we bring water?”.  This resulted in Aaron and his entry to promised land denied.

Num 21:8 God provides an antidote to His own plague with the bronze serpent.  This later is correlated to Messiahs crucifixion in John 3:14-16

Num 22:12 God forbids Balaam to go with the men.
v20 God gives permission for Balaam to go with the men.
v22 The Angel of the Lord is sent to oppose Balaam for going.
v35 The Angel would have killed Balaam if not for the donkey, but now tells Balaam to proceed.
Why this discrepancy and flip flop?  My take on this is that Balaam had an idol of riches in His heart.  Using the Ezek 14:4 passage I am drawing a conclusion that in verse 20 Balaam is hearing incorrectly through an impure heart and receives a response according to his idol.  This is something that can easily happen to us.  We need to examine our hearts daily and remove all idols before approaching the Lord.

Num 30 A husband may “cancel” his wife's vow.  I see this as a way to protect her from making an inappropriate vow, but if he says nothing then he is supporting her decision.

---

Week 9  Numbers 33:1 to Deuteronomy 15:1