A Lot of Bull... and Goats, and Lambs, and...
"These you shall offer to the Lord at your appointed feasts, in addition to your vow offerings and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, and for your grain offerings, and for your drink offerings, and for your peace offerings." (Numbers 29:39 ESV)
I'm reading through the Bible in a year using the YouVersion Bible App, and right now I'm going through Numbers. As I've been reading, I've been struck again by not just the number of offerings the Israelites had to make each, but just the ones the Levites had to make for the Israelites as a whole. In addition, I'm even more amazed by how many actual animals they had to sacrifice, plus all the grain and wine. Each day they had to sacrifice a minimum of 2 one-year-old male lambs. For the Feast of Booths (one of the original four feasts they had to remember their history) they had to sacrifice 71 bulls alone, in addition to all the lambs, rams, and individual sacrifices that were made.
So, as I'm thinking about all this, I was thinking about the sheer numbers of the animals that would be needed, and I'm thinking, "How are they going to keep up with all this?" I know that there were over 600,000 men, plus women and children, but that's still a lot of animals, especially being specific as to age and gender.
What I am reminded of through this reading is two things. First, that obedience was key. God promised that if they would obey Him, He would provide for them. More than that, He would bless them... which He did. As we read throughout scripture, whenever the people were living in obedience, God blessed them tremendously. Second, the people had to trust God. As they're choosing to obey, they are communicating that they are also choosing to trust. Maybe the numbers of animals weren't as big a deal to them as it is to this non-farming, non-ranching boy, but it still took trust to give up the best of your flocks (oh yeah, it had to be the best of your flocks, too) in such large numbers. You had to trust God to provide enough so you could obey. You had to trust God to provide the quality. And you had to trust God to provide enough quality that you could continue to breed quality stock to breed more quality stock to offer to Him. They had to believe that God would punish them if they didn't, but there was also a place where they had to believe that He was good because He did.
So, as I'm reading this, I'm reminded that even when God calls me to do something that seems difficult, and that seems to have no possibility of happening from my perspective, God is good, and He is able to make it happen in ways I can't even imagine.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I'm reading through the Bible in a year using the YouVersion Bible App, and right now I'm going through Numbers. As I've been reading, I've been struck again by not just the number of offerings the Israelites had to make each, but just the ones the Levites had to make for the Israelites as a whole. In addition, I'm even more amazed by how many actual animals they had to sacrifice, plus all the grain and wine. Each day they had to sacrifice a minimum of 2 one-year-old male lambs. For the Feast of Booths (one of the original four feasts they had to remember their history) they had to sacrifice 71 bulls alone, in addition to all the lambs, rams, and individual sacrifices that were made.
So, as I'm thinking about all this, I was thinking about the sheer numbers of the animals that would be needed, and I'm thinking, "How are they going to keep up with all this?" I know that there were over 600,000 men, plus women and children, but that's still a lot of animals, especially being specific as to age and gender.
What I am reminded of through this reading is two things. First, that obedience was key. God promised that if they would obey Him, He would provide for them. More than that, He would bless them... which He did. As we read throughout scripture, whenever the people were living in obedience, God blessed them tremendously. Second, the people had to trust God. As they're choosing to obey, they are communicating that they are also choosing to trust. Maybe the numbers of animals weren't as big a deal to them as it is to this non-farming, non-ranching boy, but it still took trust to give up the best of your flocks (oh yeah, it had to be the best of your flocks, too) in such large numbers. You had to trust God to provide enough so you could obey. You had to trust God to provide the quality. And you had to trust God to provide enough quality that you could continue to breed quality stock to breed more quality stock to offer to Him. They had to believe that God would punish them if they didn't, but there was also a place where they had to believe that He was good because He did.
So, as I'm reading this, I'm reminded that even when God calls me to do something that seems difficult, and that seems to have no possibility of happening from my perspective, God is good, and He is able to make it happen in ways I can't even imagine.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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posted by Pastor Paul at
7:09 AM
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