Contemplative Bible Reading

Some thoughts about Bible verses

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Barbs in Your Eyes

March 13th, 2010 · No Comments

Numbers 33:55 (New International Version)

55 ” ‘But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live.

God is talking to His people just before they enter the land He promised them. God wants them to drive out the people who live there now. He warns them not to tolerate living with these people as they will be

barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides

One example of a “barb” is that hook pointing in the opposite direction of the main point on a fish hook. The barb is what “hooks” the fish.

I cannot imagine how it would feel to have one of these barbs hooked in my eye. The Contemporary English Version gives a little different, though just as painful, description:

55If you don’t force out all the people there, they will be like pointed sticks in your eyes and thorns in your back.

Good grief, how would a person not do everything they could to avoid such? Well, first they would have to disbelieve that God would do what he told them. These people must have disbelieved because they didn’t drive out all the people. They left some of the people, and yes, God met his promise – they were barbs in their eyes.

Okay, that is the Old Testament history. What about today? Are we to “drive out” people from our lives so they won’t be barbs in our eyes? I think not as that would leave us with no one to show Jesus to. Actually, I may be the person driven out of the lives of others as I am not perfect either. Hmmm, let’s reconsider.

I know people who are times like thorns in my back and sides. I wish I could drive them out of my life, but that wouldn’t be charitable. I think a good path would be to stop allowing them to be thorns in my life. I may do this by living in a way that thorns don’t stick me. I won’t wear emotional clothes that are prone to tear from thorns. I can let things pass me without sticking. This is called grace and forgiveness, and if I don’t know how to live this way I can look to the life of Jesus for a good example.

Tags: Numbers · Old Testament

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