Contemplative Bible Reading

Deuteronomy 15:4-5 (New Living Translation)

4 “There should be no poor among you, for the Lord your God will greatly bless you in the land he is giving you as a special possession. 5 You will receive this blessing if you are careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today.

This must be one of those Old Testament passages that no longer applies to us today, right? I mean, there are always poor among us. That is just the way it is. Hmm, these verses seem to link no poor among us to obedience to God. Well, if that is the case, then, uh, er, well…

Enough hints. As a whole we don’t obey well, so there is no surprise that we have poor among us. As an individual, I don’t obey well, so there is no surprise that I have poor among me.

According to this line of thought (notice how I reduce scripture to a “line of thought”), I am not prosperous due to my efforts, and the poor are not poor due to their lack of effort. It is all about how we react to God.

There are days when I don’t want to read the Bible because I don’t like what it tells me about me. God, please help me in my unbelief.

Deuteronomy 14:28-29 (New Living Translation)

28 “At the end of every third year, bring the entire tithe of that year’s harvest and store it in the nearest town. 29 Give it to the Levites, who will receive no allotment of land among you, as well as to the foreigners living among you, the orphans, and the widows in your towns, so they can eat and be satisfied. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all your work.

The tithe for every third year was to go into a local storehouse. A little math shows that about 3% of all production went into these storehouses.

Who consumes this production?

1. Levites
2. Widows
3. Orphans
4. Foreigners

ooops, must be a mistake here. How did group number 4. get into this list? Like the other three groups in the list, they could not own the means of production. Hence, they had nothing and could obtain nothing. Hmmm, sounds like a good group to receive the blessings of the community.

Now we come to the difficult part: how does this translate to today? Jesus tells us to love our neighbor and goes on to explain who is on the list of neighbors. It is really a simple list. (1) Everyone. And that includes the foreigners living among us, i.e., immigrants.

Surely there is a limit to how much of our production goes to immigrants. Perhaps not.

God, help me in my unbelief.

Deuteronomy 10:16 (New Living Translation)

14 “Look, the highest heavens and the earth and everything in it all belong to the Lord your God. 15 Yet the Lord chose your ancestors as the objects of his love. And he chose you, their descendants, above all other nations, as is evident today. 16 Therefore, change your hearts and stop being stubborn.

Jehovah God the Creator reminds the people of their special place among all the peoples of the world—and it is a pretty darn special place. Therefore, in light of this special place, He asks them to do two things:

• change
• stop being stubborn

Oh, simple. Well, these are simple, but just about impossible to do. Then again, Jehovah God the Creator is the God of the impossible. See, for example, extracting this people after 400 years living in a foreign country. And, oh, how about keeping them a distinct people while living in a foreign country for 400 years. Both of these two of many examples are pretty, darn, near impossible.

Persons can change. Groups of persons can change. Time and patience are required. Then again, with the help of Jehovah God, all things are possible and likely.

Luke 24:24 (American Standard Version)

And certain of them that were with us went to the tomb, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.

I am using the American Standard Version of the Bible for today’s verse. It has a certain twist to the words that struck me.

This is one of the great events in human history. It confirms that Jesus of Nazareth was truly the Messiah—the one anointed to take away the sins of the world. This event, however, came as as oddity:

It was about not seeing someone.

The absence of the body was the great significance. I guess I can run wild with the idea of the absence of something being more significant than the presence of something. For example, by God’s grace my sins are absent from God’s records. Wow, I am ever thankful for that absence.

Perhaps I could go on with other examples of absence being more important than presence. Suffice to say, thank you God for the empty tomb, the risen Savior, and Your grace. Help me in my unbelief, and help me to share the good news and love with others.

Deuteronomy 4:19 (New Living Translation)

And when you look up into the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars—all the forces of heaven—don’t be seduced into worshiping them. The Lord your God gave them to all the peoples of the earth.

God’s creation is marvelous, wonderful, still beyond our comprehension (Sorry climatologists as you don’t understand it all, either.). People want to worship it as it is so amazing.

ooops. Here is my current take on this (I could be all wrong.) The LORD says, “No, don’t worship it.” I think God is being self-effacing here. He is saying, “I gave this creation to everyone, not just to you. It isn’t special to you. It is universal. So don’t go all ga-ga on me and start worshiping it.”

It isn’t surprising that people who worship rocks or rivers or one part of the creation would be awe struck by all creation. It isn’t surprising that they see all creation as greater than the god they worship. Hence, they worship all creation.

The LORD tells His people, “You know better. You are to worship Me—the Creator—not my handiwork.”

Deuteronomy 2:25 (New Living Translation)

Beginning today I will make people throughout the earth terrified because of you. When they hear reports about you, they will tremble with dread and fear.

This is the LORD speaking to His people as they are about to enter the land He promised them. Those who study warfare and such explain the psychological affects that factor into war. Being afraid is not a good thing as a battle begins.

The LORD prepared the way for His people by making their enemies tremble with dread and fear.

I am thankful that my nation, or whatever we call these inventions of man, is not about to enter conflict with a group that is undeniably aligned with God. I am thankful that I live under grace in this current age.

To this day, however, there are those groups of people on earth who are dead set against the gospel of Jesus Christ. They literally kill those who bring the gospel. I pray that God still causes them to tremble with dread and fear.

Leviticus 23:3 (New Living Translation)

You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of complete rest, an official day for holy assembly. It is the Lord’s Sabbath day, and it must be observed wherever you live.

God commands His people to do something special on the Sabbath day: rest. Yes, the overbearing God commands His people to take a nap on the seventh day of the week.

I can go for that. At least it sounds pretty good to me. For some reason, it didn’t sound good to God’s people through the centuries. Many disobeyed much of the time.

I guess there is something in human nature to want to do what someone says we shouldn’t do. I don’t know what it is, perhaps I’m over-thinking this mess.

God also tells us to love people and be neighborly to our neighbors. We tend to mess that one up as well.

God, thank you for your grace that covers my stupid sins. Help me in my unbelief.

Leviticus 8:14-15 (New Living Translation)

14 Then Moses presented the bull for the sin offering. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the bull’s head, 15 and Moses slaughtered it. Moses took some of the blood, and with his finger he put it on the four horns of the altar to purify it. He poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. Through this process, he made the altar holy by purifying it.

Notice something happening here. Moses slaughtered a bull. The best I can determine, Moses is about 75 years old at this time. A 75-year-old man slaughtered a bull without a gun or a power tool. Slaughtering a bull in this manner requires a lot of strength. This was a gift from God for the faithfulness of Moses. Truly an amazing gift and faith.

Exodus 30:11, 12, 14 (New Living Translation)

11 Then the Lord said to Moses, 12 “Whenever you take a census of the people of Israel, each man who is counted must pay a ransom for himself to the Lord….14 All who have reached their twentieth birthday must give this sacred offering to the Lord.

In my lifetime, I have seen the age of manhood bounce about a bit. Voting age was 21, then it was 18. Drinking age was 21, then 18, then 21 again. Military service has tended to stay at 18.

The age of accountability knowing right from wrong? Your guess is as good as mine.

Given above is the Old Testament age when a male was counted as a man: 20.

Somehow we have lost that magic number. I don’t know the history of 18 and 21, but I guess they somehow connect to the Old Testament as much of Western culture does.

Leviticus 7:16-18 (New Living Translation)

16 “If you bring an offering to fulfill a vow or as a voluntary offering, the meat must be eaten on the same day the sacrifice is offered, but whatever is left over may be eaten on the second day. 17 Any meat left over until the third day must be completely burned up. 18 If any of the meat from the peace offering is eaten on the third day, the person who presented it will not be accepted by the Lord. You will receive no credit for offering it. By then the meat will be contaminated; if you eat it, you will be punished for your sin.

God’s people were commanded to sacrifice animals at the altar. They could eat the sacrificed animal. They could eat the leftovers on the second day. That was the end of it—no more leftovers.

Several things to note. First, God asked for sacrifices, but these were really feasts. The person bringing the animal was able to eat it. Was that a sacrifice? Next, there was a limit to keeping and eating the leftovers. Even without refrigeration, the people had a way of preserving meat and eating it for a while thereafter. That, however, wasn’t much of a sacrifice as they weren’t giving anything to anyone. They were merely changing the location of the slaughter and initial feast.

Let’s look at a definition of sacrifice: giving up something valued. I am not boasting, but I sacrifice some things to God. I sacrifice some money and some time. These sacrifices cannot be compared to the blessings I receive, but they are sacrifices. When I give time, it is gone. When I give money, it is gone.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.