Contemplative Bible Reading

Ezekiel 34:5-6 (New Living Translation)

5 So my sheep have been scattered without a shepherd, and they are easy prey for any wild animal. 6 They have wandered through all the mountains and all the hills, across the face of the earth, yet no one has gone to search for them.

God is talking to the people through Ezekiel. God is talking about the leaders of the people. The leaders are like shepherds and the people are like sheep. God describes the leaders, i.e., producers by describing the people, i.e., the products.

Want to know if a fruit tree is any good? Look at the fruit that comes from it. Want to know if a football coach is any good? Look at the football players. Want to know if a sheep herder is any good? Look at the sheep.

God saw sheep scattered without a shepherd. These scattered sheep were easy prey for wild animals. The people were wandering about and were easy prey for an invading enemy. The people didn’t know right from wrong and were easy prey for some con man coming in and speaking untruth to them.

The people were lost, and no one was looking for them. The leaders were no where to be found. Failures.

God, bless leaders everywhere. Help them to lead justly with righteousness. Bless people with good leaders. Bless people with the desire to have good leaders.

Exodus 32:27-28 (New Living Translation)

27 Moses told them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Each of you, take your swords and go back and forth from one end of the camp to the other. Kill everyone—even your brothers, friends, and neighbors.” 28 The Levites obeyed Moses’ command, and about 3,000 people died that day.

This is part of the (hi)story of the people coming out of Egypt. It was a long time that Moses had been up in the mountain with God receiving the law. The people were impatient. The people were afraid. The people went stir crazy and did crazy things. They were out of control Moses gathered men from his tribe, Levi.

Moses spoke to his fellow Levites. This is what Jehovah, the God of Israel says. Go. Kill.

And the Levites did as God told them to do through Moses. They killed 3,000 people in one day. The dead included their brothers, friends, and neighbors.

Try to think about this awful day. Take a long knife, run around, and kill. Kill and kill and kill. It doesn’t matter if the person in front of you is a brother, friend, or neighbor. Kill and kill and kill. That is the command from God.

How awful. Thank you God that I live in a time and place and under grace. God has never asked me to go through my neighborhood and kill brothers, friends, and neighbors.

Romans 8:16-17a (New Living Translation)

16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs.

Simple statement. I struggle to understand it. There seems to be a great promise here.

The Spirit of God affirms that we the believers are God’s children. And children means we are heirs. Here in the Commonwealth of Virginia, if the last living parent dies, the living children inherit equal shares from the parent. The living children are heirs.

If God were to die, each child of God, i.e., all believers from all the ages, would inherit an equal share. God, however, doesn’t die. So, what good is it to be an heir of God? An heir of a billionaire $$$ lives knowing that one day, they will be a billionaire. Financially, that is a huge promise that affects how the heir lives.

As an heir to God, maybe one day I inherit the gazzilions of $$$ God has. Or something like that. I told you I struggle to understand this. I also told you there is a great promise here. So, as a believer I can live knowing that I will inherit gazzillions. Well, maybe not that kind of money, but that kind of blessing…

I struggle to understand all this. I know, however, that I am a child of God and a full heir. That is a blessing.

Exodus 32:20 (New Living Translation)

25 Moses saw that Aaron had let the people get completely out of control, much to the amusement of their enemies.

This is part of the (hi)story of Moses, God, the Ten Commandments and all those things. Moses came down from the mountain where God gave the law. Moses finds that Aaron had let the people get completely out of control.

Okay, so they’re having a party. Well, maybe too much partying. They were completely out of control. Hmm.

A party is okay. “Completely out of control,” well, that is subjective.

One of the troubles was these descendants of Jacob, i.e., the Israelites were not in a safe situation. They were out camping, all million of them. They were not in a place that was easily defended. They were vulnerable. The wild party made them even more vulnerable.

Their party amused their enemies. Oh, enemies. Oh, people who were seeking an opportunity to do them harm. Recall how when the people left Egypt, they took lots of gold and silver with them. There was plenty of treasure for plundering in that huge camp. And the people were partying out of control.

It was a wonder that nothing catastrophic happened. No, it was not a wonder, it was a miracle. Even though the people were out of control, God ensured their safety. A miracle.

I don’t party out of control. Does God protect me? Absolutely YES. All the time. Thanks be to God.

Judges 6:14 (New Living Translation)

14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!”

God is speaking to Gideon who is about to fight against the oppressive Midianites. This is part of the (hi)story where they have only 300 men surround the camp at night and show torches and blow trumpets.

Gideon had been lamenting about how the old folks had always told stories of the miracles God performed in the past to help the people. Where had all the miracles gone? Why were times so bad? What was going on here?

Jehovah God turned to Gideon and said, “I am sending you.”

Enough said. This isn’t some task on a to do list. God is sending Gideon. Let’s repeat with emphasis, GOD IS SENDING Gideon.

This is going to work. This will be a miracle. People will tell this (hi)story for thousands of years.

Me? I’m just sitting here sipping coffee and clumsily typing a few words. Miracles? Sent by God? Yes to both questions.

Exodus 28:1-3 (New Living Translation)

1 Call for your brother, Aaron, and his sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Set them apart from the rest of the people of Israel so they may minister to me and be my priests. 2 Make sacred garments for Aaron that are glorious and beautiful. 3 Instruct all the skilled craftsmen whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom. Have them make garments for Aaron that will distinguish him as a priest set apart for my service.

God is instructing Moses how to clothe Aaron and his sons who are to be the first priests. God wants to set them apart for special service. God wants them to wear different clothing so that they are distinguished, i.e., obviously different and set apart from everyone else. This is all fascinating to historians and those fascinated by style and fashion.

My question: do we distinguish those set apart for service with their clothing too much or not enough?

See a police officer? They wear different clothing. See a soldier? They wear different clothing. See a fire fighter? They wear different clothing.

See a person who is to speak during a gathering of Christians. Do they wear different clothing? Should they wear different clothing?

I’m just asking.

Exodus 11:1 (New Living Translation)

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will strike Pharaoh and the land of Egypt with one more blow. After that, Pharaoh will let you leave this country. In fact, he will be so eager to get rid of you that he will force you all to leave.

God’s people were “slaves” in Egypt. We tend to toss about that word: slave. From reading the scriptures, what it meant in Egypt with God’s people is that they were in a defenseless position. Their Egyptian masters had the physical power to force them to do whatever. Work on this, work on that, and work harder. The Egyptians largely controlled the food that was allocated to these descendants of Jacob who had moved to Egypt to avoid a famine some 400 years earlier.

Life in Egypt was not good. Life in Egypt, however, was not terrible. Egypt was a world power with an advanced civilization, government, education, and the like. Today, the poor in America are rich compared to the rest of the world. God’s people in Egypt had a similar situation. Life wasn’t great, but it was life.

In the verse above, Jehovah God tells Moses that God will strike such a horrible blow to Pharaoh and the land of Egypt that the Egyptians will force the people to leave. “Get out of here! Now!”

It would be great to be “free” from the oppression in Egypt. It would not be great to hit the road. The best case would be freedom and full rights of residents in Egypt. That, however, was not an option. So, hit the road, good riddance, and good luck for a million of you wandering in the wilderness in tents. Where will you plant crops? Where will you make food? See ya.

God provided. Even before the disobedience and wandering for 40 years, God provided and God’s provisions were a miracle. There is no reason to believe that a million people could live in tents and survive. God provided.

Praise be to the miraculous power of God. I believe that if I keep my eyes open I can see the miraculous power of God before me everyday.

Genesis 12:6-7 (New Living Translation)

6 Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem. There he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites.

7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

Abram, whom God later renamed Abraham, has left his homeland and is moving to the land that Jehovah God designated. This is Abram’s first stop in this valley near Shechem. This “Oak at Moreh” was some type of spiritual site for the locals.

God tells Abram something specific and significant, “I will give this land to your descendants.”

Note, although promised to Abram, it is specifically promised to his descendants. Abram himself would not possess all of it. That would come later, much later.

This was something that Abram would not see. Still, Abram believed. He was the definition of faith: believing in something that he could not and would not see.

Thousands of years later, Paul wrote to the Christians as Rome and told them that Abram was the father of the faithful. Abram was one of the first to act despite all the facts.

Exodus 12:33 (New Living Translation)

33 All the Egyptians urged the people of Israel to get out of the land as quickly as possible, for they thought, “We will all die!”

This is part of the (hi)story of God pulling the people out of Egypt and sending them to a land promised to them through their ancestors. The night of death had just occurred wherein the the oldest child of every house died. Can you imagine the horror of that night? This was not a Halloween horror movie. This was horror.

And this came at the end of a period of tragic events of agriculture failure, weather calamity, and the like. And at the same time some of these Hebrews had been meeting with Pharaoh. What in the world was happening? When would this season of misfortune end? It must be those Hebrews living here with us. There are about a million of them now. Misery and death comes with those pathetic people. Get them our of here before we all die!

That is a logical explanation and conclusion to the events. Nothing else made sense. Death and misery follow those people. Deport all of them, now.

That is what happened. Pharaoh told the people to leave. Take their stuff and leave. All debts and obligations were cancelled. Just get out of here. God moves in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform.

Genesis 24:7 (New Living Translation)

7 For the Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and my native land, solemnly promised to give this land to my descendants. He will send his angel ahead of you, and he will see to it that you find a wife there for my son.

This is part of the (hi)story of Abraham sending a servant back to Abraham’s homeland to find a wife for his son Isaac. Abraham is talking to the servant. There are many things that could go wrong on this mission. Abraham reassures the servant that,

He (God) will send his angel ahead of you…

What a promise. What a comfort.

Undertaking a journey of miles? Traveling on foot for a thousand miles through lands where if bandits rob and kill you, no one will know anything about it for years? Well, we don’t do that anymore, do we? Well, no, but we have journeys to the doctor’s office about a funny pain in the back or something that could mean death within weeks or mean nothing. God sends an angel ahead of me. What a promise. What a comfort. Thanks be to God.