Numbers 33:1 – 36:13
Good morning! Well, we’ve reached the end of another book of the bible. How have you been going with your daily readings?
In these 4 chapters, there are details on Israel’s journey to the promise land. There are details on the boundaries of what tribes will live where and how much land they will get. There are details on “cities of refuge”. There are details on what to do if there are no male heirs and just daughters. All in all – God provides.
– God provides the land
– God provides refuge
– God provides for the daughters…
God is graciously fulfilling the promise of his people dwelling in a land flowing with milk and honey but also he is dwelling with his people.
“Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell, for I, the Lord, dwell among the Israelites…” Numbers 35:34
This verse caught my eye – God graciously provides refuge for those who killed someone accidently so they get a fair trial but He is instructing them not to commit bloodshed, not to defile the land as the only way the land can be atoned is “…by the blood of the one who shed it…”
I ponder 2 things about this:
– why provide refuge after a murder?
– why is the only way it can be atoned for through blood?
God is a righteous judge. He is able to give a fair trial and carry out the judgment, where as in man’s sin, we may rashly judge and execute a judgment (in the case in Numbers, execute the judgment of killing the person who just killed someone) but what if that wasn’t the right judgment? What if our sin blinds us in making judgments? We would then need to face God for the rash judgments we made.
God graciously provides refuge and ultimately provides the greatest refuge – Jesus. Instead of our blood being spilt in atonement for our sin, Jesus’ blood was spilt as our blood. He was our atoning sacrifice, our provision from God. It is in him we have refuge from the accusations of sin.
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