God Uses LIFE to Resolve Conflicts Among His People: You Will Know Them By Their Fruits. Numbers 17.

Image: Almond blossoms.

When men enter their most bitter conflicts, how do they resolve them? When men fight over land, religion, power, and money, what tool do they use to determine the winner?

DEATH.

We’re talking about war, of course. Yes, we try to negotiate. We try to work out our differences. The worst of tyrants will often offer “terms of peace,” though the terms are often less like peace and more like naked theft. Before invading Poland, Adolf Hitler asked only a few things, notably the city of Danzig. You know, the old, Give me this one city, or I will take the whole nation. Countless tyrants have done the same. Such “peace terms” are nothing more than a land grab. The tyrant is met with armed resistance, and war is inevitable.

That is the way powerful old men settle their differences—by killing each other’s sons.

Men use DEATH to settle their differences. God uses LIFE.

When the Israelites rebelled against God’s leaders, accusing Moses of thinking too highly of himself, they were rebelling against God. The people shook their fists at God in a manner so egregious, the earth opened up and swallowed the worst of the rebels (Number 16:31-34), and others were consumed by fire (Numbers 16:35).

Then those who remained dared to blame Moses, saying “You have killed the people of the Lord!” Numbers 16:41. At that point, God was fed up and told Moses to step back. Suddenly a plague broke out, but Moses begged God for mercy and God stopped the plague. When the dust cleared, some fourteen thousand were gone. Some swallowed up by the earth, some killed by fire, and some killed by plague, Numbers 16:49.

This must look like an odd story to illustrate that unlike men, God does not use death to resolve conflicts or to settle differences. We will get to the conflict resolution. As for the dead, Numbers 16 is not a story of God waging war against His people. God is not an earthly general and He does not use death to force a vanquished nation to surrender. God is Holy and sovereign. He knows human hearts and He is motivated by love. Numbers 16 is a story of God, in His holy wisdom, removing from Israel the deeply evil influences who were spreading dissension and discord.

Once that was done, God offered conflict resolution to those who remained. The conflict was about leadership. People had begun to question whether Moses was really God’s man for the job. Of course, God had chosen Moses. Remember the burning bush? Remember Pharaoh and the miracles and the plagues? Remember the Passover? The parting of the Red Sea? The Ten Commandments?

But sometimes there is no convincing people. This is one of those cases where God’s people had rejected wisdom and common sense.

They would not listen to reason—and these were God’s people. (That is something to think about.) No amount of logic could persuade them. Not only that, even the earth swallowing up the rebel leaders did not convince them. Fire coming down from heaven did not convince them. The plague that killed 14,000 people in a matter of minutes did not convince them.

Death could not convince God’s people to trust Moses. Only life could do that.

God had a plan. He told Moses to collect one rod from each of the tribes of Israel. The leader of each tribe was to write his name on his rod.

“‘On the staff of Levi write Aaron’s name, for there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral tribe. Place them in the tent of meeting in front of the ark of the covenant, where I meet with you. The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites.’ …

“The next day Moses entered the tent and saw that Aaron’s staff, which represented the tribe of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds. Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the Lord’s presence to all the Israelites. They looked at them, and each of the leaders took his own staff. The Lord said to Moses, ‘Put back Aaron’s staff in front of the ark of the covenant, to be kept as a sign to the rebellious. This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so that they will not die.’” Numbers 17:3-11.

Can you imagine life blooming out of an old wooden staff? Aaron’s rod came from Egypt. It had once turned into a snake in front of Pharaoh. This was nothing more than a dried-up old stick. A walking stick. For years, Aaron had been leaning on one end and punching the other end into the rocky ground. And then one night he carves his name into it and hands it over to Moses.

The next day, the worn-out old stick had grown branches, leaves, flowers, and fully ripe almonds! What an incredible miracle! What a miracle of LIFE! And no one questioned the leadership of Moses and Aaron again. The old dead stick that grew almonds convinced everyone.

Aaron’s “rod that budded” did what an earthquake, fire from heaven, and a plague could not. The rod that budded settled the conflict. God sent LIFE to win this argument. God settled a dispute with life, not death.

Later Jesus crafted this into a principle for sorting false teachers from true: look for people who create and nurture life. Look for those whose lives bear fruit.

You will know them by their fruit.

“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?” Matthew 7:15-16.

Who better to give us a principle about fruit than Jesus? He bore fruit every day, bringing healing and wholeness to thousands.

He raised issues with the Pharisees, then resolved those issues with life.

He healed on the sabbath.

He restored life to Jairus’s daughter.

He raised Lazarus from the grave.

He healed crippled hands and crippled feet, and blind eyes and deaf ears.

He healed leprosy.

He restored life and sanity and peace to the demon possessed.

He traveled the length and breadth of Israel, bringing life everywhere He went.

His ministry was a ministry of life. And He promised life to the thief on the cross. And He returned from death, “the firstborn among many brethren.” His own resurrection was the ultimate example: He settled conflicts not with death, but with life. With His own LIFE.

And we are part of that. We are to bear fruit.

Does your life bear fruit?

Do you abide in the vine, drinking of the Living Water so God can bear fruit through you? Just as He says about false teachers above, Jesus again compares life to a rich, healthy grapevine, and death to a dried-up branch, good for nothing but the fire:

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned” Matthew 15:4-6.

Dear God, show us how to abide in the vine—how to abide in YOU. May we bear fruit for Your Kingdom every day. May we bring life wherever we go. Use us to nourish and nurture, to plant seeds, water seeds, and reap the harvest for Your Kingdom. And God, grant us discernment, so that we truly will ‘know them by their fruits.’ Protect us from false teachers and wrong ideas. Sharpen our ability to sniff out Your life, Your truth among the opinions around us every day. And show us how to use life to resolve conflict. May we be ministers of life every day. Be glorified in us.

AΩ.

What is the Purpose of the Sabbath Day? Numbers 15.

“Hey, Jim! Where have you been?” I asked my neighbor. He was entering his apartment as I was leaving mine.

“Oh, you know. Working.”

“But I haven’t seen you in weeks!”

“Well, I’ve been working a lot.”

“Every day? I mean, you’re not even around on the weekends?”

“Oh, yeah. I work every day.”

“Seriously? How long have you been doing that?”

He had unlocked the door to his apartment, but he stopped to think about my question.

“I guess it’s been about five months.”

“Five months since you had a day off?!”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Thereabouts.”

I was stunned.

“You have worked an unbroken string of days for five months?”

“Pretty much.”

“Man! What does that do to your mental health?”

He looked at me. “You know what? It takes a toll. It does. But I gotta do it.”

It has been thirty years, and I still think about that man. I just cannot imagine what that’s like.

What is the Purpose of the Sabbath Day?

Do you “remember the sabbath day”? Are you good at obeying the fourth commandment? Unless you are Jim it’s probably hard to say for sure. We know whether or not we commit adultery or murder. But whether or not we are properly honoring the sabbath day is not an easy question. First of all, exactly what duty does this Old Testament law impose on New Testament Christians?

Are we simply supposed to take a day off every week?

Is God teaching us to have some “margin” in our lives? Is that the purpose of the day? To have a rhythm, six days on and one day off? Is mental health the issue or could it be something more?

Historically, most Americans—and the laws of most U.S. jurisdictions—honored the strict “Puritan Sabbath” (by law, nearly everything was closed: no opera, no theater, no movies, no blood sports, no ball sports, no hunting, no fishing, no horseracing, no gambling, and no work), while a largely German immigrant class held to the more liberal “Continental Sunday,” a slippery slope which saw things devolve to the present status quo. As more and more businesses and activities opened up on Sundays, one clergyman complained (generations ago) “Now the [Sunday laws are] so confused, that one’s conscience does not know what to do.”[1]

Truer words have ne’er been spoken. How are we supposed to remember the sabbath? In fact, what is the purpose of the sabbath day?

Few of us can speak confidently about the duties of Christians vis-à-vis the sabbath. But when all else fails, read the instructions, right? God provided legislation—a statute—when He gave Moses the Ten Commandments:

“Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day, wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it” Exodus 20:8-11.

God rested on the sabbath. But God also “blessed the sabbath and hallowed it.”

Neither rest nor mental health is the purpose of the sabbath day. God called the day holy, yet rest alone is not holy. “Holy” means different. Separate. The sabbath day is a different kind of day. It is not like the others. There is something more going on here, as we shall see below.

The legislation is straightforward. But for enforcement, consider a passage in the book of Numbers:

“And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day. And they … brought him to Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. And they put him in the ward because it was not declared what should be done to him. And the Lord said unto Moses, ‘The man shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.’ And all the congregation brought him without the camp and stoned him with stones and he died, as the Lord commanded Moses” Numbers 15:32-36.

Although this is the only Biblical record of a sabbath violator being sentenced to death, it should get our attention. We are talking about a man’s life. God expects His commands to be taken seriously.

And whatever the exact meaning of the rule, or the purpose behind it, I am confident of this: few Christians take the sabbath day seriously.

That being said, I would like to suggest two points with regard to the purpose of the sabbath.

First, the prohibition against working on the sabbath day is not about work, but about remembering the Lord. It is a day for worship.

“The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God” Exodus 20:10. This is God’s day. And keeping it holy means remembering that our activities on that day should allow us to worship God and to create a family—and to the degree that we can, a society—that has both the time and the inclination to worship God.

Consider Chick-Fil-A. The restaurant has remained closed for thousands of Sundays. Add up the number of franchises multiplied by the number of Sundays each has been closed, and you would be looking at years and years–centuries–of “sabbath rest.” Yet the restaurant could not be more profitable. God has honored them for creating an environment in which their employees can easily attend church.

Second, the prohibition against working on the sabbath day is not about work, but about a tithe, an offering not of money but of time.

Consider the pattern: God gives us a harvest, but we give back the first fruits. God gives us an income, but we give Him the first ten percent. God gives His people animals but the first born from each womb belongs to Him as a sacrifice. God gives Israel twelve tribes of children, but the tribe of Levi is given back to God. God gives Israel annual harvests, but every seventh year was to be a sabbath year in which the land would rest. Consider the sabbath day in this context. God gives us a lifetime of days, but asks that we give back to Him one day out of every seven.

The purpose of the sabbath day is not simply that we do not work. The day is holy. It is a tithe, an offering to God.

The purpose of the sabbath is to set aside one day every week in which we restrict our activities so that we can honor God and worship and serve Him. The positive impacts of rest and improved mental health are beneficial results, but they are not the purpose of the sabbath. The sabbath is a day that belongs to God.

We give God one seventh of our time just as we give Him one tenth of our money.

Grace remains.

The life of every Christian should be characterized by grace. But we are to fear the Lord. And we should honor Him by giving Him the first day of every week. Not simply by staying home from work, but by attending worship. By singing. By teaching. By serving. By making the church a habit. By involving our children in joint worship. By taking on some responsibility at the church as God leads.

Give God the day. And walk in grace as you wrestle with competing distractions–from youth sports to entertainment to fishing trips to whatever.

Remember: the purpose of the sabbath day is not mental health. If it were, you could ignore it for years as long as you felt mentally healthy.

The purpose of the sabbath day is to give God one day of the week as an offering, and to fill that day up with activities that honor Him and help you and your family to know Him better.

AΩ.

[1] I’ve explored the question of the history of Sunday sports and particularly youth sports here. Historical information from BAT, BALL & BIBLE: BASEBALL AND SUNDAY OBSERVANCE IN NEW YORK, by Professor Charles DeMotte.

Change is Hard: Get Organized and Keep the Faith! Numbers 13.

My wife and I are experiencing the most unexpected coincidence. This year both our places of employment have been acquired by larger institutions. We are each reading a raft of emails about all the changes. The meetings are constant. Our workplaces are moving. I am moving out of my office this week; she will move out of her classroom at the end of the school year. Our house is filling with office overflow and everything is disordered and discombobulated.

Moving is hard. Change is hard. But you can approach it with order and faith, or you can fly by the seat of your pants and watch the anxiety increase.

Moses approached moving and change in an orderly, systematic fashion. We can learn from his example. After choosing an “advance team” to travel the Promised Land, a criss-crossing journey of some 500 miles, Moses organized a plan for them.

“And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, ‘Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain and see the land, what it is, and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many, and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad, and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds. And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage and bring of the fruit of the land” Numbers 13:17-20.

God told Moses to send twelve men to spy out the land, Numbers 13:1-2. But Moses used his own leadership to articulate the specifics of the assignment. What were the instructions Moses gave the men?

  1. Go up the mountain and get an overview. Look at the big picture. “Go up into the mountain and see the land,” Numbers 13:17.
  2. Find out about the people: Are they strong or weak? Are they few or many?
  3. Find out about the land, is it good or bad?
  4. Find out about the cities, do the people live in tents or strong holds?
  5. Find out about the farms: Is the land fat or lean (does it grow healthy crops?). Are there forests?
  6. Be of good courage. Don’t lose heart! Keep your eyes on God! Moses told them “be of good courage” in Numbers 13:20, but I missed it the first time I typed this list. I missed it! Do you know who else missed it? Ten of the twelve spies—and their lack of courage, ultimately a lack of faith—cost the young nation forty years! Keep the faith. Be of good courage! When you are facing change, keep your eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of the faith, Hebrews 12:2.
  7. Bring back some examples of the fruit.

Someone once said, “the only constant in life is change.” Change is all around us, and it is coming for you, whether you welcome it or not. And change always brings stress—sometimes challenging and fun stress, like a vacation or a meal in a new restaurant, and other times challenging and not-so-fun stress, like an audit by the IRS.

Change is hard, but you can prepare for it by tackling it with an organized plan and a bit of common sense.

“Moses decided what information was needed before the people could enter the Promised Land and he took careful steps to get that information. When you are making decisions or assuming new responsibilities, remember these two important steps. Ask yourself what you need to know about the opportunity and then obtain that knowledge. Common sense is a valuable aid in accomplishing God’s purposes.”[1]

Are you facing change? Applying for a new position? Considering a move? Preparing for a big purchase? Remember: Do your homework. MAKE A PLAN. Ask yourself what you need to know and then obtain that information. And most importantly, be of good courage. Talk to Jesus about the change. Never lose faith!

“Faithful is He who calls you and He will also bring it to pass” 1 Thessalonians 5:24.

If God is calling you to go through change, He will bring you through it. God is faithful! He will take care of you!

AΩ.

[1] Chronological Life Application Study Bible, KJV, Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, 2004, p246, note on Num. 13:17-20. (Once again, study Bible notes are an excellent source of application points.)

Ministers: You Are Not Your Own. Numbers 8.

You probably know that God created the tithe in the Old Testament. But did you know God expects a tithe not only of Israel’s crops, but of the nation’s people? God explains that the first born of every womb belongs to Him. But rather than take the first-born of every family, God took everyone born to one of the twelve tribes. The members of the tribe of Levi served as an offering in the place of the first born of every home in the nation.

“Thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron … and offer them for an offering unto the Lord … The Levites shall be mine … For they are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel, instead of such as open every womb … For all the firstborn of the children of Israel are mine, both man and beast … And I have taken the Levites for all the firstborn of the children of Israel. And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle” Numbers 8:13-19.

God owns all of us. But He put a special claim on the tribe of Levi—and I believe God puts a similar claim on the lives of those He calls into the ministry.

This obscure passage from Numbers speaks to the selfless nature of the ministry. When God calls one of His children into full-time Christian service, or what we call “vocational ministry,” He asks them to give up everything to serve Him. It is not simply a high calling. It is a life of staggering sacrifice.

Paul wrote the following about all of us:

“You are not your own. For you have been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.

YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN.

Well, then whose am I? Paul says you have been bought with a price—the blood of Jesus. Therefore, you belong to Him. And this applies to all of us. Yet, it applies to pastors even more so. There is a selflessness to a life in the ministry. It is not a light burden.

The pastor carries the burden of his flock.

Can you imagine not only attending but speaking at every funeral? Can you imagine being summoned to the hospital day and night? Can you imagine counseling people suffering the worst tragedies of their lives?

Add to that the burden of people’s spiritual growth.

“Apart from these external trials, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?” 2 Corinthians 11:28-29.

These are tremendous burdens. And for people that are compassionate by nature, it must be so heavy sometimes. My own pastor mentioned it last Sunday: twenty years in the pastorate means you have seen a lot of suffering. Sometimes it is hard to bear.

That’s not all.

On top of the obvious pastoral burdens, there is the burden of living your entire life surrendered to the ministry.

The calling limits you, impacting every decision you make. It dictates where you live. You may find Colorado beautiful. You can’t just move there if God has called you elsewhere. Maybe you want to buy a fancy car, but God says no. Or you want to take a particular kind of vacation, but God leads you to spend two weeks on the mission field. Perhaps you enjoy writing in your free time. You can’t just crank out spy novels. Even if you could write such a book you would not have the freedom to travel the country on a book tour.

And what about your social media presence? Generally, pastors have to remain pastors online. They can’t use social media to promote products or cultivate a role as some kind of influencer unless they can do it while maintaining their role as a pastor.

What if a preacher wanted to build a side-hustle as a stand-up comic? It may not be impossible, but you can see how such things are problematic.

All these activities that are perfectly available to laymen are often out of reach to the Godly pastor.

The fact is, the call to preach affects every area of a minister’s life. It impacts their spouse, their children, and their hobbies, vacations, and how they spend their money. It impacts EVERYTHING.

Paul writes to Christians, “You are not your own.” That is true for pastors—but even more so: YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN.

Pastors serve a higher calling, and it is a not easy. These are incredibly talented people, men and women who might easily achieve tremendous success (and a lot more money! [1]) in other fields—yet we take their gifts for granted. Of course, he’s nice. Of course, he’s a good talker. Of course, he’s charming and good with people. Of course, he reads his Bible and prays and memorizes scripture. It’s easy for him, he’s a preacher.

All of that is false and terribly unfair. God’s servants work hard to serve Him and keep Him first in their lives. If they do not work hard on their own spiritual health, they fail. If they do not serve God selflessly, they fail. This exceptionally selfless life presents tremendous hurdles.

Pastors: You have been bought with a price.

Dear God, give us compassion for our pastors. Show us how to support them in their tireless, selfless calling. Thank you for the men and women who serve our churches and our families relentlessly, day-in and day-out. May we honor them for a lifetime of sacrifices, most of which we will never know about. May we bless them and show them more gratitude and more appreciation and more love as the days draw near.

AΩ.

[1] I know too many gifted men who have left the ministry, become real estate agents, and become rich almost overnight!

The Bible is Filled with Radical Ideas. Numbers 5.

The Bible contains some radical ideas that are staggering: Love your enemies. Turn the other cheek. Pray for those who abuse you. Be a leader by being a servant. Humility is a virtue. Wash your hands and wash your food. Don’t eat everything: eat “clean” animals. Bury human waste outside the camp. Love your neighbors and be a Good Samaritan. Treat women equally. There are no ‘races,’ because “there is neither Jew nor Greek” Galatians 3:28. All human life is sacred, from helpless infants to helpless elderly.

The Bible also contains radical ideas that may not seem radical because we have grown used to them. Two of these are in the fifth chapter of Numbers. The first says that if a man is found to be a thief, he must return what he has stolen. That’s common sense, right?

But the Bible adds more: he must “add to it the fifth part thereof, and give it unto him against whom he hath trespassed” Numbers 5:7.

That is, if a man is caught stealing, he must not only return the stolen goods, but he must pay the victim an additional 20 percent.

This additional payment is known as restitution.

Many jurisdictions follow this example today, providing for all kinds of restitution, and in all different amounts. In Texas, for example, our civil law provides that if a company takes advantage of a consumer, the consumer can file suit against the defrauding party and may claim treble or TRIPLE damages. That would be a restitution of 200 percent. In common practice, most defendants cure the problem and rush to settle, thus avoiding such a harsh penalty.

Numbers five contains a second idea that is interesting, but has not proven workable in modern U.S. law. If a man in ancient Israel found himself so obsessed with jealousy that he was convinced his wife had been unfaithful to him, he could present her to the priest, explain his suspicions, and the priest would speak to her and give her a drink to consume, charging her that if she has been unfaithful, the drink will make her ill, but if she has not been unfaithful, the drink will have no effect.

“This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled, or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him and he be jealous over his wife” Numbers 5:29-30.

In a world of domestic violence, where jealous men from O.J. to Othello obsess over the faithfulness of their wives, a “law of jealousies” such as that of Numbers 5 could be useful. But it is no longer an option.

The Lord no longer operates as He once did. Even if we had a priest to perform the ritual, God would not be in it and, like the Salem witch trials, this ritual would no doubt devolve into something horrible in which the women always suffered, guilty or not.

Nevertheless, in ancient Israel, it must have been an amazing tool for addressing an unusual, but very real problem: rather than jealous men becoming murderers, there was a process whereby the matter could be handled in a court of law. Today, we use tools such as private investigators and ultimately a legal divorce if necessary. (Rather than taking the law into your own hands, it is always better to ‘take them to court.’)

And while God bluntly announces, “I HATE DIVORCE” (Malachi 2:16), it is always preferable to murder.

God, thank you for the wisdom of your revolutionary word. There are so many amazing ideas in the Bible. Some are so radical like “love your enemies.” But some are so simple we don’t realize they were once so valuable and novel, such as the law of restitution and “the law of jealousies.” Show us the wisdom and the answers in Your word. Give us the wisdom to appreciate even divorce as a potentially life-saving choice for a relationship destroyed by jealousy and hate.

AΩ.

Streaming Traffic or Bottlenecked Logjam: Finding Miracles in Large Datasets. Numbers 2.

Image: Logjam on the St. Croix River, Minnesota.

As timber companies harvested America’s forests in the late 19th century, one of the easiest ways to get logs to the sawmills was to set them afloat in local rivers. But these tree-sized logs would snag on things and on each other, creating logjams. In fact, logjams were not unusual. But serious logjams could be miles long with timbers snarled in piles thirty feet above the water. Breaking up a logjam like that was extremely dangerous, as any timber that suddenly shifted or popped free could kill a man.

Have you noticed the systematic and detailed nature of the Bible?

Of course, there are heartfelt, soul-nourishing passages of creativity like the poetry and music of the book of Psalms and the other books of Wisdom Literature (Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon). Esther, Ruth, the Gospels, and some of the epistles read like personal narratives or letters.

But other books of the Bible are as systematic and detailed as textbooks. Consider the detail of the genealogies, the architectural records of the tabernacle and the temple, the detail surrounding the exodus and the wilderness journeys, and the statutory law laid out in Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

Google’s “AI Overview” defines a DATASET as a “structured collection of related data points, such as numbers, text, or images, organized for analysis, processing, and machine learning.”[1]

When speaking of large cities and the those who populate them, the term dataset can be applied to people: people are a collection of related data points which must be organized for analysis.

When millions of people are involved, you must adopt a systematic and detailed approach or the flow of traffic will become a log jam. This is true of every aspect of cities both modern and ancient, from armies to infrastructure, from education to medicine, from farming to housing. And it is true of written records, both secular and Biblical.

When millions of people are involved everything must be done in a systematic and organized manner.

Imagine the administrative and organizational skills of Joseph, saving the grain of Egypt for seven years, then saving the known world from famine during the next seven. Or the operation Job was running in his later years with 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 2,000 oxen, and 2,000 donkeys.

What a gifted administrator was Moses? God led the man into the desert—with almost no food or water—with over a million bickering, homeless nomads.

The fourth book of the Hebrew Bible has a Hebrew name that means “IN THE WILDERNESS.” Thus, while discussing datasets and the millions involved in the Exodus journey, it is interesting to note that rather than translating from the Hebrew, publishers changed the name to “NUMBERS.”* This is a book in which the numbers play a significant role.

The second chapter of Numbers describes the way these people in the wilderness were to camp each night. The tabernacle would be set up in the center, and the tribe of Levi would camp in a circle around it, with Moses and Aaron on the east. Beyond the Levites would be a clockwise ring of tribes from Judah on the east to Zebulun, Simeon, Reuben, Gad, Manasseh, Ephraim at the western end, then Benjamin, Asher, Dan, Naphtali, and Issachar.

“All those that were numbered of the camps throughout their hosts were six hundred thousand, three thousand and five hundred and fifty [603,550]. But the Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel, as the Lord commanded Moses” Numbers 2:32-33.

“This must have been one of the largest campsites the world has ever seen! It would have taken about 12 square miles to set up tents for just 600,000 fighting men—not to mention the women and children [and the uncounted tribe of Levi for a total of well over a million people]. Moses must have had a difficult time managing such a group.”[2]

Not only would such a crowd be difficult to manage. Imagine providing them with food and water! The billion-dollar infrastructure project for which I work provides water to not half as many people—and we have been laying 8-foot-diameter pipe for nearly a decade!

Can you imagine this crowd waking up in the desert and hiking ten miles, pitching tents, and hoping to find water—for a million people? Of course, God was involved. God is the miracle-working logistical expert. He is the only one capable of feeding this horde, providing them with water and shelter and provision for their animals.

All the detailed logistical planning in the world could not do what God did for Israel.

But reading these detailed records? It is a slow read. We are not watching an action film here! Every paragraph is predictable: Name the next location for a flag, name the tribe to camp around that flag, name its captain, and number its soldiers—then move to the next flag, tribe, and census (and repeat 12 times).

There is a routine to this reading. It is systematic, more like reading government forms than an adventure in the wilderness.

But the purpose of the book of Numbers is not to entertain. The purpose is to provide a reliable, systematic record of an actual journey. And as soon as you master the facts, you can step back and comprehend what is really going on: God led a million people through a wasteland and sustained them for forty years with food and water. Even their clothes did not wear out! (Deuteronomy 29:5).

What a huge miracle!

Have you ever needed a huge miracle? Are you praying for something as big as 12 square miles, as populated as a million people, and as long-term as 40 years in the wilderness? God can do it! He does not get tired! His miracle-working power will never, ever grow weary, no matter how long it takes. HE CAN SUSTAIN YOU FOREVER!

Never let the “boring” nature of the Biblical record cause you to miss the incredible story of what God is doing!

AΩ.

* The name “Numbers” follows the Greek (and later Latin) tradition of the translators of the Septuagint, who chose the term ‘Numbers’ to reference the censuses taken in chapters 4 and 26.

[1] The A.I. Overview cobbles together answers to Google queries by culling relevant information from other websites. When asked, it will tell writers not to cite the AI Overview, but to cite the websites from which the overview created its answer. I reviewed those: one was a less-than-ideal definition from Merriam-Webster. The rest were tech articles about A.I., and not worth citing for a definition of dataset. In this odd case, it made more sense to cite Google’s AI Overview.

[2] Chronological Life Application Study Bible, King James Version, Tyndale House Publisher, Carol Stream (2004), p235, note on Num.2:34.

How to Dedicate Your House to God. Leviticus 27.

I understand the idea of dedicating a new home to God.

People do it in many ways. Some pray over the lot before new construction. Others pray over the rooms. Some put a touch of olive oil on each of the doors. Some will spend time talking about Jesus throughout the house, speaking His name and letting the unseen world know He is their Lord. You can play worship music. I suppose there are many ways to give a home to the Lord.

Did you know the Bible actually provides for the dedication of a home? Leviticus provides an entire chapter instructing God’s people in how to dedicate to God themselves, their children, their animals, and their land.

“And when a man shall sanctify [dedicate] his house to be holy unto the Lord, then the priest shall estimate it [appraise its value], whether it be good or bad. As the priest shall estimate it, so shall it stand. And if he that sanctified it will redeem his house, then shall he add the fifth part of the money of thy estimation unto it and it shall be his” Leviticus 27:14-15.

If a homeowner wanted to dedicate his home to the Lord, the priest would determine the value of the house—and the priest’s word would be final. But if the owner was paid for the house, then it became the property of the temple or the priests or whatever. However, if the owner wants to dedicate the home while still living in it, then the owner must pay the value of the property to the priest, PLUS one fifth, or an additional twenty percent.

What does that mean for the young American homeowner? I guess it means if you want to dedicate your house to God—and you are an unusually wealthy homeowner—then pay to your local church the value of the home plus twenty percent.

That’s a lot more difficult than putting big white stickers in the back window of the car!

It’s also a lot more costly than prayers and a bottle of olive oil. But we are talking about a holy dedication to God. And remember: these gifts in Leviticus 27 are voluntary. No one is required to give a house to God.

God asks us for the first fruits, for the first ten percent of our income. He does not ask for your house! But if you are earnest and deeply compelled to give to the Lord, Leviticus 27 provides for the dedication of yourself, your wife, your children, your animals, your home, your land, and more.

With the exception of clean animals that can be sacrificed, each of these items can be dedicated to God through a gift of money. (That is, you keep the house, the car, the children, the animals, and dedicate those things to God by giving God money instead of those items. That is what REDEMPTION means: the owner can REDEEM the house by giving money in its place, just as Jesus redeems us, buying our souls with His blood.)

The cost of these dedications is significant. But if you want to give your children to God, perhaps you should expect that the cost will be weighty. After all, when Hannah gave her unborn son Samuel to God, she dropped him off around the age of three and he was raised in the temple. She only saw him once a year when she returned to visit and bring him new clothes for the year ahead. When Hannah chose to dedicate her child to the Lord, she paid dearly. Perhaps we should not rule out a weighty financial sacrifice when we wish to dedicate something to God. Again—such gifts are VOLUNTARY. Think hard about them and remember the Biblical mandate:

“Don’t make rash vows” Ecclesiastes 5:2.

Do not make rash vows. You know what that means? It means use your head. Talk to wise, older Christians. Listen to some advice and be wise with your money and possessions. And ask the Holy Spirit to lead you. Remember, wealthy Israelites sacrificed bulls, others sheep and goats, and the poor sacrificed only a pair of doves. God knows your income. He knows what you can afford.

Dear God, we want to live for You. We want our houses, our cars, our children, and our money to belong to You, to serve You, to bring You glory. Show us practical ways that we can dedicate ourselves and all our STUFF to You. May we live every day for Your glory and Your renown.

AΩ.

P.S. Original opening, removed as unnecessary:

Personalized plates and bumper stickers distract me more than anything else on the freeway. Here’s one I cannot understand: Darkly tinted rear windows with huge white letters in the shape of a rainbow spelling out “IN MEMORIAM” followed by the name and birth year and death year of a loved one.

It is easy to relate to the grief people feel over deaths. But what I’m struck by is the words. I understand when a musical composition is labeled ‘in memoriam.’ And a monetary donation given in memory of a loved one makes sense. But how do you drive a car “in memoriam”? Are you driving in memory of the deceased? Or is your car now dedicated to them? Does the sticker indicate that everything you will do in the car from now on will be done in a manner that honors the deceased? Are you in there behaving “in memoriam” right now? What is going on?

You know what I do understand? …

Roadkill Café & the ‘Found Food’ Trend. Leviticus 22.

“This a polecat ferret. I found it not a mile away from here.” Mr. Arthur Boyt holds up before the camera a furry but stiffly flattened dead animal.  

“And as you see, it has been thoroughly rolled out [flattened] on the road. They stink. The flesh smells. But you can overcome that by putting the body in running water for four days—that will remove that musky tang from the meat. Yes, you could eat it. But you’d have to be pretty hard up to want to eat a pole cat.”

Boyt follows up, explaining why he began eating animals that he found on the side of England’s roads:

“I was living on my own. I didn’t have to bother with anyone else’s feelings on the matter … I would pick up roadkill to bring home and mount. I am a taxidermist … and instead of throwing the body away, I decided to start eating them.”[1]

Though most consider it abhorrent, there are some who value so-called “accidental meat,” arguing wild animals are free from antibiotics, hormones, steroids, and other medications. Some prefer the dead animals because they do not want to feel responsible for killing an animal. And some simply like the fact that the meat is free.

The Bible provides wisdom on this topic.

“That which dieth of itself, or is torn with beasts, he shall not eat to defile himself therewith. I am the Lord” Leviticus 22:8.

This verse prohibits priests from eating animals that die in any manner other than ritual slaughter. Rabbis applied this kosher rule not only to priests, but to all Jewish people: you must eat no animals that die on their own or that are killed by other animals. No roadkill. (In fact, kosher law does not allow Jews to eat animals that were hunted.)

This is a picture of holiness. Also because of holiness, the priests were not to make sacrifices with imperfect animals.

“Ye shall not offer unto the Lord that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut” Leviticus 22:24.

Another picture of God’s holiness involves those whom priests might choose to marry.

“They shall not take a wife that is a whore or profane, nor shall they take a wife put away [divorced] by her husband” Leviticus 21:7. 

This passage goes on, repeating the points:

“He shall take a wife in her virginity. A widow or a divorced woman, or profane, or a harlot, these shall he not take. But he shall take a virgin from his own people to wife” Leviticus 21:13-14.

These verses from Leviticus are more than simply arcane laws for an ancient civilization. God is teaching us about holiness. We should live holy lives. We should eat healthy food (and avoid roadkill!). But never lose sight of God’s grace. The New Testament points us to the cross, where God’s Son gave His own life to pay for our sins, whether we eat badly, marry badly, or commit sins and crimes too horrible to discuss here. There is grace. God forgives. He forgives and makes the unholy holy, then invites us into His kingdom.

“There remains a sabbath rest for the people of God” Hebrews 4:9.

Never lose sight of grace. But strive for holiness. Strive to be a virgin on your wedding day. Strive to live a holy life. Strive to eat right, think right, and act right. Pursue holiness. But again: never lose sight of grace.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” Romans 8:1. You are clean, forgiven, and free in Him.

AΩ.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXVY8kttUtE

Whatever the Need, the Bible Can Provide. Whatever the Question, the Bible is the Answer. Leviticus 15.

Today is September 10, 2025. It’s not quite September 11, but it almost feels like it. For me the day began with a host of personal and professional challenges. These problems felt serious and weighty, but about lunchtime they suddenly paled.

Charlie Kirk was shot.

First, I heard he was shot. Then I watched a grainy video from a distance. Then I saw a video of the shooting from about the third row. It could not have been more clear or more graphic. The video was appalling and grisly and horrible. I texted back four words: “that is not survivable.” He did not survive.

Charlie Kirk was something of a professional debater. Described by reporters as a “conservative firebrand,” “culture warrior, and podcaster,” the 31-year-old often spoke at colleges and did not avoid controversies. At the moment of the shooting he was actually talking about gun violence.

I cannot speculate on the shooter’s motives, but it seems we are living in a world in which we murder those with whom we disagree. We are living in a world at war.

Soon I turned to my Bible.

My daily reading brought me to Paul’s letters to the church at Thessalonica. But my writing schedule took me to Leviticus 15. What a contrast!

Writing 1400 Before Christ, Moses begins by discussing laws concerning various bodily discharges or “issues”:

“And when he that hath an issue is cleansed of his issue, then he shall number to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running water and shall be clean. And on the eighth day he shall take to him two turtledoves or two young pigeons and come before the Lord unto the door of the tabernacle … and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the Lord for his issue…” Leviticus 15:13-15.

On a day of murder—graphically videotaped and broadcast to the world—this sort of mundane reading of the Old Testament law seems incredibly, almost unbelievably dull. Who can calm their mind enough to concentrate on the arcane rules and rituals of ancient Israel? And why would you?

What relevance does Leviticus have to a world where a sniper can take a life from a thousand yards?

And what if you had lived 3400 years ago when Leviticus was hot off the press? Even if you were a citizen of ancient Israel, could you study the boring but highly technical content of this book during the many wars, sieges, captivities, and other political upheavals the nation endured? The lives of the ancient Hebrews were more war-torn and violent than anything the United States has seen in my lifetime.

Who has time to concentrate on Leviticus–then or now?

Reading Leviticus after watching a death broadcast almost in real time made me realize that some books are only intended for study and quiet reflection.

Remember the saying, “there are no atheists in foxholes?” Well, there are no soldiers reading Leviticus in foxholes either.

If bullets are whizzing over your head, you will want your Bible. You may crave your Bible like never before. But it will be Psalms you are after, or if not the Psalms, it will be the Gospels or Paul’s letters.

Paul’s epistles are written to Christians living in a world like ours, a world where they will be persecuted, where they may find themselves terrified, where they need God’s peace. Paul’s language is entirely different than that of Moses.

Paul provides the sort of hope and peace we need when we are overwhelmed by war, by murder, by death:

“Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ” 1 Thessalonians 1:1.

(Now THAT is what we need on September 10 … and September 11th, 12th, and every day.)

“We sent Timothy … to comfort you concerning your faith, that no man should be moved by these afflictions (2:2-3). … For God has not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ (5:9).”

“We ourselves glory in you … that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which also ye suffer” 2 Thessalonians 1:4-5. 

“We pray always for you, … that the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you (1:11-12). … Be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter (2:2).”

“Finally, brethren, pray for us … that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for all men have not faith. But the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you, and keep you from evil (3:1-3). … Now the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all … The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen” 2 Thessalonians 3:16-18.

There is nothing richer than the Bible, no better source for wisdom, history, human psychology, practical insights into leadership and governance, business and finance, and even things as elemental and raw as murder, war, survival, and victory.

There is a time for Leviticus. Absolutely. We must read and study the whole Bible.

But there are days for Psalms, days for hymns of worship and praise. Days when we need wisdom from those who have been persecuted, who have suffered for the cause of Christ.

There is no book like the Bible. May God fill our hearts with a deep love for His word.

AΩ.

God Placed a Boundary Between Sex, Children, and Worship. Leviticus 12:2-4.

“If a woman conceives and bears a man child, then she shall be unclean for seven days … And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised, and she shall continue in her purifying for three and thirty days. She shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying shall be fulfilled” Leviticus 12:2-4.

So a woman is ritually unclean for a month if she delivers a baby boy? Yes. And if she delivers a girl, she is unclean for two months (Leviticus 12:5). Does that feel like rejection or some kind of shame being heaped on a young mother?

It is not.

‘Unclean’ does not mean sinful or dirty. Instead, it is a legal distinction that honors the mother by relieving her of certain duties (she does not have to go to church). Scholars suggest this would have made the early days with a new baby easier.

But there is more.

When the nation of Israel entered the Promised Land, they saw farms that were more prosperous than anything they had ever seen in Egypt or the wilderness.  Like idol worshippers everywhere, the idol-worshipping Canaanites believed their farms were flourishing because they had been faithfully serving the local deities. This notion that different gods ruled different territories (much like the five mafia families would one day divide up the city of New York) was well-known and enticing to the Hebrews. They were drawn in, tempted to believe that to have a good harvest, they needed to please the local gods. (They may have seen God as a God of Egypt and the desert, but doubted His power in a fertile valley.)

There is another reason idolatry was so tempting: idol worship provides a god the worshipper can “control” (sort of) and from whom the worshipper can secure various blessings. It is a quid pro quo notion, allowing the idol worshipper to tell himself that if he makes certain sacrifices for Baal, then Baal will give him a good crop.

God, as you may have discovered, does not treat us that way. God loves us, but He will not be manipulated by us. God loves us, but He instructs us NOT to approach Him with bargains and deal-making (see Matthew 7:7-11 MSG).

It gets worse.

Baal was a male deity believed to be able to bring rain. Asherah was a female deity alleged to bring fertility. And, as another writer explains, the pagans–

“practiced ‘sympathetic magic.’ That is, they believed they could influence the gods’ actions by performing the behavior they wished the gods to demonstrate. Believing the sexual union of Baal and Asherah produced fertility, the worshippers engaged in immoral sex to cause the gods to join together, ensuring good harvests. This practice became the basis for religious prostitution (1 Kings 14:23-24). The priest or male member of the community represented Baal. The priestess or female member of the community represented Asherah. In this way, God’s incredible gift of sexuality was perverted to the most obscene public prostitution.”[1]

It gets worse still.

“At times of crises, Baal’s followers sacrificed their children … to gain personal prosperity. The Bible calls this practice ‘detestable.’ (Deuteronomy 12:31, 18: 9-10.)”[2]

Imagine this scenario: pagan ‘worshippers’ gather on “every high hill” where men and women engage with strangers in ‘ritual sex’ or, in today’s vernacular, a “religious orgy,” some of them bearing official-sounding religious titles such as “temple prostitute,” all to win the favor of the false gods Baal and Asherah. And when people really had a need, they would murder their children for Baal as a sacrifice. Can you imagine the way these violently unholy acts must have grieved the heart of God?

Thus, to ensure such horrible acts did not take root among His people, God separated all acts of sexuality from the religious practices of ancient Israel.

“Canaanite religions incorporated prostitution and immoral rites [including child sacrifice!] as the people begged their gods to make their crops, herds, and families increase. By contrast, Israel’s religion avoided all sexual connotations. By keeping worship and sex entirely separate, God helped the Israelites avoid confusion with pagan rites.”[3]

Did God provide laws prohibiting temple prostitutes and ritual sex? Absolutely. Did God provide laws prohibiting child sacrifice? Absolutely. But God took things one step further: He pronounced new mothers ritually unclean for weeks following birth, thus ensuring that neither the mothers nor their children would be anywhere near worship—pagan or otherwise. God gave Israel an entirely new set of religious practices, creating a religion where neither ritual sex nor newborn children were welcome, to ensure that His people would be tempted by Baal worship as little as possible.

Dear God, the more things change, the more things stay the same—our culture still has a tendency to worship sex and to offer the lives of children on the altar of our own prosperity. Forgive us, Lord. We are men of “unclean lips and we live among a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5). Forgive us and deliver us to true worship. May we honor You in all that we do. May we be grateful, wise, and disciplined about sexuality, respecting the boundaries You have given us. And fill us with love, compassion, and a sense of the purpose of every child’s life.

AΩ.

[1] Much of this content comes from this article: https://www.thattheworldmayknow.com/fertility-cults-of-canaan

[2] Id.

[3] Chronological Life Application Study Bible, KJV. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, (1988), p211, note Lev.12:1-4.