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FRINGE BENEFITS
NUMBERS
CHAPTER 15
We're pleased to have you back with us once again for more Daily Bread. In
our last story, the children of Israel changed their minds about going into
the Promised Land when they heard what the Lord planned to do about their
murmurings. Moses warned them not to go because they wouldn't have the hand
of the Lord protecting them, but they insisted and those who went were
killed by the Canaanites and the Amalekites.
Chapter 15 is made up of three
different topics that don't seem to go together as one story, but that's
pretty much how life usually is day by day. It doesn't usually just all
flow smoothly like a story that happens in perfect sequence every day, it's
full of twists and turns and things come up that don't have anything to do
with our plans. Surely Moses experienced days like this while he was
writing these books that we're studying and this is a great example.
We start off with the Lord
explaining to Moses the offerings that the people should make when they get
to the Promised Land and some laws to abide by. If you'd like to study
these offerings and laws, you'll find them in Numbers 15:1-31.
Then there's a little story in the
middle of the chapter, and it goes like this. While the children of Israel
were in the wilderness, they caught a man who was gathering sticks on the
Sabbath. The people that found him brought him in front of Moses and Aaron
and the congregation. He was kept guarded because it wasn't clear what
should be done to him. Then the Lord told Moses, The man will be put to
death. The whole congregation will stone him with stones outside the camp.
So they did what the Lord commanded and the man died.
Many of us are probably sighing with relief and thanking God for
the New Testament each time we read about something like this. We think of
the Sabbath as a day of rest and prayer. We know that it was the day that
the Lord blessed because He rested on that day from all His work that He
created. But what about now? We think of ourselves first, but what if it's
also a day where, because we should be
resting and praying, it gives God a break from the millions of things that
He takes care of for us the rest of the week? It's certainly a thought to
consider. Jesus told us that Sabbath was made for man and not man for the
Sabbath (day of rest) in Mark 2:27. You can read more about what Jesus said
about the Sabbath in Matthew 12:1-8, 10-13. This should give you a better
idea of what you should do on the Sabbath. What is considered work
to one person, may not be considered work to another. The best thing
to do would be to pray to the Lord for guidance about it, because what He
thinks is what counts.
Last but not least, the final topic of
the chapter is an interesting one as well. Every once in a while you learn
something that you didn't know, and it makes you change how you think
about something for the rest of your life. The
Lord told Moses to tell the children of Israel to make fringes on the edges
of their clothes throughout all their generations and on the fringe to put a
cord of blue. The purpose of it was so that whenever they would look at it,
they would remember all the Lord's commandments and obey them and not to
turn away from Him, but be holy. Who knew that fringe was more than a
decoration? Well, now that you know, whenever you see fringe, you have
something really awesome to remember!
In our next story, we'll learn
about what happened when Korah, Levi's great-grandson had a dispute with
Moses. It's sure to be a story that you won't want to miss, and you'll find
it here, at your Daily Bread.
CONTINUE TO THE NEXT STUDY
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