Sunday 22nd September
Read Psalm 75
If you don’t have a bible at home you can find the readings on a website such as www.biblegateway.com or an app such as YouVersion
If we listen to the news we hear of various changes in the whole stream of world life. Sometimes things that are positive, sometimes negative, and sometimes both at once. The Psalmist in this Psalm does the same. He listens and sees but what he does say is that the whole movement of events lies under the hand of God – “I choose the appointed time; it is I who judge with equity” (v2). It is quite easy to become fearful and be tempted to panic but if that is the case we need to hear the word of God, “When the Earth and all its people quake, it is I who hold its pillars firm” (v3)
It contains verses of judgement on the arrogant and the wicked who boast of their prowess but for the Psalmist he praises God because he knows “It is God who judges: he brings one down and exalts another” (v7). Praise, not fear, is the heartbeat of the Christian for they know who is Lord.
READINGS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD
Monday Numbers 34:1-29
Chapter 34 is about the boundaries of the land to be occupied as an inheritance of the people. It is actually the boundary of nine and a half tribes because the other two and a half – Reuben, Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh – had already been allowed to have the land East of the border because of their flocks. (v13,14). Within the tribal areas each family would be given land and a list of men is given who would attend to that allocation within the tribal areas (V16-29).
Organisation in the Church rests with Christ because it is his body but in the different areas that he grants his people need to seek wisdom from him as to who should be allocated areas of service. In the New Testament it was after prayer that the deacons were appointed, so also when a missionary opportunity arose it was after prayer in the city of Antioch that Paul and Barnabus were sent out. There has always been the danger for individual people to take over the management of the Church separate from Christ and when that happens, disaster happens.
Tuesday Numbers 35:1-5
The one tribe that wasn’t given a portion of land as their inheritance were the Levites, this was because they were granted the position of the servants of God in the management of the Tabernacle with all its accoutrements and the priestly role of the worship of God under Aaron and Eleazar.
For their earthly support they were to be granted space around all the cities of the tribes so that they would have space for their and living conditions. This plan was followed in New Testament times when those who led in Churches through teaching and leading were to be given support.
In the future this support was not always practiced as it should have been.
Special cities of refuge were to be set up which would act as places of safety for those fleeing from retribution after an act of killing. They were designed for those who had brought about the death of someone which they claimed had happened accidentally. The danger was that the avengers who were the family of the deceased would chase after the person and exact a punishment of death before there was any trial. The fugitive who had fled from the sight was to be given refuge in one of these cities before a trial before the assembly (v12).
There follows a number of details which were to be taken into account in adjudging whether an act was an act of murder or a bd but unblameable situation. In verses 16-21 murder is described as coming from malice aforethought regardless of the way the murder is committed. In verses 22-25 we find some details about what would be called manslaughter but not a culpable homicide and such who flee to a city of refuge are to be safe, provided they do not leave the city during the lifetime of the High Priest.
It may be that since no-one knew the possible lifespan of the person killed, the life of the High Priest who was representative of the people should be taken as a guide after which the refugee could go back to his home. However, no ransom could be accepted for a murderer to allow him freedom, in other words no deal could be arrived at whereby he could be ‘bought out’ of his justified death penalty.
The details about the shedding of blood are all to do with polluting the land where the closing verses say “where you live and where I dwell” (v34). God is seen to dwell in the land of his people just as in the New Testament he is seen to dwell in his people, the Church.
We came across the matter of Zelophehad in Chapter 27 where we find that he had died and only left daughters as his issue. They came to Moses saying that their father’s allotment would be lost and his name die out amongst the tribes of Israel because daughters could not inherit the land. Moses gave the ruling that in such cases the daughters would be allowed to inherit however in this chapter a further related issue arose. What was to happen to their fathers allotment in his tribe if the daughters married Israelites of another tribe? The portion would move from that tribe to another one. This was not to happen and the daughters could marry anyone but it must be someone from their own tribe, that of Joseph. With this arrangement no land would pass from one tribe to another.
How we would imagine that in our present situation might possible be to understand it in terms of no certain group of people with in the family of the Lord’s people should be allowed to monopolise Christian life which we are told is to come from every tribe and tongue of people in the world much as we like our own background to be the leaders in the worldwide Church. A thought, anyway.
A Return to Acts.
Having looked at Numbers we are going to return to the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament and to pick up where we last left off. Chapter 8 begins with events after the martyrdom of Stephen in Chapter 7 and tells us of a great persecution that arose in Jerusalem against the Church. On can well imagine why after Stephen’s great defence of the truth of the Gospel and the resistance of the Jewish people to it.. Rage results when wrong is exposed. The Church didn’t go into hiding though for what resulted was a scattering of believers throughout Judea and Samaria. The apostles stayed, possibly in obedience to Jesus command, and also because it became the supervising Church in the early development and growth of the Church. Two characters are mentioned in these early verses, Saul, with Luke’s description of his early period of rage against the Church, and Philip, one of the deacons of the Church in Jerusalem and his amazing early evangelism. The Church grew with a lot of noise both positive and negative, in this early period.
Another character is introduced here and his name is Simon (sometimes called Magus). A great deal of mythology surrounds him but here in scripture he is just portrayed as a sorcerer who had performed great signs and got himself known as Simon the Great by the Samaritan population. People will often gather round those who can perform out of the ordinary things whatever they may be.
In such a background Philip arrived and proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. We ought to think of what this means so that we don’t proclaim something that isn’t the gospel. The kingdom is the realm of God over which he reigns and the name Jesus is added because he is proclaimed as this King. He was crucified but rose from the dead and appointed his disciples to tell everyone that the realm of God was not far awy but already here and ruled over by Jesus. The baptism of men and women in Samaria came about because it indicated a repentance on the part of those whose lives had been lived in another realm and they now sought to enter this kingdom of God. Simon, so says Luke, believed and was baptised. This would be a big thing for him but we need to wait and see what happened in the next verses.
News of the acceptance of the people came to the apostles in Jerusalem and they sent Peter and John to check tings out. Having seen the genuineness of the acceptance of the people something was still needed and that was that they receive the Holy Spirit just like the people in Jerusalem and so they laid hands on them praying for the gift of the Holy Spirit to be given.
