The Israelites had a constant problem. Despite the presence of Yahweh in many forms, and in their witnessing His awesome majesty, the children of Israel simply couldn’t help themselves. They seemed to have an irresistible urge to follow any god but the One who actually delivered them from slavery. While in Moabite territory, the Israelites…
Posts Tagged: Israelites
Numbers 11:4 – Rabble Rousers
The effects of discontent can carry over well past an initial display of someone’s grievance. They can have disastrous consequences that go beyond one person’s bad thinking about something. There’s a contagious aspect about dissatisfaction; an infestation of sorts that creates a festering wound. The Israelites had a problem. They’d known nothing of Yahweh for…
Numbers 5:15 – Trial by Ordeal
Certain passages of the Bible make us shake our heads in confusion before we move on in our reading, because we don’t understand what’s going on at a deeper level. In our westernized Christianity, we don’t have the appropriate context to discern the true intent; rather than digging deeper, we add these things to our…
Exodus 20:18-21 – Near or Far from God
As God was introducing Himself to the Israelites during the Exile through various encounters, in which Moses was the intermediary, an interesting dynamic comes into focus. The passage in Exodus 20:18-21 gives us an indication of this interplay: “Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of…
On Eagles’ Wings
Our God is a supernatural God. We see that throughout the Bible in the many miracles, signs, and wonders that He performs. In the Book of Exodus, He brings about ten terrible plagues upon Pharaoh and the nation of Egypt in the earth, the heavens, and upon man. No doubt, he can do anything, even…