
Today is Fat Tuesday. This picture was taken by my daughter, Nicole Foran as we strolled through the French Quarter last month. Something about today being Mardi Gras and expressing high spirits before Lent seems oddly appropriate for this scripture passage...
Offerings for unintentional sins are reviewed. If the whole community sinned unintentionally they made a burnt offering of a young bull along with its grain offering and drink offering, as well as a male goat for a sin offering, they would be forgiven. If an individual sinned unintentionally, a sin offering of a year old female goat was required and he would be forgiven. This was required of anyone in the community whether Israelite or other people living among them. Then their sins would be forgiven. Anyone sinning intentionally blasphemes against the Lord and was to be cut off from among the people and they would remain guilty.
A man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath. Those who found him brought him to Moses and Aaron for judgement. God told Moses that the man must die, that everyone was to take him outside the camp and stone him to death. So they did.
Everyone was commanded to put tassels on the corners of their garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. This was to help them think about God constantly and remember to keep His commandments.
Chapter 16 tells of a rebellion of 250 men. It seems that some of the younger Levites (Kohathites and Reubenites) named Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On, had gotten very proud of themselves, and staged a coup. Included in this group were highly respected leaders and members of the council of 70 elders. When Moses and Aaron heard their accusations they fell down on their faces. Moses told them that in the morning they would know whom God had chosen and to bring cencers with fire and incense to the Tent of Meeting and the Lord would choose the holy one. Moses asked them whether being set apart to do God's work was enough for them and why did they want the priesthood too? Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, but they would not come. Then Moses got angry because he hadn't done anything wrong to them. He didn't deserve their anger.
The next morning they all gathered with their censers at the Tent of Meeting. The glory of the Lord appeared to them. God told Moses and Aaron to move away from the crowd. They fell on their faces and begged God not to punish everyone because of a few. So God told them to have everyone move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Moses told them that they would know who was in charge by what would happen next. If they died a natural death then Moses had not been sent by God. If they died because of something unimaginable, like being swallowed alive by the earth, then they would know that they had treated God with contempt. Then the earth opened up and swallowed them and their families. They were buried alive. Then fire came out from the Lord and burned up the 250 men. Moses had Eleazar gather the censers from the smoldering ashes because they were holy. Then he had them hammered out flat to overlay the altar. This was to remind them that only descendants of Aaron were worthy to burn incense before the Lord.
The next day everyone was grumbling that Moses and Aaron had killed the Lord's people. They all rose up against Moses and Aaron at the Tent of Meeting. The Lord told Moses to get away from the people so he could put an end to them at once. Moses and Aaron fell on their faces. Moses told Aaron to fill a censer with fire and incense and take it out to where the people were to make atonement for their sin of disobedience. He did, and stopped the plague in its tracks. He stood between the living and the dead. The dead numbered 14,700 in addition to the 250 who followed Korah.
Tomorrow read Numbers 17-20
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