“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Rm.12:1
# 39 2026 Dev. Numbers 29-30. Returning to The Lord! Read all of chapter twenty-nine and thirty first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s Story. Do you believe that this may also be part of our story, in our time? All passages are taken from the NIV.
Nu. 29 Major Festivals
Vs.1-6 Trumpets. “‘On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets.” They were to sacrifice, a bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, without blemish, as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. Here, trumpets direct people
back to God as well as a preparation for the day of attornment. Trumpets announce future advents, we will hear them for the future event of the judgment of God and the coming of Jesus. What do you have in your religious life that draws you closer to God?
The Day of Attornment.
Vs.7-11 “‘On the tenth day of this seventh month hold a sacred assembly. You must deny yourselves and do no work.” The same sacrifices were required except they must also offer a male goat as a sin offering. Leviticus 16 lays out the ceremonies and sacrifices, including a second goat as the scape goat, to carry all the sins of the people committed over the year, these sacrifices point to Jesus Christ. Today, Jesus is our scape goat carrying all the sins of the whole world to the cross, He is the ultimate sacrifice, once and for all. Praise and thanks be to God the Father!
The Festival of Tabernacles
Vs.12-38 All this was to be done in the seventh month after the new year. This is a festival commemorating the time they spent wandering in the desert and it lasted for eight days. The first day 13 bulls are sacrificed and 14 male lambs and one male goat as a sin offering. Every day the same offering but the bull number was reduced by one, the other offerings stayed the same. On the last and eighth day only one bull, one ram,7 lambs, and also a sin offering. Along with all these offerings, grain offerings and drink offerings were included.
They were to remember the years in the desert, the manna, how God took care of them. As they were ready to go into the promised land, obviously, they had food to spare. Today we make living sacrifices.
Nu 30. Vows.
Vs.1-2 “This is what the Lord commands: 2 When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.”
Vs.3-8 Women, single or married who make a vow will stand only if the father or the husband do not prevent them.
V.9 Widows and divorced women’s vows stand.
Vs.10-15 It appears that a vow made by a wife may put a family in jeopardy if family goods are involved. If the husband says nothing he is responsible. The husband is given certain rights, he has the responsibility for the family but if he reneges on his right to lead, his wife can take over. Today, “don’t swear by heaven or earth, let your answer be a simple yes or no” so Jesus tells us.
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