Reading: Numbers 35-36, Psalm 52 Hey, we are wrapping up the book of Numbers! No more grumbles, right? Well, we’ll see. Not on the level of Numbers anyway. Tomorrow we will begin the last book of Moses, Deuteronomy. Almost the entire book is a long speech that Moses makes right on the edge
Reading: Numbers 33-34, Psalm 51 We are winding down the book of Numbers. This last phase of the book is a recounting of the journey of the people of Israel in the wilderness, which may seem really dull reading but actually functions as a kind of recap of the story so far. I have
Reading: Numbers 31-32, Psalm 50 Well, this is uncomfortable. We’ve run into one of the difficult to accept events in the story: God mandated total war. The story itself isn’t too hard to understand. The Israelites go out to seek vengeance on the people of Midian because of the events of a couple
Reading: Numbers 28-30, Psalm 49 Oh good, another recounting of the daily, weekly, monthly, and annual sacrifices. I know you are excited. As usual, it is not a matter of coincidence. It may seem repetitive and rather dull to us as modern readers, but the placement of God’s reiterations are intentional and make sense
Reading: Numbers 25-27, Psalm 48 Yesterday we read a story about Balaam and the Moabite king Balak. This story, involving a talking donkey, is familiar to many a Sunday School attending child. The story appeared to end with the departure of Balak and Balaam, having accepted that they were not going to be
Reading: Numbers 22-24, Psalm 47 One of the more popular Bible stories in children’s Sunday Schools, the story of Balaam and his talking donkey, has a certain silly fable-like quality to it that makes it fun to tell. Unfortunately it also lends itself to learning the wrong lesson when we pull the story
Reading: Numbers 19-21, Psalm 46 Today we open the reading with what appears to be another shorthanded reference to Leviticus. But if you’re paying really close attention, you’ll see there is something new here. This particular sacrifice, involving a red heifer, is not present in Leviticus, and seems most closely related to the
Reading: Numbers 17-18, Psalm 45 American professional sports are a fascinating study in the human perception of authority. More specifically, the watching of American professional sports by the American public. Based on my observation, the amount of sports expertise present on living room couches and on bar stools far eclipses that of the
Reading: Numbers 14-16, Psalm 44 One of the great tropes of storytelling is the “lost in the woods” scenario of going in circles. The lost subjects of the story will be wandering all day, only to come across something that reminds them they are, at the end of the day, in exactly the same
Reading: Numbers 11-13, Psalm 43 Video games have an interesting history, but not all video games are interesting. In 1995, comedians Penn and Teller created a series of video games among which was the simulation game Desert Bus. If you have never heard of this, let me assure you, it is like no other “game.”