Numbers 18-20 Chapters 18 and 19 are concerned with instructions about who may offer worship under what circumstances; and about what is to be done when a living person is made ritually unclean by encounter with a corpse. It also contains the instructions about the "red heifer," leading even in the 20th century to all sorts of weird speculation about the need to be on the lookout for a red heifer of such perfection that the Temple could be reconstructed and cleansed. Perhaps this material is inspired by writings on this passage in the Talmud.
Finally, in chapter 20, we are back in narrative mode again. Miriam and Aaron both die in this chapter. Moses strikes the rock to bring out water. But the instructions from the LORD were "command the rock before their eyes to yield its water" (20:8). This got him in trouble with the LORD. Perhaps because the LORD is so often called the Rock, it was as if Moses was striking God rather than trusting God to provide. His punishment is harsh: God says: "Because you did not trust in me, to show my holiness before the eyes of the Israelites, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them." These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the LORD and by which he showed his holiness" (20:12-13).
This chapter also records how the Edomites didn't want the Israelites wandering through their territory. In a desert/wilderness environment, thousands of people wandering through would be very disruptive and put major pressure on the natural resources. So the Israelites had to take a different route.
Psalm 46 Another beloved psalm. The choir at All Saints' often sings an introit (choral piece at the beginning as we are about to make our entrance into the church) from this psalm: "Be still and know that I am God" (46:11). The term selah that you may see in your Bible is the Hebrew term for a sort of chorus or musical interlude.
Romans 7--An analogy from marriage begins the chapter. But it is really pretty enigmatic. Paul argues in 7:4
"you have died to the law" [note that the party who dies is YOU, not the Law]
"through the body of Christ" [note two things:
a) the multivalence of the term "body of Christ" as Church, as Eucharistic bread even (I think) as early as Paul was writing Romans, and as the physical body of Jesus that hung on the cross and died; and
b) the ambiguity of the term "through": in what sense through?]
"so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead" [Would this analogy hold together better and make more sense if Paul had written "The law has died to you, leaving you free to belong to another"? Is this what he means?]
Paul claims in 7:6 that the Law held us captive. And he claims not that we are set free but that we are now slaves "in the new life of the Spirit."
Paul realizes that this could make it look like he thought that the law brought about sin, or was bad in some way. He uses the strongest negative that we have in the NT: "By no means!" (7:7). And he explains how the law functions to make it clear that we have sinned, citing the example of the commandment that we should not covet. Sin, not the law, produced covetousness in the sinner, says Paul. I'm not sure if this means something different than the Devil or Satan, or if "Sin" for Paul encompasses its agent. I think of Flip Wilson's famous words: "The devil made me do it!" Paul tries again to explain how it works in 7:11-13:
"For sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. Did what is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! [There's that strong negative again.] It was sin, working death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure."
You decide if Paul makes sense here. I think I follow the overall flow of the argument, but not each step or claim separately.
7:14-25 are some of my favorite in the whole book of Romans. It is good to see that Paul struggled, still, with sin. It encourages me to imagine that I also might be able to hope despite my own sin that seems still to creep back into my life though I wish to be fully claimed by Jesus.
Keep in mind how important it is to be aware of Paul's technical uses of ordinary words like "mind," "flesh." Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Paul moves right on forward. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (7:24-5)
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