Numbers 4-5:31; Mark 12:18-37; Psalm 48:1-14; Proverbs 10:26 (New Living Translation)

Old Testament

1. The duties of the Kohanites, Gershonites, Merarites.

- Moving the Tabernacle. Keep Holy thigs holy, keep the sacred things sacred.

- Don't touch the holy things if that's not your job. You will be put to death. (this comes up later in the OlD Testament)

- Ministry of work. Not for priestly duties, but to do the heavy lifting for God. Shouldn't more of us be doing this? Everyone wants to be in charge. Wants to be up front and acknowledged. Who is left to do the grunt work?

- This thought may apply more to the New Testament for us, but are we spending too much time and effort wearing the cross, and not so much on bearing the Cross?

2. Unclean things banned from the camp.

3. Protecting marital faithfulness.

- "The husband will be innocent of any guilt in this matter, but his wife will be held accountable for her sin."

- Doesn't say anything about the man being unfaithful???? We will have to wait and see if this gets addressed.

New Testament

4. The Sadducees approach Jesus. The scripture clearly says that hese religious leaders did not beleive in resurrection. Strange that they would ask about what happens after the resurrection.

- Jesus' answer is that our earthly concepts of marriage and intimacy will change, be washed away with our "old selves". That all of these pleasures will be shared with God.

5. Sadducees- definition- Sadducees rejected oral Torah (first 5 books of bible), and created new interpretations based on a literal understanding of verses. In their personal lives this often meant an excessively stringent lifestyle from a Jewish perspective. An example of this differing approach is the interpretation of, "an eye for an eye". The Jewish understanding for centuries was that the value of an eye was to be sought by the perpetrator rather than actually removing his eye too. In the Sadducees' view the law was to be taken literally, contrary to that traditional interpretation. From the point of view of the Pharisees, the Sadducees wished to change the Jewish understanding of the Torah.

6. The most important commandments...

- Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

- Only two commandments to worry about. Love God with all your heart. Love your neighbors as yourself. You know, if we could embody these two rules and nothing else, all the other commandments, and in fact, all of life would fall into place.

- Unfortunately, we are not whole-hearted. Jesus came to heal the broken-hearted and to set the captive free. We are not whole-hearted and we are not free.

- Our hearts are divided. We try to serve too many gods. Money, our ego, our career, our children. Don't you know people who would at least say that they would sacrifice anything and everything for any one of these things. Well, if we think we can make such a huge sacrifice to get ahead in our workplace, why can't we use that same single-mindedness to get to God?

- And love your neighbor as yourself? What would happen if you just thought of this phrase every time you were about to open your mouth to make a smart remark about someone? Or to speak about someone else in a not-so-flattering way? Or to gossip? Or just think before you said anything..."What if someone else were saying this about me? How would it make me feel when I found out?"

- Feeling convicted yet?

- Our hearts are broken, and we are not free. That's what Jesus came for, and why He should be living in our hearts all the time.

7. The people like Jesus' teaching. That's a problem for the Pharisees, the Saducees and as we talked about yesterday, the Herodians.

Psalm

8. "O God, we meditate on your unfailing love.." Even the Old Testament tells us we should meditate on things.

Proverbs

9. "Lazy people irritate their employers..."

See you next post...

Exodus 13:17-15:18; Matthew 21:23-46; Psalm 26:1-12; Proverbs 6:16-19 (New Living Translation)

Didn't post yesterday, too tired. So I'll try to make up for it tonight by doing both nights together...

Old Testament text

1. The final stroke against Egypt was the death of each firstborn.

2. Moses moves the Israelites to a hurried preparation. They were told to ask for gold and jewels from the Egyptians. The Lord would move their masters to give. The Israelites were to pack and prepare for a sudden departure. The bread was not to be mixed with yeast- there would be no time for it to rise. A young, unblemished lamb was to be taken into each household. The family was to eat the lamb, taking care not to break any bones. This ceremony is called the "Passover."

3. This is called the Passover because on the night the lamb was slain, God's death angel would move through Egypt. The firstborn of every family would die.Yet the death angel would pass over homes protected by the blood of the lamb.

4. The full significance of this event waited until the coming of Christ. His death on Calvary took place as the lamb of God.

5. God did not lead the Israelites out by a direct route. They needed time to trust God, time to become organized.

6. It was at the "sea of reeds" that the Isrealites realized that the Egyptians were pursuing them. Pharaoh and the Egytian people recovered quickly. The Pharaoh forgot God. But so had the Israelites. They complained bitterly to Moses. Moses' response is an excellent watchword for us today..."Stand still, and watch God deliver you."

7. The Egytians were destroyed.

New Testament text

8. This section begins with Passover week, a few short days before the Crucifixion. There are merchants in the section of the temple reserved for prayer. The preists were selling "approved" lambs and pigeons. Jesus healed the blind and lame brought to Him. The crowds shouted, "Hosanna." The chief proests and scribes saw theses miracles and their hearts were hardened.

9. On His way back to Jerusalem Jesus appraches a fig tree, as if to pluck some fruit for breakfast. The the foliage is luxuriant, there was no fruit. The fig tree of Israel which appeared to be fruitful, was not. It was to wither away, its fruitlessness exposed.

10. What was wrong with the scribes and Pharisees?

- they were empty of authority

- they were untouched by the evidence of transformed (changed) lives, because they didn't care about people.

- their desire was for personal power

- they acted only to be seen and admired by others

- they preached but they did not practice

See you next post...