One Year Bible Readings and Commentary for Sunday, March 13th
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The Water of Purification
The process for the purification of the water involved the sacrifice of a "red heifer". A heifer was a cow which had never been pregnant and therefore could not give milk. They had to find one of red color which would be rare and hard to find. The heifer was slaughtered, and some of its blood was sprinkled on the front of the altar, and the rest of the animal was burned.
The ashes that resulted were added to the water to purify it, and was used to purify them from sin. So the ashes in a sense were looking forward to the blood of Christ, which purified them from sin. The water is used as a symbol of cleansing and also rebirth through the Holy Spirit. There are numerous examples in this chapter of what made a person unclean, and this especially applied to the priests who went into the temple with God.
The bottom line is uncleanness represented sin, which needed to be paid for. The innocent animal was the sacrifice, and the ashes mixed with the water represented the means by which God's grace could be applied to each person to take away their defilement.
Moses Strikes the Rock
The Israelites continued to complain against Aaron and Moses, because they were without water. Miriam, Moses' sister, also died showing there were no exceptions for anyone in that generation to enter into the Promised Land. Though this was a younger generation of Israelites, they copied the bad habits of their parents. Moses and Aaron realized how sinful it was of the Israelites to speak to them this way, so he and Aaron fell on their faces.
Then the Lord appeared to them and told them to take the staff and speak to the rock and water would come out of it. But if you read carefully they did not talk to the rock but struck it with the staff. Though the Lord provided water out of the rock, he was upset with them. The consequences were pretty steep. They would not be the ones who would lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. This may seem harsh but God held Moses to a higher level of accountability because of the position he put him into.
Edom Refuses Israel Passage
The next stage of entering the Promised Land was to go through the land of Edom. There was only one problem, the king of Edom said on no uncertain terms that Israel could not pass through his land. The Israelites tried to reason with the king, but the king threatened to send his army if they tried to come, so they turned around. It is surprising that we see no judgment on the Edomites by the Lord for refusing to let His people go through the land. We know the Edomites were descendants of Esau the brother of Jacob.
The Death of Aaron
As the Israelites went up to Mount Hor, the Lord announced to them that Aaron, Moses' brother, would die and be with his descendants. This shows there is some kind of eternal life promised to the Old Testament believers. When Aaron died, Moses took off his priestly garments and put them on his son Eleazar, who would now step into the role of the priest. All of Israel mourned for Aaron for 30 days showing their reverence for him as their first priest.
As we start the gospel of Luke, we see Luke's purpose was to give an eyewitness and detailed account of the events that had happened among them. I.e. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus. We know Luke was a physician and also traveled with Paul on his missionary journeys. Luke writes to a person named Theophilus, whose name means "lover of God!", who commissioned him to write this account.
The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold
One of the unique aspects of Luke's gospel is all of the detail he gives around the birth of John the Baptist. By this time the number of families and number of priests had grown. Therefore, they only served in the temple at certain times and those times were chosen by lot. Zechariah was a priest who was married to Elizabeth, who was very old and had no children.
As he was serving in the temple, he was visited by an angel who spoke many things to him, including that his wife Elizabeth would bear him a son in their old age. They were to name him John. He would be filled with the Holy Spirit from birth, and he would prepare the people to meet the Lord. Many people would be filled with great joy and gladness at his birth, as they had not heard from a prophet in hundreds of years.
John was to be set apart at birth with the traditional Nazirites vows, which involved no drinking of alcohol, fasting, and not cutting his hair. Unfortunately Zechariah did not believe the angel Gabriel and as a result of his disobedience his mouth was shut, and he could not speak. When he came out of the temple, the people knew something significant had happened, but all John could do was to make hand motions. But they knew something significant had happened. After his week of service, John went home and shortly thereafter Elizabeth became pregnant!
"What Now" Study Questions:
As we embark on reading Luke's gospel, ask God to continue opening your eyes to the story of His Son.
Israel forgets that God wanted to take them to the Promised Land, they again complain of how Egypt was better than the wilderness. Are you guilty of complaining about the places that your sin has led you? Repent and quit complaining!
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