2.12.11

Why does the subject of relationship click when discussed in forums and even casual conversations?

People like to volunteer a thing or two.
People like to share their two-cents’ (and probably more) worth.
People like to connect with people who can offer something about a common experience.

One question was asked:
If God sees everything, why does He allow people to fall in love and then out again?
That he allows, is good enough and proof enough to know that he loves us well enough to leave us to our own designs.
If he were to stop us from all the crazy things we do to ourselves, would we consider life a drag?

Then again, we bear the cost of our choices.
Good or bad.


REFLECTIONS
Numbers 25-27

The Peor Affair

Numbers 25
Adultery with the Moabites led to the worship of Baal.
Phinehas was commended for doing the right thing: he drove his spear through the bodies of the Israelite Zimri who brought the Midianite woman Cozbi into the camp.
And then the plague of 24,000 death stopped.

Was it love between Zimri and Cozbi?
Was it lust or mere defiance of God?
If it was love, then obviously there is always a choice between an earthly love and a divine command?

Come to think of it, we may be driving too many spears in our hearts because of relationships we commit with people we “love” in spite of what God wants.

Census #2

Numbers 26
Total number of prospective Israeli army circa Moses, not counting the Levites: 601,730!

vv62-65
All the male Levites a month old or more numbered 23,000. They were not counted along with the other Israelites because they received no inheritance among them. These are the ones counted by Moses and Eleazar the priest when they counted the Israelites on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho. Not one of them was among those counted by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Desert of Sinai. For the LORD had told those Israelites they would surely die in the desert, and not one of them was left except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

The Hierarchy of Inheritance

Numbers 27:8-11
‘If a man dies and leaves no son, turn his inheritance over to his daughter. If he has no daughter, give his inheritance to his brothers. If he has no brothers, give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. If his father had no brothers, give his inheritance to the nearest relative in his clan, that he may possess it. This is to be a legal requirement for the Israelites, as the LORD commanded Moses.’

* There is always an opportunity to have an inheritance.
* Order – there is always a sense of order.

The Turnover
Joshua is to take over Moses’ leadership position.