Daily Journey: March 16th

Numbers 14:26-15:41, Mark 15:1-20

Thought from Today’s Old Testament Passage:

Ceremonial Details. 15:1-41. Looking forward to the time when the people would eat the food of Canaan, the Lord gave them directions for making a token contribution of the first fruits of their produce (heave offerings). He made provision for forgiveness of sins of ignorance—cases in which either the congregation as a whole or individuals might have transgressed unwittingly—on the ground of burnt offerings accompanied by atonement blood (vv. 22-31; cf. Lev 4). But he also made clear that if a man acted with evil intention (a high hand), he must be cut off from the people and bear his own iniquity. One man was stoned to death for despising God’s commandment regarding Sabbath observance. Some have attempted to identify this severe judgment with the Sabbath ideas of the Pharisees, against whose misinterpretations Christ spoke. The two situations are not the same. The Pharisees added to Jewish religious law Sabbath regulations not contained in the Old Testament, and so provided loopholes for themselves. The Lord of the Sabbath teaches that the Sabbath law is designed for man’s spiritual enjoyment and to satisfy his deepest needs. The Bible nowhere takes a light attitude toward deliberate transgression of any of God’s laws. The chapter concludes with a statute of psychological value (Num 15:37-41). The Israelites were to attach tassels made of blue thread to the borders or corners of their garments as a reminder to keep all these commandments (Deut 22:12). This was Israel’s “string around the finger.” (Charles F. Pfeiffer, Everett F. Harrison, eds., The Wycliffe Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press) 1962, p. 133)