July 18 ▪ Day 199

Scripture Readings

Proverbs 19:16
Numbers 35–36
Matthew 18
Psalms 15

Verse Focus (Proverbs 19:16)

Whoever keeps commandments keeps their life,
     but whoever shows contempt for their ways will die.

Meditation

Our verse focus today seems pretty straightforward. Proverbs 19:16 says, in the NKJV, “He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul, but he who is careless of his ways will die.”

The reason I quote this verse to you using the NKJV is because it is very close to the transliterated Hebrew. However, most English translations use “commandments” (plural) rather than “the commandment” (singular). And in many ways the plural makes more sense to us. The commandments, plural, refers to all of God’s laws and commandments in the Torah. But if it’s just “the commandment,” singular, how do we know which one it’s talking about? And yet the Hebrew text does refer to “the commandment” — singular.

I’ve been thinking about the difference it makes — whether it is commandments, plural (all of them) or commandment, singular. And while I think the verse does refer to all of God’s commandments, I think it benefits us to think of a single commandment when we read this proverb. So let’s take the command to honor your father and mother (Exodus 20:12). When you think about a specific command, you can be careful to do that specific command. You can keep the command and thereby preserve your soul. But if you think of all the commandments, it’s too many to keep in your head all at once.

Jews believe there are 613 commandments in the Torah. I don’t know how they arrived at exactly this number. Did they weed out the duplicates? And the ones that are extremely similar? Regardless, 613 separate commands is more than we can keep in mind all at once. So how will we be careful to keep them? We can only keep them one by one, as we consider them.

I also think that, in terms of keeping all 613 commands, some we will keep very well and some we will not. But the Holy Spirit can nudge you to focus on one specific issue — and you can work on that command until you are always careful to do what it says. Until it becomes second nature. And then you can work on another command.

By keeping “the commandment” singular, which commandment you think the proverb of speaking about can change. It will be between you and God. In fact, there may be a commandment that is not in the Bible at all, but is specific only to you. Perhaps God has told you He wants you to go walking several times a week. Or He doesn’t want you to eat a certain type of food (or a certain quantity of food). Maybe He wants you to go to bed by a certain hour. Only you know the things the Holy Spirit has been whispering to you.

Father God, please bring to mind the things that you would like us to focus on obeying. We want to be careful of our ways, not careless. We want life, not death. I know our life in Christ does not consist of keeping a bunch of rules. Yet it will benefit us to obey things that please you — such as telling the truth, honoring our parents, and loving one another. May our actions be pleasing to you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Today we read the final two chapters in Numbers. We have read of the different counts of the people of Israel, and had an overview of the years they spent wandering in the wilderness. We know that Moses will soon die, and then Joshua will lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. Today Moses records some additional laws that will affect the Hebrews once they are in the Promised Land.

Numbers 35 speaks of cities that will be given to the Levites, as well as cities of refuge. Since the Levites belong to God, they will not receive an allotment of land like the other tribes will. But here God makes it clear that the Levites are to be given 48 cities all throughout the territory. In addition to the cities, they will also be given pasturelands surrounding the cities so that they will have a place for their livestock. Of these 48 cities, six of them will be set aside as cities of refuge — three in the Promised Land, as well as three on the east side of the Jordan river among the inheritances of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh. The cities given to the Levites will be in proportion to the size of inheritance that each tribe has — a larger tribe will give more cities for the Levites than a smaller tribe will.

Moses speaks a bit about the purpose of the cities of refuge. When someone dies accidentally at the hands of another person, the manslayer can flee to the city of refuge and be protected from the avenger. However, if the death was caused by malice, then the murderer will be executed. No one, however, will be put to death at the word of only one witness. There is no ransom allowed for someone guilty of murder or manslaughter; the murderer must be put to death, and the manslayer must live out his days in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest.

Verse 33 strikes me. “Blood pollutes the land.” The LORD warns the Israelites, through Moses, not to pollute the land where He will dwell with them. “You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.” This makes me grieve for our own country. How defiled is our land from all the blood that has been shed?

Numbers 36 returns to the case of Zelophehad’s daughters. Now that it has been established that daughters may inherit, what will happen if that daughter marries into another tribe? By custom, she joins the tribe that she marries into — so will her inheritance now permanently be taken from one tribe and given to another?

The LORD sees this concern as valid. In verse 6 He decrees, “Let them marry whom they think best, only they shall marry within the clan of the tribe of their father.” So daughters who inherit are restricted from marrying outside their own clan.

Indeed, it becomes a new command: “The inheritance of the people of Israel shall not be transferred from one tribe to another (v. 7).”

With the LORD’s decree that three of the cities of refuge be located on the east side of the Jordan River, it seems that the LORD does approve of the tribes that wanted to receive their inheritance outside of the borders of the Promised Land. Knowing that each tribe’s inheritance will be a permanent possession, but their allotment is based on the size of the tribe at this particular point in time — well, it makes the time spent in the wilderness even more critical since it substantially changed the sizes of some of the tribes in relation to each other. As the saying goes, the LORD works in mysterious ways.

In Matthew 18, Jesus speaks about temptation. In verse 7, he says, in the ESV, “For it is necessary that temptations come.” The word necessary strikes me. Temptations are necessary? Many English translations use the word “inevitable” in this verse. The Greek word is anagké (ἀνάγκη), which means necessity, but it also conveys the idea of compulsion or force. Constraint, with implied distress. I’m not sure where the necessity comes from. Is it a consequence of the fall? Or is the necessity somehow linked to our redemption? Either way, it’s a curious way of thinking about the world.

Jesus also speaks of how important children are to the Father. In terms of social hierarchy, children are usually the least valued. Yet Jesus tells us that the children’s angels always see God’s face in heaven. “It is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish,” says Jesus in verse 14.

Jesus speaks of the need to forgive. He tells the parable about the unforgiving servant to communicate that God’s forgiveness of our sins is conditional upon our own forgiveness of those who have hurt us. In some ways this is a frightening concept because we fear we may not have the capacity to forgive others. And I think that we do not have this capacity in and of ourselves. But when we experience the Father’s forgiveness, understanding just how much the Father has forgiven us, that is what transforms us to also forgive.

Verse 20 is one of those gems. How many times have you relied on this promise? And how many times has Christ proved faithful? “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Psalm 15 looks at God’s holiness through the lens of a righteous person. The psalmist asks in verse 1, “Who shall dwell on your holy hill?” As we look at the person who may dwell with God, we learn that God is blameless and right. He is truth. He is kindness. He despises the wicked and vile, but honors those that fear Him. He does not discredit or take advantage of others. He cannot be seduced or bribed. He does not change. He is steady, stable, and immovable. He is a Rock.

Father God, thank you that you are unchanging. Thank you that you are holy and pure. Thank you for your truth. Thank you for Jesus, and for the Holy Spirit. Thank you for forgiving us our sins and for transforming us into the image of your Son. We pray in his name, Amen.