Deuteronomy 1:19-25 - We set out from Horeb

1:19-21

The Lord had commanded them to leave Horeb was where they had received the Law, but that was not where they were to stay. God gave them the Law so that they would know how to live in the Promised Land. Likewise, God does things in our lives in one place, but does so in preparation for the next phase of life. It is our human nature to want to stay in the place where God blesses us, this can be OK for a season, but we must always be ready to move on when He tells us to. So they came to the border of the Promised Land. Moses knew that it was time to go in, and he encouraged the people to do so.

1:22-25

Here it says the people wanted to send spies into the land. In Num 13:1,2 it says God told Moses to send spies into the land. Here in 1:23 it says that Moses agreed to this. We could square the two accounts by saying that Moses consulted the Lord after the people’s request, and God had agreed to the request. Whatever the details, the spies went into the land and brought back some of the fruit of the land. They agreed that the land was a good land.

Ephesians 5:14-16 - Be careful then how you live

5:14

“Anything that becomes visible is light”. What is Paul on about here? I would venture to suggest the following, which ties in with the quotation that follows. Our nature is to hide the dark area of our life. John talks about this in Jn 3:17-21. But if, instead, we admit to our sin, if we rise from the spiritually dead. If we repent and believe, then we receive forgiveness, and the darkness in our lives is turned to light.

5:15,16

So we are to be wise about the way that we live. To walk in darkness is to be unwise, to be foolish. To walk in the light is to be wise. This is then followed by the injunction “making the best use of the time, because the days are evil”. If we live in darkness, blindly following the ways of the world, then we are wasting time. We are allowing people to be captured by the darkness, and denying people the opportunity to come into the light.

Deuteronomy 1:9-18 - You are too heavy a burden

1:9-14

Moses found the task of leading the people too onerous. There were two major reasons for this, one was the sheer number of people, the other, and probably the more serious, was their rebelliousness. I have sometimes heard people talk about the “children of Israel”. This all sounds very nice, but in reality they were a bunch of whingers. They complained their way through the desert. Moses still wanted the people to increase all the more in numbers, knowing that that was God’s purpose, but he needed help in order to do this. So he instructed each tribe to choose some wise and respected men to assist in leadership (Ex 18:25). The people agreed that this was a good idea.

1:15-18

So Moses took the leading men and appointed them as leaders over groups of various sizes. These leaders were to judge all but the most difficult cases between Israelites, and also between Israelites and foreigners. They were to do so fairly, and without fear, “without fear or favour”. It is also notable that the case between an Israelite and a foreigner and one between two Israelites were to be judged in the same way. Moses instructed them how to carry out their tasks.

Ephesians 5:11-13 - Fruitless deeds of darkness

5:11,12

We are to have nothing to do with the “unfruitful works of darkness”. The works of darkness do not yield anything good, so we are to avoid them completely. Instead we are to expose them. We are to call works of darkness for what they are. Indeed, “it is shameful even to speak of the things they do in secret”. This re-emphasises that we are to have nothing to do with them at all.

5:13

The light exposes the darkness for what it is. Elsewhere Paul talks of Satan appearing as an angel of light. The darkness surrounds itself in lies, hiding its true nature. We must not be taken in by its lies. When the light of the word of God is shone on such things their true nature becomes plain. There are some well-meaning Christians who say we should keep away from such things (e.g. avoid talking about sexual immorality issues), this is not a Biblical approach.

Deuteronomy 1:3-8 - In the fortieth year

1:3-5

Throughout Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers we find Moses telling the people what the Lord has told him to say. In John’s gospel Jesus says that He only did what He saw the Father do, and only said what He heard the Father say. In that sense Moses is a type of Jesus. So Moses proclaimed “all that the Lord had commanded him”. There is a parallel with the Great Commission where Jesus tells us to “teach them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matt 28:20). Moses is teaching the same Law, but now there is the bitter experience of the past forty years as an illustration of why it was so important.

1:6-8

God had given the ten commandments at Horeb, but then it was time for them to move on. God had not just set them free from captivity, He was leading them to a better place, a new life. It is the same with us. God does set us free from various things, but His plans are greater than that. God had given the Israelites the land of Canaan, so they were to take possession of the land. Israel was saved purely by the act of God, but this does not mean that they did not have responsibilities. Likewise, we are saved by grace, by the sovereign act of God. But He saves us to make us responsible human beings, able to live Christlike lives. Their taking of Canaan was a fulfilment of the promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Ephesians 5:9,10 - Find out what pleases the Lord

5:9

“For the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true”. This sentence is found in parenthesis, and is explaining why we should avoid all the dark things that we have been urged to avoid. If we indulge in the works of darkness then we will not learn or receive anything good. It is only by focusing on the good, right and true that we can cultivate the fruit of light. In Phil 4:8 we are urged to focus on what is noble and true.

5:10

“And try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord”. This implies at least two things, The first is that discerning what is pleasing to the Lord is not always easy. Some things are, such as the various things we have been told to avoid. These are bad and not pleasing to the Lord. Various good things like kindness, forgiveness etc are pleasing to the Lord. But we all face situations where things are difficult and it isn’t always easy or obvious to know what the right thing to do is. The second thing is that we have “agency”. God doesn’t just lay everything on a plate, sometimes we have to work things out.

Deuteronomy 1:1-2 - It takes eleven days, took you forty years

1:1

Moses spoke these words to all Israel as they were about to enter the Promised Land. They are addressed to all Israel, not just a select few. They needed to know how to live in the Promised Land before they got there. As we know all too well, they made a mess of things in the wilderness, and made a mess of things once they were in the land, with only brief periods of reasonable obedience. We all need to focus on living godly lives now.

1:2

Moses points out that it takes eleven days to go from Horeb, which is where the ten commandments were given to Kadesh Barnea, where they were now. It had, in fact, taken them almost forty years. This was between the first giving of the Law and the second giving of the same Law. Because of the people’s disobedience their journey had taken way longer than necessary, and most of the original people had died. The Law remained the same. 

Ephesians 5:7,8 - Do not be partners with them

5:7

“Therefore do not become partners with them”. We must not be partners with such people, for they are only encouraging people along the road to hell. Why would we want to partner with such people? We are meant to be proclaiming the gospel, bring people from death to life, not encouraging them on their way to hell.

5:8

We do not do these things from a “holier than thou” perspective, but as people who also once walked in darkness.  But we have been rescued, and rescued by grace. We now walk in the light, we are meant to be “light in the Lord”. We do not consider ourselves to be superior, but we do know what it was like to live in darkness, and we know that to live in the light is much better.

Deuteronomy - Introduction Part 2

Deuteronomy has a structure to it. There are a variety of views on the structure, but a common theme among many of them is that a substantial part of Deuteronomy is an exposition of the Ten Commandments. So, following Woods1 the structure is (this is a summarised version):

1:1-4:43	Moses recounts what God has done prior to their reaching the edge of the Promised Land.
4:44-11:32	The Ten Commandments are repeated, followed by stressing the importance of obedience.
12:1-13:18	Commandments 1,2 - no other gods and idols.
14:1-21	Commandment 3 - Not taking the Lord’s name in vain.
14:22-16:17	Commandment 4 - Sabbath observance
16:18-18:22	Commandment 5 - Honour your father and mother
19:1-22:8	Commandment 6 - Do not murder
22:9-23:18	Commandment 7 - Do not commit adultery
23:19-24:7	Commandment 8 - Do not steal
24:8-25:4	Commandment 9 - Do not bear false witness
25:5-16	Commandment 10 - Do not covet
26:1-19	Declaration of the covenant.
27:1-26	Covenant renewal in the promised land.
28:1-68	Blessings and curses.
29:1-30:20	Call to obey the covenant.
31:1-34:12	Transition from Moses to Joshua.

Deuteronomy - Introduction Part 2

Deuteronomy has a structure to it. There are a variety of views on the structure, but a common theme among many of them is that a substantial part of Deuteronomy is an exposition of the Ten Commandments. So, following Woods1 the structure is (this is a summarised version):

1:1-4:43	Moses recounts what God has done prior to their reaching the edge of the Promised Land.
4:44-11:32	The Ten Commandments are repeated, followed by stressing the important of obedience.
12:1-13:18	Commandments 1,2 - no other gods and idols.
14:1-21	Commandment 3 - Not taking the Lord’s name in vain.
14:22-16:17	Commandment 4 - Sabbath observance
16:18-18:22	Commandment 5 - Honour your father and mother
19:1-22:8	Commandment 6 - Do not murder
22:9-23:18	Commandment 7 - Do not commit adultery
23:19-24:7	Commandment 8 - Do not steal
24:8-25:4	Commandment 9 - Do not bear false witness
25:5-16	Commandment 10 - Do not covet
26:1-19	Declaration of the covenant.
27:1-26	Covenant renewal in the promised land.
28:1-68	Blessings and curses.
29:1-30:20	Call to obey the covenant.
31:1-34:12	Transition from Moses to Joshua.

I have been reading the following commentary below while studying this book:

1Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, Deuteronomy, Edward J Woods (2011)

So I wish to express my indebtedness to Edward Woods. 

Ephesians 5:5,6 - Let no-one deceive you

5:5

Sexual immorality and covetousness have no part in the kingdom of God, nor do people who do these things. This is part of the reason why it is so foolish for part of the church to want to be “affirming” of certain forms of sexual immorality. Such people are sin-affirming, and that is an extremely foolish thing to do. Note that covetousness is put alongside sexual immorality. Covetousness is a form of idolatry, for it is making out that something is of utmost importance, something we absolutely have to have.

5:6

The arguments from the sin-affirming parts of the church may superficially seem to have some reason behind them, but they are in reality just empty words. Worse than that, they are advocating things that only serve to bring the wrath of God. There is nothing more foolish than to affirm such things as they do. “Sons of disobedience”. The gospel is about bringing us out of rebellion, out of disobedience, into obedience.

Deuteronomy - Introduction Part 1

The title “Deuteronomy” literally means “second law”, but this can be misleading and is based on the Septuagint (Greek translation) translation of 17:18. It is better to think of the book as “preached Law”. The rules and regulations are given in quite formal legal form in Exodus - Numbers. Deuteronomy is giving the Law when they are on the verge of entering the Promised Land, so it has a  much more immediate context.

The traditional or classical view of the authorship and date of Deuteronomy was written by Moses, with possible a few later edits, and was preparing the people of Israel to enter the Promised Land. This is the scenario presented by the book itself. Jesus and other New Testament writers attributed the book to Moses. Indeed, Deuteronomy is one of the most quoted Old Testament books in the New Testament. So this is the view I will take.

There are many who believe that the book was written much later. Some say that it was written around the time of Josiah. Some see it as being a polemic at about the time of the Assyrian ascendency, while others see it more in the Babylonian period. There is no consistency to these various alternatives, so we will stick with the traditional view, indeed the Jesus view!

There is a great emphasis on “the land”. God had promised to Abraham that He would give them the land of Canaan, and this emphasis follows throughout the Pentateuch. There is emphasis both on God giving them the land, and on their need to take the land. There is also emphasis on their living according to God’s ways in the land. There are obvious parallels with Christian salvation and life. We are utterly dependent upon God. Jesus Christ dying and rising again are our only grounds for salvation, we are saved by grace. But that does not mean that we don’t do anything, nor does it mean that it doesn’t matter how we live.

One of the features of Deuteronomy is that Israel is given clear instructions on how to live in the land, how to be “successful”, but this is given knowing full well that she will fail. Ultimately the book is a preparation for the coming of Christ.

Ephesians 5:3,4 - No hint of sexual immorality

5:3

We have spent a lifetime living in sin, we know all too well how to live un Christlike lives. So part of learning to live Christlike lives means getting rid of the junk in our lives and we now get a list of things to get rid of. “Sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness” are the first three things to be named. They should not even be talked about. Sexual immorality is destructive, and it is closely associated with impurity and covetousness.

5:4

Filthiness, foolish talk and crude joking need to be done away with. These things are very prevalent in our society, so we need to be especially on our guard against them. It is not just a matter of not doing these things, we need to replace them with something good. So in their place we are to put thanksgiving.

Numbers 36:1-13 - Inheritance

36:1-4

Earlier we read about Zelophehad’s daughters, and Moses had agreed to give them an inheritance (Num 27:1-11). We now see the promise being fulfilled. We also see the situation being examined further, with the question of what happens if the daughter marries a man from another tribe. There is a great concern to ensure that land stays within the correct tribe. This would happen at the year of the Jubilee.

36:5-9

Moses agrees with the contention of the daughters. Note that Moses takes the questions raised by the daughters seriously. The solution given is to marry within their father’s tribal clan. Now many will baulk at this “solution”, thinking it is patriarchal, or some such slur. We need to appreciate the desire to keep an inheritance within the tribe. It is also worth noting that the basing of inheritance etc on the male side meant that in most circumstances, people could marry between tribes, for the land would remain within the man’s tribe. The problems only arose if the couple only had daughters. Moreover, we tend to view marriage from a largely romantic perspective. There is a much more practical outlook on marriage in the Bible. Moreover, we all know from experience that the practical consequences of marriage are very important.

36:10-13

Zelophehad’s daughters accepted the decision of Moses (given to him by the Lord) and married within their tribe. The five daughters are named, and we see that Noah can be a girl’s name! So their inheritance remained within their father’s tribe.

36:13 marks the end of a section, and indeed the end of the book. So next we move onto Deuteronomy.

Ephesians 5:1,2 - Follow God's example

5:1

We have just been told to forgive as God in Christ forgave us (Eph 4:32). We are now told to be imitators of God. Forgiveness is one of the prime features of being like God. Back in Gen 1:27 it says we were created in the image of God. We are meant to be like God in character. But there is a key difference between the gospel and religion. In religions we try to obey the rules out of fear, but in the kingdom we seek to be imitators of God as beloved children. The atmosphere, the context, is completely different.

5:2

Imitating God might seem to be unattainable, even unimaginable, for God is God and we are not, He is so infinitely greater than us. But God came and dwelt among us as a man. So we forgive as Christ forgave us, and we are to walk in love as Christ loved us. In Christ we see the human embodiment of what we are meant to be like.  And Christ “gave Himself up for us, as a fragrant offering and sacrifice”. Lives lived out of selfish ambition and interest stink, Christlike lives are a fragrant offering.

Numbers 35:16-34 - Murder

35:16-25

Having regard for the person who accidentally kills someone is sensible and right. However, it must not be taken advantage of and we have clear delineation of cases where the one who killed is guilty of murder. This is followed by cases where the person who killed could flee to a city of refuge.

35:26-34

Once inside a city of refuge, the accused had to stay there if they wanted to benefit from the protection that these places afforded. They could only leave once the high priest had died. This was presumably to allow sufficient time to elapse between the event and their leaving the city.

We also get other stipulations, most importantly that someone could only be found guilty on the testimony of two witnesses, not just one. Nor could one buy one's release. If someone was guilty of murder then they were due the death penalty. The underlying principle behind all this is the sanctity of life, and the seriousness of murder.

Ephesians 4:30-32 - Do not grieve the Holy Spirit

4:30

We are not to grieve the Holy Spirit. This strongly indicates that the Holy Spirit is a person, and not just a force or power. We were sealed with Him, and we are temples of the Holy Spirit. If we sin then we grieve the Holy Spirit.

4:31,32

These two verses give us a list of things we should get rid of, and what we should replace them with. This is all part of taking off the old self and putting on the new self. So we are to get rid of slander, rage and anger, bawling and slander, and every form of malice. Earlier (4:26) Paul said “be angry but do not sin”. Here it says to get rid of all anger. This stresses the danger associated with anger. In place of all these sinful attitudes and behaviours we are to have kindness, compassion and forgiveness. We are to forgive as Christ forgave us.

Numbers 35:1-15 - Cities for Levites and Cities of Refuge

35:1-5

The Levites did not have a direct inheritance in the land, but each of the tribes was to allocate them towns to live in and pasture land so they could husband their animals. Details on the size of the towns and the pasture land to be given to Levites is given.

35:6-15

We now get details of the cities of refuge. Six of the Levite towns were to be designated as such. These were places to which someone who accidentally killed someone could flee. When such an event happened the families of the victim would naturally feel very much aggrieved and would be out for revenge. They would not be thinking clearly. Today there is often talk of victims having input to criminal proceedings, in terms of setting the sentences. This is a deeply mistaken approach. The problem is that the criminal justice system is often not assigning the correct or severe enough sentences, the solution lies with the criminal justice system itself not properly recognising the seriousness of various crimes.

Ephesians 4:28,29 - Let the thief no longer steal

4:28

We then get some very practical advice. If you had been stealing you must steal no longer but do some proper work. This indicates that the gospel was reaching out to all sorts of people. It was certainly not the preserve of the middle classes. The former thief was to be transformed into someone who did something useful and was also able to share with those in need.

4:29

We are to be careful about what we say. A lot of talk can be gossip, concerned with doing others down. Instead we should seek to say what is helpful for others, building them up rather than tearing them down. We should ask ourselves if what we say is going to benefit those who listen, rather than just making us appear clever.

Numbers 34:1-29 - Borders of the land

34:1-29

Not a lot to say on this!

The chapter starts with the outline of the whole Promised Land. This was the land promised to Abraham in Gen 17:8. In broad terms it consists of the land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan river, plus what we now call Lebanon and parts of Syria.

The land was to be divided among the tribes of Israel, and then among the clans within those tribes. We get a list of all the tribal chiefs.

Ephesians 4:26,27 - Put away falsehood

4:26

“Be angry and do not sin” (ESV), NIV seems a little better, “In your anger do not sin”. ESV seems to be encouraging us to sin! It isn’t, and it is worth noting that anger in itself is not necessarily sinful. There are times when anger is justified. However, when we are angry we are more prone to sin, so we need to be very careful. “Do not let the sun go down on your anger.” We should resolve anger, not letting it fester. 

4:27

“And give no opportunity to the devil”. We can give opportunity to the devil in two ways when we are angry. In the heat of the moment we can lose control and do or say things that are not good, and that we will later regret. If we do allow anger to fester then it will distort our thinking. This will do us no good, and may lead to us doing wrong thighs or having wrong attitudes.

Numbers 33:4-56 - You shall take possession

33:4-49

Then follows a list of all the places they passed through, with the odd comment here and there. These comments usually refer to incidents that are recounted elsewhere in Exodus-Deuteronomy. For example, 33:9 refers to Marah and Elim (Ex 15:22). 3:15 refers to Rephidim (Ex 17:1). Most stages are just mentioned by name, with no further details. Then we get to the death of Aaron (33:39). In 33:40 we are told that the Canaanite king heard that the Israelites were coming.

33:50-56

When they are near the Jordan God tells Moses to prepare the people for crossing into the Promised Land. Moses does this in much more detail in Deuteronomy. The key points given here are that they are to destroy all vestiges of idol worship in the land. All the carved images and high places. And all the inhabitants are to be driven out. The land was to be distributed by lot, with clans getting an allocation in accordance with their size.

Failure to fully drive out the inhabitants and to destroy all the high places would lead to them being a thorn in the side of Israel. We know that in 2 Cor 12:7 Paul speaks of a thorn in his flesh. I wonder if there is an allusion to 33:55? Most seriously, Israel would become subject to the same judgement as the inhabitants of the land. As we know, Israel failed to rid the land of its high places, there is constant reference to this in the rest of the Old Testament. And we see here that there is no favouritism with God (Rom 2:11).

Ephesians 4:23-25 - Put on the new self

4:23,24

It is not just a matter of putting off the old self, we are also to put on the new self. We are to be “renewed in the spirit of our minds”, this is reminiscent of Romans 12:2 where we are urged to be transformed by the renewal of our minds. Our new self is “created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness”. This, of course, reminds us of Gen 1:27 where we are told that we were created in the image of God. The work of sin is undone by the work of Christ on the cross. In the earlier chapters we saw how everything is God and Christ centred, we see here that it is still Christ centred, for the goal is to be like Christ, to be holy and righteous. We were saved in order to be like Christ, if we think we were saved for some other purpose then we are badly mistaken.

4:25

We now get some of the details of what it means to take off the old self and put on the new. We are to put away falsehood. Jesus tells us that Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44). Lying has nothing to do with the kingdom of God, so we should reject it at all times, even if we think that lying will achieve a good purpose. Instead we are to “speak the truth to our neighbour”. “For we are members one of another”. So if we lie to someone we are in effect lying to ourselves, which cannot be sensible.

Numbers 33:1-3 - These are the stages

33:1,2

We now come to the record that Moses kept of their long journey through and around the wilderness. Moses kept this record at the Lord’s command. This does tell us something important about Numbers and the journey. First, it tells us that Moses played a significant part in composing the book of Numbers. Secondly, it tells us that the journey through the desert was real. The places in Numbers and elsewhere where we get accounts of various incidents are bunched towards the beginning and end of the journey, with little if anything about the inbetween part.

33:3

The account starts from the departure from Egypt, and says they marched out “defiantly” (NIV) or “triumphantly” (ESV), and that God had brought judgement upon the gods of Egypt, and this led to judgement upon the people of Egypt. This is very relevant when we come to the end of this chapter.

Ephesians 4:20-22 - Put off your old self

4:20,21

“But that is not the way you learned Christ”. We did not understand the gospel, nor who Christ is, by following the wisdom of the world. So having come to know Christ why would anyone then think that following the ways of the world was a good idea? Sadly there are many so-called Christians who do. The truth is in Christ, not in the world.

4:22

We need to appreciate the depths of sinfulness within man and the extent of man’s rebellion against God. Rooting out the sin and rebellion within our own lives should be our main concern, not seeking to be like the world. So we are to put off the old self. This belongs to our former life and is corrupted by deceitful desires. Sin deceives. It tells us that something will be pleasurable, or beneficial in some way, that we will get away with lying or whatever. It tells us lies.

Numbers 32:20-42 - Arm yourselves before the Lord for battle

32:20-32

Moses agrees to their offer, but is absolutely insistent that they must fight with their brothers until the enemies are driven out of the land. Then they would be free to do what they had suggested. The Reubenites and Gadites agree to this compromise, reaffirming their willingness to fight alongside the rest of the Israelites.

32:33-42

Having had their request granted, the Reubenites and Gadites set to clearing out any last vestiges of enemies from their new land, and building up the fortified towns. The half tribe of Manasseh also joins them.

Ephesians 4:17-19 - You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do

4:17

The focus has been on the sovereignty of God and the centrality of Christ, that we are saved by grace. However, that does not mean that we do nothing. Just as God’s “natural” creation of us made us into beings who can do stuff, so His “spiritual” creation makes us into beings who can do stuff. So, Paul urges us to “no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds”. The ways of the world are not good, and they are indeed futile. The church is never more foolish than when it thinks it is a good idea to follow the ways of the world. We are to live as God’s people according to His ways, not the ways of the world.

4:18,19

The mind of the world is darkened, and is alienated from the life of God. So why would anyone in their right mind want to follow the world’s ways? The mind of a sinful man is ignorant and his heart is hardened. It is utter foolishness to use them as a source of advice.Paul carries on with his diatribe against the Gentile mind. This is rhetoric and does not imply that every single Gentile is completely like this, but it is the general picture.

Numbers 32:1-19 - Your servants have livestock

32:1-13

The Reubenites and Gadites saw that the land where they were looked very good, so they asked Moses to allow them to stay in the area, and receive that land as their inheritance. Moses knew that the tribes which did cross the Jordan would have battles to fight, so it was not fair that the Reubenites and Gadites might not fight in those battles. If their request was granted it would also serve as a disincentive for the other tribes. This also reminded Moses of what had happened with the spies discouraging the people from entering the land. That aroused the Lord’s anger and led to them wandering in the desert for many years.

32:14-19

Moses tells the Reubenites and Gadites that they are a brood of sinners, and their actions could lead to another generation being destroyed in the wilderness. The Reubenites and Gadites respond by saying that their men will go up and fight with their fellow Israelites, but the women and children would stay behind. They would build fortified towns for the women and children.

Ephesians 4:15,16 - Speaking the truth in love

4:15

So what is presented in this verse is the alternative to 4:14. Instead of being tossed here and there by false teachings, craftiness and deceitfulness, we speak the truth in love. And we grow up into Christ. And He is the head of the church. All false teachings effectively deny the headship of Jesus, and certainly deny true love. The gospel speaks the truth in love, rather than claiming to speak love when they are actually speaking lies.

4:16

Christ is the head and the whole body is joined together in Him, and is equipped by Him. We continue the Christ centeredness of the gospel. Only then will every part work properly. This makes the body grow and build itself up in love. We are so easily deceived and seek to follow some non-Christ centred path. This can happen in “churches” that don’t really believe, but also in believing churches. The latter can follow some path that is not Christ centred but seems to offer growth or other fruit. Only Christ supplies the fruit of the gospel.

Numbers 31:19-54 - Divide the spoils equally

31:19-24

In the midst of the slaughter there is the fastidiousness of the way people who had touched a dead body, or had killed someone, had to behave, staying outside the camp for several days. The plunder also had to be purified. 1 Cor 3:13 perhaps alludes to Num 31:32? After the cleansing process, the soldiers were allowed back into the camp.

31:25-54

We now get details on the dividing of the spoils of war. Soldiers and the community were to get equal shares. One five hundredth of the soldiers share was to be given to the Lord, and one fiftieth of the community’s share. It is not clear where these “rules” came from. We are then given the numbers of the plunder, and it seems that an awful lot was captured.

Ephesians 4:13,14 - Until we reach unity in the faith

4:13

“Until we all attain to the unity of faith and of knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”. See and appreciate what the goal is! First there is unity, and it is unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, it is not unity for its own sake. Is 41:6,7 describe a unity, but it is a unity in building an idol. Unity in Christ is the only unity worth having. We are to become mature children of God. In the New Testament we are often encouraged not to remain as infants, but to grow in Christ. And the goal is “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”. These are no small goals.

4:14

“So that we may no longer be children ...” We are meant to become mature and strong in Christ. There are lots of false teachings and ideas around, it has always been so. We should seek to build the believers up so that they are not easily taken in. For false teachings will often be presented with craftiness and deceitfulness.