Numbers 4 must be understood in the context of Numbers 1-10, which is primarily about Yahweh preparing Israel to be His earthly army, paralleling His heavenly army. That preparation began in Numbers 1 with the first census. God's people needed to be counted, both counted in for the privileges and counted on for the responsibilities. …
Continue reading Assigned: The Work of the Levites | Numbers 4
The overall purpose of Numbers 1-10 is that Yahweh is organizing and preparing Israel to be His earthly hosts. They are to be His earthly army through whom He will enact His judgment upon the Canaanites. So far, the first two chapters have given us the number and focus of the whole congregation. In Numbers …
Why is the Bible so full of chiasms? A chiasm, we should recall, is a literary mountain, where the emphasis is placed upon the center and everything before and after that center parallel with one another. We observed a number of chiasms last year during our study of Leviticus, which is chiastically structured around chapter …
Why Numbers? Because it was next. The first series I preached at Western Meadows was Genesis 1-11. Only three years since have been without a series through a portion of the Pentateuch. By the Lord's grace, we have completed Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus, which brings us now to Numbers. We will not study the whole …
Author Moses is traditionally understood to be the author of Numbers, since it belongs to the Torah or the Pentateuch, which are also called the Five Books of Moses. I say "traditionally" because some scholars argue that Moses was only one source among several and that the Pentateuch was compiled much later than Moses' lifetime. …
When we think of the Reformation, justification by faith alone or the authority of Scripture alone are typically the first theological thoughts. And those were truly central to the movement. But one of the key Reformers, John Calvin, wrote a short treatise called The Necessity of Reforming the Church, where he makes a striking comment …
Continue reading Those Who Make Them Become Like Them | Psalm 15 & Psalm 115:4-8
Why is this chapter here? That is the big question that I have when coming to the book's final chapter. At first glance, it seems as though this chapter could have been placed anywhere else in Leviticus, which would have let the book end with chapter 26 as its climactic finish. But the LORD, in …
Leviticus 26 is, in many ways, the climax of the book. Indeed, it is the covenantal climax. Leviticus, of course, is a book of laws. Hopefully, throughout this study, we have seen how much depth and significance there is in these laws. For instance, God gave these laws to shape Israel as they draw near …
And the LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying… Every portion of the Bible is God-breathed, and all of it is profitable. We have seen that it is profitable for teaching, for reproof, and for correction. Paul then adds a final profitability: for training in righteousness. The word translated as training is paideia. Paideia …
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying… All of the Bible is God-breathed, and all of the Bible is profitable. Each portion of Scripture teaches us and reproves us, but God’s Word does not leave us in rebuke. It is also profitable for correction. God’s Word is the instrument of our loving Father for correcting …
Continue reading The Light, the Bread, & the Name | Leviticus 24
B. C. Newton 