Salvation Renamed

Did you know Joshua wasn't born "Joshua"?

From Numbers 13:

Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua.

Literal translation:

Drawn called Salvation the son of Fish, Jehovah Is Salvation.

Tim
10,856 days

Weak Translation

From Numbers 12:

Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.

A lot of people get distracted by Moses being the author of this verse. He's writing about himself in the third person.

The natural question then is, "If you're the one writing you're the most humble, are you proud of being the most humble?"

The word is "anav." It's probably simpler than it seems when translated "humble. " It's also translated poor, afflicted, meek, weak and lowly.

Try this on for size:

Now the man Moses was very weak, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.

That's probably a much better translation and picture of what he was trying to convey.

Moses was the weakest man on earth. And God chose the weakest man to be his messenger!

That reminds me of Paul who wrote:

And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness."

Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

The power of Christ rests! We just saw that with Moses, too.

Tim
10,856 days

The Rest of Prophecy

From Numbers 11:

Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him; and He took of the Spirit who was upon him and placed Him upon the seventy elders.

And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied.

Interesting to note:

• While the Spirit may not be material, here he had a physical place where he was and was not.

• The Spirit's rest is not quiet--it speaks.

While the original word for "prophesied" is "Naba" which is considered "a primitive root" there's a word right next to it in the Hebrew lexicon, "Nabab" which means "hollowed out." (The next word in the lexicon is also a word for prophet.)

Perhaps, therefore:

• The Spirit rests in places that are hollowed out for Him.

Tim
10,856 days

Sabbath Fire

From Exodus 35:

Then Moses assembled all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and said to them, "These are the things that the LORD has commanded you to do: For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a holy day, a sabbath of complete rest to the LORD; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.

The death penalty for working and not resting! That's how serious this is.

"You shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the sabbath day."

This passage leaves me with a few questions.

• What about winter time?
• What is the modern equivalent of fire here?

A strong argument could surely be made the the modern equivalent of fire ... is fire! But what about electricity? That leads to other questions like:

• What about firing up the laptop on the sabbath?
• What about my refrigerator using electricity on the Sabbath?

(Who knew there were so many temperature factors related to the Sabbath?)

Not always having answers to questions like these, we can be thankful for Paul who wrote:

One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.

Tim
10,856 days

Cleaning

I received a prayer letter from a Reston Bible Church missionary today, and they opened it with Psalm 51:7, "Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."

What is hyssop?

The original Hebrew doesn't tell you much other than it's a plant.

So, I did a little further digging, and found that apparently it grows on walls and rocks, and was often used to make brooms.

Now the picture makes a bit more sense. The Law uses this very common picture of house cleaning to depict what God wants to do in us.

I also find it interesting that during the original passover, hyssop was used to paint the blood around the doors.

So, the plant that comes from the walls that people use to clean, was used to cover the walls in the blood to represent the cleansing of the people from their sins.

Beautiful!

Tim
10,838 days