Bible Questions & Discussion PAGE 168

Hi everyone, today when I read I got some nice words that needs to be shared. Well, every day I get nice words.

Sometimes one pays attention to the heading of each paragraph. Today I read by, and see everyone!

John 5:19-25

God bless you all i love you all in Christ. Stay close to Him Jesus.

Ps.78:5-8 (2 of 2)

"Spirit steadfast with God"

What is the significance of the cloud of witnesses (He.12:1). They are positioned in the world of the Spirit while we witnessing in real time to the world. They are as real in the will of God as we are in real time struggling to keep ourselves steady in the midst a world running helter -skelter chasing 'a good life'. While we look to the cloud in our mind's eye do not they signify what we are? They are angels called to be saints, that in the divine Will is as real as the slain Lamb for an emblem. The eternal word (He.13:8) gives them a definite place ("Being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:/ That we should be to the praise of his glory, "-Ep.1:11-12) in the Salvation Plan of God. They are like stars and one third of them shall be cast down by the dragon.(Re. 12:4). One third refers to the Son signifying that they having been misled forfeit " all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ."

The World of the Spirit earmarked us "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love"and the purpose is clear:"That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him/ In whom also we have obtained an inheritance," Political expediency of Constantine the great was merely an underhand swipe of the red dragon but once complacency sets in the Christian world, before they realized were part of a sequence that Satan had certainly engineered. Traditions of Mother Church create their own narrative. For this reason Jesus forewarned, For many are called but few are chosen.

Ps.78:5-8 (1 of 2)

Spirit Steadfast With God

"And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God."(v.8)

Here the Spirit is speaking of the Fellowship of God, a Spirit with Man. What holds them together which is what Law here signifies so testimony of Jacob is same as testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophesy. In the prayer of Jesus speaks, 'Sanctify them (his disciples) with truth; thy word is truth." ( John 17:17)

this Word is the truth, the Law basis for the kingdom of God. The Word became flesh and in his human likeness he made manifest Truth as doable. "I am the truth." Spirit of Christ before the Advent is what the Holy Spirit refers here. Speaking of the nation of Israel their fathers were a stubborn and rebellious generation as they would do to the man sent from God. They denied him, In short we see the rebellious spirit of disobedience evolving generations after generations along with this part of the creation account. "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,"(Ge.2:4) God separated light from darkness which creates generations after generations of children of wrath whose spirit was not steadfast with God. So in the Psalm what do their fathers ask? "Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?"(78:20). Now they want prosperity! Children want toys that rattle and that come with colors and shapes. Similarly babes in Christ want jingle of material wealth. These are 'other man's riches' as Jesus would say. ( Luke 16:11-12)

Hello, Dgjot,

Glad to hear from you.

Most say that Moses wrote Genesis-Deuteronomy. He was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write not only what he experienced in his lifetime, but also Genesis. Did the Holy Spirit give him direct revelation concerning Genesis, especially about creation or did the Holy Spirit help him recall what had been passed down from generation to generation? I really cannot say. If it is the latter, then i feel that I must assume that God preserved the truth of what occurred as it was passed from generation to generation.

S Spencer thank you, I really do appreciate your time and your comments.

I recommend you google (Truth is Christ) on youtube and watch this video

The BIBLE in our hand is the Twoedged SWORD of His MOUTH - Clear Evidence. Or any of those videos.

Some of them are Amazing! They show many patterns in numbers and words that only God could have created.

May God pour out Blessings upon you Spencer.

Who wrote Genesis? Moses??

Good evening friends! This verse comes back to me again and again.

"Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself." Exodus 19:4 KJV

Hi Jimbob,

You said.

( 2 Pet 1:5-10) These verses are (clearly) prophecy written for us today. The first verse says ( 2 Pet 1:1) "Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, TO THEM THAT HAVE OBTAINED LIKE PRECIOUS FAITH with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ"

This is prophecy for us today! End quote.

I believe to "those that have obtained" is present tense. ( local.)

Quoting you again.

2 Pet 1:15

"Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease (to have these things always in remembrance)

TO HAVE THESE THINGS ALWAYS! This is prophecy for us today. End quote.

I see this as Peter is writing "to them that have obtained" (In that day) When Peter die he is telling them not to forget what he told them in the previous verses.

"be partakers of the divine nature ect...

Let's look at 2 Peter 1:18

"And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount."

THEY WERE EYE WHITNESSES!

But yet Peter says "We have also a more sure word of prophecy;

PETER IS TALKING ABOUT WHAT IS IN HIS POSSESSION! And what energized those prophets who wrote the prophecies. THE HOLYSPIRIT. Not the will of man with his private interpretation.

( Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

For the prophecy came NOT IN OLD TIME by the will of man: but holy men of God spake AS THEY were moved by the Holy Ghost.)

2 Peter 1:20-21.

"Not in old time" puts the time that the group (THEY) in the OT.

That's all I have Jimbob.

I believe you and Brother Chris have covered a great length on this and he's more adequate to debate you on this topic than I am.

So I end it here.

God bless.

Value of life; Part 2. Survival skills

Rugged individualism; taken too far results in pride and that comes before a fall. ( Prov. 16:18). A sluggard; however will not eat of his own harvest ( Prov. 19:24 loosely translated. Proverbs 20:4 in a similar light says a sluggard won't plow in the cold and later will go hungry. Today; we are more or less totally dependant on food supply brought through transport and our current economic infrastructure; except for the small percent of farmers and those growing substantial gardens or hunting for meat who are off the grid. This; and providing a generator and having sufficient money and provisions for disaster is probably lacking for anything more than a few days for many people. This is something not everyone can afford to do; but for those who can we need to consider our other brothers and sisters in the Lord we can help; to be the "head not the tail" in situations of lending or giving to those in need ( Deut. 28:13). Such wisdom comes from above.

Training our arm for war ( Psalm 18:34; Psalm 144:1) may not be popular if we are pacifists; but if we are to fight it should be something we are well trained in (such as those in Israel who have mandatory time in the Army to ensure the survival of the State). Such an attitude surely will keep our schools and communities safer if authorities and parents as well as children themselves are tought PROPERLY how to defend themselves.

There is no substitute; of course for prayer; and trusting God in our protection through angelic assistance ( Psalm 91:11-12). All of our strength of course is dependant upon the Lord. We are asked in James to seek wisdom to obtain it ( James 1:5). Balance is needed; we cannot naively trust our government to be able to protect us from all ills; and with its deficit if the Lord tarries we should prepare ourselves for much less help from them financially and otherwise.

For now let us all seek to "work heartily unto the Lord" if we can. ( Col. 3

The value of human life.

Recently; I was given a survey by a pro life organization which asked me about various issues. I stated that all lives; whether born children; elderly or those in the womb should be valued. We clearly live in a suicidal culture where anything of value has been cheapened; and the value of a traditional marriage seems to have been removed as a serious concept. We face challenges from those who would terminate the life of the elderly with "assisted suicide" not just for unbearable pain but for those with various psychological issues. We see unborn life to be considered "parasites" by those in the trending values of society. No doubt the cheap thrills of drugs and the trivialization of the value of life through violent anime has blurred reality from fiction and allowed youth to have less restraint on taking another life to justify their "manifesto" or just in robbing someone of a few dollars.

In the scripture; we know that God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked ( Ezekiel 18:23). He judges according to His standards. Deutoronomy 30:19 encourages us to choose life and that benefits our descendants as well (loosely translated). It also gives a choice for cursings or blessings. Joshua 24:15 states to choose who you will serve and later in the verse states "as for me and my house we will serve the Lord."

More homes need this as their standard. Children clearly need care to a certain age; but there are times when unacceptable behavior and disrespect for authority may force the issue and they need to be removed until repentant. The fear of the Lord needs to be something along with respect that obviously is missing in many homes today. Proper firmness is needed and we need to show as parents that if we love God we obey His commandments. ( John 15:10; 1 John 2:3). Proper love means discipline; we cannot follow permissiveness as Proverbs 13:24 states; there are verses that say the soul is saved ( Prov. 19:18) with discipline.

Chapter 1

Pt. 2

verses 9-18-Moses explains how he set judges from every tribe to govern the tribes during their journey. This practice of appointing judges continued after they had conquered the land under Joshua. (Book of Judges).

The judges were commanded to hear the cases among their tribes and to judge justly without partiality, judging the small as well as the great, not fearing man (as to be bribed or threatened) because the judgment that is just is of God, though it comes through men appointed as judges-just as God gave His law and spoke to the Israelites through a man, Moses.

Having the responsibility of making judgements for others is very serious and one must be careful to follow the instructions given by God here. We are "judges" when we train up our children, or have a position of "elder" or "pastor". May we be faithful in making godly judgments in our God appointed calling.

Verses 19-46. The rest of the chapter is a re-telling of the account of the 12 spies, the response of the people, and the reason why God lead the nation in the pillar in 38 years of wandering from Kadesh-barnea and the mountains of the Amorites and to the Red Sea at Eliat and back again in a sort of circuit.

Even after the Lord told them they would wander in the wilderness and die there, the people still did not heed God's voice concerning taking on the Amorites. God told them not to do it, but they did anyway and suffered great loss. They thought that since they had not obeyed God at first to take on the Amorites, now that they had confessed their sins and repented, they could then go and obey God's command to fight the Amorites. But upon seeking God's counsel, he said "No", but they did anyway and then returned from battle weeping, confessing that they had not listened and obeyed him. So after that defeat, Israel camped a while at Kaesh-barnea. Here the chapter ends.

Obedience is important. God's blessing is shown to those who obey Him in the present.

Chapter 1:

It is the 40th year since the nation of Israel left Egypt and the slavery they were under there. They were delivered by the mighty merciful hand of God. The journey from Egypt to Mt. Sinai (Horeb) took 3 months. After camping at Mt. Sinai for 2 years, they were led by God to the very edge of the land of Canaan. From Mt. Sinai to Kadesh-barnea took only 11 days. But because of the bad report by the spies and that the nation believed the spies instead of God, the adults of that generation would die in the wilderness and not enter the land promised. God had them wander for 40 years until all adults of that generation had died except for Moses, Joshua, and Caleb. How costly their unbelief had been to them. They believed the wrong persons and sinned against God by doing so in a big way.

How important it is to know what God has revealed in His Word so that we can place our faith rightly in Him in Christ. We also should bot be easily discouraged when times are hard and it may appear like God is not going to fulfill His word to us, but He will, and we should not lose hope nor faith in Him.

In this chapter Moses begins the first of many sermons to the Israelites who would indeed go into the promised land and possess it. He has much to say, and here He begins by reviewing how the nation got to where they were at present. He emphasized how mighty and faithful God was to the nation.

The Israelite army had already slew the kings of the east side of the Jordan, Sihon of the Amorites and Og of Bashan. The nation was dwelling in peace on the plains of Moab. Moses begins by telling when God said that the nation had dwelt long enough at Horeb and instructed them to go to the mountain of the Amorites (perhaps referring to the mountain range that is basically north to south along the eastern side of the Arabah (fertile valley south of the Dead Sea). The Amorites controlled most of the lands south and east of the Dead Sea-the lands of Edom, Ammon, and Moab.

Zechariah 2:1-2 state:

I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand. Then said I, Whither goest thou? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof.

These verses seem similar to Revelation 11:1-2 but in this case the city itself is being measured; not just the Temple.

Verses 3-5 state: And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him,

And said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein: For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.

This wall of fire seems to indicate conditions during the Millennium; but there are also some parallels to the conditions before the battle of Gog and Magog as Ezekiel 38:11 states "And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates..." Some question if this is one event or also is indicative of the event at the END of the Millennium in Revelation 20 (or perhaps both).

Verse 6 through 8 state: Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith the Lord: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the Lord. Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon. For thus saith the Lord of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.

This parallels verses such as Isaiah 49:12 "Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim." Starting in verse 9 of that chapter we see captives being released; again likely an event after the Tribulation.

Thanks for your response Jimbob.

I will get back with you sometime after work.

Thanks

Hi Strobe.

I would like to share a view with you. Not that it's true but one that I find provocative.

Eve was named or perhaps given the title "The mother of all living" after Genesis 3:15. I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and HER SEED. This is where we find the first prophecy of Christ, who's coming to redeem all of God's creation, (Lifting the curse on all of creation )

Adam calls the woman Eve/Woman of all living prophetically.

HERE'S WHY.

Eve was to "become" the mother of all living because it was through the seed of the woman that all that was living redemption would take place. Christ.

Adam named all the animals before the woman hit the scene and the woman was called Eve after the fall and the prophecy of Christ.

God bless.

Hi Griemuth,

The Holy Spirit instructs us of a holy family and it was determined before the worlds were founded. It is thus the Spirit begins with Adam who is a double for the Son. Even in a figurative sense is meant to be the body of Christ, the church. In the story of Cain killing Abel who was the righteous one we see Seth taking his place so the holy family may continue. This also gives us a reason why God sent his Son to the world. We who were dead in sins may be brought into the fellowship of God with Man. It is thus at every turn we have the holy family continuing to the last chapter. The Bible is not about history of Israel, natural world but about God who is a Spirit and our blessings determined before ages describes of inheritance of saints in the kingdom of light.

In the Ch.5 of Genesis you may note how the Spirit makes a distinction between the holy family and others. In vv.6-7 Enos belongs to the family sanctified by God. "And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos/And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters. " This is repeated over and over. Noah was righteous in his generation. "And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation."(Ge.7:1) Noah is a double for the Son who leads a holy family which foreshadows Christ leading his bride Re.21:1-3

Psalm 78:22-25

Bread from heaven (2 of 2)

God sent his only begotten Son and the Spirit sets an action from the nation of Israel in order to emphasize what he was there for. In the divine Will of God, which is multi-layered, Jesus, the Lamb slain before the worlds began is same as the Lamb of God. Similarly of the corn of heaven the Israelites were fed with manna. In the fulness of time He sent his Son. Jesus declared, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven."( John 6:48-51)

Manna is qualified as 'angel's food'. Angel in this context refers to word of God and referring to the will of God they are the saints called according to the pleasure of His will. When Satan tempted Jesus he challenged him., "He said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread./ But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."(Matt.4: 3-4) Satan without understanding the basic quality of bread of heaven for which his body had to be broken first, was merely shooting air. ("My meat is to do the will of God"- John 4:34) Angel's food refers generally speaking to the will of God which preserved the cloud of witnesses of whom we in particular are shown in the night vision of Daniel. The writer to the Hebrews speaks of them, "seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,"(He.12:1-2). They in short refer to the world of the Spirit and our heart about which we are working out our salvation with patience.

Ps.78:22-25 (1 of 2)

Bread From Heaven

"And trusted not in his salvation:/ Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,/ And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven./ Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full."

This Psalm can be taken as a warning the Spirit has laid out while setting Salvation Plan of God in terms of the heaven and the earth. Specifically he is addressing Israel, which as a nation did not trust in his salvation. He gave them the bread from heaven as he did with water in the wilderness. "He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths./ He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers." (vv.15-16). St Paul refers to the rock 'as spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ."(1 Co.10:4) The Spirit in keeping with the Salvation Plan set in motion, speaks of the rock as spiritual, signifying how we are to approach the narrative. So God when cleaving the rocks in the wilderness refers to 'the great depths', which does not mean from depths of the earth in the normal speaking but he adds next to it, 'caused waters to run down like rivers'. His footsteps are not known so "And a river went out of Eden to water the garden" is merely extending the waters above the firmament which as a body of water refers to the mercies of God.(Ge.2:10;Ps.77:19). When the Spirit says, "The LORD sitteth upon the flood; yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever. The Lord sits enthroned over the flood" it merely underscores the sovereignty of the Lord God. The earth and the fulness thereof belong to God. (Ps.29:10)

S Spencer thank you for your reply.

You are missing my point. As we look at ( 2 Pet 1:19-21) you and brother Chris are saying the holy men of God in v21 are (clearly) the Old Testament prophets and writers of the OT. If that were true that would mean the (prophecy) spoken of in all three of these verses was the Hebrew manuscripts, Right? For readers today that would mean those verses are history, not prophecy!

Yet the rest of the chapter IS (prophecy) that applies to us for today.

The subject of these three verses is (prophecy)

( 2 Pet 1:19) a more sure word of (prophecy).

( 2 Pet 1:20) no (prophecy) of the scripture.

( 2 Pet 1:21) the (prophecy) came not in old time by the will of man.

Then as we look at the rest of the chapter we see that it is also (prophecy) that applies to us for today.

If you are right then this chapter is prophecy for the time we live in now all except for verses 19,20, and 21 which would have very little value to the readers of today. But if you are wrong (and you are on this) then these verses are telling us the (prophecy) of the scripture (the prophecy meant in these verses would be the New Testament, not the Old Testament. and the holy men of God were the translators of the KJB, not the OT prophets) came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

That would mean ( 2 Pet 1:19-21) is also (prophecy) for us today, it is showing us how we got the (prophecy) of the scripture that we have in the KJB today, not how the OT prophets got the Hebrew manuscripts which would be history for us today.

History is not prophecy! (prophecy) is prediction, a foreteller.

Blessings to you Spencer.

Zechariah overview

There is much prophetic scripture in Zechariah; much of which can be directly connected with prophecies in Revelation; as well as with the first coming of Christ. There is the idea of the New Covenant replacing the old one with Israel but never a total abandonment of Israel where God eventually is destined to establish His people in peace and prosperity in the Millennial Kingdom.

Zechariah 1 begins with a description of the earth being at rest (verse 11); but the expected promises of the end of captivity in mind in verse 12. Verse 13 indicates an affirmation of words of comfort to an angel that apparently communicated with Zechariah on these matters. Verses 16 and 17 indicate prosperity to return with the rest of the chapter indicating the "horns" (V. 21) that had scattered the land of Judah.

We need to be mindful of the reasons for the captivity as shown in earlier verses 3 through 6; this is a repeated theme in scriptures; much as Daniel at around the same time would pray in regard to the scattered people (see Daniel 9:1-19). In fact; many prophets begin their books with a review of rebellious acts such as Isaiah 1 where even an ox knows it's master but the people are dumber than animals ( Isaiah 1:3). Ezekiel also talks about the woe of the people being obstinate ( Ezekiel 2:4); and is put into bands to signify the captivity and had to eat food cooked with cow dung (as a concession to protest of human dung in Ezekiel 4:14 (ugh). Finally the last book of the O.T. Malachi also starts discussing poor attitudes among those who are offering sacrifices. Blessings are promised for those who would truly sacrifice with the right attitude (contrasted with Malachi 1:8) in the third chapter from verses 10-18.

The sins of Israel will not be fully removed until the Lord is about to return ( Zech. 12:12-14). Thankfully we cannot thwart HIs eternal plans or we all would be finished. His mercies are renewed daily ( Lamentations 3:22-23).

Thanks Brother,

You are absolutely right!

Enjoy your vacation.

May the Lord bless your trip.

In the book of Genesis it states in Ch.14 at the valley of Shaveh which is the King's dale [ what is a king's dale ]

The first king of Israel, according to the Hebrew Bible, was Saul. He is traditionally depicted as having ruled in the 11th century BC, around 1020 BC. Saul was anointed as king by the prophet Samuel, and his reign marked the transition from a loose confederation of tribes to a centralized monarchy in ancient Israel. His story is primarily found in the biblical books of 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel.

In the generations of Adam , Cain and his brother Abel are not mentioned only Seth's , Also what does the word Asswaged mean.

Jordyn thank you for your comment.

Sorry but you are taking this verse out of context Jordyn. This verse doesn't say one could come into the Kingdom by what was written in Moses and the prophets.

( Acts 28:23)

It says Paul testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, (which is the Torah the first five books of the Bible), and out of the prophets, this is all the prophets who have books written in the Old Testament, or in the Hebrew manuscripts.

The word (testified) is #1263; it means to attest or protest earnestly, charge, witness, to be a witness, testify, give (evidence) bear record, be well reported of.

Paul was pretty much preaching the kingdom of God convincing them concerning Jesus.

The word (persuading) is #3982; it means to convince (by argument, true or false) to assent (to evidence or authority) to rely (by inward certainty) assure, believe, confidence, trust.

Blessings to you Jordyn.

Strobe. There were no people after the "last Adam" (which of course refers to Jesus). Jesus never had a wife or fathered any children of the flesh; however, He did make the Way open & accessible through His Blood, that we might become God's children ( Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 1:4-6; Hebrews 2:10-13). But the first Adam never brought forth Spirit-filled children (since he succumbed to temptation & sin), but he certainly produced many physical children, with unfortunately with the same fallen nature as he. It does take great faith to believe this, as it does take faith to believe that Adam & Eve were the very first human creation of God. But if there were people before Adam, then the Word does not show it, so one again needs great faith to believe the propositions from science, understanding man's very limited knowledge of such a distant past.

Thank you bro S. Spencer. I'll keep this short as I'm leaving shortly for a few weeks vacation but will try & keep up-to-date with the discussions given here. I agree that the use of 'virgin' did indicate a Divine sign rather than just using 'young woman', yet in those days, a young woman (or, otherwise translated, a maiden) already indicated the pure state of the girl. So a reader then would have understood that whether 'virgin' or 'maiden/young girl' was used, these words would speak of her purity. But yes, using 'virgin' seems to give the Divine Act more focus & emphasis. Giannis' answer was however, informative as to which text the NT translators referred to in their use of 'virgin'. Blessings.

Now I embark on the last book of the Torah=Deuteronomy.

The Israelites are camped east of the Jordan on the plains of Moab. Over the next 40 days, Moses will teach this new generation how God had brought them out of Egypt with mighty miracles, how God spoke to Moses on Mt. Sinai, commissioning Moses to deliver His Law and the terms of the covenant God will make with the nation, how the nation rebelled at the border of the promised land and thus spent 40 years wandering in the desert until all who came out of Egypt over the age of 20 died.

This is a new generation, the oldest being below the age of 40 with the exception of Moses, Joshua, and Caleb. Most did not personally experience the miraculous exodus from Egypt nor the events at Sinai. It was important for this generation to receive instruction as to the covenant and law given to the nation, be reminded about the promises God had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to learn from Moses how to live in relationship to God.

Moses knew that His life was almost at its end. God had said so. He must give over this people he has led for 40 years to Joshua and Caleb and Eleazar. But ultimately, he gives them over in submission to God. He knew that there was much to relay to this nation and so most likely he wanted to be sure to put first things first in what he delivered to the people. He needed to follow the lead of God in all of this and not seek his own way.

Hi Gigi.

I believe we both was sending our messages at the same time.

I was in the middle of a 3 page message answering your question on carnal approach.

I took a break from further readings until now.

After reading your messages I wish I hadn't answered that and walked away.

God bless.

This the last chapter in Numbers speaks again of the daughters of Zelphehad. The leaders of their tribe came to Moses to see if the Lord deemed it best for these daughters to marry within their tribe so that the inheritance will not pass to another tribe through marriage. When they marry, their husband will be the inheritor of their inheritance. The concern was by such intermarriage with other tribes the tribal land allotment of some tribes could be much increased or decreased depending on how much cross tribal marriage there was. Also, it seems that within one tribes alottment, the inheritance of a woman without brothers would go to her husband and thus resulting in another tribe inheriting this land within the wife's tribe. This intermarrying would certainly blur the lines of the tribal allotment.

This came up as a suggestion from the tribe of Manasseh rather than God telling Moses to speak about this possible situation. But when Moses spoke this out as new commandment, it says in verse 5 that it was the command of the Lord. If so, then God wanted the tribes to remain genetically separate from one another. There would be specific tribal physical characteristics passed on within tribes distinguishing one tribal ancestry.

I can understand the concerns of the tribe of Manasseh (specifically the family of Gideon) of how intermarriage would alter the allotments of land that were decided by lots (by the change that God chose). I am not sure how long this commandment was followed after the tribes settled but perhaps the story of Ruth is an example of this with Boaz being a kinsmen redeemer from the tribe of Naomi and thus able to redeem the inheritance of Naomi's sons through Ruth's marriage to Boaz.

I believe that this commandment concerning marriage was important for the time of the settling of the land of Canaan, but I don't think it is necessarily a ban on intermarriage of people from different cultures or races. It does shadow the recommendation of Paul.