Day 4

This is a rough book to read. It jumps around from priestly codes, which are always very thorough and precise, to the woes of the Hebrew people in the wilderness, lists of lineages, expectations of lineages, God and Moses are always angry, and then a talking donkey. I felt myself connecting with the narrative pieces, but often in the spirit of frustration. What was the intention of this book? My gut reaction is that it is trying to cover lost pieces of the narrative, trying to iron things out, trying to fill in gaps. It’s a lot. It feels hurried. “Oh, okay, we need to ensure the tribes know the expectations placed upon them, here’s how we’ve failed, here’s where rebellion happened, and by the way, we need to tell this story to get to point B.” I was thrilled when I finished reading this, but then I was immediately struck with a sense that this is just how life is. It’s messy. We’re always trying to define ourselves and the world reacts with “anger.” For the Hebrew people, it was God. For many of us, it’s just life. And so I was left with a sense of knowing. I can intimately describe the times my life was an absolute mess where I had to not only set boundaries but also fill in the blanks of my own narrative and, yes, continue living into the present moment. This was Numbers for me. A rough read but with moments of recognition.

One Word for Numbers: Enforcement

Parts of the Story That Stayed With Me

1. Num 11, Poisonous Quails. God is pissed most of this book. The Hebrew people have ramped up their complaining in the wilderness and God has just had enough. He lays the smack down several times in this book and even gets exasperated in 14:26: “How long shall this wicked congregation complain against me?” Anyway, in Chapter 11, God answers their complaints by sending flocks of quails to the Hebrew people for food. The manna from heaven wasn’t good enough for them, so they got quail. I have this image of birds just dropping from the sky. So the Hebrew people gathered them up and once they started eating them, the “wrath of the Lord” was unleashed. A plague spread through the entire people.
2. Num 13, the Nephilim. This is one of a couple places we hear about the Nephilim — a race of sorta giant, sorta angelic, sorta human beings. They just pop in and there’s always a reminder to not mingle with them. I love it because, yes, there are giants in the Bible!
3. Num 22, Talking Donkey. Balaam was an impatient man. He defied God by going on a journey and his donkey tries to protect him from the wrath of God. You see, God sent an angel to smite Balaam on his journey. But every time the donkey saves him, Balaam beats him. Finally, the donkey speaks up and is like, “Do you not realize I’ve been saving your life? What’s wrong with you? Stop hitting me!” The angel-of-smite appears and concurs with the donkey, and Balaam is on his way after being rebuked. That’s the last we hear of Balaam until he is killed by the Hebrew people in a battle in Chapter 31. I just have to wonder, though, what happened to the talking donkey?!

This post is part of a lager series where I read the entirety of Hebrew & Christian scriptures in 45 days. Take a look a the original post for more info, as well as links to other reflections on this journey.