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![Sunrise on Temple Mount in Jerusalem; Back to Previous Devotion](../images/sunrise-previous.jpg)
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February 19 - Morning
"The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and get twelve staffs from them, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes. Write the name of each man on his staff. On the staff of Levi write Aaron’s name, for there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral tribe. Place them in the tent of meeting in front of the ark of the covenant law, where I meet with you. The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites.”...The next day Moses entered the tent and saw that Aaron’s staff, which represented the tribe of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds. Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the Lord’s presence to all the Israelites. They looked at them, and each of the leaders took his own staff."
- Numbers 17:1-5; 8-9 |
![Sunset on the Sea of Galilee; Click to go to next devotion](../images/sunset-previous.jpg) |
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God Silences His Critics with Another Sign |
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Moses' authority and position had been confirmed by the earth opening up and swallowing the camp of Korah and the Reubenites on the south side of the Tabernacle. Now, there would be a miraculous sign presented to the people to justify Aaron's rightful claim to the priesthood that the Lord had given him.
This section begins with, “The Lord said to Moses,” which is one of over 150 times in the book of Numbers where the Lord speaks to Moses. The Lord cannot lead a group of people who are constantly grumbling against their leadership. So the Lord states very clearly what his intentions are for using this sign when he says,
“I will rid myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites.”
– Numbers 17:5
Each tribe’s leader, if they wanted a piece of the priesthood or if they were content with the Lord’s assigned authority, were to write their name on their staff and give it to Moses to lay in front of the Ark of the Covenant inside the Holy Place in the Tabernacle. The staff of the tribal leader represented the tribe’s identity and the authority of the tribal leader.
The result left no question because there was not only a bud on Aaron’s staff, but the bud also blossomed and produced almonds!! There should be no questioning Aaron’s authority after these events, because in chapters 16-17 the Aaronic priesthood is vindicated with three signs: the earth swallowed up the camp of the rebels, fire consumed the 250 men with Korah and, here, Aaron’s rod budded while the other eleven remained dead sticks. These dead staffs were given back to each individual owner and tribal head who by accepting their returned staff gave public assent to Aaron’s position of priestly authority and to the fact that their tribe had no rightful claim to the priesthood.
(Also, note that literacy existed among the tribes, at least, among the leadership since each tribe was told to write and not to simply mark the staff with an “X”.) |
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![Christian Quote from Church History](../images/quote-box.jpg) |
"The sacrifices of a spiritual man are prayers, praises,
and readings of Scripture before meals."
- Clement of Alexandria,
195 AD |
![Something to Ponder??](../images/ponder-box.jpg) |
In 957 AD in Russia, Olga, the princess of Kiev, was baptized and asked German King Otto to send missionaries. Vladimir, Olga’s grandson, was cruel, built pagan temples, and had 800 concubines and five wives. He spent his time at war, hunting or feasting. But, when Vladimir’s men reported that Christianity in Constantinople and worship at the Church of Holy Wisdom there was as beautiful as heaven itself Vladimir converted to Christianity. Vladimir married the sister of Emperor Basil of the Byzantine Empire from Constantinople. Vladimir was baptized in 988 AD. Russia had embraced Greek Orthodox Christianity from Constantinople instead of Western Roman Christianity from Germany. |
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![Hebrew and Greek Word Study](../images/word-study-box-long.jpg) |
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![Facts and Information](../images/fact-box.jpg) |
Chereb (Hb) – Sword (Eng) – chereb is the Hebrew word that refers to a weapon of war such
as a “sword” in Genesis 34:26 or a “dagger” in Judges 3:16.
Chereb is also used to identify tools such as a “flint knife” and “chisel.” |
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The Bodmer Papyri are twenty-two papyri discovered in the 1950’s. They include passages from the Old Testament, early Christian literature and the works of Homer. Parts of the New Testament that were included in the Bodmer Papyri are:
Papyri 74, portions of
Acts and the General
Epistles from the 600’s AD
Papyri 72, portions of
1 Peter, 2 Peter and Jude from 300 AD (photo here)
Papyri 75 portions of Luke and John from 175-225 AD
(photo here)
Papyri 66 the Gospel of John from 200 AD, although Herbert Hunger, the director of the papyrological collections in the National Library at Vienna, dates Papyri 66
at 130-140 AD!
(see first page of John
from papyri 66 here) |
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![Confession to Action](../images/confession-box-long588.jpg) |
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![Facts and Information](../images/proverb-box.jpg) |
Do I blame God when things do not go the way I want?
I will refrain from blaming God and will instead seek his wisdom for restoration or
his grace for power to stand.
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"A person’s own folly leads
to their ruin,
yet their heart rages against the Lord."
- Proverbs 19:3 |
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![Personal Prayer](../images/personal-prayer-box.jpg) |
![Church Prayer Item](../images/church-prayer-box.jpg) |
![National Prayer Concerns](../images/nation-prayer-box.jpg) |
![World Prayer Concerns](../images/world-prayer-box.jpg) |
Compassion for the poor and needy |
Teachers |
Race Relations |
Argentina |
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Reps & Sets is a daily Bible devotional for Christians from Generation Word Bible Teaching used each morning and evening. |
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