We learn about the different tasks assigned to the divisions of the Levites. God is very particular about how the various pieces of the Tabernacle are wrapped for transport (blue cloth and fine goatskin leather for all the wrappings).
Reading through all that, I figured it would be another boring day in Numbers. Then God tells Moses how to test a woman for faithfulness.
At this point the priest must put the woman under oath by saying, "May the people know that the Lord’s curse is upon you when he makes you infertile, causing your womb to shrivel and your abdomen to swell. Now may this water that brings the curse enter your body and cause your abdomen to swell and your womb to shrivel." And the woman will be required to say, "Yes, let it be so." And the priest will write these curses on a piece of leather and wash them off into the bitter water. He will make the woman drink the bitter water that brings on the curse. When the water enters her body, it will cause bitter suffering if she is guilty.What the @#$!*? The test for marital faithfulness consists of forcing a woman to drink a poison and seeing whether or not she suffers from it. A poison that was believed to destroy her ability to have children. Superstitious, ridiculous, BS!
New Testament
Jesus does Q&A:
Q: A woman serially marries 7 brothers. Which man claims her as a wife in heaven?
A: None of them! (Sure, sounds reasonable.)
Q: Will the dead be raised?
A: Yes, because God once said "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" after they had died. So obviously God is God of the living and they will be raised. (Really? I'm not buying the logic on this one.)
Q: What's the most important commandment?
A: Love and honored God followed by love your neighbor. (I'll take the second, but I cannot see how someone could love and honor a God who is supposedly the same as the God of the Old Testament.)
Q from Jesus: Why do you religious teachers claim the Messiah is the son of David?
A from Jesus: You're like totally wrong you know. Because David in a psalm once called the Messiah "my Lord". (I do not buy that David would never call a son of his "my Lord" nor do I think it is at all clear, to me at least, that the quoted psalm refers to what Jesus thinks it refers to.)
That said, we have a whole day's worth of reading where Jesus does not get angry or annoyed at anyone. Hurrah!
Psalms and Proverbs
Today's psalm: God is awesome because he defends Jerusalem.
Today's proverb is great!
Lazy people irritate their employers,"Like vinegar to the teeth." I love it!
like vinegar to the teeth or smoke in the eyes.
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