Reading Numbers

This past month, I was listening to a devotion where the speaker was stressing a specific theme. While he was talking about the book of First John, I think we can extend this theme to all the books of the Bible. If anything, it should help us to fully grasp what we are reading in these law books, such as Numbers.

The speaker who was leading this devotion was stressing the fact that the writers of these books in our Bible were real people, who really walked on this world, and breathed in the same air we breathe today. A lot of the time we read the Bible as if it was a fairytale, or a fictional storybook. The other extreme is sometimes we even read it as a non-fictional textbook. Either way, we never really think about what we are reading, or internalize it. It never seems real to us.

What this speaker was trying to title as important is that we see what we are reading as real words. The Bible isn't a fantasy, it is a reality.

Numbers is another one of those difficult books to read through. However, applying this reading method makes it a lot more interesting.

Just think! Thousands of years ago, someone, supposedly Moses, wrote these very words down on pieces of papyrus or stone. He, while actually living in the desert, resided in a tent, and spent a lot of time either writing himself, or dictating to a scribe. These words describe the very situation that the Israelites lived through, again thousands of years ago. The fact that we have those words still is amazing; picturing the people of God living by these words is astounding.

The thing with the Bible is we tend to make it distant. Sure we may have read the Bible from cover to cover, but we read many books from cover to cover. Something has to make the Bible different, aside from the fact that it is God-inspired. Realizing that these stories and words are very real is the beginning process. With that realization comes the eagerness to learn more, and to research. Eventually, there comes a point where you begin to apply the lessons learned to your life, and you begin to transform your thoughts and your soul. This is where the true transforming power of the Bible lies.

Numbers is no different then any of the other books of the Bible. It is as real as any other, and provides to God's Word in the same amount. We should not undervalue, or skip it merely because there are a lot of rules and numbers presented. Those rules and numbers serve a purpose, and have meaning. It is our job to see the purpose and meaning in the historical context, so we can realize what it meant to the people then, and what it can mean to us now.