Numbers 8 & 9; Acts 13

Numbers 8 & 9-The lampstand to make light for the Lord leads off these chapters.  It is another of the accoutrements of the tabernacle.  But then we come to the cleansing of the Levites.  Their role replacing the first born of all Israel has already been outlined.  But now they are cleansed, washed to begin their service before God's priests (Aaron's family). 


Jesus' baptism came to my mind as I read this passage.  It was at that moment that Jesus received God's Spirit and truly began his ministry.  Up to now, all the pieces have been put in place for the Levites, their camping order around the tent of meeting, who takes care of what pieces of the tent of meeting, etc.  The rest of the people have offered their sacrifices prepping for the reception of the tent of meeting (Tabernacle, portable house of God).  Now, the Levites are actually set aside to begin their service.  It was at Jesus' baptism that he truly moved forward to begin his service.


Chapter 8 is inclusive of the universality of Passover.  Jews ritually unclean or traveling away from their lands are allowed to 'break' the rules of cleanliness because the act of worship to God in Passover, the passing over of God's Angel of Death of their houses to affect only the houses of the Egyptians. 


Jesus has been called the Passover Lamb, come to save the world from its sins.  I see the universality of the celebration of Passover as a parallel to the universal salvation Jesus has brought through his death and resurrection.


Finally in Numbers, when the cloud of God moves, the people move.  When it stays, the people stay.  God is in control and guiding their lives.


Acts 13


Paul and Barnabas begin their first preaching journey, sent out from Antioch.  On Cyprus, they convert the Roman governor.  The magician Bar-Jesus (interesting play on Jesus' name), tries to defy them.  So Paul sees him struck blind (how Paul started his process of conversion). 


Then we see Paul's sermon, drawing upon the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) to lay the foundation of Jesus' coming, preaching Jesus' fulfillment of the law of Moses.  This is the foundation of the conflict in Reza Aslan's Zealot, Paul undercutting the law of Moses in his preaching and the Jerusalem church seeking to reign him in.  The results are impressive.


Paul starts in the synagogue but the people who really pick up on his words are the devout, Gentiles attracted to the Jewish faith, some who have even converted, others who simply find the Jewish faith to be compelling-though out of reach.  The Pauline interpretation of the Jewish faith through the lens of Jesus is liberating and brings them to the gospel in droves.  Following the Mosaic law kept such people out of the Jewish faith.  Jesus' liberating power brought them in.


The argument in Zealot is that Paul intentionally undercut the message of the Jerusalem church for his own take on the gospel, that Jesus never intended this undercutting of the law of Moses.  I would agree.  Jesus pushed for the absolute, yet impossible, total obedience to the law of Moses.  Yet when the law was broken, sacrifice had to be made to restore right relationship with God.


It looks to me that Paul is drawing on that, the sacrifice, the final sacrifice of Jesus.  Jesus opened the way of direct intercession from God for forgiveness, not a system where sacrifice had to be made first to please the God whose law was broken.  And the system of sacrifice was in place for the Jews.


Gentiles seeking to follow the law of Moses, to follow what God wants, had no way to enter into the temple, to offer sacrifice and receive forgiveness under the old way.  But Jesus' final sacrifice, Jesus freed them from those obligations so they could come directly to God. 


The final result was jealousy on the part of the Jewish community.  The Gentiles turning away from their support of the synagogue turned them against Paul and Barnabas.  The Jews then turned to the local power brokers and they forced the missionaries out.