After Pentecost Devotional - Day 19

“If you are a native Israelite, you must obey these rules each time you offer a bull, a ram, or a goat as a sacrifice. And the foreigners who live among you must also follow these rules. This law will never change. I am Yahweh, and I consider all people the same, whether they are Israelites or foreigners living among you.'” Numbers 15:11-16

We so like to avoid books like Leviticus and Numbers. One is seemingly too full of rules and regulations. The other of numbers and genealogies. Then we come upon passages like this one that throw our expectations out the window.

Like we saw in Numbers 9, there is an interest here in being sure that immigrants in the land were are treated according to the same legal standards as the native born Israelite. While Numbers 9 focused on the Passover celebration in relation to becoming fully part of the community of Israel, Numbers 15 addresses how the community is to treat those who are not yet considered a part of the nation. One one hand we have an open offer of inclusion. On the other, we have the determination to treat the outsider as an insider.

Beyond that, we have a statement that Yahweh considers all people as equal. While we expect to find that kind of language in Galatians, we find here that Paul was not so much breaking new ground, but recasting principles from the Torah that had simply been ignored for far too long.

Yahweh desired to the be the God of all peoples. God desired to redeem one and all, regardless of their nationality or ancestry. Just as the promise to Abraham was that all nations and peoples would be blessed through him, so here we find repeated that same character of inclusive grace, mercy, and love.

The passage goes on to elaborate further instructions in regard to sacrifices. Then it goes on to repeat the notion that the same law applies to Israelites and foreigners (immigrants) living among the people. There would be one law with equal regard for one and all. There would be no room for establishing any second class category of belonging to the community of Israel.

Unfortunately, Israel seems never to have truly lived up to the expectation the Mosaic code in relation to foreigners. Perhaps in David's time there was a greater sense of inclusion of foreigners, as we find Uriah the Hittite among the members of his army and Bathsheba (daughter of Sheba-Ethiopia) becoming Queen Mother. As a whole, however, the people tended to be more focused on the exclusion of outsiders, as we see in Nehemiah and Ezra's writings.

This mistreatment of outsiders becomes one of the issues underlying accusations against Israel by the prophets. By the time of Jesus, the mandates of treating outsiders with equanimity had apparently been all but forgotten. Self-preservation against the Roman occupying forces had ruled out the responsibility to deal generously with all peoples. They had forgotten to pay attention to God's desire that all peoples find appropriate inclusion under the structures for the nation as a whole.

Do your attitudes toward outsiders reflect God's attitudes, or personal anxieties?


"Lord, mold me into a servant who lives according to your valuation of all peoples."

—©Copyright 2016, Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/ 
My latest books can be found here on amazon

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

False Accusations

Image
The religious community around Jesus had no kind words about sectors of society. They were certain Torah provided full justification for blanket condemnation of Samaritans, tax collectors, and a women caught in adultery and thrown at Jesus’ feet. Jesus embraced them with no condemnation. They were so sure Jesus was a threat. They were seeking any means of silencing him. They were not above false accusations or paying people to lie about Jesus’ supposed breaches of law. The accusations did not hold up to scrutiny. I’ve been to numerous drag shows at East Frank. I’ve been to drag story hour. I’ve developed relationships with many among the clientele at East Frank, with drag performers, with queer people around us, and others who support this community. I have also heard all sorts of accusations tossed out against them. None of the accusations stands up to scrutiny. I’ve seen videos merging clips from adult drag shows with scenes from East Frank. I’ve heard and s
Read more

Something More Important

Image
I was given a new title recently. It was not one I had ever expected to receive. I’ve had lots of titles over the years. I’ve been minister of music. I’ve been evangelism director. I’ve been Sunday school teacher. I’ve been summer missionary. I’ve been youth leader. I’ve been seminarian. I’ve been church planter. I’ve been pastor. I’ve been professor. I’ve been missionary. I’ve been guest lecturer. I’ve been interpreter. Over the years, I have been licensed to preach twice. I’ve been ordained. I’ve been commissioned six times. I’m currently in the process of having my ordination recognized by another denomination. While I have embraced those events setting me apart for Christian service, I can’t say any of those events quite measure up to the new title I was recently given. A couple of weeks ago, I was at a family-friendly drag show. It was not the first time. Since helping Union County, NC host its first Pride festival last year, I have been around a company of drag que
Read more

Our Language of Choice

Image
I woke up this morning and decided to be a woman. I really like the idea of earning less money on the job. I like the idea of being passed over for promotions. I like that I will be held more accountable for the care of my home and familial responsibilities than any of the men around me. I’m looking forward to having my expertise ignored. I like that I’ll more likely be treated as a lower-level assistant to male colleagues than an actual colleague. It should be a good experience to live as more of a target for domestic violence and abuse. It will be so freeing to let go of my bodily autonomy and place it in the hands of men who will not understand me. With so many voices in our society shifting back toward the attitudes of 70 years ago, I am really looking forward to setting aside all trappings of male privilege and power to live as a second class citizen whose voice and opinions are essentially irrelevant. Just look at all the advantages women have! They get t
Read more