Day 64: Consequences of Sin

Numbers 15:1-41 This chapter offers various instructions on ritual offerings of sacrifice, the celebration of the Sabbath, and the use and types of liturgical vestments.


Deuteronomy 13:1-5 False prophets have been known in every age, and the people of Israel could not allow themselves to be deceived. Since idolatry posed such a tremendous danger in undermining the moral purity of the Chosen People, anyone responsible for leading others into this sin would be put to death. (CCC 675, 817, 2114)


Ch 14:1-21 Any practice that resembled the pagan customs was to be avoided since Israel was a people SET APART. (CCC 2171)


Ch 14:1 Sons of the Lord your God: This title, given to the people of Israel and their kings, indicates an intimate, familial relationship with God. (CCC 441)


Ch 14:22-29 Tithing: This refers to giving a tenth of one’s produce or income. Tithing is a recognition that the land with its fertile harvests ultimately comes from God; in gratitude for his blessing, we return a portion of the fruits of our labor. In Deuteronomy, tithing was directed to the Levite priests-who without land of their own relied on this support-and to the poor, the widowed, travelers, and orphans. (CCC 2449)


Psalm 96 This psalm appears almost word-for-word in First Chronicles (cf. 16:23-33) and is very similar to parts of Psalms 105 and 106. It is prayed at the Mass during the night on the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas) since it is a psalm of great joy that the Lord has come among his people in order to announce salvation to all and will return again to judge the world. (CCC 2096, 2143, 2628)


(*Walking With God: A Journey Through the Bible by Tim Gray and Jeff Cavins)




Prayer by Fr Mike: “Father in Heaven thank you for your Word and we thank you for your Scripture today. We thank you, also, for the great wisdom that you give to us in helping us understand your Word. Lord God, for all the times that we are perplexed and troubled, and not just perplexed but deeply troubled and deeply troubled in our heart by your teaching, what you reveal about yourself, we ask that you not only take away a spirit of skepticism or spirit of cynicism, but you give us a spirit of openness, a spirit of truth and a spirit of honesty a spirit of trust, that when we don’t understand, we ask. And when we still don’t understand we continue to ask. Lord God, give us a spirit of trust. Give us a spirit that is open to whatever it is you will for us this day and every day. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.”

ANDREW'S PARALLELS

It stood out to me that God's instruction for offering burnt sacrifices of flesh were to include both a cereal offering (bread) and a wine offering- yet another prefigurement of the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper, when the bread and wine becomes the flesh and blood of Christ.

Working on the sabbath meant not putting God first or keeping the weekly holy day of obligation.  The death penalty prefigures the penalty incurred on the soul for the mortal sin of missing Mass on Sundays and days of obligation without a valid reason.

God isntructing the wearing of tassles on the corners of the Israelites' garmentsmakes me wonder if it was a tassle of Jesus' garment that the woman with the hemorrhage touched when she was healed. I don't think there is any way of knowing for sure, but it seems fitting given the attention the tassles are given in Numbers 15.

God warned that idolatry bore the death penalty, even for an entire city. The language used parallels Christ's foretelling of the pending destruction of Jerusalem, that would be fulfilled in AD 70 by the Romans, not just for it's unfaithfulness in him, but also the chief priests choosing allegiance to Caesar, who demanded at the time to be worshipped as a god. Essentially the chief priests committed idolatry by choosing the imperial cult, naming Caesar their king instead of Christ, who is God the Son and the King of Kings.God's warned that idolatry bore the death penalty, even for an entire city. The language used parallels Christ's foretelling of the pending destruction of Jerusalem, that would be fulfilled in AD 70 by the Romans, not just for it's unfaithfulness in him, but also the chief priests choosing allegiance to Caesar, who demanded at the time to be worshipped as a god. Essentially the chief priests committed idolatry by choosing the imperial cult, naming Caesar their king instead of Christ, who is God the Son and the King of Kings.