I’ve been studying the Pentateuch, specifically spending time in the book of Numbers, and I wanted to record some notes on Balaam the Prophet.
He comes up three times in the New Testament, and always with a negative view as a prototype for a specific type of teacher.
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Barring my faulty memory (and if I’m not lazy) I want to post prayers on Monday from all over Church History and then throughout the modern day, and then my own. This one comes from pre-Church history, for Israel, by King Solomon in 1 Kings 8:22-30.
Tags: israel, prayer, prayer mondays, solomon
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One of the funniest, and oddest, perspectives is the bird’s eye view. I personally don’t like getting to that perspective—shooting down the runaway until it almost ends, catapulting into the air, and praying that nothing happens. But the perspective is extremely helpful—in criminal cases, for example.
You know, there goes the criminal, driving down the road and slamming into a telephone pole. Out he comes, running; between garbage cans, through a yard with a barking dog, over another fence. He really thinks he can get away!
Except we’re seeing all of this from the vantage point of a police chopper that has the entire view of the man’s progress and end where the cops have set up their net. If the criminal had this view he’d probably not run as hard to escape. And the cops, oh the cops with the benefit of that point of view do their work confidently.
Let’s take off then, shooting down the runaway of the text and getting some details as we take off and see this perspective.
Tags: balaam, canaan, moses, numbers
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Corporate Solidarity, if you recall, is this notion that the many (individuals) unite to the one over them by their identification with that one. This view differs from federal headship (where the corporate is represented by the head of the covenant) and corporate personhood (where the individual is subsumed in the identity of the one person). I decided to look at the Pentateuch to see if it would play with these sorts of categories with the name “Israel”. I chose the Pentateuch because it was far enough ahead before any national references and because this is where we see Israel coming into that position.
Tags: corporate person, corporate solidarity, federal head, israelite, jewish, moses
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How can one properly represent God? Well, there are several ways in the book of Numbers. The Israelites have been protecting the things of God, they’ve been holding fast the center, they were to lead a purified life in their marriages, their homes, and their business practices; they were to offer sacrifices and remember the Passover: all these things were used to properly represent God to the world. They were to be His people, a Holy Nation of Priests, and so they were to stand.
But here’s a story of another misrepresentation of God.
Tags: aaron, massah, meribah, moses, numbers
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