Book of Numbers #16

The Levites did not receive their own portion of the Land. They were God's priests and lay servants and Israel was commanded to provide for its priesthood. The command still stands in the Catholic Church today.

The prescription forbade Levites from owning farmland -- the major source of wealth in ancient Israel. The forty-eight cities set aside for them provide them with permanent residence and pasturage for their flock. To those who trust in his Name, God always provides what is necessary. In particular, God provided cities of refuge for those who have accidentally caused the death of a man. God knew the people's lust for blood and the imperative they lived under to avenge the death of their own, even when it was caused accidentally.

The Lord could have forced the Israelites to change their ways. He could have instituted laws against this type of egregious behavior but he knew that virtue alone compels men to obey a just law, and in regards to vengeance, honor, and blood, many a man, then and now, is still lacking the necessary restraint and humility to refrain from vengeance.

Thus, the Lord provided temporary relief, cities of refuge that an avenger could not enter. These cities became an exile at home -- another stark reminder that the Promised Land was still mostly an unfulfilled promise until the coming of the Messiah who would open the Gates of Heaven and invite us into his eternal dwelling, the everlasting Promised Land.

Book of Numbers #15

Oftentimes, we ask God for help. He provides it and shows us the way, but at the first fork in the road, we drop God's plan and go our merry way.No sooner had Israel reached the outskirts of the promised land that two tribes Gad and Reuben ask Moses to settle in the Transjordan -- which was not part of God's initial plan. Moses initially refuses but a compromise is found and the two tribes take possession of this area.

Four hundred years earlier, Jacob Israel went down to Egypt to meet his son and stayed there. The Israelites had a good life in Goshen but God remained silent through four centuries. Gad and Reuben relied on their eyes to decide what was best for them and they will be two of the first tribes to disappear a mere five hundred years later.

The rest of the tribes listen to Moses as he divides for them Canaan and specifies the boundary of the Promised Land. It is God who gives us our lot in life and it is God who prepares our lot in Heaven.

Be careful not to increase the former at the expense of the latter.

Book of Numbers #14

The census is complete. War is coming and God prepares Israel through the holy celebration of the seventh month. War, like the rest of the calamities that plague the human race cannot be solved without the liturgy.

The first day of the seventh month -- it bears repeating -- is the entryway into the holiest part of the Jewish year and the tenth day is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Israel is about to enter the Promised Land and it begins with atonement, reminiscent of their departure from Egypt which began with Passover. Thus their sojourn in the wilderness is contained within a liturgical arc reminding us that our lives, our own passage through the wilderness begins with baptism and ends with the last rite.

It does not mean that liturgy is at the service of daily life; rather what it means is that daily life is liturgical or at least it should be.

Moses's life, as a servant of God, started with the plagues of Egypt and ended with the war against Midian. The incident at Baal Peor had left many Israelites dead but the Midianites were unharmed. So often, God begins by cleansing his house, the Church, before dealing with those who were the cause of the downfall. In this case, a war is declared against Midian in which Balaam, the one who spoke four blessings on Israel, died. So did Balak the King of Median.

Therefore, even if the events of our time may dismay and discourage us, we would do well to remember that Jesus Christ is Lord of history... always and at all times. All the events of our time will serve to his greater glory, whether we are willing participants or not.

Book of Numbers #13

Why do governments count their people? Taxes. Why did God count Israel by ordering a census? As a preparation for the war to come.

Despite the Baal Peor's incident, God did not consign the second generation for another forty years in the wilderness. He could have done that for the sin of the children in worshiping Baal is identical to the sin of their parent with the golden calf.

Instead, God orders a census, and the census is never a good sign for counting is usually reserved for animals not the children of a king. So when the Lord orders a census it is seldom a blessing.

The Israelites must have been distraught by the census and their spirit must have hit a new low when they heard of the succession of Moses by Joshua. Indeed, Moses would not cross with them into the Promised Land; Joshua would lead them there.

The striking difference between this generation and the previous one is in their readiness to cross and face whatever may come. In this, they show themselves more obedient, less rebellious than their parents, and stave off God's wrath.

Chapter 25 ends with the calendar of public sacrifice. God is constantly reminding Israel -- and reminding us -- that the best thing we could possibly do is to worship Him, the one true God who does not need our worship. Indeed, we need to worship God so that we may be constantly reminded of who we are.

Book of Numbers #12

If you cannot beat the people of God with prophecies and spiritual warfare, you can always count on a splendid party to flaunt the laws of God and open the gates of Hell with a smile, a song, and a kiss.

Balak was intent on Israel's destruction. After the fourth attempt of Balaam to curse Israel had failed, Balak knew he would not be able to vanquish his enemy in this manner. So often, we think that all we need is God's protection and all else will be fine. God does grant us his protection but he does not protect us from ourselves. Coupled with a life of prayer, is constant vigilance and a willingness to grow in the virtues, a desire to tame the defects of our fallen nature and bring every fiber of our being into subjection to God's law.

The Israelites fell headlong in Balak's trap. He offered them a party with much rejoicing and celebration centered on Baal, the God the Moabites worshiped, and Israel obliged. After all, we ought to keep neighborly relations with the people around us.

Perhaps, but not at the expense of the truth, and certainly not at the expense of God's commandments. Balak got what he wanted: God's retribution was swift and painful, and plain to the eye to see. Israel understood and repented. We, on the other hand, having lost any sense of the fear of God, often do not understand the events of our lives in the light of God, and, as a result, fail to repent.

Book of Numbers #11

What would you do if God gave you the gift of Prophecy? Sit at home and keep it for yourself, use it to curse others, or sell it to the higher bidder?

Such were the choices that Balaam, a man gifted with the gift of prophecy. Balaam was not an Israelite, which shows that the Spirit goes where it wishes. Very little is known of him until he is summoned by Balak the Moabite king who asks Balaam to curse Israel for he knows that curse spoken by Balaam as the oracle of the Lord will stand.

In so doing, Balak commits a grave mistake that we are tempted to commit every day: to make God do our bidding. In other words, to act like a magician conjuring powerful spirits at his commands, spirits who will fulfill his wish and act as an extension of his own will.

Balaam may have known better but the lure of gold was too strong and besides Israel were not his people. He complies and instead of curses, he blesses Israel -- twice, which goes to show that God's will is done by the good and the wicked.

What of God? Should he not have warned Balaam of his error? Actually, God did, in the most wondrous way: he opens the mouth of Balaam's donkey and she speaks words of wisdom, reminiscent of the words St. John the Baptist will speak to the Pharisees of his time: "do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham." (Matt. 3:9). The choice of a donkey and stones is not coincidental: the donkey is stubborn and stiff-necked like the pride of man, and the stone is hard, hard as a human heart.

Book of Numbers #10

To be angry with God is one thing. To rebel is another. The first calls God's compassion, the other his wrath. We all face hardships, some internal, some external. Some of us carry the burden of a long-term illness, others have lost their job, a loved one, or were forced to leave their home, their country. Still, others are caught by a habitual sin of one form or another, and some of us watch, with great anxiety, loved ones leave the faith and leave the Church.

All of these hardships, all these challenges are hard to bear, but a moment of reflection may help us see that, provided we are sincerely seeking the Lord, obeying his law and the laws of the Church, and calling upon him in days of trouble, then these hardships are not for our destruction but our growth in holiness, and in the final analysis, that is all that matters. Yet, we, like the children of Israel, are wandering in one wilderness or another.

At least it may feel like we are, and we are confronted with a choice when these hardships come knocking at our door: to go to God in complete confidence in his strength and will or rely on our own and fail. To obey his mysterious decree or to rebel. Life is found in obedience and death in rebellion. Yet, God, in His infinite mercy does not abandon us when we fail, when we fall, when we stray; he sends a serpent of bronze, lifted up so we can see him and by merely looking at him, the Israelites were preserved from the poison of the serpents. God is merciful, when we stray, to teach us obedience, not to give us what we want. The choice is ours.

Book of Numbers #9

This passage, taken from Exodus 19:13, illustrates the fundamental contradiction man finds himself in: he, the unclean creature since the fall of Adam, is called to live before the Lord who is all Holy.

In this study we focus on the offering of the red heifer -- a red cow -- who was to be sacrificed as a whole burnt offering but not on the altar of sacrifice inside the tabernacle, rather she was to be sacrificed outside the camp, much like what would happen to Christ in his passion when he was offered as a whole burnt offering on Golgotha, outside the walls of Jerusalem.

Chapter 19 has 22 verses and the word "unclean" appears 17 times, the word "clean" 5, and the verb "cleanse" 5 times. In total 27 words referring to bodily cleanliness/uncleanliness, none of which can forgive sins nor bring peace of mind. Further, the purification by sprinkling is a prelude to the baptism of remission of sins instituted by Christ. Seen from the Cross, the red heifer ceremonial is a preparation of minds and heart to the necessity of Christ, his coming, His death, and resurrection.

Is it then surprising that chapter 20 records the death of Miriam and Aaron in the midst of military and spiritual turmoil? Their death is recorded but not their resurrection and so these two chapters taken together highlight in stark terms the difference between the old and the new covenant: the lack of an empty tomb in the former and the glory of the resurrection in the latter.