Bible in 90 Days Question

The people of Our Father have answered the Bible in 90 days challenge. We have more than two hundred people reading through the Bible. It is really a neat and fun program. This week marks week two. For this week's blog post, I decided to use a question that was e-mailed to me earlier this week.

Q: I was not aware that the Israelites had to sacrifice their first born (I think it was specifically their first born sons.). Why? Ultimately I have trust in the Lord and realize my ways are not His ways and what he ultimately does may/may not be understood by me. But here is the first thought in my head when I read that last week, “So You in a plague do this to the Egyptians for not letting your chosen people go . . . and then you turn around and ask the very people you took out of Egypt to (as atonement) sacrifice their first born . . . I don’t get it Lord!”

As I said, overall I can see the point as what one must endure to have their sin forgiven in the OT . . . but if you look at the , “He did this to my enemy and now he is asking me (who is part of his chosen people) to sacrifice my first born son to the Lord?”

What a great question. This question refers to verses like Exodus 34:19-20. What is happening here is not that God is requiring that his people sacrifice the first born, but rather that they redeem them. That is that they buy back the firstborn. Of course this raises the question, "from whom are they buying them back?" The answer is God. You see when the last plague of the ten plagues of Egypt took place, the lives of the firstborn were taken. Except in those households that had the lamb's blood on the door frames. And so in this way, God laid a claim on all the firstborn. So then, we get to this verse latter in Exodus and God is saying to the people. "Because I have claim on the firstborn they belong to me, and they need to be redeemed, or bought back by you. This then is how you are to do this..."

So this serves as a reminder of the importance and place of God in the lives of his people. Everything that they have, really ultimately belongs to God. And this redeeming them back is a way of keeping that in the front of their minds. The other thing that this does is point forward to when God would send his own Son who would redeem all of humanity from sin, death and the devil. He did this on the cross. And so, we can see in these verses a kind of foreshadowing taking place.

Here is another question. I am reading Numbers 3:40 – 51 and I am confused. So is the Lord saying I will take the Levites in place of requiring all Israelites to give up their first born? Also is He saying that a collection of 5 shekels must be given?

What is happening here is the establishment of the priesthood. God is saying that instead of having all the firstborn serve as priests, that the tribe of Levi would serve as priests and what so he makes arrangements to be sure that they will be provided and cared for.

This did not stop the redeeming back of the first born, it had more to do with the setting up of the priest hood. It is interesting that in the beginning of Luke's gospel we see Jesus being redeemed at the temple by Joseph and Mary.

I hope this helps. Please continue to ask questions. Blessings.

Pastor CJ