Tag: faith

While this chapter is found in pages 80-81 of the NKJV Bible I have for this round of Bible notes, pages 102-103 of the NASB Bible (Old Testament, 1995 version), pages 165-166 of my VOICE copy, and pages 166-167 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy, I have to be honest, I don’t see a lot of things worth mentioning, for I’m just looking forward to the blessing in the next chapter, which, sadly, isn’t very long. Why did Moses write Numbers like this? And what was he thinking in often getting angry with others about stuff like in chapter 32? These questions I can’t answer, and I’d rather not ask ChatGPT about it right now, seeing that, too, can offer a skewed perspective about things. But one thing I know for sure (spoiler alert): NOTHING goes well for most of the people he’s accompanying, even after the conquest of Canaan (read from Joshua 24:16 until the end of Judges), whether anyone remaining a long time later after the first census had been made knew Moses or not — sorry for the spoilers, guys.

I don’t want to say this story has no happy ending, either… but I’ll save most of the details for later. For now, though, I need to say that unfortunately, the Israelites under Moses had loved unforgiveness as well as the idols they’d served all their lives. And I’m convinced preaching anything isn’t enough, unless one’s life is so unmistakably righteous no one can misunderstand it — ergo, Jesus, who spoke the famous words of Matthew 5-7, called the Sermon On The Mount, which is harder to practice than to remember, for being merciful is sadly easier said than done, given the prescriptions for the adultery test in verses 11-31 here. I wish I could skip all this and go straight to that section of Matthew right now 😅😅😅😅😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩 but I have some good news: I’ve been reading the Beatitudes pamphlet, and I don’t want to keep it a secret from others that we should practice forgiveness instead of cruelty. If we don’t do this, God won’t be forgiving, just as Jesus said in Matthew 18:35 after He had mentioned the parable of the unforgiving servant. And there’s no excuse for us if we don’t forgive others, for Jesus died for all mankind, given the truth of 1 Corinthians 8:11 (Greek) and that nothing can replace it, not to mention the fact it’s impossible for Him to die again (Romans 6:9). If it were, He’d need to suffer again and again every so often, and that actually reminds us of our sins every time, like in Hebrews 10:3 when the author of that letter writes about the old covenant system (Leviticus 16 may have been what he was getting it from).

I don’t want to be around unforgiving people, and I’m sure if you’re sensible enough to believe this, you won’t want to do that, either. Indeed, such cronies are nothing but abusive and would literally tear apart their children over a missing earring or something. These times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He calls all mankind to repent and follow Jesus, just as Paul had said in Acts 17:30. He then goes on to say that Jesus died and rose again and will judge the world in righteousness based on this (verse 31). At least, though, God gives many chances for others to believe this, like how a bunch of people were curious about what Paul had said about it (verse 32). Unforgiveness is an absolute deal-breaker, though.

I’m looking forward to covering chapter 6 about the Nazarite vow and the blessing for Aaron and everyone else in Israel, so I want to end this note here. If you have a prayer request, you can email me at ron.outland4727@gmail.com! I’ll read them, write down each one, then tape them to my bedroom walls! I hope to see you soon in chapter 6!

I’m going to be honest, I don’t think I’ll have professional commentary on this, seeing that I’m mostly unfamiliar with what’s in this section of Numbers, but I thought I’d line this up with how the Church is supposed to operate (maybe with help from a sketch of this chapter by a Tumblr blog I used to follow before I was shut out of the website — never mind, I couldn’t find it, but found something better). I am typing this from my phone, though, so I’m sorry if I don’t know how to work the photo uploads and how to put them in my posts on the go 😭😭😭😭😭 but this chapter is found in pages 79-80 of the NKJV Bible I have for this, pages 101-102 of the NASB Bible (Old Testament, 1995 version), pages 163-164 of my VOICE copy, and pages 164-166 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

I don’t see much how this counting of the people among the Levites ages 30-50 plays out into previous chapters (verses 34-49), but 2,750 people in the 15th century B.C.? That’s pretty cool! And I’m glad these guys followed instructions for when they leave for Canaan soon (spoiler alert, the whole nation had to wait for 40 years or so to enter), seeing the tabernacle is visually amazing! Here’s a photo of some of the men inside below:

Prerty neat, huh? Yet I’m more looking forward to the New Jerusalem city in Revelation 21 with many cool-looking sights, including streets made of gold, probably a bunch of zip lines from building to building, beach volleyball on the rooftops, houses with more stained glass than a European cathedral, water slides, etc. If we think Jesus only has music waiting for us, it defeats the purpose of Matthew 25:31-46 about the children of God coming into the Kingdom when He defeats Satan (see Revelation 20:9-10). Indeed, such thinking comes from a religious spirit, and that’s not biblical. I don’t know where the martyrs will be, but hopefully they get triple the rewards for the next kind of devotions others gave to Him ☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️ but anyway, we’re supposed to be a godly church in the meantime. I do believe in prophetic change to every degree and to thwart evil plans (God does both, see Proverbs 12:7), but if we are unkind about anything or repay evil, as though God couldn’t win the war Satan had started, Jesus will say, “There no longer remains a sacrifice for you, just as Hebrews 10:26 says.”

Speaking of church activity, Acts saw some of the best work of the Gospel during Bible times, period! And while I’m not there yet, I can say none of the Christians were violent about anything, seeing that Jesus had said in Matthew 11:12 that from the beginning the kingdom of God suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. I think with people idolizing Kirk even after some dude shot him dead, it shows that they don’t believe in God or His ways, seeing that they love money and would do anything to claim some extra cash they don’t need. I know for my part, I don’t find it easy to stay humble and to remain faithful to Hebrews 13:5 about avoiding the love of money (1 Timothy 6:12 says that’s the root of all the evils), and upon waiting for something that was promised for me, I don’t know what to do when someone delays it, or worse, cancels it altogether. I hope I can get the restoration I deserve… I’ll need it in order to become debt-free sooner rather than later, and I don’t want to wait too long to honour Jesus like this, nor for anything else. For patience should never be used as a weapon, but when it is, it confirms the reality of Proverbs 13:12 💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔 and offence often wins because of this, like in Mark 2:1-12 when Jesus healed a paralytic but then some people gossiped about Him. I bet you there’s more occasions with things like this…

It really shouldn’t be the case where the Church is more unrighteous than the world around it. Indeed, I’m truly at wit’s end concerning this… I wish I could find SOMETHING to do to make it any less unbearable… but I’m glad I went to YC’s by Power Road and the 202 this afternoon to revisit some good Asian food I’ve enjoyed for years but no longer go often, seeing that I’m often busy at work and the location that’s closer had been a bad experience for me when I last went there a year ago. Regardless, I need more from God… when that comes, I’ll be thrilled! Until then, I’ll see you in the next chapter about an adultery test Moses was commanded to prescribe (chapter 5)! Later!

I wanted my next post to be on Numbers 3, but right now, I need to address something chilling: because someone from Utah killed Charlie Kirk even though he was a racist and arrogant debator (Titus 3:9 says to avoid debates of any kind), and many people think he’s a leftist (although I at first believed he was a Trump supporter, we’re not really sure what the guy claimed to believe) — but, whatever the guy claimed to believe, left, right, or center (why is this even a thing anyway?) — the reality is, it’s come to my attention just minutes ago that they have vowed to crack down on every non-MAGA group that usually gets its attention by the media, and while I’m not sure what you believe, I don’t want any of us to get killed as if to escalate things any further, and while I believe Kirk’s in Hell paying for his sins right now (God doesn’t give second chances to anyone in Hell, for they had their opportunity to repent and follow Jesus and they failed), that doesn’t mean I would actually celebrate his demise. Sure, the dude was a worshiper of atheism disguised as Christianity, but I think MAGA is starting to get divided over this, showing that this cult the devil had made will crash and burn, like when a stick of dynamite explodes in a factory making flammable materials.

But anyway, I don’t want a civil war between any parties or any kind of division to last any further. Indeed, it says in Titus 3:10-11, “Reject a divisive person after a first and second warning, knowing that such a person has deviated from what is right and is sinning, being self-condemned” (NASB). I don’t want to be like this! Indeed, the reason I had mentioned prayer about safely defusing land mines anywhere in the world earlier tonight (or after midnight, when I post this) was that I want to practice Isaiah 2:1-4 right now. Indeed, war’s only been costly and destructive, and James 4:1-2 explains why. And people actually think that those who want all the non-MAGA people like me dead are men and women of peace? *scoffs* The billionaires’ love of power is ridiculous… and I’m sure they’d stop at nothing to ensure they’re the only ones on earth. I don’t want anymore kids being blown apart by war and forced to leave school for good as a result… I watched a message from Hillsong Australia today about some of this happening in places like Uganda, where the speaker’s from, and because I found out from him that a stadium full of children die weekly (figure about 75,000 every time) from the violence overtaking that area of Africa — heartbreaking, right? I couldn’t believe it when I found this out! So I don’t want to let even one perish, for Jesus loves them and has created them with His Father and the Holy Spirit in God’s image. But the problem is, I have student loans to pay, and I can’t afford to pay them right now, seeing that I don’t make enough to start doing this. And any loan forgiveness? They ended it! 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 I can’t make another monthly commitment while I’m in debt, for the Lord Jesus encourages responsible financial ownership. Besides, I have too many monthly expenses as it is, and most of them are essential. Oh, wait, it’s after midnight on September 16th, 2025, so I’ve got that going for me.

I hope you read this post, and, if you are able to, sponsor someone who needs a good future in a difficult part of the world while speaking truth to power. If you have a lot of responsibilities already, though, I guess I can’t make you overcommit. But it’s a very cold world out there. No one can possibly expect any sort of happiness to be served at any given time, right? But the Lord’s goodness is bigger than the world’s darkness, for where sin abounds, grace abounds a lot higher (Romans 5:20). In the meantime, I pray we’re all safe in this horrifying reality we’re in… they want to kill us all, remember? But if you declare Jesus doesn’t want them doing this, and they persecute you anyway, they have blasphemed God, but at least you’ll be rewarded big time, just as some translations of 1 Peter 4:14 sort of imply.

Believe it or not, of all the times I’ve read this chapter, I didn’t understand that the Israelites formed a giant crucifix ✝️ when they were in formation 😅😅 until I saw a post online that they were doing this. Even the Pharisees in Jesus’ time didn’t understand this (see John 5:40) — but this chapter is found in page 78 of the NKJV Bible I have for this journey, pages 99-100 of the NASB Bible I have for this (Old Testament, 1995 version), and pages 161-162 of my VOICE and Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copies (I don’t know why they’re the same pages between two different physical Bibles when they haven’t been meshed or paralleled together).

One thing I noticed in verse 32 here is that this is the exact same number of troops as recorded in chapter 1. Literally. I think in those days, the Israelites were surrounded by primeval tribes who were always waging war against others, and I don’t know why God hadn’t commanded them to preach righteousness yet. Maybe it’s got something to do with the fact God’s Name hadn’t been widely known yet (many future references would often be blasphemous, sadly), or with the judgments Israel was making akin to Moses killing the Egyptian (see Exodus 2:12), or maybe peace was impossible? I’m not really sure… but thankfully, the world is a lot different than that now, for Isaiah 61:1-3 predicted Jesus’ days, and we’re to look and practice Isaiah 2:1-4 prophetically as a result. Too bad a peaceful revolution is sometimes impossible, though… so God gives these violence-lovers up to the evilness they’d always loved. For they had time to repent of their sins, as we all do, but chose a lie about Him 🙄🙄🙄🙄😒😒😒😒😑😑😑😑😑😑😑🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️ — and Solomon would say over 500 years later, “God made people upright, but everyone’s sought out many schemes” (Ecclesiastes 7:28, author’s translation). I know I did when I was younger, hoping to ascertain the best feeling I’d ever felt. Can anyone else relate to that? But I’m glad Jesus is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), and He can help with you (the reader) seeking this, too.

If someone uses this passage to promote any warmongering, they miss the point of Scripture entirely, and they’ll be under God’s holy ban because of Exodus 20:7, and I’m not talking about the conquest of Canaan that Israel would pull off ~40 years after the events of this and the next 12 chapters unfold (those who’ve read their Bibles know what’ll happen).

I ddon’t have much else to say, but speaking of safety, I pray a bunch of land mines in places like Asia and north Africa and the Caribbean would be defused safely, and I pray Jesus is the primary motivator for this. For if someone steps on one, they’ll be blown apart and will likely die from it 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭💔💔💔💔💔 don’t let this happen to you, for your life is more precious to God than millions of birds in one flock 💗💗💗💗💗💗💗 and to Him, all humans are alive (Luke 20:38).

But with that, if you want to send me a prayer request, you can do that in my email: ron.outland4727@gmail.com! I’ll read each one, write them down, then tape them to my bedroom walls! I’ll see you in chapter 3, the subject of which I don’t remember, to be honest 😅😅 later, guys!

I want to be honest here also, I can’t wait to go further down the Scriptures, for Numbers has a lot of moments of apostasy and unfaithfulness to Jesus, mainly after chapter 9. The book can easily be divided into three sections: the first census (1:1-10:10), the journey out of Sinai with a 40-year wilderness encampment (10:11-25:18), and the second census (chapters 26-36). And when I discovered this pattern in September 2012 (so about 13 years ago), I knew it wouldn’t be easy to keep my first apartment, but what I didn’t know was that my mom would harass me for my faith and many other things again (she had recently become an atheist), and the patterns I didn’t think much of in my childhood together with the divisiveness I was facing in my community — one thing led to another, and I was eventually tried for my faith a couple years later, though it was illegal for someone to petition me so I’d be stuck in a psychiatric ward for four days and a mental hospital for the next 30. After this, I realized offence was a very powerful weapon to the point where I knew it wasn’t safe for me to talk about anything godly unless I wanted to be put in the mental hospital again. So, I decided to hide in Super Mario content, and 11 years later, it’s still largely holding up, for Jesus wanted me to find some fun stuff to delight in. Too bad Nintendo’s lost their minds because of some strange elements they’ve made into more recent games for the Nintendo Switch 2…

The reason I’m mentioning all this is, well, I thought it’d be good for me to keep a low profile upon realizing Satan had gotten the upper hand again, and now that he’s able to track us all down through the U.S. government to terrorize and arrest someone who rebukes love of power (which Jesus does), yet we can’t hide our faith, I don’t think I should reveal too many hints of where I am. It was safe for Israel to travel with God in those days, though. Indeed, not many made war against them in this book… at least, not until chapter 21, when Edom (Esau’s descendants; see Genesis 36) refused Israel passing through and not touching anything. They still hadn’t forgiven Jacob for what he had done (read Genesis 25:29-34 and Genesis 27:1-40), and they eventually took credit for Jerusalem’s demise, so God promised He’d give them no future. Yet we can pray for those who are descended from Esau to become Christian, but it’s because their ancestors had always loved unforgiveness God had decided to stop their bloodlines. I do believe He’s unwilling to commit genocide, though. The U.S. hasn’t learned from them, and making the same mistake over and over again can lead to a disaster we can’t afford.

I won’t spoil most of the details of Numbers on this post, so I’ll get straight to the purpose of the book: it was to record the Israelites’ wilderness journeys (the title for this book was originally “In The Wilderness” in Hebrew, but I think the Septuagint staff may have named it Numbers… I don’t know). In the meantime, I pray I can write on an actual computer for the next many posts here, for my phone’s getting old, glitchy, and slow, not to mention it’s very difficult to type anything (somehow I got most of this written OK, but my memory’s getting too full in it, and I don’t know how to delete data without uninstalling anything). I pray I can write on the first section soon beginning on Thursday at a library 📝🏫

For those who don’t know, a vow, once made, must not be revoked. Jesus said it’s best not to make any vows, period (Matthew 5:33-37). One contrast between males and females here was that the payment was usually double for males, as opposed to females, so I can tell God didn’t want that. For we see that God made all humans fearfully and wonderfully (Psalm 139:13-14). So that was God giving His so-called people (the right verse for this is Deuteronomy 32:5) up to these wack decrees He never wanted, as Romans 1:24-32 details for many things. I don’t like that our minds can be debased… hopefully that doesn’t happen to you… but this chapter is found in pages 75-76 of the NKJV Bible I have, pages 96-97 of the NASB Bible I have (Old Testament, 1995 version — I didn’t know they’d update it until 2020 happened), pages 157-158 of my VOICE copy, and pages 156-158 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

I should also note that Paul, for some reason, wasn’t opposed to vows, given the content of Acts 18:18 and what he did when he got back to Jerusalem after his third mission trip (read Acts 21:23-26) — I guess he was trying to keep a low profile among his Jewish brethren, seeing that they had yet to accept Jesus and the Christian faith hadn’t become distinct from Judaism yet. Perhaps God’s not opposed to any reasonable vow, either, but keeping one will NOT be easy. I’ve tried it, and it almost didn’t work, but thank God He stopped the devil from winning that month! 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼 Will I need to make more promises in the future? Only God knows… but it’s not worth it to sacrifice animals — THAT’S not what God wanted 😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😬😬😬😬😬 but one reason everything in my northeast Gilbert living situation fell apart was that my then-roommate was paranoid, thinking everything was unsafe (someone had sacrificed animals in a nearby house). I pray against that practice… we don’t need it anymore, for we can offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to Jesus, because of Romans 12:1.

The property taxes (verses 14-21) I don’t really understand, but I guess this and verses 22-24 are a basis of why people have property laws all over the world, given the content of Romans 2:14-15 (Moses was the tutor in the days before Jesus came (Galatians 3:24)). A bit off-topic, don’t you think it’s ridiculous a lot of people weaponize Romans 2 to ridicule others? I really don’t want to keep talking about this, for I just read a post from one of my first commenters (I had gotten my very first comment on this site after nearly seven years of writing notes on here from another lovely human being last week, but I didn’t know how to reply to her 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 if she’s seeing this, I hope I can say something good to her in return), and I want to communicate to them both well, but I don’t know how to do that without making it awkward 😅😅 blame it on the autism 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

One way to understand verses 28-29 here is to look at the cross-references in Exodus 22:18-20 and Deuteronomy 13:12-18… but this isn’t commanded today, for even in those days God didn’t want death to be one’s final outcome (Ezekiel 18:23, 32, 33:11). And His character is unchanging (Hebrews 13:8); indeed, none of this can be broken (John 10:35). I don’t want to comment on this, for an atheist can look at these verses and claim excuses for not believing God even exists, and I’ve met enough in my lifetime. That’s what the devil’s trying to do to any generation, and when that doesn’t work, he’ll convince the population that God worships the U.S. government. Sadly, it’s often worked… and we seem to be on the losing side. Indeed, even if Trump were to be removed from office in the next 12 hours (it’s currently 4:25 a.m. Eastern Standard Time), his supporters will be faithful to help him out, and they’ll strengthen their kingdom even more, so that the last establishment is worse than the first. For if Jesus was arrested and killed by policemen who relied on shifting sands, so the U.S. politicians can do the same to me and everyone who enjoys my content. So I feel the need to keep a low profile… and I don’t know when I’ll be back to write on Numbers… but first, I’ll write a retrospective on Leviticus, which ends with the words, “These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the sons of Israel at Mount Sinai” (verse 34, NASB). And don’t forget: the “sons” of Israel — both males and females are included in this, all of them (though I’d rather call the ladies daughters of God). I think this occurs in every gender-neutral word in the original languages the Bible was written in, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. But I’ll write the retrospective really quick, because I don’t want to delay you 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

I’ve gotta be honest, I’ve noticed a lot of… off things with just about every study Bible I’ve ever had, including that like every translation of verse 30 is read as if God were to begin hating anyone even if they were His enemies (for we should remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:43-48 and Luke 6:27-36) but I guess it’s easy to do that when something goes wrong. The lyrics of Fear Is Easy, Love Is Hard by Jason Gray (taken from the A Way To See In The Dark album, released 2011) encapsulate this perfectly. I’ll write them here: [(Verse 1) Turn on the TV for the evening news, they’ve got plenty of fear and nothing to do. Another somebody who’s gone too far, makes you want to put up your guard. Fear is easy, love is hard. (Verse 2) So we draw up another dividing line, we label each other and we choose a side. Peace could come at quite a cost, so we won’t build a bridge across. Fear is easy, but love is hard. (Refrain) Fear will leave you hiding in the dark, but love will bring a light into your heart, so do not be afraid, do not be afraid. (Verse 3) “I’m sorry, baby” is what he should’ve said, but she wouldn’t listen even if he did. They’ll die without forgiveness soon, but no one wants to make a move, when fear is easy and love is hard. (Refrain) Fear will leave you hiding in the dark, but love will bring a light into your heart, so do not be afraid, do not be afraid. (Bridge) It’s hard to give your heart to a world that can break it, to offer love to those you’re afraid will forsake it, but a well-defended heart is always looking for a fight in a lonely war against an endless night… but love can bring a light. (Refrain) Fear will leave you hiding in the dark, but love will bring a light into your heart, so do not be afraid, oh-oh-oh-oh… (Verse 4) It comes down to a simple choice, shouting devils or a still small voice. One is spreading fear and dread, oh, but love has always said, “Do not be afraid, do not be afraid, do not be afraid, do not be afraid…”] (No copyright infringement is intended in the making of this post.)

The correct translation of the words at the end of verse 30, according to the original Hebrew, is “and I shall utterly cast you away.” That’s how we’re to see how God deals with His enemies; once someone rejects Him, He leaves them to their own devices, and that’s not good. Yet Jesus’ sacrifice is for all mankind, so for anyone to dismiss this is killing themselves. I find it incredibly ridiculous that so many people in the “Christian” churches are obsessed with reprobation, so that no one can really hope in Jesus even if they’ve never been to church before… but this chapter is found in pages 74-75 of the NKJV Bible I have for this, pages 95-96 of the NASB Bible (Old Testament, 1995 version) I have for this, pages 155-157 of my VOICE copy, and pages 154-156 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

While I’m on the subject of fear, while it’s indeed important to be safe (and I’ve needed it more than anyone else I could think of here), if someone’s looking for things to be afraid of, that’s not good. The news outlets in EVERY TV SCREEN and in ALL our devices, including social media, is a lot like witchcraft, which Jesus opposes (like how Saul betrayed Him in 1 Samuel 28 by calling a medium to talk to Samuel (he had heard that Samuel had died — I’m not really sure how)) — I’m convinced I can’t spend like any time on these apps, since I’m realizing they’re no longer good for friendship unless you curate your content enough, and no one can really do that anymore. It’s great to chat privately with friends and family members with any of these apps, though. But I don’t think it’s worth it to look at the news, as if it could give holy commandments. What, do they think God speaks mostly through outlets like ABC, CNN, FOX News, etc.? If He did, we wouldn’t have the Bible. I’m not sure where it says in the Scriptures to not pay attention to this except in Isaiah 8:12-13, and I don’t know how I’m going to avoid weaponization of such passages, nor do I know how I’ll avoid that with anything else. I don’t even know how I’ll reach the people among them for the Gospel… for even the Epoch Times isn’t a good outlet, seeing there’s papers from that news source available in grocery stores (and these kinds of heralds are always filled with propaganda, not to mention the truth is seldom as it appears, just as Switchfoot wrote in the Selling The News song (taken from the Vice Verses album, also released in 2011)). I heard there’s a bunch of Chinese companies in the U.S. (some of which are here in the Valley) that are likely to be in hot water, but I know Trump helped China with many things, including COVID-19, and he’s still not sorry for any of this, for he led an insurrection that disguised itself as Christianity after 2021 started. But I do pray for repentance among all the staff in each of these workplaces across the whole country, yes, in all 50 states and all its territories. Indeed, I know there’s a lot of people in China who love Jesus even though it’s illegal to do that there (for communism is enforced), and their faith is much more authentic than that of most of the churchgoers in the U.S., likewise in probably all the other countries where Jesus’ Name is criminalized.

I should also mention (sorry I’ve been putting it off), that the amount of curses is a lot more in this chapter than the amount of blessings in it, but that was because it was a custom in the Middle East long, long ago to have the amount of curses be several times longer and numerous than the amount of blessings in a writing or text. I found this out in college when I was taking biblical classes once. So I hope you’re not offended by this… it may not be effective to read this book first, for it would probably then give a bad impression of the whole Scriptures. Yet God has laid all His promises throughout the Scriptures, and we should focus on them. It’s not worth it to ignore anything in the Bible, though… but that’s what most Bible translators are doing here, for they want to insert hatred and unforgiveness into the Scriptures. They have broken the commandment not to add to the Word of God, something Jesus had warned them against in Revelation 22:18-19, not to mention they’ve removed Matthew 18 and similar passages for themselves… but unfortunately, I fear this truth will never be popular or even accepted by many more people, whether it’s in the churches we go to or not. I’m kind of scared it’s going to be criminalized, actually… I’d rather not be here when it happens, and I want my nieces to be loved enough so that unforgiveness may be criminalized in their lifetimes. For if even the safest nations of the world allow it, this isn’t good.

And speaking of forgiveness, when people do quote Matthew 5:38-48 and Luke 6:27-38, most of them preach that forgiveness and love should be for our enemies, and only for our enemies. And we’re told to forgive people when they’re not sorry, and only when they’re not sorry… I need to share this post online so I can possibly make it viral, if God wills (I don’t have much of a following on any social media app). Jefferson Bethke, before he became an author (or was it during his career?) — he released a viral video about Jesus dying for all mankind, and that worked for me! Too bad a lot of people eventually complained about it… that was in January 2012.

But after all the promises of judgment God gives in verses 14-39 if His people were to turn away from Him, He promises forgiveness and blessing for those who repent and follow Jesus in verses 40-45 (see also Acts 2:38). That’s what Jesus died to accomplish, and His atonement is enough for all mankind forever, just as the Bible also teaches.

I’ll also let you know, Deuteronomy 28 follows a similar pattern, but the curses are twice as numerous, and forgiveness is nowhere to be found, for it predicted World War Two, mostly. But that’s over, now, and the Jewish people have Israel as a nation again, between Syria and Egypt. They will never again be uprooted from their land, just as God had promised.

Sooner or later, I’ll be back with chapter 27 to conclude Leviticus, so stay tuned. Hopefully that’s in the next couple days…