God is a Feminist

I have finished the book of Numbers! I can hardly believe it! It has been such an interesting exercise to walk along with the whiny Israelites in the wilderness (I think I might be whiny if I had to wander 40 years too) through their trials to the arrival at the promised land of Canaan. The themes that really stood out for me in this book were the ingratitude of humans for the love and devotion of God, the steadfast nature of God's love for us and that God is practical as well as ethereal in His love for us. The end of Numbers is so rich, the depth of scripture was immense and so I hope you prepare yourselves for this long email.

Numbers 20 opens with the death of Miriam in Zin in Kadesh. Then in Meribah, Israel grumbles against the Lord that there is no water to drink that that they and their cattle will die. They again whine that they should return to Egypt! God tell Moses to strike a rock at Meribah with his staff and water will flow for the people; he does and they have water. But because the people grumbled against Him and Aaron and Moses didn’t stand up for God as holy in front of them, God will make Aaron and Moses die before they reach Canaan. This is a bit confusing for me, the death penalty for Aaron and Moses. I do understand that to die is to be reunited with God in heaven (so that it may also seem a reward) but here it is clearly meant as retribution. This may teach us about the standards that God has for us; He is dissatisfied with one incident with Moses and Aaron after more than 40 years of faithful service. Human beings understand where they may lack the energy to fight yet again with the tiresome whining of the Israelites, but not God. God expects our best day in and day out, expects dedication and staying true to the important principles He sets out.  On the other hand taking Aaron and Moses from the people is also a punishment for them. The Lord promises to take their real, tangible, beloved and trusted servants/priests/conduits to God from them. Does God mean to teach them about the loss he feels when they turn away from Him? By killing Aaron and Moses He may teach them the loss of a beloved and how it feels to be turned away from in the relationship between God and man without actually turning away Himself. Will the loss of Aaron and Moses (or the anticipation of the loss) teach the Israelites what it feels like to be turned away from?

In Numbers 22 Balak, son of King Zippor of Moab, saw mighty Israel on the plains of Moab and fears that Israel will “lick them up as the ox licks up the grass of the field”. Moab feared victorious Israel and so Balak sent out elders of Moab and Midian to a diviner called Balaam and asked him to curse Israel. God forbids Balaam to go with Moab and Midian, and Balaam sides with Israel. Even though Balak sends money, riches and princes, Balaam stays faithful to the Lord. God then sends Balaam as an agent amidst the princes of Moab and Midian, that he may go with them but always stay faithful to the word of God. The Lord becomes angry that Balaam went out on his donkey to meet up with the princes of Moab and Midian and sends down an angel to be Balaam’s adversary. Balaam’s donkey sees the angel of the Lord in the path ahead of them twice and tries to turn away, Balaam refuses to let her. The third time she sees the angel she lies down in the road and this angers Balaam greatly as he is blind to the presence of the angel and thinks that his donkey is being disobedient. Balaam strikes the donkey with his staff to chasten her and the Lord speaks through her mouth saying “Why have you struck me? Why do you not trust me, your old servant who has been faithful to you for many years?” The Lord opens Balaam’s eyes to the angel, he is astonished and repents; the angel commands Balaam to go with the princes of Balak but only as an agent of God. Both God and the angel emphasize here that Balaam was loath to listen to the warnings of God coming to him through his trusted donkey. What lesson is there here? Perhaps that God speaks to us through our surroundings and we must always be open to hearing His voice and noticing His will around us. The word of God comes to us from the most unlikely places; God does not choose the most glorious, prestigious or glamorous route to deliver his message, He chooses the most direct route. God will use our lives to communicate His will and His love for us through the everyday things of life that He has created around us. This story also tells me that God is insistent in his messages to His children; if at first we cannot see His messengers, if we can’t hear His word and know His will, He will eventually open our eyes to His will through an undeniably powerful and present messenger. Again, this story illustrates that God first shows faithfulness to us so that we may be unwaveringly faithful to Him. Balaam shows his unwavering faith by arriving to Balak and declaring unflinchingly that he comes only with the word of God on his lips.

Numbers 25 tells the story of Israel in Shittim and how they were with Moab women and gave over to idolatry of the Moabite gods. The Lord was angry and commanded Moses to hang all of the chiefs of the people in the sun. A man of Israel (Zimri) brought a Midianite woman (Cozbi) to worship in the temple of God, Phinheas (son of Eleazer, grandson of Aaron) killed the couple to avenge the sin against God. Because of this, God gave him the covenant of peace because he turned his jealousy on Israel that God would not wipe them out. Phinheas and his sons are given the perpetual priesthood. This for me illustrates the inside-outness of the Old Testament. The progressive feminism and humanity of Leviticus, a book that is often seen as oppressive and the root of religious discrimination; the copious blood spilled in war and sacrifice by God and for God, merely drops shed in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers compared to the elimination of everything with the flood in Genesis. Here Phinheas has spilled the blood of two sinners that the rest of the congregation be saved. This is an incredible thing; that God is watching his people for spontaneous acts of faith, for organic manifestations of God’s will, love and jealousy, that if those acts are present, they mean more to him than vengeance. This is so powerful! Pulling this forward into my own life, does this mean that if I act according to God’s love and His word in my heart, it will be enough to redeem not only my life but the lives of others around me? Will serving Christ by volunteering in a soup kitchen bring grace to people who have abandoned God as they eat? Will acts of kindness, shared prayers and blessings bleed from our community of Salt and Light into the people around us and let light into their lives as well? In my mind, the radical and revolutionary concept of “contagious grace” could do more to change the way we interact with our families, communities, nations and the whole of humanity in general than any plague or punishment. Think of how it would turn the caste system of India on it’s head, that positive grace is what can be transmitted rather than bad karma. As always, though, such a powerful concept is a double-edged sword in that it can in the same way sanction honour killings, vigilantism and “holy wars”. Phinheas murdered two people in full view of God and the nation of Israel and was rewarded the covenant of peace and perpetual priesthood. The “jihad” or “crusades” version of this beautiful and life-giving story speaks volumes to the ability of human ignorance and zeal to combine and create an incredibly powerful force for destruction in the defense of God. Oh how completely our free will can mislead us, all the while assuring us we are in full service and compliance of God’s love. Thousands of years later the gap between the two seems impossible to bridge, perhaps the lesson here is that we must always fall in alliance with God’s love rather than God’s jealousy. The Old Testament is a bloody and vengeful book on the surface, but shot through with the passionate and constant love of God for His people, we can choose to focus on the blood that was shed (and that is shed in this world) or we can choose to focus on the love that God is desperately trying to show to a people that refuse to open their eyes to Him; as Christians, I believe it is our duty to live in love rather than jealousy.

The daughters of Zelophehad come to Moses after the census and ask for an inheritance as their father died in the wilderness and he had no sons. The Lord grants inheritance to the daughters of all men who have no sons at the time of their death. If a man has no children, his inheritance will go to his brother. This is incredible! A daughter here is considered of equal (or indeed) more importance to a particular family line than her own uncle (an older man with perhaps more social standing). This underscores for me the idea that the prices for women and the rules about impurity outlined in Leviticus and Numbers are indeed emanicpatory; if God will go this far for the rights of a woman to maintain standing and hold importance in her own family, why should he have made rules in previous books to oppress his daughters? God is a feminist! Another example of God's practicality in His love for us.

In Numbers 32, the tribes of Reuben and Gad ask the Lord and Moses for land in Gilead because it is perfect for raising livestock. Moses is angered at first because it is reminiscent of their forefathers that did not want to ender Canaan (the forefathers that precipitated the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness). The tribes of Reuben and Gad promised to send soldiers into Canaan with the rest of Israel and that they would not inherit in Canaan; their inheritance of land would be in Gilead, East of the Jordan. This pleased Moses and the Lord and was granted. This is more evidence that God cares for the particular case of each of His people. The people of Reuben and Gad asked God for something that would lead to their prosperity and happiness, they promised to follow the will of God and serve Him as he required and their request was granted. Petition is a common form of prayer, asking God for things that will contribute to our prosperity and happiness, to our health and the health of our families and communities. This is a lesson for all of us, to be frank with God and ask Him for what we need. To serve Him to the full extent that we can regardless of the answer to the prayer, to have faith that if we come to Him as His children He will hear us and extend a loving hand toward us with His answer. It is also a lesson that we are allowed to pray for practical things. Many people (whether they are new to prayer or not) feel selfish or foolish praying for material or practical things; houses, cars, clothing, a new refrigerator, bus tickets, lunch. The tribes of Reuben and Gad did not petition God for enlightenment, forgiveness, increased spirituality; they asked for land and water to sustain their livestock,11 which was both livelihood and food for them. God saw this as good and granted them their request. God created us to live here on earth in service to Him, we need food, shelter and other practical things to live here; we may need a car to travel to minister to others, to work for financial sustenance or for mobility. God wants us to have what we need; although what we need is often different that what we think we need or what we want. The provision of what we need rather than what we want is re-inforced in Numbers 34, the Lord defines boundaries for the promised land. Again He is setting out rules, there are always “boundaries” with the Israelites. This is important in that God is choosing a particular destiny for His people in a particular place. He is not following the human instinct to be ruler of all, His people are to serve ordinarily in a limited place, the physical boundaries of the promised land are an earthly manifestation of the importance God places on distinguishing His chosen as separate, but also humility as a way of life.

In Numbers 35, the inheritance in Canaan is divided between the tribes and the Levites get a special division of inheritance. 48 cities will be given to the Levites, 42 regular cities and 6 cities of refuge for the “manslayer” (a man who kills another without intent). 1000 cubits of pastureland will be given to the Levites around every city. Larger tribes will give more cities and smaller tribes will give less (God loves equitable sharing!). I wonder what kind of places the cities of refuge would be? They are to be refuge for the manslayer until he can stand trial for his crime in front of the congregation. An acquitted manslayer must live within the city of refuge until the high priest dies, the he can return to his own land. If he leaves the city before that time, an avenger of his crime can kill him without penalty, but only if the revenge killing occurs outside the city walls. These cities would be populated with people dispossessed of their families and their land, who are alienated from their tribes and without a network of social and financial support. They are called cities of refuge, but it seems to me that it would be a city of refugees. How would one go about buying or owning property there? What would the living conditions be there? Many people would be there temporarily, many for a long-term but not permanent stay. Would their family be allowed to visit them there and bring them material and spiritual support? With there being only 6 cities in the entire land of Canaan, would they be able to travel there to visit them? If there was a long distance to travel to these cities of refuge, how many manslayers would actually make it there and how many would be killed by avengers en route? It makes sense here that the cities of refuge would belong to the Levites, a tribe of people who have been chosen by God and who have heard that call to minister to and serve His people. The Levites here are trusted to bring the displaced, scared, pursued and persecuted to safety and to care for them. This is reminiscent (minus the manslaughter part) of the refugee family that St. Andrew’s-Wesley is bringing to Vancouver. Jenette has been keeping me posted on the progress with that ministry (thanks Jenette!) and this passage and my own imaginings about what the conditions of a city of refuge would be like, reminds me of their journey, that they are finally able to leave their city of refuge (refugee camp) and come to a new city with a new life. St. Andrew’s-Wesley has heard the call of God to respond to and minister to God’s people, as part of the body of Christ here on Earth we are His chosen people too.

May we know the love of God in the ethereal and the practical elements of our lives, May we strive to be vessels of "contagious grace", May we as God's children come together in worship and praise of Him and seek to hear His word from the most unlikely messenger. Amen.