DBRP_074 NUM.10 NUM.11 PSA.32 LUK.21.1-19

Let’s open to NUMBERS 10-11.

Yesterday we heard about the position of the lamps on the lampstand in the Holy Place, and the Levites were dedicated for service. The second Passover was celebrated. The Israelites received their marching orders based on when the cloud moved from over the sacred tent.

Turning to PSALM 32:

Psalm 32 gives essential spiritual principles conveyed in David's testimony. I encourage every listener to camp out a while in this psalm.

Translation note:
5 Then[, O Lord,] I confessed my sins to you;
I did not conceal my wrongdoings.
I decided to confess them to you,
and you forgave all my sins.

We turn for the first time to LUKE 21.

In the last confrontation in Luke 20, Jesus soundly refuted the Sadducees. After this, his teaching further embarrassed and offended the religious teachers.

 

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DBRP_073 NUM.8 NUM.9 PSA.31 LUK.20.20-47

Let’s open to NUMBERS 8-9.

In Numbers 7, we heard about the gifts given by the leaders of Israel following the dedication of the sacred tent.

Translation note:

Who it is who does the ‘waving’ in this ‘wave offering’ is variously interpreted in 8:13. And it could be taken simply as a presentation, because it would be rather hard to ‘wave’ this object.
NLT:  Then have the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons, and raise your hands and present them as a special offering to the LORD.
HCSB: … and you are to present them before the Lord as a presentation offering.
CEV: They will stand at my altar in front of Aaron and his sons, who will dedicate the Levites to me.
GNT: “Dedicate the Levites as a special gift to me, and put Aaron and his sons in charge of them.

Turning to PSALM 31:

Psalm 31 is a desperate, yet confident, prayer for protection. This prayer models the secret of effective prayer— praying with full belief in the Lord.

Translation notes:
21 [Let everyone] Praise the Lord!
How wonderfully he showed his love for me
when I was surrounded and attacked!
23 [Listen, all his faithful people: Love the Lord!//Love the Lord, all his faithful people.]
The Lord protects the faithful,
but punishes the proud as they deserve.
24 Be strong, be courageous,
all you [who//that] hope in the Lord.

Let’s turn for the second time to LUKE 20.

Yesterday’s reading in first part of Luke 20 showed how the Jewish leaders tried to confront and discredit Jesus. I remember reading these passages in the summer after 6th grade and being so impressed with Jesus' wisdom.

Translation note:
27 Then some Sadducees, [the religious party] who say that people will not rise from death, came to Jesus and said,

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DBRP_072ShoutOut

Here’s the link to the Digging Deeper DBRP Facebook group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/DBRPdiggingdeeper/

I wanted to send a shout out to some very interesting people who listen to the DBRP. For this I have compared the stats for three representative podcasts, with the earliest from February 9. It is not surprising that the vast majority of the DBRP listeners ( 78.8%) are from the United states. The next countries listed are United Kingdom (3.7% which I realize we might break down further), and Canada (3.3%), followed by Singapore. So those countries account for around 85% of the listeners.

Next I will list the countries where it appears we have 3 to 10 listeners— going from a couple of countries that perhaps have 10 to those with fewer listeners:
Italy,
Australia,
South Africa (shout out to Carol),
Republic of Korea,
China,
New Zealand,
Kenya,
Saudi Arabia,
Germany,
United Arab Emirates (shout out to Alexandra),
and a category called ‘Other Regions’.

If you are listening from any of those countries, I’ll have something to say to you after the next listing.

Next are countries where it looks like we have two listeners:
Egypt,
India,
Nicaragua,
Hong Kong,
and France.

And finally, the countries that for the three days I checked we have one lone listener:
Netherlands,
Switzerland,
Finland,
Romania,
Georgia,
Czech Republic,
Taiwan,
Japan,
Indonesia (and I think that must be you, Santosa, Greetings!),
then Thailand,
Nigeria,
Dominican Republic,
Saint Lucia, and
Iraq.

You can see this listing of countries in the episode notes for this podcast. Just imagine how different the lives and situations must be among our listeners! I urge everyone listening to this to use a little sanctified imagination and pray for our listeners who may be very isolated from other believers. If you are a listener from any of those countries that make up 15% of the DBRP listeners, we would love to hear from you. I hope you have registered at Facebook. Please visit the the Digging Deeper DBRP Facebook group linked in the episode notes, then please click to join the group. Once you have been accepted, please tell us a little about yourself. Are you actually from that country or transplanted from somewhere else? Please feel free to give us a prayer request. I realize that some of you may need to be very careful about what you share with us. In that case, you may simply write, “Please pray for me.” We promise to pray for you.

I especially would be interested in you contacting us if your country was not listed. You might be from that ‘Other Regions’ category!

I thought it was interesting to see which US States have only one listener, and this is based on the News Update podcast that was numbered 41. For that episode, so far there have been 473 downloads, and so far there has only been one listener from these 4 states:
South Dakota,
Rhode Island,
Connecticut,
and Hawaii.

But there are the 16 states with zero listeners to that episode:
Alaska,
Maine,
New Hampshire,
Vermont,
Delaware,
Louisiana,
Nebraska,
South Dakota,
North Dakota,
Montana,
Wyoming,
New Mexico,
Utah,
Idaho,
Nevada,
and Oregon.

For anyone in any country, if you are a listener who would identify yourself as one who has just started to follow Christ, or not yet committed to following Christ, please don’t feel hesitant to join the Facebook group. You may not want to share very much. But you could just say, “I’m a new believer,” or, “I’m just testing the waters.” We’ll take it from there and pray for you.

Thanks to those of you who have prayed for me and Gale, our family, and our ministry. I gave prayer requests in the last update which was number 60 LeapDayNews.

To all of you, I praise the Lord that you allow me the privilege of reading God’s Word to you. May the Lord bless you ‘real good’.

 

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DBRP_072 NUM.7 PSA.30 LUK.20.1-26

Preparing to read NUMBERS 7:

Yesterday we heard how people had to follow through with God’s commands, and those with defiling diseases were expelled from their camp until such time as they could be declared ritually clean again. And we heard about cleansing for issues involving the conscience, and what a man might do if he suspected his wife of unfaithfulness. (A man would have to be a terrible jerk to do this to his wife if he didn't have good reasons for his suspicions!) The 6th chapter dealt with the Nazarite vow, and the ended with the famous Aaronic blessing.

In today’s chapter 7 of Numbers, the GNT has done a beautiful job of giving the complete information in a way that is clear, precise, and that reduces repetition.

We turn to PSALM 30.

This is a wonderful song of thanks to God.

Translation note:
4 [Hey, listen up, all God’s faithful people, sing praise to the Lord!//Sing praise to the Lord, all his faithful people!] Remember what the Holy One has done, and give him thanks!
7 You were good to me, Lord;
you protected me like a mountain fortress.
But then[, when] you hid yourself from me,
and I was afraid.

Let’s turn for the first time to LUKE 20.

Yesterday in the second half of chapter 19, Jesus triumphantly entered Jerusalem. While on the road he wept over Jerusalem because of the spiritual blindness of the leaders, and he cleansed the temple of commerce.

Translation note:
7 So they answered, “We don't know where [his right to baptize//it] came from.”
13 Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? [I know.] I will send my own dear son; surely they will respect him!’

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DBRP_071 NUM.5 NUM.6 PSA.29 LUK.19.20-48

Let’s turn to NUMBERS 5-6.

Yesterday we heard the assignments for the Kohathite, Gershonite, and Merarite clans in regard to the care and moving of the sacred tent, all under the direction of Aaron's sons.

Translation note:
25 the priest shall take the offering of flour out of the woman's hands, hold it out in dedication to the Lord, and present it [before//on] the altar.

We turn to PSALM 29.

This is one of my personal favorite psalms because of the response of the people in the temple to God's glorious revelations of himself in nature.

Translation note:
22 [The king//He] said to him, ‘You bad servant! I will use your own words to condemn you! You know that I am a hard man, taking what is not mine and reaping what I have not planted.

We turn for the second time to LUKE 19.

In yesterday's reading, Zacchaeus— a notorious sinner, dramatically came to Jesus. Then Jesus told a very thought-provoking parable. He is the King who will return and He will ask for an accounting from each of us— his servants.

 

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DBRP_070 NUM.4 PSA.28 LUK.19.1-27

Let’s open to NUMBERS 4.

Yesterday we learned that the Levite clans were given separate tasks in the care of the sacred tent. The 12,000 Levites were the substitute for Israel's 12,273 first-born sons.

We turn to PSALM 28.

David cries out to the Lord with all his heart. I love the imagery of the Lord as David’s ‘rock’, ‘shield’, and ‘shepherd’. (v1, 7, 9) As a translator, one sometimes has to make the choice of whether to retain a figure of speech more literally, or just to give its meaning. The GNT chose to translate the meaning at the first of v1 and7, but I will follow the NLT in those two places because I think we will understand David’s metaphors.

Translation notes:
1 [GNT: O Lord, my defender, I call to you.//NLT: I pray to You, O Lord, my rock.]
Listen to my cry!
If you do not answer me,
I will be among those who go down to the world of the dead.
5 They take no notice of what [You have done, Lord,//the Lord has done]
or of what [You have//he has] made;
so [You//he] will punish them
and destroy them forever.
6 [How I praise you Lord!//Give praise to the Lord;]
[You have//he has] heard my cry for help.
7 [You protect and defend me.//based on NLT: You, Lord, are my strength and shield.//The Lord protects and defends me;]
I trust in [You//him].
[You give me help and make me glad!//He gives me help and makes me glad;]
I praise [You//him] with joyful songs.
8 You, Lord, protect your people.//The Lord protects his people;]
[You defend and save me, your chosen king.//he defends and saves his chosen king.]

We turn for the first time to Luke 19.

Yesterday in Luke 18, we heard of Jesus’ encounter with the rich young man, Jesus again predicted his death, and blind Bartimaeus (as named in Mark) was healed at Jericho.

 

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DBRP_069 NUM.3 PSA.27 LUK.18.18-43

Let’s open to NUMBERS 3.

Yesterday we heard about the organization of Israel's camp, having three tribes on each of the four sides of the tabernacle. This also determined their marching position when the whole group moved.

We turn to PSALM 27.

This is a beautiful song, expressing David's confidence in the Lord’s protection, and he asks the Lord to vindicate him.

We turn for the second time to LUKE 18.

Yesterday in the first half of the chapter, Jesus told the parable of the persistent widow and the one about the Pharisee and the tax collector. And we heard Jesus' surprising response to the rich young man.

Translation notes:
19 [Jesus started his reply by saying,//] “Why do you call me good?” [0//Jesus asked him.] “No one is good except God alone.
29 [Jesus replied,//] “Yes,” [0//Jesus said to them,] “and I assure you that anyone who leaves home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God 30 will receive much more in this present age and eternal life in the age to come.”
31 Jesus took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, “Listen! We are going to Jerusalem where everything the prophets wrote about the [Me, the] Son of Man[,] will come true. 32 [I//He] will be handed over to the Gentiles, who will make fun of [me//him], insult [me//him], and spit on [me//him]. 33They will whip [me//him] and kill [me//him], but three days later [I//he] will rise to life.”
42 Jesus said to him, “Then see! [It is because you believe in Me that you are healed.//Your faith has made you well.]”

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