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Free Daily Bible Study PodcastJuly 15th: Bible Meditation for Joshua 22Bible Readings for July 15th
Joshua 22 | Acts 2 | Jeremiah 11 | Matthew 25
At the end of Joshua 21, we read an assurance that all of Yahweh’s promises had finally been fulfilled: “Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass” (Josh. 21:45). This remarkable summary of Israel’s conquest carries two important implications.
First, this passage teaches that, technically speaking, the covenant promises Yahweh had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob concerning the land of Canaan are here fulfilled in totality. Yahweh has offi...2025-07-1504 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJuly 12th: Bible Meditation for Joshua 16–17Bible Readings for July 12th
Joshua 16–17 | Psalm 148 | Jeremiah 8 | Matthew 22
In Joshua 16–17, the apportionment of the Promised Land to the tribes of Israel continues. In Joshua 15, Judah had received their inheritance, and now in Joshua 16–17, we read about the inheritance of the two half-tribes descended from Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim. While all of the other tribes are named after the direct descendants of Jacob, the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim are named after Jacob’s grandchildren. As you may recall, Jacob had adopted Joseph’s two sons as his own in order for Manasseh and Ephraim to each re...2025-07-1203 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJuly 11th: Bible Meditation for Joshua 14–15Bible Readings for July 11th
Joshua 14–15 | Psalm 146–147 | Jeremiah 7 | Matthew 21
The allotment of the inheritance in the land west of the Jordan begins, rightfully, with Caleb. Caleb and Joshua had been the only two spies to enter the Promised Land and return with a good report. At that point, forty-five years ago when Caleb had been only forty years old (Josh. 14:7, 10), Caleb pleaded with the people to enter into the land. Because of Caleb’s whole-hearted obedience to Yahweh, he receives the land of Hebron (Josh. 14:13–15).
Now, Caleb is from the tribe of Judah, and afte...2025-07-1104 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJuly 3rd: Bible Meditation for Joshua 5Bible Readings for July 3rd
Joshua 5 | Psalms 132, 133 & 134 | Isaiah 65 | Matthew 13
Before Yahweh takes Israel into the land of Canaan to receive the inheritance he had promised to them for generations through their forefather Abraham, he requires that all the men be circumcised. This is the first time we learn that the generation born in the wilderness had not been circumcised, and the story raises several red flags.
At a strategic level, circumcising all the men at the same time was a tactical nightmare. In Genesis 34, we read the story about how the sons of...2025-07-0304 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 28th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 33–34Bible Readings for June 28th
Deuteronomy 33–34 | Psalm 119:145–176 | Isaiah 60 | Matthew 8
The shadow of Moses’s impending death hangs over the entire book of Deuteronomy. But, as the people move on into the Promised Land after the death of Moses (which we finally read about here in Deuteronomy 34), it will not only be Joshua who will lead the people. Additionally, the priests and the Levites will also begin to take a more prominent role in the spiritual leadership of Israel. Therefore, in Deuteronomy 33:8–11, Moses lays out the three primary duties that the tribe of Levi will take up.1...2025-06-2804 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 27th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 32Bible Readings for June 27th
Deuteronomy 32 | Psalm 119:121–144 | Isaiah 59 | Matthew 7
Moses has given the entire law to the people of Israel, but in Deuteronomy 32, he takes a different approach to impress upon his people the necessity of obeying Yahweh: he sings to them a song. In this song, Moses acts out the story of Israel’s history with Yahweh and then he warns them of the dangers of departing from their covenant.
To begin, Moses calls heaven and earth to give ear to the words of his mouth (Deut. 32:1)—possibly to bear witness against Israel...2025-06-2704 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 26th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 31Bible Readings for June 26th
Deuteronomy 31 | Psalm 119:97–120 | Isaiah 58 | Matthew 6
There is an engraved marble memorial at Westminster Abbey in London dedicated to John and Charles Wesley, the great leaders of the Methodist movement in the eighteenth century. At the base of the monument are the words of Charles: “God buries his workmen, but carries on his work.” In Deuteronomy 31, we are rapidly approaching the burial of one of God’s greatest workmen, Moses, and we begin to see how God will carry on his work.
Moses, because of his failure at Meribah to uphold Y...2025-06-2603 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 25th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 30Bible Readings for June 25th
Deuteronomy 30 | Psalm 119:73–96 | Isaiah 57 | Matthew 5
Back in Deuteronomy 10:16, Moses had commanded the people of Israel to circumcise the foreskin of their hearts, and here in Deuteronomy 30, heart circumcision appears again as the key to unlocking the meaning of the entire Mosaic covenant.
Moses first instructs Israel about what they should do after they are scattered among the nations for disobeying the covenant (Deut. 30:1–10). If Israel begins to obey Yahweh’s commandments, then Yahweh will restore his people. But when Yahweh brings his people back after their exile, things would be dif...2025-06-2504 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 24th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 29Bible Readings for June 24th
Deuteronomy 29 | Psalm 119:49–72 | Isaiah 56 | Matthew 4
In Deuteronomy 29–30, Moses renews Israel’s covenant with Yahweh one final time before his death. First, just as he had done at the beginning of Deuteronomy, Moses recounts the gracious provisions of Yahweh through Israel’s history in Deuteronomy 29:2–9. This historical prologue sets the context of Yahweh’s covenant by reminding Israel once again that grace—not law—came first.
Second, Moses points out the fullness of the congregation standing before him: “You are standing today all of you before the LORD your God: the heads of your...2025-06-2404 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 23rd: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 28Bible Readings for June 23rd
Deuteronomy 28 | Psalm 119:25–48 | Isaiah 55 | Matthew 3
Deuteronomy 28 is at the same time an inspiring and a horrific chapter in the Bible, laying out Yahweh’s covenant blessings and his covenant curses. These two lists were so important that they would be used again later in a larger ceremony that would come after Moses’s death. Just as Moses had mentioned briefly back in Deuteronomy 11:26–32, Israel was to remind one another of these blessings and curses after they took possession of the land of Canaan.
In that ceremony, six of the tribes w...2025-06-2304 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 22nd: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 27Bible Readings for June 22nd
Deuteronomy 27 | Psalm 119:1–24 | Isaiah 54 | Matthew 2
At the end of Deuteronomy 26, Moses concludes his second giving of the law. Through the entire book of Deuteronomy, Moses had been giving an extended sermon to exhort Israel to abide in God’s law. But after proclaiming the whole law to Israel, Moses now—before he dies—explains to Israel the covenant renewal process in which they would partake as they entered into the Promised Land.
So, Moses first insists that, after the people have entered into the land, they should write the law on l...2025-06-2204 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 21st: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 26Bible Readings for June 21st
Deuteronomy 26 | Psalms 117–118 | Isaiah 53 | Matthew 1
For the people of God, giving is never meant to be a burdensome task. Deuteronomy 26 teaches us why we ought to give, using two events that were to happen when Israel took possession of the Promised Land: the offering of the firstfruits (Deut. 26:1–11) and the third-year tithe (Deut. 26:12–15).1
First, upon moving into the land—a land that came prepopulated with vineyards and olive trees that Israel did not plant (Deut. 6:11)—Yahweh commanded Israel not to eat of the first year’s crop that they would harves...2025-06-2104 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 20th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 25Bible Readings for June 20th
Deuteronomy 25 | Psalm 116 | Isaiah 52 | Revelation 22
From Deuteronomy 25, we can make an observation that will help us overcome a major cultural barrier we have in reading and understanding the Bible. To put it simply, our own culture has an obsession with sex that the people we read about in the Bible did not necessarily share. This isn’t to say that lust was never a problem for the biblical figures. We can read many stories in the Bible where lust was the driving force behind sin that had devastating consequences for the pe...2025-06-2004 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 19th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 24Bible Readings for June 19th
Deuteronomy 24 | Psalms 114–115 | Isaiah 51 | Revelation 21
Deuteronomy 24 contains several laws that the section headings in the ESV classify as “miscellaneous.” Quite a few of these laws (though not all in this section) regulate how Israel should treat the poor in their midst. We would classify these laws as civil laws (see the meditation on Deuteronomy 22), governing the day-to-day living of Israel. So, while Christians aren’t bound to the letter of these laws, we nevertheless see in them a picture of what kind of “general equity” we should seek in our own societies. T...2025-06-1903 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 18th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 23Bible Readings for June 18th
Deuteronomy 23 | Psalms 112–113 | Isaiah 50 | Revelation 20
Several of the prohibitions in Deuteronomy 23 almost make it seem as though Yahweh is squeamish about the human body. For example, we read that anyone with his testicles crushed or male organ cut off cannot enter into the assembly to worship in the tabernacle of Yahweh (Deut. 23:1). Then, we read that any man with a nocturnal emission must stay outside the camp until evening comes and he bathes with water (Deut. 23:10–11) and that the Israelites were required to bury their excrement outside the camp (Deut. 23:12–14).
We...2025-06-1804 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 17th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 22Bible Readings for June 17th
Deuteronomy 22 | Psalms 110–111 | Isaiah 49 | Revelation 19
As we read through the laws given to Israel that governed what to do with a lost ox (Deut. 22:1–4) or what specifications were required for building a roof on your house (Deut. 22:8), it would be helpful for us to talk about how Christians have traditionally approached Old Testament law. It’s clear that different laws had different purposes, and while some of those laws are still fully applicable today, others are not.
Christians have historically divided the Old Testament laws into three categories: moral, civil...2025-06-1704 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 16th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 21Bible Readings for June 16th
Deuteronomy 21 | Psalms 108–109 | Isaiah 48 | Revelation 18
Deuteronomy 21:22–23 contains critical background information for understanding Jesus’ crucifixion. Here, we see that the cross was not a last-minute mistake but that Yahweh had been preparing to execute his own Son on a tree from the beginning. Deuteronomy 21 helps us better understand the crucifixion of Christ in three ways.
First, hanging on a tree was only for the most heinous of crimes. It is clear from these verses that not all death penalties required hanging on a tree—only those who had committed an unusuall...2025-06-1604 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 15th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 20Bible Readings for June 15th
Deuteronomy 20 | Psalm 107 | Isaiah 47 | Revelation 17
In Luke 14:15–24, Jesus tells the Parable of the Great Banquet. In the story, a man prepares a great feast and invites many to come. Strangely, when the man’s servant personally delivers the invitations, each person has a different excuse about why he can’t come. One bought a new field (Luke 14:18), another bought five yoke of oxen (Luke 14:19), and a third recently married a new wife (Luke 14:20). Each of them declines the invitation, one after another, and naturally, the host is furious: “For I tell you, non...2025-06-1504 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 14th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 19Bible Readings for June 14th
Deuteronomy 19 | Psalm 106 | Isaiah 46 | Revelation 16
In Deuteronomy 19, Moses turns his attention to the civil laws that were written to govern daily life in Israel. The three laws in Deuteronomy 19 underscore three important principles for understanding God’s idea of civil justice.
The first law, regarding the cities of refuge, demonstrates the need for fair treatment of the accused. The people who could flee to the cities of refuge were those who had actually done something that caused the death of someone else. The specific example given in Deuteronomy 19:5—an axe...2025-06-1404 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 13th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 18Bible Readings for June 13th
Deuteronomy 18 | Psalm 105 | Isaiah 45 | Revelation 15
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy are filled with regulations for the Levitical priests in Israel, and in yesterday’s reading from Deuteronomy 17, Moses laid out the requirements for the kings of Israel. In Deuteronomy 18, Moses gives instruction for the last of the three major Old Testament offices: the prophets. There are two important provisions in this passage that we will look at today.
First, Yahweh gave objective criteria by which Israel could evaluate their prophets: under no circumstances should a prophet ever speak in th...2025-06-1304 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 12th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 17Bible Readings for June 12th
Deuteronomy 17 | Psalm 104 | Isaiah 44 | Revelation 14
Deuteronomy 17 serves as the standard against which we should judge the kings of Israel and Judah as we read about them in the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. In this passage, we find three details that set up the storylines of what the kings of Israel and Judah will eventually become.
First, it seems it had always been Yahweh’s plan to give Israel a king. When Israel eventually demands a king, they do so by virtually quoting Deuteronomy 17:14, saying to the prophet Sa...2025-06-1204 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 11th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 16Bible Readings for June 11th
Deuteronomy 16 | Psalm 103 | Isaiah 43 | Revelation 13
In Deuteronomy 16, Moses names the three festivals that all Israelite males were expected to attend: Passover, the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), and the Feast of Booths. As we saw in our meditation on Deuteronomy 14, the people who lived too far away to travel to the place where Yahweh chose were granted an exception, but for the most part traveling to the three festivals was a regular part of what it meant to be a part of Yahweh’s covenant people.
Technically, these aren’t the...2025-06-1104 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 10th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 15Bible Readings for June 10th
Deuteronomy 15 | Psalm 102 | Isaiah 42 | Revelation 12
Toward the end of yesterday’s meditation on Deuteronomy 14, we talked about how the tithes of Israel were meant to take care of the needy as well as the Levites, who did not have their own inheritance but depended on the tithes of other Israelites for their income. In today’s reading, we get a little clearer picture of the kind of generosity God is teaching his people to live out.
In Deuteronomy 15, Moses establishes a Year of Release in the life of Israel. Ever...2025-06-1004 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 9th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 13–14Bible Readings for June 9th
Deuteronomy 13–14 | Psalms 99, 100, & 101 | Isaiah 41 | Revelation 11
Deuteronomy 14 changes the way that we see our offerings to God. Sadly, we can too easily come to look at the act of bringing our offerings to God as a kind of a tax, where we send off our checks to some impersonal government in a distant land so that they will do whatever they want with it without any regard to what would be best for us, the tax-payers.
But not so with Yahweh. The Israelites were commanded to bring a tithe (10 percent) of...2025-06-0904 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 8th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 12Bible Readings for June 8th
Deuteronomy 12 | Psalms 97–98 | Isaiah 40 | Revelation 10
Moses reveals in Deuteronomy 12:8–9 that Israel’s informality in their worship would eventually need to change: “You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving to you.” Here, Moses is acknowledging that there was chaos in Israel’s worship during the days of their wilderness wanderings, so that it was customary for the Israelit...2025-06-0804 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 7th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 11Bible Readings for June 7th
Deuteronomy 11 | Psalms 95–96 | Isaiah 39 | Revelation 9
By the time of Jesus, the signs and frontlets that Moses wanted to see bound to the eyes and hands of Israelites (Deut. 11:18) had largely become an outward show of hypocrisy. Jesus explicitly condemned the Pharisees for the way they wore their signs and frontlets (in Greek, “phylacteries”) to gain attention, saying, “They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long” (Matt. 23:5). The Pharisees no longer used their phylacteries as a tool for keeping the words of t...2025-06-0704 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 6th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 10Bible Readings for June 6th
Deuteronomy 10 | Psalm 94 | Isaiah 38 | Revelation 8
When God commanded in Genesis 17 that every male in the household of Abraham be circumcised, he never intended for circumcision to be merely a physical act. Instead, physical circumcision—the cutting away of the flesh—always pointed to a larger, spiritual reality. In Deuteronomy 10, we get our first glimpse of God’s overarching purpose for circumcision.
In this passage, Moses pleads with the Israelites: “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn” (Deut. 10:16). Circumcision, Moses explains, gives us a picture of what it...2025-06-0604 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 5th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 9Bible Readings for June 5th
Deuteronomy 9 | Psalms 92–93 | Isaiah 37 | Revelation 7
In Deuteronomy 9, Moses shatters the final false belief that Israel might hold onto about why Yahweh was removing the inhabitants of the land of Canaan in order to give Israel the land as a possession. This has nothing to do, Moses assures Israel, with their righteousness. So, Moses warns them, “Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is becau...2025-06-0504 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 4th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 8Bible Readings for June 4th
Deuteronomy 8 | Psalm 91 | Isaiah 36 | Revelation 6
Deuteronomy 7–9 contains three separate reflections on the scandal of particularity, the subject we discussed in our meditation from Deuteronomy 4. In these chapters, Moses raises three possibilities to explain why Israel might be receiving the blessings of Yahweh—including the full wealth and prosperity of the Promised Land—and then he knocks each one down. It is neither because of Israel’s size (Deut. 7) nor because of their righteousness (Deut. 9) that Yahweh has lavished his love upon them, and here in Deuteronomy 8, Moses explains that it is also not...2025-06-0404 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 3rd: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 7Bible Readings for June 3rd
Deuteronomy 7 | Psalm 90 | Isaiah 35 | Revelation 5
Deuteronomy 7 features the second-best circular logic in the Bible. Let me explain what I mean by pointing out Deuteronomy 7:6, where Moses reminds Israel that “you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.”
At this point, Moses pauses to ask himself a question: Why does the LORD love Israel? This question seems to be what Mose...2025-06-0304 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 2nd: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 6Bible Readings for June 2nd
Deuteronomy 6 | Psalm 89 | Isaiah 34 | Revelation 4
Deuteronomy 6 is one of the most important chapters in the Old Testament, not least for the fact that Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:5 as one of the two greatest commandments (“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might”; see Matt. 22:37, Mark 12:29–30, Luke 10:27). But the main focus of Deuteronomy 6—and our focus for today’s meditation—is Moses’s insistence that we pass down these profound truths about Yahweh to our children.
There is a great danger...2025-06-0204 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJune 1st: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 5Bible Readings for June 1st
Deuteronomy 5 | Psalm 88 | Isaiah 33 | Revelation 3
In Deuteronomy 5, Moses does not simply repeat the Ten Commandments, but he also reminds Israel of what their response had been at the time when Yahweh had given them the Ten Commandments: fear and reverence. When Yahweh appeared at Mount Sinai to give his law, Israel was terrified that they would be struck down by Yahweh’s holiness for their sinfulness, so they pleaded for a mediator (Deut. 5:24–27).
Yahweh, for his part, is pleased with the response of his people: “I have heard the words...2025-06-0104 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 31st: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 4Bible Readings for May 31st
Deuteronomy 4 | Psalms 86–87 | Isaiah 32 | Revelation 2
The phrase “scandal of particularity” describes the shock of realizing that Yahweh chose to save the world through a particular person in a particular place at a particular time. Jesus, of course, is the greatest example of the scandal of particularity, since he was born to a poor Jewish teenage girl from the tiny, out of the way town of Nazareth, during a period when Israel lived under the shameful oppression of the Roman occupation. Why should the Savior of the world, the eternally begotten Son of the...2025-05-3104 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 30th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 3Bible Readings for May 30th
Deuteronomy 3 | Psalm 85 | Isaiah 31 | Revelation 1
If it is tragic to read Moses’s prayer that Yahweh would grant him the right to enter into the Promised Land in Deuteronomy 3:23–25, then it is terrifying to read Yahweh’s flat refusal of Moses’s request: “But the LORD was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And the LORD said to me, Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again’” (Deut. 3:26). What are we to take from this passage to learn about how Yahweh responds to ou...2025-05-3004 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 29th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 2Bible Readings for May 29th
Deuteronomy 2 | Psalms 83–84 | Isaiah 30 | Jude 1
As we discussed yesterday, Deuteronomy gives us Moses’s final sermon before his death. It may seem strange, then, that Deuteronomy, the “second law,” does not begin with the law at all. Instead, Deuteronomy opens with a lengthy retelling of Israel’s history, beginning from the point that Israel left Mount Sinai in the land of Horeb (Deut. 1:6). Then, Moses retells the story of Israel’s refusal to enter into the Promised Land (Deut. 1:19–46), their wanderings through the wilderness (Deut. 2:1–25), and their victories over King Sihon (Deut. 2:26–37) a...2025-05-2904 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 28th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 1Bible Readings for May 28th
Deuteronomy 1 | Psalms 81–82 | Isaiah 29 | 3 John 1
Although Deuteronomy is one of the longer books in the Old Testament, with thirty-four chapters, it does not represent the passage of much time. In Deuteronomy, we do not read new narratives of Israel’s journey through the wilderness, nor of new battles Israel fights, nor even of new ways that Yahweh provides for his people. For the most part, Deuteronomy includes only one speech—the final words of Moses before he dies, immediately before God’s people enter into the Promised Land under the new leadersh...2025-05-2804 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 27th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 36Bible Readings for May 27th
Numbers 36 | Psalm 80 | Isaiah 28 | 2 John 1
Numbers 36 continues the story that we read back in Numbers 27, when the daughters of Zelophehad petitioned Moses to receive the inheritance that had belonged to their father, since he had died without a male heir to carry on the family’s place in Israel. It seems that, as time has gone on, the people discovered another technicality that affected the long-term possession of the land within the half-tribe of Manasseh.
The issue is this: while Yahweh did command that the daughters of Zelophehad should po...2025-05-2704 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 26th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 35Bible Readings for May 26th
Numbers 35 | Psalm 79 | Isaiah 27 | 1 John 5
In Numbers 35, Yahweh lays out a plan for creating cities of refuge—six of the forty-eight cities that the Levites would inhabit (Num. 35:6–7). These cities of refuge were a place for a person to flee until he could stand trial if he brought about the death of another person unintentionally (Num. 35:11–12).
In those days, the closest relative of a murder victim would avenge his relative’s death. So, in cases where someone killed another person with a stone, iron, or wooden tool or where that per...2025-05-2604 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 25th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 34Bible Readings for May 25th
Numbers 34 | Psalm 78:38–72 | Isaiah 26 | 1 John 4
In Numbers 34, Yahweh commands Moses to prepare Israel in two ways to enter into the Promised Land—first, by spelling out the boundaries of the land that Israel would inhabit and, second, by appointing a new set of tribal chiefs for Israel. The time is drawing nearer when Moses would die and also when Israel would take possession of the land that God had promised to give them as an inheritance.
These two topics, however, are closely tied together. The whole point for appointing chie...2025-05-2504 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 24th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 33Bible Readings for May 24th
Numbers 33 | Psalm 78:1–37 | Isaiah 25 | 1 John 3
In Numbers 33, we see the whole story of Yahweh’s covenant with his people laid out in brief, recounting every event from the day of their redemption out of the hand of Egypt (Num. 33:3) all the way through the mission that Yahweh was giving his people on the brink of the Jordan River (Num. 33:49) as they prepared to enter into the Promised Land. By this story, Moses reminds Israel of Yahweh’s faithfulness to them through their forty years of wandering in the wilderness.
Then...2025-05-2404 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 23rd: Bible Meditation for Numbers 32Bible Readings for May 23rd
Numbers 32 | Psalm 77 | Isaiah 24 | 1 John 2
The story in Numbers 32 is more important than we might realize at first. In fact, we will continue to hear echoes of the settling of Reuben and Gad in Gilead, the land east of the Jordan, through the rest of the Bible.
We should pay close attention to the agreement that Moses makes with the people of Reuben and Gad. Those tribes would gain the land of Gilead as their inheritance since it was good land for their livestock (Num. 32:1), but only if they...2025-05-2304 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 22nd: Bible Meditation for Numbers 31Bible Readings for May 22nd
Numbers 31 | Psalm 75–76 | Isaiah 23 | 1 John 1
The text of Numbers 31 raises many difficult questions about subjects like warfare, genocide, plundering, and slavery. Yahweh instructs Moses to “avenge the people of Israel on the Midianites” (Num. 31:2) for two major events. First, the Midianites were involved along with the Moabites in hiring Balaam, the son of Beor, for the purpose of cursing Israel (Num. 22:7). Second, the Moabites and the Midianites had led the people of Israel astray to worship the Baal of Peor (Num. 25:1–3, 6, 17–18; 31:16).
For these crimes, Yahweh commands that they be destroyed—...2025-05-2204 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 21st: Bible Meditation for Numbers 30Bible Readings for May 21st
Numbers 30 | Psalm 74 | Isaiah 22 | 2 Peter 3
In Numbers 30, Yahweh insists that his people keep their vows. The basic principle is simple: if you make a promise, keep it. Or, as Yahweh himself puts it, anyone who makes a vow or swears an oath or binds himself with a pledge “shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth” (Num. 30:2).
Now, the rules for how men should keep vows had no loopholes whatsoever. Therefore, most of Numbers 30 focuses on the subject of the vows and promises that women made. So...2025-05-2104 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 20th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 29Bible Readings for May 20th
Numbers 29 | Psalm 73 | Isaiah 21 | 2 Peter 2
It is difficult to overstate the significance of the calendar of worship that Yahweh gave for his people. Every year, Yahweh commanded the people of Israel to appear before him during three major sets of feasts (Ex. 23:17, 34:23; Deut. 16:16) on top of all the other sacrifices required monthly, weekly, and daily. How does all this apply to those of us living under the new covenant today?
First, the calendar of worship in the old covenant managed the time of Israel, just as the regulations about...2025-05-2004 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 19th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 28Bible Readings for May 19th
Numbers 28 | Psalm 72 | Isaiah 19–20 | 2 Peter 1
It is staggering to consider the sheer volume of sacrifices that were offered on the altar of Israel. When we think of sacrifices, we might imagine an occasional sacrifice here or there, but in fact, the worship of the old covenant was built on perpetual sacrifices. Every day, once in the morning and once at twilight, the priests would offer a male lamb (two lambs each day) as a burnt offering along with an ephah of fine flour with oil for a grain offering (Num. 28:3–6, 8). Additionally, they...2025-05-1904 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 18th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 27Bible Readings for May 18th
Numbers 27 | Psalms 70–71 | Isaiah 17–18 | 1 Peter 5
Because Moses will not remain with Israel forever, we find Moses making more and more preparations for his looming absence as we continue to read through the end of the Pentateuch. Here in Numbers 27, we find Moses making preparations for his departure in two important ways.
First, in Numbers 27:1–11, Moses clarifies the inheritance rights of the daughters of Zelophehad, who had died without any sons to whom he could leave his inheritance. According to the standard law, their father’s name and their family’s heritage...2025-05-1804 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 17th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 26Bible Readings for May 17th
Numbers 26 | Psalm 69 | Isaiah 16 | 1 Peter 4
The reason our English Bibles call this the book of “Numbers” is that two national censuses are taken—one in the first chapter and another here: “Among these the land shall be divided for inheritance according to the number of names. To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance; every tribe shall be given its inheritance in proportion to its list” (Num. 26:53–54). Even though the people of Israel had not yet begun to enter into t...2025-05-1704 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 16th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 25Bible Readings for May 16th
Numbers 25 | Psalm 68 | Isaiah 15 | 1 Peter 3
As we discussed in our meditation for Numbers 22, the book of Numbers describes Israel’s descent. In the beginning of Numbers, we see the perfect system Israel received that made it possible for Yahweh to dwell in their midst, but then the rest of the book traces Israel’s fall all the way down to extremely dark places of rebellion. Here, in Numbers 25, things continue to get worse as Israel begins to worship the gods of the Moabites and the Midianites. Numbers 25:3 is the tragic statement of t...2025-05-1604 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 15th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 24Bible Readings for May 15th
Numbers 24 | Psalms 66–67 | Isaiah 14 | 1 Peter 2
Numbers 24 contains the final two of Balaam’s four prophetic oracles, and they take us from the beginning of the Bible all the way to the end, tying together the whole story at once. In his third oracle, in Numbers 24:5–6, notice that Balaam describes Israel in terms of a garden: “How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your encampments, O Israel! Like palm groves that stretch afar, like gardens beside a river, like aloes that the LORD has planted, like cedar trees beside the waters.” We have discu...2025-05-1504 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 14th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 23Bible Readings for May 14th
Numbers 23 | Psalms 64–65 | Isaiah 13 | 1 Peter 1
In the mind of Balak, the arrangement he was making with Balaam was simple. Balaam would prophetically curse Israel, and Balak would make Balaam rich as a reward. Balak’s mistake is understandable, although certainly not excusable. He genuinely thought about prophets like Balaam in the way that we might think of a gifted salesperson—that a skilled prophet could convince the gods to do whatever he asked of them.
Balaam, for his part, is not innocent in this matter. Yahweh did give him permis...2025-05-1404 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 13th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 22Bible Readings for May 13th
Numbers 22 | Psalms 62–63 | Isaiah 11–12 | James 5
The book of Numbers begins with a system—a perfect system that Yahweh gave to his people to regulate how they conducted themselves in his presence so that he could live in their midst. Yahweh had set precise boundaries, with promises of blessing for obedience and warnings that whoever transgressed the space of Yahweh’s holiness would be put to death.
But as the book of Numbers progresses, the themes change significantly. No longer is there any suggestion that Israel might keep the law and ther...2025-05-1304 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 12th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 21Bible Readings for May 12th
Numbers 21 | Psalms 60–61 | Isaiah 10 | James 4
As though they had already forgotten that they had just provoked Moses to disqualify himself from entering into the Promised Land in Numbers 20, the people of Israel fall right back into their old habits, saying to Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food” (Num. 21:5).
Where Yahweh had largely been patient with their complaints over their provisions in the wilderness, he now sends fiery...2025-05-1204 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 11th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 20Bible Readings for May 11th
Numbers 20 | Psalms 58–59 | Isaiah 9 | James 3
It takes only four verses here in Numbers 20 to disqualify the great Moses from entering into the Promised Land. It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with Moses’s striking the rock with his staff to bring forth water, since he had previously done that in strict accordance with God’s own commandment back in Exodus 17:1–7.
But this time was different. We don’t know what provoked his frustration, but Moses and Aaron rise up to defy the people of Israel, saying, “Hear now, you rebel...2025-05-1104 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 10th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 19Bible Readings for May 10th
Numbers 19 | Psalms 56–57 | Isaiah 8 | James 2
As in Numbers 5:1–4, Yahweh commands again here in Numbers 19 that anyone who has any contact with the dead must remain outside the camp until he or she has been purified. The context of Numbers 19 is interesting, since in the next chapter, Numbers 20, we read about the deaths of both Miriam and Aaron. It is possible that the older generation of people who set out from Egypt are beginning to die off, and Yahweh wants the people of Israel to know exactly how they are to deal with...2025-05-1004 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 9th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 17–18Bible Readings for May 9th
Numbers 17–18 | Psalm 55 | Isaiah 7 | James 1
In the first ten chapters of Numbers, Yahweh established multiple physical boundaries to protect his holiness. But Israel’s many rebellions—capped off by the rebellion of Korah in Numbers 16—raise serious questions about whether Yahweh would allow the same protocols to continue. Since Korah had been a Kohathite, would the Kohathites retain their call to ministry? Would Yahweh elevate the other clans of Levi, or would he scrap the system altogether and start with something new? We find the people of Israel in a panic, asking M...2025-05-0904 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 8th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 16Bible Readings for May 8th
Numbers 16 | Psalms 52, 53, & 54 | Isaiah 6 | Hebrews 13
In Numbers 4, Yahweh had given privileges to the Kohathites above all Israel—and even above the other clans of the tribe of Levi, Gershon and Merari—but he had also given them specific limitations. While the Kohathites were never classified as holy, they alone held the responsibility to carry the holy furniture within the tabernacle from campsite to campsite, but they were forbidden from looking upon the furniture under any circumstances, lest they die (Num. 4:15, 17–20).
And yet in Numbers 16:1, we see a mutiny led by non...2025-05-0804 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 7th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 15Bible Readings for May 7th
Numbers 15 | Psalm 51 | Isaiah 5 | Hebrews 12
In our meditation for Leviticus 4, we observed that sin offerings (Lev. 4:2, 13, 22, 27) and guilt offerings (Lev. 5:14, 17; 6:4) only atoned for unintentional sins—that is, the kind of sins that were committed either without the knowledge that a particular action was forbidden or without the knowledge that an action was defrauding or hurting someone.
For other sins—that is, for sins committed in full knowledge of both the sinfulness of an action as well as the harm that was being inflicted upon someone else—God did not provid...2025-05-0704 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 6th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 14Bible Readings for May 6th
Numbers 14 | Psalm 50 | Isaiah 3–4 | Hebrews 11
If things started to fall apart in Numbers 12, it’s in Numbers 13 and 14 that the situation in Israel completely unravels. Ever since Yahweh promised Abraham he would give Abraham’s offspring the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession (Gen. 12:7, 15:7–21, 17:8), there had really only been one objective for Israel: to take possession of the inheritance Yahweh was giving to them.
Yet somehow, when the time comes for the spies sent into the land to inspire the people of Israel to take hold of their inherita...2025-05-0604 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 5th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 12–13Bible Readings for May 5th
Numbers 12–13 | Psalm 49 | Isaiah 2 | Hebrews 10
Numbers 12 is where things start to fall apart. Through all of Numbers—and through Exodus and Leviticus before that—we have seen Yahweh establish a highly organized arrangement in the camp of Israel, allowing his holiness to dwell in the midst of sinful people. To keep his holiness free from desecration—and to keep the Israelites from being destroyed by his holiness—he has called certain people to be near to him in different degrees.
But beginning in Numbers 12, various factions begin to challenge the system...2025-05-0504 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 4th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 11Bible Readings for May 4th
Numbers 11 | Psalm 48 | Isaiah 1 | Hebrews 9
The resting of the Spirit on the seventy elders of Israel is a fascinating example of the expansion—and limitations—of the Holy Spirit’s ministry under the old covenant. In Numbers 11, Yahweh instructs Moses to gather seventy elders of Israel, explaining that “I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone” (Num. 11:17).
This event sounds similar to the sto...2025-05-0404 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 3rd: Bible Meditation for Numbers 10Bible Readings for May 3rd
Numbers 10 | Psalms 46–47 | Song of Songs 8 | Hebrews 8
Up to this point in the book of Numbers, we have mainly seen how Yahweh has organized how the camp will function, with his holiness at the center, in the midst of his people. In Numbers 10, we finally see Israel actually pack up their camp to move to the next site (Num. 10:33–36), according to wherever the cloud of Yahweh would rest (Num. 9:15–23).
The two primary purposes for the silver trumpets, then, are for summoning the congregation or for breaking camp (Num. 10:2). Additionally, the pr...2025-05-0304 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 2nd: Bible Meditation for Numbers 9Bible Readings for May 2nd
Numbers 9 | Psalm 45 | Song of Songs 7 | Hebrews 7
The observance of the Passover in Numbers 9 illustrates a principle we have seen throughout our study of Numbers. Yahweh is careful to protect his own holiness, so that he does not allow anyone who has become unclean through touching a dead body to participate in the Passover feast. He explicitly commands that the Israelites should keep the Passover “according to all its statutes and all its rules you shall keep it” (Num. 9:3).
And as it happened, a few people had touched a dead...2025-05-0204 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 1st: Bible Meditation for Numbers 8Bible Readings for May 1st
Numbers 8 | Psalm 44 | Song of Songs 6 | Hebrews 6
In Numbers 8, Yahweh prepares the Levites for their service by cleansing them. The first thing we see in Numbers 8 is that the Levites were actually cleansed during this process with sprinkled water of purification, the shaving of their bodies, and washed clothes (Num. 8:7). This was a spiritual process to qualify them for spiritual duties in the worship and service of Yahweh, but part of that process required a physical cleansing with water. In many ways, this cleansing foreshadows Christian baptism, where our physical washing...2025-05-0104 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 30th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 7Bible Readings for April 30th
Numbers 7 | Psalms 42–43 | Song of Songs 5 | Hebrews 5
Yesterday, we looked at the non-priestly class of holy people in Israel: the Nazirites. Today’s reading in Numbers 7 addresses two other issues regarding holiness within Israel’s camp.
While priests and Nazirites were the only holy people, the tabernacle was filled with many holy things. Obviously, everything used in the tabernacle had to come from somewhere, and Numbers 7 is a record of how all of the tribes of Israel contributed their share in the consecration of the temple. The chapter is repeti...2025-04-3004 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 29th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 6Bible Readings for April 29th
Numbers 6 | Psalms 40–41 | Song of Songs 4 | Hebrews 4
One major theological distinction that comes up repeatedly in the book of Numbers—and one that we are likely to miss unless we are looking for it—is the difference between clean and holy. The words are not interchangeable. We had talked about this distinction in our meditation from Leviticus 11–12, and the subject arises again in our reading today from Numbers 6.
For Yahweh to dwell in the midst of his people in his tabernacle at the center of the camp, he commands that eve...2025-04-2904 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 28th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 5Bible Readings for April 28th
Numbers 5 | Psalm 39 | Song of Songs 3 | Hebrews 3
In Numbers 5, Yahweh continues to establish physical boundaries, instituting three new policies to keep his own holiness free from any contamination that the people of Israel might cause.
First, Yahweh commands that anyone with disease, discharge, or uncleanness from contact with the dead should be put outside the camp (Num. 5:1–4). While Yahweh had already commanded that the lepers dwell outside of the camp (Lev. 13:46), this is the first place we read that people with other kinds of uncleannesses were to be excluded fr...2025-04-2804 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 27th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 4Bible Readings for April 27th
Numbers 4 | Psalm 38 | Song of Songs 2 | Hebrews 2
As we continue to read through the book of Numbers, we need to keep in mind that Israel is still encamped at Mount Sinai at this point, just as they have been since Exodus 19. The second half of the book of Exodus, all of Leviticus, and the first several chapters of Numbers together comprise one long scene in the Bible.
But by Numbers 10, Yahweh will instruct Israel to break camp. We see in Numbers 4, then, the instructions that God gives to his...2025-04-2704 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 26th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 3Bible Readings for April 26th
Numbers 3 | Psalm 37 | Song of Songs 1 | Hebrews 1
Not all Levites were priests. A priest had to be a male descendent of Aaron, who was a Kohathite. The lineage of the priests looks like this (Ex. 6:16–25):
Levi —> Kohath —> Amram —> Aaron —> Priests
So, none of the Merarites or Gershonites were priests, and only some of the Kohathites were priests.
But, even if they weren’t all priests, the three clans within the tribe of Levi—Gershon, Kohath, and Merari—are given by Yahweh special work assignments not shared by any ot...2025-04-2605 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 25th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 2Bible Readings for April 25th
Numbers 2 | Psalm 36 | Ecclesiastes 12 | Philemon 1
Yesterday, we began to discuss the way God was at work arranging the physical space inside Israel’s camp in the book of Numbers. In Numbers 1:47–54, God laid out the basic seating chart: the Israelites were to set up their camp with the tabernacle at the very center of the camp, with the Levites directly surrounding the tabernacle to form a barrier between the tabernacle and the other tribes of Israel, “so that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the people of Israel” (Num. 1:5...2025-04-2504 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 24th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 1Bible Readings for April 24th
Numbers 1 | Psalm 35 | Ecclesiastes 11 | Titus 3
Students in most any kind of classroom, if they pay careful attention, can learn a lot about the teacher within the first few minutes of the very first day of class. For example, some teachers allow students to sit anywhere they like, while others come prepared with a detailed seating chart for every person in their class. And if you have a seating-chart teacher, everyone intuitively understands right from the beginning that rules, structure, and order will play an important part of your relationship with your...2025-04-2404 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 23rd: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 27Bible Readings for April 23rd
Leviticus 27 | Psalm 34 | Ecclesiastes 10 | Titus 2
In context, the final chapter of Leviticus is a bit of a puzzle. Leviticus 26, yesterday’s reading, seems like a perfectly fitting close to a single book, with an overarching summary of the blessings and curses that Yahweh would give for obedience or for disobedience, respectively. Wouldn’t these laws about vows, then, fit better earlier in Leviticus?1 So, why would Yahweh inspire this material for the concluding chapter of Leviticus?
The first thing we should keep in mind is that Leviticus is not one...2025-04-2304 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 22nd: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 26Bible Readings for April 22nd
Leviticus 26 | Psalm 33 | Ecclesiastes 9 | Titus 1
The promises of the old covenant were a two-edged sword. On the one hand, Yahweh promised to establish paradise on earth for Israel if they obeyed all his statutes and commandments, but on the other hand, Yahweh promised hell on earth if his people refused to listen to him and spurned his laws. In Leviticus 26, Yahweh lays out the two paths that his people could take: blessings for obedience or curses for disobedience.
Yahweh promises specific material blessings side by side with their corresponding...2025-04-2204 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 21st: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 25Bible Readings for April 21st
Leviticus 25 | Psalm 32 | Ecclesiastes 8 | 2 Timothy 4
Leviticus 25 introduces us to one of the more intriguing events that Yahweh mandated for his people: the Year of Jubilee. In part, the Year of Jubilee is fascinating as an economic model for restoring lost inheritance property to families who had to sell it away because of debt, but the Year of Jubilee is also a historical curiosity since the evidence we have suggests that Israel rarely, if ever, observed the Year of Jubilee. 1
The Year of Jubilee fell on the year following every...2025-04-2104 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 20th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 24Bible Readings for April 20th
Leviticus 24 | Psalm 31 | Ecclesiastes 7 | 2 Timothy 3
In all of Leviticus, only two stories break up the statutes and legislation that otherwise fill up the book:1 one story comes in Leviticus 10, narrating how Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, had offered strange fire before Yahweh. The other story comes here in Leviticus 24:10–16, when the son of an Israelite woman and an Egyptian man blasphemes “the Name” (Lev. 24:11). In both stories, the offenders are put to death—by Yahweh himself in the case of Nadab and Abihu and by the entire congregation of Israel i...2025-04-2004 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 19th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 23Bible Readings for April 19th
Leviticus 23 | Psalm 30 | Ecclesiastes 6 | 2 Timothy 2
In Leviticus 23, Yahweh lays out the regular calendar of festivals for Israel. A large part of Israel’s worship was bound up in special feasts that Yahweh had commanded to commemorate something he had done in creation or in his work of redemption.
The first set of feasts began with the Passover, during which Israel remembered how Yahweh had brought Israel safely out of Egypt by passing over Israel to strike down every firstborn male in Egypt. The Passover was held on the fourteenth da...2025-04-1904 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 18th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 22Bible Readings for April 18th
Leviticus 22 | Psalms 28–29 | Ecclesiastes 5 | 2 Timothy 1
Leviticus 22 continues the theme from Leviticus 21, which is that the priests were held to a higher standard of holiness because of the fact that they served in the tabernacle, the holy place where God himself dwelt. So, they were to take measures above and beyond what normal Israelites had to do in order to avoid coming into contact with anything at all that might render them unclean.
But in Leviticus 22:1–9, Yahweh lays out a few more provisions, and these provisions are no longer given in e...2025-04-1804 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 17th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 21Bible Readings for April 17th
Leviticus 21 | Psalms 26–27 | Ecclesiastes 4 | 1 Timothy 6
If the last few chapters of Leviticus have focused on the personal holiness required of all Israelites, Leviticus 21–22 focuses specifically on the personal holiness of the priests, who were called to a higher standard of living. In fact, the priests faced a few requirements that we may find surprising or even shocking.
For example, why were priests forbidden from coming into contact with any dead person outside their blood relatives (Lev. 21:1)? And why was the chief priest not allowed to mourn at all by lett...2025-04-1704 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 16th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 20Bible Readings for April 16th
Leviticus 20 | Psalm 25 | Ecclesiastes 3 | 1 Timothy 5
The majority of Leviticus 20 focuses on Yahweh’s prohibitions against four kinds of wickednesses: child sacrifice (Lev. 20:1–5), mediums and wizards (Lev. 20:6, 27), cursing one’s father or mother (Lev. 20:8), and sexual immorality (Lev. 20:10–21). These laws are set in the context of a larger section of laws in Leviticus 11–22 about how Israelites were to seek personal holiness.
Also, as Yahweh explained in Leviticus 18:3, 24–25, and 27–28, it is not that these abominations were theoretical possibilities of sin that might beset Israel; rather, the specific things that Yahweh forbids were standard...2025-04-1604 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 15th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 19Bible Readings for April 15th
Leviticus 19 | Psalms 23–24 | Ecclesiastes 2 | 1 Timothy 4
Sandwiched between two sections of laws in Leviticus 19 that deal with matters of personal holiness (Lev. 19:1–8, 19–37) is a passage in which we find one of the most famous verses in the Bible: “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). Most of us are more familiar with this verse because Jesus quoted it along with Deuteronomy 6:5 (“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might”) to summarize the entire law (Matt. 22:34–40). Reading this verse in its original...2025-04-1504 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 14th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 18Bible Readings for April 14th
Leviticus 18 | Psalm 22 | Ecclesiastes 1 | 1 Timothy 3
There is no getting around it—Leviticus 18 is an awkward chapter to read. Here, Yahweh details all the possible people a man was prohibited from approaching to uncover their nakedness—that is, to approach sexually. Nevertheless, this chapter has great significance today as we live in a culture obsessed with sexual relationships between anyone, in any context, and at any time. Leviticus 18 is one of the more explicit chapters for establishing a theology of human sexuality.
First, it is interesting that these laws would have...2025-04-1404 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 13th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 17Bible Readings for April 13th
Leviticus 17 | Psalms 20–21 | Proverbs 31 | 1 Timothy 2
Leviticus 17 provides theological insight that not only undergirds the sacrificial system in Leviticus but also informs the theology of the rest of the Bible. The chief value of Leviticus 17 lies in its explanation of the theology of blood. The chapter itself is divided into two sections, the first to prohibit sacrificing animals in any place other than the tabernacle (Lev. 17:1–9) and the second to prohibit the eating of blood (Lev. 17:10–16). The rationale behind both sections is the same: the blood of animals is too precious to shed o...2025-04-1304 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 12th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 16Bible Readings for April 12th
Leviticus 16 | Psalm 19 | Proverbs 30 | 1 Timothy 1
After a lengthy discussion about cleanness in Israel over the last several chapters, the focus in Leviticus 16 returns to priestly ministry—in fact, to the highest ministry entrusted to the priests: the Day of Atonement. On this day, once every year, the high priest (originally Aaron) would cleanse the tabernacle and the people of Israel from the defilements of Israel’s uncleannesses and sins (Lev. 16:16–19).
To begin, the high priest bathed in water and then dressed in only a coat, an undergarment, a sash, and a...2025-04-1204 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 11th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 15Bible Readings for April 11th
Leviticus 15 | Psalm 18 | Proverbs 29 | 2 Thessalonians 3
Leviticus 15 underscores the fact that the theology of cleanness wasn’t always something to do with outright sinfulness, or even abnormal disease. In fact, there were routine ways in which all Israelites were counted to be unclean at regular intervals through normal—and even perfectly healthy—bodily functions.
So, in Leviticus 15, we see a range of possibilities for being rendered ceremonially unclean. Any man who had a discharge—that is, probably from some kind of infection (Lev. 15:2–3)—or an emission of semen, whether through a nocturnal...2025-04-1104 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 10th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 14Bible Readings for April 10th
Leviticus 14 | Psalm 17 | Proverbs 28 | 2 Thessalonians 2
Because of the connection of leprosy to sin and death—as we discussed in yesterday’s meditation—anyone with a skin disease had to remain outside the camp of Israel until their condition was healed (Lev. 13:45–46). In Leviticus 14, Yahweh gives Moses instructions for how someone suffering from leprosy could be cleansed in order to be reconciled back into the camp of Israel.
First, the leprous person had to present himself or herself to a priest, who would examine the person’s skin to ensure that the d...2025-04-1004 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 9th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 13Bible Readings for April 9th
Leviticus 13 | Psalms 15–16 | Proverbs 27 | 2 Thessalonians 1
Leprosy gets significant attention in the book of Leviticus, both in chapter 13 (our reading for today) and even through chapter 14, which we will look at tomorrow. It is important to note that the word for leprosy here does not necessarily refer to Hansen’s Disease, the proper name for the condition that we refer to as leprosy today, which causes severe nerve damage in the body’s extremities. Rather, this word should probably be translated more generically as “skin diseases.”1
The larger context surrounding the issue...2025-04-0904 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 8th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 11–12Bible Readings for April 8th
Leviticus 11–12 | Psalms 13–14 | Proverbs 26 | 1 Thessalonians 5
Up to now, Leviticus has dealt largely with issues concerning the work and ministry of the Levites themselves—that is, the proper sacrifices to offer, the proper way to offer them, and the ordination of Aaron and his sons for priestly ministry. Beginning in Leviticus 11, the focus of our readings shifts toward the issues of holiness and cleanness in the camp where Yahweh made his dwelling place.
Allen Ross gives this helpful explanation of these fundamental concepts of holiness and cleanness in his commentary on Lev...2025-04-0804 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 7th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 10Bible Readings for April 7th
Leviticus 10 | Psalms 11–12 | Proverbs 25 | 1 Thessalonians 4
The holiness of God is awful and terrible—not in the sense of being “bad,” but in the sense of commanding great fear, dread, and reverence. One of the great sins of modern Christians is that we take the holiness of God too lightly, over-emphasizing God’s grace and love to the point that his holiness vanishes altogether.
In Leviticus 10, Nadab and Abihu offer up some kind of unauthorized fire on the altar of God, possibly after imbibing wine or strong drink (Lev. 10:9). This defilement...2025-04-0704 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 6th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 9Bible Readings for April 6th
Leviticus 9 | Psalm 10 | Proverbs 24 | 1 Thessalonians 3
At the end of Leviticus 8, after Moses had washed Aaron and his sons, dressed them in their priestly garments, offered all the necessary sacrifices, smeared sacrificial blood on their bodies, and sprinkled them with holy anointing oil to consecrate (i.e., to make holy) Aaron and his sons in strict observance of the instructions of Yahweh, the priests-to-be had to wait seven days until their ordination could be completed (Lev. 8:32).
At the end of this period of waiting, on the eighth day, Moses calls...2025-04-0604 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 5th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 8Bible Readings for April 5th
Leviticus 8 | Psalm 9 | Proverbs 23 | 1 Thessalonians 2
Leviticus 8 marks the official ordination of Aaron and his sons to serve as priests before Yahweh, a pivotal moment for Israel. We saw the leadership of Israel expanded beyond Moses alone in Exodus 18 when Moses appointed a hierarchy of judges to help him give justice to the people, but now Aaron and his sons step into the role of priests to help meditate between Yahweh and Israel.
The Levitical priests were called out of Israel and set apart from the rest of the nation—an...2025-04-0504 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 4th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 7Bible Readings for April 4th
Leviticus 7 | Psalms 7–8 | Proverbs 22 | 1 Thessalonians 1
Being a Levite carried with it a few unique provisions—and sometimes even drawbacks. For example, the Levites were not counted in the census to be eligible for military service with the rest of Israel (Num. 1:47–54), and additionally, only the tribe of Levi went without receiving an inheritance in the Promised Land (Josh. 13:33).
The reason for the peculiar treatment of Levi was simple: God had given them greater privileges than military service or property ownership because he had given them himself. Joshua 13:33 puts it this w...2025-04-0404 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 3rd: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 6Bible Readings for April 3rd
Leviticus 6 | Psalms 5–6 | Proverbs 21 | Colossians 4
In Leviticus 5–6, we read about the final type of sacrifice under the old covenant Levitical priesthood: the guilt offering. The guilt offering was similar to the sin offering in two ways. First, the guilt offering, like the sin offering, was offered to make atonement for a specific sin, rather than being a general offering for sins like the burnt offering. Second, both the guilt offering and the sin offering were only available for sins that were committed unintentionally (Lev. 5:14, 17), not for sins committed with a “high hand,”...2025-04-0304 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 2nd: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 5Bible Readings for April 2nd
Leviticus 5 | Psalm 3–4 | Proverbs 20 | Colossians 3
In the Levitical sacrificial system, the offerings worshipers brought were, by design, costly. In the ancient world, wealth wasn’t measured as much by the number of dollars in a bank account but more often by the amount of livestock a person owned. So, when God says, “For every beast in the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills” (Ps. 50:10), he is making a claim that he possesses all the wealth in the entire world, as measured by animals—not only domesticated livestock (cattle), but even t...2025-04-0204 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 1st: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 4Bible Readings for April 1st
Leviticus 4 | Psalms 1–2 | Proverbs 19 | Colossians 2
Yahweh’s instructions for presenting a sin offering stretch across Leviticus 4 and 5, and as we study these rules, remember that the sin offering was not the primary sacrifice offered to make atonement for sins. As we discussed yesterday, the burnt offering—in which the entire sacrifice was burnt up on the altar to symbolize the worshiper’s complete surrender to Yahweh, as well as Yahweh’s complete acceptance of the worshiper—was the sacrifice that Israelites routinely made to atone for sins (Lev. 2).
The sin offering...2025-04-0104 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 31st: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 2–3Bible Readings for March 31st
Leviticus 2–3 | John 21 | Proverbs 18 | Colossians 1
The grain offering (Lev. 2) and the peace offering (Lev. 3) were sacrifices of praise, not atonement. They were made to remember and celebrate something that Yahweh had done for the worshiper.
So, the grain offering was often made as a way to honor Yahweh with the firstfruits of a harvest (Lev. 2:14–16)—God’s regular, ongoing provision in the life of his people. The “memorial portion” (Lev. 2:2, 9, 16) was burned up on the altar to remember God’s faithfulness in the harvest, and Yahweh gave the rest of the offerin...2025-03-3104 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 30th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 1Bible Readings for March 30th
Leviticus 1 | John 20 | Proverbs 17 | Philippians 4
Christians sometimes have a difficult time reading Leviticus. We tend to see Leviticus as a long book of rules that are entirely irrelevant to our lives, and then it becomes difficult to focus as we read yet another set of instructions on how to offer a sacrifice or seek purification for leprosy. If those rules don’t apply directly to Christians, why should we slog through this book?
The book of Leviticus actually has profound implications for understanding biblical theology. As we have seen th...2025-03-3004 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 29th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 40Bible Readings for March 29th
Exodus 40 | John 19 | Proverbs 16 | Philippians 3
Now that all the tabernacle’s construction is finished, the final steps are to anoint the priests to prepare them to minister before Yahweh, to set up the tabernacle, and to consecrate the tabernacle to make it a holy place for Yahweh’s glory to dwell. In Exodus 40:1–33, we read about every careful task that Moses completes to ensure that this vitally important work is done correctly.
And when Moses finishes the work, we read that the cloud of the glory of Yahweh fills the ta...2025-03-2904 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 28th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 39Bible Readings for March 28th
Exodus 39 | John 18 | Proverbs 15 | Philippians 2
With the construction of the priestly garments, all the plans Yahweh gave Moses were brought to completion. Yahweh had established a tabernacle in the midst of Israel where he could dwell. In Exodus 39:32–43, we read a final survey of all that was built and constructed, recording that the work was totally complete, just as Yahweh himself had commanded.
What we are supposed to recognize at this point is that Yahweh has given Israel a thorough and complete set of instructions for establishing pure worship. Ya...2025-03-2804 min
Tumbling Through LifeFlipping the Script: Jacob Wilford from Parkour to Stunt CrewHey everyone, welcome back to "Tumbling Through Life!" I am beyond excited today because we have a special super senior guest joining us—Jacob Wilford! Jacob was the captain of our stunt crew at Skyridge High School, and let me tell you, he was a game-changer for us. He cheered with us for two amazing years, and during that time, we won Nationals both in 2020 and 2021. We honestly wouldn’t have achieved that success without his incredible leadership. Jacob brought a unique parkour background that pushed me to rethink what was possible in tumbling and cheerleading, and every moment spen...2025-03-2037 min
Gifts and GracesJacob D. Gerber | Parliamentary Procedures for Presbyters: An IntroductionOn this episode of Gifts and Graces we get to hear from Jacob D. Gerber on the biblical foundations and basic principles of parliamentary procedure. Jacob D. Gerber is a senior pastor at Harvest Community Church. This episode was originally recorded as a seminar delivered at the 2024 General Assembly. Let’s listen to Jacob as he shows us how to engage more confidently in the courts of Christ’s church.2024-08-1957 min
A Media OperatorScott Gerber on What Goes Into a Great Professional CommunityScott Gerber is the co-founder and CEO of Community.co, which partners with media companies to create high-priced professional communities. In this conversation, we discussed what goes into making a great community, why it has become such a big buzzword in the market today, and how people should think about growing. 2022-04-1147 min