Title: God is so lonely.^^(Numbers 29:1~11)
Contents
For the people of Israel, sacrifices and feasts have a very important meaning.
The words of Leviticus are the Bible dealing with the 5 sacrifices and 7 feasts that the Israelites must keep from generation to generation. However, not only the people of Israel but also us living today cannot understand God's providence of creation and God's plan for His people right away without deep meditation on the 5 sacrifices and 7 feasts.
So, personally, if I had to pick one of the most important Bibles out of the Old Testament, I would say 'Leviticus' without hesitation.
Today's text is the book of Numbers, but it is about the 'Feast of Trumpets' and the 'Day of Atonement' among the seven feasts that the Israelites kept.
In verse 1 of the text, it is written, “In the seventh month…” The seventh month here is a lunar calendar according to the Babylonian eclipse. The Israelites had not only the Babylonian-style calendar that they used in common at the time, but also the 'Jewish calendar' that they used separately. In the Babylonian calendar, July is the first month of the new year, i.e. January, according to the Jewish calendar. However, in January, 3 important festivals out of the 7 festivals are concentrated in that month. 'These are the Feast of Trumpets (1 day), the Day of Atonement (10 days), and the Feast of Tabernacles (15-22 days).
On the first day of the new year, God commanded the priests to blow the trumpet loudly to the people of Israel to gather all the people together for a holy meeting, and have them bring burnt offerings, grain offerings, and sin offerings.
And on the tenth day, the Day of Atonement, the high priest had to go to the Most Holy in the Holy Place and offer sacrifices for his sins as well as the people. The offerings for both the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement are the same as those offered during the Passover and the Feast of Weeks.
However, the peculiar thing is that on the Feast of Trumpets or the Day of Atonement, the people were not required to do any work. During the continuous Feast of Tabernacles (15-22 days), they also had to do no work. Every year in July (January in the Jewish calendar) is the first month of the new year, when farming begins. However, God tells us not to work most days of the first month of the new year, when we have a lot of work to do.
In the first month of the new year, we make various plans for the year and renew our resolve to work hard. But God tells us not to do any work.
Considering these facts, we must meditate on God's will and providence of creation.
We must remember that when God created humans on this earth, He did not make us to work. Consider when the first humans, Adam and Eve, started working. They started working after they sinned against God.
Modern people cannot live without work. However, what God really wants from us is fellowship and fellowship with Him. If you are too busy to hear God's voice, do not go to God and pray silently, and worship to God is just obligatory or reluctant Sunday holy water, it is simply a religious act that has nothing to do with God.
God wants to have fellowship with us today. He wants to talk with us, and he wants to live with us. Today we have to think about what we live for and what makes us so busy.
God, who said, "Do not do any work" for more than half of the first month of the new year, asks us to lay down everything in our busy daily life even for a moment and look at your face even for a moment.... Listen to your words, even for a moment You are telling me to lean.
Shouldn't it be me and you who do not leave such a God alone?