NIV Application Bible Podcast: Episode 5 (Numbers 27)

• Sometimes we think of the Old Testament as a dry book and and we hurry to the New Testament thinking there’s not much redemption here. Y’all, there’s redemption on every single page. [Music] Hey y’all, welcome back to the NIV Application Bible podcast or as I like to call it, the NIV AB because I think that makes it sounds like an appetizer and I’m kind of hungry.
• We are in the book of Numbers. Now, stay with me. Do not skip to the next one because I know the book of Numbers sounds like it’s a census and it sounds boring unless you’re you’re a CPA. Y’all, the book of Numbers is so much more than a census. I want to before we dive into this amazing story, one of my favorite stories in the whole Old Testament, by the way, in the book of Numbers in chapter 27, I want to read from the perspective.
• Every single one of the books in the NIV application Bible has a perspective. And it is just such a cool way to kind of get your heart and mind wrapped around the sociohistorical context of this part of redemptive history. Uh, one of my favorite scholars says, “Any text without a context is a pretext for a proof text.
• ” In other words, we don’t get what’s really happening in this miraculous redemptive history if you don’t know the context. And I love that the perspectives at the beginning of all 66 books give us that context. So, I’m just going to read a little bit about the context of numbers. It’s been said that after the wedding comes the marriage.
• So it was with Israel and God after the wedding at Sinai where God proclaimed the covenant vows the ten commandments. Remember those are not rules those are parameters for our good. They’re promisory not punitive with awesome splendor. Israel said I do. And they built a house a sanctuary together. There was a journey through the wilderness in real life.
• Whatever happened they were in it together. I love that that the NIV application Bible sets up our covenant relationship with God as a marriage. But don’t remember our our bridegroom is divine, the bride less so. So, it’s it’s a bumpy marriage at points. And there’s this story in Numbers chapter 27 that kind of shows you some of the some of the bumpiness of that story.
• This, as I said, is one of my favorite stories in the Bible. And I didn’t really know the takeaway of this story until a couple of years ago uh during the the beginning of my doctoral program at Denver Seminary. And this story just took on such new life for me. It’s called the daughters of Zilofahad. It’s in Numbers 27.
• The daughters of Zilofahad, son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Maker, the son of Manasseh, belonged to the clans of Manasseh, son of Joseph. The names of his daughters were, listen to this, Mea, Noah, Hogla. Now y’all, I know some of y’all like to name your kids after names in the Bible. Don’t be naming your daughters Hogla. I mean, that is rough.