Hello, this is Father Paul and I'm glad we're taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year.
Today's reading is from Numbers chapters 9 to 12.
Chapter 9
Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the first month of the second
year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, Let the children of Israel
keep the Passover at its appointed time.
On the fourteenth day of this month at twilight you shall keep it at its appointed time.
According to all its rites and ceremonies you shall keep it.
So Moses told the children of Israel that they should keep the Passover.
And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight in the
wilderness of Sinai, according to all that the Lord commanded Moses so the children of
Israel did.
Now there were certain men who were defiled by a human corpse so that they could not keep
the Passover on that day, and it came before Moses and Aaron that day.
And those men said to him, We became defiled by a human corpse.
Why are we kept from presenting the offering of the Lord at its appointed time among the
children of Israel?
And Moses said to them, Stand still that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning
you.
Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Speak to the children of Israel saying, If any one
of you, or your posterity is unclean because of a corpse, or is far away on a journey,
they may still keep the Lord's Passover.
On the fourteenth day of the second month at twilight they may keep it.
They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break one of its bones.
According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it.
But the man who is clean and is not on a journey and ceases to keep the Passover, that same
person shall be cut off from among his people.
Because he did not bring the offering of the Lord at its appointed time, that man shall
bear his sin.
And if a stranger dwells among you and would keep the Lord's Passover, he must do so according
to the rite of the Passover and according to its ceremony.
He shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger and the native of the land.
Now on the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the
tent of the testimony, from evening until morning it was above the tabernacle like the
appearance of fire.
So it was always the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night.
Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, after that the children of
Israel would journey, and in a place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel
would pitch their tents.
At the command of the Lord, the children of Israel would journey.
And at the command of the Lord, they would camp.
As long as the cloud stayed above the tabernacle they remained in camped.
Even when the cloud continued long, many days above the tabernacle, the children of Israel
kept the charge of the Lord and did not journey.
So it was when the cloud was above the tabernacle a few days, according to the command of the
Lord they would remain in camped, and according to the command of the Lord they would journey.
So it was when the cloud remained only from evening until morning, when the cloud was
taken up in the morning, then they would journey, whether by day or by night.
Whenever the cloud was taken up, they would journey.
Whether it was two days, a month, or a year, that the cloud remained above the tabernacle,
the children of Israel would remain in camped and not journey.
And when it was taken up, they would journey.
At the command of the Lord, they remained in camped, and at the command of the Lord,
they journeyed.
They kept the charge of the Lord at the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses.
Chapter 10 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Make
two silver trumpets for yourself, you shall make them of hammered work.
You shall use them for calling the congregation and for directing the movement of the camps.
When they blow both of them, all the congregation shall gather before you at the door of the
tabernacle of meeting.
But if you blow only one, then the leaders, the heads of the divisions of Israel, shall
gather to you.
When you sound the advance, the camps that lie on the east side shall then begin their
journey.
When you sound the advance the second time, then the camps that lie on the south side
shall begin their journey.
They shall sound the call for them to begin their journeys.
And when assembly is to be gathered together, you shall blow, but not sound the advance.
The sons of Aaron the priests shall blow the trumpets, and these shall be to you as an
ordinance forever throughout your generations.
When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound
an alarm with the trumpets.
And you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your
enemies.
Also in the day of your gladness in your appointed feasts, and at the beginning of your month,
you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your
peace offerings.
And they shall be a memorial for you before your God, I am the Lord your God.
Now it came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, that
the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle of the testimony.
And the children of Israel set out from the wilderness of Sinai on their journeys.
Then the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran.
So they started out for the first time according to the command of the Lord by the hand of
Moses.
And the standard of the camp of the children of Judah set out first according to their
armies.
Over their army was Nashon the son of Aminadab.
Over the army of the tribe of the children of Issachar was Nithanel the son of Zohar.
And over the army of the tribe of the children of Zebulun was Eliab the son of Helon.
Then the tabernacle was taken down, and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari set
out carrying the tabernacle.
And the standard of the camp of Reuben set out according to their armies.
Over their army was Elisor the son of Shidur.
Over the army of the tribe of the children of Simeon was Shilomiel the son of Zorishadai.
And over the army of the tribe of the children of Gad was Eliasaph the son of Deoel.
Then Nakoathites set out carrying the holy things.
The tabernacle would be prepared for their arrival.
And the standard of the camp of the children of Ephraim set out according to their armies.
Over the army was Elishama the son of Amihud.
Over the army of the tribe of the children of Manasseh was Gamaliel the son of Pedazur.
And over the army of the tribe of the children of Benjamin was Abedan the son of Gideoni.
Then the standard of the camp of the children of Dan, the rear guard of all the camps, set
out according to their armies.
Over their army was Ahezar the son of Amishadai.
Over the army of the tribe of the children of Asher was Pegiel the son of Okron.
And over the army of the tribe of the children of Naphtali was Ahira the son of Inan.
Thus was the order of the march of the children of Israel according to their armies when they
began their journey.
Now Moses said to Chobab the son of Rehwold the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, we are
setting out for the place of which the Lord said, I will give it to you.
Come with us and we will treat you well, for the Lord has promised good things to Israel.
And he said to him, I will not go, but I will depart to my own land and to my relatives.
So Moses said, please do not leave, inasmuch as you know how we are to camp in the wilderness.
And you can be our eyes, and it shall be if you go with us, indeed it shall be that whatever
good the Lord will do to us, the same we will do to you.
So they departed from the mountain of the Lord on a journey of three days, and the ark
of the covenant of the Lord went before them for the three days journey to search out a
resting place for them.
And the cloud of the Lord was above them by day when they went out from the camp.
So it was, whenever the ark set out that Moses said, rise up O Lord, let your enemies be
scattered and let those who hate you flee before you.
And when it rested he said, return O Lord to the many thousands of Israel.
Chapter 11 Now when the people complained it displeased
the Lord, for the Lord heard it and his anger was aroused.
So the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the
camp.
Then the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to the Lord the fire was quenched.
So he called the name of the place Tabirah, because the fire of the Lord has burned among
them.
Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving.
So the children of Israel also wept again and said, who will give us meat to eat?
We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks,
the onions and the garlic.
But now our whole being is dried up, there is nothing at all except this mannah before
our eyes.
Now the mannah was like coriander seed, and its color like the color of dahlium.
The people went about and gathered it, ground it on millstones or beat it in the mortar,
cooked it in pans and made cakes of it, and its taste was like the taste of pastry prepared
with oil.
And when the dew fell on the camp in the night the mannah fell on it.
Then Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his
tent and the anger of the Lord was greatly aroused.
Moses also was displeased.
So Moses said to the Lord, why have you afflicted your servant, and why have I not found favor
in your sight, that you have laid the burden of all these people on me?
Did I conceive all these people?
Did I beget them, that you should say to me, carry them in your bosom, as a guardian carries
a nursing child, to the land which you swore to their fathers?
Where am I to get meat to give all these people?
For they weep all over me, saying, give us meat that we may eat.
I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me.
If you treat me like this, please kill me here and now, if I have found favor in your
sight and do not let me see your wretchedness.
So the Lord said to Moses, gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know
to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tabernacle
of meeting, that they may stand there with you.
Then I will come down and talk with you there.
I will take of the spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them, and they
shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone.
Then you shall say to the people, consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat
meat.
For you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, who will give us meat to eat?
For it was well with us in Egypt.
Therefore the Lord will give you meat and you shall eat.
You shall eat not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days,
but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathome to you,
because you have despised the Lord who is among you, and have wept before him, saying,
why did we ever come up out of Egypt?
And Moses said, the people whom I am among are six hundred thousand men on foot, yet
you have said I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month.
Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to provide enough for them?
Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to provide enough for them?
And the Lord said to Moses, has the Lord's arm been shortened?
Now ye shall see whether what I say will happen to you or not.
So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord, and he gathered the seventy
men of the elders of the people, and placed them around the tabernacle.
Then the Lord came down in a cloud and spoke to him, and took of the spirit that was upon
him, and placed the same upon the seventy elders, and it happened when the spirit rested
upon them that they prophesied, although they never did so again.
But two men had remained in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of
the other was Midad.
When the spirit rested upon them, now they were among those listed, but who had not gone
out to the tabernacle, yet they prophesied in the camp.
And a young man ran and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Midad are prophesying in the camp.
So Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, one of his choice men answered and said, Moses
my Lord, forbid them.
Then Moses said to him, are you zealous for my sake?
O that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon
them, and Moses returned to the camp, he and the elders of Israel.
Now a wind went out from the Lord, and it brought quail from the sea, and left them
fluttering near the camp, about a day's journey on this side, and about a day's journey on
the other side, all around the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the ground.
And the people stayed up all that day, all night, and all the next day, and gathered
the quail, he who gathered least gathered ten homers, and they spread them out for themselves
all around the camp, but while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed,
the wrath of the Lord was aroused against the people, and the Lord struck the people
with a very great plague.
So he called the name of that place, Kibroth-Hatava, because there they buried the people who had
yielded to craving.
From Kibroth-Hatava the people moved to Hazroth, and camped at Hazroth.
Chapter 12
Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had
married.
For he had married an Ethiopian woman.
So they said, has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses?
Has he not spoken through us also?
And the Lord heard it.
Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.
Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, come out you three to the tabernacle
of meeting.
So the three came out.
Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle,
and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both went forward.
Then he said, hear now my words, if there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself
known to him in a vision.
I speak to him in a dream, not so with my servant Moses.
He is faithful in all my house.
I speak with him face to face, even plainly and not in dark sayings.
And he sees the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
So the anger of the Lord was aroused against them, and he departed.
Then when a cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous
as white as snow.
Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was a leper.
So Aaron said to Moses, O my Lord, please do not lay this sin on us, in which we have
done foolishly, and in which we have sinned.
Please do not let her be as one dead, whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of
his mother's womb.
So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, please heal her O God, I pray.
Then the Lord said to Moses, if her father had butt spit in her face, would she not be
shamed seven days?
Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward she may be received again.
So Miriam was shut out of the camp seven days, and the people did not journey till Miriam
was brought in again.
And afterward the people moved from Hazarat and camped in the wilderness of Paran.
I hope you enjoyed today's reading as much as I did, and I look forward to seeing you
again tomorrow to continue on our journey.
God bless you and have a great day.