Open Dialogue/Discuss with Dr. Bertram Melbourne - People on the Move: The Book of Numbers

[Bertram Melbourne]

Can you imagine what it was live to be moving through the desert with about 1,000,000 unorganized people? Or were they? Think of blowing sand; scarcity of water; few if any shade trees; people, animals, etc. Can you imagine what it must have been like for Moses? Put yourself in his place and think of what you would have done. This quarter, I would like for us to think together and engage in dialogue regarding the Children of Isreal as we see them on the move in the desert. Feel free to express your thoughts, ask your questions, and challenge our thinking.. Happy adventure!

Here is a starter. We usually hear about the children of Israel in the wilderness. Were they in the wilderness or in the desert? Does it make a difference which it was?

[Barrington Brennen]

Thanks Dr. Melbourne for being our theological facilitator for this quarter. I know you will provide valuable spiritual insights and will stimulate our thoughts and create spiritual growth among us. Feel free to think outside the box. Provoke our minds.

[Bertram Melbourne]

The Children of Israel traveled through the hot, sandy, scorching heat of the Judean desert with its lack of shade trees, scarcity of water and mirages. I have had the experience of putting my bare feet on the hot sands of the Dead Sea. Indeed, this was an unforgetable experience. Yet, equally unforgetable was God's providence toward Isreal during her wanderings. He provided a pillar of cloud to give them shade in the day and a pillar of fire to give them light in the night. What this tells us is that the same God who took care of Israel during her desert experience is also capable and even willing to take care of us in our desert experiences in this our modern 21st century time. What we need to learn to do is to put our explicit trust and confidence in an unmatchable, beneficent, loving, kind, and gracious God who invites us to cast all our cares upon Him for He cares for us. Will you take Him up on His offer? He is waiting on you!

[Bertram Melbourne]

Let's follow the Children of Israel as they go on the move. As they went on the move in Canaan, God told them through Moses in Edodus 23:19b "You shall not cook a kid in its mother's milk." How relevant is this command for us today when many of us don't eat meat and if we do, we do not follow such an odd practice? Would you agree or disagree then that this scripture has no relevance for us today? What is your opinion? Let's talk! I want to hear from you.

[Barrington Brennen]

After reviewing the Sabbath School lesson this week, the test for a wife suspicious of committing adultery was drinking water and dust from the sanctuary floor, why isn't this practiced in the church today?

[Bertram Melbourne]

Hi Barrington:

There are a few answers that immediately lend themselves. First, Israel was under a theocracy in which God was the head of the government and the priest was His representative. Today, this is not the case. Second, we do not now have a tabernale with a dirt floor from which earth could be had to meet the specifications. Third, my suspicision is that the ritual led to confession prior to the drinking of the reommemded portion. Moreover, there are now modern ways to determine guilt that are more appropiate than this one which was designed to meet the need of people on the move in the desert.

Barrington Brennen said:

After reviewing the Sabbath School lesson this week, the test for a wife suspicious of committing adultery was drinking water and dust from the sanctuary floor, why isn't this practiced in the church today?

[J. Claire Cole]

Dr. Melbourne, in reference to the lesson for October 10, is there any mention of what happened to the husband if he was suspected of adultery? It seems unfair that the woman was made to "drink" this water and the man with whom the adultery was committed got exempt from any form of punishment.

[Bertram Melbourne]

Hi Claire: While there seems to be no specific reference in the lesson or the passage regarding the sanction for a husband suspected of adultery, Leviticus 20:10 does give a drastic sanction to the man caught in adultery. He should be put to death. It should also be taken into consideration that we are dealing with a culture in which a woman was seen as property as much as a salve. It was difficult therefore for the wife to get a hearing for a suspected case of adultery when her testimony was not viewed as legat in a court of law.Thus the torah speaks to a varified case of adultery and gives it the ultimate penalty--death.

[Barrington Brennen]

Dr. Betram, it look as though the dialogue is taking off with excitement. Let's continue to keep it stimulating. It's it painful to see how women were treated so badly in the Old Testament? Women were not more valuable that the vineyard on the outside. When the Greek Philosophers came along a few hundred years later they continues the terrible treatment of women in their teaching and philosophies. Aristotle taught that "a women is half way between a man and an animal." These kind of teachings continues through the times of Christ and Paul. That's why Jesus and Paul the way they did not change to mind site of what was being taught.

[Bertram Melbourne]

Dear Barrington: As bad as the treatment of women might seem to be to us moderners, the treatment in Israel was at time far better than among her neighbors. This is not to justify what took place but to set the facts out there. It appears to me that in many cultures there appears to be what can be characterized as a blaming of women for the first sin and thus an unfair treatment. If I had to make a judgment, I would say this is not only unfair, it is wrong. Yet, to me, I see God have a great sense of humor and I agree with Grassi, "Go Makes Me Laugh," and perhaps it was to redress this wrong that he sent His Son into the world, born of a woman but with man having no part to play in the process.

I must disagree that Jesus did not change the mindset of what was taught. When one looks at the attitude of Jesus to women, it was revolutionary in His times. While the Rabbis said that a women should not appear in public with a man, Jesus was in public with the Samaritan woman and he had females as part of his tour entorage (Luke 8:1-3). While the Rabbis said women should only be taught domestic arts; and while the Greeks said that to teach a woman was only to increase the poison of a dangerous serpent, Jesus taught women (see John 4 and when the Bible says Mary sat at the feet of Jesus the implication is that she was his student. He as teaching her). That minds were changed can be seen in Paul's statement in Gal 3:28.


Barrington Brennen said:

Dr. Betram, it look as though the dialogue is taking off with excitement. Let's continue to keep it stimulating. It's it painful to see how women were treated so badly in the Old Testament? Women were not more valuable that the vineyard on the outside. When the Greek Philosophers came along a few hundred years later they continues the terrible treatment of women in their teaching and philosophies. Aristotle taught that "a women is half way between a man and an animal." These kind of teachings continues through the times of Christ and Paul. That's why Jesus and Paul the way they did not change to mind site of what was being taught.

[Bertram Melbourne]

Bertram Melbourne said:

Let's follow the Children of Israel as they go on the move. As they went on the move in Canaan, God told them through Moses in Edodus 23:19b "You shall not cook a kid in its mother's milk." How relevant is this command for us today when many of us don't eat meat and if we do, we do not follow such an odd practice? Would you agree or disagree then that this scripture has no relevance for us today? What is your opinion? Let's talk! I want to hear from you.

[Bertram Melbourne]

God gave this command to Israel to ensure that she would not follow the practices of the people of the land in which they were entering. These people actually cooked a kid in its mother's milk and used the resultant pottage (soup) to sprinkle on their crops in a magical way to ensure a good harvest. God was telling Israel not to depend on magic for a good harvest but rather to depend on Him for it is He who causes their crops to grow and their harvest to increase since He is the Creator and Sustainer of all.

Now, is this message still relevant to modern people on the move to the heavenly Canaan--even to those who don't eat meat? Most certainly! It is saying that while others around them rely on magic, Ouija boards, horoscopes, crystal balls, mediums, witches, fortune tellers, psychics, palm readers, sorcerers, obeahmen, etc., people on the move (Christians) should put their trust in God just as Israel was admonished to do 3500 years ago. Can you? Will you?

Bertram Melbourne said:

Let's follow the Children of Israel as they go on the move. As they went on the move in Canaan, God told them through Moses in Edodus 23:19b "You shall not cook a kid in its mother's milk." How relevant is this command for us today when many of us don't eat meat and if we do, we do not follow such an odd practice? Would you agree or disagree then that this scripture has no relevance for us today? What is your opinion? Let's talk! I want to hear from you.

[Patrick Kevin Williams]

Hello Pastor Melbourne,

Each Wednesday night at my church we meet to discuss the Sabbath School lesson for the week. I am the SS Superintendent and if possible I would like to have a conversation with you regarding this quarter's lesson. EXCELLENT READING AND STUDY you have provided. Here's the website where you can hear the recordings: http://pkwsabbathschoolwrap.podbean.com/

Patrick Kevin Williams
[e-mail]