Fri.’s Devo - Preparing the Way

Read: Numbers 26:52-28:15; Luke 3:1-22; Psalm 61:1-8; Proverbs 11:16-17 As they were nearing their destination, God gave Moses instructions on how to give out the land. The people were to stay in their own tribes and land was to given in proportion to the number of people in their tribe. The Levites had not been counted in the census. They were divided into three clans - the Gershonites, the Kohathites and the Merarite clans and into five subclans - the Libnites, Hebronites, Mahlites, Mushites and Korahites. Aaron, Moses and Miriam were from the Kohathite clan. Their parents were Amran and Jochebed. The meaning of their names were “high people” and “Jehovah-glorified”. When the Levites were numbered they were not counted among the other tribes but separately. The males were counted from the age of one month up and there were 23,000. Levites were called from birth and were not counted in the army. Only Joshua and Caleb had been numbered in the first census. The rest had died because of their rebellion. The five daughters of Zelophehad from the tribe of Manasseh came to ask for the inheritance of their father’s. He had no sons and had been of the generation that died in the wilderness but they wanted land for his name’s sake. God agreed with them and it became a law that property would be passed down to the closest of kin. God told Moses to appoint Joshua the new leader. Moses was to lay his hands on him, transferring some of his authority to Joshua in front of all the people. Eleazar would confirm it with the sacred Urim which was the “Yes” token. God gave the priests the instruction for the daily sacrifice. Every Sabbath they were to offer a burnt offering, and a grain offering moistened with oil. Every new moon (the first day of the month) they were to offer the same. All of this was a sin offering to atone for their sins. In Luke, we are given the leaders of the Roman empire at the time. Iberius was the emperor, Pilat the governor over Judea, and Herod Antipas the ruler over Galilee. Herod’s brother, Philip was ruler over Iturea and Taconituis. Lysanias was ruler over Abilene and Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests. It was during this government that God sent John to prepare the way for his son. John went to the Jordan and preached repentance from sin and told them to turn their hearts back to God. John told them that he was a voice making the road clear for the Messiah to walk on. John baptized the people to wash them of their sin. He told the people how to take care of one another and how to deal fairly in their business with one another. He even rebuked Herod Antipas, their ruler because of his unholy life. Herod finally put John in prison to keep him quiet. John made it clear to them that he was not the Messiah. He was only baptizing with water, but the Messiah would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit came down like a dove and descended upon him. God spoke from heaven and said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.” God says that about us also even though it is sometimes hard to believe. Lord, thank you that today we read where you made room for even the daughters who wanted to preserve their father’s name. We want to preserve your name on the earth. Thank you for your love for us and that you chose us from the foundation of the earth to be your children.