March 26, Day 85 – Learn Wisdom, and Act Wisely
- Dr. Eric Stricker
- Mar 26
- 3 min read
Today we come in our readings to Numbers 19:1-21:3. In chapter 19, we read about the water of cleansing. This particular law was given because the Israelites – who were confined to their wandering around in the desert – came often into contact with death, the dead, and dead bodies. Keep in mind that the number of Israelites who perished during their forty-year period of wilderness wanderings was significant. Of those who came up out of Egypt, all of them – except Joshua, Caleb, and those 20 years-old or younger – died in the desert. This water of cleansing was a “lasting ordinance” (verse 10), which relates to the “red heifer” (verse 2). It appears only here in the book of Numbers, though it is alluded to in the book of Hebrews (cf., Hebrews 9-13-14). In the ancient world, the use of ashes and water for purification purposes was commonly recognized, but here, God places His sanctified approval on this practice for cleansing the Israelites. We note in this chapter its several references to death (verses 11, 13, 14, 16, and 18). The red heifer typically points to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the basis for our cleansing from sin and its defilement as we walk on our pilgrimage through a filthy world (cf., 1 John 1:7–2:2). The color red points symbolically to the nature of our sin; the animal’s spotlessness refers to the purity of Christ; and the lack of a previous yoke on the animal indicates that the animal has never been restrained, indicating Christ’s willingness to be our sacrifice for sin. Christ was not coerced – He died freely for us. In chapter 20, we see the death of Miriam – and once again – the people’s quarrels with Moses about the lack of water. Here, God tells Moses to “speak to the rock” (verse 8), but instead, in anger, he “struck the rock twice” (verse 11). For this infraction, God rebuked Moses and would not allow him to go into the promised land (verse 12). To us, this punishment may seem excessive, but we must understand that Moses’ anger led him into two sins – [1] disobedience and [2] inappropriate use of authority. Moses was told to “speak to the rock,” and he presumed on God’s authority by saying, “Must we bring you water out of this rock?” (verse 10). We must be careful to obey God implicitly.
Because God is omniscient and all-wise, He wants His children to learn wisdom and to act wisely. Proverbs is the book of wisdom, mostly written by the wisest man who ever lived. God desires that we pay attention to it. Here in Proverbs 8:1-11, we see that wisdom makes herself available to us from “the highest point along the way” (Proverbs 8:2), but she is costly and “precious” – more valuable than “silver, gold, or rubies” (verses 10-11). Foolishness, which is associated with crookedness and perversity (verse 8), sells herself cheaply down in the streets, and she is found everywhere. Instruction, knowledge, and discernment – all expensive and arduously obtained commodities – lead us to wisdom, but they all require us to work hard for a lifetime to obtain them. The writer of Proverbs tells us that “nothing” we desire “can compare with” wisdom (verse 11).
In Luke 5:33-6:11, we see, again, the foolishness of the Pharisees, who, though wise in their own eyes, were fools. Rather than accept the wisdom of Jesus’ new teaching, they ignored Proverbs and followed the foolishness of their ancient fathers in Numbers. They simply wanted to “patch up” the wineskins of their Old Testament religious system. To do that, they would have to remove and kill Jesus. The parable of the wineskins shows us that this old system will not work – “the new wine will burst the skins” and both “the wine and the skins will be ruined” (verse 37). In chapter 6, Jesus demonstrates that He is the “Lord of the Sabbath” (verse 5). He created the Sabbath for man’s benefit; therefore He has full authority over it. It is “lawful to do good on the Sabbath” (verse 9). Here, however, the Pharisees were “furious” about Jesus’ words and works. We observe that they were no different than their Israelite ancestors who opposed Moses back in the desert. Like fathers, like sons.
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