Deuteronomy 1:1-2:23 ; Psalm 41:1-6 ; Luke 9:57-10:24 "Easter Basket" © by Terri L. Stricker - Original Colored Pencil on Paper Happy Resurrection Sunday ! Today we begin the book of Deuteronomy in our readings. Deuteronomy is the fifth book of Moses, and the word means “second law.”  By now, all the Israelites who disobeyed God in the wilderness wanderings have died off – just as God promised that they would (cf., Numbers 14:21-23; Deuteronomy 1:35).  Here, in the book of

Numbers 35-36 ; Psalm 40:9-17 ; Luke 9:28-56 "Self-Portrait, I" © by Terri L. Stricker - Original Pencil Sketch on Paper Today we conclude our readings in the book of Numbers with chapters 35-36.  Chapter 35 focuses on the cities and pasturelands that were to be given to the Levites, who received their towns and pastures from among the rest of the Israelites and within their respective inheritances.  The Levites, who were not granted any tribal inheritances because the LORD

Numbers 33-34 ; Proverbs 8:22-31 ; Luke 9:10-27 "Our Three Children" © by Terri L. Stricker - Original Oil on Canvas In Numbers 33, we see the summary record of Israel’s journeys by stages through the wilderness – punctuated by God’s care and provision for the Israelites throughout their wilderness wanderings.  In this chapter, we see where they settled, we see where they “set out,” and then we see where they “camped” (Numbers 33:5-49).  The Israelites made at least 40 diff

Numbers 31:25-32:42 ; Psalm 40:1-8 ; Luke 8:40-9:9 "Collage" © by Terri L. Stricker - Colored Tissue Paper on Panel Earlier, in Numbers 25:16-18, we saw that God told Moses to “treat the Midianites as enemies for their deception in the affair at Peor.”  Here, in the beginning of Numbers 31, God now tells Moses to fulfill that responsibility and “take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites and for the LORD” (verses 1-2).  This would be Moses’ last official act befor

Numbers 29:12-31:24 ; Psalm 39 ; Luke 8:19-39 "Our Woods in Sherman, Texas" © by Terri L. Stricker - Original Watercolor on Paper From our readings today in Numbers 29:12-40, we can see that special emphasis is given to the Feast of Tabernacles.  For example, we note the amount of text given to this feast and to the diminishing number of bulls to be sacrificed with each daily progression of the feast. Beginning with the “fifteenth day of the seventh month,” thirteen bulls w

Numbers 27:12-29:11 ; Psalm 38:13-22 ; Luke 8:1-18 "From Seed to Fruit" © by Terri L. Stricker - Original Pen & Ink on Paper In Numbers 27:12-29:11, we read about God telling Moses before his death to go up in the mountains to “see the land He has given to the Israelites” (verse 12).  God reminds Moses of his earlier disobedience to His command “to honor Him as holy” at the waters of Meribah (verse 14).  Here, we see that Moses was truly a humble man in that his first major

Numbers 26:12-27:11 ; Proverbs 8:12-21 ; Luke 7:36-50 "Aristotle, II" © by Terri L. Stricker - Original Fired Clay Sculpture Today’s readings reflect the theme of expressing our gratitude to God .  In Numbers 26:12-27:11, we notice that after the plague (which we read about yesterday), God instructed “Moses and Eleazar to “take a census of the whole Israelite community” (verse 1).  This would be the second census of the people.  Earlier, we saw that the first census yielde