I Kings Part I: Just a Few Questions

Through the First Ten

Well, hip hip hooray! We are through asking the questions for the first ten books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I Samuel, and II Samuel. Hopefully you have been able to post a few answers of your own, or even perhaps you were able to post a question that you felt should have been asked but was not.

Now we will continue our journey with the questions for the book I Kings. As always, if you wish to post an answer please do so, and if you utilize a Bible verse for reference please be sure to note the passage location so that I may look it up.

1. I Kings 1:11-14
11 Then Nathan said to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, “Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith has become king and David our lord does not know it?

12 Now therefore come, let me give you advice, that you may save your own life and the life of your son Solomon.

13 Go in at once to King David, and say to him, ‘Did you not, my lord the king, swear to your servant, saying, “Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne”? Why then is Adonijah king?’

14 Then while you are still speaking with the king, I also will come in after you and confirm your words.”

Questions
     1) Wow! Well, alright for plotting and planning in the Old Testament, right? Quite the interesting conspiracy that is going on here, wouldn't you say?

     2) If the LORD already promised David that his descendants would establish a lasting dynasty why is there so much worry here? Why the deception? Why the lies? Wouldn't the LORD make sure everything would go just as He said it would?

2. I Kings 1:29-31
29 And the king swore, saying, “As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my soul out of every adversity,

30 as I swore to you by the LORD, the God of Israel, saying, ‘Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place,’ even so will I do this day.”

31 Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground and paid homage to the king and said, “May my lord King David live forever!”

Questions
     1) May my lord King David live forever? Sooo...uhmmm, Bathsheba does know that David is on his deathbed, right? Why say something so useless? Because it sounds pretty and loyal? Why?

3. I Kings 2:33
33 So shall their blood come back on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever. But for David and for his descendants and for his house and for his throne there shall be peace from the LORD forevermore.”

Questions
     1) Sooo...peace for David and his descendants forevermore? Well, chalk that up as one more thing that just never comes true, right? Forget show me the money. Show me the peace, right? Maybe the LORD meant pieces and it was just a jacked-up translation, you think? Could be. I mean, that region of the world and the people of the LORD are just about always in pieces or scattered...or in the process of being made into pieces to be scattered. I think they totally got the short end of the stick, right? LOADS of promises with nothing to show for it but a dusty strip of land that is a sliver of what God supposedly promised it would be, a bunch of sorrow and suffering, and seemingly never-ending bickering over whose imaginary friend is the best friend. Lovely.

4. I Kings 2:44-46
44 The king also said to Shimei, "You certainly remember all the wicked things you did to my father, David. May the LORD now bring that evil on your own head.

45 But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD forever.”

46 Then, at the king's command, Benaiah son of Jehoiada took Shimei outside and killed him. So the kingdom was now firmly in Solomon's grip.

Questions
     1) May the LORD bring that evil on your head? The evil that this guy supposedly did to his father, David, eons back? Is THIS the true golden rule from God? Do unto others according to the horrible things they have done?

     2) If it is Solomon ordering the killing of this man then the idea of the guy's blood being on his own head/hands is an aberration of stupidity, right? Wouldn't the blood be on Solomon's hands?

     3) Sooo...Solomon believes the lie of David's throne being established forever? David's throne was never established forever, right? Sure, God did a really great job convincing people otherwise, but the truth is that the so-called throne that was established had nothing to do with man and everything to do with God, right? Where is the proof of David's throne being established forever?

It all comes down to Jesus. Sure, Jesus is supposed to be the descendant of David, the lion of the tribe of Judah, and that is the fulfillment of God's promise. This is a ruse. It is not David's lineage...it's God's lineage. God only told the people involved that it was David's lineage so people would go for such a thing. It is NOT David's seed...no man had lain with Mary. David's throne went the way of the dodo a long ass time ago.

Sooo...again, where is the proof of David's throne being established forever?

     4) Verse 46 mentions the guy being taken out and killed and THEN it says the kingdom of Solomon was firmly established, right? Is this how the LORD/God intends to establish HIS kingdom? With blood and violence? Seriously, think about it. How are people supposed to get to heaven when they die? Well, they have to accept the blood of Christ and recognize that they cannot partake of the kingdom of God without the blood of Christ, correct? Do you REALLY think that lasting peace can be established upon blood?


5. I Kings 3:1
1 Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and married one of his daughters. He brought her to live in the City of David until he could finish building his palace and the Temple of the LORD and the wall around the city.

Questions

     1) Uhmmm...I'm just wondering if by this time the Pharaoh ruling Egypt had forgotten the whole Moses/Aaron/Let My People Go thing? Do the Egyptians really have that short of a memory?

     2) Do you really think that the Egyptians would ever have allowed the leader of the very people who were responsible for the deaths of all the firstborn in the land to marry the Pharaoh's daughter?

     3) Tell me again why these kings of the people of Israel who supposedly loved the LORD/God so much consistently married people who worship many gods and who are for all intents and purposes...enemies?

6. I Kings 3:4-5

4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

5 That night the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, "What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!"

Questions

     1) A THOUSAND burnt offerings? Goodness gracious that is a lot of animals, isn't it? What is the precise origin of these burnt sacrifice rituals? Is there anything in the Bible that can verifiably show the origin of God's request/apparent need for blood sacrifices?

     2) Being as though God is supposed to know all and see all, why did He bother to ask Solomon what he wanted? Didn't He already know?

     3) If God/the LORD is everywhere WHY does He persist to appear to people in dreams and visions and talking burning bushes, hummm? Why doesn't He simply talk? I mean, for Christ's sake...He IS supposed to be everywhere, right?

7. I Kings 3:6

6 Solomon replied, "You showed faithful love to your servant my father, David, because he was honest and true and faithful to you. And you have continued your faithful love to him today by giving him a son to sit on his throne.

Questions

     1) David was honest and true and faithful to the LORD even through he broke a whole bunch of God's commandments when he coveted Uriah's wife, slept with Uriah's wife, murdered Uriah, stole Uriah's wife, lied/tried to hide his deed when he tried to get Uriah drunk to sleep with Bathsheba...do you wish to start over here, because is sure as hell seems David is most certainly NOT honest and true and faithful, right?

8. I Kings 3:8

8 And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted!

Questions

     1) A nation so great that it cannot be counted? And HOW MANY times was a census taken of the people of Israel that gave definitive numbers, hummm?

     2) At this point in the Bible the people of Israel STILL do not number as the stars in the heavens, do they?

     3) Since we are talking numbers for the moment do you think it appropriate to remind God/the LORD how many of His people were murdered in WWII? What was that number? About...ohhh...SIX MILLION, right?

     4) If God keeps killing off His people there will not be a nation left to become great and no one will have to worry about counting anything but the headstones, right?

9. I Kings 3:9

9 Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?”

Questions

     1) Discern between good and evil? Are we talking about the real world version of good and evil, or God's version of good and evil that seems to change with whatever purpose best serves God?

     2) Like I mentioned before, how can this group of people become or continue to be a great people when God consistently kills them off?

10. I Kings 3:22-28

22 Then the other woman interrupted, "It certainly was your son, and the living child is mine." "No," the first woman said, "the living child is mine, and the dead one is yours." And so they argued back and forth before the king.

23 Then the king said, "Let's get the facts straight. Both of you claim the living child is yours, and each says that the dead one belongs to the other.

24 All right, bring me a sword." So a sword was brought to the king.

25 Then he said, "Cut the living child in two, and give half to one woman and half to the other!"

26 Then the woman who was the real mother of the living child, and who loved him very much, cried out, "Oh no, my lord! Give her the child--please do not kill him!" But the other woman said, "All right, he will be neither yours nor mine; divide him between us!"

27 Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.”

28 When all Israel heard the king's decision, the people were in awe of the king, for they saw the wisdom God had given him for rendering justice.

Questions

     1) Isn't this one of the more twisted stories in the Bible?

     2) The people were in AWE? Seriously? They saw this as wisdom in rendering justice?

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The Book of Ruth: Just a Few Questions

Anywhere you go, so will I go also!

This particular story, the story of Ruth, is one of the stories I remember the most from when I was a kid in Sunday School; except when I was a kid it was called the "Children's Meeting" since our church was supposed to be non-denominational, thus using the term "Sunday School" put us uncomfortably close to the religious folk who were getting their worship of God and Jesus and the interpretation of the Bible all wrong.

Here we have a woman Ruth and her mother-in-law, Naomi, who have both suffered great loss. Naomi has lost her two sons since they died, and Ruth has lost her husband since one of Naomi's sons was Ruth's husband.

Losing a son or a husband in the Old Testament times is one of the worst things that could happen to a woman. The loss of a husband or son was sure to birth big problems when it came to inheritance as well as carrying on the family/clan name within the respective tribe of the people involved.

All-in-all Naomi tells Ruth to go back home to her own people (the Moabites) and remarry and live a voon-der-bar life since Naomi surely isn't going to pop out any more sons, and even if she did Ruth was likely not about to wait however long until the son was of marrying age. Besides, would Ruth still be able to bare children at such a point? The longer Ruth stayed with her mother-in-law, the longer it would take Ruth to get back on the happy track of life.

Despite the opportunity to improve her situation simply by leaving Naomi, Ruth makes the decision to stay with her mother-in-law. Ruth was loyal to Naomi and chose to stay with her. Due to this steadfast loyalty the LORD rewards Ruth by allowing her to cross paths with Boaz, a relative by marriage, who marries her and has a son with her.

The moral of the story is supposed to be that when you are steadfast in your loyalty to God/the LORD no matter what the situation may be, you will find you are rewarded with an inheritance in heaven with God; except, God forbid our church should sound anything even remotely similar to the other despised denominations, the way I was taught they did not call it 'heaven' but rather called it "going to be with the LORD."

"You must be strong and follow the LORD wherever He goes, wherever He takes you in your life, giving yourself fully to Him in appreciation of the grace and inheritance He has given you," was what was taught to me. I remember finding it odd that the LORD would allow a really crappy situation just to test to see whether or not a person would stay faithful to God. For me the screwy part was that everyone has a limit to the difficulty and adversity and tragedy that they can face and God should know this. So WHY would God/the LORD feel the need to test anyone when He already knows the limits of what they can deal with, the limits of their religious loyalty?

And now...on to the questions of the book of Ruth of the Holy Bible's Old Testament. This is a very short book in the Bible and will consist only of this single posting. As always, if you wish to answer any of the questions at the end of each posting is a link where you may make comments and offer answers. If there are no existing comments to a post the comment link will say "No Comments" and you should click on that and will then be routed to the page to type whatever you wish to say.

You do not have to answer all the questions and your answers should not be what you think I want to hear. I just want to know your personal answers to these questions, what YOU believe, and WHY you believe it.

1. Ruth 1:1
1 In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.

Questions
     1) What is it with the state of disarray that the LORD's people always seem to be stuck in?

     2) If it isn't a war or pestilence or punishment or starvation or great thirst or famine WHY is something jacked-up on some level ALWAYS happening to the people of Israel?

     3) Does God starve His people in order to keep them reliant on Him?

     4) Sooo...what happened to this land that was to be flowing with milk and honey?

2. Ruth 1:13
13 would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me.”

Questions
     1) Why is it that whenever anything bad or unsavory happens to the people of Israel that they immediately blame God/the LORD for not giving a damn and seeding unhappiness on purpose?

3. Ruth 1:15
15 And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”

Questions
     1) If Naomi worships the God of Israel and knows He is the only, one and true God...WHY would she tell Ruth to go back to worshiping other gods?

     2) Does the LORD not care since Ruth is a Moabite so screw her and let her worship whomever she wants since she IS NOT an actual descendant/relative of God's chosen people?

4. Ruth 1:16-18
16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.

17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”

18 And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.

Questions
     1) Do you think it is possible that Ruth stayed with Naomi because Ruth had no where else to go?

5. Ruth 1:19-21
19 So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, “Is this Naomi?”

20 She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

21 I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?”

Questions
     1) Why do the people of Israel seemingly only care about what happens to them, how many children they have, how a spouse will or will not reproduce, will they have an inheritance, will they be blessed?

     2) Is this type of selfish thinking the reason why they have so many enemies in the Bible times?

6. Ruth 2:11-12
11 But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before.

12 The LORD repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!”

Questions
     1) Sooo...are we to think that even though Ruth could have taken a different route and possibly have done better that the point is not picking what you think is the best for you, but rather is all about staying with God/the LORD no matter how bad or lonely or terrible or horrible things get?

     2) Is the reason why Boaz considers Ruth to have done great things because she chose to forsake her own ancestral traditions for those of the people of Israel?

     3) Is it okay to make bad or stupid decisions so long as the reasons why you make such decisions in the first place are that you are doing such for the LORD?

     4) Are decisions like this supposed to be impressive to non-believers?

7. Ruth 2:22
22 And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.”

Questions
     1) Why in the world would Ruth be in danger of being assaulted? Because she is a woman? Because she is a foreigner? Because her husband died?

8. Ruth 3:1-4
1 Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?

2 Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.

3 Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.

4 But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.”

Questions
     1) This sounds suspiciously like Naomi wants Ruth to go down to where Boaz is, wait until he is delightfully drunk, and then try to seduce him in some way, doesn't it?

9. Ruth 3:5-6
5 And she replied, “All that you say I will do.”

6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had commanded her.

Questions
     1) What is this light dusting of conspiracy that many stories in the Bible seem to portray the women with? Why does the Bible seem to go the extra mile to make some of the women seem sneaky, conniving, and out to trick the men?

10. Ruth 3:14-15
14 So she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could recognize another. And he said, “Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.”

15 And he said, “Bring the garment you are wearing and hold it out.” So she held it, and he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her. Then she went into the city.

Questions
     1) Sooo...were the women not allowed on the threshing floor? Why?

     2) Sooo...if Boaz is asleep on the threshing floor does he live where the threshing floor is or did he just get totally drunk and fall asleep there the night before?

     3) Was the grain that Boaz gave Ruth payment for an act of prostitution?

11. Ruth 3:16-17
16 And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “How did you fare, my daughter?” Then she told her all that the man had done for her,

17 saying, “These six measures of barley he gave to me, for he said to me, ‘You must not go back empty-handed to your mother-in-law.’”

Questions
     1) Sooo...surely Boaz figured out what Naomi had put Ruth up to, right? Again I ask you, was the grain Boaz gave payment for an act of prostitution?

     2) Was the grain also payment intended to keep Naomi's trap shut until Boaz figured out what to do?

12. Ruth 4:5-6
5 Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.”

6 Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”

Questions
     1) Sooo...Boaz waits to tell this other guy that if he buys the property he will also acquire a wife, Ruth. First the guy says yes and then Boaz says, "Hey, you get a wife in the deal," and the other guy totally changes his mind, right?

     2) Why did Boaz take this obviously dishonest approach?

13. Ruth 4:7-8
7 Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging: to confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was the manner of attesting in Israel.

8 So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” he drew off his sandal.

Questions
     1) Why in the hell was the matter of attesting in Israel so absurdly stupid?

     2) Was the ritual of attesting supposed to be so absurd that other cultures and people would marvel at the strangeness and think highly of the people of Israel and the LORD since, if the ritual of attesting was understandable only to the people of Israel this had to mean they were extra special, especially in the eyes of God?

14. Ruth 4:14-17
14 Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel!

15 He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”

16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse.

17 And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Questions
     1) Why did the women say this to Naomi and not to Ruth? Ruth was the one who got married again, and Ruth was the one who had a baby boy, and Ruth was the one who chose to stay with Naomi in the first damn place, right?

     2) A daughter-in-law who is more to you than seven sons? What kind of psychopathic bitches say this kind of shit to a woman who lost both of her sons?

     3) Does Naomi live vicariously through the little baby Obed?


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Numbers Part I: Just a Few Questions

ALWAYS Question Whatever it is You are Asked to Believe

If you wish to answer any of these questions please do so at the comment link at the end of the post. Please note the question you are answering, and be sure to give passage locations when utilizing Bible verses as references. If you wish to ask a question that you feel should have been asked but was not, feel free to note that as well.

Now, on to the questions for the book of Numbers in the Holy Bible.

1. Numbers 1:3-4

3 From twenty years old and upward, all in Israel who are able to go to war, you and Aaron shall list them, company by company.

4 One man from each tribe, each of them the head of his family, is to help you.

Questions
     1) Okay, so the LORD is all-powerful, right? WHY does He need an army if He is all-powerful?

     2) Sooo...forced military service is okay with God/the LORD?

     3) Is the idea of forcing all those who are able to serve in the LORD's army similar, if even remotely so, to being forced to believe in the LORD?

     4) Moses and Aaron, without the modern-day benefits of computers and filing systems and all that, go about taking a count of the people of Israel in order to find out how many can serve in the army...and they only have ONE man from each tribe helping to do the count? How long did that take? What was the process? What were qualifying or disqualifying factors of being able to serve in the army?

2. Numbers 1:45-46

45 So all the numbered men of the sons of Israel by their fathers' households, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war in Israel,

46 Even all they that were numbered were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty.

Questions
     1) If twenty years old is the youngest, what age is the oldest? Why is there no upper limit to the age requirement for the army? Are the elderly men forced to serve as well?

     2) What were other requirements for the military men? Did they have to be of a certain intelligence, or did God consider that even an idiot can die for the LORD? Did the men have to have a certain physical condition?

3. Numbers 1:47-50

47 The Levites, however, were not numbered among them by their fathers' tribe.

48 For the LORD had spoken to Moses, saying,

49 Only the tribe of Levi you shall not list, and you shall not take a census of them among the people of Israel.

50 But appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it. They are to carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall take care of it and shall camp around the tabernacle.

Questions
     1) Sooo...if the LORD doesn't force you into military service He will force you into religious service of some sort?

     2) If God/the LORD is so goddamn great and loving and providing and joyous and amazing WHY would anyone have to be forced to do anything for God/the LORD like fight in an army, or be forced to serve God/the LORD in religious services?

     3) Shouldn't people CHOOSE to be of service to God/the LORD instead of being required or forced to do so?

4. Numbers 1:51

51 When the tabernacle is to set out, the Levites shall take it down, and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up. And if any outsider comes near, he shall be put to death.

Questions
     1) Why does God/the LORD seemingly inject the penalty of death wherever possible? Is it to make people afraid, to fear Him? Is it to keep people in line? Is it to make manipulating people all the easier to accomplish?

5. Numbers 1:52

52 The people of Israel shall pitch their tents by their companies, each man in his own camp and each man by his own standard.

Questions
     1) Does 'standard' here mean in the sense of a cultural/social norm or construct, or does it mean 'standard' in the sense of a banner or flag particular to each family?

6. Numbers 1:53

53 But the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the people of Israel. And the Levites shall keep guard over the tabernacle of the testimony.”

Questions
     1) So, the Levites were some kind of human buffer between the tabernacle of the LORD and the people of Israel? Why would such a thing be needed if the LORD loves His people and cherishes them and nurtures them?

     2) Why would the tabernacle need to be guarded? Isn't God/the LORD all-powerful and thus quite capable of protecting Himself, His tabernacle, and His people?

     3) Were the guards of the tabernacle there to guard things from going in or keep things from going out, or both?

7. Numbers 1:54

54 Thus the sons of Israel did; according to all which the LORD had commanded Moses, so they did.

Questions
     1) Why is the LORD commanding His people through Moses and not to the people themselves? Are the people incapable of understanding God? Were the people too afraid of God? Wouldn't God be able to impart understanding and remove fear?

     2) Does God/the LORD want to keep as few humans as possible being in direct contact with Him by creating this absurd idea that there must always be an intermediary such as Moses or Aaron, and if so why is this?

8. Numbers 3:4

4 But Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD when they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of Aaron their father.

Questions
     1) What, pray tell, is 'unauthorized' fire?

     2) Did Nadab and Abihu know what the 'unauthorized' fire was? Had they been informed of the 'unauthorized' fire?

     3) Where is this 'unauthorized' fire discussed in the Bible?

9. Numbers 3:8-10

8 They shall guard all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, and keep guard over the people of Israel as they minister at the tabernacle.

9 And you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the people of Israel.

10 And you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall guard their priesthood. But if any outsider comes near, he shall be put to death.”

Questions
     1) Why do the furnishings of the tent of meeting need to be guarded/protected? Will the people steal the items?

     2) What is this 'big brother' temperament of God/the LORD where guard must be kept over the people of Israel? Why would guard need to be kept over them is God/the LORD is all-powerful and all-protective and all-everything?

     3) If God/the LORD is the same yesterday and today and forever more, and if all men are the same before God/the LORD, and if all men fall short of the glory of God...WHY are lines of separation made between the priests and 'outsiders' which result in a death penalty?

     4) If God/the LORD is the same as He always has been...why does the New Testament make it sound like ANYONE can approach God/the LORD and the Old Testament make it sound like God's people must have an intermediary lest they die from the ferocity of God's/the LORD's righteousness? 

10. Numbers 3:11-13

11 Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

12 Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the people of Israel. The Levites shall be mine,

13 for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the firstborn in Israel, both of man and of beast. They shall be mine: I am the LORD.”

Questions
     1) Do you know what this set of verses reminds me of? Are you familiar with the story "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson?

     2) So, first God/the LORD says He wants all of the firstborn. ALL. Imagine the U.S. government saying to all of the people it governs, "All of your firstborn belong to the government." Lovely, right? Imagine the fear and sorrow something like that would plant within a person's heart. 
     Now imagine that the government says, "Hey, tell you what...instead of ALL of the firstborn belonging to the government what will now be done is all of the Native Americans belong to the government. ALL Native Americans belong to the government. Instead of the government taking the firstborn of all the people the Native Americans will fill that spot, ALL Native Americans."
     How would the people see such a thing? Is it still terrible that some people are automatically slated from the moment of conception to NOT be their own? Sure it is! But...isn't that a small price to pay? So the Native Americans belong to the government no matter what. Big deal. At least the rest of the people get to keep their firstborn. The majority is safe.
     In Shirley Jackson's story "The Lottery" someone must be stoned and everyone knows it. Perhaps for those doing the stoning, even though they are committing murder, it is much better to stone, than to be stoned, right? Maybe that is how it was for the people of Israel. The people knew something was really screwy and wrong with this God/LORD fellow, but if He was satiated by having the Levites and pretty much leave the rest of the people alone...then why not go along with it?

11. Numbers 3:46-48
46 And as the redemption price for the 273 of the firstborn of the people of Israel, over and above the number of the male Levites,

47 you shall take five shekels per head; you shall take them according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel of twenty gerahs),

48 and give the money to Aaron and his sons as the redemption price for those who are over.

Questions
     1) Never mind that the Bible says that you cannot store up for yourself treasures here on earth, but WHY does God/the LORD need money?

     2) For those individuals who would answer that the LORD needed to make sure that the items of worship were cared for and that the priests were compensated and that is why there is a need for money, wouldn't it then be true that God/the LORD ISN'T all powerful if He is in need of such a thing as money?

     3) Being all-knowing couldn't God/the LORD have devised a process of worship that did not require the use of money to sustain anything?

     4) If money is the root of all evil then why is God/the LORD requiring it in the process of having people worship Him?


12. Numbers 5:27-28
27 If she has defiled herself by being unfaithful to her husband, the water that brings on the curse will cause bitter suffering. Her abdomen will swell and her womb will shrink, and her name will become a curse among her people.

28 But if she has not defiled herself and is pure, then she will be unharmed and will still be able to have children.

Questions
     1) Have you ever read about the Salem Witch Trials? These verses here remind me of that and sound just about as stupid as dunking a woman in the water with something heavy attached to her body; if she floats she is a witch and if she sinks she's not a witch. Fucking stupid. Some things never change, I guess.


13. Numbers 7:89
89 Whenever Moses went into the Tabernacle to speak with the LORD, he heard the voice speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the Ark's cover--the place of atonement--that rests on the Ark of the Covenant. The LORD spoke to him from there.

Questions
     1) If the LORD/God is everywhere all of the time WHY does Moses have to go to the tabernacle to speak with the LORD? Couldn't Moses simply speak to God from wherever he was? Moses wouldn't even have to use his voice, right? I mean he could freaking speak to God within his own heart, right?

     2) So, you can't take away the everything-ness of God/the LORD, right? If that is the case then if God/the LORD is everywhere (omni-present) then whenever He said anything wouldn't He also be heard everywhere?


14. Numbers 8:24
24 This applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall come to do duty in the service of the tent of meeting.

Questions
     1) Ahhh, FORCED religious service. Isn't that nice? Whatever happened to the LORD moving within each man according to his own heart?

     2) So, if God/the LORD is forcing this service upon people then isn't the idea of the LORD simply allowing people to 'find' Him and to come to Him all on their own totally false?


15. Numbers 9:15-16
15 On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony. And at evening it was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning.

16 So it was continuously; the cloud would cover it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.

Questions
     1) Is God radioactive?


16. Numbers 10:8
8 And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets. The trumpets shall be to you for a perpetual statute throughout your generations.

Questions
     1) Okay, so this is supposed to be a perpetual statute forever and ever, right? And the word of God/the LORD is supposed to stand forever, right? Sooo...do people still do this? Do the people who are supposed to blow the trumpets still blow the damn trumpets?

     2) If people no longer do this then HOW does the word of God/the LORD stand forever?


17. Numbers 11:1-3
1 Soon the people began to complain about their hardship, and the LORD heard everything they said. Then the LORD's anger blazed against them, and he sent a fire to rage among them, and he destroyed some of the people in the outskirts of the camp.

2 Then the people screamed to Moses for help, and when he prayed to the LORD, the fire stopped.

3 So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the LORD burned among them.

Questions
     1) What does God/the LORD expect from people when they can't even live a relatively normal life with Him around? They DON'T have consistent water and food supplies. They are for all intents and purposes WANDERING in circles in the freaking desert. They are subject to the wiles of a God with a very bad temper. The list goes on and on. What did God expect? Did He even give a good goddamn about what He was doing to these people both literally and psychologically?


18. Numbers 11:10-11
10 Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the LORD blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased.

11 Moses said to the LORD, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?

Questions
     1) So, was Moses displeased because the LORD continued to create situations where He knew damn well the people would be in great need and would be upset?

     2) Was Moses displeased because He knew God/the LORD had a very short fuse and that the people of Israel whining would only set God off, making the only safe spot for Moses to be the spot where Moses was standing in agreement with God/the LORD and displeased with the people?


19. Numbers 11:14-15
14 I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me.

15 If this is how you intend to treat me, just go ahead and kill me. Do me a favor and spare me this misery!"

Questions
     1) Once again, Moses shows surprising moxie as he tells God/the LORD to just kill Moses and get it over with because this was some bullshit that the LORD was doing. Why does God/the LORD allow Moses to get away with this when He so readily kills other people for far less?


20. Numbers 11:16-17
16 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Gather for 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 tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you.

17 And I will come down and talk with you there. And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone.

Questions
     1) AGAIN we come to that same question of WHY, if God/the LORD is everywhere, why can't He just talk to people where they are or directly to their hearts? Why does there have to be a priest or a special meeting place? 

     2) Is God/the LORD limited as to where and when and why He speaks with people? Is this limitation only in the Old Testament, and if so WHY?


21. Numbers 11:19-20
19 'You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days,

20 but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the LORD who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?

Questions
     1) Well, what do we have here but God/the LORD blowing everyone else out of the water for the Bad-Parent-of-the-Year Award as He responds to cries for food by being nastily aggressive and mean?

     2) Wouldn't an all-knowing being know beforehand what the concerns of the people would be, and wouldn't He then go the measure to take care of these concerns and lessen them or find some kind of remedy instead of using these situations to mistreat people?


22. Numbers 11:25
25 And the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses. Then he gave the seventy elders the same Spirit that was upon Moses. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But this never happened again.

Questions
     1) Why is God/the LORD always in some kind of disguise?

     2) If God/the LORD never changes wouldn't trying to disguise Himself pretty much be a fruitless and wasted effort?

     3) As a child I was informed that the LORD had to disguise Himself so the people wouldn't die from looking upon His perfect glory. If that is the case, and if God's glory NEVER changes, then wouldn't trying to disguise God NOT work since you cannot dampen or change or lessen or hide the glory of God?


23. Numbers 11:27-29
27 And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.

28 Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses' assistant since his youth, protested, "Moses, my master, make them stop!

29 But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD’s people were prophets, that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!

Questions
     1) So God ISN'T for everyone? If God is for everyone what does it matter WHO prophecies so long as it is derived of God?


24. Numbers 11:31, 33
31 Then a wind from the LORD sprang up, and it brought quail from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, around the camp, and about two cubits above the ground.

33 While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck down the people with a very great plague.

Questions
     1) Does whoever wrote this really expect people to believe that the quail that surrounded the camp were about three feet deep?

     2) What is this douchebag behavior of getting mad at the people of Israel for them saying they are hungry, and then to make things worse striking them down with plague as they are trying to eat in order to dispel the hunger pains?


25. Numbers 12:3
3 Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.

Questions
     1) Is this why the LORD liked Moses so damn much, because he was a friggin' wuss who rarely spoke out against whatever shenanigans God happened to stew up?

     2) Why in the hell would you pick the weakest person on the entire earth to lead a people UNLESS you did so specifically to play on that person's weakness?


26. Numbers 13:1-2
1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses saying,

2 Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.

Questions
     1) Okay, so this is the land that God/the LORD wants to give to the people of Israel but He doesn't know who is on it or what they are doing? Shouldn't the LORD have known?

     2) Is it in the practice of God to just give things away without doing any of the necessary research?


27. Numbers 14:34, 37-38
34 Because your men explored the land for forty days, you must wander in the wilderness for forty years--a year for each day, suffering the consequences of your sins. Then you will discover what it is like to have me for an enemy.

37 the men who brought up a bad report of the land—died by plague before the LORD.

38 Of those men who went to spy out the land, only Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive.

Questions
     1) Why is the number forty being mentioned again? Forty years of wandering for forty days of scouting? Isn't that just a TAD imbalanced?

     2) Why do God's/the LORD's punishments never fit the crime?


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