Details

Principle

The land of Israel was divided by the population of the tribe in order by lot.

Explanation

As Israel was preparing to enter the land of Canaan, GOD gave Moses instructions for how to distribute each person's inheritance:

52 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 53 “To these the land shall be divided as an inheritance based on the number of names. 54 To a large tribe you shall give a larger inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a smaller inheritance. Each shall be given its inheritance based on its census. 55 But the land shall be divided by lot; they shall inherit according to the names of the tribes of their fathers. 56 By allotment their inheritance shall be divided between the larger and the smaller.”
(Numbers 26:52-56 OSB)

 

Biblical Principles List

Details

Principle

The children of Israel were numbered via census twice by Moses and once by David.

Explanation

Twice, GOD told Moses to take a census of the Israelites, by tribe, according to the number of men capable of fighting in the army.

The first census occurred at Mount Sinai and is recorded in Numbers 1. The second census occurred after the plague killed 24,000 due to Israel's idolatry and fornication with Midian. The second census is recorded in Numbers 26.

The third census was taken by King David, as recorded in 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21. While it was perfectly acceptable to take a census, something about David's census made it sinful and brought great calamity upon Israel. Most likely, this was because David failed to collect the ransom payment from those numbered, as GOD had instructed Moses:

11 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “When you take the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall give a ransom for his soul to the Lord, so there may be no plague among them when you number them. 13 This is what everyone among those who are numbered shall give: half a drachma according to the drachma of the sanctuary (a drachma is twenty obols). The half-drachma shall be an offering to the Lord. 14 Everyone included among those who are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering to the Lord. 15 The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a drachma when you give an offering to the Lord to make atonement for your souls. 16 You shall take the money of the offering of the children of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tabernacle of testimony, that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord to make atonement for your souls.”
(Exodus 30:11-16 OSB)

These three census numberings went as follows. The number of men capable of serving in the army were:

  • Census 1 – At Sinai: 603,530 (Numbers 1:46)
  • Census 2 – At Moab: 601,730 (Numbers 26:51)
  • Census 3 – David's: 1,100,000 (1 Chronicles 21:5)

Later, as recorded in 2 Chronicles 2:16-17, King Solomon took a census of the 153,600 foreigners in the land of Israel, pressing many of them into slave labor in building Solomon's temple.

 

Biblical Principles List

Details
cross ornament with "grace" inscription hanging on Christmas tree

How, exactly, did Christmas begin?

A quick Internet search revealed 163 million hits about the origin of Christmas.

While I admittedly didn't take the time to look through 163 million links just now, I have yet to run across an article that neatly connects the dots of history from the apostolic age to the appearance of Christmas.

So I decided to write that article.

(Hopefully people will be able to find it amidst the 163 million other pages. Amen? ;-)  )

Jewish Feasts and the First Christians

The Law of Moses included an annual calendar of feasts that the children of Israel were required to keep.

The most important were:

  1. Passover (Feast of Unleavened Bread),
  2. Pentecost (Feast of Weeks) and
  3. Feast of Tabernacles (Feast of Booths/Ingathering).

(See Ex. 23:14-17 for context.)

These annual feasts were shadows of Jesus—symbolic pointers to the "Real Thing."

Paul wrote the following to the Colossian Christians:

16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
(Col. 2:16-17 NIV)

After Jesus’ ascension to heaven, three massive transitions occurred during the first century: