Numbers continues to describe preparations for the Promised Land. Inheritance questions and leadership succession were handled in 27. 28 and 29 summarize the religious calendar for the Israelites, specifically burnt offerings for the day, week, and month, and offerings for the religious holidays. Much of this reiterates what has already been put down earlier in the law of Moses, but it appears to be gathered here for convenience in an encyclopedic form.
30 is a little harder to explain in current terms. The information is easy enough to understand. Make a promise and you are bound to it. Men are bound by their oaths. Women widowed or divorced are bound by their oaths. Women in the household of their father or husband can have their oath nullified if their dad/husband says so at the time he hears their promise being made. Miss that opportunity and the oath sticks.
Oaths made to God are tricky things. In the Book of Judges, such an oath leads to human sacrifice.
Our Lord Jesus, by his death on the cross, is the final sacrifice, and thus fulfills the offerings system described in 28 and 29. In relation to 30, Jesus taught a deeper form of immediate honesty. "Let your yes be yes and your no be no" (Matthew 5:33-37). I say deeper because just speaking should be binding as an oath, according to our Savior. Oaths continue to show up, Paul made a couple of oaths in the latter part of Acts, but Jesus' work has again fulfilled the need for them.
Romans 1
We are now entering into the dense world of Paul's letters. His theological acumen, his ability to argue, the density of what he includes in his writing, all of these are going to slow me down from tie to time.
Paul is not yet come to Rome when he wrote this letter. My best guess is that it was probably composed in the couple years he spent at Caesarea (Acts 24-26), in anticipation of going to the Capital of the Empire.
Vss. 1-7 open the letter, 1-6 being a capsule summary of the entire gospel message. I spent some time in an abortive attempt to take Paul's letter piece by piece, deconstructing each sentence in an ongoing basis. That quickly became very thick and too much for a daily project. He hearkens back to the Old Testament, connects Jesus as descendent of David, and expands upon the work Jesus did for us in his death and resurrection. Then, in verse 7, he says 'hello'.
Vss. 8-17 outline his vision and desire for coming to Rome. This letter is unique in that it is not written back to a church or person with whom Paul already has a relationship. Paul is in full-blown 'apostle to the Gentile' mode. Vs. 14 has him as a debtor to 'both Greek and barbarian', nothing about the faith in which he was raised.
Vss. 18-32 then describe what Paul is seeking to save the Gentiles from. This part of Romans has been used as a basher passage against homosexuality, but I believe that misinterprets what Paul has to say. The logic of Paul's argument is that those invoking the wrath of God have known God and turned against God, building idols instead (vs. 23). Therefore, God gave up on them, leaving them to hearts of impurity and degrading activities with their bodies in the worship of these idols. That leads in turn to a condemnation of the intermixed sexual/worship practices of the day (vss. 26-27), which in turn leads to every kind of evilness of our hearts.
The sum up is verse 32, that those who practice these things deserve to die, and that those who practice these things know what the consequences of their actions should be.
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