PRAYER - "Afraid to Pray" The Israelites were terrified of the voice of God that spoke from Mount Sinai. They asked Moses to relay their prayers. They promised that they would obey whatever God told Moses to tell them. God knew better. "Oh, that there were such a heart in them!" He promised many, many blessings if they would simply walk in His commandments.

Deuteronomy 5:27 - "Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the LORD our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it."

PRINCIPALS - "The Shekel of the Sanctuary"

When men made vows to God, they were obliged to keep them. But, if a man vowed himself, or a family member, or a piece of property to God, he could redeem them by paying an estimated fee in "Temple shekels." If he vowed animals, he could exchange another animal for it. If he delayed to pay a tithe to the Lord, he had to add a fifth part later.

Leviticus 27:23 - "...the priest shall reckon unto him the worth of thy estimation, ...and he shall give thine estimation in that day, as a holy thing unto the LORD."

   

PRINCIPLES - "Child Sacrifices"

The heathen were known to make child sacrifices by fire to various gods, including Molech, Milcom and Chemosh. One prominent location was the Valley of Tophet, or Gahenna, at Jerusalem. Priests beat drums to drown out the voices of screaming dying children. God abhors such horrors, pronouncing the death penalty on anyone who practices such.

Leviticus 20:2 - "...Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones."  Human Sacrifice

   

PROPHECIES - "Pedigrees"    We often skim over scriptures that list the "begats," because it is difficult to appreciate the seemingly endless listings of family genealogies. However, many detailed and extensive Bible prophecies are given to specific tribes and families, including tribal inheritances, etc. It is important to establish pedigrees to prove that prophecy is truly fulfilled and that claims are legitimate.

Numbers 1:18 - "And they assembled all the congregation together... and they declared their pedigrees after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, by their polls."