Numbers

11.1  Fire From the Lord

11.3    Grumbling and complaining seemed to be their main failing.  Is this anger a failing in God (did He lose it?), or is it simply justice?

11.4  Quail From the Lord

11.15  This sounds a bit like Genesis 3.12ff: the people wail at Moses, and Moses wails at God.

11.27  Clearly, prophesying was obvious and unusual.

11.29  It looks as if this was quoted because the saying became proverbial.

11.31  Quail are small birds: a day’s walk was 20-30 miles.  I don’t dare try to calculate how many birds this means.  2.2 cubic metres means 6ft x 4ft x 3ft.

Psalms

Psalm 48

Isaiah

1.2    A Rebellious Nation

1.3       When I first read this, I thought it was powerfully prophetic of Jesus’ birth.  Unfortunately, Luke 2.7 says very little about animals: all the traditional details are speculation.

1.16    This is the classical role of the prophet – to call the people back to the Lord.

1.18    Excellent text for confession of sin.

Hebrews

9.1    Worship in the Earthly Tabernacle

9.5       Presumably because they were long gone.

9.10    Hebrews is so clear that the old covenant is ineffective, external, a visual aid.  It is the new covenant which achieves our salvation.

9.11  The Blood of Christ

9.18    So many people struggle to understand why animal sacrifice was necessary.  Hebrews implies here that they were a substitute for human beings, and ultimately for Christ.