# Names and Numbers



## Vladimir (Jun 19, 2013)

When reading the historic books and some portions of the Pentateuch, I usually skip the lists of names, places, instructions how to build the Tabernacle and other seemingly unimportant details. I have been worried, though, about regarding any part of the Scriptures 'unimportant'. What is the purpose of those lists? Should we mine to see the meaning behind them?


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## Contra_Mundum (Jun 19, 2013)

The detailed instructions of the Tabernacle are an indication:
1) it was a real structure
2) men need to be informed, in detail (rather than forming their own opinions) about how God may be approached

The specificity of the layout means that the outline is set for the remainder of the OT worship. When actions at the Tabernacle or later the Temple are performed, the reader is able to set the action in a mental framework that is not free-form.

The earthly places and activities have eternal and heavenly analogues. Specific measurements or materials on earth don't have to map to dimensions and appearances in heaven; but they are an indication of the care God took to give Moses exactly what product would best convey the divine truth-intention to human minds.



Names of people and places are demonstrations of historic interest. Geography and family are what make the Bible history, rather than myth. More importantly, they are _*covenant*_ statements; they are concrete indications that God has made promises, and is keeping or means to keep them. In each generation, there are real human beings who are hoping in the promises that God will bring redemption, and set all that is wrong back to right.

Sometimes the lists contain nuggets of non-genetic information that are "salted" in the lists. There are little treasures here and there that will reward the reader.

If you have been adopted into Abraham's faithful line, then in some sense Scripture contains your family tree.



Not all the verses of the Bible have equal importance or equal prominence. Not all of them contain information that _of and by itself_ is beneficial. It has to be related to the whole tapestry of revelation. One can relate this to a grand masterpiece painting. That bit up in the corner is shadowy background, rather than the main subject. Turn the painting over, and you can see the threads of canvas holding the art together. Take away that corner or those threads, and the famous painting of Mona Lisa (for instance) is incomplete.

I would be careful about trying to do "too much" with the lists and details of certain things. We need to appreciate the intent of the author, and not turn the Bible into a numerological puzzle-book. I would not obsess or worry about the less-interesting parts of Scripture. Reading them less is fine. I would read them occasionally, so that there is no part of the Bible I am not familiar with to some degree. But there is no shame in not loving lists of names as much as the narrative flow, or the richness of the Psalms, or the instruction of the Epistles.

Read a good commentary that offers some insight into the "stranger" or "more boring" passages. The fruit of extended meditation on the fullness of Scripture brought to bear on the more obscure passages, as found in Matthew Henry or someone else, can be a great help in appreciating the value of even those portions we tend to yawn through.


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## Vladimir (Jun 23, 2013)

Thank you, Rev. Buchanan.


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