A man is stoned to death for cursing God. As I read these chapters of violence and murder and stoning, I find it hard to reconcile this God with my Abba Father, the God of the New Testament. But somehow there is a bridge.That bridge is Jesus, of course, but that is easier to say in words than to compute in a poor human brain.

These chapters also talk about how every seven years the land is to remain uncultivated, once the Israelites have entered the promised land, and also how every fifty years is freedom year, when slaves are to be given their freedom, and land is to be returned to the ones who owned it.

Dear God, I don’t think I’ll ever understand how you changed, while remaining the same, from the fiery God of Moses to the Abba Father, He who is Love and who forgives. But thank you for doing so. Thank you that you now forgive us as soon as we ask in Jesus name. And in that holy name, I ask forgiveness now for all my sins, Amen.