Best Jacob D Gerber Podcasts (2025)

Bible Readings for June 5th Deuteronomy 9 | Psalms 92–93 | Isaiah 37 | Revelation 7 In Deuteronomy 9, Moses shatters the final false belief that Israel might hold onto about why Yahweh was removing the inhabitants of the land of Canaan in order to give Israel the land as a possession. This has nothing to do, Moses assures Israel, with their righteo…

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June 4th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 8 4:20

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Bible Readings for June 4th Deuteronomy 8 | Psalm 91 | Isaiah 36 | Revelation 6 Deuteronomy 7–9 contains three separate reflections on the scandal of particularity, the subject we discussed in our meditation from Deuteronomy 4. In these chapters, Moses raises three possibilities to explain why Israel might be receiving the blessings of Yahweh—inclu…

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June 3rd: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 7 4:25

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Bible Readings for June 3rd Deuteronomy 7 | Psalm 90 | Isaiah 35 | Revelation 5 Deuteronomy 7 features the second-best circular logic in the Bible. Let me explain what I mean by pointing out Deuteronomy 7:6, where Moses reminds Israel that “you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured…

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June 2nd: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 6 4:18

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Bible Readings for June 2nd Deuteronomy 6 | Psalm 89 | Isaiah 34 | Revelation 4 Deuteronomy 6 is one of the most important chapters in the Old Testament, not least for the fact that Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:5 as one of the two greatest commandments (“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mig…

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June 1st: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 5 4:22

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Bible Readings for June 1st Deuteronomy 5 | Psalm 88 | Isaiah 33 | Revelation 3 In Deuteronomy 5, Moses does not simply repeat the Ten Commandments, but he also reminds Israel of what their response had been at the time when Yahweh had given them the Ten Commandments: fear and reverence. When Yahweh appeared at Mount Sinai to give his law, Israel w…

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May 31st: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 4 4:47

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Bible Readings for May 31st Deuteronomy 4 | Psalms 86–87 | Isaiah 32 | Revelation 2 The phrase “scandal of particularity” describes the shock of realizing that Yahweh chose to save the world through a particular person in a particular place at a particular time. Jesus, of course, is the greatest example of the scandal of particularity, since he was…

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May 30th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 3 4:27

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Bible Readings for May 30th Deuteronomy 3 | Psalm 85 | Isaiah 31 | Revelation 1 If it is tragic to read Moses’s prayer that Yahweh would grant him the right to enter into the Promised Land in Deuteronomy 3:23–25, then it is terrifying to read Yahweh’s flat refusal of Moses’s request: “But the LORD was angry with me because of you and would not list…

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May 29th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 2 4:28

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Bible Readings for May 29th Deuteronomy 2 | Psalms 83–84 | Isaiah 30 | Jude 1 As we discussed yesterday, Deuteronomy gives us Moses’s final sermon before his death. It may seem strange, then, that Deuteronomy, the “second law,” does not begin with the law at all. Instead, Deuteronomy opens with a lengthy retelling of Israel’s history, beginning fro…

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May 28th: Bible Meditation for Deuteronomy 1 4:19

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Bible Readings for May 28th Deuteronomy 1 | Psalms 81–82 | Isaiah 29 | 3 John 1 Although Deuteronomy is one of the longer books in the Old Testament, with thirty-four chapters, it does not represent the passage of much time. In Deuteronomy, we do not read new narratives of Israel’s journey through the wilderness, nor of new battles Israel fights, n…

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May 27th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 36 4:23

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Bible Readings for May 27th Numbers 36 | Psalm 80 | Isaiah 28 | 2 John 1 Numbers 36 continues the story that we read back in Numbers 27, when the daughters of Zelophehad petitioned Moses to receive the inheritance that had belonged to their father, since he had died without a male heir to carry on the family’s place in Israel. It seems that, as tim…

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May 26th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 35 4:13

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Bible Readings for May 26th Numbers 35 | Psalm 79 | Isaiah 27 | 1 John 5 In Numbers 35, Yahweh lays out a plan for creating cities of refuge—six of the forty-eight cities that the Levites would inhabit (Num. 35:6–7). These cities of refuge were a place for a person to flee until he could stand trial if he brought about the death of another person u…

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May 25th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 34 4:13

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Bible Readings for May 25th Numbers 34 | Psalm 78:38–72 | Isaiah 26 | 1 John 4 In Numbers 34, Yahweh commands Moses to prepare Israel in two ways to enter into the Promised Land—first, by spelling out the boundaries of the land that Israel would inhabit and, second, by appointing a new set of tribal chiefs for Israel. The time is drawing nearer whe…

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May 24th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 33 4:13

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Bible Readings for May 24th Numbers 33 | Psalm 78:1–37 | Isaiah 25 | 1 John 3 In Numbers 33, we see the whole story of Yahweh’s covenant with his people laid out in brief, recounting every event from the day of their redemption out of the hand of Egypt (Num. 33:3) all the way through the mission that Yahweh was giving his people on the brink of the…

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May 23rd: Bible Meditation for Numbers 32 4:29

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Bible Readings for May 23rd Numbers 32 | Psalm 77 | Isaiah 24 | 1 John 2 The story in Numbers 32 is more important than we might realize at first. In fact, we will continue to hear echoes of the settling of Reuben and Gad in Gilead, the land east of the Jordan, through the rest of the Bible. We should pay close attention to the agreement that Moses…

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May 22nd: Bible Meditation for Numbers 31 4:32

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Bible Readings for May 22nd Numbers 31 | Psalm 75–76 | Isaiah 23 | 1 John 1 The text of Numbers 31 raises many difficult questions about subjects like warfare, genocide, plundering, and slavery. Yahweh instructs Moses to “avenge the people of Israel on the Midianites” (Num. 31:2) for two major events. First, the Midianites were involved along with …

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May 21st: Bible Meditation for Numbers 30 4:20

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Bible Readings for May 21st Numbers 30 | Psalm 74 | Isaiah 22 | 2 Peter 3 In Numbers 30, Yahweh insists that his people keep their vows. The basic principle is simple: if you make a promise, keep it. Or, as Yahweh himself puts it, anyone who makes a vow or swears an oath or binds himself with a pledge “shall do according to all that proceeds out of…

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May 20th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 29 4:22

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Bible Readings for May 20th Numbers 29 | Psalm 73 | Isaiah 21 | 2 Peter 2 It is difficult to overstate the significance of the calendar of worship that Yahweh gave for his people. Every year, Yahweh commanded the people of Israel to appear before him during three major sets of feasts (Ex. 23:17, 34:23; Deut. 16:16) on top of all the other sacrifice…

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May 19th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 28 4:28

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Bible Readings for May 19th Numbers 28 | Psalm 72 | Isaiah 19–20 | 2 Peter 1 It is staggering to consider the sheer volume of sacrifices that were offered on the altar of Israel. When we think of sacrifices, we might imagine an occasional sacrifice here or there, but in fact, the worship of the old covenant was built on perpetual sacrifices. Every …

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May 18th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 27 4:37

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Bible Readings for May 18th Numbers 27 | Psalms 70–71 | Isaiah 17–18 | 1 Peter 5 Because Moses will not remain with Israel forever, we find Moses making more and more preparations for his looming absence as we continue to read through the end of the Pentateuch. Here in Numbers 27, we find Moses making preparations for his departure in two important…

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May 17th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 26 4:21

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Bible Readings for May 17th Numbers 26 | Psalm 69 | Isaiah 16 | 1 Peter 4 The reason our English Bibles call this the book of “Numbers” is that two national censuses are taken—one in the first chapter and another here: “Among these the land shall be divided for inheritance according to the number of names. To a large tribe you shall give a large in…

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May 16th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 25 4:20

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Bible Readings for May 16th Numbers 25 | Psalm 68 | Isaiah 15 | 1 Peter 3 As we discussed in our meditation for Numbers 22, the book of Numbers describes Israel’s descent. In the beginning of Numbers, we see the perfect system Israel received that made it possible for Yahweh to dwell in their midst, but then the rest of the book traces Israel’s fal…

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May 15th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 24 4:28

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Bible Readings for May 15th Numbers 24 | Psalms 66–67 | Isaiah 14 | 1 Peter 2 Numbers 24 contains the final two of Balaam’s four prophetic oracles, and they take us from the beginning of the Bible all the way to the end, tying together the whole story at once. In his third oracle, in Numbers 24:5–6, notice that Balaam describes Israel in terms of a…

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May 14th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 23 4:19

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Bible Readings for May 14th Numbers 23 | Psalms 64–65 | Isaiah 13 | 1 Peter 1 In the mind of Balak, the arrangement he was making with Balaam was simple. Balaam would prophetically curse Israel, and Balak would make Balaam rich as a reward. Balak’s mistake is understandable, although certainly not excusable. He genuinely thought about prophets like…

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May 13th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 22 4:29

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Bible Readings for May 13th Numbers 22 | Psalms 62–63 | Isaiah 11–12 | James 5 The book of Numbers begins with a system—a perfect system that Yahweh gave to his people to regulate how they conducted themselves in his presence so that he could live in their midst. Yahweh had set precise boundaries, with promises of blessing for obedience and warning…

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May 12th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 21 4:13

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Bible Readings for May 12th Numbers 21 | Psalms 60–61 | Isaiah 10 | James 4 As though they had already forgotten that they had just provoked Moses to disqualify himself from entering into the Promised Land in Numbers 20, the people of Israel fall right back into their old habits, saying to Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in t…

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May 11th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 20 4:32

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Bible Readings for May 11th Numbers 20 | Psalms 58–59 | Isaiah 9 | James 3 It takes only four verses here in Numbers 20 to disqualify the great Moses from entering into the Promised Land. It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with Moses’s striking the rock with his staff to bring forth water, since he had previously done that in strict accordance…

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May 10th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 19 4:15

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Bible Readings for May 10th Numbers 19 | Psalms 56–57 | Isaiah 8 | James 2 As in Numbers 5:1–4, Yahweh commands again here in Numbers 19 that anyone who has any contact with the dead must remain outside the camp until he or she has been purified. The context of Numbers 19 is interesting, since in the next chapter, Numbers 20, we read about the deat…

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May 9th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 17–18 4:14

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Bible Readings for May 9th Numbers 17–18 | Psalm 55 | Isaiah 7 | James 1 In the first ten chapters of Numbers, Yahweh established multiple physical boundaries to protect his holiness. But Israel’s many rebellions—capped off by the rebellion of Korah in Numbers 16—raise serious questions about whether Yahweh would allow the same protocols to continu…

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May 8th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 16 4:34

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Bible Readings for May 8th Numbers 16 | Psalms 52, 53, & 54 | Isaiah 6 | Hebrews 13 In Numbers 4, Yahweh had given privileges to the Kohathites above all Israel—and even above the other clans of the tribe of Levi, Gershon and Merari—but he had also given them specific limitations. While the Kohathites were never classified as holy, they alone held …

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May 7th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 15 4:17

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Bible Readings for May 7th Numbers 15 | Psalm 51 | Isaiah 5 | Hebrews 12 In our meditation for Leviticus 4, we observed that sin offerings (Lev. 4:2, 13, 22, 27) and guilt offerings (Lev. 5:14, 17; 6:4) only atoned for unintentional sins—that is, the kind of sins that were committed either without the knowledge that a particular action was forbidde…

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May 6th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 14 4:22

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Bible Readings for May 6th Numbers 14 | Psalm 50 | Isaiah 3–4 | Hebrews 11 If things started to fall apart in Numbers 12, it’s in Numbers 13 and 14 that the situation in Israel completely unravels. Ever since Yahweh promised Abraham he would give Abraham’s offspring the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession (Gen. 12:7, 15:7–21, 17:8), there h…

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May 5th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 12–13 4:21

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Bible Readings for May 5th Numbers 12–13 | Psalm 49 | Isaiah 2 | Hebrews 10 Numbers 12 is where things start to fall apart. Through all of Numbers—and through Exodus and Leviticus before that—we have seen Yahweh establish a highly organized arrangement in the camp of Israel, allowing his holiness to dwell in the midst of sinful people. To keep his …

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May 4th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 11 4:19

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Bible Readings for May 4th Numbers 11 | Psalm 48 | Isaiah 1 | Hebrews 9 The resting of the Spirit on the seventy elders of Israel is a fascinating example of the expansion—and limitations—of the Holy Spirit’s ministry under the old covenant. In Numbers 11, Yahweh instructs Moses to gather seventy elders of Israel, explaining that “I will take some …

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May 3rd: Bible Meditation for Numbers 10 4:24

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Bible Readings for May 3rd Numbers 10 | Psalms 46–47 | Song of Songs 8 | Hebrews 8 Up to this point in the book of Numbers, we have mainly seen how Yahweh has organized how the camp will function, with his holiness at the center, in the midst of his people. In Numbers 10, we finally see Israel actually pack up their camp to move to the next site (N…

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May 2nd: Bible Meditation for Numbers 9 4:09

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Bible Readings for May 2nd Numbers 9 | Psalm 45 | Song of Songs 7 | Hebrews 7 The observance of the Passover in Numbers 9 illustrates a principle we have seen throughout our study of Numbers. Yahweh is careful to protect his own holiness, so that he does not allow anyone who has become unclean through touching a dead body to participate in the Pass…

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May 1st: Bible Meditation for Numbers 8 4:26

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Bible Readings for May 1st Numbers 8 | Psalm 44 | Song of Songs 6 | Hebrews 6 In Numbers 8, Yahweh prepares the Levites for their service by cleansing them. The first thing we see in Numbers 8 is that the Levites were actually cleansed during this process with sprinkled water of purification, the shaving of their bodies, and washed clothes (Num. 8:…

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April 30th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 7 4:13

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Bible Readings for April 30th Numbers 7 | Psalms 42–43 | Song of Songs 5 | Hebrews 5 Yesterday, we looked at the non-priestly class of holy people in Israel: the Nazirites. Today’s reading in Numbers 7 addresses two other issues regarding holiness within Israel’s camp. While priests and Nazirites were the only holy people, the tabernacle was filled…

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April 29th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 6 4:46

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Bible Readings for April 29th Numbers 6 | Psalms 40–41 | Song of Songs 4 | Hebrews 4 One major theological distinction that comes up repeatedly in the book of Numbers—and one that we are likely to miss unless we are looking for it—is the difference between clean and holy. The words are not interchangeable. We had talked about this distinction in ou…

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April 28th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 5 4:16

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Bible Readings for April 28th Numbers 5 | Psalm 39 | Song of Songs 3 | Hebrews 3 In Numbers 5, Yahweh continues to establish physical boundaries, instituting three new policies to keep his own holiness free from any contamination that the people of Israel might cause. First, Yahweh commands that anyone with disease, discharge, or uncleanness from c…

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April 27th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 4 4:28

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Bible Readings for April 27th Numbers 4 | Psalm 38 | Song of Songs 2 | Hebrews 2 As we continue to read through the book of Numbers, we need to keep in mind that Israel is still encamped at Mount Sinai at this point, just as they have been since Exodus 19. The second half of the book of Exodus, all of Leviticus, and the first several chapters of Nu…

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April 26th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 3 5:00

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Bible Readings for April 26th Numbers 3 | Psalm 37 | Song of Songs 1 | Hebrews 1 Not all Levites were priests. A priest had to be a male descendent of Aaron, who was a Kohathite. The lineage of the priests looks like this (Ex. 6:16–25): Levi —> Kohath —> Amram —> Aaron —> Priests So, none of the Merarites or Gershonites were priests, and only some …

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April 25th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 2 4:47

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Bible Readings for April 25th Numbers 2 | Psalm 36 | Ecclesiastes 12 | Philemon 1 Yesterday, we began to discuss the way God was at work arranging the physical space inside Israel’s camp in the book of Numbers. In Numbers 1:47–54, God laid out the basic seating chart: the Israelites were to set up their camp with the tabernacle at the very center o…

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April 24th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 1 4:15

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Bible Readings for April 24th Numbers 1 | Psalm 35 | Ecclesiastes 11 | Titus 3 Students in most any kind of classroom, if they pay careful attention, can learn a lot about the teacher within the first few minutes of the very first day of class. For example, some teachers allow students to sit anywhere they like, while others come prepared with a de…

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April 23rd: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 27 4:18

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Bible Readings for April 23rd Leviticus 27 | Psalm 34 | Ecclesiastes 10 | Titus 2 In context, the final chapter of Leviticus is a bit of a puzzle. Leviticus 26, yesterday’s reading, seems like a perfectly fitting close to a single book, with an overarching summary of the blessings and curses that Yahweh would give for obedience or for disobedience,…

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April 22nd: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 26 4:51

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Bible Readings for April 22nd Leviticus 26 | Psalm 33 | Ecclesiastes 9 | Titus 1 The promises of the old covenant were a two-edged sword. On the one hand, Yahweh promised to establish paradise on earth for Israel if they obeyed all his statutes and commandments, but on the other hand, Yahweh promised hell on earth if his people refused to listen to…

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April 21st: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 25 4:25

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Bible Readings for April 21st Leviticus 25 | Psalm 32 | Ecclesiastes 8 | 2 Timothy 4 Leviticus 25 introduces us to one of the more intriguing events that Yahweh mandated for his people: the Year of Jubilee. In part, the Year of Jubilee is fascinating as an economic model for restoring lost inheritance property to families who had to sell it away be…

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April 20th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 24 4:15

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Bible Readings for April 20th Leviticus 24 | Psalm 31 | Ecclesiastes 7 | 2 Timothy 3 In all of Leviticus, only two stories break up the statutes and legislation that otherwise fill up the book:1 one story comes in Leviticus 10, narrating how Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, had offered strange fire before Yahweh. The other story comes here in Le…

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April 19th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 23 4:34

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Bible Readings for April 19th Leviticus 23 | Psalm 30 | Ecclesiastes 6 | 2 Timothy 2 In Leviticus 23, Yahweh lays out the regular calendar of festivals for Israel. A large part of Israel’s worship was bound up in special feasts that Yahweh had commanded to commemorate something he had done in creation or in his work of redemption. The first set of …

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April 18th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 22 4:27

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Bible Readings for April 18th Leviticus 22 | Psalms 28–29 | Ecclesiastes 5 | 2 Timothy 1 Leviticus 22 continues the theme from Leviticus 21, which is that the priests were held to a higher standard of holiness because of the fact that they served in the tabernacle, the holy place where God himself dwelt. So, they were to take measures above and bey…