Today's Scripture Reading (January 27, 2025): Numbers 17
The United States has fifty states; Canada has ten provinces. Every nation seems to be made up of several subgroups. And every nation appears to have regional differences reflected in these divisions. Sometimes, the differences become more profound, something that I admit I struggle to understand. In the United States, there might be fifty states, but there are also five inhabited territories made up of American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. I am unsure why these areas are not states, especially if the population would like to receive State Status, but that is something for politicians to work out.
The same is true for Canada. (I admit I am centering my thoughts on Canada and the United States only because these are the nations I know the best, and for other reasons that might become clearer later.) Canada has three territories. Although the borders of these territories, non-provinces, or non-states, have changed several times over the nation's history. I currently live in Canada, and the area I inhabit was once land that comprised a portion of the Northwest Territories, one of the three Canadian Territories. Today, the Northwest Territories is considerably smaller, and the place where I live can be found in the province, which citizens of the United States would call the state, of Alberta. It is an official subgroup of Canadian land. Canada's three territories are, from east to west, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and Yukon. In the case of the Canadian Territories, which are all in the northern portion of the country, I assume that a lack of population has a lot to do with the Territory status of these Canadian districts.
So, when Donald Trump, jokingly or not, offers Canada status as the 51st state, what would that mean? If all of Canada became one state, then the 51st State of the United States, Canada, would have more land area than any other nation except Russia. However, it also ignores the differences represented by the thirteen Canadian districts, which share some similarities and many differences in belief, even about how the government should react in various situations. There is also a very real English language vs. French language and culture debate. Quebec, a French-speaking province, decides every once in a while that it would like to leave Canada. Would they be happier as a minority voice in the American State of Canada? Somehow, I don't think so.
I have struggled with this passage because the number is wrong. There were thirteen tribes of Israel, although only twelve of those tribes would receive territory in the new Israel. Maybe we could argue that one of them doesn't hold statehood, although that is not entirely true. So, how can we reconcile the number? The most straightforward interpretation would be that the one tribe that would not receive a territory, Levi, was to be left out of this counting. Except that Aaron's staff, representing the tribe of Levi, was included among the staffs given to Moses, so that solution is not available to us.
So, we are left with three conclusions: One is that a scribe simply made a mistake, and thirteen staffs were given to Moses. The second possibility, related to the first, argues that this passage should read that twelve staffs were given to Moses in addition to Aaron's, meaning that Moses once again received thirteen staffs. The last possibility is that, for some unknown reason, Ephraim and Manasseh, two tribes that had emerged from Joseph, the son of Jacob, are combined into one tribe of the descendants of Joseph. The problem is that they had been separated now for four hundred years, so why would they be recombined for this moment in history?
I think the second possibility is the most likely, but that is just a guess; I believe the intention here is that there should be twelve plus one staffs. But your guess is probably as good as mine.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Numbers 18
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