Tag: Egypt

47.i. “Wilderness” – 11.o. “And be holy to your God”

 

Num 15:37  The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the LORD your God.”

 Leviticus 11:44    For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy

 Leviticus 19:2    “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.

 Romans 12:1    I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

 Ephesians 1:4    even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him

 1 Thessalonians 4:7    For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.

 1 Peter 1:15-16     but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,  since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

We should use every means of refreshing our memories with the truths and precepts of God’s word, to strengthen and quicken our obedience, and arm our minds against temptation. Be holy unto your God; cleansed from sin, and sincerely devoted to his service; and that great reason for all the commandments is again and again repeated, I am the Lord your God. (Henry)

But be found in the observance of every moral precept, and of every religious ordinance and duty: and be holy unto your God: as in his presence, according to his will, and for his honour and glory, by keeping his holy commands, and living an holy life and conversation, well pleasing in his sight. (Gill)

For I am the Lord your God.—As the Lord who is their God is Himself holy, His people, in order to enjoy perfect communion with Him, must also be holy. Hence they must abstain from all these objects of defilement which mar that holy communion. (Ellicott)

Ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy, for I am holy; that is, separate themselves from all other people, and be distinct from them. By observing his commands, and living according to his will, and to his glory, they would be holy in a moral sense, as they ought to be, who were under the peculiar care and notice of a holy God, and so highly favoured by him. (Gill)

 They were to sanctify themselves, that is, to avoid uncleanness, because God is holy, and they were God’s. (Unknown)

Do we give proper thought to the holiness of God? Do we even register a thought on being holy? Do we grow in our understanding of God’s Holiness by neglecting His Word? Are we ever growing in our knowledge of His holiness? Unless we grow in this knowledge we will never understand the depth of His grace, mercy, and love.

47.d. “Wilderness” – 11.j. “God Promises Judgment”

 

Num 14:20-25  Then the LORD said, “I have pardoned, according to your word. But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD, none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it. But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it. Now, since the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valleys, turn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”

We don’t understand the relationship between the eternal, sovereign plan of God and our prayers; but we know it is no game. God never wanted Moses to think of it as a game and wanted Moses to at least think that his prayers had directly affected the outcome: I have pardoned, according to your word! We should pray as if life and death, heaven and hell, would be decided by our prayers!  God had brought them to the threshold of the Promised Land, but they rebelled against Him and did not enter – so God will send them back to the wilderness. (Guzik)

The Lord granted the prayer of Moses so far as not at once to destroy the congregation. But disbelief of the promise forbids the benefit. Those who despise the pleasant land shall be shut out of it. The promise of God should be fulfilled to their children. They wished to die in the wilderness; God made their sin their ruin, took them at their word, and their carcases fell in the wilderness. They were made to groan under the burden of their own sin, which was too heavy for them to bear. Ye shall know my breach of promise, both the causes of it, that it is procured by your sin, for God never leaves any till they first leave him; and the consequences of it, that will produce your ruin. (Henry)

In answer to this importunate prayer, the Lord promised forgiveness, namely, the preservation of the nation, but not the remission of the well-merited punishment. At the rebellion at Sinai, He had postponed the punishment “till the day of His visitation” (Exodus 32:34). And that day had now arrived, as the people had carried their continued rebellion against the Lord to the furthest extreme, even to an open declaration of their intention to depose Moses, and return to Egypt under another leader, and thus had filled up the measure of their sins. “Nevertheless,” added the Lord (Numbers 14:21, Numbers 14:22), “as truly as I live, and the glory of Jehovah will fill the whole earth, all the men who have seen My glory and My miracles…shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers.”  (Keil)

It is so easy for us to see barriers and road blocks in our path and much harder to trust and rely on Jesus Christ when there is lukewarm commitment to things of God and neglect of His Word in our daily lives. One point that I want to make is about that first person who made an unfavorable report and stated fear of following what God ordained for them to do. This first person had no fear of God, no trust in God, and no reliance on God, and yet the others fell in line to his report and fear. If we listen to others fear and give it more credibility over our trust and reliance on God then surely we will follow their line of thinking. I see it all the time in those who spend much of their time listening to news media outlets and social media posts. They regurgitate the fear and hate they choose to listen too. How easily sheep are led by the dark opinions of others who have no thoughts about things of God or His holiness, glory, honor, power, sovereignty, strength, wisdom, plans, purposes, etc… I find no good coming from news outlets or much of the social media posts. A careful examination or review of most will tell you that it is garbage, opinionated, and filled with pride, lies, half-truths, and nothing wholesome. 

Think about it. God’s Word is life, truth, and profitable for every day. It will lead a person to repentance, salvation, obedience, faith, and give strength, wisdom, power, hope, refuge, and continually feed the soul unto kindness, gentleness, and joy. 

What is feeding your soul? What are you allowing into your mind? If you want to grow and honor and glorify Jesus Christ in all you think, say, and do, spend time in His Word with a hunger to do just that. Stop feeding it with what others think is important about worldly stuff.

47.c. “Wilderness” – 11.i. “He will by no means clear the guilty”

 

Num 14:13-19  But Moses said to the LORD, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O LORD, are in the midst of this people. For you, O LORD, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say, ‘It is because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.’ And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, ‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”

 Micah 7:18    Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love

 Nahum 1:2-3   The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and wrathful; the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.  The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

 Exodus 20:5    You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

The Israelites for the last 2 years have seen the 10 plagues against Egypt that set them free, the parting of the Red Sea, the death of the Egyptian army, water from a rock, manna each morning, the leading of God by a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, the 10 commandments given, directions for building the tabernacle, and the establishment of the priestly order of worship. 

Now they are to head into the promised land at God’s direction, but what do they do? They think it best to send in spies and scope out this promised land to determine the fruit of it and the strength of the people living there. At the conclusion of this “spying out of the land”, 10 of the spies gave a favorable report of the fruit of the land but a fearful report of the people and their strength. Only two gave favorable reports and trust in God, Caleb, and Joshua. 

In two years they have witnessed a special calling of God and a powerful display of His strength and love. And yet, they feared what God has promised them in this new land. Their fear is well-placed if they look at it from a human perspective. They did not have their own means, power, or strength to win battles over the people in the promised land. They had never battled. What were they to use for weapons? What plans could they come up with to defeat these people? As they looked at this from all sides with a human perspective it was obvious they could not venture into the land. In fact, they deemed it better to go back to Egypt and become slaves. Let’s choose another leader amongst ourselves and head back. We will not trust God or Moses, His chosen leader. 

Now Moses intercedes for the people whom God could easily destroy. It is in this intercession that the people are redeemed from certain death and we will next read of God’s judgment for this fear, rejection, and rebellion.

God is able to do more than we ask and much more than we can imagine. He is limitless in wisdom, power, and might. He can do all things. What is there that He has not created? What is there that He can not do? Why do we wallow in fear and anger at situations that God can easily overcome? Trust and rely on Him and all things are possible.

47.b. “Wilderness” – 11.h. “Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?”

 

Num 14:1  Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes  and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. If the LORD delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.” Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of the LORD appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel. And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

The tribes of Israel were confronted with two reports regarding the Promised Land. Two of the twelve spies (Caleb and Joshua) said, Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it (Numbers 13:30). The message of the other ten spies was, “What God promised about the land is true; nevertheless, the natives of the land are too mighty, and we cannot overcome them, despite what God has promised” Those who refused to trust God and His promise were not a minority or even a slight majority. Unbelief spread among God’s people like an epidemic, infecting virtually all of Israel.

The unbelief of the ten spies accurately represented the unbelieving heart of the nation. Israel wept that night when they heard that the enemies in Canaan were strong. Their tearful grief had at least four distinct aspects.

i. They mourned because God would not make it all “easy.” We often expect this of God and therefore we often resent adversity. This is to forget the example of Jesus, who faced great difficulty in life and ministry. We may forget that we, as disciples, are not above Jesus our Master.

ii. They mourned with resentment against God, putting the blame on Him. In doing this, they denied that the LORD is a loving Father who cares for His children.

iii. They mourned and gave in to the feeling of unbelief and fear. This sorrow allowed their feelings to overwhelm their thinking and actions, instead of being directed by a thinking faith in the living God. This was a sinful and unbelieving trust in the feelings of fear and sorrow.

iv. They mourned over a loss. We often mourn because something has died. They felt the promise of Canaan had died, becoming impossible. Instead, God wanted them to “die” to their unbelief and their trust in self.

This shows the great tragedy of unbelief. Less than two years out of Egypt, Israel here stood on the threshold of the Promised Land. Over the first ten chapters of Numbers Israel was fully prepared to live and go forward as people suited for God’s Promised Land. They had been ordered and organized; cleansed and purified; set apart and blessed; taught how to give and how to function as priests. In that period, Israel was made to remember judgment spared and deliverance brought; they were given God’s presence as a guide, and the tools needed to lead the people. Yet, unbelief prevented this otherwise prepared people from receiving God’s promises. Tragically for this generation of Israelites, God would give them what their rebellious, unbelieving hearts wanted. They would die in the desert, never making it to the Promised Land.  Israel rejected a life of faith. If God intended to lead them into a deeper trust than before, they wanted no part of it.  When we distrust and doubt God, we should ask which attribute of His we think will fail. Do we think God has lost His power? His goodness? His honesty? His faithfulness? His love?  Their fear and unbelief were willful rebellion. Therefore, Joshua and Caleb appealed to the will of the people, asking them to decide to give up their rebellion and return to the LORD. Israel did not have to give in to their feelings of fear, of anger against the LORD, of unbelief. By God’s grace they could choose to submit to Him and trust Him. Those who live in rebellion and unbelief often find those who live in faith and submission to God to be aggravating and disturbing. This is especially true if those who live in faith try to correct or guide the rebellious and unbelieving. (Guzik)

“Often in a state of rebellion against God, one loses the benefit of spiritual mooring, whereby wisdom and discernment become elusive and proper decision making is made extremely difficult. Worry and fear dominate one’s thought patterns.” (Cole)

“So, my brethren, let us strip our discouragements and murmurings of all their disguises, and see them in their true character, and they will appear in their own naked deformity as discrediting God. It is true the difficulty before us may appear great, but it cannot be great to the Lord, who has promised to make us more than conquerors.” (Spurgeon)

47. “Wilderness” – 11.f. “Spy out the land of Canaan”

 

Num 13:17-24  Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up into the Negeb and go up into the hill country, and see what the land is, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds, and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes. So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath. They went up into the Negeb and came to Hebron. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs. That place was called the Valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster that the people of Israel cut down from there.

Moses’ direction to the spies was a subtle example of unbelief. When God first commissioned Moses, He told him that the land was a good and large land…a land flowing with milk and honey (Exodus 3:8). Moses told Israel that it was a good land (Exodus 13:5). There is at least a small sense here that Moses sent the spies to see if God was truthful in describing the land. Nevertheless, this was an entirely reasonable thing for Moses to do, and it reflected the curiosity of all of Israel. After all, they had never seen this land, nor had almost any Israelite for some 400 years. In some sense, this was a dangerous question to ask. If they thought the people of Canaan were strong, they might be afraid to go into the land and conquer them. If they thought they were weak, they might enter trusting in their own strength. The descendants of Anak, were there: This is the first Biblical mention of these people. They were a people of great stature (Numbers 13:33) and thought to be fierce warriors (Deuteronomy 9:2). (Guzik)

The most eager discoverer of discrepancies in the component parts of the Pentateuch need not press this one into his service, for both sides may be true: the one representing the human feebleness which originated the wish; the other, the divine compliance with the desire, in order to disclose the unbelief which unfitted the people for the impending struggle, and to educate them by letting them have their foolish way, and taste its bitter results. Putting the two accounts together, we get, not a contradiction, but a complete view, which teaches a large truth as to God’s dealings; namely, that He often lovingly lets us have our own way to show us by the issues that His is better, and that daring, which is obedience, is the true prudence. How many of us, when brought right up to some task involving difficulty or danger, but unmistakably laid on us by God, shelter our distrustful fears under the fair pretext of ‘knowing a little more about it first,’ and shake wise heads over rashness which takes God at His word, and thinks that it knows enough when it knows what He wills? (MacLaren)

Therefore God lovingly permitted the mission of the spies, and so brought lurking unbelief to the surface, where it could be dealt with. Let us beware of the one-eyed ‘prudence’ which sees only the perils in the path of duty and enterprise for God, and is blind to the all-sufficient presence which makes us more than conquerors, when we lean all our weight on it. (MacLaren)

46.p. “Wilderness” – 10.v. “Strong craving”

 

Num 11:4  Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. The people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.

Man, having forsaken his proper rest, feels uneasy and wretched, though prosperous. They were weary of the provision God had made for them, although wholesome food and nourishing. It cost no money or care, and the labour of gathering it was very little indeed; yet they talked of Egypt’s cheapness, and the fish they ate there freely; as if that cost them nothing, when they paid dearly for it with hard service! While they lived on manna, they seemed exempt from the curse sin has brought on man, that in the sweat of his face he should eat bread; yet they speak of it with scorn. Peevish, discontented minds will find fault with that which has no fault in it, but that it is too good for them. Those who might be happy, often make themselves miserable by discontent. They could not be satisfied unless they had flesh to eat. It is evidence of the dominion of the carnal mind, when we want to have the delights and satisfaction of sense. We should not indulge in any desire which we cannot in faith turn into prayer, as we cannot when we ask meat for our lust. What is lawful of itself becomes evil, when God does not allot it to us, yet we desire it. (Henry)

Oh that our cravings were fueled by a deep desire to honor and glorify Jesus Christ. Our hearts would not complain but rather “REJOICE”.

46.h. “Wilderness” – 10.n. “The separation and dedication of the Levites for service”

Num 8:5-7  And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the Levites from among the people of Israel and cleanse them. Thus you shall do to them to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of purification upon them, and let them go with a razor over all their body, and wash their clothes and cleanse themselves.

Num 8:13-14  And you shall set the Levites before Aaron and his sons, and shall offer them as a wave offering to the LORD.  “Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.

Num 8:16-17  For they are wholly given to me from among the people of Israel. Instead of all who open the womb, the firstborn of all the people of Israel, I have taken them for myself. For all the firstborn among the people of Israel are mine, both of man and of beast. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I consecrated them for myself,

Num 8:21-22  And the Levites purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes, and Aaron offered them as a wave offering before the LORD, and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. And after that the Levites went in to do their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and his sons; as the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

Consecration of the Levites for their service in the sanctuary. – The choice of the Levites for service in the sanctuary, in the place of the first-born of the people generally, has been already noticed in Numbers 3:5., and the duties binding upon them in Numbers 4:4. But before entering upon their duties they were to be consecrated to the work, and then formally handed over to the priests. (Keil)

Though this seems to design no other but their appointment and separation to their work and service, as ministers to the priests of the Lord; and so as Aaron did not assume the honour of priesthood to himself but was called of God, the Levites did not take the honour of their office to themselves but had it by the appointment and call of God: and cleanse them; with water, by sprinkling the water of purification on them, and by washing their bodies and clothes with water; which outward washing was a sign of moral purity, which was necessary to their employment in the service of the sanctuary; for though there was no particular uncleanness on them, either ceremonial or moral, but what was common to men; yet it was proper, by such outward rites, to put them and others in mind, that they which are employed about holy things should be eminently pure and holy; and as their business was to carry holy things, to bear the sacred vessels of the sanctuary from place to place when needful, they ought of all men to be clean, Isaiah 52:11, and in this they were emblems of the ministers of the word, who ought to be pure, as in heart, so in life and conversation, and be examples of purity to others. (Gill)

Being set apart for service is a calling to every believer. It is in this service to God that our hearts will find satisfaction. It is not as though we pick the service to which we think we are best suited, but rather we are to do that which the Lord has called us to do. We are His creation for His pleasure to use for His plans and purposes.   How should we conduct our lives in light of being set apart for His service?

Lord God, guide me, fill me, lead me, and make Your will, plan, and purposes alive in me so that I might better honor and glorify You.

45.u. “Wilderness” – 10. “The Levites shall be mine: I am the LORD.”

 

Numbers 3:11-13  And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the people of Israel. The Levites shall be mine, for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the firstborn in Israel, both of man and of beast. They shall be mine: I am the LORD.”

 Numbers 3:45     “Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the people of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle. The Levites shall be mine: I am the LORD.

 Numbers 3:45    “Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the people of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle. The Levites shall be mine: I am the LORD.

 Numbers 8:16     For they are wholly given to me from among the people of Israel. Instead of all who open the womb, the firstborn of all the people of Israel, I have taken them for myself.

 Numbers 8:18    and I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the people of Israel.

 Numbers 18:6    And behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the people of Israel. They are a gift to you, given to the LORD, to do the service of the tent of meeting.

 I have taken the Levites, &c.—The consecration of this tribe did not originate in the legislative wisdom of Moses, but in the special appointment of God, who chose them as substitutes for the first-born. By an appointment made in memory of the last solemn judgment on Egypt (from which the Israelitish households were miraculously exempt) all the first-born were consecrated to God (Ex 13:12; 22:29), who thus, under peculiar circumstances, seemed to adopt the patriarchal usage of appointing the oldest to act as the priest of the family. But the privilege of redemption that was allowed the first-born opened the way for a change; and accordingly, on the full organization of the Mosaic economy, the administration of sacred things formerly committed to the first-born was transferred from them to the Levites, who received that honor partly as a tribute to Moses and Aaron, partly because this tribe had distinguished themselves by their zeal in the affair of the golden calf (Ex 32:29), and also because, being the smallest of the tribes, they could ill find suitable employment and support in the work. (See on [55]De 33:8). The designation of a special class for the sacred offices of religion was a wise arrangement; for, on their settlement in Canaan, the people would be so occupied that they might not be at leisure to wait on the service of the sanctuary, and sacred things might, from various causes, fall into neglect. But the appointment of an entire tribe to the divine service ensured the regular performance of the rites of religion. The subsequent portion of the chapter relates to the formal substitution of this tribe.

I am the Lord—that is, I decree it to be so; and being possessed of sovereign authority, I expect full obedience. (Brown)

Moreover, the Levites had proved themselves to be the most suitable of all the tribes for his post, through their firm and faithful defence of the honour of the Lord at the worship of the golden calf (Exodus 32:26.). It is in this spirit, which distinguished the tribe of Levi, that we may undoubtedly discover the reason why they were chosen by God for the service of the sanctuary. (Keil)

45.r. “Wilderness” – 9.x. “every man able to go to war in Israel— all those listed were 603,550”

 

Num 1:45  So all those listed of the people of Israel, by their fathers’ houses, from twenty years old and upward, every man able to go to war in Israel— all those listed were 603,550.

 Genesis 12:2    And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

 Deuteronomy 10:22   Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.

 Hebrews 11:11-12     By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.  Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

 Revelation 7:9    After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,

Including women, children, and old men, together with the Levites, the whole population of Israel, on the ordinary principles of computation, amounted to about 2,400,000. (Brown)

We have here the sum total. How much was required to maintain all these in the wilderness! They were all provided for by God every day. When we observe the faithfulness of God, however unlikely the performance of his promise may appear, we may take courage as to those which yet remain to be fulfilled to the church of God. (Henry)

It is hard to imagine how a small group of ~70 that came into Egypt became greater than 2,000,000 in 200+ years not to mention how these were fed and cared for in the wilderness for 40 years. If you try to math this out it is something only God’s plans, purpose, and will could accomplish. We read in Ephesians that God can do more than we ask and much more than we can imagine. This is true here. Our God has more power, might, knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and whatever other words of greatness the dictionary has. He is limitless in what He can do and what He does is according to His perfect plans, purposes, and will. The more we read His Word the more we see of His awesomeness. This is the God we serve and for sure we ought to serve Him worthy of who He is. Our thoughts each day should be in line with faithfulness, trust, reliance, obedience, and how we might honor and glorify Jesus Christ more today than yesterday.

45.o. “Wilderness” – 9.u. “Take a census”

 

Numbers 1:1-4  The LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, by clans, by fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male, head by head. From twenty years old and upward, all in Israel who are able to go to war, you and Aaron shall list them, company by company. And there shall be with you a man from each tribe, each man being the head of the house of his fathers.

As recorded in the book of Exodus, God miraculously rescued Israel from their long slavery in Egypt. They came through the Red Sea and saw God provide through the desert wilderness. Israel then came to Mount Sinai where God appeared to them in a spectacular way. At Mount Sinai Moses went up to meet with God and receive the law. At Mount Sinai, the people of Israel also honored an idolatrous image of a golden calf and were afterward corrected by the LORD. The main part of the book of Exodus covers about one year, and Leviticus only a month – but the story of the book of Numbers covers more than 38 years.

The book of Numbers approaches it all God’s way. In the wilderness, one may be tempted to launch a hundred different schemes and plans to move forward. But only God’s way really works; and the book of Numbers tells us about God’s way. The idea that the LORD spoke to Moses is repeated more than 150 times

The book of Numbers is all about God’s people in the Wilderness – how they got there, how God dealt with them in the wilderness, and how He brought them out of the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land.

“The theme of the book of Numbers is the journey to the Promised Land of Canaan. Its opening ten chapters, covering a mere fifty days, describe how Moses organized Israel for the march from Sinai to the Promised Land.”

“So the Israelites had been slaves in the land of Goshen; their tasks were appointed, and their taskmasters compelled their obedience. Their difficulties had been great, their bondage cruel, but they were free from the necessity of thought and arrangement. Having escaped from their taskmaster, they imagined that freedom meant escape from rule. They had been taught in their year of encampment under the shadow of the mountain that they had to submit to law, and it was irksome to them, and they became discontented. This discontent resulted from lack of perfect confidence in God.”

Now they were numbered again for the purpose of organizing and counting an army. God wanted the count made by their families because the strength of Israel was determined by looking at the strength of individual families. This was a military census to see who could fight for Israel in taking the Promised Land. This was the first step in taking the Promised Land – an inventory to understand the resources they had to conquer the Promised Land. The taking of this census would have a great effect on the nation. As the count was made, every family knew preparations were being made for war. (Guzik)