LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?
THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
The most exciting book of the Torah. Like the books of Chronicles and Matthew, it doesn't seem like Numbers gets off to a very exciting start. It's just a bunch of lists! And then there's the name of the book: Numbers. It doesn't seem like gripping reading. After the latter part of Exodus, and the miscellaneous details of Leviticus, it might seem like Numbers is the final book of the Bible where well-meaning Bible In a Year reading plans go to die. But wait. Look again, and Numbers is actually the place where the narrative picks back up. Its Hebrew title is Bemidbar, and it translates to In the Wilderness. This is the book where Israel fights battles, and sends spies into the Promised Land, and experiences an insurrection, and overcomes an international plot to destroy them from within. This is the one where the ground opens up beneath the camp in cinematic fashion and swallows a group of rebels alive. This is the book where Israel finally takes the first parts of the Promised Land, on the other side of the Jordan, before they entered into Jericho, from two Amorite kings, one of which was the legendarily large King Og of Bashan. There hasn't yet been a movie made about the book of Numbers, but there should be. It would be a movie of battles and betrayal and intrigue and loss, buoyed by hope and grit. I look forward to jumping into it with you. We're about to go for a ride together.
Take a look at Judah. We haven't seen much about what God is doing through Judah ever since Genesis 49, when God promised to bring his Promised Deliverer through Judah's line. At this point in history the leaders were all from the line of Levi (Moses and Aaron). Furthermore, the leader who was studying under Moses to replace him was Joshua son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim. Nothing notable seems to be happening with Judah. We might be wondering, has God forgotten Judah? But look again--in the details, you'll see how God is blessing Judah's line. God has not forgotten his promise to bring a Deliverer through that tribe. So we see signs of God's favor on the tribe of Judah in these chapters. By now they are already the largest tribe by a fair bit (Numbers 1:27). And when the camp is organized around the Tabernacle, Judah gets pride of place, with Issachar and Zebulun under its banner, stationed "toward the sunrise" so that the sun shines on the tribe of Judah first each morning (Number 2:3).
Take a look at Judah. We haven't seen much about what God is doing through Judah ever since Genesis 49, when God promised to bring his Promised Deliverer through Judah's line. At this point in history the leaders were all from the line of Levi (Moses and Aaron). Furthermore, the leader who was studying under Moses to replace him was Joshua son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim. Nothing notable seems to be happening with Judah. We might be wondering, has God forgotten Judah? But look again--in the details, you'll see how God is blessing Judah's line. God has not forgotten his promise to bring a Deliverer through that tribe. So we see signs of God's favor on the tribe of Judah in these chapters. By now they are already the largest tribe by a fair bit (Numbers 1:27). And when the camp is organized around the Tabernacle, Judah gets pride of place, with Issachar and Zebulun under its banner, stationed "toward the sunrise" so that the sun shines on the tribe of Judah first each morning (Number 2:3).
In our worship, I think this can cause us to trust God. He is always working in the background, or in the details, even when we can't see the full picture. In our attitudes, if you'll stick in there with me, I think we'll see that it's worth holding on through the drudgery of the "boring" bits of the Bible (and of life) in anticipation of the excitement that God has in store. And in our actions, I think we just keep going in the right direction and march on--at the end of the wilderness, we've got the Promised Land. (Maybe that's a literary feature of this stretch of the Torah--there's so many details and lists and numbers and statistics that by the time Israel starts moving out of the wilderness and things pick up, we feel like we're moving out of the wilderness too. Maybe we're meant to feel like we're part of this story. If that's the case, it's genius storytelling.)
PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US CLOSER TO GOD?
Here is a suggested prayer prompt: "God, help me to stick with it through the hard or the dry bits of life. That's where you want to teach me. I know that you are preparing me for the glory that lies ahead. So give the the grit and stick-to-it-iveness to patiently see things through, so that like Joshua and Caleb I too can see the fruit of my own personal long journey."
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