Numbering The Sons of Israel

Transcript

GRS 2-26
02/26/2006
Numbering the Sons of Israel
Numbers 1
Gil Rugh


I want to return with you tonight to our study of the Old Testament; some time ago we started and went through the book of Genesis and through the first part of the book of Exodus up to the giving of the law the Ten Commandments particularly on Mount Sinai, we stopped before the unfolding of the details in the Tabernacle. And what I want to do is skip the rest of the Book of Exodus and the Book of Leviticus and jump to the Book of Numbers and that was my plan when we started our Old Testament trip. On a previous time, we went through covering all the books of like all of Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, but what I want to do on this time through is just cover the books that move the history along and really where we broke off in Exodus doesn’t move the history along from that point on. There are giving the details of the Tabernacle and its furnishings. The book of Leviticus does not move the history forward; it is simply the details of the Mosaic Law regarding the responsibilities of the people of Israel. There are eleven books in the Old Testament you remember that move the history along, 39 Books in the Old Testament, only 11 of them move the history. But that doesn’t mean that if you read these 11 books you will cover the history of the Old Testament from the beginning to its conclusion. The other books fill in the information that took place within the timeframe work covered by these books that cover the history of the nation. Let me just review those with you briefly.

We started with Genesis and that is about the beginning and that starts at the very beginning. The book of Genesis carries us to the death of Joseph and that happened in 1806 BC, we don’t have a firm date when Genesis begins. We can go back to Abraham. Abram as he was originally known. He was born in 2166 BC, so that’s about as early as we get. We can date his father’s Terah’s birthday to 2296 BC. We move back before that and the genealogies become less definite and it is a little hard to establish firm dates and that doesn’t mean that we allow for millions and billions of years in there, but as far as precise dates, like saying Abraham was born in 2166 BC, it is not quite as clearly defined for us. Some of those dates are good; we usually talk about Abraham being about 2100 years before Christ. Sometimes we round it off to 2000 years before Christ because Abraham died in 1991 BC, whether that long ago that we had 1991 AD well Abraham died in 1991 BC. Then we have the account of Genesis ending with the death of Joseph and that occurred in 1806 BC. Other occasions we talked about how we established some of these dates and it becomes a process of getting a definite date and then building from there. We can establish that Solomon’s 40 years’ reign ended in 931 BC that becomes a defining date 931 BC.

1 Kings chapter 6 verse 1, says that the fourth year of Solomon’s reign was 480 years after the Exodus. Now if Solomon’s 40-year reign ended in 931 and the fourth year of his reign was 480 years after the Exodus. It becomes relatively easy to back up and date the Exodus at 1445–1446 BC. So you begin to adjust with dates like that. We are told that Jacobs’s family arrived in Egypt 430 years before the Exodus. Well if we know the Exodus occurred in 1445–1446 BC and Joseph’s family came down into Egypt 430 years earlier then he came down into Egypt in 1875–1876 BC, give both dates, sometime to see one date or the other, whether the date is inclusive or not you are including the year you are talking about or not, but you can see that’s how they work with the rest of these days then and build our map.

All right the book of Genesis is about beginning, it is foundational, if you are not pretty familiar with the book of Genesis much of the rest of the scripture just does not fit together. I mean just understanding our existence in the first two chapters in the book of Genesis, understanding how sin came into the world, in Genesis chapter 3 the Abraham covenant in Genesis chapter 12 and repeated in subsequent chapters becomes the defining covenant for God dealing with the nation Israel and for God providing salvation, not only for Israel but in Abraham and his descendants all the nations of the earth shall experience those salvation blessing. So the book of Genesis is about beginning, the book Exodus is about deliverance and you can see we have 400 + years that happened. So we are ready for the Exodus and the book of Exodus is about the Exodus, starts with the birth of Moses, Moses confrontation with Pharaoh, the plagues on Egypt, the deliverance of the nation, the Exodus, the giving of the Law at Sinai, and the last part of the book of Exodus is about the matters of the Tabernacle, Israel’s worship center, the place where God would manifest his presence unto the nation, down through history.

The Book of Leviticus does not leave the history alone. The Book of Leviticus covers only 30 days. The Book of Numbers moves the history along. We will be taking about a little bit about the Book of Numbers in a moment. The Book of Leviticus covers a period of 30 days. The book of Numbers covers 39 years. So what happens in the book of Leviticus took place in connection with the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai and the book of Numbers is just about the wilderness wandering and concludes with Israel ready to enter the Promised Land, cross the river from the city of Jericho. Deuteronomy does not move the History alone? Joshua is a book about victory about the conquest of the land that the land being divided among the various tribes and so on and concludes with the death of Joshua. Book of Judges we are talking about sin and failure on Israel’s part and God raising up a deliverer, a judge, who is a deliverer because Israel sinned, they declined and God brings punishment and sends them a conqueror to defeat them and then they cry to the Lord and a judge is raised up to be their deliverer. We come to Samuel; we come to very familiar portions. The book of first Samuel is about the reign and ministry of Saul. Samuel is the judge leading Israel, and he is the agent who God uses to ordain Israel’s first king, establish the monarchy under Saul. The entire life of Saul is covered in first Samuel and you have David’s relationship with Saul and the preparation for the future unfolding with David’s reign and the book ends with the death of Saul. And we are with the closing of the Book of Samuel at about the 1011 BC. So we had Abraham dying about 1991BC and now we have the death of Saul and we are about a thousand eleven years before Christ.

Second Samuel is about the reign of David. That is pretty simple, and then first Kings you have the death of David, the reign of Solomon, crucial in chapter 12 of first Kings you have the division of the monarchy at 931 BC, the date I told you. With the conclusion of Solomon’s reign remember with the death of Solomon, the kingdom split into Northern and Southern Kingdoms under his son’s revolt as he assumes responsibility as King. So crucial time and major event. You have the reign of Ahab that infamous king who had the well-known wife Jezebel. The ministry of Elijah the prophet takes place in 1Kings as well. 2 Kings is about captivity, the nation’s going into captivity, starts out with the conclusion of Elijah’s ministry and moves into Elisha's ministry. You have the captivity of the Northern kingdom in 722 BC as in chapter 17 of 2 Kings 722 BC the Northern ten tribes are taken into captivity by the Assyrians and then the Book ends with the captivity of the southern kingdom 586 BC, Babylon carries Judah into captivity. The nation’s independence is over. You have the Babylonian captivity and then you have Ezra return and then you have the rebuilding of the Temple, return of Jerubabel the rebuilding of the temple and then record of return under Ezra in chapters 7 to 10 of the book of Ezra. Then Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the city, rebuilding the walls of the city, revival that takes place under Ezra’s ministry, the cleansing of the area by Nehemiah. We are at 425 BC when Nehemiah ends and that’s the close of the Old Testament.

So we have gone from the beginning to the end of the Old Testament, then we have what we call the 400 silent years where there are no prophets. God is silent in the sense no new revelation given. We stop and now we will wait until the coming on the scene of John the Baptist and the announcing of the coming of the Messiah. Let me say something about the prophets we are going to get back to Numbers. The prophet's ministry fit and we usually put the prophets in the context of the Babylonian exile. So we have the pre-exilic prophets before the exile and post-exilic prophets those who prophesy after the exile. There are twelve prophets who prophesy before the exile the Babylonian captivity. Two of whose ministry takes place after during the Babylonian captivity, 70 year Babylonian captivity – Ezekiel and Daniel carry on their prophetic ministry during the Babylonian captivity. After the Babylonian captivity you have Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. So you have Ezekiel and Daniel during the 70-year Babylonian captivity, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi after the Babylonian captivity. All the other prophets Isaiah, Hosea, Joel Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Lamentations those twelve prophets before the Babylonian captivity. Alright that is just a little bit of reminder to you of the flow of the Old Testament and the books.

The books that I did not mention like Job, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Ruth, Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastics 1 & 2 Chronicles, Esther they all take place during the framework of those 11 historical books and so we have some idea of how the Old Testament is put together and unfolding, we just don’t up and start reading and say I haven’t any idea of what all this is about. We have an idea where we are. I am going to the Book of Numbers with you. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, part of the five books of Moses sometimes called the Law, they are the foundational governing books for the nation Israel and one of those books is the Book of Numbers. Now, when we get the name for Numbers from the Greek Translation of the Old Testament. The Greek title of the Book was Arithmoy, you recognize that we get arithmetic from it. So the Book of Numbers from Greek and Latin # of the book. That title comes from the fact that there are two major censuses taken in the Book. The first four chapters deal with the census of the Nation in anticipation of going into the land. The purpose of taking a census really which is numbering all the men who are eligible to serve in the army. Men 20 of years age and older who are able to go to war. So the purpose of taking a census is not just to get an interesting number of how many people do we have? But it really a counting of the army and getting an idea of the number of soldiers that we can marshal to conquer the land. So chapters 1 to 4 they are doing that, but you are familiar things don’t go well and in Chapter 14, we have trouble and Israel is not going to go into the land and so they are going to spend 40 years wandering in addition to the year that spent.

Then in chapter 26 there is a second census taken, in anticipation for now going in and you have to number all over again because the first generation of men 20 years old and upward would have died. So there is a new count taken, because now we have to number again, to know what kind of army do we have as we prepare to go into the land now after God's judgment in removing all those who had refused to believe Him. The Hebrew title of the Book is probably more helpful, its simply the word for wilderness, remember that word is used like 38 times in the book of Numbers, the word ‘‘Wilderness,” because really the book of Numbers is about Israel in the wilderness. And, a lot of it is taken up with the judgment of God on them for their unbelief. The book would have been written about 1406 BC, again we can establish that because of the Exodus occurred in 1445–1446 BC – 40 years later they are going to ready their standing on the brink of going and crossing Jordan and conquering Jericho, 40 years, 1406 and that is where the Book stops. The end of the last chapter and last verses. Let’s go to the last chapter the last verse of the book and let me read it to you. Numbers 36 verse 13,” These are the commandments and the ordinances which the Lord commanded to the sons of Israel through Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, so you see here they are now ready to cross the Jordan. Now we have more additional information given in the Book of Deuteronomy, but we don’t move the history along because they are not going to cross the Jordan yet because Moses is going to have to die. So Moses has some additional information, writing from God to Moses, but we are prepared to cross over into Jordan.

You are in Number, skip over Numbers through Deuteronomy to Joshua. Next book that moves the history along. In Joshua chapter 5 verse 6, “For the sons of Israel walked 40 years in the wilderness until all the nation that is the men of war who came out of Egypt perished because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord, to whom the Lord had sworn that he would not let them see the land that the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give us a land flowing with milk and honey, here we are told it was 40 years after the Exodus. They wandered in the wilderness, that desolate region and remarkably for 40 years God sustains that nation of two and a half million people such an area that would not be really conducive to that number of people in concentrated in an area. Okay we come back to the first part of Numbers, so we are all in the same part that will make you aware of some of the theology of Numbers. You know we are keen to be less familiar in the church with the Old Testament and naturally then Israel was. The Israelite would have been saturated with the books of Moses and of course those who were more diligent students of the Old Testament like the Apostle Paul of course was very familiar with the Old Testament in its entirety being a Pharisee and student of the scripture, but the first five books were basic we tend to be much less familiar, yet we need to be reminded this is God’s revelation of Himself. This is the revelation of God’s character, revelation of God’s will for His people and even though many of the details are changed for us in the church from what God revealed concerning His will for the Nation Israel, yet certain things are the same. We see something of God’s character manifested in the Book of Numbers and one of the unique things that is drawn to our attention, not only in the Book of Numbers, but is reminded to us is that God will be dwelling among His People with a visible presence and the Tabernacle would be their focal point when of course you know when where He comes down for example to meet with Moses there would be a display of His glory and the manifestation that God dwells among his people in chapter 9 of Numbers.

Numbers chapter 9 verse 15, “Now the day that the Tabernacle was erected the, cloud covered the Tabernacle the tent of the testimony and in the evening note this it was like the appearance of fire over the Tabernacle until morning.” So it was continuously the cloud was covered by day and the appearance of fire by night. And when the cloud was lifted from the tent then the sons of Israel would set out to the place where the cloud settled down, the sons of Israel would camp. And verse 19, even when the cloud lingered over the Tabernacle for many days the sons of Israel would keep the Lords charge and not set out and that visible manifestation of the presence of the Lord indicates Israel’s uniqueness and we are reminded that God is only concerned in unfolding the history of the Old Testament, with what concerns the nation that he has chosen for himself. And so if you just have the Bible and studying the Old Testament you will think that this is all the was for the world. Even mighty nations like Assyria come into the picture only as they impact the nation Israel and that’s their importance because Israel is what it is all about, because that is where God is doing His work, that is where salvation centers, that is where His presence is manifested. What about the Far East, what about China? What does it matter, it does not have anything to do with what is really important? What is really important is Israel, I mean there is no other place on the whole earth where the Living God is manifested the glory of His presence but here at this site in the midst of the nation Israel. So there is that reminder of God’s presence in the nation and that is a high honor, indicates the Holy calling of the nation and indicates what their character is, as we will see in a moment.

The judgments that take place in the book of Numbers and the most striking of all of course is the refusal to allow Israel to go in the land and see a whole generation has to die. Can you imagine, they are not going anywhere, stop and think of the last 40 years of your life, some of you don’t have 40 years to think, but think of the last 40 years Israel is just going to walk around going nowhere, what are you doing we are just waiting for so and so to die. Where are you going? Well we are not going anywhere, you understand that they are on the brink of the Jordan where it all started and 39 years later they are going to be right back where basically they were at the brink of the Jordan, they haven’t gone anywhere, they just wandered around in this no place waiting for everybody 20 years older and older to die and when the last of those have died with the exception of those God gave because they were faithfulness they were Caleb and Joshua they will go into the land. We are talking of 40 years we are talking about marking time, and as we know as we get into the book basically most of the book deals with a 2 to 3 year period. 37 of those years are summarized in a few chapters and there is not many details because it is a wasted time. They are not going forward, it does not mean that God is not going to work in the nation, but really there is serious judgment here. So God’s Holiness is seen not only on that occasion but that become the outstanding one but in other cases where God deals with sin in the nation, because He is a Holy God and a Holy God must judge sin and remember these are the people He has chosen for himself, think of how bad the other nations are, and now you understand if I say God does not care about them. Now God will deal with them. He does care about them, because He is the judge of all men. But His concern for the manifestation of His Holiness and for the people that will reveal his Holiness and manifested in the world it is the nation Israel and so the judgments in the book demonstrate the Holiness of God.

It is a great and a High and a Holy calling for the nation to belong to the Living God and Him dwell in their midst, which you understand that is a serious matter. And so all that is happening in the nation must be seen in the light of the fact that these are the people that belong to a Holy God and nothing but holiness would be acceptable, “You must be Holy for I am Holy the Lord says to his people and Gods holiness is not only seen in His judgments but is also tempered by His grace. There is grace in the Old Testament. He didn’t wipe out the nation Israel. He is going to judge for example all the people who rejected Him, those over 20 who refused to believe Him, He is not going to wipe out the nation, that is His grace and His graciousness in dealing with the nation will come out through the Book of Numbers. God’s faithfulness, His constancy that is evident through the book. He remains faithful, He remains the same and when you get to the end of the Book even though 40 years of wasted time in the wilderness we might say has taken place, God is still faithful they are still going to go into the land, they are still going to conquer the land and so the land becomes the key focus in the Book of Numbers. The whole Book is about anticipating going into the land and the failure to go in when given the opportunity and then getting ready and waiting. What a waste to reject what God offered to do for them and there was no undoing about them. Though regretted of they did it but they could not change it and God would honor his promises, but not with that generation. They gave up the privilege of experiencing the blessing of going into the land, but the land belongs to Israel. He had given it to Israel, it was their land and so turn over to the chapter 35 of Numbers. They are going to go into the land of Canaan and the land of Canaan is going to be a Holy land.

We talk about the Holy Land, it is not because there is something sacred about that ground but because this is the land that God has promised to His people and thus will be the place where His presence is manifested, verse 34 of chapter 35,” Ye shall not defile the land in which you live in the midst of which I dwell for I the Lord am dwelling in the midst of the sons of Israel and that’s what makes it the Holy Land. I have promised to the Israel and I dwell in the midst of Israel and it is my presence that makes it Holy and this land is the permanent possession, it will be divided among the tribes and that is a permanent division that must be honored and we get into chapter 36 verse 7, “Thus no inheritance of the sons of Israel shall be transferred from tribe to tribe for the sons of Israel shall each hold to his inheritance of the tribe of his fathers, verse 9, “Thus no inheritance shall be transferred from one tribe to another tribe for the tribes of the sons of Israel shall be hold to his own inheritance.” This is the context when daughters may inherit the land. The daughters of Zelophehad, we talk about when we get there, but the point being even there were the daughters in certain cases might inherit land from their father they could not then marry outside of their tribe because the land was not allowed to be moved outside the tribe. So the marriage would have to take place within their tribe, for example the tribe of Judah with the tribe of Manasseh or whatever, because the land, the boundaries they could not be sold away to another tribe, could not be married away, transferred and it belongs to Israel and it belongs according to the divisions given. See the importance of the land in the plan of God. Israel is the people of God. There are high expectations for God’s people and what happens here; be careful that the church is not Israel. But the church is to learn from God’s dealing with his people, before we look into the book of Numbers, just come into the New Testament, Romans chapter 15 verse 4, “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.” We have to learn from what the scripture says. We have to learned about the promises of God in the Old Testament and how they are irrevocable and God keeps His word. He keeps His promises. He does what he says He would do that gives us perseverance, that gives us hope and we learn.

Just turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and here Paul gives the example of hat happens in the Old Testament, what happened with Israel and so many events that takes place in the Book of Numbers for example verse 4 & 5 talk about wilderness issues, verse 5 particularly with the judgment that will take place in Numbers “Nevertheless with most of them God was not well pleased, they were laid low in the wilderness.” The entire generation that had to die. Now these things happened as examples for us so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. We learn from them the tragedy of immorality in verse 8 – idolatry and grumbling and verse 10. Now, verse 11, now these things happened to them as an example, they were written for our instruction upon whom the ends of the ages have come. That’s why one of the things we learn from this is no temptation, verse 13, has overtaken you, but such as is common to man, and God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation provides a way of escape also that you will be able to endure it. Isn’t it true when you read these accounts of the Old Testament, we will be reminded again as we come back to Deuteronomy chapter 1, we read that and say how foolish! Why would Israel forgo the blessings that God had promised? Why wouldn’t they go into the land where it is flowing with milk and honey just as God says it is. Oh! But there are giants in the land. But who cares. He is our God and we learn, look at those who trusted God and are to from that. I am to learn from the trials and testing that come into my life. I am a God who is sufficient. I am a God who is always working who is Gracious plan and here is always provisions for me to be faithful. I am to learn from these experiences. It is not just history that I studied and learn facts, but I learn from how God dealt with His people and how God’s people responded to Him. I learn things for my own life and walk with God. I am not an Israelite, but I am a child of God, the same God who is the God of Israel is my God and His character has been unchanged and continues it always be unchanging.

So there are things that we learn that are essential for our own walk. Book of Numbers covers 39 years, when we get down Mount Sinai we have covered a year from the Exodus so the 40 years from the Exodus to the going into that land include that year from leaving Egypt to concluding the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. The book of Numbers covers 39 years. I mention that the book of Leviticus covered 30 days, didn’t move the history along just the period of time when God was giving all the laws and instructions for how the people should function in their various areas of responsibility as His people. We are going to have the counting and the census. It starts right away in chapter 1, the first 10 chapter here involve preparation for leaving Sinai so all involve in preparing for the move and then will go from Sinai to Kedesh-Barnea from chapter 10 verse 11 to chapter 14 verse 45. So first 10 chapters basically they are chapters dealing with getting ready and all those 2 plus million people have to pack up now everything together, everything they own has to be taken. They don’t plan to come back; we are going to Canaan. So, all the details of everything that has to be done and then they travel to Kedesh-Barnea, and # events there and then the wanderings and events in the plains of Moab and back to the land.

Chapter 1 is about the counting of each tribe. Verse 1 “And the Lord spoke to Moses” and this is the repeated emphasis through the Mosaic Law and through the Book of Numbers, “It is God speaking to Moses, God speaking to Moses.” The modern scholars reject the Mosaic authorship, but they have to reject Gods word and if you believe in the inspiration of scripture you have to believe Moses is the author. Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the tents of meeting on the first of the second month in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt so you can see a year has gone by. They are starting the second year after the Exodus. It is one month after the Tabernacle has been erected, compare verse 1 with Exodus chapter 40 verse 17, and so now the events of the instructions of the Tabernacle, the setting up of the Tabernacle, so now we are ready to move forward. God spoke to Moses in the wilderness and that word the wilderness refers basically to an area that does not have enough rainfall to support the cultivation of the land. So, that word wilderness is not a desert as we sometimes talk about it and because it is not what we think of this as a desert, but it is not an area that sustains enough rainfall to be cultivated to raise crops and so on and could be used for flocks and herds that can you know what we do in parts of the rest of the land that is not good for cultivation but you use for raising cattle and animals like that. Now you are to take two million people and remember # on a relatively short trip because they are going over to the land flowing with milk and honey. But they are really going to spend 40 years wandering around this wilderness. And the word of the Lord spoke to Moses saying “Take a census of all the congregation of the sons Israel by their families by their father’s household according to the number of names, every male head by head from 20 years old and upward whoever is able to go out to war in Israel you and Aaron shall number with their armies.

Now there had been a previous census taken back in Exodus chapter 30 and Exodus chapter 38, that was taken for the purpose of raising the money to fund the building of the Tabernacle. So that was a census for a different purpose. That was a fundraising census if you will, to determine and set about the raising of the funds for the Tabernacle. The purpose of this census as I mentioned earlier was to prepare for war verse 3, men 20 years old and upward, only the men 20 years up and older, they are those who are able to go out to war in Israel. That is what we are concerned about. So, we have somebody who is crippled in an accident or by birth or something they naturally would not be numbered in these numbers because these are 20 years old and upwards those who are physically capable of going to war. Would not include the elderly and the infirm, but with these we are done. \ That is why we end up there will be just over 600,000 and then we figure those under 20 men under 20 plus, the whole population under 20 children plus the elderly plus all the women and you come up with there probably 2 million or 2.5 million people in total count in the nation as we will see. We are not going through each of these. I know you regret that but you read it, because it tells you what each tribe moves through by numbers by each family and then they give you verse 23, they numbered men of the tribe of Simeon were 59300 and so we just go through now verse 25 the numbered men of the tribe of Gad were 45650, verse 27 of Judah 74,600 and so you come down to the verse 45 so all the numbered men of the sons of Israel by their fathers household from 20 years old and upwards whoever was able to go out to war in Israel even all the numbered men were 603,550. Now these does not include the Levites. Because verse 47 says the Levites were not numbered among them because the Levites did not go out to war, this is the priestly tribe. They are entrusted with the religious responsibility of the nation and so they will not be included in the soldiers their responsibility is to care and all the activities associated with worship center of Israel that centers in the Tabernacle.

Now as I mentioned some people say there has to be something wrong with the numbers here, because if you are 600 thousand men plus adding to them the women, the children and the Levites to this you are talking about 2 million or more people. That is not possible for them to stay in the wilderness area for a period of 40 years and keep in mind they just can’t be dying off because of hunger, because there has to be a new generation to replace them and when we count the new generation we are going to have the basically the same kind of numbers to deal with, after 40 years! We have not depleted the nation, because the generation that is died off has been replaced. Basically what has happened, that is a part of the miracle of the wilderness wanderings. You either believe the Bible or you don’t there is no error in the number here. We have 603,550 in verse 46, and 39 years later in Number chapter 26 verse 51 the count is 601,730. So less than two thousand difference in that 39-year period, that will also agree with other comparative numbers I told you about raising money in the Book of Exodus, in Exodus chapter 38 verses 25 to 26 money raised to support the temple and the amounts to be given and so on would indicate that you are dealing with this kind of number of people.

Exodus chapter 12 verse 37, with the Exodus from Egypt we are told they were about 600 thousand men on foot. So if we reject, not only that we have one number, maybe there was you know an improper recording of the number, but you only have the numbers as recorded at the beginning of the book of Numbers and then toward the last part of the book of Numbers, 39 years later. You also have the figures recorded in the book of Exodus. So pretty soon you have to say that none of the numbers in Pentateuch are reliable and that is just an arbitrary number, because we don’t think that this is sustainable group in the wilderness, but you have to remember that this group is not going to be sustained naturally but supernaturally right! There are going to be sustained by what they can live off from this land. There is going to manna from heaven and God is going to supernaturally provide for them. You keep in mind this is not a pleasant place to spend 40 years. It will be not be an excuse for their grumbling and their murmuring and their complaining, but it isn’t a very nice place to spend 40 years. Know what waiting till every one over 20 dies that is our only purpose for being here. They have got to wait for this generation to die, well we just go through with a sword and finish them off. No we have to wait for this generation to grow up so you have an army of 600 thousand to go into the land. So when I say it is wasted time, it is not wasted time from the perspective of God. There is a tragic waste for this whole generation that has to die for unbelief. God will supernaturally provide. There will be water issues, God intervenes supernaturally for them and so on. So, the critics are right. You can’t take a wilderness region that is semi-arid and sustain 2 million people. Concentrated moving together as a unit, staying together and we see as they move through Numbers they have to stay when they camp at night, their camp site is all arranged around the Tabernacle. When they move out, they move out in order they are not just going to spread out, then go everybody go find a place, no they are going to stay in concentrated areas which will be harder on the land, but we are going to use it up, but God is going to send manna from heaven, He will send quail from heaven, He will send water from the Rock, do the supernatural things necessary to sustain His people so that His purposes are accomplished.

We got also to note here that we have 600 thousand men here over 20 able to go to war. They are no spectators. The Levites are excluded because they have work to do in another areas, the temple, but everybody is going to be involved in what God is going to do here. Verse 47 to 53 the Levites “They are not numbered they have a different role the protection and care of the Tabernacle is their total responsibility and in verse 51, “So when the Tabernacle is to be set out the Levites has to take it down. When the Tabernacle encamps the Levites shall set it up the layman who comes near shall be put to death and simply we will have a living example of that in the days of David, when someone is so foolish to reach out and touch the Tabernacle. It is always the Levites responsibility to be doing Tabernacle duties. Good intentions don’t count. This is a solemn Holy responsibility and there is always to be a reverence and awe associated with God in His presence. Now this building is not the Tabernacle of the Lord. But, we seen in the study of the Corinthians, the Spirit of God dwells in His Church. We saw that in first Corinthians chapter 3 and the Spirit of God dwells in His people, and there is a matter here that we have to learn from the Old Testament, God expects His presence to be dwelt with Reverence and awe. He is a Holly God as the point person at the end of chapter 6 of 1 Corinthians about immorality and recognizing the Holiness that God dwells in you. I mean we have studied the Old Testament. We have to have this impressed upon us that God takes this seriously. His presence is a Holy presence it will never be anything else. There is to be a reverence for the God who is present in His Church and awe. I mean we get distracted and think it is about other things, it is about God. And everything in Israel is shaped by the Holy presence of God. So the Levites have an awesome responsibility among the Israelites.

In chapter 2, we are not going get into this. I will just mention this as an introduction what this Chapter describes is how the tribes have to be arranged in their encampment around the Tabernacle. If I get a chance, I will just lay this out and put it up and you can look at it. Basically, the Tabernacle is in the middle and when Israel stops and steps up camp, then they have a defined arrangement all around the Tabernacle that everybody can go and finds a spot that the tribe of Dan has to be in their spot, the tribe of Naphtali over in their spot, the tribe of Reuben in their spot, the tribe of Simeon in their spot and it is all in relationship to the Tabernacle, because God is at the center and the nation is arranged around Him, so God establishes the order, the relationships. They don’t vouch, they don’t volunteer. God says this is where Dan will be, this is where Manasseh will be. This is how he arranges His people. There are things to be learned. #.in the Church we find out God defines and designates the responsibility not a matter of personal choice, not a matter of vote, Gods decision according as he decides. So even though the specific activity may vary, the lesson learned needs to be learned. We have a Hold on God who is to be revealed and He is to be obeyed and we are His people and He has the authority over His people and even the arranging of the Tribes in their encampment and He is in their center. When they move out from their camp, you know what happens, six of the tribe go before, The Tabernacle in the order of march and six tribes follow. Again God is at the center and the order is defined. Judah leads, Issachar comes second and then at the end will be Naphtali and each tribe is in His order. It is God’s people and it is to be done God’s way. He is the God who will be revered. We will see as we go through Numbers. to truly revere God and Honor Him wholly requires our obedience and the issue He will raise when Israel is disobedient you refuse to recognize my Holiness. I can’t disobey God and recognize His Holiness. So serious lessons for us who have become terribly casual to the point of almost indifference. Often in our relationship with God we are no different than Israel and we are and think about it, God just doesn’t dwell in the midst of His people corporately, He dwells within each of his people personally and so we experience His dwelling of His presence in our midst as His people the Church according to 1 Corinthians 3, and we experience His personal indwelling in our bodies individually. Israel was required to treat God Holy, there was reverence and awe and, in all they did, how much more us, who are privileged to have such intimacy with him.

Moses was unique in being able to sit personally in the presence of God and converse with Him. And we have the indwelling within us. I mean in what we learn from considering Israel the awesome Holy God that Israel served and the responsibility that is placed on them, I think we ought to learn from this. We reverence our God. We don’t deal with him casually and in that sense. We are not talking about being casual in our dressing, but in our whole attitude in all that we do there is to be a recognition that this the God who is to be reverence, to be treated as Holy and thus to be served according to His Word.

Perhaps we will end by turning to our New Testament passage, Revelation chapter 1, we started this in the context of God dwelling in the midst of His people whether they are encamped or whether they are on the move. The Tabernacle is at the center of the tribes that is God’s place. We see the resurrected Christ in the context of His churches as he speaks to John in the Isle of Patmos and in this picture there are the seven lamps stand there representing the seven churches. We know the lamp stand represent the churches because he identifies them as such at the end of the chapter and you know in verse 12, I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me John here is the author and having turned I saw seven Golden lamp stands and in the middle of the lamp stand, I saw one like the Son of Man clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, girded across His chest was a golden sachet, the hair on his head was while like wool like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet like burnished bronze when it has been made to go in the furnace. His voice like the sound of many waters, in His right hand he had seven stars, out of his mouth came a sharp two edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in its strength when I saw Him I fell at His feet as a dead man.” And you see here Christ in the midst of the seven-lamp stand, which represents the seven churches and the awesome presence of Christ. What is its impact on John? The one who had reclined on the chest of Christ at the last supper? He is overwhelmed, falls over as a dead man. No strength. The awesome presence of the God Christ is overwhelming and we go about it and treat it casually and deal with our worship of this God as we come together corporately sometimes without much attention involved and I wonder what the angels think as they observe. Hey what are these people thinking the presence of the Holy God and they bring their worship to Him and they have got their mind on other things, they treat it lightly, casually almost indifferently. So much to be learned to what God unfolds in His dealing with Israel it becomes something of a picture for us and examples for us to learn from. And our privilege is so much greater. But it is the same God; we have been brought into a relationship of intimacy with Him, the privilege to walk in His presence, live in His presence, you must always treat Him as the God to be reverenced and treated as Holy.

Let us pray to gather. Thank you Lord for the truth of your word. Thank you Lord for the unfolding account of your dealing with the nation that you chose to belong to yourself, to have the special privilege of having the Living God dwell in their midst, the God who must be treated as holy. The people who have been called by Him who must manifest His Holiness. Lord we will take to heart these lessons, we would learn the truth that you are a Holy God, we are your people, we have been blessed in an even greater way as the church. Lord we desire that we would be Holy as you are Holy and that your Holiness would manifest first in our attitude toward you as we treat you as Holy with our obedience and reverence and then manifest your Character of Holiness in all of our behavior and in all our conduct. May that be true of us in the days and weeks before us? We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.