1/8/2012
· This is the beginning of a new section of the Book of Numbers.
· The new generation is preparing to enter the land.
· The remainder of the Book of Numbers is occupied with this preparation.
CHAPTER 26
· When we compare the census taken the second year of their wilderness march with the census taken the 40th year of their march, we find that while there was considerable increase in some of the tribes, the total decrease for Israel was 1,820.
· The old generation died in the wilderness, just as God had told them.
· This is now the new generation.
· All the old generation, except Caleb and Joshua, have died.
· We are going to get better acquainted with these two men when we come to the Book of Joshua.
· God did not hold those who were under 20 responsible for the failure and rebellion at Kadesh-Barnea.
CHAPTER 27
· This man Zelophehad died in the wilderness.
o He had five daughters and no sons.
o According to the Mosaic Law, it looked as if a son were the one who inherited the property, and the women were just left out.
o These five women wanted to possess their father's inheritance.
o It was not the custom of the day nor a written law that they could have it.
o Therefore, they asked by faith, and by faith God gave the inheritance to them.
· Moses Is To Prepare for Death.
o The successor to Moses must be a Spirit-filled man.
o In Joshua we learn what God can do with an ordinary man.
CHAPTER 28 and 29
· Now that Israel is prepared to enter the Promised Land, its spiritual life is dealt with.
o The offerings have already been instituted, but here, for the sake of completeness, all the national sacrifices which were to be offered during the whole year are reviewed.
· Why is there such detail?
o It is because of the preciousness of Christ that is brought to our attention here -- in fact, the abiding preciousness of Christ.
o Notice the emphasis in verse 2 -- "My offering...My bread...my sacrifice...unto Me."
o You recall from the Book of Leviticus that there were two kinds of offerings.
o Of the five offerings, three of them were sweet savor offerings; two of them were non-sweet savor offerings.
o The sweet savor offerings represent the person of Christ; the non-sweet offerings speak of the work of Christ in redemption for you and me.
· Now here God is talking about sweet savor offerings, and He calls them My offerings.
· These offerings represent not what Christ has done for us, or our thoughts of Him, but they speak of what God thinks of Him.
· God is satisfied with what Christ did for you and me on the cross.
· The burnt offering speaks of the Person of Christ.
o The offering went up in smoke and ascended to God.
o This is the aspect of this sacrifice that is all important.
CHAPTER 30
· We had a whole chapter in Leviticus on vows and there we saw the importance that God attaches to vows.
· He warns His children that they should be careful if they are making a vow to God.
· God will hold a person to his vow; so the warning is not to make a vow foolishly.
· Confessing with your mouth is your vow, which is your statement of faith.
· The point of it is not just what the mouth says, but that the heart must believe what the mouth is saying.
· You notice how important these details are to God.
o He wants His people always to be as good as their word.
o God wants those who represent Him down here to be that kind of a people.
o If they make a vow, they should stand by that vow.
o This kind of responsibility should be representative of the Christians in the world today.
CHAPTER 31
· The Midianites, you recall, joined the Moabites in hiring of Balaam to curse Israel and afterwards seduced the people to idolatry and licentiousness.
· Midian in the wilderness is a type of the world.
· For the child of God today, there is to be a spiritual separation from the world.
· We are now going into the last official acts of Moses; war against the Midianites.
Numbers 31:6
6 And Moses sent them, a thousand from each tribe, to the war, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war with them, and the holy vessels and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand.
NASB
· The holy articles were to go along, indicating that this was a spiritual warfare.
Numbers 31:8
8 And they killed the kings of Midian along with the rest of their slain: Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian; they also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword.
NASB
· The kings of Midian were slain, and we note here the death of Balaam, the prophet.
· God is giving them a victory over the Midianites.
· There is a judgment on the Gentiles here, prior to the entering into the Promised Land.
· This is the same thing that will consummate the age before Christ comes.
· In the Millennium, Israel, which is having such great problems today, will be put in the land and they will have peace.
· But now there is a problem with the children of Israel.
· God had taken them out of Egypt in one night.
· But it took God 40 years to get Egypt out of them.
· And even now, after they had been tricked into idolatry through the advice of Balaam to the Midianites, they still bring the Midianite women into their camp.
· That is the problem with worldliness.
· It is not wrong for us to be in the world -- that is where God has placed us -- the great issue is whether the world is in us, in our hearts and lives.
CHAPTER 32
· This chapter tells us about the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, who asked for land on the wrong side of the Jordan River.
· Moses is talking to a new generation.
· They were too young to personally remember the utter discouragement of the people when they heard the report of the men who had spied out the land almost 40 years earlier, and Moses is reviewing it for them.
· We can well understand Moses' fears here.
· After enduring the hardships and discouragement of 40 years in that terrible wilderness, the thought of failing again to enter the Promised Land seemed too much to risk.
· They offer to send their men of war to help the other nine and one half tribes to take the Promised Land.
Numbers 32:23
23 But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out.
NASB
Galatians 6:7
7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.
NASB
· There are two places for the child of God to live today.
o You can live in the wilderness of this world and be a spiritual pauper, or you can enter into the place of spiritual blessings, represented by Canaan.
· GOD HAS ONE PERFECT WILL FOR OUR LIVES AND WE PASS THIS WAY ONLY ONCE.
· WE LIVE EACH DAY ONLY ONCE
· IF WE MISS HIS BEST IN A DAY, ALTHOUGH WE CAN STILL BE USED BY HIM, IF HE IS PLEASED TO DO SO, WE WILL FALL SHORT OF HIS BEST FOR OUR LIVES
· WE CAN STAY ON THE BORDER JUST SO LONG, THEN WE HAVE TO MAKE A DECISION
· THEY WERE TO GO INTO THE LAND TO CONQUER AND TO OCCUPY IT,
· THIS WAS THE PLAN OF GOD FOR THEM.
· BUT, THE TRIBES OF REUBEN AND GAD WANTED TO STAY WHERE THEY WERE, I.E., THEY DID NOT WANT TO CROSS INTO THE LAND WHERE GOD TOLD THEM TO GO.
· THEIR SECOND SIN WAS "BORDERLINE LIVING."
· FAITH IS TRUSTING GOD REGARDING THINGS WE CANNOT TOUCH, FEEL, TASTE, SEE, HEAR.
· THESE PEOPLE COULD NOT SEE THE
· WHAT WAS THE RESULT?
o NOT EVER AGAIN IN THEIR FUTURE DID THEY FIND PEACE.
o THEY HAD NOTHING BUT WAR AND TROUBLE
o THEY BECAME PAGAN, JUST LIKE THE PEOPLE AROUND THEM WHERE THEY ELECTED TO STAY.
IT’S NOT ABOUT JUST ME AND MINE (NUMBERS 32:1, 5-8)
1 Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had an exceedingly large number of livestock. So when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, that it was indeed a place suitable for livestock,
NASB
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5 And they said, "If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession; do not take us across the Jordan."
6 But Moses said to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben, "Shall your brothers go to war while you yourselves sit here? 7 "Now why are you discouraging the sons of Israel from crossing over into the land which the LORD has given them? 8 "This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land.
NASB
It must be confessed that prima facie-at first sight, the thing looked ill, especially the closing words of their petition: Bring us not over Jordan, v. 5 (1.) It seems to proceed from a bad principle, a contempt of the land of promise, which Moses himself was so desirous of a sight of, a distrust too of the power of God to dispossess the Canaanites, as if a lot in a land which they knew, and which was already conquered, was more desirable than a lot in a land they knew not, and which was yet to be conquered: one bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. There seemed also to be covetousness in it; for that which they insisted on was that it was convenient for their cattle. It argued likewise a neglect of their brethren, as if they cared not what became of Israel, while they themselves were well provided for.
(from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)
IT’S ABOUT HELPING OTHERS, TOO (NUMBERS 32:16-18)
16 Then they came near to him and said, "We will build here sheepfolds for our livestock and cities for our little ones; 17 but we ourselves will be armed ready to go before the sons of Israel, until we have brought them to their place, while our little ones live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. 18 We will not return to our homes until every one of the sons of Israel has possessed his inheritance.
NASB
We have here the accommodating of the matter between Moses and the two tribes, about their settlement on this side Jordan. Probably the petitioners withdrew, and considered with themselves what answer they should return to the severe reproof Moses had given them; and, after some consultation, they return with this proposal, that their men of war should go and assist their brethren in the conquest of Canaan, and they would leave their families and flocks behind them in this land: and thus they might have their request, and no harm would be done. Now it is uncertain whether they designed this at first when they brought their petition or no. If they did, it is an instance how often that which is honestly meant is unhappily misinterpreted; yet Moses herein was excusable, for he had reason to suspect the worst of them, and the rebuke he gave them was from the abundance of his care to prevent sin.
(from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)
CHAPTER 33
· Here we have a log of their journeys.
· We do not have a record of the happenings during their forty years of wandering; only a few isolated incidents, but here is a record of where they camped.
· We would like to know what happened at these places, but nothing is recorded for us.
· Although this chapter is like a road map, and not interesting to read, it reveals that God noted and recorded every step that these people took.
· We may stumble and falter, and fail.
· We don't follow Him as we ought.
· But, thank God, He goes with us all the way!
IT’S ABOUT FULFILLING AN OBLIGATION (NUMBERS 33:20-24)
20 And they journeyed from Rimmon-perez, and camped at Libnah. 21 And they journeyed from Libnah, and camped at Rissah. 22 And they journeyed from Rissah, and camped in Kehelathah. 23 And they journeyed from Kehelathah, and camped at Mount Shepher. 24 And they journeyed from Mount Shepher, and camped at Haradah.
NASB
They were led to and fro, forward and backward, as in a maze or labyrinth, and yet were all the while under the direction of the pillar of cloud and fire. He led them about (Deut 32:10), and yet led them the right way, Ps 107:7. The way which God takes in bringing his people to himself is always the best way, though it does not always seem to us the nearest way.
(from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)
IT’S ABOUT LIVING AS GOD’S PEOPLE (NUMBERS 33: 51-53)
51 "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52 then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places; 53 and you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it.
NASB
While the children of Israel were in the wilderness their total separation from all other people kept them out of the way of temptation to idolatry, and perhaps this was one thing intended by their long confinement in the wilderness, that thereby the idols of Egypt might be forgotten, and the people aired (as it were) and purified from that infection, and the generation that entered Canaan might be such as never knew those depths of Satan. But now that they were to pass over Jordan they were entering again into that temptation, and therefore,
1. They are here strictly charged utterly to destroy all remnants of idolatry. They must not only drive out the inhabitants of the land, that they may possess their country, but they must deface all their idolatrous pictures and images, and pull down all their high places, v. 52. They must not preserve any of them, no, not as monuments of antiquity to gratify the curious, nor as ornaments of their houses, nor toys for their children to play with, but they must destroy all, both in token of their abhorrence and detestation of idolatry and to prevent their being tempted to worship those images, and the false gods represented by them, or to worship the God of Israel by such images or representations.
(from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)
CHAPTER 34
· This is an important chapter because it defines in unmistakable terms the extent of the land that God gave to Israel.
· Also it underscores the fact that God gave the land to Israel for an eternal possession.
· Regardless of who claims it today, that land belongs to Israel.
CHAPTER 35
· As we have learned, the Levites were taken from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn.
· The Levites belonged to the Lord.
· They were not given a section of the land in Israel, but they were given cities to live in.
· Of the 48 cities which were assigned to the Levites, 6 of them were designated as cities of refuge.
· The Levites were to set up three such cities on the east side of the Jordan River and three on the west side.
· A man who had unwittingly killed a person could flee to the city of refuge.
· This would save him from mob action or from the action of some zealous person or relative who might be emotionally wrought up at the time.
· This gave time for a fair trial.
· The protection of the cities of refuge did not apply for the willful murderer.
CHAPTER 36
· The chiefs of the families of the sons of Joseph presented a problem to Moses.
· If the daughters of Zelophehad should marry men outside their own tribe, then their land would pass into another tribe.
· So Moses told them the Word of the Lord concerning this.
· The land was to stay in the tribe.
· No man could lose his property permanently.
· At the Year of Jubilee, all property which had been mortgaged reverted to the original family again.
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