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Deuteronomy 1-4

Moses begins his farewell speech to the Israelites with these words:

Now, Israel, hear the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you……
…….See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say,
“Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” – Deut. 4:2-6 NIV

Do not add or subtract from the commands of the Lord.  Something I have to think long and hard about. What commands have I imposed upon myself that are not really of his doing? What commands of God am I subject to artful forgetting.  It is all too easy for us to adopt the commands and practices of the culture around us instead of studying and listening to what God has said to his people.  At it’s worst, we witness those who have added so much to the gospel that it results in people being caught up in a cult.  And on the other side, we see those who have given the gospel so much permission that they are free to do whatever they please.  But these two extremes don’t let me off the hook.  I have to measure my life and actions, not against the popular culture of even the church, but against his laws and his commands.  As Moses concluded:

Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time.  – Deut. 4:39-40 NIV

It’s God’s decrees and commands that we have to keep.  In order to do so, we must study these decrees so well that they are written on our hearts.  We have to be wise enough to distinguish between what popular culture would decree and what are God’s commands.  We cannot rely on the words of others who seem to be more knowledgeable than us.  We have to know God’s word.

Numbers 31-36

God wants us to acknowledge, understand, and learn from our past.  

At the LORD’s command Moses recorded the stages in their journey. This is their journey by stages: (Num. 33:2 NIV )

Just like the children of Israel, if we look back, we can see our stumblings and failings, the times when we disobeyed and the times when we were obedient.  We can see the pain and everlasting consequences of our disobedience as well as how God blessed us even when we didn’t deserve it. 

Usually, it’s in the here and now that we can’t see God’s hand.  That’s where we often feel abandoned or at the very least unimportant in the overall scheme of things.  But that has never been and will never be the way God works.  He is there all the time.  We are his people all the time.  He is moving and directing even if we can’t see him.  He is active in our lives.  We are being led.  If we choose to follow him obediently, our path will look different than if we try to go it on our own.  That’s what the Israelites learned when they spent forty years going in circles.  We would do well to look to their history in order to change the course of ours.

Numbers 25-30

All of the old generation, the ones who fled out of Egypt have died except for Moses, Caleb and Joshua.  Even Miriam and Aaron are gone.  And now, the time is approaching that the Israelites will enter in and take possession of the land promised to their forefathers.  So God instructs Moses to take another census.  This time to measure the members of the tribes in order to allot the land among them.  These are not the people counted in the desert of Sinai a year after they left Egypt.  These people have never been numbered before.  They are the new generation that has grown up to replace the ones who got cold feet about entering the promised land and so had to live out their lives in the desert. 

Moses will not be going with them.  His sin in striking the rock has precluded that.  But God has provided another leader in the form of Joshua, son of Nun.  Joshua has been with Moses throughout the Exodus.  Early in their journey, on the way to Mt. Sinai,  he lead the Israelites in fighting the Amalekites. He went with Moses to the mountain of the Lord when Moses was given the Ten Commandments.  He was zealous for God, staying behind in the tabernacle after Moses left to bask in the Lord’s glory. “The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent. – Exodus 33:11 NIV  So Moses commissioned Joshua in front of the entire assembly of Israelites.

Going with them in addition to Joshua will be the law and of course their God.  God tells Moses to relay to this new generation everything that was told to their parents.  Once more Moses elaborates the daily and monthly offerings they are to present to the Lord and the feasts they are to celebrate. And finally, Moses instructs the heads of the tribes on vows, a subtle reminder of God’s covenant. “When a man makes a vow to the LORD or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said. Numbers 30:2 – NIV

A new generation stands on the edge of the promised land.  Will they go in and take the land as their parents did not?  Will they be faithful to their God as their parents were not?  All that remains of the people that left Egypt is their history.  A history of complaining and unfaithfulness, but that history includes mighty displays of God’s power.  They have all they need to be triumphant.

Numbers 18-21

These are not the same people that left Egypt, that fled from slavery under Pharaoh.  They are people who have lived in the desert most of their lives.  People who were only children in Egypt where their parents had to slave all day making bricks.  Instead of slavery, all they have known is wandering, and provision, of course.  They have made it through forty years in the desert, they still have their cattle and livestock, and they have become a multitude to be reckoned with.

They camp in the Desert of Zin at Kadesh, and it is time for the younger generation to rise up and take the place of their elders.  The older generation is dying off.  They bury Miriam and Eleazar is prepared to become the High Priest in place of his father, Aaron.  But the new generation is still grumbling.  They make Moses so mad with their complaining about no water, that he strikes the rock twice and loses his chance to accompany them into the land.

Moses must be getting so tired.  The Edomites refuse to let them pass through their land, so they have to find another way around.  In the meantime, he accompanies his older brother, Aaron to the top of Mount Hor where he removes Aaron’s priestly garments and places them on Eleazar and then watches Aaron die.   Moses has spent the last forty years of his life leading a rebellious people on a journey of less than a hundred miles.

Even after they witness the defeat of the Canaanite King of Arad, they’re still complaining and Moses has to make a bronze snake on a pole to save them from the venomous snakes. Nothing has been easy.  And now, the people who live on the border of the land promised to Abraham and his descendants, refuse to  let them pass through.  What an ignominious end to Moses’ life.  Does he still sing the Song of Miriam?  There are still battles to be fought and kings to be conquered, but because God still goes with them, they will be victorious.

Numbers 16-18

It’s no wonder Moses lost patience with the children of Israel.  They were always complaining or rebelling.  They wanted to be the ones in charge.  They wanted to be in leadership, they wanted to be in charge of the priesthood.  ‘We’re all as holy as you’ they told Moses.  They all wanted to share in the profits of ministry until God decreed that the Levites were not to own any property.  They were to live solely off of the tithes they received but were not to receive any material inheritance.  They had nothing to pass down to their descendants but the tradition of service to God in the temple. 

How many people would go into ministry today if the requirement was still the same, that those who minister before the Lord are not to own any property?  If God gave ministers today the same command that he gave to Aaron:  “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them; I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites. – Num. 18:20 NIV

How many would be willing to serve God if he was their only inheritance?  Of course, the priest in Israel’s day only had to be responsible for a tent and a few pieces of furniture. Their requirements were simple, they didn’t need to own land. A few sheep and oxen plus the first fruits of the harvest were enough to sustain them. They didn’t have multi-million dollar sanctuaries and vast organizations that they were responsible for. They just had to represent the people before God.  That was all.

Numbers 13-15

Centuries later, the writer of the Hebrews addresses the very issue encountered by the Israelites after the spies returned from spying out the promised land.

See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.  But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.
  As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.
Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. – Heb. 3:12-19

Not believing God is a sin.  When an entire nation does not believe God’s promise, they wander in the desert for forty years and never get to see the promised land.  The same is true for an individual.  If we don’t believe God and his promises, we will wander in the desert as well and will miss out on the promised rest and an abundant life here on earth.  There are giants in the land.  Sometimes that is all we see, but then we are not looking at God.  It always has been and always will be a choice between seeing the giants or seeing God, between believing in giants or believing in God..

Numbers 9-12

There were prophets and then there was Moses.  It all started with the people complaining about the lack of meat in the camp.  ‘How can I handle all this grumbling and complaining?’ Moses asked God who answered with his own question.  “Is the LORD’s arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you.” (Num. 11:23 NIV)  At God’s prompting, seventy of the elders stood around the tent of meeting.  When God spoke to Moses from the cloud, the Spirit rested on the seventy elders and they all prophesied.  The next thing you know quail are falling around them for as far as the eye can see. 

The seventy elders heard from God, which prompted Miriam and Aaron to wonder why Moses was the one in charge.  Didn’t they hear God as well?  God called the three of them to the tent of meeting and spoke directly to Aaron and Miriam.

“Listen to my words:
  “When a prophet of the LORD is among you,
   I reveal myself to him in visions,
   I speak to him in dreams.
But this is not true of my servant Moses;
   he is faithful in all my house.
With him I speak face to face,
   clearly and not in riddles;
   he sees the form of the LORD.
Why then were you not afraid
   to speak against my servant Moses?” – Num. 12: 6-8 NIV

There are prophets, there are those who see visions and dream dreams.  But that is not the same as being intimate with the Lord.  Sometimes we confuse the two and think that the only spiritual ones are those who hear or see.  But true intimates are those who know. 

Numbers 5-8

The Israelites were beginning to see that God required perfection.  Uncleanness, impurity, unfaithfulness to God in any way would not be tolerated.  Those who wanted to be Nazarites, separated to the Lord, had strict rules they had to follow.  And now that the Tabernacle was to be dedicated, there were strict requirements for the offering from each tribe.  Each tribe was assigned a day on which their leader would bring the offering from the tribe to be dedicated, with the tribe of Judah going first.  Imagine what it must have been throughout the camp as each tribe prepared for their day of offering.  Did each tribe look for the choice young bull, the best ram and the most spotless male lamb as they approached their assigned day? Was it a matter of one-upmanship, tribe over tribe, or were they looking for the most perfect sacrifice for the most Holy God?  How excited were the people, on their assigned day, as they accompanied the representative from their tribe to the tabernacle, carrying the silver plates and bowls and all of the livestock that was to be presented? 

Did Aaron bless each tribe with the blessing God had told him to say:
‘ “The LORD bless you and keep you;the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.” ‘Numbers 6:24-26 NKJV.

Or did the people go about their daily task, as if nothing special was going on?  Did they rely on the Levites, who had been set apart and dedicated as priests, to bridge the gap between them and their God.  Were they busy sifting their grain, tending their sheep, making beds and playing ball when Moses entered the Tent of Meeting to hear the voice of the Lord, speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the atonement cover on the ark of the Testimony?

Numbers 1-4

For many, the book of Numbers is one of the most boring in the Bible.  It contains all the numbering of tribes and the endless repetition.  Wouldn’t it have been enough to say:

These were the men counted by Moses and Aaron and the twelve leaders of Israel, each one representing his family. All the Israelites twenty years old or more who were able to serve in Israel’s army were counted according to their families. The total number was 603,550. – Num 1:44-46 NIV

Instead, each tribe was listed just as it was for Reuben:  

All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, one by one, according to the records of their clans and families.  The number from the tribe of Reuben was 46,500. – Num 1:20-21 NIV

It wasn’t enough to just count the men.  They had to be listed by name, one by one.  Each man’s name was important.  Each man’s name was known to God.  From the leaders of each tribe down to the most unimportant member of the smallest tribe, each man’s name was known and recorded.  Nothing has changed today.  Each of our names are written and recorded for God as well.  We may not think we have anything to contribute.  We may not have the well-known, up in lights name, but we are known to God.  What we do, what we accomplish, is not as important as the fact that our name is recorded.  We are known by God.

Leviticus 23-27

God gives instructions to Moses on Mount Sinai for observance of the Sabbath and the Year of Jubilee once they have entered the promised land.  What did this mean to the Children of Israel?  The ones who have been wandering homeless in the desert for forty years are told that when they enter the land they can build their houses, accumulate land, servants, build up fortunes, and at the end of fifty years, it all goes back as it was.  Would they be grateful for what God had given them, Would they recognize that He was the giver of all.  Would they acknowledge him as the giver of harvests and rain, peace and safety, fruitfulness and increase, the one who broke the bars of their imprisonment in Egypt?  Or would they begin to think that it was their own efforts that brought about their prosperity. 

Sabbath rest is something most of us don’t understand any more.  It’s not just a matter of the blue laws, which prohibited commerce on Sunday, becoming extinct.  We have lost the ability to rest.  We are all continually multi-tasking; surfing the internet, communicating with our cellphones, twitter, skype, playing browser games with strangers around the globe or using one of the many social networking application.  If we’re not doing that, we’re trying to find some way to obtain, organize or get rid of an accumulation of material possessions, or pursuing any of a thousand possible leisure options to keep ourselves amused.  We’re doing anything to keep ourselves busy.  What are we running from?  What do we not want to face?  Could it be our very own creator?

When God set forth the Sabbath rest and Year of Jubilee for the Israelites, it was intended to make them stop.  Stop and rest as in the case of the Sabbath and stop and start all over again as in the case of the Year of Jubilee.  In both cases, the outcome was that people were forced to recognize that life was not all of their doing or all about them.  Rest, because that’s what God did on the seventh day after he created the world.  Return everything to it’s original owner, because we are only sojourners after all.  Both celebrations were to remind the Israelites and us of the supremacy and permanency of God as opposed to those of us for whom life is fleeting and all of our possessions only temporary.

God lays out for his people a road map of what it will look like if they are obedient, and what it will look like if they hostile.  It’s interesting that God goes into much greater detail of what the punishment will be for disobedience.  Prosperity for the Israelites will be open-ended.  There is no limit to the blessing they could experience as God’s people.  Punishment is cut and dried.  There is a limitation to God’s patience, but not his covenant.  ” ‘Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the LORD their God.  But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the LORD.’ ”  Leviticus 26:44-45 NIV

Whether or not the Children of Israel would be able to keep their part of the covenant remains to be seen.  Can they accept the fact that they are custodians of God’s grace or will the Ancient of Days be relegated to someone they call on only in an emergency?