Note: the following is the manuscript for the message and will not match exactly the recorded message above.
Review and Introduction
For the last several messages in this series, we have been with the Israelites at Mount Sinai, where God has provided instructions about how Israel is meant to live as God’s holy people. But Sinai is not their destination. Today, we will cover, in three parts, the journey of Israel from Sinai to the plains of Moab across the Jordan River from Jericho.
The book of Numbers gets its name from the idea that there are two censuses in the book. But, its original Hebrew name was In the Wilderness, which comes from the book’s opening line. I’ll read it from the New Revised Standard Version, which maintains a more literal phrasing: “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.” The NIV replaces “in the wilderness” with “in the desert of Sinai.”
Numbers is a bit of a chaotic mix of laws, lists, and stories. And they are all mixed together. The instructions and laws in the first third of the book tell how Israel is to travel as a well-organized army of God to the land promised to them. The laws in the middle and end of the book tell them what they are to do when they arrive there, while the narrative sections describe the twists and turns in the journey. In my attempt at preaching a single message out of the entire book of Numbers, I am focusing mainly on the narrative elements of the book, the parts that move the story forward.
First, we will look at the preparations for Israel’s departure from Sinai. Second, we will journey with Israel through the wilderness regions between Sinai and Moab. Third, we will see how the second generation of Israelites prepared for their conquest of Canaan.
Keep in mind where we have come from. Israel began with one man, Abraham, and his barren wife Sarah. From them grew this very large nation, which is now being sent by the power and provision of God to conquer and settle in a land that was promised to Abraham centuries ago. This nation is made up entirely of former slaves with a brand new identity as God’s holy people. They are not going to get everything right. In fact, things will go terribly wrong. Let’s begin at the desert of Sinai.
Desert of Sinai
The first two chapters are made up of the first census of Israel and the arrangement of the tribes around the Tabernacle. The census is compiled by the number of those who are 20 years old and older and able to serve in the military. This is in preparation for Israel’s engagement in the upcoming battles.
Chapters 3 and 4 provide an account of the Levites, who are assigned to the care of the Tabernacle and its furnishings. The Levites are a tribe set apart from the rest of Israel. They were not to fight in the battles or have land assigned to them when they conquered Canaan. If you recall back to the Exodus story of the Passover, God said that he would spare the firstborn sons of the Israelites on the night when all the firstborns were killed. Numbers 3:12-13 says, “I have taken the Levites from among the Israelites in place of the first male offspring of every Israelite woman. The Levites are mine, for all the firstborn are mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set apart for myself every firstborn in Israel, whether human or animal. They are to be mine. I am the Lord.”
Chapters 5 and 6 are structured around cleansing the Israelite camp. Israel is to be a holy nation, and in order to have God live among them, they must keep the camp pure, which is done through various rituals. Three laws are highlighted in this section that help Israel live as God’s holy people. The first is a law about restoring relationships between people, the second is about faithfulness in marriage, and the third is about how someone can dedicate themself to God’s service through a Nazarite vow, even if they are not a Levite.
This section concludes in 6:22-27 with the special blessing that we have been saying throughout this series. It is a reaffirmation of God’s covenant promise and blessing. Let’s look at some words in this blessing. May the Lord bless and keep you, may his face shine on you, turn his face toward you, and give you peace.
To be blessed by God is to receive the benefits of God’s favour. God blesses people by giving them children, property, land, good health, and his presence. When God’s face shines on his people, they can be sure that he will be gracious to them. He will deliver them from all their troubles. He will answer their prayers and save them from their enemies, sickness and sin. Turning his face toward them means that God will pay attention to them and their needs. Peace is more than the absence of war. It means well-being, health, prosperity and salvation: in short, the sum total of all God’s good gifts to his people.1 Because of our adoption into the family of God, we can also receive this blessing from God and repeat it to one another. We can trust that God will bless us.
Chapter 7 picks up from Exodus 40. The Tabernacle is being prepared for God through a special dedication that takes place over 12 days, after which the Israelites celebrated the second Passover. Then, similar to the end of Exodus, the cloud covered the tabernacle. The cloud guided them through the wilderness, telling them where to go, when to start going, and when to stop. In 10:11-13, we read, “On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle of the covenant law. Then the Israelites set out from the Desert of Sinai and traveled from place to place until the cloud came to rest in the Desert of Paran. They set out, this first time, at the Lord’s command through Moses.”
Wilderness Journey
The journey from Mount Sinai to Canaan should have only been a couple of weeks at most. Instead, it took 40 years. Why? Because they did not trust God and were ungrateful to him for rescuing them and said they wanted to return to Egypt. 11:4-6 – “The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”
At this, the Lord became very angry, and so did Moses. He asked God, “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their ancestors? Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me—if I have found favor in your eyes—and do not let me face my own ruin.”
This is an honest prayer, isn’t it? Have you ever prayed this way to God? Do you think it’s okay to pray this way? How did God respond to Moses? Was he angry at him for his honesty? Not at all. In fact, God helped him. He instructed Moses to gather a group of seventy elders who would serve as co-leaders and officials. God empowered them through his Spirit, and they were able to share the burden of leadership.
As I was reading this story from Numbers, I was reminded of a story from a pastor who struggled with sharing his leadership role. One evening, after supper, Pastor Pete’s daughter, Karen, who was 5 years old, asked him to read her a story. Pastor Pete said, “I’m sorry, Karen, but I have a meeting tonight.” His daughter replied, “This is the twenty-seventh night in a row you have had a meeting.”
In the seven-minute walk to the church on the way to the elder board meeting, Pastor Pete made a decision. If succeeding as a pastor meant failing as a parent, he was already a failed pastor. He would resign that very night. He told the board, “I pray in fits and starts. I feel like I’m in a hurry all the time. When I visit or have lunch with you, I’m not listening to you; I am thinking of ways I can get the momentum going again. My sermons are thrown together. I don’t want to live like this, either with you or with my family.”
“So what do you want to do?” One of the elders asked.
Pastor Pete responded, “I want to be a pastor who prays. I want to be reflective and responsive and relaxed in the presence of God so that I can be reflective and responsive and relaxed in your presence. I can’t do that on the run. It takes a lot of time. I started out doing that with you, but now I feel too crowded.
“I want to be a pastor who reads and studies. This culture in which we live squeezes all the God sense out of us. I want to be observant and informed enough to help this congregation understand what we are up against, the temptations of the devil to get us thinking we can all be our own gods. This is subtle stuff.
“I want to be a pastor who has the time to be with you in leisurely, unhurried conversations so that I can understand and be a companion with you as you grow in Christ—your doubts and your difficulties, your desires and your delights.
“I want to be a pastor who leads you in worship, a pastor who brings you before God in receptive obedience, a pastor who preaches sermons that make scripture accessible and present and alive, a pastor who is able to give you a language and imagination that restores in you a sense of dignity as a Christian in your homes and workplaces and gets rid of these debilitating images of being a ‘mere’ layperson.
“I want to have the time to read a story to Karen. I want to be an unbusy pastor.”
The six elders listened patiently, and then one spoke up. “Why don’t you just do it? This is the way you started out with us. Nobody complained, did they? As far as I know, everyone was delighted. The people who didn’t like you this way have left. So what’s stopping you?”
“What’s stopping me is that I have to run this church,” he replied.
“Why don’t you let us run the church?” Asked another elder.
“Because you don’t know how,” he replied.
“It sounds to me like you aren’t doing such a good job yourself. Maybe we could learn.” Instead of a resignation that night, Pastor Pete and the elders spent the next hour discussing how to go about this. When the evening was over, the elders had taken over “running the church.”2 Pastor Pete was there another 35 years. His real name is Eugene Peterson. It was the only church he ever pastored before going on to translate the Bible into contemporary language in The Message translation. He also wrote numerous books specifically for pastors and taught for several years at Regent College.
None of us is meant to bear any burden alone, including the burden of leadership. If you are a leader, whether it’s in this church or somewhere else, take this story from Numbers 11 and Eugene Peterson as a lesson in sharing your burden. Swallow your pride and ask for help.
Later in the story, in Numbers 11:26, we read about two elders prophesying in the Israelite camp. Joshua came and told Moses to stop them from prophesying. Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”
I feel the same way. I would prefer that all Christians would prophesy and speak God’s word openly to one another. Yet, this is not what happens. They want to do things their own way, which comes with consequences. For Israel, it was a plague that infected many of the people because, as it says in 11:34, they craved other food. They did not want to wait for God to give them what he promised them. They took what they could to satisfy their immediate cravings whenever they wanted to.
The rest of the middle section of Numbers features another set of laws and instructions and a few interesting stories along their journey. Moses continues to face difficulty as a leader, with his brother and sister opposing him and more rebellion from the Israelites.
All throughout their journey, the Israelites faced trouble. It was trouble that they brought upon themselves in their impatience, disobedience, and ungratefulness.
Their rejection of God led to the most devastating moment after God sent twelve men to go and check out the land of Canaan. These men were there for forty days and collected information about what they were about to walk into. Out of fear, all but two of the men advised against trying to conquer the land. So, God sentenced the nation to 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, one year for each day the men were visiting Canaan, until the entire generation of people who were rescued from Egypt were dead. Those who were rescued would never receive what was promised to them because of their lack of trust in the God who rescued them.
Plains of Moab
When we come to the end of chapter 20, we read about the death of Aaron, which signals that the end of the 40 years is drawing near and the transition to the next generation is beginning. We read about the defeat of some kings who refused to let Israel pass through their land, and then we get to an extended story about a pagan prophet named Balaam, who Balak, the king of Moab, called upon to curse Israel.
The story is told in great detail about conversations between Balak and Balaam, God and Balaam, and even Balaam and his donkey. It is a story that shows how God is protecting Israel. In 22:12, we read that God told Balaam, “You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.” In chapters 23 and 24, we read seven messages spoken by Balaam about how God has put his favour on Israel and how Israel will defeat all who oppose them. In 24:9, he speaks the very same blessing over Israel that God spoke to Abraham, “May those who bless you be blessed and those who curse you be cursed!”
Even in the midst of Israel’s rebellion and disobedience, God is not only protecting them from their enemies but preparing the way for them to successfully enter and take control of the land promised to them. They do not deserve this favour, this blessing, and protection from God. This is how God works. He makes and keeps promises because he wants to, not because we deserve it. The question is not whether God will keep his promises. The question is, do you want what he’s promising?
The rest of the book takes place in the Plains of Moab and tells about how Israel made preparations to enter the land promised to them. There is another census, which counts the new generation, as the original census is now outdated because they have all died over the last 40 years. God reaffirms his promise that this new generation will indeed enter the promised land. We read about Joshua’s succession as leader of Israel to replace Moses who lost his right to enter the land when he disobeyed God, striking instead of speaking to a rock to produce water.
There is a retelling of instructions for various festivals, which I spoke about last Sunday. We read about how the land should be divided and how to set themselves up as a functioning kingdom. The book ends with the people on the plains of Moab by the Jordan River across from Jericho. This is where we will leave the Israelites in this series on the Pentateuch.
Next week is the last message in the series. We will look at Deuteronomy, which is a retelling of the covenant for the new generation of Israelites just before the conquest of the promised land. It will be a review of many of the themes we have explored through the series, but it will also be a look ahead to the next series on Hebrews.
New Testament Connections
For the writers of the New Testament, the book of Numbers stands as a warning. Despite the miraculous deliverance from Egypt and the daily evidences of God’s provision for their needs, Israel refused to believe and rebelled against their Saviour.3
Let’s look at two passages. I have mentioned these before in this series, so this is a bit of a review. First is 1 Corinthians 10:1-10:
For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
In this passage, Paul describes the experiences of Israel in the wilderness as a way of connecting with the situation at Corinth. Most of the sins of Corinth occur in Numbers, and if Israel was punished so severely, what can the church of the new covenant expect?4 This is not about creating a sense of anxiety for us, wondering when God will punish us for our sins. It is about living with remembrance and gratitude for how God has saved us. Israel forgot all too quickly and complained about their situation. They pursued their own vision of the good life instead of following God’s ways. They trusted themselves more than God.
Finally, Hebrews 3:7-11: So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”
Disobedience and unbelief prevented the exodus generation from entering the promised land, where they would have been able to experience God’s rest. More than that, they would have benefited from having God as their provider and protector as they lived in the land. But, because of their disobedience and lack of trust in God, the generation that was rescued from Egypt died in the wilderness, never receiving the rest that was promised to them.
The lesson of Numbers is to never forget God’s goodness to you. His forgiveness, provision, and promises. It’s not about living a perfect life. It’s about coming back to God in repentance, humbly accepting his forgiveness, and living in a way that shows your gratitude toward him.
As we sing this closing song, let this be a prayer of recommitment to trust God each and every day. Let us not be like those who failed to reach the promised land. Let us remember and thank God for rescuing us.
1 Gordon J. Wenham, Numbers: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 4, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1981), 101–102.
2 Eugene Peterson, The Pastor (HarperCollins. Kindle Edition), 277-279.
3 Gordon J. Wenham, Numbers: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 4, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1981), 56.
4 Gordon J. Wenham, Numbers: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 4, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1981), 56–57.
Pentateuch Series Bibliography
Alexander, T. Desmond. From Paradise to the Promised Land: An Introduction to the Pentateuch. Fourth Edition. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2022.
Alter, Robert. The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary. New York: W.W. Norton, 2004.
Averbeck, Richard E. The Old Testament Law for the Life of the Church: Reading the Torah in the Light of Christ. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2022.
Brueggemann, Walter. Preaching from the Old Testament. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2019.
Glanville, Mark. Freed to Be God’s Family: The Book of Exodus. Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2021.
Longman III, Tremper. Genesis. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016.
Lynch, Matthew J. Flood and Fury: Old Testament Violence and the Shalom of God. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023.
Provan, Iain, V. Philips Long, and Tremper Longman III. A Biblical History of Israel. Second Edition. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2015.
Smith, James E. The Torah. 2nd ed. Old Testament Survey Series. Joplin, MO: College Press Pub. Co., 1993.
Walton, John H and J. Harvey Walton. The Lost World of the Torah: Law as Covenant and Wisdom in Ancient Context. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2019.
Wenham, Gordon J. Numbers: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1981.