Numbers. Day 43, A Forty Year Sentence

We've been studying the reaction of many of the Israelites to the report of the twelve men who spied out the land of Canaan for forty days. Ten of the men came back believing the task was impossible, even though the Lord had assured them victory. These ten men incited the assembly into anger and rebellion---to the point that the people accused the Lord of leading them to their doom. They stated that the Lord intended their men to fall by the sword and their women and children to be taken captive by the tribes of Canaan. At this point a plot began to form in which they would stone Moses and Aaron to death, select a new leader, and head back to Egypt. 

The Lord was angry with their faithlessness. He told Moses he could send a plague into the camp and destroy all but the family line of faithful Moses so that only Moses' descendants inherited the promised land. But Moses interceded on behalf of the people. Moses interceded also for the glory of the Lord, for he was concerned that neighboring nations and tribes would mock the name of the Lord and say, "He was unable to deliver to the promised land those He rescued from Egypt. The Lord's power was not great enough to do what He said He would do." The Lord heard the intercessory prayer of Moses and stated He would refrain from destroying the faithless. However, there will be a penalty for the unbelief and rebellion that took place in the camp. 

In response to Moses' prayer we are told: "The Lord replied, 'I have forgiven them, as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, not one of those who saw My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed Me and tested Me ten times---not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated Me with contempt will ever see it. But because My servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows Me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.'" (Numbers 14:20-24) Caleb was one of the twelve spies sent to Canaan. Only he and Joshua, out of twelve men, came back saying, "We can do this! The Lord is with us!" The Lord doesn't mention Joshua here along with Caleb but later in our passage He will state that only Joshua and Caleb, from among the twelve spies and from among the men of fighting age in Israel, will enter the promised land. All the other men of fighting age (they had to be at least twenty years old to be counted for the army) will be prevented from entering the land they didn't believe the Lord was capable of giving to them. 

Because of the faithlessness in the camp, the Lord is not going to allow Israel to enter the promised land at this time. This means if her soldiers tried to go up against any of the tribes of Canaan, they would be met with defeat because the Lord is not with them in battle. Due to their unbelief the Lord will not empower them with the strength to overcome the heathens of the promised land until the generation that rebelled against Him has died out, so He tells them to turn and go another direction. "Since the Amalekites and the Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea." (Numbers 14:25) Though this is a very sad moment, the Lord is still being merciful. Earlier in our chapter the majority of the people expressed a desire to go back to Egypt. If they go back to Egypt, they will have to submit themselves to slavery. The Lord has them turn around but He does not have them go back to Egypt. In their fear and doubt they seem to prefer slavery to freedom, but the Lord wants better things for them than slavery. He still intends to take Israel to the promised land. He will not, however, take all Israel to the promised land. 

"The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: 'How long will this wicked community grumble against Me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. So tell them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say: In this wilderness your bodies will fall---every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against Me. Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.'" (Numbers 14:26-30) The Bible doesn't tell us how old Joshua and Caleb are here in Numbers 14 but we can safely conclude they were both at least twenty years old. If they had not been at least twenty they wouldn't have been sent to spy out Canaan. If they were not at least twenty then the Lord would not have to say that everyone who was twenty years old or more at the time of the census would die in the wilderness except Caleb and Joshua.

The people had accused the Lord of intending to allow their fighting men to fall by the sword. (Numbers 14:3a) Because they've accused the Lord of such unrighteousness, their fears will come true: their fighting men will die in the wilderness. They claimed the Lord had bad intentions toward their wives and children and that He would allow their wives and children to be taken captive by the enemy. (Numbers 14:3b) But nothing could be further from the truth. Their children will inherit the land that they themselves---through lack of faith---will never enter. "As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. But as for you, your bodies will fall in this wilderness. Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. For forty years---one year for each of the forty days you explored the land---you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have Me against you. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against Me. They will meet their end in this wilderness; here they will die." (Numbers 14:31-35) 

The Lord never had anything but good intentions toward Israel. He wasn't going to let the army be defeated in the promised land. He wasn't going to allow the women and children to be captured by the tribes of Canaan. The only ones bringing suffering upon their wives and children are the men who don't believe in the goodness of the Lord. The entire community now must remain in the wilderness until every one of these men over the age of twenty (with the exception of Joshua and Caleb) passes away. These men's lack of faith has prevented them from enjoying the blessings of the promised land and it has brought about a forty-year delay in their families being able to enjoy the promised land. 

I am sure we have all missed out on some blessings due to doubt and fear. It's bad enough when we disqualify ourselves from attaining some good thing. But our faithlessness often has the effect of causing "collateral damage" to those around us. If a husband or wife makes a poor decision based on a lack of faith in the Lord, that poor decision affects their spouse and children. If an adult displays a lack of faith in the Lord, their attitude affects those who live with them. We need to keep in mind that when we doubt the goodness of the Lord, we not only miss out on some blessings for ourselves, but we also deflect blessings from our households. When we don't stand firm in the faith, we are hurting our loved ones as well as hurting ourselves. Knowing that our actions and attitudes have an impact on those we love, how much more should we strive to believe the word of God? We are doing it not only for ourselves. We are doing it for those we love---those for whom we want only the best. 

Numbers. Day 42, Many Disqualify Themselves To Enter The Promised Land

In Thursday's study the Lord, in His anger over the people's unbelief in His ability to give them the promised land, told Moses, "I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they." The Lord doesn't make empty promises---or empty threats. He certainly could have and would have done this if Moses had taken Him up on it. He would still have been keeping His promise to Abraham to give his descendants the land, for Moses is a direct descendant of Abraham. The Lord could have made Moses' family line so plentiful and so strong that they could have formed a society and eventually a nation in the promised land. But Moses wants all Israel to go into the promised land with him. More than that, he desires above all things that the name of the Lord be glorified, as we saw yesterday. Moses doesn't want the Egyptians or anyone else to believe the Lord is incapable of taking Israel to the promised land.

We have already looked at the first paragraph of Moses' intercessory prayer for the people. We pick up now with the second paragraph as he says to the Lord, "Now may the Lord's strength be displayed, just as You have declared: 'The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion.'" (Numbers 14:17-18a) Destroying all but the family of Moses with a plague would have been a display of the Lord's strength, but forgiving the people would be an even greater demonstration of the Lord's awesome power. It takes more effort to forgive than to remain angry, doesn't it? At least I've found that to be true in my own life. Although the Lord is perfect in every way and He is justifiably and righteously angry in Chapter 14, He will be manifesting the most glorious aspect of His character by forgiving the people in love. In addition to that, more glory will be His in the sight of other tribes and nations when instead of scrapping His plan to give the promised land to all twelve tribes of Israel, He keeps His end of the bargain even though most of the people have not kept theirs.

Back in Exodus, when the Lord's glory passed by Moses and the Lord declared His name to him, the Lord said, "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished; He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation." (Exodus 34:6-7) Moses' words in verses 17-18a above are a direct quote of what the Lord said about Himself, as is this next statement: "Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished; He punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation." (Numbers 14:18b) 

We discussed what this means when we did our study of the book of Exodus. It seems strange to us that multiple generations would have to deal with the consequences of someone's sin: for example, that the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren (sometimes even great-great-grandchildren) appear to be held accountable for the sins of their forefather. We talked about how, at this point in the Old Testament, people are still living for hundreds of years, giving them a great deal of time to pull their descendants into sin. A man could live long enough to see several generations come to adulthood and he could lead these generations astray from the Lord. It's not that the Lord is punishing the innocent; the Lord and Moses have both stated that it is "the guilty" whom the Lord doesn't leave unpunished. So we must conclude that the reasons multiple generations suffered the wrath of God in the early Old Testament days is because multiple generations entered into the same sin as their forefathers. 

Another thing to consider is that the unpleasant circumstances of multiple generations are not always the result of judgment from God but simply a consequence of them being affected by another person's sin. People's bad choices affect those around them. I'll give you an example of a sin that affected several generations of my mother's family. Her maternal grandfather was a pedophile. We know for a fact he molested some of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren and we can only assume he must have molested some or all of his own children, but they never breathed a word about it or protected their children and grandchildren from him. It's hard to understand how a thing like that can go on in a family, and especially for three generations, without anyone standing up against it or speaking out about it. I can only speculate that growing up in his household, under his abuse and emotional manipulation, conditioned them in some way that made them feel powerless to oppose him. My own mother, who was one of his victims, kept the secret out of shame and guilt because he made her feel that the abuse was somehow her fault. It wasn't until she was a sixty-year-old woman that one of her three sisters asked the rest of them if they'd ever been abused by him. All of them nodded their heads yes, adding the information that they suspected several neighborhood children had been his victims as well. I was a grown woman myself when this conversation took place and I sat there speechless with shock, never having guessed such a thing had gone on in my family. (He had died before I was born, so I never knew him.) But we can see from this example that one person's sin can affect multiple generations and in that sense the person's sins are "visited upon" (as some translations of the Bible puts it) the person's children up to the third and fourth generation. It's not that the Lord is punishing those generations for someone else's sin; it's that a person's sin is sometimes perpetrated by them on multiple generations of their family. My great-grandfather did terrible things and those terrible things caused misery to three generations of his family. 

Moses is saying to the Lord, "I know You have the right to strike these people and wipe them out with a plague for persisting in unbelief after You've done so many miraculous things before their very eyes. I know You sometimes have to deal with sin in multiple generations of families. But I also know You are merciful, displaying Your love to multiple generations. I'm asking You to forgive these people. I'm asking You to spare their lives." 

The Lord hears Moses' prayer and does not wipe out all but Moses' family line. But the unbelief of those who are of age to be rebelling against Him here in Numbers 14 is so great that the Lord doesn't want their unbelief carried into the promised land where it will continue to affect their descendants. He will leave Israel in the wilderness until those who want to turn back to Egypt have all died out. Only those who currently maintain faith in Him, and those too young to be a part of the rebellion, and those born from this point on, will be allowed to enter the promised land. The ones who were of age to have seen His signs and wonders in Egypt and His signs and wonders in the wilderness, but who do not trust Him after having witnesses these things, will not be allowed to take part in the fulfillment of the Lord's promise to Abraham. "The Lord replied, 'I have forgiven them, as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, not one of those who saw My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed and tested Me ten times---not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated Me with contempt will ever see it.'" (Numbers 14:20-23)

It is possible to miss out on blessings due to unbelief. I'm sure I've missed out on some good things due to doubt and fear. I think we all have, whether we can point to any specific occasion or not. A large number of people are going to miss out on the blessing of the promised land. The Lord will keep His word to give the land to Abraham's descendants and to make them into a great nation, but a segment of the population has disqualified themselves (spiritually speaking) from being called "Abraham's descendants". Abraham was a man of faith. He made mistakes from time to time, but when the Lord called to him in his pagan homeland of Ur, Abraham forsook the religion of his forefathers and placed all his trust in the one true God. By faith Abraham left his homeland and struck out for a land he'd never seen because he believed the God who said He'd give this land to his descendants. Abraham believed the Lord could give him descendants even though his wife Sarah was barren in her youth and past the age of childbearing now. Abraham would be dismayed by the lack of belief displayed by many of his descendants in the wilderness. Spiritually speaking, they are not his descendants because from a faith standpoint he can't claim them as his own. Who are the true spiritual descendants of Abraham? The Apostle Paul explains it like this: "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Understand, then, that those who have faith are the children of Abraham." (Galatians 3:6-7) Abraham would not recognize the faithless generation in the wilderness as his descendants. He would only recognize as his descendants those who trust the Lord, such as Moses and Joshua and Caleb, along with the others who don't want to rebel against the Lord and go back to Egypt. 

I am a Gentile and therefore not a descendant of Abraham by genealogy, but the Apostle Paul says that even those of us who are Gentiles who believe in the one true God are spiritual descendants of Abraham. "Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: 'All nations will be blessed through you'. So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith." (Galatians 3:8-9) Abraham would recognize your faith and my faith in the Lord, whether we are Jew or Gentile. But he would not recognize, spiritually speaking, a literal descendant of his who does not believe in the Lord. They may be related to him by blood, but they are not related to him by faith. Have you ever had any relatives you didn't particularly want to claim as your own? Maybe they were so notoriously bad that you didn't want people to know you were part of their family. (My pedophilic great-grandfather is an example of this; I'm definitely not proud to be related to him.) Abraham would have to claim the rebellious ones of Chapter 14 as his genealogical relatives, but he couldn't claim them as his spiritual relatives. They don't look anything like him.

God is not pleased with faithlessness. He can't bless faithlessness. Let's not be people whom He cannot bless and with whom He is not pleased. Let's seek Him with our whole hearts, for, "Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6) 

Numbers. Day 41, Moses Presented With A Stunning Opportunity/Moses Puts The Lord First

Ten of the twelve men sent on the reconnaissance mission came back with negative, faithless reports and deliberately stirred the people up against moving forward to take the promised land. In yesterday's study the assembly proposed stoning Moses and Aaron to death and then choosing a new leader who will take them back to Egypt. While Moses and Aaron prayed on their knees, and while only two of the twelve men---Joshua and Caleb---pleaded with the people to have faith in the Lord, the glory of the Lord showed up at the tabernacle in the sight of the entire assembly. The Lord spoke audibly to Moses in the hearing of all the people and His words were a resounding rebuke of their faithlessness: "How long will these people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them?"

This is where we pick up with our study today, with the Lord still speaking to Moses, and the Lord says to him, "I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they." (Numbers 14:12) The Lord isn't grandstanding. This is a legitimate offer He's presenting to Moses. The Lord is within His rights to disinherit the faithless and to reward the faithful. A long time ago the Lord promised Abraham that He would give the promised land to his descendants, and if the Lord had only chosen to give the promised land to Moses and his family line then He would still be keeping His promise to Abraham, for Moses is a direct descendant of Abraham. Moses is the son of Amram who was the son of Kohath who was the son of Levi who was the son of Jacob who was the son Isaac who was the son of Abraham. 

We are about to see yet another example of why the Bible told us, "Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth." (Numbers 12:3) He could have accepted the Lord's offer. Moses could have become the father of a great nation and been considered as much of a patriarch as Abraham. Moses could have moved on toward the promised land with no detractors and no distractions. He could have led his own family line and made it the most powerful family on earth without anyone complaining against him or threatening to stone him to death. But this is not he wants for himself or for the Israel he loves. Even more importantly, this is not what he wants for the Lord. The heathen nations and tribes already feel no qualms about blaspheming the name of the Lord. How much more will they laugh at Him if they can claim He was unable to deliver to the promised land the people He rescued from Egypt? How likely would the pagan people ever be to turn to a God whose power they doubt? Naturally Moses is concerned for himself. He's also concerned for the nation of Israel. But above all he's concerned for the reputation of the Lord among the heathen and as I read Moses' words below I'm reminded of what the prophet Isaiah said to the Lord, "Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts." (Isaiah 26:8b) 

Moses immediately says no to the destruction and disinheritance of the other family lines of Israel, and in saying no to this he's saying no to becoming Father Moses, patriarch and supreme leader of Israel. Israel has only one supreme leader: the Lord. "Moses said to the Lord, 'Then the Egyptians will hear about it! By Your power You brought these people up from among them. And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that You, Lord, are with these people and that You, Lord, have been seen face to face, that Your cloud stays over them, and that You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. If You put all these people to death, leaving none alive, the nations who have heard this report of You will say, 'The Lord was not able to bring these people into the land He promised them on oath, so He slaughtered them in the wilderness.'" (Numbers 14:13-16) Moses has the same attitude as Isaiah who said that what he wanted most was for the Lord's name to be honored and for the Lord's fame to be great. Moses isn't tempted by the opportunity set before him because he cares more about the Lord's reputation than his own. He can't stand the thought of anyone believing the Lord isn't able to fulfill His promises. His first thought, when presented with the offer of a lifetime---with the type of offer many human beings would have felt was an offer too good to refuse---is, "But what will people say about the Lord?" 

Join us tomorrow as Moses asks the Lord to display His power not by destroying the people, but by forgiving them. The people want Moses dead and yet he asks the Lord to spare them. What an awesome example Moses sets for us! Not only does he care more about the Lord's fame than his own, but he cares about the lives of the people more than he cares for his own life. He intercedes on behalf of those who are ready to pelt him to death with rocks. If Moses could pray for people who want to kill him, surely you and I can pray for those who have hurt our feelings or done us wrong. If Moses cares more about the honor of the Lord more than he cares about getting any glory for himself, surely you and I can strive to live lives that lift up the honorable name of our God.

Numbers. Day 40, Rebellion Against Going Forward

The twelve men returned with a report about the land of Canaan during our last study session. Ten of the men stirred up anxiety and distrust among the congregation, stating that the occupants of the promised land were too big to defeat. The people believed their negative report instead of the positive report of Caleb and Joshua, who have faith that the Lord will enable them to do what He's promised. Today we find the doubters rebelling against the Lord's plan to go forward.

"That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites mumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, 'If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt?' And they said to each other, 'We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.'" (Numbers 14:1-4) I am not sure what kind of report the people expected from the twelve spies. That taking the promised land would be like a walk in the park? That the Lord was going to hand it to them on a platter by miraculously throwing down fortified cities and sending the heathen tribes of Canaan running for the hills? Lest we think the Lord never made it clear that the promised land would be taken through military might (with His help), we must recall that earlier in Numbers we found the Lord telling the Israelites to make a count of all the men of military age who were able-bodied enough to serve in the army. If Israel did not need an army, the Lord wouldn't have had her men registering for the draft, so to speak. If Israel did not need an army, the Lord wouldn't have gone into great detail describing exactly where each military division was to camp and in what order each military division was to move out whenever it's time to break camp. 

But as we've said before, we can hardly point a finger at Israel without pointing one back at ourselves. Do any of us really want to fight battles of faith? Wouldn't we all like life to be easy, with the achievement of great things not requiring us to believe in a glorious outcome when we're having trouble picturing how the Lord will accomplish our victory? Many times in life the Lord calls upon us to get down in the trenches with Him and fight side by side with Him; He doesn't always do all the work for us. If He did we'd be spiritual weaklings and, like any good and loving father, the Lord wants His children to be strong and healthy. 

The congregation wants to choose a leader to replace Moses---a leader who will take them backward instead of forward. At heart it's not so much Moses who is being rejected but the Lord who's being rejected. The Lord is the true leader of Israel. When Moses speaks to the people, he's saying what the Lord tells him to say. When Moses assures them they will have victory in battle and will possess the land, Moses is relaying the Lord's unbreakable promise to them. Moses is not stating his own opinion. He's not lying to them or leading them on a suicide mission. He's telling them, on the authority of the God who loves them and who rescued them from Egypt, that where they're going is far better than where they've come from. If they give in to doubt and fear they'll miss out on one of the biggest and best promises the Lord ever made to Israel.

Moses and Aaron are overcome with sorrow and frustration over the direction things have turned. They're also frightened of the people. The dissent has reached fever pitch and the crowd appears be on the verge of physically attacking them. When they suggest choosing a man to lead them back to Egypt and deposing Moses, Moses takes this as a threat to his life. Aaron's life is also in danger, for together he and his brother represent the political leadership and the religious leadership of the nation. "Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there." (Numbers 14:5) These men do the only thing they can think to do: they fall to their knees in prayer. There's nothing they can say to the crowd in this moment that will deflect their anger. The resentment toward Moses and Aaron is so bitter, and the cries of the people are so loud, that it would be futile for these two to attempt to call the assembly to order. Appealing to their dissenters is not going to be successful in this moment so they appeal to the Lord for protection.

Joshua and Caleb, two of the twelve spies sent into Canaan, stand firm in their faith that the Lord will do what He's said He will do. It's too dangerous right now for Moses and Aaron to stand and address the crowd, but thankfully there are godly men like Joshua and Caleb to bravely stand up for them. "Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite assembly, 'The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, He will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.'" (Numbers 14:6-9)

The Lord has given the pagan tribes of Canaan centuries to repent of their idolatry. Yet they've persisted in their rejection of the one true God in favor of false gods who will never call them to righteous living. They've persisted in cruelty and oppression of their fellow man, in human trafficking, in fertility orgies, in child sacrifice, in drunkenness, in gluttonous feasts where they've eaten unclean foods and drunk blood....we could go on and on describing the barbarism and blasphemy of these tribes who long ago turned away from the Lord and refused to ever turn back. Now their time is up. The Lord gave them time in which to repent and provided an untold number of opportunities to repent, yet they've chosen to keep wallowing in sin and filth. This is why Joshua and Caleb assure the people, "Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us." If the Lord is not with the tribes of Canaan they cannot possibly stand against the army of Israel, no matter how large the armies of Canaan and no matter the great stature and experience of Canaan's soldiers. As the Apostle Paul said in this famous statement of faith, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31) 

It's imperative, of course, to make certain God actually is with us in our endeavors---to make certain we are living in His will and operating on His instructions. We can't just charge forward on our own initiative and expect God to fall in line with our plans. We can't assume that God is always on board with our plans just because we are His children. We are the ones who are to get on board with His plans, not the other way around. But when we know God has prescribed a specific course of action for us, and when He has promised us a beautiful victory, we can move forward in faith knowing that God is with us and that His indescribable power is behind us. 

Our next verse proves to us that Moses and Aaron were correct to fear that their lives were in danger. "But the whole assembly talked about stoning them." (Numbers 14:10a)

This situation appears quite dire for Moses and Aaron, and perhaps even for Joshua and Caleb, but the Lord is about to show up. He shows up to protect these men and also to defend His name and His honor for, in rejecting the words of these faithful men, the people are rejecting the words of God Himself. Later in the Bible we'll find the prophet Samuel mourning when Israel demands a king like other nations have instead of continuing to accept and honor God as their King and Lord. Samuel will try to reason with them but will not be successful; the people will scorn his advice. The Lord will say to him, "It is not you they have rejected; but they have rejected Me as their king." (1 Samuel 8:7) In our passage today, when we find the people rejecting the leadership of Moses, they are actually rejecting the leadership of the Lord. 

The Lord has had enough and it's time for Him to say something that needs to be said. "Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites. The Lord said to Moses, 'How long will these people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them?'" (Numbers 14:10b-11) The cloud of the Lord's glory appears in the sight of everyone. Everyone hears His voice as He speaks to Moses. If they needed any further proof that Moses speaks on authority of the Lord and that the Lord is with Moses, here it is. If they had any doubts that Moses is operating within the Lord's will, here it is. 

Join us tomorrow as Moses and Lord converse with each other in the sight and hearing of all the people. Just as Moses interceded in prayer for his sister when she tried to usurp his authority, Moses will intercede in prayer for the very people who want to stone him to death. What a humble and unselfish man Moses was! He wasn't a perfect man but we are going to be able to learn a lot from him about godly living. 

Numbers. Day 39, Two Men Out Of Twelve Have Faith

We concluded Sunday's study with Moses giving the twelve men their instructions for spying out the land of Canaan. The Israelites need to know what they'll be up against when they move forward to take the land the Lord has promised them. Today we'll find them completing this reconnaissance mission and returning with their report. Upon their return, only two of the twelve men still believe they will be able to obtain possession of the land. 

Before we begin, I must make the statement that nothing I say in today's Bible study has anything whatsoever to do with politics. Our text includes references to reconnaissance, military plans, and walled cities, but I want to make sure no one thinks anything I say here is related to what happened at our capitol last week or to anything political in general. When I speak of the people of Israel taking the promised land or when I talk about climbing over obstacles or facing giants with the Lord on our side, I am referring to the personal struggles we face in this life. There is absolutely no hidden agenda or hidden message whatsoever in what I'm posting. Jesus didn't talk about politics when He taught and I know of no better example than His to follow. I won't be talking about politics on this blog or engaging in any political discussions underneath the Bible study link I post to Facebook. We are here to study about and honor the Lord. 

"So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath. They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)" (Numbers 13:21-22) Hebron is also called Kiriath-Arba or the City of Arba. According to the book of Joshua, Hebron was built by Arba, the father of Anak. Anak's descendants are known as the Anakim in the Bible and they were a tribe of unusually tall, warlike people according to a number of references throughout the Old Testament. It is believed they carried some form of genetic gigantism. In modern times we are aware that most cases of gigantism are not hereditary but are caused by pituitary tumors and other defects and diseases, but in rare cases gigantism can run in families, especially in families where mating has taken place between people who are too closely related to each other. A particular gene has been isolated that's responsible for causing these family members to have a larger than normal pituitary gland or a pituitary gland that produces way more growth hormones than is normal. We don't know specifically what caused gigantism in the Anakim or in other tribes and persons of the Bible, but we were told in Genesis that giants were on the earth before the Great Flood and also after, although it is believed that the number of giants was greatly reduced after the flood. The Anakim are believed to be descended from these giants.

Whoever the Anakim were, they were a very ancient tribe. Moses tells us that the city of Hebron, built by Anak's father, was seven years older than Zoan (also known as Tanis) in Egypt. In Moses' day the Egyptians boasted that they were the oldest civilized race on earth, but Moses' statement proves this wrong. Some scholars believe Moses inserted this information as a "dig" at Egypt's overwhelming pride in herself. I think he may have inserted this information so that when the spies return after having seen the Anakim in the promised land, we'll understand what caused some of them to lose their courage: they saw a very ancient, advanced, warlike tribe of large men occupying the land. The sight of these men will cause ten of the twelve spies to come back to camp shaking in their boots.

In yesterday's study Moses told the men to bring back some of the fruit of the land if they could. It was grape-bearing season for the vineyards. The men bring back bigger grapes than anyone in Israel has ever seen. "When they reached the Valley of Eshkol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs. That place was called the Valley of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land." (Numbers 13:23-25) The word "eshkol" means "cluster". Why did Moses want the men to bring back some of the fruit? My personal opinion is that it's because human beings like to see proof. God has been promising a land "flowing with milk and honey"---a land of rich soil that produces food in abundance. When the people behold the size and quality of the fruit brought back by the twelve men, they'll have proof right in front of their eyes that the Lord is telling the truth about the richness of the land. This "show and tell" session is intended to bolster the people's faith in God. The Lord has told them the truth about the crops; He's telling them the truth about everything else.

The people in the camp assemble to hear the men's report. "They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. They gave Moses this account: 'We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey. Here is its fruit.'" (Numbers 13:26-27) I picture the men holding up the huge cluster of grapes along with the pomegranates and figs so that everyone in the camp can see them. This fruit is impressive. Everyone is ooing and aahing over it. This fruit, which is bigger and more beautiful than any they've ever seen, is going to be the proof they need to forge fearlessly ahead in faith, right? Well, some of them still want to forge ahead in faith. Others do not.

Negative information follows the positive information as some of the men say: "But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan." (Numbers 13:28-29) How do we know that not all twelve of the men came back discouraged? Because Caleb, one of the twelve men, will make a statement of faith. Because in our next chapter we'll find Joshua standing with him, begging the people to have the faith to believe what he and Caleb believe: that the Lord is more than able to keep His promise and give them victory. 

Upon hearing the negative news, the voices of the assembly are raised. I don't know whether they are wailing in sorrow or are yelling their agreement that the land cannot be taken. But we know a great furor ensues because Caleb has to shout them to silence. "Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, 'We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.'" (Numbers 13:30) I am thankful for people like Caleb---people who still believe the promise of the Lord even when the task looks impossible when viewed by human eyes. Chapter 13 doesn't reveal to us that Joshua is in agreement with Caleb but when we move into Chapter 14 tomorrow we'll see Joshua standing with Caleb and imploring the people to trust the Lord because "the Lord is with us". Sweet friends, if the Lord is on our side, what else do we need? Who or what can stand against God? We need to stop focusing on the size of the task (the size of the giant) and focus on the size of our mighty Defender. Joshua and Caleb are unimpressed by the size of the Anakim or the size of the walled cities. They are thinking only about the size of their God, and because their faith is in Him, they know victory is assured.

The majority of the spies persist in their fear and doubt. Because they are afraid to enter the land, they stir up fear and doubt throughout the entire camp. "But the men who had gone up with him said, 'We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are.' And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, 'The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.'" (Numbers 13:31-33) The Anakim were people of large stature, but I feel these men are greatly exaggerating when they say that all the people they saw in the promised land were "of great size". They previously mentioned seeing the Amalekites, Hittites, Jebusites and Canaanites there, and these were ordinary-sized people. They were warlike and powerful and had been established in the land for a long time; there's no doubt about that. But only a small portion of the people in the promised land were literal giants. 

Were the Israelites outnumbered by the people inhabiting the promised land? Likely so. Did it seem "logical" by human standards to believe that a nomadic people without military experience could lay siege to and overtake fortified cities defended by experienced soldiers? No, by man's way of thinking it could not be done. But the people don't have to depend on their own strength and experience. Their power comes from the God who fights on their side. I've faced some situations that looked impossible, haven't you? I went through a time when most of the people close to me were telling me to give up. "It can't be done. You're beating a dead horse," they'd say. And I would have given up except I knew God was able to do what I couldn't do for myself. I didn't know for sure whether He'd sort out my circumstances in the way I wanted, but I knew He could.  And He did! He did exactly what so many people were telling me He wouldn't do! My giant was huge---so big I felt like a grasshopper in comparison---but my God is bigger than any giant. I don't know what giant you might be facing today. If God weren't part of the equation, maybe the obstacles in your path would be insurmountable. If God weren't part of the equation, maybe a turnaround of your situation would be impossible. But God's not dead. God still moves on behalf of His people. Let's not be like those in Numbers 13 who wailed and shouted, "It's impossible!" Let's be like Caleb, and like Joshua, who said, "We can certainly do it," and, "The Lord is with us."

Numbers. Day 38, Twelve Men Sent To Explore The Land Of Canaan

The Lord tells Moses to choose twelve men to send on a reconnaissance mission into the land of Canaan---the land which the Lord promised to give to Abraham's descendants. This mission is being used as part of the preparation for planning how to take the territory the Lord is giving to Israel. Remember, though He's promised on oath to provide this land to the nation of Israel, Israel must participate in its acquisition. It's human nature to want to protect and defend those things for which we have worked and fought. The things that take more effort for us to acquire are the things we tend to put more effort into keeping. It will feel more like their land if the Israelites participate in attaining it.

"The Lord said to Moses, 'Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.'" (Numbers 13:1-2) In Deuteronomy 1 we'll be told that it was the people's idea for Moses to send men to spy on Canaan. This may mean that Moses' conversation with the Lord in verses 1 and 2 took place after the people came to Moses with their suggestion. Perhaps the people brought their idea to Moses and then he went into the presence of the Lord to inquire whether this was the best course of action, at which time the Lord told him to choose twelve men to send to Canaan. Some Bible scholars have proposed the theory that Moses was out of the will of God by sending the twelve men to Canaan; they believe Moses was being led by the will of the people instead. I disagree, based on our text. It appears to me that Moses is obeying the Lord's instructions, for we'll be told in the next verse that the reconnaissance party was sent out "at the Lord's command".

"So at the Lord's command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites. These are their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zakkur; from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori; from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph; from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun; from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu; from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi; from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph), Gaddi son of Susi; from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli; from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael; from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vopsi; from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki." (Numbers 13:3-15) No one is sent from the tribe of Levi but there are still twelve men sent, for Jacob adopted his two grandsons by Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh) as his own sons, and a man is sent from the descendants of Ephraim and a man is sent from the descendants of Manasseh. This keeps the number at twelve even though the Levites are excluded from military service.

"These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.)" (Numbers 13:16) We've seen Joshua mentioned before. He chose fighting men and led a victorious charge against the Amalekites when they attacked Israel in the wilderness. We were told he was Moses' aide and that he accompanied Moses, at least part of the way, up Mount Sinai when the Lord gave Moses the ten commandments and the law and the instructions for the tabernacle. Recently, in Numbers 11, Joshua's loyalty to Moses was demonstrated when he worried that men who were prophesying in the camp were trying to take glory and authority away from Moses. (They weren't and Moses said to let them be, but Joshua's jealousy on Moses' behalf told us that he cared about the wellbeing of Moses.) Joshua will be Moses' successor.

This young man's original name (Hoshea) meant "salvation". But Moses changed his name to Joshua (Yohoshua in Hebrew) which means "Yahweh is salvation"---or as we'd probably render it in English: "The Lord is salvation". A variation of the spelling of Joshua (Yohoshua) is Yeshua, which is the name of Jesus. The Greek alphabet did not possess some of the characters to pronounce "Yeshua" as it was pronounced in Hebrew, so in the New Testament we find the Lord's name rendered as "Jesus", which is what most English-speaking people call Him today. In the Greek the Lord's name was probably originally "Jesu" but in Greek the letter "s" was often added to words or names to add a masculine connotation. For example, almost all the names of the male Greek gods ended in the letter "s". 

You'll want to remember Joshua's name because he is a very important character in the Bible. You'll also want to remember the name of a man from verse 6: Caleb, of the tribe of Judah. He is a very important Biblical character as well, and we'll begin to see why when we get to the second half of Chapter 13 in tomorrow's study.

Before Moses sends the twelve men out, he tells them what they need to look for on their mission. "When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, 'Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some fruit of the land.' (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)" (Numbers 13:17-20) 

No one in the Israelite camp has ever laid eyes on the promised land. The soldiers need to know what to prepare for. I am not sure why Moses wonders whether the land is good, considering that the Lord has promised Israel a number of times that the promised land is "flowing with milk and honey", indicating it produces crops in abundance. Does Moses' concern about the land and crops suggest doubt on his part? Some scholars think so. If that's the case I don't think we can point an accusing finger at Moses without being hypocritical. We can hardly expect we'd have done any better; if a man of great faith like Moses (who spoke with the Lord as a man speaks with a friend) felt some trepidation about conditions in the promised land, we would almost certainly have expressed far more doubts and concerns than he ever did. I decline to find fault with Moses if he was having difficulty picturing the overflowing goodness of a land he'd never seen. I don't think it means Moses doubted the Lord was going to give them the promised land. I've had the Lord promise to work out certain situations for me, and even though I believed He was really going to come through for me, I still had trouble picturing what victory was going to look like. 

Ten out of the twelve men sent to Canaan will have a great deal of difficulty picturing what victory is going to look like, only their difficulty is not simply due to the limitations of the human mind in picturing what life is going to be like when the Lord fulfills His promise to give them the land. Their difficulty is going to be the result of a lack of faith in the Lord. Ten of the men will come back from Canaan convinced it is impossible to take the promised land. This is the same as saying the Lord won't keep His word. This is the same as saying the Lord isn't powerful enough to do what He's said He's going to do. We don't want to be like these ten men. We are going to want to follow the example of the two men who firmly believe the Lord will do exactly what He's said He will do. These two men are Joshua and Caleb.

Numbers. Day 37, Jealousy And Racial Prejudice From Miriam And Aaron, Part Two

In yesterday's passage from Numbers 12 we found Miriam and Aaron discriminating against Moses' wife because of her racial heritage (she is a Cushite) and because of her skin color (she is most likely black). This is wrong and the Lord is displeased with Miriam and Aaron. Furthermore, the two of them are using their prejudice against Moses' wife to suggest he is unfit to lead Israel due to having married a non-Israelite woman. Why do they feel that way suddenly, at this point in the narrative? Because they have grown jealous of Moses. They envy his power and authority and fame. They want some of it (in Miriam's case perhaps all of it) for themselves. 

We know envy is at the root of their problem with Moses because in yesterday's study they questioned why Moses gets to be the Lord's spokesperson, considering that the Lord has also spoken to them. Miriam has been called a prophetess in the Bible. Aaron has spoken on authority of the Lord before. They are saying something like, "Why should Moses get all the attention of the people? Why does he get the last word? He's not the only person to whom the Lord has ever spoken. Why is Moses the leader and not one of us?" Miriam's and Aaron's problem is not really with Moses' choice of wife, although they are very wrong for their prejudice against her; their problem is with Moses and with the Lord. They are simply using Moses' non-Israelite wife as a means of sowing seeds of doubt regarding his loyalty to Israel.

We pick up with verse 3 which tells us, "(Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.'" (Numbers 12:3) Moses was not a prideful and arrogant leader. He never marched through the camp with his nose in the air and an attitude of, "The Lord has appointed me as your leader. It's my way or the highway! I have been specially chosen and blessed with the spirit of prophecy and discernment. I have been singled out, from among every person on the face of the earth, to relate the Lord's message to you and to be the leader of His people Israel as we march toward the promised land. Obey me or face the consequences!" No, Moses never made a big deal out of himself. If Miriam and Aaron think he's making a big deal of himself it's only because they are looking at him through the lens of their envy. They may think he thinks he's a big deal, but that's because they're projecting their own attitudes onto him. If the Lord had put either Miriam or Aaron in charge, they would have considered themselves a big deal, and they wrongfully assume Moses thinks the same way they do.

The Lord takes swift action to correct the behavior of Moses' two siblings and to heal the emerging family rift. "At once the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, 'Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.' So the three of them went out. Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud; He stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam." (Numbers 12:4-5a) This is a bit like being called into the principal's office, only on a much larger and more fearsome scale.

"When the two of them stepped forward, He said, 'Listen to My words: When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, reveal Myself to them in visions, I speak to them 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?'" (Numbers 12:5b-8) Miriam and Aaron wanted to know why Moses was chosen to lead Israel instead of one of them, since they too have received prophecies from the Lord. But the way the Lord revealed things to Miriam and Aaron, and to the prophets of old, is not the way He revealed things to Moses. He spoke to Moses "face to face". We already knew this as far back as Exodus 33:11 when we were told, "Thus the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend." If you and were aware of this fact as far back as Exodus 33:11, Miriam and Aaron were aware of it too. And yet now, in the second year of their freedom from Egypt, they speak out against a man to whom the Lord speaks as He never spoke to any man before. 

The Lord asks them, "Why did you dare speak against Moses in this way? You knew he and I communed face to face, as one man speaks to another man, as friends speak to one another. Did I ever speak with either of you that way? Have I ever spoken to anyone that way other than Moses? No? Then why did you think you were his equals in prophecy and revelation? Why did you think you had developed as close a relationship with Me as Moses has developed? Why did you envy him and try to overthrow the authority that I---the Lord---have given him? If I'd wanted either of you to lead Israel, I'd have appointed one of you to lead Israel. I have chosen Moses. In speaking against Moses you've spoken against My sovereign authority and My right to appoint whomever I choose."

Envy is a sin and we should take care not to envy the gifts God has given to our fellow believers. God has given gifts as it seems good to Him, and God is always right. He has given us gifts as well, and though they may be different from someone else's, we aren't to wish we had someone else's gifts instead of our own. We also must not envy the relationship others have with the Lord. If we feel someone has a closer relationship with the Lord than we do, and if this makes us jealous of them, the proper thing to do is work on our own relationship with the Lord. How do we build relationships? It's by spending time in the presence of the person with whom we are building a relationship. It's by talking to them and by listening to them when they talk. It's by learning about them and by telling them things about ourselves. If our relationship with the Lord isn't as good as someone else's, the only one to blame is ourselves. We have no right to envy them or feel bitter toward them. 

"The anger of the Lord burned against them, and He left them." (Numbers 12:9) I can't help wondering if the Lord leaves them abruptly because He is so angry. His righteousness is capable of consuming sinful man. I think perhaps what He does in verse 9 can be compared to a parent who has to leave the room because their annoyance with a willful child is so great at the moment. The Lord removes Himself from Miriam's and Aaron's presence at this time. It is by His mercy that they are not consumed, as the prophet Jeremiah says in the book of Lamentations when pointing out that the Lord has the right to destroy any of us for our sins. There will, however, be consequences for the sin of Miriam and Aaron. "When the cloud lifted from above the tent, Miriam's skin was leprous---it became as white as snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease, and he said to Moses, 'Please, my lord, I ask you not to hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother's womb with its flesh half eaten away.'" (Numbers 12:10-12)

As we said yesterday, it's believed that Miriam was more bitter against Moses than Aaron was. I believe Miriam was proposing (or was about to propose) a coup against the leadership of Moses. Miriam was named before Aaron when we were told they began to "talk against Moses". Miriam alone, and not Miriam and Aaron both, is stricken with that most dire skin disease of leprosy. Aaron is heartbroken when he sees the condition of his sister. I think Aaron likely repented of his sin toward the Lord while the Lord was speaking with them in our passage today. But Aaron still owes Moses an apology and we find him making it in verses 11 and 12 above. Miriam's illness is discipline for her sin but it's also discipline for Aaron's sin. It took Aaron seeing her in this dreadful state to cause him to make things right with his brother. When you and I realize we've wronged someone, our first response should be to repent to the Lord. Our second response should be to apologize to the person as soon as we can. Making things right with the Lord is good but it isn't enough to bring healing to the situation; we must try to make things right with the person too. They may or may not accept our apology but we must make it anyway.

Moses responds in a godly way. He doesn't say to Miriam, "You got what you deserved." He doesn't say to Aaron, "I don't accept your apology." Instead he immediately calls upon the Lord for help for his sister. "So Moses cried out to the Lord, 'Please, God, heal her!'" (Numbers 12:13) Wow! No wonder Numbers 12 tells us Moses was the most humble man on the earth at that time. If he'd been a prideful man he would have said, "I have a right to be offended by the treachery of my sister and brother. I have a right to be angry with them. I won't forgive them. I won't help them. They have betrayed me and I consider them dead to me." This is how a lot of human beings would behave when spoken against in the manner in which Miriam and Aaron spoke against their brother Moses. But Moses' love for his siblings far outweighs any hurt or bitterness he may feel over their betrayal. When they need his help, he doesn't even have to think about it. 

The Lord hears Moses' noble and unselfish prayer. The Lord heals Miriam but, because she needs a "time out" in which to reflect upon her wrong attitudes and actions, the Lord prescribes a seven-day period of isolation for her. "The Lord replied to Moses, 'If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back.' So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on til she was brought back. After that, the people left Hazeroth and encamped in the Desert of Paran." (Numbers 12:14-16) Some versions of the Bible render verse 14 as, "If she had spit in her father's face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days?" I am not sure which way this verse should be translated, but as in the case of anyone in the Israelite camp who has had a defiling skin outbreak, Miriam must be isolated for seven days. We studied the regulations regarding such things in the book of Exodus. If a person's skin ailment had improved or disappeared after a week in isolation, they were no longer considered unclean because a skin condition that improves or disappears is not a deadly contagious illness. Miriam will be able to rejoin the camp in seven days, but meanwhile she's exactly where she needs to be: alone with her conscience and her God. Everyone in the camp knows what has happened and that she is in disgrace for trying to usurp the authority of Moses. This will serve to humble her and to heal her attitude toward Moses. It will probably also prevent people from ever rallying behind her should she ever again propose she is as qualified as Moses to lead the nation. 

Will this put an end to people in the camp rebelling against the Lord? Sadly, no. Will it put an end to people finding fault with Moses? No. But it has rid Miriam and Aaron of the envy they felt toward their brother. It has prevented Moses from harboring resentment toward his siblings. It has healed this family and put it back together. The Lord is in the business of healing and uniting, but people must be obedient when He calls them to love and forgive each other and to come together in peace. "A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones. (Proverbs 14:30)