Failure and Preparation

Numbers

Welcome! Today we come to our third message in the series entitled Law and Grace, focused on looking at the Old Testament law and then the gospel of grace as explained in Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Two weeks ago we looked at Exodus, and last week we looked at Leviticus. I want to start by giving you a quick summary of what we have talked about so far.

Both Exodus and Leviticus combine a sequential telling of the story of the Israelites’ history and God’s progressive revelation of His Law for the Israelites. God’s first command to the Israelites was to celebrate a new holiday called the Passover, commemorating God’s delivery of the Israelites from Egypt. He gave them this command, telling them to do it every year, even as He was preparing them for the night in which the firstborn of the Egyptians would die. The Israelites were released and then crossed through the miraculously parted sea. Then they were led by the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire and given water and the manna, and then reached Sinai. There they were given the Ten Commandments along with other regulations. On multiple occasions during these events the Israelites grumbled and complained against their God, and they even made an idol to worship while the Ten Commandments were first being given to Moses, who smashed the tablets when he saw what his people were doing. Moses went back up the mountain and received a second set, and when he came down, he began instructing the people in what God required of them. 

God then gave the Israelites detailed instructions for making a tabernacle and its contents. The Israelites followed these instructions carefully, and God’s Spirit then entered into the Tabernacle, bringing us to the end of the book of Exodus. Leviticus continued the story by describing how God called Moses and gave him detailed instructions for how sacrifices were to be made to God. We talked last week about five different offerings, the three “sweet” offerings – the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fellowship offering – and two other offerings called the sin offering and the guilt offering. Leviticus went on to describe specific offerings for various sins, always accompanied by confession, and, when applicable, also accompanied by restitution.

Leviticus went on to describe additional offerings for the ordination of Aaron and his sons as priests. Everything was done as prescribed, and fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the offerings on the altar, and the people worshiped. But then two of Aaron’s sons decided to do their own thing, their own way, and the result was that they died in fire.

Leviticus then gave rules about clean vs. unclean foods, as well as about clean vs. unclean health conditions. The book then described a new holy day for the Israelites, the Day of Atonement, in which, on this one day, the high priest enters the very center of the tabernacle, the holy of holies, and made special sacrifices for the sins of himself and his people. 

The remainder of the book of Leviticus describes various additional laws for the Israelites to follow. A number of times, the following phrase appears: I am the Lord, who makes you holy. The commandments in this part of Leviticus are there to teach the Israelites how to be holy. God is holy, and only the holy can stand in His presence.

Within these chapters that focus on sanctification are rules for purity in intimate relationships, rules for loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself, rules for personal conduct (with special rules for the conduct of priests), how to observe the seven special holidays, how to observe Sabbath years and the year of Jubilee, the rewards and punishments for obeying or disobeying God’s laws, and rules regarding vows and dedications.

And so this brings us to the book of Numbers. Numbers gets its name from the various lists and counts of people in this book.  Numbers begins as follows:

The Lord spoke to Moses in the Tent of Meeting in the Desert of Sinai on the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites came out of Egypt. He said: “Take a census of the whole Israelite community by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one. – Numbers 1:1-2

So God called Moses to take a census, a count, of the entire Israelite people, listing every single family. One man from each tribe was to help him. Note that this was a huge job, as there were more than a million people out there in the desert. But the people did this faithfully. The man of each family came forward to his particular tribal representative and gave his name, and in this way every family was counted. As I have suggested in the previous messages in this series, I am not surprised they obeyed. Generally, it is easier to obey God in doing physical tasks (doing stuff) than it is to obey God in matters of the heart.

The lists of the numbers of people per tribe reveals one of the main reasons for this census – for being able to assign people to various tasks in future days of battle. For this reason the Levites were not counted, because they would never serve in an army, but instead were to continue taking care of the tabernacle and its contents; the priests, a subset of this tribe, were to continue to perform the necessary sacrifices. But another reason is revealed in chapter 2 – for the sake of organization. Chapter 2 begins with this:

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: “The Israelites are to camp around the Tent of Meeting some distance from it, each man under his standard with the banners of his family.” – Numbers 2:1-2

God instructed them very specifically in how to arrange themselves by camps. At the center was the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting. To the east was the tribe of Judah, then Issachar, then Zebulun. To the south was the tribe of Reuben, then Simeon, then Gad. To the west was the tribe of Ephraim, then Manasseh, then Benjamin. And to the north was the tribe of Dan, then Asher, then Naphtali. The eastern group was collectively known as Judah, the southern group as Reuben, the western group as Ephraim, and the northern group as Dan.

By the way, if you are confused about the number of tribes (thirteen), let me try to explain this. Jacob had 12 sons, each becoming founder of a tribe. Joseph, if you recall, was sold by his brothers as a slave, and he eventually became the number two man in Egypt. In Egypt, Joseph had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. When there was a widespread famine, Jacob and the rest of the family eventually came to live with Joseph in Egypt. Anyway, in Gen. 48, when Jacob was dying, Joseph came to visit him with his sons. There, Jacob basically adopted Joseph’s two sons as his own, giving a total of 13 (Gen. 48:5-6). 

Recall that God led them as a pillar of cloud or fire. Each night, the pillar would rest at the tabernacle, in the center of the entire camp. Symbolically, how appropriate – God should be at the center of all our organizations and activities.

One thing that is pretty amazing about this arrangement of camps is that it actually forms the shape of a cross. Note that the people were told specifically to camp due east, south, west, and north. Nobody is northeast, or southwest, or so on. Also, Levi, being a single tribe (compared with each group of three) is the smallest tribe. Assuming the groups camped out and avoided the northwest and other cross directions, you can view Levi as a square (or a circle) and the other four groups as rectangles (or ovals). Note that in the four groups, the length of each camp would be proportional to the number of people in it. The largest camp is Judah, at about 190,000 men, to the east. Next at a near tie are Reuben and Dan, to the south and north, each around 150,000 men. Smallest is Ephraim, to the west, at about 110,000. If you draw a central square for the Levites and rectangles going in each of the four directions with length proportional to these numbers, you get a perfectly dimensioned cross! Is this a coincidence? If you want to think so, you can.

Now that the people are all sorted out, in Numbers 3 and 4, God deals with the Levites. Their job is to assist the priests. God had Moses count the Levites, and they were counted according to their clans, named for the 3 sons of Levi, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Each group was assigned specific (and different) tasks; all were to camp right next to the tabernacle; the Gershonites to the west, the Kohathites to the south, and the Merarites to the north. Moses and Aaron and his sons (and their families) camped to the east (next to Judah).  Now prior to this, the firstborn were to serve in the tabernacle; now that this was set up, the Levites took their place, and a collection was also taken at this time for their service. Numbers 4 describes the detailed tasks each of the three clans was to do.

Now, all of this was part of the Law; it was God’s instructions for how the Israelites were to live and function. In Numbers 5, we return to general laws for the Israelites in general. First, it explains that when someone was unclean for one of the reasons given in the law in Leviticus, they were to be sent outside the newly organized camp. Next are additional details about restitution for when one person wrongs another, and then are instructions for what to do when a husband believed his wife was unfaithful to him but he had no direct proof. He would bring his wife to a priest, who would make an offering and then would make her drink bitter water, and if she had been unfaithful, the water would bring a curse to her body; otherwise, it would not harm her. This may seem somewhat shocking to our modern sensibilities, particularly that there was no corresponding test for a wife who suspected her husband was unfaithful. I would remind you that this was in an environment in which men could take multiple wives, and so it was a completely different world and worldview from what we have now. As a practical matter I doubt it happened very often, partly because I doubt very many men would want to publically admit that their wives were not satisfied with them.

Numbers 6 deals with Nazirite vows, vows of consecration to the Lord. Both men and women were permitted to make Nazirite vows. During this time you would abstain from alcohol, even from fresh grapes, and you wouldn’t cut your hair. At the conclusion of the vow, you would bring what was required so that the priests could make a series of sacrifices of dedication to God on your behalf. Interestingly, the Nazirite was holy unto God (Numbers 6:8), yet at the conclusion, one of the sacrifices he had to provide for was the sin offering. Only God was truly holy. Note that Samson was a Nazirite from birth; his mother had been barren, and an angle came telling her to do this, for he was to become a deliverer of Israel. Note the foreshadowing of Christ in this. Samuel is another example of one under a Nazirite vow; also in his case, his mother made the vow. Additional requirements for general vows are given in Numbers 30.

At the end of Numbers 6, God tells the priests what to say when they bless the Israelites:

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

I don’t have time to go deeply into this, but obtaining a blessing was a huge deal in the Old Testament; look at all the maneuvering that goes on to try to obtain blessings in Genesis, for example. Under the Law given to the Israelites, only the priests could bless the people. What about in the New Testament? First of all, in the New Testament, we are all priests (I Peter 2:9). Second, at Jesus’ ascension, Jesus blessed His disciples (Luke 24:50). Finally, Jesus says He leaves us His peace; that is, He leaves it with us (John 14:27). So I believe there is a very real sense in which we can bless each other with the blessing that comes from God.

Numbers 7 continues with the account of what happened. Everything was now set up, people knew what their jobs were to be, and this chapter describes various offerings people made to assist in the Levite’s new work. Numbers 8 describes what was required to make the Levites ceremonially clean, ready to do the work – more sin offerings. And these were done.

It had now been a year since they left Egypt, and it was time for them to celebrate the Passover, which they did, in accordance with the procedures described. This is explained in Numbers 9. A few additional regulations for the Passover are also described here, things we talked about in the Exodus message. Numbers 9 also describes what it was like now that they were in their new orderly arrangement; the cloud would lead them, and they would follow, whether it was day or night. When it was time to move, the Levites would take apart the tabernacle, each according to their roles, and the whole camp would move. When the cloud settled down, they would set up camp again.

In Numbers 10, God has them make trumpets. Depending on the number of blasts, they called for an assembly or for setting out from their current location. The priests were told to also use the trumpets in times of war and at the various holy day festivals. This chapter also explains that when they did set out, Judah went first, then the Levites and the tabernacle things, then Reuben, then Ephraim, then Dan. Again, remember that there were more than a million people here – each group was huge, and there would be a long wait for each group to begin moving before the next could start. I encourage you to imagine actually being a part of this; hearing the trumpet, seeing the cloud, packing up, waiting for your group to move, and so on. As this chapter concludes, Moses’ father-in-law left them to return to his own land, and the Israelites traveled three days. And they all lived happily ever after, right? Wrong!

Numbers 11 describes them repeatedly complaining and fretting. In one instance God sent fire at the outskirts of their camp. In another, the people complained about their manna, and God did two things: God rested His spirit on 70 of the leaders instead of just Moses who was getting worn out from them, and He gave them quail but also a plague. Now what happened here? Did God change His mind? I don’t think so – the way the Hebrew is worded, something happened while they were eating the quail that made God newly upset with them. Picture the situation – a ridiculously great amount of quail are blown over to you, and the people go wild. They have just been talking about how they miss the pleasures of Egypt – certainly not a good way to start – but now they create this giant feast, many times more than they can possibly eat, and they just go wild, eating and eating past the point of being sick. I can imagine that even as God has provided this for them, they are imagining the pleasures of Egypt while they are feasting. And so God gives them what they deserve – real sickness visits them.

Numbers 12 begins with this:

Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t He also spoken through us?” And the Lord heard this. – Numbers 12:1-2

This time, it’s not the general people who do the complaining, but Moses’ own sister and brother. They oppose Moses because of his Cushite wife. They even say, in effect, why is Moses in charge? Why can’t we be in charge? Of course, God Himself set Moses in charge, so such thoughts are directly challenging God. God punished Miriam with leprosy, but Moses intervened, asking God to heal her, and God did. This might be the only time the healing of leprosy part of the Law had a use until Jesus. Now why didn’t God also punish Aaron? One possibility is that the sin of Miriam was greater – that is, she was the ringleader. The fact that her name is mentioned first, as a woman, is extremely unusual in Scripture and more than hints that this may be the case. And based on past misdeeds in Exodus, Aaron does strike me as a particularly strong leader.

In Numbers 13-14, God told Moses to send scouts from each tribe to explore the land of Canaan, the land He was going to give them. Moses did so, and when they came back they talked about how wonderful the land was (flowing with milk and honey) but there were large fortified cities and powerful people there. Only one scout, Caleb, said they should go and take the land. A bit later, another scout, Joshua, agreed with him.  The others then exaggerated and said the people were giants; they were grasshoppers in comparison.

The Israelites responded with outright rebellion, discussing who the next leader should be that can take them back to Egypt. They even prepared to stone Moses and the other leaders. In response, God sentenced them to 40 years in the desert, so that the current generation, those who had rebelled, would die out in the desert. Their children, the next generation, would be the ones to inherit the Promised Land.

Moses told the people this terrible news, and they responded by saying they would go up the next morning to the Promised Land. Notice how they refused to hear what God had said. They seemed repentant, saying “we have sinned,” and they “mourned bitterly,” but it was a false repentance. True repentance involves returning to the Lord and then doing things His way, not finding yet another way to do things your way. Moses warned them not to go, because they were disobeying God and were sure not to succeed. Moses made the ark stay, and they left without it – not a good sign – and sure enough, they were easily and terribly defeated.

Well, my title this week is Failure and Preparation. And with the close of Numbers 14, we see spectacular failure – failure to follow the Lord, failure to trust Him, failure to believe that He is good and has what is best for you in mind. Do you notice that it is this lack of trust that God reacts to? I am sure that of the many laws given, that we have described over the past 3 weeks, they were all being broken by individuals fairly frequently, even in these early days. But what caused God to take action was their lack of trust in Him. If we learn one thing from all this, I hope it is that to believe lies about God, to think “the worst” of Him, is a terribly great sin! In so doing we accuse God. We become the Accuser, one of the names of Satan. Recall how Peter once said to Jesus, “Surely not, Lord,” and Jesus responded “Get behind Me, Satan.” It is a terribly great sin.

Well, we’ve seen the failure. What about preparation? We see this in increasing amounts in the latter chapters of Numbers. Numbers 15 begins with

The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘After you enter the land I am giving you as a home… - Numbers 15:1-2  

Numbers 15 describes special offerings to give when they enter the land. A law is also given to put tassels on their garments to remind them to obey the Law.

But the people haven’t finished grumbling and complaining and not trusting God. In Numbers 16, Korah and two of his friends, bringing 250 Israelite men with them, directly challenge the authority of Moses. The result of the incident, which also included the general people again rising up against Moses, was the death of these who rebelled and another plague among the people.

Apparently the grumbling about who would lead still did not end, and so in Numbers 17, God instructed Moses to had a staff made for each tribe, and God would make the staff of the tribe he wanted to lead, to serve the tabernacle, miraculously sprout. The staff of Levi, Aaron’s staff, did this, flowering and producing almonds. Showing this miracle to the people, Moses hoped the people would at last accept God’s chosen leadership. But the people responded by saying,

We will die! We are lost, we are all lost! Anyone who even comes near the tabernacle of the Lord will die. Are we all going to die? – Numbers 17:12-13

Numbers 18 returns to preparation, with God instructing the Levites on how they will not have an inheritance in the land to be given, but a tithe and offering system will be implemented and they will receive these tithes and offerings for themselves. But they too must give tithes and offerings from these things, the best parts, to the Lord through sacrifice.

Numbers 19 describes an additional part of the Law, preparation and use of the “water of cleansing.” It is produced from the ashes of a sacrificed red heifer (cow), an exceedingly rare animal. The law states that it must be without any blemish or defect, have never been yoked, and then be sacrificed in a certain way. Its ashes are to be mixed with clean (literally, living) water. It must be burnt outside the camp, burnt totally, and then cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet were to be added to the fire. The resulting water was to be used for ritual cleansing, to declare clean one who had had contact with a dead body. I don’t have time for more details, but once again we see something in the Law fulfilled by Christ:

The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! – Hebrews 9:13-14

In the beginning of Numbers 20, Miriam died and was buried, and at the end of Numbers 20, Aaron died and was buried. In the middle we witness a kind of death of Moses, in that the people complain against the Lord yet again, this time over not having water and Moses in anger strikes the rock rather than speaking to it, as God instructed. God replies by saying,

“Because you did not trust in Me enough to honor Me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.” – Numbers 20:12

Although we may not fully understand the exact nature of what Moses did wrong, we see at the core the issue is that Moses too in His heart grumbled against the Lord rather than trusting in Him. As a result, He too, will die in the desert.

I don’t have time to describe all of the remaining events as the people get close to finally going into the Promised Land, but I will highlight a few things. In Numbers 21, the people grumble yet again, and this time God punishes the people by sending venomous snakes. God instructs Moses to make a statue of snake and put it on a pole; those who were bitten who look up on it would live. Again, we see something highly symbolic of the coming Christ, who was lifted up on a pole, who became sin for us – a snake is symbolic of sin – and that by looking up to the cross, that is, in faith, trusting in Him to save us, we too although bitten by a snake – that is, condemned to die because of sin – we too, will live.

As the time drew near to enter the Promised Land, the Israelites came in greater contact with other people. In Numbers 25, they were near the Moabite people, and began to indulge in immorality with their women and also worship their gods, worshiping the false god Baal. This led to yet another plague.

Numbers 28 and 29 describes additional details about the sacrifices to be made, including daily sacrifices, sacrifices on Sabbaths, sacrifices on each new moon, and sacrifices on the holidays the Lord wants them to observe, the Passover, the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles.

Numbers 33 gives a short listing of the places the Israelites have traveled in their wanderings led by God. The chapter ends with instructions for when they enter the land. Of particular note, they are to destroy all their places where they have worshiped false gods. (That isn’t going to happen.)

And Numbers 34 presents what the boundaries will be for the Promised Land. More of the Law is given in Numbers 35. In Numbers 35, towns for the Levites are described, some of which are to be cities of refuge, places to which a person may flee if they have killed someone and can be protected before standing trial. Additional details regarding murder trials are also given.

Although it is not the last thing in Numbers, I want to finish up today by mentioning Numbers 26. Recall that Numbers began with a census; this chapter, nearly 40 years later, describes another census. There have been many births over the years; a whole new generation is about to take the Promised Land. But more tribes have seen losses in their numbers than those who have seen gains. And the whole thing seems like such a tragic waste to me. Forty years lost! Not that man can thwart God’s sovereign plans, but in certain perspective, it seems like God’s plan to bless the Israelites has been put on hold for 40 years because of their stubborn sin.

And what strikes me most about this is the nature of their sin – it is that they still don’t trust God. They don’t love Him. They barely even fear Him, and although fear without love is not what God desires, I think it’s better than nothing. After all, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But although God is in their midst day after day for 40 years, these people don’t know Him; by and large they don’t want to know Him. They would rather go back to Egypt and be slaves.

Let this not be true of us! Know that the Lord is good! The Lord is love! The Lord desires, above all, our hearts. When faced with hardship, as the Israelites did, how do you respond? Do you grumble against Him, or do you trust Him? I want to close with two passages, one from the Old Testament, and one from the New.

Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but He will heal us; He has injured us but He will bind up our wounds. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will restore us, that we may live in His presence.  Let us acknowledge [know] the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge [know] Him. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth. – Hosea 6:1-3

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. – Phil. 3:7-12