WBS.227
FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP
OLD TESTAMENT SURVEY – 7
NUMBERS - BEMIDBAR
Genesis 13:16 And I will make
thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the
earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.
Genesis 15:5
And he brought him forth abroad, and said,
Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and
he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
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The book
of Leviticus is essentially the Hebrews’ manual for how to demonstrate
their separation to IAUE. There was no
margin for error. IAUE would not
tolerate lip service. He commanded His
people to be holy according to a very specific standard. They were to be holy as HE is holy. IAUE intended His very own nature to be
manifested in the lives of His people; and the only way that could happen is if
they rejected all other influences that shaped and determined how they lived
their lives.
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NUMBERS: (from Greek: Arithmoi – “numbers”) (from Hebrew: Bemidbar - "In the
desert"). As explained in the
earlier posts, the Hebrew names of the books of the Torah are taken from the
first word of the text. The English titles
originated with the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Tanak, the Old
Testament. This is the first book,
however, whose title is “translated” from the Greek. Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus are
transliterations of the Greek titles; but Numbers is the English meaning of the
Greek title: Arithmoi. There is no
particular reason that is anywhere explained for this change in pattern for the
English names of the Old Testament books.
The book gets its name from the fact that it
twice records a census of the Hebrew people who were making the desert journey
to the Promised Land. The first census
was taken at Mt. Sinai, a little after one year from their exodus out of Egypt.
Numbers 1:1 And
the IAUE spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the
tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the
second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying,
2 Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the
children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with
the number of their names, every male by their polls;
3 From twenty years old and upward, all that are
able to go forth to war in Israel: thou and Aaron shall number them by their
armies.
Numbers 1:45 So were all those that were numbered of the
children of Israel, by the house of their fathers, from twenty years old and
upward, all that were able to go forth to war in Israel;
46 Even all they that were numbered were
six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty.
47 But the Levites after the tribe of their
fathers were not numbered among them.
One man, Abram, was called by IAUE to come out
of Ur of the Chaldeans and to be in covenant with Him. He promised him that he would make from him a
people as numerous as the dust of the earth and as the stars of the heavens. Having been in Egypt for more than four
centuries, they finally make their journey to the land originally promised to
Abram (whose name had been changed by IAUE to Abraham). Their adult males are numbered 603,550. This does not include women and
children. The Hebrews tended to have
large families; but if we assign a wife and only two children to these adult
males, we arrive at a number of 2,414,200 people; and this did NOT include the
Levites or their family members.
Most of the book of Numbers catalogs the Hebrew
people’s 40-year journey through the wilderness. The trek from Egypt to the Promised Land was
not that long of a distance that it should take 40 years. Why did it take so
long?
Numbers 13:2 Send
thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the
children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every
one a ruler among them.
Each tribe selected their man to be a party of
the team that spied out the land; and this is the report they brought back to
Moses.
Numbers 13:25 And they returned from searching of the land after
forty days.
26 And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron,
and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of
Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the
congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.
27 And they told him, and said, We came unto the
land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey;
and this is the fruit of it.
28 Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell
in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover
we saw the children of Anak there.
29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south:
and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains:
and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.
30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and
said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome
it.
31 But the men that went up with him said, We
be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
32 And they brought up an evil report of the land
which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through
which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants
thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great
stature.
33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak,
which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and
so we were in their sight.
They confirmed exactly what IAUE had promised,
that the land was flowing with milk and honey; but the entire land was overrun
by giants. Now, this is a fact that is
often ignored or overlooked by teachers and preachers, today. (Please make a note of this. We are going to return to this matter of the
giants in a few weeks; maybe sooner, because it is becoming a very important
matter and an extremely timely issue for today). We are not talking about people who are seven
feet tall. The giants of this day were
anywhere from 15 to 30 feet tall and taller. Notice in verse 32, above; they “eat up the
inhabitants thereof.” They were so large
that they literally ate normal sized humans as a part of their diet.
Extra-biblical records state that the giants of this day were cannibals. It is
little wonder that 10 of the 12 spies returned in fear; but they should have
known from what IAUE had already done for them, that He was well able to cause
them to take the land He had promised to them.
Here is IAUE’s response.
Numbers 13:11 And
IAUE said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will
it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?
27 How
long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have
heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
28 Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith IAUE,
as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:
29 Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness;
and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty
years old and upward which have murmured against me.
30 Doubtless ye shall not come into the land,
concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of
Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
33 And your children shall wander in the
wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted
in the wilderness.
34 After the number of the days in which ye
searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your
iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.
The second census was taken in the plains of
Moab nearly 39 years later, after the people had committed one act of rebellion
after another. In fact, this census was
taken shortly after 24,000 died in the plains of Moab because they began to “commit
whoredom with the daughters of Moab” (Numbers 25) by making sacrifice to Baal.
Numbers 26:2 Take
the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty years
old and upward, throughout their fathers' house, all that are able to go to war
in Israel.
Numbers 26:51 These
were the numbered of the children of Israel, six hundred thousand and a
thousand seven hundred and thirty.
52 And IAUE spake
unto Moses, saying,
53 Unto
these the land shall be divided for an inheritance according to the number of
names.
After a
generation in the wilderness, and after experiencing several judgments of IAUE
for their wickedness and rebellion, the number of adult males had been reduced
by 1,820. Take note, however, that only
two people enumerated in the first census are counted in the second census. All
but Joshua and Caleb of the original 603,550 had died in the wilderness. Their faithlessness had cost them the prize. This is the central message of the book of
Numbers. IAUE does not just want His people
to have faith in Him; it is an absolute requirement.
Psalm 95:8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of
temptation in the wilderness:
9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
10 Forty years long was I grieved with
this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they
have not known my ways:
11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
Hebrews 11:6
But without
faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to IAUE must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
The last
ten chapters of the book essentially record Moses’ instructions to the people
regarding their conduct in the Promised Land.
Kingdom heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the
performance of the will of IAUE.
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