Numbers...

 Numbers....

The book of Numbers starts right off with -

The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, by clans, by fathers' houses, according to the number of names, every male, head by head. 

From twenty years old and upward, all in Israel who are able to go to war, you and Aaron shall list them, company by company. 

And there shall be with you a man from each tribe, each man being the head of the house of his fathers. 

And these are the names of the men who shall assist you. From Reuben, Elizur the son of Shedeur; from Simeon, Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai; from Judah, Nahshon the son of Amminadab; from Issachar, Nethanel the son of Zuar; from Zebulun, Eliab the son of Helon; from the sons of Joseph, from Ephraim, Elishama the son of Ammihud, and from Manasseh, Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur; from Benjamin, Abidan the son of Gideoni; from Dan, Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai; from Asher, Pagiel the son of Ochran; from Gad, Eliasaph the son of Deuel; from Naphtali, Ahira the son of Enan.” 

These were the ones chosen from the congregation, the chiefs of their ancestral tribes, the heads of the clans of Israel.

Numbers 1:1-16

I loved that He again named everyone personally...still named by clan of Jacob’s sons...

Moses and Aaron complied , numbering can by clan, exactly as commanded...

Starting with Reuben, the first born on down the line...

Until all were counted...except the Levites, who were to take care of the tabernacle and all of its furnishings...

These are those who were listed, whom Moses and Aaron listed with the help of the chiefs of Israel, twelve men, each representing his fathers' house. So all those listed of the people of Israel, by their fathers' houses, from twenty years old and upward, every man able to go to war in Israel— all those listed were 603,550.

Numbers 1:44-46

(Quite an army)

After that was the arrangement of the camp...

But these numbers come up again further into the book...

Moses, at the LORD’s command, sends spies into the promised land, leading men from each tribe ...naming  them by name again...including Caleb and Joshua... they are to look over the land, assessing the people, the land, the cities... which they did, bringing back fruits of the land, grapes, pomegranates, figs as well as their reports...being gone for 40 days...

The report was good on the land...but ten were afraid of the people ...Caleb stood and said...

But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

Numbers 13:30-33

And the people rebelled of going into the land....and wanted to choose another leader and return to Egypt!

Joshua and Caleb plead to go into the land, Moses pleads for the people...

Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”

Numbers 14:19 

So a God pronounced judgement...

...your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected. But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’ I, the Lord, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.” And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land— the men who brought up a bad report of the land— died by plague before the Lord. Of those men who went to spy out the land, only Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive.

Numbers 14:29-38....

So those who were numbered, also died before the promise was fulfilled...

In my minute mind, did they step into the promised land as soon as the last one died?

What was it like for Joshua and Caleb to wander for 40 years knowing that they were right ? Did they ever resent being kept out because of others...

But, they were being trained more and more as leaders just as Moses was in his sojourn before leading the nation out of Egypt ...knowing that the promised land was waiting...

Thank YOU...for numbers, lessons in obedience, rebellion...consequences to actions...