Tag Archive | the Promised Land

#2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 59

Feb28

    Day 59 —  We are still in the second month, but we’ve begun a new book! We’ve been reading for over a 1/12 of a year! Praise God! I hope that it’s become a GOOD habit that will continue.

   Day 59 – Numbers 11 – 13 (Complaints, Gossip, Rejection)

In Chapter 10, we saw the newly organized and militarized nation of Israel leaving Mt. Sinai on their way to the Promised Land. Ideally, it was a journey of about 11 days, but they are burned, choked, delayed, and stalled in today’s reading, beginning in Chapter 11.

Verse one doesn’t say what they originally complained about, but God responded by sending fire around the perimeter of the camp. The people screamed for help, Moses prayed, and God relented.

Next the “rabble” (mixed group of Egyptians who had come out with the Jews) began to ache and moan for the juices and spices and meats of Egypt.  They were complaining about God’s gracious and nutritious supply of Manna. No work, just pick it up. But they yearned for… Egypt, weeping and wailing like a bunch of babies. (But, oh, am I like them too at times!)

Even Moses seems to have had ENOUGH of these two million cry babies….and did a little crying himself. “I’m not able to carry all this people alone, the burden is too heavy for me.”  “Kill me at once!”  You wonder why God didn’t brush his hands and walk away from the sorry bunch.  Why?  Because of His promises to Abraham, and God doesn’t lie.  Instead He has Moses gather 70 elders of Israel (the beginning of the Sanhedrin?) and puts some of His Spirit on them. They will help carry the burden of the people (because they can’t walk, it seems).

But the people are not done (and either is God!). They whine and moan for meat, tired of “this manna.” And God sends them guail, lots of them, three feet deep, and spread out a day’s journey beyond the edges of the camp.  They ate meat till they were sick of it. And God brought a very great plague on them, and they buried many corpses there. They named the place Kibroth-hattaavah (graves of craving.)

Chapter 12 tells of Miriam & Aaron (Moses’ older siblings) complaining about Him, and God struck Miriam with leprosy. (Why not Aaron too?  Remember he was the high priest of Israel. He needed to say “clean” to offer sacrifices.)  Moses prayed for Miriam and God healed her, but she had to stay outside the camp for the days of ritual cleansing. While she was there, the entire nation remained in one place.

In Chapter 13 Israel reaches the boarder of Canaan, their Promised (by God) Land. God told Moses to send a representative of each tribe in to check out the people and produce of the land.  He does, including Caleb from Judah and Joshua from Ephraim. They are gone 40 days, “testing” the Land and bringing back huge produce to show off.

However, their report is divided.  Joshua & Caleb say “Let’s go!  We can do it!  Let’s take the Promised Land!!”  But the other ten collectively shrink back in fear and tell of the “giants” who made them feel as small as grasshoppers. (A slight exaggeration, guys, don’t you think??)  So…….  what did they do?

(Tune in tomorrow.)

#2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 58

Feb27

    Day 58 —  We are still in the second month, but we’ve begun a new book! We’ve been reading for over a 1/12 of a year! Praise God! I hope that it’s become a GOOD habit that will continue.

   Day 58 – Numbers 8 – 10 (Levites,, Passover, the Cloud, Bye-bye Sinai)

In chapter 8, Another ceremony is instigated of setting apart of the whole tribe of Levi, as the representatives of God’s “first born.” God also sets the age of retirement for priests at 50 years old. They may still guard the Tabernacle, but no long serve in it.

In chapter 9, the whole of Israel celebrates Passover the first time since the original one the night of their escape from Egypt. Some people were worried, that if they had become unclean from, say touching a dead body, they weren’t able to celebrate on that day. God gave lenience and said they, and whoever might be on a long journey, could celebrate it a month later. (How kind is our God!)

Directions were made clear also about the “cloud” or visible presence of God with Israel. When it rested, covering the Tabernacle, they were to remain in that encampment.  However, if it lifted, they were to pack up and follow wherever it led. Whether it rested in one spot two days, a month, or even longer, Israel was not to move, but to always to look to God for their direction.

Numbers 10. Also, because they were to be traveling, God told Moses to tell them about a series of trumpet blasts, as a sort of message, especially to those camped at a distance.  Different trumpets and blasts would be used to summon the people together (say for an important meeting), and at other times, the blasts would signal the breaking of camp. And also, the different blasts would signal how each of the four encampments would set out – decently and in order, as aways.

And finally, just after Passover (as in the first time) the now “nation” of Israel (complete with spiritual leaders and army) was to set out in stages from Mt. Sinai towards the Promised Land. Judah, with Issachar and Zebulun set out first,  Next the Gershonites and Merarites, two of the Levite clans, would leave with the Tabernacle structure . After them, Reuben with Simeon and Gad left, followed by the Kohathites caring the Holy furnishings of the Tabernacle. (Except the Ark of the Covenant, which would lead everything.) Next Ephraim with Manasseh and Benjamin would follow, and finally Dan with Asher and Naphtali would march out, as Israel’s rear guard.

And so they set out on a three-day journey. I can imagine the great joy and excitement they felt, as the newly consecrated and organized people of God, with His laws and ordinances firmly set in their minds, finally realized they were now heading toward their destiny, the Land that God had promised to Abraham so many years before.  It was happening at last!  What could go wrong?