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March 6th
Our reading in the Bible today is in Numbers chapters 26,27.
This part of scripture deals with “numbers”. Some up...some down...most pretty much the same. I'm talking about comparing Israel’s Sinai census to her Moab plains census.
The two accountings were done 38 years apart. They were both counting available men for military service.
The first counting totaled 603,000 men. The second counting totaled 601,000 men fit for war.
What could these numbers tell us now that we have read about Israel’s 38 years of wilderness wandering?
No growth. No progress. No advancement. No change. And we could be talking about Israel’s spiritual state as well as her population.
No growth spiritually for most. No progress in the faith for most. No advancement in their relationship with God. No change in 38 years: mostly spiritually immature at best. Spiritual stagnation.
Some ask, why did it take 40 years to get to a place that was only a three-week walk away? For God to mercifully replace a generation of unbelief with strong believers...at least a larger percentage of them.
So today we read about this second numbering of the Israeli congregation. The first took place at Mt Sinai, just one year into the journey to the promised land. And now Moses and the new High Priest, Eleazer, number the tribe members in the plains of Moab, 38 years later.
Let’s note a few things about this numbering.
God commanded the census to be taken on both occasions. It wasn't an initiative of Moses. From the beginning of the wilderness march to the southern edge of Canaan, 39 years later, God was teaching the Promised Land people many things. One very important lesson was that they would have to fight. Trust God, yes...but fight at His command.
O how David wished he had paid closer attention to Israel’s history...especially this “numbering” thing. 500 years after this numbering of the congregation, King David ordered Joab to take that same kind of census. Joab counseled him not to take it. But David neglected history and the counsel of a faithful servant...and had the census taken.
And God judged David and Israel severely...with a three-day plague that took the lives of 70,000 men of Israel....(not counting the members of their families....upward to 200,000 most likely). All because of David’s pride...”Look how large and strong “my” army is...”
God would teach David and the people a “hard lesson”...THE King in Israel...was God Himself...and David and Israel had forgotten that.
Taking the count of those fit for war had its logistical purposes...for Moses and David. The organizing of such a force for war was good in and of itself....both Moses and David had that...but... what they would “really” need was a “bold and courageous faith” in God.
Did they have it? Well...That’s the rest of the story.
Have a good day
