Numbers: Trusting the Promise
Notes
Transcript
Recapping Pentateuch thus Far:
Recapping Pentateuch thus Far:
· Genesis: ORIGINS—GOD’S COVENANT W/ ABRAHAM
PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
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· Exodus: 70 PERSONS —> NATION!
FURTHER FULFILLMENT
LEAVING EGYPT —> ARRIVING @ SINAI
LAWS
CONSTRUCTING of TABERNACLE
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· Leviticus; OCCURS @ MT. SINAI
LEVITICAL LAW—STIPULATIONS for WORSHIP
HOLY PEOPLE of HOLY GOD
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Background: ALL ALONG—ON JOURNEY
FROM EGYPT —> CANAAN (PROMISED LAND)
MT. SINAI = NOT FINAL DESTINATION
Focus: NUMBERS DOCUMENTS THIS JOURNEY...
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Background:
Background:
Name: NUMBERS = BOOK of 2 CENSUSES
CH. 1
CH. 26
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Time: OCCURS 14 MONTHS AFTER EXODUS from EGYPT
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Place:
MT. SINAI
& WILDERNESS—
HEBREW NAME (B’midbar): “IN the WILDERNESS/DESERT” —
**SEE P.P. PIC**//VIDEO
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Outline:
1. PREPARING for CONQUEST (CH. 1-10)
NOTE LAYOUT of CAMP
**(SEE P.P. PIC)**
REMEMBER—TABERNACLE = HOLY, & PORTABLE
—> HOLY GOD ISN’T to BE TAKEN LIGHTLY...
2. FAILINGS of WILDERNESS GENERATION (CH. 11-25)
3. NEW GENERATION PREPARES for CONQUEST (CH. 26-36)
Focus: WE’RE GOING to SPEND MOST of OUR TIME— FAILINGS of WILDERNESS GENERATION & ITS IMPLICATIONS...
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Transition: TO BEGIN, WE’LL OVERVIEW the FIRST CENSUS
READ: CH. 1:1-3
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Text:
Text:
Numbers 1:1–3 (ESV)
1 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,
2 “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.
3 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.
Background: GETTING READY for WAR—CANAANITE CONQUEST
Time: 1ST DAY, 2ND MONTH, 2ND YEAR
Summary: CH. 1-10 CONTAIN CENSUS & PREPARATION for TRAVEL/CONQUEST...
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Transition: CH. 10 = WHEN THEY ACTUALLY LEAVE
READ: CH. 10:11-12
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Numbers 10:11-36: Departure from Sinai
Numbers 10:11-36: Departure from Sinai
11 In the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony, 12 and the people of Israel set out by stages from the wilderness of Sinai. And the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran.
Time: 19 DAYS PASSED SINCE CENSUS COMMAND
Background: REMEMBER—CLOUD = GOD’S GUIDING PRESENCE
ISRAEL = EN ROUTE to PROMISE!
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Transition: We’ll SKIP DETAILS of TRIBES, ETC.…
READ: V. 33-36
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33 So they set out from the mount of the Lord three days’ journey. And the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them three days’ journey, to seek out a resting place for them. 34 And the cloud of the Lord was over them by day, whenever they set out from the camp.
35 And whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Arise, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you.” 36 And when it rested, he said, “Return, O Lord, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel.”
OFF to GREAT START
Summary: SECTION WE SKIPPED—MOSES TAKES BROTHER in LAW W/— VERY HOPEFUL—
GOD HAS GOOD THINGS in STORE!
SET OUT 3-DAYS JOURNEY
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Transition: But as WE KNOW… STORY DOESN’T STAY GOOD.
READ: 11:1-3
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Numbers 11: The People’s Complaint
Numbers 11: The People’s Complaint
And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, and when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. 2 Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. 3 So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the Lord burned among them.
3-DAYS DEEP & PROBLEMS
COMPLAINT of: “MISFORTUNES”
GOD’S TAKEN CARE of THEM THUS FAR—
& THEY’RE BARELY STARTED
& ALREADY COMPLAINING!!
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GOD’S RESPONSE: BURNING OUTER PARTS of CAMP (TENTS??)
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Transition: But this isn’t the end of the story:
READ: V4-9
4 Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. 6 But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”
7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. 8 The people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. 9 When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.
2ND COMPLAINT—CONCERNING FOOD.
Background: RABBLE HAD the CRAVING (PROBABLY NON-JEWS from EXODUS)
ISRAELITES WEEP— REMEMBERING GOOD THINGS of EGYPT
ORIGINALLY—THEY CRIED ABOUT NOT HAVING FOOD...
NOW THAT THEY HAVE FOOD—IT’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
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Background: EGYPT,, LIVING in NILE RIVER DELTA— LOTS of NICE FOODS...
CONSIDERING DESERT—
— THEY SHOULD BE HAPPY to HAVE ANYTHING AT ALL…RIGHT?!
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GOD’S PROVISION WASN’T GOOD ENOUGH for THEM...
DISCONTENTMENT ISN’T a NEW PHENOMENON...
C.C.: SOMETHING I’M SURE WE’VE ALL STRUGGLED WITH
HOUSE
CAR
SPOUSE
STUFF
EASY to THINK WE’VE GOT it BAD,, STRUGGLE W/ CONTENTMENT
Essential Question: BUT is GOD MEETING OUR NEEDS??
GOD NEVER PROMISED a BUFFET—BUT HE WILL TAKE CARE of US...
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GOD MET HIS OBLIGATION as PROVIDER W/ MANNA— DOESN’T TAKE LEEKS & GARLIC...
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Transition: WE’LL SEE a FURTHER RESPONSE...
READ: V10-15
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10 Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the Lord blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased. 11 Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? 12 Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers? 13 Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ 14 I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. 15 If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.”
MOSES = SO UPSET—HE BEGS GOD to GET RID of HIM
I CAN ONLY IMAGINE the STRUGGLE HE FACED.
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Transition: GOD HAS a SOLUTION
READ: V16-23
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Elders Appointed to Aid Moses
Elders Appointed to Aid Moses
16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. 17 And I will come down and talk with you there. And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone. 18 And say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. 19 You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, 20 but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?” ’ ” 21 But Moses said, “The people among whom I am number six hundred thousand on foot, and you have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat a whole month!’ 22 Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, and be enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, and be enough for them?” 23 And the Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord’s hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.”
GOD PROVIDES ADDITIONAL ELDERS to HELP MOSES BEAR BURDENS of LEADERSHIP
GOD PROMISES MEAT—UNTIL THEY’RE SICK of IT!
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MOSES DOUBTS— FEEDING 600K PEOPLE???
(V23) HE’S the GOD of IMPOSSIBLE!
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Transition: THEY APPOINT ADDITIONAL ELDERS & GOD WILL PROVIDE for THEM ALL...
SKIP DOWN,, READ: V31-25
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Quail and a Plague
Quail and a Plague
31 Then a wind from the Lord sprang up, and it brought quail from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, around the camp, and about two cubits above the ground. 32 And the people rose all that day and all night and all the next day, and gathered the quail. Those who gathered least gathered ten homers. And they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. 33 While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck down the people with a very great plague. 34 Therefore the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had the craving. 35 From Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth, and they remained at Hazeroth.
GOD PROVIDES QUAIL in ABUNDANCE—AS HE PROMISED
SOME DIE of PLAGUE—POSSIBLY FOOD-BORNE ILLNESS DUE to THEIR CRAVING
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Numbers 12: Miriam and Aaron Oppose Moses
Numbers 12: Miriam and Aaron Oppose Moses
In CHAPTER 12— SUMMARY — MIRIAM & AARON REJECT MOSES’ LEADERSHIP
GUISE of ISSUES W/ HIS WIFE...
IN CH. 11—THEY REJECT GOD’S PROVISION
IN CH. 12—THEY REJECT GOD’S APPOINTED LEADERSHIP (WHICH WILL HAPPEN AGAIN)
Result: MIRIAM CONTRACTS LEPROSY
AFTER SHE is CLEANSED they TRAVEL to KADESH-BARNEA
16 After that the people set out from Hazeroth, and camped in the wilderness of Paran.
Kadesh Barnea
Kadesh Barnea
***SEE P.P. PIC***
HOME-BASE for a WHILE
Time: TRIP from MT. SINAI to KADESH-BARNEA = APPROXIMATELY 2 MONTHS…
11 DAYS if DONE EFFICIENTLY WITHOUT CROWDS & TABERNACLE...
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Transition: IT HASN’T BEEN PERFECT...
BUT THEY’RE FINALLY on the EDGE of the PROMISED LAND...
READ: CH. 13:1-3
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Numbers 13: Spies Sent into Canaan
Numbers 13: Spies Sent into Canaan
13 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.” 3 So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel.
REACHED the EDGE of the PROMISED LAND! HALLELUJAH!
Command: SEND 12 SPIES INTO LAND
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(Q) THERE’S SOMETHING SIGNIFICANT ABOUT THIS LAND (V2)??
Focus: GOD WAS GIVING IT to THEM!
**POINT THAT CAN’T BE MISSED**
Background: REMEMBER— GOD’S COVENANT W/ ABRAHAM— THIS WAS GOD’S PROMISE!!
(v4-16) —ALL NAMES-SKIPPED
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Transition: MOSES SENDS—AS GOD DECREES...
READ: V17-20
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17 Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up into the Negeb and go up into the hill country, 18 and see what the land is, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, 19 and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds, 20 and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.
Instruction: CHECK THINGS OUT
LAND
PEOPLE
CITIES
FRUIT
(V20B) — BE of GOOD COURAGE! BRING SOME FOOD BACK TOO...
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Transition: WE’LL SEE HOW THIS GOES...
READ: V21-24
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21 So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath. 22 They went up into the Negeb and came to Hebron. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23 And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the Valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster that the people of Israel cut down from there.
CHECKED THINGS OUT— MASSIVE GRAPES!
TRULY—LAND FLOWING W/ MILK & HONEY! GREAT PLACE to LIVE!
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Transition: RETURNING W/ REPORT!
READ: V25-29
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Report of the Spies
Report of the Spies
25 At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. 26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.”
Conclusion: LAND = GREAT… PEOPLE = NOT SO GREAT.
“MIGHTY PEOPLE—FORTIFIED CITIES— WE’RE TOAST”
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Transition: NOT ALL SPIES FELT SAME WAY...
READ: V30-33
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30 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.” 31 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.” 32 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. 33 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.”
CALEB = INCREDIBLY CONFIDENT
10 SPIES SAID NO WAY
Conclusion: GRAPES ARE BIG & PEOPLE ARE BIGGER!
WE’RE LIKE GRASSHOPPERS
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(Q) WHAT ARE THEY MISSING?
GOD’S PROMISE—I’M GIVING YOU THIS LAND
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TRIALS = OPPORTUNITY for FAITH in a FAITHFUL GOD...
Comparison: ABRAHAM’S TEST of ISAAC—NO MORE WISHY-WASHY
ISRAEL HAD OPPORTUNITY to PROVE THEIR FAITH in TRUE GOD
COMPLAINED
DOUBTED
GOLDEN-CALF
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Transition: AND DID THEY PASS the TEST?? NOT AT ALL...
READ: CH. 14:1-4
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Numbers 14: The People Rebel
Numbers 14: The People Rebel
14 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. 2 And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
CH. 11— REJECT GOD’S PROVISION
CH. 12— REJECT GOD’S LEADERSHIP (MOSES)
CH. 14—REJECT GOD’S PROMISE.
Conclusion: DYING in EGYPT// DYING in WILDERNESS = BETTER THAN DYING in BATTLE-
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HEADING BACK for EGYPT! CHOOSING NEW LEADER...
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Transition: HOW WILL THIS GO?
READ: V5-10
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5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. 6 And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” 10 Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.
**NOTE JOSHUA & CALEB PLEADING W/ PEOPLE**
(V7) — EVERYONE AGREES,, LAND = GOOD… JOSHUA & CALEB POINT OUT
(V8-9)— NOTE WHAT THEY’RE SAYING?? GOD CAN BRING US IN!!
(V10) Response of People: STONE THEM!
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Transition: JUST in TIME— GLORY of the LORD SHOWS UP & SAVES THEM…(v10)
WE’LL SEE HOW THIS GOES..
READ: V11-19
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11 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? 12 I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
Moses Intercedes for the People
13 But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, 14 and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people. For you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say, 16 ‘It is because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.’ 17 And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, 18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ 19 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.”
GOD DETERMINES to DESTROY PEOPLE
MOSES INTERCESSION SAVES THEM
SAME LEADER THEY’D REJECTED—NOW PLEADS for THEM…
… APPEALING to GOD’S NATURE
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Transition: WILL GOD PARDON?
READ: V20-25
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God Promises Judgment
20 Then the Lord said, “I have pardoned, according to your word. 21 But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, 22 none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, 23 shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it. 24 But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it. 25 Now, since the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valleys, turn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”
GOD PARDONS THEIR SIN
Quote, Gordon Wenham: “The divine pardon does not mean Israel will escape all punishment for their sin, only that they will not suffer the total annihilation they deserve.”[3]
PUNISHMENT—THEY DON’T GET the PROMISED LAND.
**THEY HAD SEEN SO MUCH....& STILL DIDN’T BELIEVE**
C.C.: HARD to IMAGINE…RIGHT?!
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NONE of THAT GENERATION—SAVE JOSHUA & CALEB WOULD SEE the PROMISED LAND...
(v25) GOD TURNS THEM AROUND— HEAD OUT TOWARDS RED SEA
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Transition: JUDGMENT WILL BE FURTHER DESCRIBED...
READ: V26-35
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26 And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 27 “How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. 28 Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: 29 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, 30 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. 31 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. 32 But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. 33 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. 34 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.’ 35 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.”
GOD GIVES THEM THEIR REQUEST.
(Q) What HAD THEY SAID in 14:2?? BETTER to DIE in EGYPT or WILDERNESS than BY SWORD...
SO GOD HAS THEM DIE in WILDERNESS.
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(V31) BUT THEIR CHILDREN WILL GO IN....
NOT DIE BY SWORD—BUT POSSESS the LAND
(V31) GOD WILL BRING THEM IN!
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REST of WILDERNESS GENERATION—WANDERS for 40 YEARS
A YEAR PER DAY of SPYING/DOUBT...
2 MONTHS—SINAI to KADESH...
NOW THEY’D ROAM AROUND WILDERNESS for a WHOLE GENERATION!!
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Transition: NOT ALL JUDGMENT WOULD BE PROLONGED...
READ: V36-38
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Death of the Spies (V36-38)
Death of the Spies (V36-38)
36 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— 37 the men who brought up a bad report of the land—died by plague before the Lord. 38 Of those men who went to spy out the land, only Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive.
REST of GENERATION WOULD DIE SLOWLY in WILDERNESS,,
,, SPIES W/ EVIL REPORT = JUDGED IMMEDIATELY.
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Transition: PEOPLE DIDN’T LIKE ALL THIS...
READ: V39-45
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Israel Defeated in Battle
39 When Moses told these words to all the people of Israel, the people mourned greatly. 40 And they rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, “Here we are. We will go up to the place that the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.” 41 But Moses said, “Why now are you transgressing the command of the Lord, when that will not succeed? 42 Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you, lest you be struck down before your enemies. 43 For there the Amalekites and the Canaanites are facing you, and you shall fall by the sword. Because you have turned back from following the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.” 44 But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, although neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed out of the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them and pursued them, even to Hormah.
PEOPLE REGRETTED THEIR SIN— TRIED to BATTLE ANYWAYS— LOST HORRIBLY!
Focus: SCRIPTURE SHOWS US—PAGE AFTER PAGE—SOME SINS HAVE LASTING CONSEQUENCES, NATURALLY...
GOD WASN’T GOING WITH THEM...
**WITHOUT GOD’S HELP—THEY DIDN’T STAND a CHANCE**
IT WAS GOD THAT MADE THEM NOT the UNDERDOGS
REF: DAVID & GOLIATH??
Conclusion: && SO PEOPLE WANDER in the WILDERNESS for 40 YEARS & DIE OFF....
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GOD PRESERVES ISRAEL as a NATION— CH. 26— CENSUS of NEW GENERATION,,
PREPARATION for CONQUEST = END of the BOOK
Numbers 36:13 (ESV)
13 These are the commandments and the rules that the Lord commanded through Moses to the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.
THE STORY WILL PICK UP @ PLAINS of MOAB in BOOK of DEUTERONOMY—RETELLING of the LAW...
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Application/Takeaways:
Application/Takeaways:
Numbers showcases the faithfulness of God…
COVENANT W/ ABRAHAM
Nation/Multitude of descendants
Land of Canaan as their possession
Through him (his offspring) all nations of the earth would be blessed.
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NUMBERS SHOWS US a NATION
CENSUSES MIGHT BE BORING—BUT CONSIDER THESE = OFFSPRING of OLD MAN W/ NO KIDS UNTIL ISAAC! — FULFILLMENT of PROMISE!
CENSUS PROCLAIMS FAITHFULNESS of GOD...
NOW—QUESTION REMAINS—WILL HE BE FAITHFUL to GIVE the PROMISED LAND??
1ST GEN SAID NO
2ND GEN SAYS YES
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CHURCH—LET US NOT BELIEVE THIS = JUST an ANCIENT TEXT W/ NO BEARING on US TODAY....
FAITHLESSNESS of WILDERNESS GENERATION SAYS to US: “WHAT ABOUT YOU?”
DO YOU BELIEVE GOD?
WILL GOD FULFILL HIS WORD?
IS GOD STILL CAPABLE of the IMPOSSIBLE??
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Promises to Modern Believers:
GOD’S PROMISED ETERNAL LIFE
GOD’S PROMISED CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN
GOD’S PROMISED NEW HEAVENS & NEW EARTH...
MESSED UP WORLD—IT CAN BE EASY to DOUBT IT’LL GET BETTER...
BUT GOD is FAITHFUL…DO WE BELIEVE IT?
I’M ENCOURAGED W/ a GOD WHO MAKES & KEEPS HIS PROMISES....
Ill.: I REMEMBER WHEN PACKAGES WERE GUARANTEED BY a CERTAIN DATE—NOW THEY’RE JUST GUESSING
AMAZON NO LONGER PROMISES to DELIVER on PERFECT TIMEFRAME...
BUT WE SERVE a GOD WHO DOES!
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·Admonishment to stay strong—Hebrews 10
o 35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; 38 but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” 39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls (Heb. 10:35-39).
THIS LIFE = LIKE a WILDERNESS… SOME SEASONS = WORSE than OTHERS...
ALL in ALL:
WILL WE TRUST HIS PROMISE
& BE THANKFUL ALONG the WAY
as WE ANTICIPATE OUR HEAVENLY PROMISED LAND?...
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Closing Questions & Comments?
Close in Prayer
