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Notes
Transcript
Scripture Intro:
Scripture Intro:
Series through the Book of Numbers
Quick overview:
God brought his people out of slavery in Egypt
Gave them the Law and the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai
Brought them to the edge of the Promised Land
Sent spies into the land to see what kind of land it was and what people they were up against.
Spies return - giants in the land… fear gripped the people.
Refused to go in.
Complete doubting of who God is and what he promised to them.
B/c of that...
they will wander around the wilderness for a total of 40 years...
until that entire generation dies,
and then a new generation will go into the land.
But remember what we looked at last week.
Graham preached for us from Numbers 25...
when God’s people chase after other gods...
Spiritual Adultery.
A plague breaks out among the people,
only to be averted by the heroic acts of Phineas...
defending the honor and holiness of God.
So this next chapter is yet another example of what we mean by...
“The Bible is our authority.”
“We preach the whole counsel of God.”
B/c our passage this morning is a bunch of names (though we won’t read them all)...
and a revisiting of land rights.
So immediately following a passage that warns us not to run after other loves other than the Lord...
we get a list of names.
Why?
And why would we spend our time looking at it?
Scripture Reading (“Please stand…”)
After the plague, the Lord said to Moses and to Eleazar the son of Aaron, the priest, “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, by their fathers’ houses, all in Israel who are able to go to war.”
And Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, “Take a census of the people, from twenty years old and upward,” as the Lord commanded Moses.
The people of Israel who came out of the land of Egypt were:
Reuben, Simeon, Gad, Judah
Issachar, Zebulon, Manasseh/Ephraim
Benjamin, Dan, Asher, Naphtali
12 Tribes to receive land… and the Levites.
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Among these the land shall be divided for inheritance according to the number of names.
To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance; every tribe shall be given its inheritance in proportion to its list.
But the land shall be divided by lot. According to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit. Their inheritance shall be divided according to lot between the larger and the smaller.”
These were those listed by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who listed the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.
But among these there was not one of those listed by Moses and Aaron the priest, who had listed the people of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai.
For the Lord had said of them, “They shall die in the wilderness.” Not one of them was left, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.
Pray...
Intro:
Intro:
God is faithful across generations
And b/c of that...
Our failures do not thwart God’s purposes for his people.
This passage stands as a reset.
It does not denote a new faithful people.
It captures the people who are now poised to take hold of what God ahs promised to them.
The Next Generation
The Next Generation
(Timer: ___ minutes left)
(Usually between 8:15 and 12:30 to get to 1st point)
Num 26:1-2, “After the plague… Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel...”
This is a repeat of the command given in Numbers chapter 1.
So what is the point of counting again?
The Prior Generation is gone.
But among these there was not one of those listed by Moses and Aaron the priest, who had listed the people of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai.
For the Lord had said of them, “They shall die in the wilderness.” Not one of them was left, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.
The point...
this is a new generation of people.
The initial rebellious generation had all died in the wilderness.
Yet, the message is clear:
God’s purposes do not die with one generation.
He carries his people forward, even when their unfaithfulness is on full display.
Number of people
This was the list of the people of Israel, 601,730.
This is a drop in the population of Israel
all those listed were 603,550.
Probably as a result of some of the plagues that fell on the people
1. The Plague After the Craving for Meat
Reference: Numbers 11:31–35
Number: unspecified, but large
Israel complained against God and demanded meat.
God sent quail, but also sent a severe plague.
The text does not give a number,
but the name of the place,
Kibroth‑Hatta-avah (“graves of craving”), implies many died.
2. The Plague After Korah’s Rebellion
Reference: Numbers 16:41–50
Number: 14,700
After Korah, Dathan, and Abiram rebelled, the ground swallowed the leaders.
Then the people complained again, and God sent a plague.
14,700 died in addition to those swallowed alive.
3. The Death of Many from the Fiery Serpents
Reference: Numbers 21:4–9
Number: “Many” Israelites died
The text does not give a specific number, but it emphasizes the scale:
This is a large, community‑wide judgment.
4. The Plague After Israel’s Idolatry at Baal‑Peor
Reference: Numbers 25:1–9
Number: 24,000
Israel joined themselves to Moabite women and worshiped Baal.
God sent a plague that killed 24,000.
The census of the new generation is a new beginning,
but the disobedience/judgment of the prior generation is the backdrop.
They can’t forget it.
The census—but not just a headcount.
It’s a mark of transition.
God’s promises outlast human rebellion.
App. You have to look at the past.
It doesn’t go away simply b/c you ignore it.
God captures it for his people.
The contrast between Numbers 1 and Numbers 26 is there for everyone to read.
How do we “Break the patterns of the past”?
First, we have to look at them.
So often, we are influenced by the patterns of those who have come before us.
The first step is to name them and be aware of them.
What patterns of unbelief have you inherited?
The Same Inheritance
The Same Inheritance
(Timer: How much time left?)
God’s unchanging promise
Divided by lot
Now, you are going to take the land.
“Among these the land shall be divided for inheritance according to the number of names. To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance; every tribe shall be given its inheritance in proportion to its list.
How is the land to be divided?
By lot.
But the land shall be divided by lot. According to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit. Their inheritance shall be divided according to lot between the larger and the smaller.”
Who determines who has which piece of land?
God himself
He controls the outcome of the lot.
The land is God’s to give.
Israel receives it as an undeserved inheritance.
God’s ordering of the land is intentional and equitable.
It’s a theology of grace, not merit.
Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
Not by your obedience.
Grace
But grace secured by the righteousness of Jesus.
He obeyed fully, where we failed.
App.
Anchor your identity in what God has promised, not in circumstances.
Israel’s inheritance was secure because God said so. Our hope, salvation, and future rest on the same unchanging faithfulness.
Remember that grace, not performance, secures your place.
Israel didn’t earn the land; they received it. Likewise, we stand in grace, not achievement.
God’s justice and compassion
Daughters of Zelophehad
Then drew near the daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of Manasseh the son of Joseph. The names of his daughters were: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
And they stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest and before the chiefs and all the congregation, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, saying,
“Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah, but died for his own sin. And he had no sons.
Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father’s brothers.”
These 5 daughters show up by name...
in chapter 26 and the listing of the people.
Here in chapter 27.
At the end of Numbers, chapter 36
And in the distribution of the land in Joshua 17.
This must have been pretty important and noteworthy,
but we are prone to simply skim by it.
In ancient cultures,
women had very few rights and access to ownership and inheritance.
For us, this is no big deal.
In ancient cultures,
this was unheard of.
It is a display of God’s justice and compassion.
“The daughters of Zelophehad are right. You shall give them possession of an inheritance among their father’s brothers and transfer the inheritance of their father to them.
Zelophehad’s daughters remind us that...
God sees the overlooked and responds to the concerns of his people.
“Why should the name of our father disappear?”
Bring those questions to God..
who hears and responds.
The Next Leader
The Next Leader
(Timer: How much time left?)
At this point, Aaron and Miriam (Moses’ brother and sister) had already died.
God is now going to draw Moses’ days to a close.
The Lord said to Moses, “Go up into this mountain of Abarim and see the land that I have given to the people of Israel. When you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was,
because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled, failing to uphold me as holy at the waters before their eyes.” (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)
Even as he faced his own death,
Moses had the wellbeing of the people in mind.
Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation
who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.”
Moses’ request - give the people a leader (a shepherd)...
who will lead them.
So they will not “be as sheep that have no shepherd.”
God responds...
So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him. Make him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and you shall commission him in their sight.
“a man in whom is the Spirit”
Leadership skill is NOT the main calling.
It is being led by the Spirit.
Seek leaders marked by the Spirit, not charisma.
Joshua is chosen because he has “the Spirit in him.” This helps congregations discern what true spiritual leadership looks like.
You shall invest him with some of your authority, that all the congregation of the people of Israel may obey.
And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the Lord. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the people of Israel with him, the whole congregation.”
And Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and made him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole congregation, and he laid his hands on him and commissioned him as the Lord directed through Moses.
App.
See transitions as opportunities, not threats.
New seasons in a church, family, or ministry are not losses — they’re invitations to renewed faithfulness.
Hold leadership with open hands.
Moses didn’t cling to his role; he trusted God to raise up Joshua. Encourage humility in leadership transitions, whether in church, work, or family.
Your faith and your church involvement ought never be based on a leader alone.
Leaders come and go.
Leaders fail you.
So many churches collapse when a long-time leader leaves.
Pray for and support godly leadership.
Moses’ prayer — “so they will not be like sheep without a shepherd” — is a model for how churches should pray for pastors, elders, and ministry leaders.
Step into the roles God is preparing you for.
Joshua didn’t volunteer — but he was ready. Challenge believers to be faithful in the quiet places so they’re prepared when God calls them forward.
Ulitmately, need of Jesus as our shepherd
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Close in Prayer
Close in Prayer
Closing Song:
Closing Song:
“Before the Throne of God Above”
A great High Priest whose name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me
Benediction:
Benediction:
The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face to shine upon you
and be gracious to you;
the LORD lift up his countenance upon you
and give you peace.
