This book is called "Be-midhar" in the Hebrew meaning
"In the wilderness." The Greek
name in the Septuagint is "Arithmoi" the word from which we get arithmetic,"
and in the
Latin "Numeri" from which we get the word numbers. Wendell Winkler
wrote that this book
could also be called "the Book of the March (since it relates the travels
of the children of
Israel during it's 40 years of wanderings) or, the Book of Murmurings
(since it reveals to us
Israel's rebellion).
Numbers is composed of one thousand two hundred eighty-eight
verses, in which is
contained some of the most interesting and instructive narratives in
the Bible. In this book
we find the Nazarite vow (6:1-21), the sending of quail (11:31-35);
the sedition of Miriam
and Aaron (12:1-16); the report of the spies (12-14); the consequences
of breaking the
sabbath (15:32-36); the rebellion of Korah (16:1-50); the budding of
Aaron's rod (17:1-13);
Moses' disobedience at Meribah (20:7-13); Balaam (22-24); the request
of Zelophehad's
daughters (27:1-11); the settlement of the east side of the Jordan
river (32:1-42) and the
cities of refuge (35:1-34). Along the way we are also exposed to the
numbering of the all
the tribes of Israel not once but twice in this book. This book covers
a period of about forty
years in its brief thirty-six chapters.
I WILL HEAR WHAT THE LORD WILL COMMAND
Do you want to do what the Lord has commanded? With the
children of Israel there were
always those people who were very concerned about doing what God commanded.
At times
their numbers might have been very small, such as in the case of the
spies spying out the
land, only two wanted to do what God commanded. At other times the
number was greater.
In Numbers chapter nine, Moses was commanded by God to tell the people
to keep the
feast of the passover on the fourteenth day of the month of Abib. There
was a group of men
who were unclean because of handling a dead person and they were distressed
because
they would not be allowed to keep the feast of the passover. These
men did some things
that were very admirable, they wanted to obey God's command to keep
the passover feast.
They understood that they were unclean and why. These men went to the
fight source which
was Moses at that time to ask what they could do and should do! Moses
in turn went to the
right source of information, God, and he was willing to listen what
the Lord's commandment
would be.
Moses did not try to impose his will or what he
thought about the matter and how it ought
to be handled. Moses was unlike many preachers and elders in the Lord's
church which like
to tell people how they think a situation ought to be handled. Moses
sought what the Lord's
will was and then told these men what God said. He did not add to it
or take from it. God
made allowance for these men to keep the passover in the fourteenth
day of the next month
and not only those who were unclean because of handling a dead person,
but also those who
would be out of the country at the correct time.
How often when we are asked questions concerning
the church and the Bible do we give
our opinion and not what the Lord has said. How many times in our classes
do we like to
dwell on the what ifs and not on what God has commanded. We want to
see how close to
the edge we can get without falling off instead of seeing how close
to God we can walk.
Are you willing to do what Moses commanded these men in Numbers 9:8
to do? All too
often we are not willing to "Stand still, and I will hear what the
Lord will command concerning
you." All too often we are not willing to search the Holy Word of God
for ourselves. Ail too
often we do not go to the fight source of information concerning God's
will but we allow
someone else to tell us what God wants us to do, without thinking whether
it is this the truth
or not. Do you have the attitude of these men?
© Copyright 2001. Paul D. Fisher. All rights reserved.