Numbers 22-24: It's All in What You See

All of a sudden the story shifts from the children of Israel to a previously unknown character, Balaam of Pethor. The Israelites have defeated Sihon and Og and their reputation is spreading.  The Moabites complained to Balak their king that they were going to be swallowed up by the vast 'horde' of Israelites  so he summons Balaam, the seer.

God spoke to Balaam.  Sometimes he heard him and sometimes he didn't.  Sometimes he saw him and sometimes he didn't.  Baalam's donkey wasn't as dumb. as they are commonly thought to be.  He saw the angel of the Lord and refused to move.  It took a dumb donkey to tell Balaam that he shouldn't be going forward. 

Finally, after the angel of the Lord extracts a promise from Balaam that he will only speak what God tells him to speak, Balaam meets with Balak.  The people living in the land were known for building altars to their gods on high places, so Balak takes Balaam up to Bamoth Baal where they build an altar to make a sacrifice.  Balaam leaves Balak beside the offering and goes to see what God will say.  The first oracle isn't what Balak wants to hear or what Balaam wants to proclaim.  Neither is the second or the third.  Balaam tells Balak that God doesn't lie or change his mind.   "No misfortune is seen in Jacob, no misery observed in Israel. The LORD their God is with them; the shout of the King is among them." - Numbers 23:21 NIV

Then Balaam looks out over the Israelites and sees what God sees:
"How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel!
 "Like valleys they spread out, like gardens beside a river,
like aloes planted by the LORD, like cedars beside the waters.
Water will flow from their buckets; their seed will have abundant water.
Numbers 24:5-7 NIV

Finally, both Balak and Balaam decide it is useless.  Balaam can only repeat what God says and that isn't what Balak wants to hear.  With a parting shot Balaam goes back home:
 "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near.
A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel." - Numbers 24:17 NIV

On his way home, Balaam cannot help but utter his final oracle as he passes the Amalekites and the Kenites.  Woe to any of those living in the land that oppose God's people.  And the Israelites, what do they see?  Do they see that God's hand is on them, do they see the star that will come out of Jacob, the scepter that will rise out of Israel?  Do they see that God's hand is on them, that he will not let go?   Or are they too busy looking at the pretty Moabite women?

Numbers 18-21: A Generation Passes

These are not the same people that left Egypt, that fled from slavery under Pharaoh.  They are people who have lived in the desert most of their lives.  People who were only children in Egypt where their parents had to slave all day making bricks.  Instead of slavery, all they have known is wandering, and provision, of course.  They have made it through forty years in the desert, they still have their cattle and livestock, and they have become a multitude to be reckoned with.
 
They camp in the Desert of Zin at Kadesh, and it is time for the younger generation to rise up and take the place of their elders.  The older generation is dying off.  They bury Miriam and Eleazar is prepared to become the High Priest in place of his father, Aaron.  But the new generation is still grumbling.  They make Moses so mad with their complaining about no water, that he strikes the rock twice and loses his chance to accompany them into the land.

Moses must be getting so tired.  The Edomites refuse to let them pass through their land, so they have to find another way around.  In the meantime, he accompanies his older brother, Aaron to the top of Mount Hor where he removes Aaron's priestly garments and places them on Eleazar and then watches Aaron die.   Moses has spent the last forty years of his life leading a rebellious people on a journey of less than a hundred miles.

Even after they witness the defeat of the Canaanite King of Arad, they're still complaining and Moses has to make a bronze snake on a pole to save them from the venomous snakes. Nothing has been easy.  And now, the people who live on the border of the land promised to Abraham and his descendants, refuse to  let them pass through.  What an ignominious end to Moses' life.  Does he still sing the Song of Miriam?  There are still battles to be fought and kings to be conquered, but because God still goes with them, they will be victorious.

Numbers 13-17: We are Lost

The vast crowd of Israelites was moving along fairly well. They had been around the mountain where God lived and received His commandments. They were feasting on manna and when they complained, they feasted on quail. Now they are going to move out into the land that was promised to their ancestor Abraham.  But not so fast, the land is not what they imagined. It is flowing with milk and honey but there are others in the land. Others that are bigger than they are. What god do these people worship that makes them so big and fearful?

Thus begins an ongoing period of rebellion and once again, Moses has to intervene on their behalf before God wipes them off the map. As it was, the family of Korath is swallowed alive, the two hundred and fifty 'well-known community leaders' who complained about Moses' leadership were destroyed by fire, and a plague destroyed 14,700 more the next day, when the entire community complained. Only Moses' and Aaron's intervention prevented the entire population from being destroyed.

Then finally, as a last effort to demonstrate who God has chosen to lead this rebellious people, they were directed to put a staff inscribed with the name of the leader of each tribe in front of the Lord. The next day when Moses brought out the twelve staffs from the Lord's presence, only Aaron's staff had budded. 'The LORD said to Moses, "Put back Aaron's staff in front of the Testimony, to be kept as a sign to the rebellious. This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so that they will not die." Moses did just as the LORD commanded him. The Israelites said to Moses, "We will die! We are lost, we are all lost! Anyone who even comes near the tabernacle of the LORD will die. Are we all going to die?"
Numbers 17:10-13 NIV

Perhaps now, after much loss of time and life, they finally get it.  They are lost without God.

Numbers 9-12: Move 'em Out

How exciting it must have been to travel with the Israelites during their first years after leaving Egypt.  They were part of an enormous group and something was always going on.  They saw the cloud cover the Tent  of the Testimony on the day it was set up and watched it turn into a covering of fire at night.  There was probably much excitement and anticipation every time the cloud lifted and they rushed around packing everything, and getting lined up with their division of the camp so they could move out, waiting for the sound of the trumpet blast and the words from Moses.

Whenever the ark set out, Moses said,

"Rise up, O LORD! May your enemies be scattered; may your foes flee before you."

 Whenever it came to rest, he said,

"Return, O LORD, to the countless thousands of Israel."

Numbers 10:35-36 NIV

The cloud of the LORD was over them by day when they set out from the camp, guiding them to their next destination where they might stay for a day, a month, or even as long as a year. 

Not only were they moving, but there was always some activity in the camp.  Usually complaining on the part of one or more of the Israelites, and a demonstration of God's power in response.  They complained about their hardships, and fire from the Lord burned up some of those on the outskirts of the camp.  They complained about the manna.  It was sweet and nourishing, but they were bored with it.  They wanted meat.  So the Lord gave them meat, but extracted a price for it.  Miriam and Aaron complained about Moses, after all, he was married to a foreign wife.  Why should he be the one in charge?  Didn't they hear from the Lord as well?  Miriam must have complained the most, because she turned into a leper and only Moses' pleading caused God to relent.  All this excitement, then they packed up their tents and moved on.

Numbers 5-8: Dedication

The Israelites were beginning to see that God required perfection.  Uncleanness, impurity, unfaithfulness to God in any way would not be tolerated.  Those who wanted to be Nazarites, separated to the Lord, had strict rules they had to follow.  And now that the Tabernacle was to be dedicated, there were strict requirements for the offering from each tribe.  Each tribe was assigned a day on which their leader would bring the offering from the tribe to be dedicated, with the tribe of Judah going first.  Imagine what it must have been throughout the camp as each tribe prepared for their day of offering.  Did each tribe look for the choice young bull, the best ram and the most spotless male lamb as they approached their assigned day? Was it a matter of one-up-manship, tribe over tribe, or were they looking for the most perfect sacrifice for the most Holy God?  How excited were the people, on their assigned day, as they accompanied the representative from their tribe to the tabernacle, carrying the silver plates and bowls and all of the livestock that was to be presented?  Did Aaron bless each tribe with the blessing God had told him to say:

' "The LORD bless you and keep you;

the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;

the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace." '

Numbers 6:24-26 NKJV

Or did the people go about their daily task, as if nothing special was going on?  Did they rely on the Levites, who had been set apart and dedicated as priests, to bridge the gap between them and their God.  Were they busy sifting their grain, tending their sheep, making beds and playing ball when Moses entered the Tent of Meeting to hear the voice of the Lord, speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the atonement cover on the ark of the Testimony?

Numbers 1-4: In Order to Move

It is now a month after the temple has been assembled in the Desert of Sinai and God tells Moses to number the people.  The tribes were numerous, but they were not numbered so their strength could be verified.  They were numbered so they could be spread out surrounding the tabernacle as they moved forward from the desert to the promised land.  Each family would camp under their family banner in their assigned location in relation to the tabernacle of God, the place where God's presence would dwell as they made their journey.  God would go with them as Moses had requested.

"Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.”
And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.  For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.”
 So the LORD said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.” Exodus 33:13-17 NKJV

But this God who went with them was a Holy God and the ones who served him had to be holy and set apart.  That is why the Levites were not numbered with the rest of the tribes.  The Levites, which included Moses and Aaron, were numbered and assigned duties by clan.  The descendants of Kohath were to carry those things in the Tent of Meeting, The Gershonites were to carry the Curtains and coverings of the Tent,, and the  Mearites were to carry the frames of the Tent.  Not only were the clans assigned specific tasks, but they were assigned specific locations in regards to the tabernacle.  The three clans of the Levites were each assigned a different side of the tabernacle were they should camp, and Moses and Aaron and their sons were assigned to the fourth side.  Thus the temple of God was surrounded first by the Levites who had been consecrated to him and then by the people as they set out.  They were surrounding God's place, protecting it from the enemies, and in return, God was surrounding them.

Leviticus 25-27: Sabbath rest and Jubilee

God gives instructions to Moses on Mount Sinai for observance of the Sabbath and the Year of Jubilee once they have entered the promised land.  What did this mean to the Children of Israel?  The ones who have been wandering homeless in the desert for forty years are told that when they enter the land they can build their houses, accumulate land, servants, build up fortunes, and at the end of fifty years, it all goes back as it was.  Would they be grateful for what God had given them, Would they recognize that He was the giver of all.  Would they acknowledge him as the giver of harvests and rain, peace and safety, fruitfulness and increase, the one who broke the bars of their imprisonment in Egypt?  Or would they begin to think that it was their own efforts that brought about their prosperity. 

God lays out for his people a road map of what it will look like if they are obedient, and what it will look like if they hostile.  It's interesting that God goes into much greater detail of what the punishment will be for disobedience.  Prosperity for the Israelites will be open-ended.  There is no limit to the blessing they could experience as God's people.  Punishment is cut and dried.  There is a limitation to God's patience, but not his covenant.  " 'Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the LORD their God.  But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the LORD.' "  Leviticus 26:44-45 NIV

Whether or not the Children of Israel would be able to keep their part of the covenant remains to be seen.  Can they accept the fact that they are custodians of God's grace or will the Ancient of Days be relegated to someone they call on only in an emergency?