"Now these are the records of the generation of Aaron and Moses at the time when the Lord spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai.  These then are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.  These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whom He ordained to serve as priests..."

This passage must be viewed and understood in context with other revelations God made to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai (as recorded in the books of Exodus and Leviticus), beginning, Exodus 19:1-6 says "...in the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the very day when they came into the wilderness of Sinai" (after having spent 430 years in bondage)! And He said that if the sons of Israel would "indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then they shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation"!

Then (in Exodus 20-24) He gave Moses the ten commandments and all the ordinances for them to live by!  And, in 25:8-9, told him to "let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them...according to all that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture!"  And He gave them detailed instructions for building the ark of the covenant, and the mercy seat, and the table of showbread, and the golden lampstand; and for making garments for the priests; and for offering sacrifices on the altar!  "There (He said) I will meet with you!"

Then, in Exodus 28:1, He told Moses, "to bring near to yourself Aaron your brother and his sons with him, from among the sons of Israel, to minister as priest to Me"!

But, as Numbers 3:4 says, "...Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord when they offered strange fires before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children.  So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of their father Aaron."  (And we learn, as Gordon Wenham notes, "the mortal danger men face in dealing with a holy God"!)

And so, with only Eleazar and Ithamar left, God selected the entire tribe of Levi (instead of the firstborn sons of Israel!) to attend to all the religious needs of Israel!  Numbers 3:6-7 says God told Moses "to bring them near Aaron the priest... that they may perform the duties for him and the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle"!  (MacArthur notes that even though the Lord, at the exodus, spared and claimed for Himself the firstborn of Israel's males to act as the family priest, He transferred the priestly duties to the Levites, perhaps partly because of their holy zeal in the golden calf incident," recorded in Exodus 32!)

Wenham notes that the Hebrew phrases (in verses 7-10)...specify that "the two main functions of the Levites were to keep guard and do the heavy work of dismantling, transporting and erecting the tabernacle" (as they wander through the wilderness and march to the promised land)!

In Numbers 3:14-15 the Lord calls for Moses to "number the sons of Levi by their fathers' households, by their families; every male from a month old and upward...! " And so, in the following verses (vs. 21-37) we learn abou the names of the families of each of the sons of Levi (Gerhom, Kohath, and Merari), where they were to camp in relation to the tabernacle, their number, and the designated leader of their father's households!

And rather than trying to explain it, I considered it best to give the exact words as written and inspired (in verses 21-38):

• Of Gershom was the family of the Libnites and the family of the Shimeites...Their numbered men, in the numbering of every male from a month old and upward, even their numbered men were 7,500.  The families of the Gershonites were to camp behind the tabernacle westward, and the leader of the fathers' household of the Gershonites was Eliasaph the son of Laele.  Now the duties of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting involved the tabernacle and the tent, its covering, and the screen for the doorway of the tent of meeting, and the hangings of the court, and the screen for the doorway of the court which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and its cords, according to all the service concerning them"!

 

• Of Kohath was the family of the Amramites and the family of the Izharites and the family of the Hebronites and the family of the Uzzielites...In the numbering of every male from a month old and upward, there were 8,600, performing the duties of the sanctuary.  The families of the sons of Kohath were to camp on the southward side of the tabernacle, and the leader of the fathers' households of the Kohathite families was Elizaphan the son of Uzziel.  Now their duties involved the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, and the utensils of the sanctuary with which they minister, and the screen, and all the service concerning them; and Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest was the chiel of the leaders of Levi, and had the oversight of those who perform the duties of the sanctuary."

 

• "Of Merari was the family of the Mahlites and the family of the Mushites... Their numbered men in the numbering of every male from a month old and upward were 6,200.  The leader of the fathers' households of the families of Merari was Zuriel...They were to camp on the northside of the tabernacle.  Now the appointed duties of the sons of Merari involved the frames of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, and all the equipment, and the service concerning them, and the pillars around the court with their sockets and the peg and their cords."

What about Moses and Aaron?

Verses 38 says, "Now those who were to camp before the tabernacle eastward, before the tent of meeting toward the sunrise (Isn't that interesting?), are Moses and the sons of Aaron (no mention of the sons of Moses), performing the duties of the sanctuary for the obligation of the sons of Israel; but the layman coming near was to put to death."

  And verse 39 sums it up!  "All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the command of the Lord by their families, every male from a month old and upward, were 22,000!"

So now the tent of meeting of the Lord (with His presence among them) is surrounded by the Levites as they camp and set out to march through the wilderness to the promised land!

Wenham writes: "On the march the Gershonites and Merarites go before the Kohathites, but that is for a practical reason; they were to erect the tent before the Kohathites arrive carrying the ark and the other vessels which are housed inside the tabernacle!"

But now, in verses 40-43, we have yet another census--"of every firstborn male of the sons of Israel from a month old and upward," and came up with 22,273--or 273 more than the firstborn sons of Levi!  And so the Lord required a ransom of the 273 to be paid to Aaron and his sons!  So that they could be redeemed!

Constable writes that "God took as substitutes 22,000 of the Levites in place of the firstborn Israelites and specified the redemption price of the remaining 273 firstborn Israelites not replaced by the Levites.  And so the Israelites had to pay five shekels to the priests for each of these males, thus freeing the firstborn of Israel from God's claim on them for sanctuary service!"

And verse 51 says the ransom was paid!  Just as Christ paid the ransom for our sin by His shed blood on the cross!

Ephesians 1:7 says, "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight!"

Revelation 4:9 says, "And they (the 24 elders in heaven, representing the redeemed church) sang a new song, saying, 'Worthy are You to take the scroll and to open the seals, for You were slain, and by Your blood You ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation"!

And so we saw from this lesson a God who's holy and paid the ransom for our redemption, and wants to dwell among us, and is into numbers, and wants our worship and service!

And we want to sing about it!

"Rise Up, O men of God!  Have done with lesser things...!"

"What can wash away my sin?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus...!"

"Redeemed I'm so happy  in Jesus, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb...!"

"I'm so glad I'm apart of the family of God; I've been washed in the fountains, cleansed by His blood, joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod, for I'm part of the family, the family of God..."

And so, go with God this week, men, and be a blessing!

Til we meet again!

Lowell

"Now these things happened to them (the children of Israel) as an example and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come!" (I Corinthians 10:11)
 
The book of Numbers begins with these words: "Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first of the second month in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, 'Take a census of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, by their families, by their fathers' households, according to the number of names, every male, head by head from twenty years old and upward, whoever is able to go out to war in Israel..."
 
Notice that the Lord God Almighty, the God of all creation, spoke to Moses many years ago in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting (otherwise known as the tabernacle, or sanctuary)--14 months after the children of Israel had made their exodus from Egypt!  And called for a census to be taken of all the sons of Israel 20 years and older, in preparation for war as they would move from Sinai to Kadesh-barneo, to the plains of Moab  to the Jordan River, opposite the city of Jericho and eventually enter the "promised land"!  
 
And in the verses to follow, God names, and designates, a man from each of the tribes, except for the tribe of Levi, to assist Moses and Aaron in  numbering the men! (The men from the tribe of Levi had responsibility, as noted in verses 44-53, for setting up, and carrying, and caring for the tent of meeting and all its furnishings, and so were excluded from being numbered and going to war!) And so the total number of men who would be able to go out to war totaled 603,550--allowing, MacArthur notes, for a total population of about 2 million people who left Egypt and came to Sinai!  This in contrast with "the 70 in number," which Exodus 1:5 says first came from the loins of Jacob into Egypt!  (Exodus 1:7 says, "But the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly, and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with them!)
 
As we noted last week, the book of Numbers must be seen and studied in context with the larger story given in the five books of the Pentateuch, beginning in Genesis 17:7-8, where God called Abraham at the ripe old age of 99 and made a covenant with him (the "Abrahamic covenant")--promising to be a God to him and his descendants, miraculously giving him a son (Issac) through his 90-year old wife Sarah.  Then Jacob, who was renamed Israel, and had 12 sons who would become known as "the children of Israel," all of whom ended up in Egypt, after a famine struck their land, where the betrayed brother Joseph had risen (by God's grace) to become ruler and saw to it that they would prosper in the land of Goshen!
 
You know the rest of the story--how after Joseph died and (Exodus 1:6 says) "a new king arose in Egypt who did not know Joseph," the children of Israel ended up spending 430 years as aliens in bondage! Exodus 2:23 says, "then the sons of Israel cried out to God...and God heard their groanings and remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob...and called Moses "in the midst of a burning bush" to stand before Pharaoh and tell him that the Lord, the God of Israel, said (in Exodus 5:1) for him to "Let My people go!"  And after all the plagues were poured out on Egypt, and the night of the Passover, when "the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, beginning with the firstborn of Pharoah," the children of Israel were told to "rise up and get out" of Egypt!  And thus the beginning of the exodus!
 
Exodus 13:9 says, "the powerful hand of the Lord used Moses to bring them out of Egypt"!  And Exodus 19:1 says that "in the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt...they came into the wilderness of Sinai..and verse 20 says, "the Lord came down on Mount Sinai and spoke to Moses" and gave him the ten commandments and a whole bunch of other ordinances for the people to live by!
 
And in Exodus 25:1-9, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,"Tell the sons of Israel to raise a contribution for me; from every man whose heart moves him you shall raise My contribution...Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them.  According to all that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all the furnishings, just so you shall construct it!"  And that included the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat, covered by the wings of the cheribum, as well as the table of showbread and the golden lampstand!
 
And in verse 22, He says, "There I will meet with you, from above the mercy seat, from between the two cheribum which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel"!
 
Exodus 39:42-43 says that the sons of Israel "did all the work according to all that the Lord commanded," and Exodus closes with this in 40:34-38: "Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.  Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it...Throughout all their journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up.  For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel!"  Wow!
 
And so this clarifies the significance of our passage in Numbers 1:1 where "the Lord spoke to Moses in the tent of meeting on the first of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt!
 
What do we see in this opening passage of the book of Numbers that has application for us as believers today?
 
First and foremost, we see that God wants to dwell with His people and accompany them, and lead them in their journey--and including through the "battles"-- of this life to the "promised land"!

• John 1:14 says that "the Word (speaking of Christ) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth!"

 

• Romans 8:11 says that "if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through the Spirit who dwells in you!"

 

• I Corinthians 3:16 says, "Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?  If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are!"

 

• And Paul prays in Ephesians 3:16, "that God would grant you, according to the riches in His glory to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and heights and depths, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with up to all the fulness of God!"

 
We also learned from this passage that names are important with God! He's into names, and Revelation 2:17 notes (as Rod pointed out last night) that "to him who overcomes," God will one day give to them, among other things, "a new name, written on a white stone"!
 
And, we also saw from this passage how God is into design and order and all the "nitty gritty" things of our lives!
 
Makes you want to sing!  Like the song we sang last night, "A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing..."
 
Or, "Am I a soldier of the cross, a follower of the Lamb?  And shall I fear to own His cause, or blush to speak His name...?"
 
Or, "Count you blessings name them one by one; count your blessings, see what God has done..."
 
May God be with you, til we meet again!
 
Lowell

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect (mature!), thoroughly furnished for all good works!" (II Timothy 3:16-17, KJV)
 
Why do we meet together on Tuesday nights as MOBsters and why should we be so encouraged and eager to study and share what we're learning in God's Word?  Because it's God's inspired Word and given to us by God (II Timothy 3:16-17 tells us), specifically to teach us what to believe and how to live the Christian life!  Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thought and intents of the heart!"  Psalm 119:11 says, "Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee;" and (in verse 18), "Open my eyes, that I might behold wondrous things from Thy law;" and (in verse 105), "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path;" and (in verse 114), "Thou art my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Thy law!"  And (in verse 165), "Great peace have they who love Thy law; and nothing shall offend them!"
 
Jesus said in Matthew 4:4, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God!"  And to those who believed in Him (in John 8:31-32), "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free!"
 
The apostle Paul wrote (in II Timothy 2:15), "Study to show yourselves approved by God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing ( ESV says "rightly handling) the Word of God!"  And James, the apostle, writes in James 1:22, "But prove yourselves to be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves!"
 
What about the book of Numbers?  It's a story of a special group of people, chosen by God, the children of Israel, who wandered for 40 long and painstaking year through the wilderness on their way to the "promised land"!  Leading them on their way "by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night"!  It's part of a larger story linked together in the five books of the Pentateuch, beginning in Genesis 17, where God called Abraham, at the age of 99, and made a covenant with him--promising to be a God to him and his descendants, miraculously giving him a son named Isaac through his 90-year old wife Sarah, making through him a great nation, and giving him the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession!  But they ended up in Egypt where they spent 430 years as aliens in bondage, until the day, after the night of the Passover, when (Exodus 13:9 says) "the powerful hand of the Lord used Moses to bring them out of Egypt," rescuing them from slavery, giving them the law, and forming a new nation!  Moving them from Mt. Sinai through the wilderness to Kadesh-barnea, to the plains of Moab by Jordan River opposite the city of Jericho!
 
And that's where the book of Numbers kicks in, with the children of Israel (Numbers 1:1 says) "in the wilderness of Sinai," where God told Moses to "take a census" and number the sons of Israel, "everyone twenty years and upward, who are able to go out to war in Israel"!  Preparing them to conquer their enemies and march into the promised land!
 
And after many conflicts and trials (which we'll cover in upcoming lessons) they soon approached the land of Cannan where God (in Numbers 13) instructed Moses to send out a group of men to "spy out the land of Canaan which I am going to give to the sons of Israel"!  But, after they searched out the land, the majority of them came back to report (in Numbers 13:27-28) that "while the land certainly does flow with milk and honey...the cities are fortified and very large and the people who live in the land are too strong to be conquered"!  Only Caleb and Joshua believed that despite their strength, God would bring them victory!  And they spoke to the congregation, saying (in Numbers 14:8-9), "If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us--a land which flows with milk and honey.  Only do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they  will be our prey.  Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them!"  But all the congregation said to "stone them with stones," and some even questioned why they ever left Egypt!
 
So God was angered and punished them for their unbelief and disobedience--and determined that every person over the age of twenty would spend 40 more years in the wilderness with all of them dying, and not making it into the promised land!  The psalmist addresses this in Psalm 95:7-11 where he writes: "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah....in the wilderness, when your fathers tested me, they tried me, though they had seen My work!  For 40 years I loathed that generation, and said they are a people who err in their heart, and they do not know My way.  Therefore, I swore in My anger, truly they shall not enter My rest!"  The 72 verses of Psalm 78 give a similar, sobering review but offer some key lessons on how gracious God was to the children of Israel despite their years of subbornness, rebellion, and ingratitude! 
 
One writer describes Numbers as "the sad, strange story of a lost generation"!
 
And so the book of Numbers is a book about faithfulness and unfaithfulness!  God was patient and faithful to them even when  "His children" were disobedient and unfaithful to Him!
 
So why should we want to study the book of Numbers?  Because it's God's Word with a special message for us today!  I Corinthians 10:6-11 (referring to the book of Numbers) says, "Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved!  Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, 'The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play.'  Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did and twenty-three thousand fell in one day.  Nor let us try the Lord as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents.  Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the Destroyer!"  (Philippians 2:14 says, "Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run nor toil in vain!")
 
And there's so much more!  We'll see how the Lord used and spoke through Moses, Aaron and Joshua!  And in Numbers 16, how after the rebellious Korah and his followers rose up against the leadership of Moses and Aaron, the Lord opened up the earth to swallow them and their households and all of their possessions!  Then there's the interesting story of Balak, the king of Moab, who feared Israel and recruited the false prophet Balaam (in chapters 22-23) to curse Israel but only to find that after Balaam's ass (donkey) saw an angel of the Lord with a drawn sword in the way to Moab and rebuked him for his spiritual blindness did he refuse to curse Israel but declared instead (much to Balak's horror) its future prosperity and power as a nation!
 
These are just some of the highlights we'll see in our upcoming lessons as we take on our study of Numbers in the weeks ahead!
 
Here's how Michael LaFebvre summarizes the book of Numbers: "It offers us a humbling exposition of our weaknesses contrasted with a deeply comforting revelation of the Lord's patience, discipline, and restoring grace!  As you (we) prepare to begin this study, pray for God to grant you (us) a humble heart to grow in faith as part of His obedient people!"
 
How about II Chronicles 7:14 as an appropriate verse to claim for our own "journey" through life!   "If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and forgive their sin and will heal their land!"
 
And some appropriate hymns and Christian songs?  How bout "We're marching to Zion, beautiful Zion; we're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God..."
 
Or, "Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war; with the cross of Jesus, going on before..."
 
Or, "Amazing grace, who sweet the sound..."!
 
And, of course, the song we sang in MOB, "Rise up, O men of God!  Give heart and mind and soul and strength to serve the King of kings..."!
 
And some verses to take with us!
 
Psalm 95:1-11--"O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation...Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving...Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker, for He is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of His hand..."
 
Matthew 11:28-30--"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul.  For My yoke is easy  and My burden is light!"
 
Count (number!) your blessings, name them one by one; and may the God of grace, mercy and peace be with you all, til we meet again!
 
Lowell