Thursday Night Bible Study

Numbers 1-Numbers 2 (Click scripture reference for audio access)

"Count With Me"  •  3.8.12  •  Thursday Night Bible Study, Calvary Christian Fellowship

Intro.

- The book of Numbers gets it's name from two numberings of the people of Israel.

- The Greek version of the Old Testament calls it Numbers for this reason, but the Hebrew name for this book is "The Wilderness."

- Exodus and Leviticus cover a year and a month. The book of Numbers covers 38 years of time and it is the definitive time in the lives of these people.

- In the first two chapters of this book, God sets some basic perameters for this massive group of people, beginning with their preparation and their organization.

Text

•  Numbers 1:1-4  :  "Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle 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: ^'Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male individually, from twenty years old and above—all who are able to go to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall number them by their armies. And with you there shall be a man from every tribe, each one the head of his father’s house." : God orders Moses to take a census. He wants the number of the congregation. Does God not know? Does He need someone to count? Not at all.

- God wants them to count in order that the number will be remembered. It's a testimony to themselves. In this census, only the males, 20 years and older were to be counted.

- The total number of persons would have been much greater than what we are about to read. These were to be the men who were able to go to war. That is interesting to consider.

- First, the desert, the wilderness, was not a docile environment. There were very real enemies to be dealt with. For example Exodus 17 records a conflict with the Amalekites.

- They are a very large group of people who will have more conflict with neighboring nations. Consequently, an army was a necessary provision.

- Second, this represents a radical change in policy. God had fought for them and defeated Egypt. Why not just continue with that strategy?

- God did not set them free from the bondage of sin to give them a life of ease. They were to be ready to fight. That is the reality of their situation and ours as well!

- They are not simply going into the land of Canaan as pilgrims returning to their vacant home. They are going as God's people and God's army to dispossess the Canaanites, whose sin was full.

- They were going to be used by God to take the land and they would need to conquer, though the Lord would be with them and would assure them of victory, as they fought His battles.

- God delivered them when they were unable to fight. They were powerless and He delivered them. They are now expected to fight.

- Does that sound familiar? Before you knew Christ, you were powerless against the enemy.

- When the gospel was preached, you responded, lifted your hand, God reached down and lifted you up! For a season, God did miraculous work and you enjoyed His power.

- But as you matured, you began to understand that holiness and walking with God, does not just happen! There are real enemies and real temptations that require us to fight!

- Notice also before we move on, that this census required every family from the house of Israel, save those who were ineligible, which we'll get to in a moment.

- The fight for the promised land, the walk of faith with God, requires all of God's house, not just some! Everyone's house needs to bring their strength, not just a few.

•  Numbers 1:5-16  :  "These are the names of the men who shall stand with you: from Reuben, Elizur the son of Shedeur; from Simeon, Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai; from Judah, Nahshon the son of Amminadab;  from Issachar, Nethanel the son of Zuar; from Zebulun, Eliab the son of Helon; from the sons of Joseph: from Ephraim, Elishama the son of Ammihud; from Manasseh, Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur; from Benjamin, Abidan the son of Gideoni; from Dan, Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai; from Asher, Pagiel the son of Ocran; from Gad, Eliasaph the son of Deuel; from Naphtali, Ahira the son of Enan.' These were chosen from the congregation, leaders of their fathers’ tribes, heads of the divisions in Israel." :  These men were representatives and designated census takers. I imagine that these were the best prepared for the job, gifted in their knowledge of their tribe.

•  Numbers 1:17-19  :  "Then Moses and Aaron took these men who had been mentioned by name, and they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month; and they recited their ancestry by families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, each one individually. As the Lord commanded Moses, so he numbered them in the Wilderness of Sinai." : Note that they received the command on the first day of the second month and they sought to do it on the very same day! That's a good practice: ASAP!

- Their ancestry means little to us. However, the people, when they got to the land, would be divided lots according to tribe. This was very important to them for the future as well as the present.

- This might have been a tedious duty, but very necessary for the order of the nation.

- This next section brings us the results of the census.

•  Numbers 1:20,21 : "Now the children of Reuben, Israel’s oldest son, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, every male individually, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: those who were numbered of the tribe of Reuben were forty-six thousand five hundred." : The next sections follow exactly in this manner. Moses provides a summation of the people that were among the ranks of Israel.

- In this first case, we are given the census details of the tribe of Reuben. The males 20 and above, able to go to war, were 46,500.

- By the time Reuben's tribe alone came out of Egypt, they could have numbered well into the hundred thousand mark!

- That is phenomenol, given their bondage under the oppressive Egyptian hand. God's people flourished, even there in the midst of their sufferings! What faithfulness that God displays!

- When the final number is counted, you will see way more people than you could have imagined, given what they had been through as a people.

- How does one explain that? 400 plus years in a land not their own, surrounded by customs and religion that was anti-Semitic and anti-God. Yet, they are sustained and indeed thrive?

- That is only possible by the hand of God, whose faithfulness to His promise to Abraham, brought about these amazing results.

- Additionally, this opening sample of Reuben's tribe gives us a little scope into the amount of people that Moses was charged with leading  and God was feeding in the wilderness!

- This was no small task in any stretch of the imagination! It was miraculous!

- From here, we'll summarize the rest of the findings of this first census of Israel.

- Numbers 1:22,23, provide us with Simeon's tribe, which came out to 59,300. Next, in verses 24 and 25, we see Gad's tribe 45,650. In verses 26, 27, Judah's tribe numbers 74,600.

- The record continues down through verse 43, ending with Naphtali's tribe.

•  Numbers 1:44-46  :  "These are the ones who were numbered, whom Moses and Aaron numbered, with the leaders of Israel, twelve men, each one representing his father’s house. So all who were numbered of the children of Israel, by their fathers’ houses, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war in Israel—all who were numbered were six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty."  :  The number of Israel's army at this time was more than half a million people, meaning that Israel would conservatively been a nation of 3 million people!

- God sustained a nation of 3 million people in the wilderness! That's amazing!

•  Numbers 1:47-50 : "But the Levites were not numbered among them by their fathers’ tribe; for the Lord had spoken to Moses, saying: 'Only the tribe of Levi you shall not number, nor take a census of them among the children of Israel; but you shall appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the Testimony, over all its furnishings, and over all things that belong to it; they shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; they shall attend to it and camp around the tabernacle."  : The Levites did not have an inheritance in Israel. They would not be alloted land, but would live among the tribes, something that we'll give attention to next week.

- Their entire life was separated to the working of the tabernacle, the care of it's furnishings and all that belonged to it. They were to be on call and be near the tabernacle always.

- The tabernacle, it's poles and curtains, it's altars and tables, were theirs to carry.

•  Numbers 1:51-54  :  "And when the tabernacle is to go forward, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall set it up. The outsider who comes near shall be put to death. The children of Israel shall pitch their tents, everyone by his own camp, everyone by his own standard, according to their armies; but the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the Testimony, that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the children of Israel; and the Levites shall keep charge of the tabernacle of the Testimony.' Thus the children of Israel did; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so they did." : The Levites would care for the tabernacle as it was set up and would be in charge of tearing it down and moving it from place to place.

- Whenever it was reset, the people of God would camp around the tabernacle, but the Levites would stay near the taberncale all around it.

- God wanted this so that there would be no wrath on the people of Israel. Think about this: They are being numbered for war because of the enemies that they will face.

- But a greater danger would be God's wrath against them! This is why the Levites were to be close to the Tabernacle. They were to intercede on behalf of Israel and sacrifice for them.

- They were to guard the people of God and keep them from coming close to the tabernacle, lest God's wrath consume them.

- Without that constant ministration, the covenant people of God could be subjected to God's holy and righteous wrath. With that as a possibility, the people did all that Moses commanded them!

- It's interesting that part of preparing them for war, also meant protecting them from themselves! God's priests would stand in that gap to preserve the purity of the people as well.

•  Numbers 2:1-4 : "And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: 'Everyone of the children of Israel shall camp by his own standard, beside the emblems of his father’s house; they shall camp some distance from the tabernacle of meeting. On the east side, toward the rising of the sun, those of the standard of the forces with Judah shall camp according to their armies; and Nahshon the son of Amminadab shall be the leader of the children of Judah.' And his army was numbered at seventy-four thousand six hundred." : When the tabernacle was set up, the people of Israel were assigned a place to camp around it. God placed them sovereignly.

- God determined who would be set where, beginning with Judah's army on the east side along with the tribes of Issachar and Zebulun in verses 5-9, a number totalling 186,400.

- God required that this camp would break first. There was an order when they would move out from their place. They were to move in God's direction and in His way!

- From verses 10-16, God required that the south side of the tabernacle be occupied by the tribes of Reuben, Simeon and Gad, a group numbering 154,450.

•  Numbers 2:17 : "And the tabernacle of meeting shall move out with the camp of the Levites in the middle of the camps; as they camp, so they shall move out, everyone in his place, by their standards." : These two camps on the east and south side would move out and from the middle of them, the Levites would move out with the Tabernacle.

- From verses 18-24, God decreed that Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin would camp around the western side of the tabernacle with 108,100 men.

- Finally, in verses 25-31, Dan, Asher and Naphtali stood on the north with their 157, 600 men. These would be the last to break camp.

- Rabbinical tradition holds that while there were 12 tribes, there were four major ensigns that governed the different sides of the tabernacle.

- Judah's ensign was that of a lion. Reuben's ensign was that of Man's face. Ephraim carried a standard with an Ox ensignia and Dan's group of tribes were represented by an eagle.

- While this is unconfirmed in scripture, we do see these very ensignias in two other places in scripture, in Ezekiel 1:3-10 as well as Revelation 4:7.

- Some see in this a prophetic call to the gospels and the regathering of God's people in the end times. It's hard to comment on that dogmatically at this time, but we'll mark it and leave it there.

- What I would suggest is that we accept the ordering that God does in our lives, if only for the reason that it pleases God to place His people where they will be most effective!

- Somehow, the ordering of our lives brings Him glory, not for what we see, but for what He sees!, which we'll get to in a moment.

•  Numbers 2:32-34  : "These are the ones who were numbered of the children of Israel by their fathers’ houses. All who were numbered according to their armies of the forces were six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty. But the Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel, just as the Lord commanded Moses. Thus the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses; so they camped by their standards and so they broke camp, each one by his family, according to their fathers’ houses." : The children of Israel camped the way that the Lord required them to camp, doing what God commanded them.

- The army that surrounded the tabernacle numbered over 600,000 men.

Conclusion

- As we conclude tonight, chapter 1 of Numbers reminds us that God wants His people to be ready for battle. Preparation. We are in a spiritual war right now. Be prepared.

- At the same time, chapter 2 of Numbers reminds us of the meticulous detail that God takes in ordering His people. Organization. He knows your lying down and He governs our every move.

- We might be inclined to wonder why? Think of how He sees this. When you looked down on the community of believers, what would God have seen?

- He would have seen a large rectangular shape, with the people camped in the form of a cross! That's what God wants to see: A group that's ready to see Jesus glorified in their midst!