Counted, centered, guarded, assigned, cleansed, consecrated, blessed, spoken, purified, and equipped. Over the course of these first chapters of Numbers, God has been doing all of these things to prepare His people for leaving Sinai. And, now, Israel actually marches out. Israel spent nearly a year at the base of the mountain of God. For …
Going on a journey requires planning and preparation. Since Exodus 19, the people of Israel have been camped at the base of Mount Sinai, and these opening chapters of Numbers have been about Yahweh preparing His people to leave and enter the Promised Land. Chapters 1-7 moved from broad to specific, focusing first on the …
Continue reading Equipped: The Passover, the Cloud, & the Trumpets | Numbers 9:1-10:10
As we have noted, Numbers 1-10 is about God preparing His people to leave Sinai and to enter the Promised Land as His instruments of judgment upon the Canaanites and receive the promises that Yahweh made to their ancestor Abraham. The first six chapters focused on the people themselves as the LORD counted, centered, guarded, …
Last week, we came to one of the climatic moments of these opening chapters of Numbers. Remember that everything in these first ten chapters is about preparing Israel to leave Sinai and enter the Promised Land, where God will fulfill His promise to Abraham and also use them as His instrument of judgment upon the …
Continue reading Spoken: The Dedication of the Altar | Numbers 7
Last Sunday I preached the Aaronic Blessing, one of the richest passages in all of Scripture. It is the blessing Yahweh commanded the priests to pronounce over Israel, likely as the people departed from the tabernacle after presenting their offerings. The blessing consists of three lines, two of which speak of God's face turned toward …
Let those who fear you turn to me,that they may know your testimonies. Psalm 119:79 ESV In the preceding verses, the psalmist has made a series of appeals to God. In verse 76, he asked for God's steadfast love to comfort him. In verse 77, he pleaded for God's mercy, that he might live. And …
Continue reading Let Those Who Fear You Turn to Me | Psalm 119:79
Clinger. Clutcher. Grabber. The ESV footnote says that Jacob's name means 'to take by the heel' or 'he cheats.' If we called him Grasper, he certainly lived up to the name. While Esau let go of his birthright for a bowl of soup, Jacob clutched it away from his brother's hand. Then came Isaac's deathbed …
Continue reading Blessed: The Aaronic Blessing | Numbers 6:22-27
God is preparing His people for the Promised Land, and so far in Numbers, Israel has been counted, centered, guarded, assigned, and cleansed. As we have noted, these chapters have come in pairs. Chapters 1 and 2 concerned the whole congregation of Israel. Chapters 3 and 4 narrowed the focus to the Levites. Now, chapters …
Continue reading Consecrated: The Nazarite Vow | Numbers 6:1-21
Yahweh is preparing His people to enter the Promised Land. That is the big idea for all of Numbers 1-10. And He is not simply getting them ready for possession but for invasion. Four hundred years prior, God promised to give Canaan to Abraham's family, but He did not do so in the patriarch's day. …
The overall purpose of Numbers 1-10 is that Yahweh is organizing and preparing Israel to be His earthly hosts. They are to be His earthly army through whom He will enact His judgment upon the Canaanites. So far, the first two chapters have given us the number and focus of the whole congregation. In Numbers …
B. C. Newton 