Numbers (Part 4)
Bible Study Time 2-3-08
(From James Roberts 2-14-99)
Bible Study Time 2-3-08
(From James Roberts 2-14-99)
Last week in our journey through the scripture, we saw that God brought the people of Israel out of Egyptian bondage. He led them through the Red Sea and took them to Mt. Sinai where they stayed for about a year. During this time, God prepared them for their journey through the wilderness.
At Mt. Sinai, God gave the children of Israel the Law and the ordinances of the tabernacle. In the Law, God taught them how to worship so that He could be their God, and they could be His people. The tabernacle was going to be the dwelling place of God among His people.
When the time came for the children of Israel to leave Mt. Sinai, they had no sooner started their journey than they began to murmur and complain. God had made great provision for the children of Israel by giving them this very unusual food called manna, which was bread from heaven. This manna was an all-purpose food which could be prepared so many different ways and it was delicious. But when the people of Israel began to remember the food that they had enjoyed back in Egypt, they began to yearn for those things which they had left behind.
This is a picture of the carnal Christian today. God has provided the Lord Jesus Christ to meet our needs as we travel on our wilderness journey. He is the true bread from heaven, and He is so precious. But many times, as we begin to look at the things of the world, we begin to yearn for those things which we have left behind. As a result, the preciousness of Christ is diminished, and we may even begin to despise the things of the Lord. Only as we judge that sin and confess it before the Lord can the Lord become precious to us once again.
In our previous lesson in Numbers, we saw the inability of Moses to provide the leadership that the people needed. Moses asked the Lord, How can I bear this people; what have you got against me that you would put this leadership role upon me; I can’t bear this people.
And you know, Moses had the Spirit of God upon Him so that he could have done that work, but because of His own weakness, he began to complain against the Lord. Moses’ weakness is a picture of man under the Law covenant. Romans, Chapter 8, tells us that:
Romans 8:3,4 (KJ2000)
3 . . . what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, (judged) sin in the flesh:
4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
In the book of Numbers we see that God heard Moses’ prayer and gave Moses 70 men from all of the tribes of Israel. God put His Spirit upon these men so that they would be able to share the burden of leadership.
From this we see that you and I today, in our own strength and power, cannot do those things that God has called us to do, but as we look at Romans 8 once again, we see that the Spirit of God helps our infirmities. He helps our infirmities just as these 70 men were given to Moses to help him.
What a great difference is seen between Moses and Christ. Moses was a faithful man in all of God’s house, but Moses was called as a servant. In the book of Hebrews we see that Jesus Christ is faithful in His own house; He serves as a Son.
Jesus Christ is the One who is always there to help us as we face the difficulties of life. John said that the Law came by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, and what a great blessing it is to be able to live under the grace of Jesus Christ as opposed to living under the Law.
It’s very interesting to see that after these 70 men were commissioned and were given the Spirit of God, that God told Moses:
Numbers 11:18 (KJ2000)
18 . . . say unto the people, Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat flesh: for you have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the LORD will give you flesh, and you shall eat.
The people were to sanctify themselves because God was about to do something that was unheard of, something that was almost unimaginable. God said that he was going to feed meat to the people, and Moses asked how that could possibly be. He said, if we go out and get all of the fish in the sea, it won’t be enough to feed all these people; will the people have to kill all of their herds of cattle?
But the Lord said to Moses:
Numbers 11:23 (KJ2000)
23 . . . Is the LORD'S hand shortened? you shall see now whether my word shall come to pass unto you or not.
God said, my arm is not shortened that I cannot do all that I have said I will do. This is a great eternal principle that we all need to keep in mind. God is able to do whatever He says He will do. In the book of Ephesians, God tells us that He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. At times we may think that our circumstances are so difficult and so burdensome that there is no way out, but the Lord is able to deliver us.
I believe the Lord was preparing Moses and the people for that time when they would stand at the very border of the Promised Land ready to enter in by faith. God wanted to emphasize to Moses that there was nothing too hard for God to perform. God was indeed perfectly capable of taking them into the Promised Land, and He miraculously provided meat for them to eat there in the wilderness to prove His power.
Now, let’s look in Numbers 11:31, and we’ll see exactly how God was able to feed all the children of Israel with meat.
Numbers 11:31 (KJ2000)
31 And there went forth a wind from the LORD, and brought quail from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, about a day's journey on this side, and about a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and about two cubits high above the face of the earth.
Notice that God provided quail all around the camp for about a day’s journey, and the quail were about two cubits deep all through this strip of land around the camp. A cubit is about 18 inches, so the quail were about three feet deep for a day’s journey all around the camp. Now, notice verse 32:
Numbers 11:32 (KJ2000)
32 And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quail: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp.
So, the people worked all day, all night and all the next day, gathering quail and preparing them for food to eat. God had said that He would provide so much meat that they would be sick and tired of it, and so it was that they ate and ate and ate, and verse 33 says:
Numbers 11:33 (KJ2000)
33 And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very great plague.
I believe that this plague came upon those who had not sanctified themselves and prepared themselves for this day. Moses had told the people that they were to be sanctified against tomorrow. But there were many who went out and with greediness they devoured that which God had given them. As a result, God’s anger broke out in the camp and killed a great number of the people, and the dead were buried there in the desert.
Now in the twelfth chapter of Numbers, we see something very sad. We see Aaron and Miriam began to be jealous of Moses. They began to think in their own minds that Moses was taking too great a burden upon himself. They thought He was becoming too proud as a result of what God was doing through Him.
To support their case against Moses, they raised the issue of His having married an Ethiopian woman. This was undoubtedly Zipporah, the wife that Moses had married while he was on the backside of the desert in the land of Midian. This was before God brought Moses back to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. They complained about Moses’ marriage and said:
Numbers 12:2 (KJ2000)
2 . . . Has the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? has he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it.
The Lord heard what they said and was obviously very displeased because in the next verse we read:
Numbers 12:3 (KJ2000)
3 (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men who were upon the face of the earth.)
Moses was not proud and arrogant. His position of leadership had actually caused him to be very humble before the Lord. Miriam and Aaron were simply jealous. But notice what God says in verse six. After having Miriam and Aaron brought to the tabernacle, God said:
Numbers 12:6 (KJ2000)
6 . . . Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.
The book of Hebrews tells us that God spoke through the prophets in many different kinds of ways. He often spoke to them in dark speeches. Many times the people could not even understand what the prophets were saying, but God would tell the prophets to proclaim the message anyway. God spoke to these prophets in visions and in dreams, but God told Miriam and Aaron that this is not the way He spoke to Moses. Verse 7 says:
Numbers 12:7,8 (KJ2000)
7 My servant Moses is not thus, who is faithful in all my house.
8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even clearly, and not in dark sayings; and the form of the LORD shall he behold: why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
We find out later in this chapter that Moses’ sister, Miriam, became leprous, and she had to be put outside the camp for seven days because of her rebellion against the Lord. Aaron was not stricken because he was the High Priest, and he was the one who was going to make intercession for Miriam in order that she might be healed.
Now, I want to just mention that many times you and I as believers may develop a spirit of jealousy in our minds and in our hearts, and it causes us to be ineffective in the work of the Lord. When that is the case, God wants us to bring judgment upon ourselves, as it were. We need to judge that sin by confessing it to the Lord so that we can be brought back into fellowship with the Lord. Only by this means can we truly be cleansed of our sin and used by the Lord for His honor and His glory.
I see that our time it gone. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning.
Church links:
At Mt. Sinai, God gave the children of Israel the Law and the ordinances of the tabernacle. In the Law, God taught them how to worship so that He could be their God, and they could be His people. The tabernacle was going to be the dwelling place of God among His people.
When the time came for the children of Israel to leave Mt. Sinai, they had no sooner started their journey than they began to murmur and complain. God had made great provision for the children of Israel by giving them this very unusual food called manna, which was bread from heaven. This manna was an all-purpose food which could be prepared so many different ways and it was delicious. But when the people of Israel began to remember the food that they had enjoyed back in Egypt, they began to yearn for those things which they had left behind.
This is a picture of the carnal Christian today. God has provided the Lord Jesus Christ to meet our needs as we travel on our wilderness journey. He is the true bread from heaven, and He is so precious. But many times, as we begin to look at the things of the world, we begin to yearn for those things which we have left behind. As a result, the preciousness of Christ is diminished, and we may even begin to despise the things of the Lord. Only as we judge that sin and confess it before the Lord can the Lord become precious to us once again.
In our previous lesson in Numbers, we saw the inability of Moses to provide the leadership that the people needed. Moses asked the Lord, How can I bear this people; what have you got against me that you would put this leadership role upon me; I can’t bear this people.
And you know, Moses had the Spirit of God upon Him so that he could have done that work, but because of His own weakness, he began to complain against the Lord. Moses’ weakness is a picture of man under the Law covenant. Romans, Chapter 8, tells us that:
Romans 8:3,4 (KJ2000)
3 . . . what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, (judged) sin in the flesh:
4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
In the book of Numbers we see that God heard Moses’ prayer and gave Moses 70 men from all of the tribes of Israel. God put His Spirit upon these men so that they would be able to share the burden of leadership.
From this we see that you and I today, in our own strength and power, cannot do those things that God has called us to do, but as we look at Romans 8 once again, we see that the Spirit of God helps our infirmities. He helps our infirmities just as these 70 men were given to Moses to help him.
What a great difference is seen between Moses and Christ. Moses was a faithful man in all of God’s house, but Moses was called as a servant. In the book of Hebrews we see that Jesus Christ is faithful in His own house; He serves as a Son.
Jesus Christ is the One who is always there to help us as we face the difficulties of life. John said that the Law came by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, and what a great blessing it is to be able to live under the grace of Jesus Christ as opposed to living under the Law.
It’s very interesting to see that after these 70 men were commissioned and were given the Spirit of God, that God told Moses:
Numbers 11:18 (KJ2000)
18 . . . say unto the people, Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat flesh: for you have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the LORD will give you flesh, and you shall eat.
The people were to sanctify themselves because God was about to do something that was unheard of, something that was almost unimaginable. God said that he was going to feed meat to the people, and Moses asked how that could possibly be. He said, if we go out and get all of the fish in the sea, it won’t be enough to feed all these people; will the people have to kill all of their herds of cattle?
But the Lord said to Moses:
Numbers 11:23 (KJ2000)
23 . . . Is the LORD'S hand shortened? you shall see now whether my word shall come to pass unto you or not.
God said, my arm is not shortened that I cannot do all that I have said I will do. This is a great eternal principle that we all need to keep in mind. God is able to do whatever He says He will do. In the book of Ephesians, God tells us that He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. At times we may think that our circumstances are so difficult and so burdensome that there is no way out, but the Lord is able to deliver us.
I believe the Lord was preparing Moses and the people for that time when they would stand at the very border of the Promised Land ready to enter in by faith. God wanted to emphasize to Moses that there was nothing too hard for God to perform. God was indeed perfectly capable of taking them into the Promised Land, and He miraculously provided meat for them to eat there in the wilderness to prove His power.
Now, let’s look in Numbers 11:31, and we’ll see exactly how God was able to feed all the children of Israel with meat.
Numbers 11:31 (KJ2000)
31 And there went forth a wind from the LORD, and brought quail from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, about a day's journey on this side, and about a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and about two cubits high above the face of the earth.
Notice that God provided quail all around the camp for about a day’s journey, and the quail were about two cubits deep all through this strip of land around the camp. A cubit is about 18 inches, so the quail were about three feet deep for a day’s journey all around the camp. Now, notice verse 32:
Numbers 11:32 (KJ2000)
32 And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quail: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp.
So, the people worked all day, all night and all the next day, gathering quail and preparing them for food to eat. God had said that He would provide so much meat that they would be sick and tired of it, and so it was that they ate and ate and ate, and verse 33 says:
Numbers 11:33 (KJ2000)
33 And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very great plague.
I believe that this plague came upon those who had not sanctified themselves and prepared themselves for this day. Moses had told the people that they were to be sanctified against tomorrow. But there were many who went out and with greediness they devoured that which God had given them. As a result, God’s anger broke out in the camp and killed a great number of the people, and the dead were buried there in the desert.
Now in the twelfth chapter of Numbers, we see something very sad. We see Aaron and Miriam began to be jealous of Moses. They began to think in their own minds that Moses was taking too great a burden upon himself. They thought He was becoming too proud as a result of what God was doing through Him.
To support their case against Moses, they raised the issue of His having married an Ethiopian woman. This was undoubtedly Zipporah, the wife that Moses had married while he was on the backside of the desert in the land of Midian. This was before God brought Moses back to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. They complained about Moses’ marriage and said:
Numbers 12:2 (KJ2000)
2 . . . Has the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? has he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it.
The Lord heard what they said and was obviously very displeased because in the next verse we read:
Numbers 12:3 (KJ2000)
3 (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men who were upon the face of the earth.)
Moses was not proud and arrogant. His position of leadership had actually caused him to be very humble before the Lord. Miriam and Aaron were simply jealous. But notice what God says in verse six. After having Miriam and Aaron brought to the tabernacle, God said:
Numbers 12:6 (KJ2000)
6 . . . Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.
The book of Hebrews tells us that God spoke through the prophets in many different kinds of ways. He often spoke to them in dark speeches. Many times the people could not even understand what the prophets were saying, but God would tell the prophets to proclaim the message anyway. God spoke to these prophets in visions and in dreams, but God told Miriam and Aaron that this is not the way He spoke to Moses. Verse 7 says:
Numbers 12:7,8 (KJ2000)
7 My servant Moses is not thus, who is faithful in all my house.
8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even clearly, and not in dark sayings; and the form of the LORD shall he behold: why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
We find out later in this chapter that Moses’ sister, Miriam, became leprous, and she had to be put outside the camp for seven days because of her rebellion against the Lord. Aaron was not stricken because he was the High Priest, and he was the one who was going to make intercession for Miriam in order that she might be healed.
Now, I want to just mention that many times you and I as believers may develop a spirit of jealousy in our minds and in our hearts, and it causes us to be ineffective in the work of the Lord. When that is the case, God wants us to bring judgment upon ourselves, as it were. We need to judge that sin by confessing it to the Lord so that we can be brought back into fellowship with the Lord. Only by this means can we truly be cleansed of our sin and used by the Lord for His honor and His glory.
I see that our time it gone. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning.
Church links:
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