365 Reflections

In Numbers 22 Israel suffered a minor setback in spiritual life and vitality when they grumbled about the manna that God had been giving them for forty years. They quickly saw the deliverance of God from their curse in the serpent Moses mounted to the pole and held up for them to see. The repented, realizing their guilt and looking to God's solution. Numbers 21:7 (ESV) And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. You could say, they had a born-again moment here. Because this new generation had not seen much in the way of God's judgment upon their own evil. What they saw in that bronze serpent, and the healing that eventually followed changed how they approached the wilderness. They moved from grumbling to singing. Numbers 21:16–18 (ESV) And from there they continued to Beer; that is the well of which the Lord said to ...

Numbers 21:4–9 (ESV)   From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” 6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord , that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. The younger generation is like it's fathers in this way: ...

Numbers 21:1–3 (ESV) When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive. 2 And Israel vowed a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed give this people into my hand, then I will devote their cities to destruction.” 3 And the Lord heeded the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites, and they devoted them and their cities to destruction. So the name of the place was called Hormah. Something wonderful begins to happen for Israel in Numbers 21. They start winning battles against Canaanite kings. But here at Hormah, the more important thing is that they learn how to win battles.  It's interesting how the text gives us clues that they have circled back in many ways from their tremendous fall of Numbers 13-14.  First the text tells us that the Israelites are going "by the way of Atharim" - which means " by the way of the spies." S...

Numbers 20:24–28 (ESV) “Let Aaron be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land that I have given to the people of Israel, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. 25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and bring them up to Mount Hor. 26 And strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron shall be gathered to his people and shall die there.” 27 Moses did as the LORD commanded. And they went up Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 28 And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. This moment in Israel's history is poignant. The original high priest of the nation will die. He will be gathered to his people and seen no more. Before then, however, he will be led up a mountain, stripped of his regal garments and left alone to die. The garments that signified his distinguished calling in Isr...

In Numbers 20 things don't go much better from Moses' failure to the next scene. Miriam dies in verse 1, Moses fails to honor God and loses out on the Promised Land and now another setback looms on the horizon. Moses has to lead the people of Israel through the territory of Edom. These are the descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob. Most are familiar with the heated nature of that relationship but also how the two brothers resolved their differences in the end.  Moses knows well this tenuous relationship and acts incredibly diplomatic sending a nicely worded transcription to Edom's leaders. Numbers 20:14–17 (ESV)   Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: “Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the hardship that we have met: 15 how our fathers went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time. And the Egyptians dealt harshly with us and our fathers. 16 And when we cried to the Lord , he heard our voice and sent an angel and brough...

Numbers 20:10–13 (ESV) Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. 12 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” 13 These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord , and through them he showed himself holy. Numbers 20 is a defining moment for Moses. It's a sobering reminder for everyone that all human leaders ultimately fail us. For all that Moses has done thus far and so well in the work of God's redemption, he fell prey to his own anger, resentment and exasperation. I don't blame him. I never...

The third and seventh days have great significance in Scripture. Life comes out of the ground on the third day of creation. Jesus rises on the third day. The third day is mentioned far more than the second, fourth, fifth or any other day in all of the Bible. We are the people of the third day. But the seventh day is another important concept in the Bible. Creation is finished and God rests with man on the seventh day in the beauty of the work He has accomplished. The seventh day runs throughout the Bible as almost equally significant as the third day. In Numbers 19, while talking about a very long and hard to understand passage about water for purification, the third and seventh days come together to bring Israel an understanding of their need for cleansing from the defilement of death. Numbers 19:11–13 (ESV) “Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. 12 He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be cle...

Right after the event in which the dead staff produces fruit, God teaches Aaron and the Levitical priesthood about their sacred duties as God's anointed and appointed priests. Numbers 18:7 (ESV)  And you and your sons with you shall guard your priesthood for all that concerns the altar and that is within the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood as a gift , and any outsider who comes near shall be put to death.” What's incredible is the number of times the words "give" and "gift" show up in this chapter. They appear in some form 16 times.  It's a chapter all about giving and its entirely related to the priesthood reinforced by the life brought out of a dead piece of wood. So what is God teaching? The Lord considers His ministers and leaders as gifts for His people. They are gifts in that they mediate the Word of God to the people of God so that the people of God can be equipped to represent what life with God looks like to the world a...

Numbers 17:1–5 (ESV)   The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel, and get from them staffs, one for each fathers’ house, from all their chiefs according to their fathers’ houses, twelve staffs. Write each man’s name on his staff, 3 and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each fathers’ house. 4 Then you shall deposit them in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you. 5 And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from me the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you.” The way God chooses to silence the grumbling of the people is quite interesting. Instead of more plagues and judgment, there is a simple event whereby a miraculous resurrection of a formerly dead piece of wood sprouts and bears almonds. It's about as clear a foreshadowing of Christ as you can get. But there's lots more to see in this picture.  First...