Ken Garrison

Israel wandered in the desert for about 38 ½ years as a result of the judgment passed upon them.  They had failed to trust that God would be able to bring them into the land of Canaan.   Soon they forgot the reason for their distress and blamed both God and Moses for their dilemma.  They murmured along the way.

Moses is one of the most “positive” characters portrayed in the Bible.  He repeatedly interceded for Israel even when God proposed eliminating them and starting over with him and his descendants.  However, during the wandering in the desert, even Moses became critical of the people.  At Meribah, he was instructed by God to bring forth water for the people in a very specific way.  Moses disobeyed and, in addition, demonstrated his disgust for the people by calling them “rebels” or, perhaps, “fools”.  Even though Moses disobeyed God before the people, God was merciful and provided water.  As a result of this seemingly “minor” incident (if we place it in the context of 40 years of consistently faithful service before God) Moses was judged with the rest of that generation and was not allowed to enter the land.  

Sometimes we have difficulty understanding God’s judgments.   This incident with Moses is one such case.  Was God too harsh on His servant?  Who is in a position to judge what God does?  Now, with the advantage of a long, historical perspective, we suspect that this was fully in accordance with God’s plan of redemption.  This is especially true, when taken together with the account of the bronze serpent which is recorded as closely following these events.  Moses, God’s instrument of deliverance from Egypt, would not lead Israel into the Promised Land.  This would be accomplished by Joshua ben Nun.  Note also that earlier, Moses had changed Joshua’s name from Hoshea (Numbers 13:16).  Joshua would be the name given to the ultimate “goel – redeemer” (Luke 1: 31). 

As Israel continued to complain during the journey, God again judged them by sending serpents among the people.  To me and to Indiana Jones, this would represent a terrifying situation.  Many were bitten and died.  The people confessed their sin and petitioned Moses to pray to God to remove the serpents.  We presume that Moses repeated this petition to the Lord.  God’s answer provides much insight into His interaction with His people.  He instructed Moses to craft a “bronze serpent” and to place it on a staff and set it in the midst of the camp.  If a person was bitten, then he had a choice (a) to ignore God’s provision and die, or (b) to humble himself and exercise faith by looking to God’s provision, the bronze serpent, and live.

Almost 1500 years later, Joshua’s namesake Yehoshua or Jesus would compare His ministry to that of the “bronze serpent”.  He said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life”  (John 3:14-15).  Jesus became an object of faith.  He said that He was not sent to further judge man who was already in trouble (snake bitten), but was sent as an object of faith, i.e., an object of life.

When we face difficulties we pray and request that the difficulties be removed.  Sometimes God’s answer is not the removal of the difficulty but a means to overcome that difficulty.  We must be in a position to utilize what God provides. 

Election is an important concept revealed in the Bible.  God chooses whomever He wills for the task at hand.  From a human perspective, there may be others who appear better qualified and better suited for the job.  Nevertheless, God’s choice is God’s choice.  Often related to election is human rejection of that choice.  In the section of the Bible that we are considering we see both election and the rebellion against that election portrayed.

God originally chose Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt and to bring them to the Promised Land.  Moses served as an important, prophetic picture of the coming Messiah functioning in the capacity of prophet, priest and king.   Yet, Moses did not see himself as qualified for the task.  He said of himself, “I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since Thou hast spoken to Thy servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” (Exodus 4:10b)  The important component in election is the anointing of the Lord.  The Lord makes the difference, not the human talent of the person involved.  The most important human “talent” required is obedience.

Rebellion against God’s election is seen in Korah, a Levite, and Dathan and Abiram, descendants of Reuben.  All three saw themselves as being cheated by God’s election.  Korah functioned as a helper of the priest.  Dathan and Abiram were descendents of Reuben who was the firstborn of Jacob but had been passed over for leadership in Israel.  Judah had been chosen in Reuben’s place.  So, all three had complaints.  They justified themselves by fabricating artificial reasons for their rebellion.  

An interesting side note is appropriate.  When challenged, “Thus Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the doorway of the tent of meeting”. (Numbers 16:19a)   The fact that he was able to do this implies that Korah and his comrades exercised considerable political strength in the congregation.  I suspect that if Korah lived in modern Israel, he would be Prime Minister.

The judgment of Korah, Dathan and Abiram came swiftly.  The ground opened up and swallowed them and their families.  Fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 leaders that had allied themselves with Korah.

Again, God demonstrated His election for the priesthood.  He commanded that each tribe bring a “rod” (evidently a small branch from a tree).  Each was marked and placed in the tent of meeting.  The rods were examined on the following day and Aaron’s rod had “sprouted and put forth buds and  produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.” Thus, God’s election was confirmed.

In this case, God confirmed His election promptly.  This is not always the case.  There were many times when my position as pastor was challenged.  Even though I would have preferred that the “ground open up and those in rebellion be swallowed up”, this never happened in such a concise way.  In reality though, God did repeatedly confirm his choice and His anointing.  Every true “called” pastor should rest in God’s election.  If he is obedient to God’s call, no individual or group in rebellion can move him.  He must simply trust the Lord and remain in submission to God’s calling.  The Lord will uphold him.

Often, the account recorded in the TANACH provides valuable insight for us as believers today. This is true of this Bible section. Here we gain insight for people who experience God directly through the Holy Spirit concerning a Holy Spirit led life. 

Number (9:15-23) speaks of how Israel followed the guidance of God manifested through the “Cloud by day” and the “Pillar of Fire by night”. Each morning Israel’s attention was focused on the cloud. If the cloud moved, they moved. If the cloud remained in place, they remained also. The account emphasized the point that no matter how long the cloud remained; the people stayed in place. They did not set out on their own (even though human nature would want to move on). 

Imagine yourself as an Israeli in that camp. What would be the first thing that you would do in the morning? I believe that you would open your tent flap and see what the cloud was doing. If it moved, then you would begin preparing to move out. If the cloud tarried, then you would relax because you would not be going anywhere on this day.

This is a picture fruitful for the individual believer and for the local church. The first thing we should do in the morning is determine what God is doing in our life today. This means an early morning prayer/worship time. Once we have ascertained what God is doing for the day then we can respond accordingly. The local church should do the same thing during its regular, weekly worship times. 

One final thought from this awesome section of the Bible. Consider the “Cloud by day” and the “Pillar of Fire by night”. What was it? It must have been some form of unknown (out of this world, i.e., out of heaven) energy field. It had the characteristics of absorbing photons of light energy in the presence of sunlight; thus, it appeared black (my assumption) like a cloud in the daytime. At night in the absence of light energy, it emitted photons of light energy thus appearing as a “Pillar of Fire”. We know that a magnetic field will cause a charged particle to change its direction. Perhaps, this unknown heavenly field absorbed photons of light energy in the daytime and re-emitted that same light energy at night. Can you imagine a glowing column of light at night which turned into a dark, black column of cloud in the morning extending upwards from the tent into heaven?

There is a picture of the best and worst of Moses portrayed in this section. The Lord declared that with Moses He spoke “face to face”.

He said, “Hear now My words; If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. Not so, with My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My household; With him I speak mouth to mouth, even openly, and not in dark sayings, and he beholds the form of the Lord.” (Numbers 12:6-8a) 

But we also have the account of Moses having a “pity party”. 

So Moses said to the Lord, “Why hast Thou been so hard on Thy servant? And why have I not found favor in Thy sight, that Thou hast laid the burden of all this people on me? (Numbers 11:11)

And, 

I alone am not able to carry all this people, because it is too burdensome for me. So if Thou art going to deal thus with me, please kill me at once, if I have found favor in Thy sight, and do not let me see my wretchedness. (Numbers 11:14-15)

So, the Lord called seventy elders of the people and placed the Spirit that was on Moses on the seventy elders. 

Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him; and He took of the Spirit who was upon him and placed Him upon the seventy elders. And it came about that when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do it again. (Numbers 11:25)

Moses prayed that God put His Spirit upon all His people.

Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them! (Numbers 11:29)

Here we believe that Moses is functioning as a prophet and is speaking of the characteristic of the New Covenant which was still in the distant future.

There are many “what might have been” incidents in the Bible. This section of the Bible records one such event. According to the record in Numbers, God commanded Moses to send spies into the land of Canaan to assess the difficulties that they would face as they entered the land. The result was a disaster resulting in the people revolting against the Lord and against Moses. However, when we consider the commentary on this event recorded in Deuteronomy 1:19-23, we find that it was the people who wanted to send spies into the land. God allowed them to do so. Upon their return, the majority reported that the land was indeed a land of “milk and honey” but that the inhabitants of the land were much too formidable for Israel to conquer. The minority report, given by Caleb and Joshua, expressed the faith that since God was with Israel they were well able to take the land and overcome the Canaanites who were living in the land. Caleb actually said that Israel was “able, able” to conquer the land. He used the superlative by repeating the term able, i.e., we are more than able to do it. The people obviously received the majority report.

Joshua and Caleb were able to “see” in a deeper spiritual sense than were the other spies. They were much like the prophet Elisha in a later incident recorded in II Kings 6. Elisha’s servant was alarmed when he saw the Syrian army circling the city. Elisha prayed that God give the servant the ability to see in a much broader sense.

“Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” (II Kings 6:17)

As believers, we need to see and think in terms of God’s “horses and chariots of fire” today.

God’s plan for Israel to conquer the land was very simple. Recorded in Exodus 23:29-30, God would give them possession of the land, little by little, as they because fruitful and possessed it. They were approaching the land from the south, from the desert. God would bless them while He judged the Canaanites. They would possess the land as they moved northward through the land. This would, most likely, be accomplished slowly. I call this the “Holy Ooze” plan. The Canaanites would hate this “holy” community and be repulsed by it and, thereby, be pushed northward out of the land.

The people rejected this “much too slow” plan. They embraced the typical human view of a brisk military campaign to take the land. Viewed from a normal human perspective, they concluded that they would not be able to overwhelm the Canaanites. They failed to take into consideration that God was in their midst and He would make the difference. Caleb and Joshua recognized this fact while the other ten spies did not. Caleb ben Jephunah and Joshua ben Nun have become the heroes of the modern settlement movement in Israel because the modern Israelis face a very similar situation today. The stated will of God is clear; however, the opposition is great.

The lesson to be derived from this section is that we must not over analyze the “faith assignment” (Romans 1:17) given to us by God. If God is the lord of our endeavors, He will cause us to prevail without regard to the opposition. We must take a step in faith and trust Him for the outcome.

One final thought recorded in this section that is worthy of our attention today. Here God again said to Moses that He had decided to wipe out Israel and “start over” with Moses and his descendants. In an earlier event recorded in Exodus 32:9-10, God declared that He was about to do the same thing. These two incidents amount to what is called “Replacement Theology” which is common in Christianity today. That doctrine declares that God has given up on Israel as a covenant partner in the plan of redemption and has now replaced Israel with the Church. Moses was given the test of Messiah. Would he be impressed with God discernment and pridefully accept God’s proposal or would he plead with God to remember His revealed plan of redemption and maintain it. Moses did the latter and gained God approval. Much of Christianity has done the opposite today by embracing “Replacement Theology”. What is the position of the church which you are a part of?