Numbers

SSquared

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Numbers 1

Hmmm, strange we only have one chapter today.

God spoke to Moses and asked for a census to take place. It was strictly for a military count. Notice how Levi is not listed. God tells Moses not to include them. But if you remember from Exodus, Joseph's sons became two tribes (Ephraim and Manasseh). The Levites were excluded because their duty is for the tabernacle.

Out of all those counted (600,000+) only 2 of them survived the desert wanderings - Joshua and Caleb. We will find out in just a few chapters why they survive and the rest do not.
 
Numbers 2 - 7

Just a few things I find interesting.

I love how God assigns the Levites to specific tasks. Right down to the families. It wasn't just a free-for-all. Specific families were assigned to specific items. Anyway, I just think that is cool.

In Chapter 6, we read about the Nazirite. Samson was a Nazirite. His hair was extremely important, as you may recall. Understanding what a Nazirite is will help later on as we read about others who take this vow.

Numbers 6:24-26 is the famous blessing you have probably all heard. Hmmm, maybe I should actually memorize it.

Numbers 7 is tough reading. It is very repetitive. But the ending is fantastic. Moses enters into the Tent of Meeting and speaks with the Lord.

Our pastor has been challenging our congregation for several months now on the importance of reading the Bible. This last weekend his sermon was pretty much all about a congregation reading the Word. One of the things he stated was to come up with a point the Holy Spirit is teaching you each day. So I am going to try and do that.

For these chapters (the last two days) the following two things came to me:

1) How God is interested in the specifics/details. He WANTS to be involved in our lives.
2) Memorize Numbers 6:24-26
 
Numbers is hard to read because it's kinda boring. I barely got through it.
 
Parts of it can be difficult to read, but I can hardly put it down right now. The situation with Miriam and Aaron really grabs me. And when the spies are sent out, I am always VERY impressed with Caleb. He and Joshua stand up against the other 10 spies because they know God has given them the land. This time, as I read it, I thought how 10 people's words...10 itty bitty people...caused a whole community (can't remember how many, but WELL over 1 million people) to be fearful. And because of it NONE (except Caleb and Joshua) were able to enter the Promised Land.
 
Wrap-up of Numbers...

So, how'd you do with Numbers?  Sorry I haven't written much.  I'm just not taking the time to write things down, but I want to start writing more often again.

They wander and wander.

We see several examples of what happens to people who oppose God's work.  We first see Aaron and Miriam.  And later Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.

The 12 spies are sent out and only 2 (Caleb and Joshua) report "God will give it to us!!!"  They were the only 2 who trusted in God's promise.  As a result, the Israelites were forced to wander until that whole generation died out.  Like I said in the previous post, it's amazing how 10 little people can turn a nation.

Balaam is an interesting guy.  He will be given riches if he curses the Israelites.  Even though Balaam is totally in it for the money, he still chooses to bless them.  Why is this?  I think one reason is because God has said, "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you."  In the end, Balaam still caused the Israelites to get messed up intermingling with other cultures, causing a plague among them.

Well, those are some of the high points.
 
Wow!!!  That definitely was a tough book to read.  I noticed I was not the only one having difficulty, so I'd like to share what has helped me.  I found myself having to play catch up, as like Mandrake I was finding it boring.  Following is a link for the Bible, where you can actually have it read to you.  This was helpful in as much as I didn't have to stumble over those long names, which have always kept away my interest in these particular books of the Bible.  http://www.audio-bible.com/bible/bible.html

In agreement with SSquared, I am amazed at the attention to detail by the Father.  Also from this book of the Bible one of the lessons I received from it is that the Lord does not tolerate disobedience, laziness, murmuring, and complaining.  I recognized some traits in myself, as I neared the end of the book of numbers.  I started out in this book thinking "what does God have to do for these people to see that they must obey His commands and that they can trust in Him."  I ended up in realizing that even today we do the same thing....or at least I do.  We receive a blessing and/or answered prayer, and we spend hours, days, weeks, maybe even months thanking Him and praising Him for this blessing.  Then we run into a speed bump in life, and almost instantly start to question God's ability, faithfulness, and concern over our lives.  "Lord why did you allow this to happen?  Did you bring us out of the land of Egypt only to perish?"  Almost instantly we begin to doubt.  We begin to wonder if He cares, or if He is listening to our needs.  What we fail to see in the midst of the trial too often is that the reason we remain in that trial or tribulation is because we immediately begin to murmur and complain, instead of being grateful for that trial/tribulation which is there only to make us grow in our walk.

I also noticed towards the end of this book how God is fair.  Notice in the last couple of chapters how He commanded that each be given his inheritance in accordance with his own, as he deserves, not to be taken from another.

I must admit that this is probably the first time I've actually received from this particular book of the Bible.  Thank you Lord for revelation.  Wow, I think I am actually growing through this Bible in a Year Program.  I am so grateful to this forum for suggesting it.  I tried to do a Bible in a Year Program in the past, and have never really stuck with it through to the end.  I find this experience very enriching, as I have a place to come to for insight and discussion.  This has proved to be a blessing.  Thank you Lord.  Amen
 
That is FANTASTIC Lady Kajun. I feel bad because I try to get people excited about some of these tougher books. There REALLY is lots of good stuff in there. And I sort of stopped writing my thoughts and stuff. Actually, what happened was, I was finding it so exciting I started getting ahead. But, also, it DOES take some time to write everything out. I am going to try and start being more consistent. I think this program is VERY important.

I really love what you were taught. That's sort of what I learned the first time I really got anything out of Numbers. But it's so true. These people are blessed, only to immediately grumble. How often do we do this in our own lives?

That's cool about God being fair with the inheritance. I never really thought about that before, but you're right. He is wise, fair, and knows what's best.

Thanks for sharing.
 
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