I have never done a series on my blog. So this is a first. And yes, I am starting with the book of Numbers. I know I know I hate math, too, but this book is amazing. I began reading it in prepping to lead a Bible study this summer by Lauren Chandler on the book of Numbers. The study is called With Us in the Wilderness . I haven’t started hers yet, just thought I would read through the book and use the First 5 App from Lysa TerKeurst to have a second source of info when leading this study.
Just in the first two chapters I was blown away by all God was speaking and showing me. The book of Numbers isn’t just a list of Numbers and census of biblical Israel. It’s so much more. So I will start with my insight from chapters 1-3.
Chapter 1 starts out with the Lord asking Moses to take a census of the people. Seems boring, right? But in everything God does there is purpose, and most of the time that purpose is mind blowing. All the tribes were counted but the Levites because they were to work in the tabernacle and had specific duties in moving the tabernacle. Then once everyone was counted Moses, by command of the Lord, tells the Israelites how to camp. Remember they had just been freed from slavery in Egypt and are now making their way to the promised land. Moving more than 1 million people through the desert wasn’t an easy task and didn’t just happen over night. We all know they camped in the wilderness for 40 years, but that was due to some discontented people we will talk about in later blogs. However, I think even if that didn’t happen it still would have taken some time. So the people had to learn how to camp, how to break camp, and how to fight.
God is intentional in everything He says and does. This census that Moses took led to teaching the Israelites the best camp formation for them. When they stopped and set up camp they were to do so in a specific way. The Tent of meeting or Tent of the Tabernacle was to be in the middle. One three sides of the Tent of Meeting were the Levites camps, leaving no Levites to camp on the east side of the Tabernacle. There, the largest group would camp – the tribes of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. To the north the tribes of Dan, Asher, and Naphtali. The west side was Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin. And last the south where the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, and Gad camped. Because Moses took the census, He knew where to place the bigger tribes. Why is that important? Because God wanted Moses to keep the Tabernacle safe from an attack. With the tribes strategically placed, there were fighting forces all around the Tabernacle with an inner force of the Levites.
Ok so you might be thinking, so what? God protected the Tabernacle. Take a look at this picture from my Holman Woman’s Study Bible.
Do you see it? They camped in the shape of a cross. With the Tabernacle at the center. Pretty cool right. Even in the book of Numbers God is speaking to us about His plan for salvation. And that is just chapter 1.
We see again the concept of redemption in chapter 3. In chapter 3 we see God asking Moses to take a count of all the Levites, the tribe that is closest to the Tabernacle and the ones who are put in charge of caring for the Tabernacle, the sacrifices, and the offerings given to the Lord. In verses 12-13 of chapter 3, we read that the Lord has taken the Levites in place of every firstborn Israelite because every firstborn belongs to the Lord.
After Moses numbers the Levites we discover that there were 273 more men in the other 11 tribes than there were in the tribe of the Levites. An atonement price is set at 5 shekels of silver for those who out number the Levites. Verse 48 calls it a “redemption price”. Jesus is the first born male of God who is perfect without blemish who was sacrificed in our place. The book of Numbers helps us see that even in the Old Testament God had plans for redeeming His people. He was foreshadowing all that Jesus would one day do, while making provision for those who lived before Him. God is full of love and wants to have relationship with His people. From the Old to New Testament, that has never changed.
I can’t wait to share God’s remedy for jealousy in the next part of this series on the book of Numbers.
To read part 2 click here.
