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Outline
I. At Sinai (1:1-10:10)
A. The First Census (1:1-54)
B. The Arrangement of the Camp (2:1-4:49)
C. Legislation (5: 1- 8:26)
D, Final Events at Sinai (9:1-10:10)
II. From Sinai to Edom (10:11-20:21)
A. To Kadesh (10:11–12:16)
B. At Kadesh (13:1-20:21)
III. From Edom to the Jordan (20:22-36:13)
A. Aaron's Death (20: 22-29)
B. The Destruction of Arad (21:1-4)
C. The Bronze Serpent (21:5 -9)
D. The Journey to Moab (21:10-20)
E. Initial Victories (21:21-35)
F The Plains of Moab (22:1-36:13)
Hello:
Book of Numbers Challenge – Day 13 Numbers 1, 2 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)
The Lord spoke to Moses in the tent of meeting in the Desert of Sinai on the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites came out of Egypt. He said: 2 “Take a census of the whole Israelite community by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one. (Numbers 1:1-2)
By counting the people, God shows clearly that they belong to him. They are his, and the sheep of his pasture (Psalms 95:7). Every one of them is precious in his sight, he loves them. One should only counts what belongs to him, that’s why the Lord was very displeased with David when he counted the people in 2 Samuel 24.
Amazingly God names the princes of each tribe by names. He was indeed very familiar with the people, he was living with them. God is also very familiar with each one of us. He not only knows us, even the very hairs of our head are all numbered by God (Matthew 10:30). We are very special to God.
May the Lord richly bless you!
Hello:
Book of Numbers Challenge – Day 14 Numbers 3, 4 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)
11 The Lord also said to Moses, 12 “I have taken the Levites from among the Israelites in place of the first male offspring of every Israelite woman. The Levites are mine, 13 for all the firstborn are mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set apart for myself every firstborn in Israel, whether human or animal. They are to be mine. I am the Lord.” (Numbers 3:11-13)
May the Lord richly bless you!
Hello:
Book of Numbers Challenge – Day 15 Numbers 5, 6 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)
22 The Lord said to Moses, 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:
24 “‘“The Lord bless you
and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.”’
27 “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” (Numbers 6:22-27)
In the Old Testament, Aaron and his sons had the responsibility to bless the people of the Lord in the name of the Lord. This task was so important that the Lord left no room for improvisation to Aaron and to his sons. They had to follow the exact wording of the blessing, “The Lord bless you ....” The uttering of the words of the blessing stamps the people with the name of the Lord, who in turn blesses his people because they belong to him.
In our church we try our best to finish the service on time so to keep the people from leaving before the benediction. The benediction can be the key to the people’s deliverance and victory.
May the Lord richly bless you!
Hello:
Book of Numbers Challenge – Day 16 Numbers 7, 8 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)
10 When the altar was anointed, the leaders brought their offerings for its dedication and presented them before the altar. 11 For the Lord had said to Moses, “Each day one leader is to bring his offering for the dedication of the altar.” (Numbers 7:10-11)
In Exodus 35:5 the Lord asked a voluntary offering from the people, “From what you have, take an offering for the Lord. Everyone who is willing is to bring to the Lord an offering of gold, silver and bronze.” The same idea of voluntary offering is found in 2 Corinthians 9:7, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
But why did the Lord make the offering of the people voluntary, but compulsory for the leaders? They had no choice but to bring their offering to the Lord (7:11). For the Lord had said to Moses, “Each day one leader is to bring his offering for the dedication of the altar (v. 11).” Leaders need to lead by example, therefore a leader’s commitment needs to come not only from feelings but also from discipline.
May the Lord richly bless you
Hello:
Book of Numbers Challenge – Day 17 Numbers 9, 10 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)
35 And whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Arise, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you.” 36 And when it rested, he said, “Return, O Lord, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel.” (Numbers 10:35-36)
“Maten an avan ou sòti, Eske ou te priye? O non de Jezi, Sovè nou, Eske ou te mande favè li Pou proteje ou. La priyè va ba ou yon repo, La priyè chanje tout bagay; Lè chemen la sanble trò long, Pa bliye priye”. (66 CDK)
“This morning before you leave, did you pray? In the name of Jesus, our Savior, did you ask for His grace to protect you? Prayer will give you a rest, and prayer will change everything; When the path looks too long, do not forget to pray”.
Moses prayed before going out and coming in. Do you?
May the Lord richly bless you!
Hello:
Book of Numbers Challenge – Day 18 Numbers 11, 12 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)
26 Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. 27 And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” 28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, “My lord Moses, stop them.” 29 But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” 30 And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp. (Numbers 11:26-30)
Below is a table proposed by J. Oswald Sanders in his book, “Spiritual Leadership”; the table shows the contrast between natural and spiritual leadership.
Natural Leadership ---------------------------------------------Spiritual Leadership
Self-confident -----------------------------------------------------Confident in God
Knows men --------------------------------------------------------Also knows God
Makes own decisions ---------------------------------------------Seeks God’s will
Ambitious ----------------------------------------------------------Humble
Creates methods ---------------------------------------------------Follows God’s example
Enjoys command --------------------------------------------------Delights in obedience to God
Seeks personal reward --------------------------------------------Loves God and others
Independent --------------------------------------------------------Depends on God
To be truly effective in God’s service, natural leadership must move to spiritual leadership produced by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Moses’ prayer, “Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” (v.29), became a reality the day of Pentecost.
May the Lord richly bless you!
Hello:
Book of Numbers Challenge – Day 19 Numbers 13, 14 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)
31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” 32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. 33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” (Numbers 13:31-33)
Christians are encouraged to be positive people because of their faith, their hope and their love. We may criticize the ten men who gave a bad report of the land to the children of Israel. However, just like them, we sometimes left ourselves terrified by the giants in our lives: sickness, unemployment, relationships issues etc.... Indeed our problems seem as real as the inhabitants of Canaan who were of great height. The spies saw too much of the enemies, they were supposed to look to God, to his promises not to their circumstances. We walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).
May the Lord richly bless you!
Hello:
Book of Numbers Challenge – Day 20 Numbers 15, 16 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)
37 The Lord said to Moses, 38 “Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. 39 And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, not to follow[e] after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. 40 So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. 41 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord your God.” (Numbers 15:37-41)
I believe that the biggest hurdle to spiritual growth in this modern era is the faulty notion that whatever we do should be fun; even worship service should be fun and entertaining many Christians think. Unfortunately, as told by Thomas Edison, “Success is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration.” We have to work hard for our results.
Our inclination is toward the path of least resistance, while God wants us to remember and do all his commandments, and be holy to Him. Excellence comes with repetition. God had to keep reminding them, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord your God (v.41).”
May the Lord richly bless you!
Hello:
Book of Numbers Challenge – Day 21 Numbers 17, 18 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)
8 On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds. 9 Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the people of Israel. And they looked, and each man took his staff. (Numbers 17:8-9)
The staff of Aaron as the other eleven staffs were old and dry. However, overnight, maybe instantaneously the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds. Is there anything too hard for the Lord? None. Suddenly God can change our situation. Our lives can be dry and unproductive, but in an instant under the Lord’s grace our lives can become very fruitful. God can restore our health, free up from the tyranny of financial lack, and give us victory over all our adversaries.
May the Lord richly bless you!
Hello:
Book of Numbers Challenge – Day 22 Numbers 19, 20 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)
10 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,[a] where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy. (Numbers 20:10-13)
Uncontrolled anger is one of the most destructive sins in the life of a Christian leader. Christian leaders are called to bless, not to curse the people of the Lord. They must be extremely patient in order to show God’s love and holiness to all people. Parents have the same responsibility toward their children. Moses was the most humble leader who ever lived, but in that event he and Aaron made the grave mistakes of treating the people of the Lord with contempt.
May the Lord richly bless you!
Hello:
Book of Numbers Challenge – Day 23 Numbers 21, 22 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)
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[c] serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. (Numbers 21:7-9)
God never turns away his people when they came to him with a repenting heart. “And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you” (21:7). Because of their repentance and humility, the Lord provided for them a way out of their chastisement. 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 (v21:8).” A very simple act, but which requires complete trust in the provision of God.
The only thing that the people had to do was to look at the bronze serpent and live. All we have to do is to believe in Jesus and have eternal life. John explains it this way, “14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15).
May the Lord richly bless you!
Hello:
Book of Numbers Challenge – Day 25 Numbers 23, 24 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)
19 God is not human, that he should lie,
not a human being, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
Does he promise and not fulfill?
20 I have received a command to bless;
he has blessed, and I cannot change it. (Numbers 23:19-20)
If you had seven hours to pray, would you pray one hour each day for seven days or would pray seven hours in one day? What would be the best approach? Most people would opt for praying one hour each day for seven days. The question is, “can we settle down quickly in one hour to hear God speaks to us?”
We must spend quantity time with God in order to quiet down our heart enough so we can hear him talking to us. We must remember that God is a promise keeper, but he shares his secrets only with the people who spend time with him.
May the Lord richly bless you!
Hello:
Book of Numbers Challenge – Day 26 Numbers 25, 26 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)
While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, 2 who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. 3 So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them. (Numbers 25:1-3)
The people of Israel was a blessed people as we saw in Numbers 13. Balaam could not curse them, because no one can curse whom God has blessed. However, since Balaam were a prophet for hire, he did not want to return home empty handed, he gave to Balaak the devilish advice to induce the children into commit idolatry by enticing them with sexual immorality (Numbers 31:16)
Christians should be careful not to indulge in a sinful lifestyle. Habitual sin opens a door for the enemy to attack us while we are running away from under the cover of God’s wings (Psalms 91:4).
May the Lord richly bless you!
Hello:
Book of Numbers Challenge – Day 27 Numbers 27, 28 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)
12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go up this mountain in the Abarim Range and see the land I have given the Israelites. 13 After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, 14 for when the community rebelled at the waters in the Desert of Zin, both of you disobeyed my command to honor me as holy before their eyes.” (These were the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Desert of Zin.)
15 Moses said to the Lord, 16 “May the Lord, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community 17 to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.” (Numbers 27:12-17)
Moses shows in this story a trait of leadership that need to be emulated by all who are called to a position of leadership in the body of Christ. All leaders need to have a clear vision of succession for the continuing success of the organization that they lead. Instead of thinking about himself, his soon coming death, Moses was thinking about the welfare of the people of God. His prayer, “Please appoint someone over this community,” shows the heart of a true leader, who is motivated by love, not by the desire for power.
May the Lord richly bless you!
Hello:
Book of Numbers Challenge – Day 28 Numbers 29, 30 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)
Moses said to the heads of the tribes of Israel: “This is what the Lord commands: 2 When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said. (Numbers 30:1-2)
Words are very powerful, and have consequences for good or for bad. Jesus says in Matthew 12:37, “For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
May the Lord richly bless you!
Hello:
Book of Numbers Challenge – Day 1 Numbers 31, 32 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)
The Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were suitable for livestock. 2 So they came to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the community, and said, 3 “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo and Beon— 4 the land the Lord subdued before the people of Israel—are suitable for livestock, and your servants have livestock. 5 If we have found favor in your eyes,” they said, “let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan.” (Numbers 32:1-5)
“Do not make us cross the Jordan (32:5).” Theologians make a distinction between the permissive will of God versus the perfect will of God. The perfect will of God was for the Israelites to move from the bondage of Egypt into the promise land of Canaan. The Reubenites and Gadites’ desire not to go to the promise land fell into the permissive will of God. God just allowed it.
God will not force anyone against their will to partake of his blessings. He simply did not want to force the two tribes against their will to partake of the blessings of the promise land. They made a decision which will prove fatal for them in the future. They were the first tribes to feel the brunt of invading enemies destructive power later one.
May the Lord richly bless you!
Hello:
Book of Numbers Challenge – Day 2 Numbers 33, 34 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)
Here are the stages in the journey of the Israelites when they came out of Egypt by divisions under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. 2 At the Lord’s command Moses recorded the stages in their journey. This is their journey by stages:
3 The Israelites set out from Rameses on the fifteenth day of the first month, the day after the Passover. They marched out defiantly in full view of all the Egyptians, 4 who were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord had struck down among them; for the Lord had brought judgment on their gods. (Numbers 33:1-4)
We must count and record the marvelous deeds of the Lord from beginning to end. “He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes” (Psalm 105:37). The Israelites numbered around one million people, and there was not one feeble person among their tribes. That is a miracle of miracles, perfect health for a whole nation.
May the Lord richly bless you!
Hello:
Book of Numbers Challenge – Day 4 Numbers 35, 36 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)
We have reached the end of the Book of Numbers Challenge, tomorrow we start the Book of Deuteronomy Challenge.
On the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Command the Israelites to give the Levites towns to live in from the inheritance the Israelites will possess. And give them pasturelands around the towns. 3 Then they will have towns to live in and pasturelands for the cattle they own and all their other animals. (Numbers 35:1-3)
The Levites were separated unto God for a special function. They had no inheritance in Israel as a tribes, God was in fact their portion. God can also be our portion when all of our heart desires turn toward God. “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:25-26)
May the Lord richly bless you!
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