Numbers: And then everyone failed

norman mccormick

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Genesis: Door #1 or door #2, with God or without?

Exodus: I am…

Leviticus: God makes physical objects holy so that Israel can interact with Him

Numbers: Numbers is where Israel agrees to the covenant

Numbers 1-10 More holiness

It keeps building on everything we’ve learned so far, but that makes sense. God is giving them the foundations of reality itself as Israel goes into the land. I want you to be with me, genesis, because I am your God, provider, strength, protection, Lord, King, on and on Exodus, I want a relationship with you… I want to communicate with you and I want you to communicate with me through these holy objects, Leviticus…

More holiness

Why were these things holy? There is an answer… God doesn’t make things holy just to see if the people will be obedient. However that’s a study you’ll have to do on your own. If you’re interested look at something God has set apart, like washing the insides of the animals - don’t read too much. And ask God, “why was this set apart”. Pray and He will teach you.

These are the things God has made holy but He leaves room for us to set things apart to Him as well. The Nazirite vow Numbers 6:1-2 “1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man or woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of dedication to the Lord as a Nazirite,”

They are given a blessing and God speaks to them, and guides them day and night through a pillar of cloud and of fire

Numbers 10 No one can do it

From Genesis 1 all the way to numbers 10 an Israelite might be thinking, “all right. This is who God is, this is how we follow Him, I got this.” The rest of numbers proclaims that no man can follow the law of God and earn a place at His table.

Everyone failed, Meagan hates ain’t no sunshine

The people

Numbers 11:1-3 “1 Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. 2 When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the Lord and the fire died down. 3 So that place was called Taberah, because fire from the Lord had burned among them.”

Numbers 11:18-20 “18 “Tell the people: ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The Lord heard you when you wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat it. 19 You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, 20 but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it—because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” ’ ””

The priest and prophet

Numbers 12:1-2 “1 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. 2 “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the Lord heard this.” … Numbers 12:9-10 “9 The anger of the Lord burned against them, and he left them. 10 When the cloud lifted from above the tent, Miriam’s skin was leprous—it became as white as snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease,”

The nation

Numbers 13:17-19 “17 When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. 18 See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified?” Numbers 13:32 “32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.”

Numbers 14:4 “4 And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.””

God tells them they won’t go into the land, then they try any way and are slaughtered.

The leaders; God set apart

Numbers 16:1-2 “1 Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent 2 and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council.” Numbers 16:30-35 “30 But if the Lord brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the realm of the dead, then you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt.” 31 As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all those associated with Korah, together with their possessions. 33 They went down alive into the realm of the dead, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. 34 At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!” 35 And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.”

The theme

The people rebel, God punishes, Moses intercedes, God is patient

But even Moses fails, God said speak to the rock

Numbers 20:9-12 “9 So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as he commanded him. 10 He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank. 12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.””

The people

Numbers 21:4-8 “4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” 6 Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.””

Outro

No one has ever earned their relationship with God. The way to a relationship with God has always been through His salvation. Israel was only seeing shadows of that salvation in the tabernacle, and the sacrifices, the serpent on the pole, even moses and Aaron were shadows of God’s salvation.

Israel you are going into the land. Here are the pitfalls. Don’t fall into them, but because you will know that your relationship with your Lord rests in His salvation.

1 John 1:5-10 “5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.”

Outro 2

Moses is not the hero of the story, Israel is not the hero, Abraham, Issac, Jacob, David, even Caleb and Johnathan screw it up.