Day 43: Numbers 13-15

(The previous post began covering the second section (twelve chapters) of the Book of Numbers: The journey to the Promised Land and the resulting forty year exile. Israel dealt with conflict within Israel, first between leadership and followers, then within leadership. While Israel matured and appeared to be ready to be held accountable for their decisions.)

Numbers 13
¹ And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
² Send thou men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a prince among them.

(God stated that He was giving the land of Canaan to the Israelites. God sent one man, the head of each tribe, to spy out the land.)

³ And Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran according to the commandment of Jehovah: all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel.

(Verses 4-16: the men of each tribe chosen to spy.)

⁴ And these were their names: Of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur.
⁵ Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori.
⁶ Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.

(Caleb represented the tribe of Judah.)

⁷ Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph.
⁸ Of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun.

(Hoshea (Joshua) represented the tribe of Ephraim.)

⁹ Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu.
¹⁰ Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi.
¹¹ Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi.
¹² Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli.
¹³ Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael.
¹⁴ Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi.
¹⁵ Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.
¹⁶ These are the names of the men that Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.

(Hoshea meant "salvation." Joshua meant "Jehovah is salvation.")

¹⁷ And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way by the South, and go up into the hill-country:
¹⁸ and see the land, what it is; and the people that dwell therein, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many;
¹⁹ and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad; and what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds;
²⁰ and what the land is, whether it is fat or lean, whether there is wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first-ripe grapes.

(Moses gave the twelve men their objectives: determine whether the people were strong or weak, few or many; whether the land was good or bad, fat or lean; whether the cities were developed or not; whether there was wood in the land and to bring back fruit from the land. Moses told them to “be ye of good courage.” This phrase was also used by Joshua four times in the first chapter of the Book of Joshua. God treated Israel like a teenager who wanted to be considered an adult and God tried to encourage Israel to mature through understanding.)

²¹ So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, to the entrance of Hamath.
²² And they went up by the South, and came unto Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
²³ And they came unto the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it upon a staff between two; they brought also of the pomegranates, and of the figs.
²⁴ That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the children of Israel cut down from thence.

(Eshcol meant "cluster.")

²⁵ And they returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days.

(They came back after forty days.)

²⁶ And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.
²⁷ And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us; and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.

(They reported that the land was fruitful.)

²⁸ Howbeit the people that dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.

(They reported the people in the land were strong with fortified cities.)

²⁹ Amalek dwelleth in the land of the South: and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, dwell in the hill-country; and the Canaanite dwelleth by the sea, and along by the side of the Jordan.
³⁰ And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.

(Caleb stilled the people. Stilled meant "to keep silence; hold your peace." The people must have been worked up regarding this report. Caleb wanted to possess the land at once.)

³¹ But the men that went up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.

(The other men with Caleb stated the men in that land were stronger than the Israelites. We will see this did not include Joshua. Notice, this was not one of the objectives God gave the twelve spies. Israel was proving they were not an adult and would not mature through understanding.)

³² And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had spied out unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature.

(This report was "evil." Evil meant "destructive." What form of destruction would this report cause?)

³³ And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.




Numbers 14

(Paul referenced the events of this chapter in 1 Corinthians 10:1-5.)

¹ And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
² And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would that we had died in this wilderness!
³ And wherefore doth Jehovah bring us unto this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be a prey: were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
⁴ And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.

(The Israelites cried and murmured against Moses and Aaron. They believed they would die so they wanted to go back to Egypt. This response by the people was because of the evil report. This report caused destruction in the faith of the Israelites. Clearly, Israel was not ready to be considered an adult.)

⁶ And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of them that spied out the land, rent their clothes:
⁷ and they spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land.

(Joshua and Caleb gave a good report. Not surprising considering the tribes these men came from. Remember, Caleb came from Judah and Joshua came from Ephraim. Jacob's blessing for these two tribes from Genesis 49 stated this regarding Judah:
"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh come: And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be." (vs. 10)

Also, this regarding Ephraim (of Joseph):
"Joseph is a fruitful bough, A fruitful bough by a fountain; His branches run over the wall." (vs. 22)

Also, Ephraim was set before his older brother Manasseh.)

⁸ If Jehovah delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it unto us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.
⁹ Only rebel not against Jehovah, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is removed from over them, and Jehovah is with us: fear them not.
¹⁰ But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of Jehovah appeared in the tent of meeting unto all the children of Israel.

(The people wanted to stone Joshua and Caleb because of their good report. It seemed the evil report did its work on the people.)

¹¹ And Jehovah said unto Moses, How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have wrought among them?
¹² I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a nation greater and mightier than they.

(God wanted to wipe out the Israelites and make a greater nation out of Moses. God told this to Moses. Take some time to think about the severity of this proposition...God was going to disinherit Israel and start over with Moses! Furthermore, this was not the first time God made this offer to Moses! God offered Moses something similar back in Exodus 32:7-14. It was clear that God considered Israel a failure.)

(Verses 13-19: Moses' intercession.)

¹³ And Moses said unto Jehovah, Then the Egyptians will hear it; for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;
¹⁴ and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that thou Jehovah art in the midst of this people; for thou Jehovah art seen face to face, and thy cloud standeth over them, and thou goest before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.
¹⁵ Now if thou shalt kill this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying,
¹⁶ Because Jehovah was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.

(Moses understood that the Dispensation of the Law was meant for Israel to reach other nations. Moses appealed to God by showing Him how this would affect how other nations perceived God.)

¹⁷ And now, I pray thee, let the power of the Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,
¹⁸ Jehovah is slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation.
¹⁹ Pardon, I pray thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy lovingkindness, and according as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.

(Moses asked God to pardon the people and appealed to God by showing Him that God's mercy would be a testimony to other nations. Moses wanted God to change His Mind.)

²⁰ And Jehovah said, I have pardoned according to thy word:

(God changed His Mind. God pardoned the people because of Moses’ word. If God planned this the whole time, He would have been lying when He told Moses His plan to wipe out the Israelites and it was impossible for God to lie according to Hebrews 6:18.)

²¹ but in very deed, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah;
²² because all those men that have seen my glory, and my signs, which I wrought in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;

(The "ten times" God was tempted were the ten evil reports.)

²³ surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that despised me see it:
²⁴ but my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.
²⁵ Now the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley: to-morrow turn ye, and get you into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.
²⁶ And Jehovah spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
²⁷ How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, that murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
²⁸ Say unto them, As I live, saith Jehovah, surely as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:
²⁹ your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, that have murmured against me,
³⁰ surely ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware that I would make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

(All of the Jews from twenty years old and up, except Caleb and Joshua, would die in the wilderness and not see the Promised Land.)

³¹ But your little ones, that ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have rejected.
³² But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness.
³³ And your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your whoredoms, until your dead bodies be consumed in the wilderness.
³⁴ After the number of the days in which ye spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my alienation.

(The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years, one year for every day of the time they spent preparing their report. Israel would grow to be an adult through experience.)

³⁵ I, Jehovah, have spoken, surely this will I do unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.
³⁶ And the men, whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up an evil report against the land,
³⁷ even those men that did bring up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before Jehovah.

(The ten men who brought the evil report died. They did not even get the chance to wander in the wilderness.)

³⁸ But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, remained alive of those men that went to spy out the land.
³⁹ And Moses told these words unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.

(The people mourned when Moses told them about the ten spies. Did they miss the ten men? Did they now believe that they would also die too? Did they not want to have to wander for forty years in the desert, so they were going to take the Promised Land in their own strength?)

⁴⁰ And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up to the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we are here, and will go up unto the place which Jehovah hath promised: for we have sinned.
⁴¹ And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of Jehovah, seeing it shall not prosper?
⁴² Go not up, for Jehovah is not among you; that ye be not smitten down before your enemies.

(The people wanted to go into the Promised Land. However, it was too late. Moses told them not to go up to the mountain for God was not among them. Moses did not want the people to die.)

⁴³ For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned back from following Jehovah, therefore Jehovah will not be with you.
⁴⁴ But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and Moses, departed not out of the camp.

(The people ignored Moses but the Ark stayed in the camp. God was not with the people who went to the mountain.)

⁴⁵ Then the Amalekite came down, and the Canaanite who dwelt in that mountain, and smote them and beat them down, even unto Hormah.

(Those who went up were defeated. The people did not listen to God when He initially said to take the Promised Land. Then, the people did not listen to God when He said not to take the Promised Land. This proved they were not mature enough to be able to possess the Promised Land.)




Numbers 15

(This chapter covered various laws and provisions.)

(Verses 1-5: the sacrifice of a lamb to be accompanied with grain and wine.)

¹ And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
² Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are come into the land of your habitations, which I give unto you,
³ and will make an offering by fire unto Jehovah, a burnt-offering, or a sacrifice, to accomplish a vow, or as a freewill-offering, or in your set feasts, to make a sweet savor unto Jehovah, of the herd, or of the flock;
⁴ then shall he that offereth his oblation offer unto Jehovah a meal-offering of a tenth part of an ephah of fine flour mingled with the fourth part of a hin of oil:
⁵ and wine for the drink-offering, the fourth part of a hin, shalt thou prepare with the burnt-offering, or for the sacrifice, for each lamb.

(Verses 6-7: the sacrifice of a ram to be accompanied with grain and wine.)

⁶ Or for a ram, thou shalt prepare for a meal-offering two tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour mingled with the third part of a hin of oil:
⁷ and for the drink-offering thou shalt offer the third part of a hin of wine, of a sweet savor unto Jehovah.

(Verses 8-10: the sacrifice of a bull to be accompanied with grain and wine.)

⁸ And when thou preparest a bullock for a burnt-offering, or for a sacrifice, to accomplish a vow, or for peace-offerings unto Jehovah;
⁹ then shall he offer with the bullock a meal-offering of three tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour mingled with half a hin of oil:
¹⁰ and thou shalt offer for the drink-offering half a hin of wine, for an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto Jehovah.

(Verses 11-16: the universal meaning of these laws.)

¹¹ Thus shall it be done for each bullock, or for each ram, or for each of the he-lambs, or of the kids.
¹² According to the number that ye shall prepare, so shall ye do to every one according to their number.
¹³ All that are home-born shall do these things after this manner, in offering an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto Jehovah.

(These instructions were specific to the Israelites.)

¹⁴ And if a stranger sojourn with you, or whosoever may be among you throughout your generations, and will offer an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto Jehovah; as ye do, so he shall do.
¹⁵ For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you, a statute for ever throughout your generations: as ye are, so shall the sojourner be before Jehovah.
¹⁶ One law and one ordinance shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you.

(The same laws and ordinances that applied to the Israelites also applied to any strangers that lived among them.)

(Verses 17-21: a heave-offering of thanksgiving to the Lord.)

¹⁷ And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
¹⁸ Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land whither I bring you,
¹⁹ then it shall be, that, when ye eat of the bread of the land, ye shall offer up a heave-offering unto Jehovah.
²⁰ Of the first of your dough ye shall offer up a cake for a heave-offering: as the heave-offering of the threshing-floor, so shall ye heave it.
²¹ Of the first of your dough ye shall give unto Jehovah a heave-offering throughout your generations.

(The Israelites were instructed to give an offering of the first bread they ate of the land God gave them.)

(Verses 22-29: addressing unintentional sin, both as a nation and as individuals.)

²² And when ye shall err, and not observe all these commandments, which Jehovah hath spoken unto Moses,
²³ even all that Jehovah hath commanded you by Moses, from the day that Jehovah gave commandment, and onward throughout your generations;
²⁴ then it shall be, if it be done unwittingly, without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bullock for a burnt-offering, for a sweet savor unto Jehovah, with the meal-offering thereof, and the drink-offering thereof, according to the ordinance, and one he-goat for a sin-offering.
²⁵ And the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and they shall be forgiven; for it was an error, and they have brought their oblation, an offering made by fire unto Jehovah, and their sin-offering before Jehovah, for their error:
²⁶ and all the congregation of the children of Israel shall be forgiven, and the stranger that sojourneth among them; for in respect of all the people it was done unwittingly.

(If these commands were not followed, but unknowingly, the priest would make atonement for the people and they would be forgiven.)

²⁷ And if one person sin unwittingly, then he shall offer a she-goat a year old for a sin-offering.
²⁸ And the priest shall make atonement for the soul that erreth, when he sinneth unwittingly, before Jehovah, to make atonement for him; and he shall be forgiven.
²⁹ Ye shall have one law for him that doeth aught unwittingly, for him that is home-born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them.

(Again, the sin was forgiven if it was atoned for and it was done unknowingly. It seemed God gave the Israelites time to know the laws He had put in place.)

(Verses 30-31: addressing intentional sin.)

³⁰ But the soul that doeth aught with a high hand, whether he be home-born or a sojourner, the same blasphemeth Jehovah; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
³¹ Because he hath despised the word of Jehovah, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him.

(The person who knowingly blasphemed God was cut off from the people. The definition of sin was "…whatsoever is not of faith is sin." (Romans 14:23). Faith is built by understanding and experience. These instructions by God clearly showed that sinning unknowingly and sinning knowingly were treated differently.)

³² And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks upon the sabbath day.
³³ And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation.

(A man who gathered sticks on the Sabbath day was brought before Moses and Aaron.)

³⁴ And they put him in ward, because it had not been declared what should be done to him.
³⁵ And Jehovah said unto Moses, The man shall surely be put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp.
³⁶ And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him to death with stones; as Jehovah commanded Moses.

(The Sabbath breaker was stoned to death. Notice, the point of this was not that gathering sticks, in and of itself, was wrong. If anything, gathering sticks was probably the most innocuous thing a person could do. The point was that for six days, God allowed people to be a first cause as long as they did not violate the Law. On the Sabbath (seventh day) people were supposed to cease from being a first cause and only do what the Law said to do. The Law did not say to pick up sticks so even though a person did something that seemed trivial, if the Law did not say to do it, doing it would result in death.)

³⁷ And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
³⁸ Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of each border a cord of blue:

(In this passage, fringes was the same as a tassel and borders meant corners. This passage stated specifically of the tassels on the corners, not just the tassels running along the entire edge. There were tassels running along the entire hem of the garment, but it was just on the corners where the blue thread was tied into the tassel and was longer than the rest of the tassels.)

(One purpose of these tassels was a physical reminder reminder of the Law. It was there for the individual to look at so that the individual remembered and did all the commandments of God; also so that the person would not go around following his heart and eyes, selling himself to the world.)

(Another meaning was spiritual; and meant wings. When one followed God's Law, He was under His wings. When one was under the "wings" of God, they were being provided with safety, protection, and blessings. There were applications in 1 Samuel 24:1-6, 16, Malachi 4:2, Luke 4:43-44, and Matthew 9:18-22.)

³⁹ and it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of Jehovah, and do them; and that ye follow not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to play the harlot;
⁴⁰ that ye may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God.
⁴¹ I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am Jehovah your God.

(This post covered Israel's spying of the Promised Land and Israel's rejection of God's command to take the Promised Land. Also, the command to followed the Sabbath was restated with the penalty being death for doing anything not stated in the Law, even picking up sticks.)

Day 44