Deuteronomy 1:1

Deuteronomy 1;1 says, These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain over against the Red sea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab.  These were some of Moses's last instructions to Israel, since He wasn't to be allowed to enter the Promised Land.  Still, the Promised Land was just a temporary home, not the everlasting home in heaven.  Verse two adds, (There are eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadeshbarnea.)  They were still in Moab, ready to cross over to the Promised Land to fight for possession of it.  We are still this side of heaven today, and we will be at war with the world wherever we are.  Verse three continues, And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them;  In the eleventh month of the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, Moses spoke unto the people of Israel all that the LORD had given him for commandments to them.  These were God's laws, and not those of Moses, so they would last after Moses was dead.  God's law is everlasting and will still be valid after we as Christians are dead.  Verse four states, After he had slain Sihon the king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, which dwelt at Astaroth in Edrei:  This was after the Moabites on this side of the Jordan were slain.  Verse five adds, On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying,  This repeats that it was on this side of the Jordan in the land of Moab that Moses spoke to them.  Moses may have been denied the right to enter the Promised Land, but he was still their leader under God's direction.  As long as we are alive, even if we are disappointed about some things in life, even our faithfulness in our relationship with God, as followers of Christ we are forever His and need to continue to do what He has called us to do.  Verse six says, The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount:  God's word came to Moses telling the people of Israel that they had dwelt long enough on Mount Horeb.  We cannot just stay content where we are as Christians if God is leading us elsewhere.  Verse seven adds, Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.  God told them it was time to possess the land that He was giving them.  We need to likewise do our best to claim the place where we live as a part of God's kingdom by His guidance and power.  Verse eight continues,  Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.  After wandering in the wilderness for forty years because they lacked the faith that God could give them the victory all those years ago, God again told them to go and possess the land.  Even if we have allowed doubt to keep us from living by faith in the past, God still calls to go out into the world and claim victory through faith in Him now.

Numbers Review Concluded

The Passover was still to be observed.  We today observe the Lord’s Supper to commemorate what He did for us on the cross.  He is our Passover sacrifice.  There were to be two trumpets made to call the congregation together.  They were a very large group and covered a lot of ground.  We today await the sounding of the trumpet of the Lord to call us home to heaven, from wherever we may be in the world.  During their journey, the people were often displeased with God and His provisions for them.  We cannot be the same way today and be effective Christians.  Though God at times gave them more to satisfy them, it was seldom enough to do so.  Sometimes today, God cannot give His followers enough to satisfy them and to stop them from complaining.  At other times, they were punished for their disobedience and feeling of self-importance above the will of God.  We will never be in a position where we know more than God does, so we should never attempt to make Him comply to our will.  Miriam died, then Aaron died, and eventually Moses died.  Miriam may not have specifically had anything to do with the unwillingness to go into the Promised Land, but she was a part of those who were told that they wouldn't be allowed to.  We may not specifically do anything against God but fail to put our faith in Jesus Christ, but that is enough.  Aaron was guilty of making the golden calf, and Moses allowed his temper to come between God and himself.   The land was divided according to God's plan, and even those who claimed land on this side of the Promised Land with God's permission were expected to cross over and fight along with the rest of the people of Israel.  Even if we are safe and secure in our life as Christians, we are still expected to stand with those who may not be, but who may be fighting for their spiritual life. There are many other lessons to be learned from Numbers I am sure, but these are a few.  Next, we will look at Deuteronomy. 

Numbers Review Continued

Aaron and his sons were to be the priests, but two of his sons died for rebelling against God.  We cannot expect to go to heaven as a part of the priesthood of Christ if we do not accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, because doing anything else is rebelling against God.  The Levites were appointed to help Aaron and his descendants in taking care of the tabernacle.   As Christians, we all have a responsibility in the church, and we all must fulfill our obligations, even if they don't seem as important as what others may be doing,  The Levites were to take the place of the first born of the people of Israel in being dedicated to God.  This did not relieve the other tribes from being dedicated to God and following His commandments.  Today, Jesus Christ represents us in the atonement of sin, and even though He removes the death sentence for our sins, if we accept His sacrifice for us, we are still not free to ignore God's commandments.  Anyone who committed a sin against God was to confess and make recompense.  If we are guilty of sinning against God today, whether we are Christians or not, we must confess our sins, but Jesus Christ has already made the recompense.  Of course, we must accept His sacrifice for us in order for it to have any effect in our life.  The vow of the Nazarite was specified, and once it was taken, it was to be fulfilled.  This was not a lifelong vow, but was for a specified time.  If we take specific vows to serve God in a particular way, we should first make sure that God is leading us in this, and then we should fulfill vow.  The people voluntarily brought wagon loads of gifts ro Moses, and God told him to give them to the Levites to help in their caring for the tabernacle.   We should still voluntarily bring gifts to God, and they should always be used to care for His church, those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ, and not just a building itself.  Not all of the Levites shared equally in these gifts, because some did not need them for their particular responsibility in caring for the tabernacle, just as we do not all require the same things in order to accomplish our role in God's kingdom today. 

Thanksgiving

 We will pause in or study today to celebrate Thanksgiving, a day set aside to give thanks to God for all that He has blessed us with.  Unfortunately, too many people today are attempting to take thanking God out of Thanksgiving, referring to it as Turkey Day and seeing it as more of a day off work than as a day of giving praises to God for His goodness.  Psalms 95:2 says, Let us us come before His presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise to Him with Psalms.  As we gather with family and friends this Thanksgiving, this should still be our focus.  We should first give God our thanks and our praise for all that He has blessed us with.  Happy Thanksgiving. 

Numbers Review

The first thing that we can say about Numbers as we review it is that it deals a lot with numbers.  It had been forty years since the people of Israel were last counted, and a whole generation had died.  They had wandered these forty years because of a lack of faith when they got to the edge of the Promised Land.  Until we put our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we will always be on the edge of the Promised Land.  They were counted by tribe by the number of males over twenty who were able to go to war.  This unwillingness to go to war under God's guidance had caused a generation to pass away.  They had been afraid of dying in a war, but they died anyway.   We should never let fear of the things in this world keep us from serving God, because in the end, we are going to die anyway.  Our faith in God will determine our destination, though, whether we are to go into the Promised Land of Heaven, or be forever outside of it.  The Levites were not counted with the rest of the people of Israel, because they were set apart to care for the tabernacle.   They were not a part of those who were to be able to go to war, and I believe that God still sets aside His ministers today who are to be concerned with doing His work even in times of war.  The people of Israel were to be divided by tribes, each with their own standard.  They were the people of Israel as a whole, but were twelve tribes within the whole group.  We are all a part of the family of God as Christians, but we are not all a part of the same family, congregation or even nation.  There was a set order of travel when the people moved, with the tabernacle in the center. As Christians today, God directs each of us as individuals and as congregations, but Jesus Christ must be in the center of all that we do.

Numbers 36:5

Numbers 36:5 says, And Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of the LORD, saying, The tribe of the sons of Joseph hath said well.  Moses commanded the children of Israel that according to God's word, the sons of Joseph had said well.  We need to make sure that as followers of Christ that whatever we say today is according to God's word, and not according to what we want.  Verse six adds, This is the thing which the LORD doth command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them marry to whom they think best; only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they marry.  God said that the daughters of Zelophehad could marry whomever they thought best, as long as he was from the tribe of their father.  Today, we may hear Christians say that they should be free to marry whomever they choose to marry, but it must be within God's guidelines and with His blessing.  Verse seven continues, So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe: for every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.  This was to ensure that the inheritance of the land was to remain in the tribe that it was given to.  Verse eight states, And every daughter, that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel, shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his fathers.  This was a restatement of the fact that any daughter in the people of Israel who had an inheritance was to marry within her tribe to keep the inheritance within the particular tribe.  I believe that we as Christians should never marry another Christian simply because we want what to claim what his or her family has for our own at the expense of his or her family.  Verse nine adds, Neither shall the inheritance remove from one tribe to another tribe; but every one of the tribes of the children of Israel shall keep himself to his own inheritance.  They were not to attempt to claim the inheritance that God gave to another family as their own, and neither should we.  Verse ten continues, Even as the LORD commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad:  The daughters of Zelophehad did as God commanded through Moses, and so must we today do as God commands as followers of Christ.  This doesn't mean that we are to do as everyone who professes to be a leader of God's church today says, but that we are to do so if we know what they say is God's word, which must be consistent with His written word, the Bible.  The people of Israel were not to obey Moses because he was Moses, but because he was God's chosen leader.  Even then, his word had to be what God said and not what Moses himself wanted.  Verse eleven says, For Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married unto their father’s brothers’ sons:   The five daughters of Zelophehad were married into their tribe as God had commanded.  Verse twelve adds, And they were married into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father.  They were from the tribe of Manasseh, one of Joseph's sons, and their inheritance remained with the tribe of Manasseh.  When we know what God is saying to us, we must obey Him.  Verse thirteen concludes, These are the commandments and the judgments, which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses unto the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.  This concluded the commandments from God to Moses before the people of Israel entered the Promised Land.  We today as Christians have God's written word to guide us with the help of the Holy Spirit.  We must always seek God's guidance even as we study His word and should never attempt to make His word endorse what we want.

Numbers 36:1

Numbers 36:1 says, And the chief fathers of the families of the children of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near, and spake before Moses, and before the princes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel:  The heads of the families of Gilead, of the tribe of Manasseh, one of Joseph's sons, came to talk to Moses and the heads of the rest of the tribes of Israel.  Verse two adds, And they said, The LORD commanded my lord to give the land for an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel: and my lord was commanded by the LORD to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother unto his daughters.   This was the half of the tribe of Manasseh, and they counted their inheritance a reality, even though they had yet to receive it, given to them by God forever.  We have God's promise that we have an everlasting inheritance in heaven if we are followers of Christ, and we need to live our lives in that assurance.  The daughters of Zelophehad, who had no sons were to receive an inheritance of part of the Promised Land.  Verse three continues, And if they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then shall their inheritance be taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and shall be put to the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall it be taken from the lot of our inheritance.  The leaders of this half of the tribe of Manasseh were concerned about what would happen to the inheritance of the daughters of Zelophehad if they married a man from another tribe, at which point the daughters inheritance would become a part of her husband's tribes land.  This would not have been in accordance with God's division.  Matthew Henry points out that these leaders did not just decide on their own how to settle this possible problem, but brought it before God through Moses and in the presence of all the other leaders.  If we have questions concerning our relationship with other Christians, we need to bring them to God in the presence of our fellow Christians.  Verse four concludes, And when the jubile of the children of Israel shall be, then shall their inheritance be put unto the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.  These leaders of Manasseh said that at the jubilee that the land would be taken away from the tribe of Manasseh and given to the tribe that the daughters of Zelophehad had married into.  This would weaken the tribe of Manasseh and strengthen the tribe that they married into.   Though no one can ever take away our heavenly home if we are Christians, we should never attempt to use Christianity to benefit us materially, especially at the cost to other Christians.