Deuteronomy 1:9

Deuteronomy 1:9 aays, And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone:  Moses reminded them that he alone did not govern them, but that he had asked God for help, and God set up their government, both civil and spiritual.  No one person should attempt to declare himself, or herself, as the only one capable of doing either today.  Verse ten adds, The LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.  Moses said while he had ruled over them that God had multiplied them just as He had promised Abraham that He would.  We today need to faithfully share the gospel so that God can continue to increase His kingdom.  Verse eleven continues, (The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!)  Moses asked that God continue to increase their numbers, and He has.  Verse twelve asks, How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?  Moses asked how he by himself could hear all their problems.  Fortunately, God had not left Moses alone in doing this, and He does not leave us alone to carry out His work today, even if we at times may want to think so.  Verse thirteen adds, Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.  Moses had told the people to take wise men of understanding and he would make them rulers over them.  This selection by the people and blessing by Moses was to all be done by God's guidance.  Verse fourteen continues, And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do.  Moses reminded them that they had said that this was a good thing and that they would do it.  Verse fifteen states, So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes.  By God's guidance, Moses had set up the leadership structure of all the tribes.  We today need to make sure that God's church, both the local congregations and the church as a whole, is led by people that God appoints to every position to the best of our ability under God's guidance.  Verse sixteen adds, And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.  Moses said that he charged the judges that he, under God's guidance, appointed to judge righteously.  We need the same thing in the church today.  Verse seventeen continues, Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.  Moses again reminded the people that they were to be impartial in their judgment.  We as followers of Christ cannot have different standards for judging different people based on who they are or what they own.  Moses also said if a question or situation was too hard for them, to bring it to him.  I believe that if we find ourselves in a situation that seems to be too hard to understand that all parties involved should bring our concerns to God under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Verse eighteen concludes, And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do.  Moses said that when these rulers were appointed that he told them all that they should do.  As Christians today, God has already told us all that we should do in governing the church.  The first step is to seek God's will to help us appoint wise men to be in charge in the church. 

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.