Numbers 1-11 Recap | OT Ep 17

In this episode, Austin and Ashley introduce the Book of Numbers, discussing its themes of God's promises to Israel, the organization of the tribes, the significance of the Levites, and the importance of God's presence through the Tabernacle. They delve into the census, the Nazarite vow, the test for adultery, and the Passover, while also addressing the poor heart posture toward the Lord their God. The discussion highlights the connection between the Old Testament and the New Testament, particularly through the lens of Jesus' teachings and actions.

Israel in Camp and on the move https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-HmyJLs4QflGfDP-prWrlDQb4v8RuV5P/view?usp=sharing

Reading Plan - Old Testament in One Year
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tSmSv3JOd-gCJS6VSFMtu-iv14NZ45_M/view?usp=sharing

Chapters

• 0:00 Book of Numbers (Intro)
• 2:20 The Census or "Numbers" (Ch 1-2)
• 5:14 Levites Consecrated (Ch 3-4)
• 6:31 The Test for Adultery + Gospel Glimpse (Ch 5)
• 16:53 Nazarite Vows (Ch 6)
• 18:50 Offering and Provisions for the Tabernacle (Ch 7)
• 19:45 Instructions for the Levites (Ch 8)
• 20:48 The First Ritual Passover (Ch 9)
• 22:15 Trumpets and Movement (Ch 10)
• 23:06 Complaining Babies (Ch 11)

Transcript

Hey everyone,

My name is Austin. And my name is Ashley. Welcome to the Clean Slate Podcast. Where we're finding Jesus in the Old Testament.

Welcome back friends. We are starting a brand new book today, the Book of Numbers, and we will recap chapters one all the way through 11 today. As usual, when we start a new book, we like to give you guys a sneak peek or a brief overview of what we will see.

The theme of this book, I am ripping straight out of the ESV study Bible. The theme we see in Numbers is a gradual fulfillment of the promises to Abraham that his descendants

would be as numerous as the stars and would be the people of God, and that they would occupy the land of Canaan, aka the Promised Land.

The book shows the reality of God's presence with Israel in the cloud of fire over the tabernacle, but the repeated displays of unbelief by Israel delay the entry into Canaan and cost many lives. Nevertheless, by the end of the book, Israel is ready to enter the land.

So to this point, all the way up through the Leviticus, God has given the law and the various sacrifices that could be offered, and even instructions for what to do once they get into the promised land with their home, all the festivals to keep, even how to harvest their fields. But we aren't in the promised land yet. We are still at the camp next to Mount Sinai.

Numbers can really be broken down into three sections. So one through nine is the first section and again that's still at Mount Sinai. We will soon see that change as we get into chapter 10.

Chapter 10 through 26, 27-ish, we see their 40-year journey through the wilderness.

and then 28 through the rest of the book gets us all the way up to the edges of the promised land. So without further delay, let's get into chapter one.

You guys are going to have to forgive me today. My voice is trying to go out. But we did a test recording and it sounded okay. So we're going to give it a shot.

In chapter 1, we open with God telling Moses to take a census of all of the men of fighting age, years 20 and up.

Moses gets help from the head of every tribe of Israel. And this narrative takes us through verse 46 in chapter one, where we see that Israel could field an army of 603,550 should it need to go to war, which we know it will eventually.

At the end of chapter one in verses 47 through 54.

we see that God exempted the Levites from the census because their duty would be always to be near the tabernacle, both to help with the duties associated with the tabernacle and to keep it safe. We'll touch base on this a little more over the next couple of chapters.

Moving into chapter two, we see that God starts to lay out not only how the people of Israel will march when they're on the move, but how they are to camp when the tabernacle is to be stationary.

I have a really easy to understand graphic that Ashley will so kindly post from Crossways Tools. They will make it easy to understand if you're interested.

The main thing I want us to see in this session, as I've mentioned before, is that God, the creator of all things, is choosing to live in a tent and travel with his people. These are the same people that have already, in a very short amount of time, defied him and openly worshiped other gods.

Think about that kind of covenant-keeping love that our God has. These folks, like us, do not deserve nor are they worthy of that sort of love.

What makes this even more weighty and beautiful is that in the gospel of John chapter 1 verse 14,

It says, the word, talking about Jesus, became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory as the only son from the father, full of grace and truth.

When John is talking about the word, he's referring to Jesus. If you read John 1, John's point is that Jesus is the very word of God and is himself God.

The verse that I read from says the word dwelt in English And the Greek word here is skene, which literally means pitched his tent. So what do we have going on in John one? We have God doing what he has always desired to do and always made a way to do, which is to be with his people. In the Torah, God dwelt in a tent.

the tabernacle. But in a better way, God came to be with his people by putting on flesh.

never lose sight of the fact that our God wants us to be with Him and He has always been the one to see to it that it happens.

Starting in chapter three in verse 40 and going through the end of the chapter,

which is verse 51, God explains that he is going to claim the whole tribe of Levi as a firstborn or a consecrated group rather than the firstborn from every tribe. In other words, God would have a special plan for the Levites moving forward.

So with this in mind, God goes about giving further instructions to each of the clans of the tribe of Levi.

The coli thides would handle moving the most holy things in the tabernacle

of the Covenant or the Table or the Altar, but they would take care not to even look at them unless they were wrapped up already.

the Gershonites would handle the moving of the curtains of the tabernacle and the tent of meeting along with some other important things like the cords for the tent and the equipment used for service.

The Mararites would transport the planks, poles, bases, and other items like these when the temple was on the move. Remember that all of this is in preparation for the people of Israel to move through the promised land and take possession of it. None of this is meant to be permanent because at some point the people would settle in the land God had promised their forefathers.

Early in chapter 5, we are reminded of the effects of sin. And in the first four verses, we aren't even necessarily talking about the sins these people committed themselves. But let me remind you, even though sin separates us from God, He has always moved toward us in order to draw us back to Himself. These Israelites would be relieved of their ceremonial uncleanness by the means God provided through the priest.

but like we have said over and over, and friends, it's worthy of saying for all eternity, God made a way in Christ for our spiritual uncleanness, our sins, to be washed away and to make this clean.

So I think if any of us have been around our Bible or church for any significant amount of time, we've come upon some difficult passages that if we're being honest, we really aren't sure what to do with. What is described here in Numbers 5, 11 through 31 was certainly one of those passages for me. Now, as an encouragement to those of you who know the feeling I'm describing, the more you study, the more you find there is always an answer. Our flesh

And frankly, our enemy, the devil, wants us to believe that sooner or later we'll stumble upon a problem in the text that will unravel our faith.

Trust me when I tell you, be patient, read what other believers who have gone before you have written, consult pastors, elders, and mentors, and above all else, pray. show you through His word and those He has placed in your life the truth of the matter.

5-11 through 31, what is described here is a sort of test to find out if a wife has been adulterous. Remember that in Leviticus 20, the punish for adultery, both for men and women, can be death. When we get to this passage, it seems really off-putting that it's only the woman who is made to go through this test.

Herein lies the thing that always made me uncomfortable. I've never believed the accusations that God or Christianity is bigoted towards women. Now to be sure, there are people who have worn a cross on their neck or the title of Christian and in many cases pastor that are indeed bigoted towards women, but they aren't supported by the Bible. Before we go any further, let me summarize what happens in this test.

Suppose a husband comes home and is overcome with a spirit of jealousy and that he believes that his wife has been unfaithful to him and has committed adultery, but he has no real proof. So the way this test would go is that his wife would presumably deny the accusation. he would then carry her and a grain offering to the priest.

The priest, and this is really important, takes her near and sets her before the Lord. water and dirt or dust from the tabernacle floor and puts it into the water.

The priest has the woman unbind her hair, which was a gesture of mourning. And then he places the grain offering in one hand and he holds onto the water for now.

For greater context, I'm going to read verses 19 through 22 of chapter 5.

Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, “If no man has lain with you, and if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while you were under your husband’s authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings the curse.20 But if you have gone astray, though you are under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself, and some man other than your husband has lain with you, then and in parentheses it says, ) let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse and say the woman). So going back into the text.

“the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people when the Lord makes your thigh fall away and your body swell. May this water that brings the curse pass into your bowels and make your womb swell and your thigh fall away. And the woman shall say, amen, amen.”

After the accused woman agrees to these things, he washes the curses that were written down into the water. The woman is then to drink the water. And I want to point out the concept of drinking down God's wrath is actually all over the Old Testament. That will matter in the next bit.

If she is guilty, exactly what was written will happen to her. If she is innocent, then she will go free with no consequences.

So in studying this, I had the opportunity to find that truth of matter that I mentioned and per usual, there is more than one thing going on. The first thing I want to establish with this is God's practical wisdom. God knew there might be men in Israel that would later accuse their wives of adultery and he knew what this could mean for them. If the husband were able to convince others that she had been unfaithful to him,

She would be put out of his house and have no real way to earn a living and maybe even be stoned.

God loves his daughters. Any dads out there know what I'm talking about. We don't love our daughters more than our sons, but as they get older, we have a different level of concern for their protection than that of our boys.

What God does here, since he is a way better father than any of us, is to an essence say, if my daughter is innocent, I'm going to see to it that no corrupt process, judge or group of people will hold her guilty for what she didn't do. It is exactly the same sort of thing that Ashley talked about in last week's passage about an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

This test is meant to be a limiting factor in favor of the woman if she is innocent or if she is guilty. If she's innocent, God makes sure she walks away vindicated.

So at the end of all this, I want to point out there isn't one recorded incident of this test ever actually happening. There is the same chance that this test happened several times as there is that it never happened.

So for the second thing that's going on here, I want to actually take us to what is going to be our gospel glimpse for this section, believe that or not. I want to draw a parallel between this test that God lays out in John chapter seven, verse 53 through John eight, verse 11. That section is better known as the woman called an adultery. In the story Jesus was teaching in the temple, remember by this time,

The temple had been built and the services that were held in the Tabernacle have been held in that temple for many hundreds of years.

So just a brief summary of the story, please go read it. It's only 12 verses long.

Jesus is teaching and the Pharisees who were always trying to trap him, always trying to trick him because they hated his ministry. They hated what he stood for.

They bring a woman that was caught in the very act of adultery.

So in that story, they were questioning Jesus and they were saying, hey, what do we do with her? What do you say, teacher? And if you know the story, you're getting excited by this point. So what happens is as they're talking and they're picking up stones, they're ready to stone her, he bends down and starts writing something in the sand. And then he says to them, he who is without sin may cast the first stone.

one by one starting from the oldest man of the Pharisees to the youngest man of the Pharisees that walk away no one there

And he looks at the young lady and asked her, where are those that condemned you? And she said, there are none Lord. And he said, neither do I condemn you. Go and send no more. So going back into the story, try to unpack it a little bit. Like I said, they were attempting to either get Jesus to command them to stone her, which would have truly horrified the people he was teaching. Even though it was the law that one found in adultery could be stoned.

it was not the normal practice of the people to actually carry it out. Or they were attempting to get Jesus to tell them to let her go, which would have given them room to say, see, he goes against the law of Moses. So like I said, as they're saying this, he bends down, starts writing in the sand or dirt or dust. It's all the same word. Now, as a really important aside here, no one knows for sure what he wrote.

I've heard all the different sort of funny stuff, things like he was writing down the name of their mistresses and things like that. I actually think it's pretty obvious personally. I think he was writing down the 10 commandments because he says, he who was without sin may cast the first stone. He gave them the list or as we've called it before, the mirror to look at themselves with. Inevitably they had all sin and left her alone.

doesn't excuse her sin or tell her that it's okay. But like I said, he asked her, know, where are the ones that condemned you? And she says, no one Lord. And Jesus tells her, neither do I condemn you, go. And from now on sin no more. Guys, Jesus was able to release her from the punishment that she justly earned for the same reason he's able to release us of our punishment, which is eternity in hell. He is able to do this because he

drank down the curse that should have been ours.

Jesus asked the Father in the Gospel of Matthew, my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. Like we learn in Romans 3, God is both the just and the justifier. He is the just because Jesus took the punishment that you and I rightly deserve. Sin is punished. He is the justifier since Christ took that punishment,

He can declare us not guilty, the debt was paid. Praise his sweet name and his work he did for us on the cross.

coming out of that beautiful gospel glimpse, we go into chapter six and through the first 21 verses, we see what it looks like to take a Nazarite vow. Nazarites could be both men and women and Nazarites had to do several things. They had to avoid cutting their hair. They could not eat any product made from grapes, so think wine. They had to avoid contact with any dead body, whether that's a person or an animal.

There's a good deal more nuance here, but this vow was normally for a limited amount of time. And as such, once the period of their vow had ended, they could resume normal life for an Israelite.

There are several examples though of Nazarites who were lifelong Nazarites. So think Samuel Sampson, and I mean, I think most people said that John the Baptist was a Nazarite.

after we move through all the things the Bible says about taking a Nazarite vow, this chapter contains the most famous benediction of all time. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. This blessing was to be given to the people by Aaron and his sons.

When you think about this blessing, remember that God is the one who gave this blessing to Aaron to give to the people. This shows that that is God's desire and his heart for his people, that he wants these things to be true for his people. It is an appropriate thing to pray this blessing over your family, knowing that you're asking God to come in agreement with what he's already said he wants, with what he's already said he desires.

We are in no way manipulating God, but what we are doing is we're just reminding our Father that this is what you said about us and we are thankful for it.

After that beautiful blessing comes chapter seven. Now remember, at the end of Exodus, the tabernacle was finished and erected. Once the tabernacle was consecrated, the chiefs brought their offerings before the Lord. We see here it was six wagons and 12 oxen to be used to assist in carrying the things from the tent of meeting and dispersed according to their jobs that Austin mentioned earlier.

Then, each day the chiefs of each tribe bring things to stock the tabernacle with provisions on behalf of their respective peoples, each of them giving the same amount. Of course, who leads this ceremony? Verse 12 tells us it is the chief of the tribe of Judah.

the tribe from which the Messiah will come that leads this ceremony, which of course it is, right?

Then we move into chapter eight and we get instructions for the lampstand. Now, the lampstand has already been described for us in detail in Exodus, but here we see the instructions for it and more clearly its purpose. So the lamps should shine on the 12 loaves of bread. This was to symbolize God's presence over the 12 tribes of Israel.

Next we see the entirety of the Levi tribe being cleansed and given to Aaron and his sons to serve in the duties of the tabernacle.

So everything was done as the Lord had commanded

And God says they should serve from age 25 to 50, and then they need to retire to be a guard for their brothers. Previously in chapter four, we see they started age 30, and perhaps this was an apprenticeship where they learned the duties from age 25 to 30, and were then able to take up their official positions. Over time, carrying all those things would wear on their bodies. So this was a kindness from the Lord to set such restrictions.

In chapter nine, we see the first festival actually being celebrated, which is the Passover. Remember that the original Passover was in Exodus chapter 12. After God said he would strike down the firstborn in every family, including the livestock, but would pass over those who had the blood of the unblemished lamb on their doorpost and ate the Passover meal. Now, on the same day, one year later,

Israel celebrates its first ritual Passover at the newly minted Tabernacle.

The Passover is so important that God says every Israelite is going to participate in Passover.

In fact, it's sinful not to participate as long as you are physically able. If you are ceremonially unclean or on a journey at that time, God even makes provisions for that. You can do it exactly one month later. If sojourners are here with you, they are welcome to participate also.

When we get to verse 15, we see that the cloud is covering the this event was already reported at the end of Exodus in chapter 40, verses 34 through 38, but it's repeated here as the crowning purpose of the tabernacle. It cannot be overstated that God, who met with Moses on the mountain, will now dwell with the people.

Moving into the long awaited chapter 10. The Lord spoke to Moses telling him various things the trumpets are to signal. One type of signal summoned the entire congregation. Another was for just the chiefs. Another was to signal the different tribes to set out.

But this is interesting. Who did God say was to blow the horns? The priests.

This seems to be a kind of prayer from the priests on behalf of the people to remember his people and their needs or as a celebration after a victory. In verse 13, we actually see the cloud lifted and the camp is moving. Each tribe is signaled out. The teardown team got to work and remember everyone had a job.

This narrative carries right into chapter 11 and bless them, the Israelites are already complaining about their misfortunes. And in verse one, it says, when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp.

points I want to make about this section. One, when the Lord's anger burns, it's not like our anger that is sinful and flesh satisfying anger. No, this is perfect righteous anger. So us humans who are sinful and also complain all the time might read this and say, sheesh, they were just complaining a little. Let me flip the script for you.

The God of the universe has saved your people from slavery, parted the Red Sea, provided water and manna, gave you a perfect law and a tabernacle so he could dwell with you. You can physically see the cloud as a manifestation of his presence. And you're complaining?

The second point I'd like to make is that Moses being a good intercessor goes to God on their behalf and the fire dies down.

Hebrews chapter seven, verse 25, talking about Jesus says, therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him because he always lives to intercede for them.

here is but a shadow of the glory of Jesus that is to come, our great intercessor.

As we move down into verse four, they start to complain about the monotony of manna and want the pleasures they supposedly had in Egypt.

I want us to recognize that the problem here is not a lack of nutrition, but a loss of appetite for manna and a strong craving, as the Bible says, for something else. They weren't hungry. Their attitudes were misplaced.

Moses bears his heart to the Lord after hearing this complaining and in the best Ashley paraphrase I have he says, Lord, why have you laid the burden of all these babies on me? Did I give birth to them? Did you tell me to coddle them and physically carry each one of them like a child to the land you promised to their fathers? They weep before me and say, give us meat that we may eat.

Where am I supposed to get meat to feed all these people? You know what Lord, if you're gonna do me like this, just kill me now. It's too much. I can't bear this burden alone.

Then God, being the kind father that he is, tells Moses to gather 70 of the elders and bring them to the tent of meeting. And God would put some of the spirit that was on Moses on them so they could bear the burden of the people with Moses.

So he sends out the 70 men and they prophesy.

This was to obtain legitimate credibility with the people.

And then God says about the people, the desires of their heart is that they want meat. I'll give them that desire then.

Then in verse 31, the Lord causes a wind to bring them quail. And lots of it. And again, some of their hearts were hardened to the Lord and the Lord burned with righteous anger again and sent a plague through the camp and a lot of people died.

So they called the place what's literally translated as graves of craving.

In the book of Jeremiah, the prophet says in chapter 17, verse nine, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it?

Their heart posture here is evidence of the meaning of what the prophet Jeremiah was trying to say. But friends, if your heart is not aligned with God's will, if it is indeed dead in sin, in a grave of craving things other than the Lord, there is hope in Jesus. He can turn those graves into gardens.

You need only trust that it is not by your power, but by his death and resurrection that turns your heart of stone into a heart of flesh and turns you to him.

Austin tried to close us out, but his voice just completely tapped out. That's gonna do it for today's recap, guys. May his grace abound to you and to me as we study to find Jesus in the Old Testament.