Step Away; Don't Be Swept Away

 Numbers 16:25 Then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 And he spoke to the congregation, saying, “Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away with all their sins.” 27 So they got away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. 28 And Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been of my own accord. 29 If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.”

Moses was not one who wanted to be leader and get all the credit.  Indeed, he did not even want the job in the first place. (See Exodus 3)  But he accepted this position as go between for God and His people Israel. It was hard enough in the beginning: convincing people to trust God's plan when that involved the task of making bricks in Egypt even harder. One would think that as God proved Himself over and over again as He sent the plagues, delivered His people out of Pharoah's hand, through the sea, and the provided food and water to sustain them that they would trust both God and Moses. But different parties kept rebelling. Moses was careful to step back when God showed His power, holiness, and righteous judgment in His way. May we learn to do the same. 

Hope for the Journey

Numbers 15:22 “But if you sin unintentionally, and do not observe all these commandments that the Lord has spoken to Moses, 23 all that the Lord has commanded you by Moses, from the day that the Lord gave commandment, and onward throughout your generations, 24 then if it was done unintentionally without the knowledge of the congregation, all the congregation shall offer one bull from the herd for a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord, with its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the rule, and one male goat for a sin offering. 25 And the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the people of Israel, and they shall be forgiven, because it was a mistake, and they have brought their offering, a food offering to the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord for their mistake. 26 And all the congregation of the people of Israel shall be forgiven, and the stranger who sojourns among them, because the whole population was involved in the mistake.

This chapter on "unintentional" sins is important in its context.  They people had only made it three days into their journey and already messed up big time.  How will they ever make it the rest of the way if they are going to sin and be judged every time.  Well, first of all, their corporate sin was not unintentional; they had blatantly said "no" to obeying God. Here, God is saying He will not make a big deal about every type of failure. He is not waiting to bash them(or us) Secondly, He always makes a way. He is the God of Hope.

The Fallout from Faithlessness

Numbers 14:26 And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 27 “How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. 28 Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: 29 your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, 30 not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected. 32 But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. 33 And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. 

The spies from Israel had forty days to check out the promised land and bring bag a challenge to enter it. The majority (ten) failed to do so, and the people failed to listen to the two that did. The grumbling under their breath was deafening in the ears of God. The result was that their generation would never see the land and the consequence was a life of aimless wandering, living only to give the next generation their opportunity to dwell there.  How much of our lives are wasted by our fears, our faithlessness, our grumbling? 

It's Great, But...

 Numbers 13:25 At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. 26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.”

This chapter is one of the most confounding episodes in the whole of the Old Testament. After centuries of promises, hoping, and planning for this moment, the people balk at entering the promised land.  They found it to be everything God had said it would be and occasionally given the Patriarchs a glimpse of. Not it was theirs to receive. The evil current residents were not really a surprise; God had told them they were there and would have to be removed. He had just left them there to keep the land and cities ready for them to inhabit. How often do we look forward to what God has promised, yet then the time comes to receive them, we back away, coward out, and give up?

Complaining AND Tattling...

 Numbers 11:26 Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. 27 And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” 28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, “My lord Moses, stop them.” 29 But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” 30 And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.

The people of Israel had no more than started on their journey from the mountain to the promised land when the predictable happened: they complained about having only manna and no meat.  To top it off, as they were working on resolving that issue the above happened: some prophets who had not heard of the seventy elders being selected and confirmed by prophesying did so on their own. Wrongly perceiving this as a rebellious act, this young man runs to Moses and tattles on him, causing Joshua to speak as he does. We are reminded of a similar and more popular event with Jesus and His disciples. In both cases, Moses and Jesus correct the error of their pupils.  Complaining and tattling are not part of God's plan!

Setting Out on Adventure.

Numbers 10:25 Then the standard of the camp of the people of Dan, acting as the rear guard of all the camps, set out by their companies, and over their company was Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. 26 And over the company of the tribe of the people of Asher was Pagiel the son of Ochran. 27 And over the company of the tribe of the people of Naphtali was Ahira the son of Enan. 28 This was the order of march of the people of Israel by their companies, when they set out.

The people of Israel had put everything in place for worship at the tabernacle, celebrated their second Passover in remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt, and now they were ready to head on toward the promised land. Once again, everything was done in a need and organized fashion.  This first step forward was a three-day journey, with the ark leading the way and the cloud of the Lord overshadowing them. It was the beginning of a whole new experience.  Sometimes life seems like this: major crisis, preparations that seem to take forever and are full of details, and a short first step.  But finally, they are moving in the direction God has pointed.  Take each step under God's hand. It's a long way to the promised land, but it's worth the journey.

Forced Semi-Retirement???

Numbers 8:23 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “This applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall come to do duty in the service of the tent of meeting. 25 And from the age of fifty years they shall withdraw from the duty of the service and serve no more. 26 They minister to their brothers in the tent of meeting by keeping guard, but they shall do no service. Thus shall you do to the Levites in assigning their duties.”

The Levites had been set apart by God for service in His Tabernacle, begin the ones to offer sacrifices on the people's behalf.  Here their "active duty" lasted from age 25 to 50, much like a soldier, athlete, or some other job may limit length of duty.  Obviously, the younger limit was to make sure the man had reached a level of maturity to truly understand the seriousness of his spiritual responsibility.  But was being a Levite really that taxing to warrant such a requirement? We need to keep in mind they were responsible for handling large animals and maintaining the tabernacle, some physically demanding work.  Like the above-mentioned careers, those who "age out" become commanders, coaches, and supervisors whose experience aids the younger ones who serve.  Much like the priests who in Jesus' day might never get to offer incense, there might be too many active-duty Levites to serve if the age was not limited. Finally, God did not want any of His servants doing something so long that they were just "going through the motions", doing a job.