On Thanksgiving Day, our hearts should be full of thanks to God for all the blessings, provisions, people, and opportunities in our lives. We who have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ should be especially appreciative of his sacrifice, God’s grace and mercy, and the hope he has poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit as we navigate the dark days of life on earth (Romans 5:5). At our Thanksgiving service here yesterday I was impressed by the Thanksgiving notes read aloud, from cards left in a collection box beforehand. Some expressed thanks for salvation in Jesus Christ, while others focused more on the people who live or work in our community. As a group of elderly retirees, many with physical limitations, we gratefully acknowledged the loving work of our staff, who care for us in many ways, sometimes enforcing rules to benefit the community, under the guidance of our executive director and the corporate office leadership. Rosalynn Carter once said, “A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.” (1) I think her quote is borne out by God’s leadership of the Israelites in the wilderness–especially those who faithfully followed him—Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb. In Numbers 26-30, we will see how the Lord continued to faithfully lead the new generation of Israelites in the wilderness, provided for the fatherless, and designed ways to commune with him. This Thanksgiving, we have the perfect time to be thankful for God’s leadership through his Word, his eternal, spiritual provisions, and Christ’s fellowship with us through his Holy Spirit.
The Second Generation
Numbers 26 lists the clans and tribes making up the nation. “This was the list of the people of Israel, 601,730…This was the list of the Levites…23,000, every male from a month old and upward…But among these there was not one of those listed by Moses and Aaron the priest, who had listed the people of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. For the Lord had said of them, ‘They shall die in the wilderness.’ Not one of them was left, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.” (Numbers 26:51, 62, 64-65) This is a nice-sized military for when they would go to war. After this, God gave the order for the inheritance of land. Numbers 27 begins with the daughters of Zelophehad, of the tribe of Joseph, approaching Moses and Eleazar, saying their father died in the wilderness with no sons. Why would he have his name done away because he had no sons? They wanted possession of the land and inheritance. Moses brought their request to God, who said they were correct and instituted an order of succession. The chapter ends with God preparing Moses to die after he gets a glimpse of the land from the mountain of Abarim. So Moses faithfully asked God to provide a qualified successor for the congregation, and God provided Joshua. “Numbers 26, 27 is about a new beginning: a whole generation was standing on the threshold of a new life…Following the census, several events are recorded that highlight key aspects of the nature of the new generation…The theme that we saw in the [merciful] future given to the sons of Korah in spite of their father’s sin emerges again in the future given to the name of Zelophehad through his daughters…Even if the parents were judged for their sins, the children might still have a future in the Lord, through his grace and mercy.” (2) God never gave up on Israel; he continued providing active, relevant leadership for the new generation of Israelites in the wilderness.
A Faithful Attitude
Zelophehad’s plucky daughters demonstrated a new bold, faithful attitude. “They stood before Moses and before Eleazar, the priest and before the chiefs and all the congregation, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, saying…‘Give to us a possession among our father’s brothers’…And the Lord said to Moses, ‘The daughters of Zelophehad are right. You shall give them possession of an inheritance among their father’s brothers and transfer the inheritance of their father to them.'” (27:2, 4) “They are indeed young women of faith, quite different from their parents…They believed God’s word of promise and acted accordingly, and so they fittingly received what they asked from the Lord. No Israelite would ever have a stronger claim to their land than these daughters of Zelophehad…Here is a challenge to the younger generation to learn from Zelophehad’s daughters to step forward in faith to fill in the failings of those who have gone before. (3) God’s generous, impartial provision for these women is carried through in the New Testament when women were instrumental in the ministry of Jesus Christ, following him, witnessing their faith, and caring for his body before and after his sacrificial crucifixion and burial. Women are mentioned, once again in Numbers 30, in a completely different context, but neither text cancels the other out since God never contradicts himself. He provides for the fatherless in many different ways. As for us, James gives us this helpful instruction: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” (James 1:27) Devoted followers of Jesus Christ act on God’s instructions and refuse to act on the world’s impulses, thankful for God’s leadership through his Word and the Holy Spirit guidance.
New Leadership for the New Generation
“Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, ‘Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.’ So the Lord said to Moses, ‘Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit…You shall invest him with some of your authority, that all the congregation of the people of Israel may obey. And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the Lord.'” (27:15-18, 20) “Even though Joshua would become a great leader, he was not another Moses. His authority was not his own—it was borrowed from Moses…who uniquely received the Law from God and delivered it to the people. Joshua’s role as a leader was simply to obey that Law given through Moses. Moses spoke with the Lord face to face, while Joshua received guidance from the Lord through Eleazar the priest…Joshua was commissioned to lead the people out to battle and back in afterward, a role that he filled admirably in the conquest of the land, and he was the one who assigned the land to the people.” (4) Another way the Lord would lead Israel would be through his fellowship with them, symbolized by daily, weekly, and holiday offerings made by the Levites for the people. To say that “offering” is the keyword of these chapters is an understatement since the word appears 117 times, emphasizing the need for the people to draw near to God at all times. “Several elements in this context highlight the symbolism of a shared meal between the Lord and his people. The sacrifices are explicitly called ‘the food for my offerings made by fire’ (28:2), and the point is repeatedly stressed that the scent of these offerings ascended to the Lord as an aroma pleasing to him. What is more, these burnt offerings were always to be accompanied by the appropriate grain and drink offerings…a symbolic balanced…communal meal shared with the Lord, a celebration of fellowship between the people of Israel and their Heavenly Father.” (5) God’s people were called to be faithful to his way of life in the Promised Land, and practice had to be started in the wilderness. Just so, we practice our faithfulness here, in this world, as preparation for fellowship and worship with the Lord in our Promised Land with Christ in eternity.
Commitment Expressed Through Thankfulness
“If you do the math, the total [offerings] comes out to an annual obligation for Israel to provide approximately 1,093 lambs, thirty-seven rams, 113 bulls, and thirty goats, along with all the associated grain offerings and drink offerings. That doesn’t include any of the freewill offerings or the purification and sin offerings that were also required to atone for particular offenses. Communion with the true and living God is thus a costly affair…When Paul told the Christians in Rome to offer their bodies to God as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1), he was using the imagery of the whole burnt offering: the sacrifices served as symbols of complete consecration to God. Communion with God will cost us everything we have and everything we are…In fact, it is the costliness of the free gift of Christianity that keeps many seekers from becoming disciples…communion with God is never cheap. It demands everything we have and everything we are.” (6) The Lord established special feasts for particular purposes, especially thankfulness for his faithful leadership. “Through these sacrifices, God was teaching Israel how to view time and how to order their lives in accordance with God’s calendar. The first lesson to learn is the importance of daily fellowship with God…Israel was to begin their day by symbolically offering themselves to the Lord and sharing communion with him, and they were to end it in the same way. The same is true for us as well. If our whole days are to be given to God, then we should begin them by committing them to the Lord in prayer…When the end of the day arrives, thank the Lord for his goodness to you.” (7) Is there any better time to start doing this than Thanksgiving Day?
More Thanksgiving in the Wilderness
“The first celebration, Passover (along with its partner, the Feast of Unleavened Bread), was a time to celebrate Israel’s redemption out of Egypt and their call to be God’s special people…Israel was reminded afresh of God’s grace in sparing their firstborn and bringing them into freedom…[In the Lord’s Supper] Jesus [is] inviting [us] to recognize him as the Passover lamb of the new covenant, the one whose death atones for the sins of the covenant people of God and establishes communion with one another and with God…The Feast of Weeks, which took place seven weeks later at the end of the barley harvest, was a time to celebrate God’s providence…a time to [also] thank God for the gift of his perfect Law, which showed Israel the way to live a wise life that would be pleasing to God. The third and climatic feast, the Feast of Tabernacles, began with the Feast of Trumpets…to acclaim the Lord as Israel’s King…Later on in the same month, it was followed by the Day of Atonement, a national day of repentance and purification…Finally, there was the Feast of Tabernacles proper, a week in which the people would reenact the wilderness wandering by living in shelters. This formed a perpetual and joyous reminder to Israel that even after they possessed the Promised Land, they were not to settle down entirely as if that were their final destination…The Feast of Trumpets was a hosanna moment—a time to acclaim the coming King and to celebrate the prospect of his coming, just as the crowds did for Jesus on Palm Sunday…God wanted the Israelites to learn from the festival calendar to number their days aright, and so gain wisdom. We need to learn the same lessons they did. We need to be constant in our daily devotion and regular in our weekly fellowship with the Lord. We need to be faithful in all of the passing seasons of life to give thanks for our redemption accomplished in Christ and for his ongoing care for us day by day. Above all, we are to be forward-looking believers, neither overly elated nor unduly cast down by the twists and turns of lfie’s fortunes, instead keeping our eyes constantly fixed on Christ, who is our heavenly inheritance.” (8)
Vows to God
Numbers 30 is a brief chapter about vows made to God. If a man vowed a vow to God, that man must not break his word; he must do all that he said out of his mouth. However, when a married woman or daughter living with her parents vowed to God and her husband or father heard her vow, he had the authority to disallow or dismiss her vow before God. In the case he did dismiss her vow, God would disregard her vow; if he did not, God would require their vow of them. The widowed or divorced woman’s vow would stand, and they must perform their vows. “God’s people…are to be people of their word, even when it is costly for them…Why is faithfulness to fulfill what we have vowed so important to God?…The answer is that we are his covenant people who are called to bear his likeness. Satan is a liar and the farther of lies, as Adam and Eve discovered in the Garden of Eden. God, however, is the Author of Truth and the Father of Light. God’s yes means yes, and his no means no. He will surely do whatever he has said he will do. He…has made a covenant with his people, which by definition is a promissory oath…the Lord has sworn by himself to accomplish our salvation, because there is nothing greater he can swear by (Hebrews 6:13-20). The faithful God, whose word by itself it utterly reliable, actually swore an oath to accomplish our salvation, and so we may be sure that he will do it. Our hope for eternity is anchored on the faithfulness of the Lord and his faithfulness to keep his Word…[But you may ask] Why was there this difference in the way young women and married women were treated from the rest of the population?…husbands and fathers were the covenant heads for their families [and God] is eager to ensure that the fundamental principle of male headship was not undermined, even in the name of serving God…God is a God of order, not disorder. As a result, greater dedication to his service must mean greater devotion to the structures that he himself has set up, including male headship in the home…On the cross Jesus bore the punishment for all our broken promises. That is going bar above and beyond the terms of Numbers 30…we are to be truly thankful for the faithfulness of our divine husband and father, whose enduring commitment to his people in life and in death is the solid anchor for our hope of Heaven and our peace in the midst of a wilderness world…Thanks be to God, for his enduring faithfulness!” (9) Just as the Lord faithfully led the new generation of Israelites, provided for the fatherless, and designed ways to commune with him, we have Christ’s leadership, his eternal, spiritual provisions, and fellowship. “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, or oted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” (Colossians 2:6-7)
Related Scripture: Numbers 1:1-2, 46; 36:5-12; Deuteronomy 3:27-28; 32:49-52; 34:9-12; Joshua 1:6-9; 11:23; 17:3-4; Ecclesiastes 5:4-7; Job 22:21-27; Psalm 50:14; 116:12-24; Acts 3:1-16; Romans 15:1; Ephesians 6:10; Hebrews 11:23-28; 1 John 2:12-14.
Notes:
1. https://www.bos.com/inspired/75-quotes-on-effective-leadership/
2. Duguid, Iain M., Numbers—God’s Presence in the Wilderness, Numbers 26-27, Crossway Books.
3. Duguid, Ibid.
4. Duguid, Ibid.
5. Duguid Numbers 28-29, Ibid.
6. Duguid Numbers 28-29, Ibid.
7. Duguid Numbers 28-29, Ibid.
8. Duguid Numbers 28-29, Ibid.
9. Duguid Numbers 30, Ibid.
November 23, 2023
Divine Wisdom for Daily Living by Joanne Colvin 