Posts tagged Moses
Bible in a Year – Day 53: Dying Wish
Feb 22nd
Today’s Reading: Numbers 26 & 27
It would be a strange thing to know when you were going to die. I mean, imagine if you knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you were going to die next week. What would you do? What would you say? How would you arrange your days? Would you have a dying wish for those around you?
Moses experienced that unusual phenomenon when God spoke clearly to him and told him when he was going to die. And not only did he know it was going to happen, but he had seen the very same kind of death happen to his brother Aaron. And so, faced with the reality that his death was coming soon, Moses must have had a million things going through his head.
Some in Moses’ position might have, as Moses was known to do on occasion, begged God for mercy – to change his mind. Others might have prayed for peace or provision for their family. Others might have gotten angry and said, “Why me?” But Moses had other things on his mind. You see, these people that he had been leading around the desert were precious to him. They mattered to him personally, but, perhaps more than that, they mattered to him because they mattered to God.
You’ll notice that just prior to Moses being told he was going to die, he conducted another census. And the results of the census were that there were just as many people as there had been before – except this was a unique group of people. This was the second generation of nomadic Israelites. This was a group of men and women – young men and women – who had been roaming through the dessert their entire lives. I can imagine that, in their eyes, Moses was god-like. He was the one who had freed their parents from Egyptian slavery. He was the one that was going to lead them to the promised land. He was, in a way, their father.
And so, this father – a father to an entire nation of young men and women – voiced his dying wish to his father in heaven:
Moses said to the Lord, “May the Lord, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.” (Numbers 27:15-17)
Moses realized the incredible leadership void that would be left in his absence and he prayed to God for someone to take his place. His brother Aaron was gone. All of those wise old men who had been around for so many years to help Moses lead the nation were gone, too. From the first census, there were only 3 people left: Moses, Caleb and Joshua. And so, God told Moses to appoint Joshua, “a man in whom is the spirit of leadership,” to lead the people into the promised land.
Moses laid his hands on Joshua, commissioned him and, in the process, was witness to God fulfilling his dying wish for the people of Israel.
Bible in a Year – Day 50: Water Rocks!
Feb 19th
Today’s Reading: Numbers 18, 19 & 20
Do you see the pattern here? The people grumble against Moses, Moses pleads with God, God proves himself faithful to Moses and Moses is proven (by God) to the people of Israel. It happens over and over again as this vast group of people roam through the desert. This time, however, there’s a hitch – a variation in the pattern – and one that will have significant consequences for Moses and Aaron.
If you blinked (or dozed off) you might have missed it. In Numbers 20:8, God tells Moses:
“Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.” (Numbers 20:8 – emphasis mine)
So what did Moses do?
He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank. (Numbers 20:10-11 – emphasis mine)
There’s a problem. You see, in the past, Moses has done things exactly as the Lord has instructed him. Not only that, but he has always taken great pains to give credit where credit is due. He has always been careful to say “The Lord will…” or “The Lord said…” but this time, there is no “Lord” mentioned. Instead, Moses, in his frustration and anger calls an audible.
“Must we bring you water out of this rock?” Again, no mention of God doing anything. Then, instead of speaking to the rock like God had instructed, Moses strikes the rock twice with his staff. It doesn’t seem like a huge offense, though, right? I mean, the rock spewed water and the people were happy. The end. Well, not quite.
But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.” (Numbers 20:12)
God, judge and jury, has issued a verdict against Moses and Aaron. They will not enter into the promised land. You have to wonder if Moses and Aaron were thinking to themselves, “Really? After everything we’ve done and been through, you’re going to punish us for “striking” the rock instead of “speaking” to it? What gives?”
What gives is something that I think every leader needs to be aware of and careful to avoid. You see, Moses and Aaron had fallen into a trap. They had begun to read their own press clippings – to believe they were as great as the people said they were. They had begun to get a chip on their shoulder – to get defensive against those people who didn’t think they were so great. And so, when God gave them the instructions on how to give the people water, they took it as an opportunity to not only give them water, but to show those no good, arrogant so-and-so Israelites who was boss. “Must we bring you water out of this rock?”
They say that pride comes before the fall and for these two guys, that was certainly the case. You see, when we begin to take credit for what God is doing – when we begin to believe (or to portray to others) that we are capable of doing it without him – we are getting ever closer to falling into that pit. If it happened to Moses and Aaron, two great Biblical heroes, it can happen to us.
Bible in a Year – Day 45: God Draws Nearer
Feb 14th
Today’s Reading: Numbers 7
When Moses entered the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he heard the voice speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the atonement cover on the ark of the covenant law. In this way the Lord spoke to him. (Numbers 7:89)
A new day had dawned for Israel. Previously, the Lord had spoken to Moses on a mountaintop – a place where Moses would go by himself, be gone for days and, eventually, return with a message from the Lord. Now, God had come a little closer. God had instructed Moses to construct a place for him – to have a recognized meeting place where they could talk. And now, after the tabernacle was dedicated (with a LOT of animals and grain) it finally happened.
No longer would Moses have to trek up into the mountains to meet with God. No longer would he have to be away from his people for days. Now, God was nearer. And so, this was no insignificant day. For Moses, it had to be a huge relief. Not only would this make his life a little easier, but it was a confirmation that all of this work had not been in vain. And even more than that, it was a confirmation to the people that Moses still “had it.” He was still God’s man for the job.
I think it’s interesting though that, once again, God’s actions in this story serve as a foretaste of his work of salvation through Jesus. You see, this pattern of God drawing nearer to his people would continue several thousand years later as Jesus’ life and death brought an end to the temple curtain that separated those who were “in” with God and those who were not. God would, once again, draw closer to his people.
Through Jesus, we are able to approach God in our daily lives, much like Moses could approach him in the tabernacle – here, instead of up there. The lengths to which God would go, not once, but twice, to make himself more accessible to us – even though we didn’t deserve it – are astounding. God bent over backwards to make it easier for us. And he continues to do it over and over and over again. How often do we take time to recognize that generous gift?
Bible in a Year – Day 42: The Beginning of the End
Feb 11th
Today’s Reading: Numbers 1 & 2
Have you ever tried to envision something and known that, despite your best efforts, what you saw in your head couldn’t hold a stick to the real thing? Most people think of heaven in those terms – that is, beyond what we can imagine. But I would suggest that the same is true of our visions of what it must have been like for the people of Israel wandering in the desert. As we begin reading through the book of Numbers (after Leviticus, probably one of the least-read books in the Bible) it’s worth noting just how many people we’re talking about.
We are told that the number of men 20 years old or older and able to serve in the army was 603,550. Now, imagine the number of women that weren’t counted, the number of children that weren’t counted (including teenagers), the number of elderly that weren’t counted because they were unable to serve in the army, the number of Levites that weren’t counted according to the order. Then, add to that the number of non-Israelites (or “foreigners”) and you begin to get a picture of a group of people that would have numbered probably somewhere close to 2 million.
So, Moses was leading a group of people roughly the size of the entire population of the city of Houston. No wonder this guy was stressed out. Imagine not only having to lead these people in the sense of “oversee their lives” but to literally lead these people through the desert. One figure I read estimated that this crowd, standing 10 abreast, would stretch for 150 miles. Now that’s a crowd.
2 million people following Moses, waiting on his next move, wondering if they were ever going to make it to the promised land. An army of over 600,000 ready to take on anyone who got in their way. Israel was a force to be reckoned with. And, they would ultimately “reckon” with themselves – among themselves.
The picture that is painted in the numbers presented at the beginning of this book is a picture of a group of people too large to manage, too powerful to be controlled and too numerous to be effectively led. There is no indication of it at this point in Scripture, but in a sense, this was the beginning of the end for the unified twelve-tribe Israel.
Bible in a Year – Day 30: Temp Work
Jan 30th
Today’s Reading: Exodus 36, 37 & 38
Moses (or whoever Biblical scholars now believe wrote the book of Exodus) makes me laugh. He could have saved himself a lot of ink and parchment if he had simply said, “and they built the tabernacle, ark, alter, etc. to the specifications that God gave them.” Instead, he walks us through all of those specifications again. What’s the point?
Well, as with any piece of scripture, “what’s the point?” is a very valid question to ask. And so, as I read through this list that was essentially the response to God’s call to built the tabernacle, I asked that very question. Why was this all in there again? Maybe it was about reinforcing the fact that God really does care about the details. Of maybe is was a kind of audit – some way of verifying the “what we did” with the “what we were told to do.” Whatever the reason, it’s in there and we should probably read it.
One quick take-away for me is that this was a massive undertaking for people who had no home, very little to eat and who were getting sick and tired of roaming around the desert. What we read in these verses are people who are being obedient – painstakingly so – in building a temporary place of worship, when what they really wanted was a place to call their land and a place where they could build a “proper” house for God. But that wasn’t God’s plan…not yet.
And so, I look at myself in the mirror and I ask what parts of my life I’m truly willing to be obedient with. What are my “tabernacles” – the things that God has asked me to do that I don’t necessarily think are in “his” best interest. Or, the things that simply don’t make sense to me and, therefore, I’m reluctant to do them. Am I willing to pour myself into something temporary just because God asks me to. It’s one of those questions that’s easy to answer with a resounding “yes,” but much harder to walk out when you feel like you’re just wasting your time.
