Numbers 1

Here we go!

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Have you ever been out walking on a hot day and you are just sooo hot you can hardly stand it?  Sometimes in the summer, even in the Northeast where I am, if I try to walk after 7:00 in the morning, it's already so hot I can hardly stand it.  But some days, as I am walking along, a cloud will come in front of the sun and I will thank the Lord for the wonderful reprieve.  It usually includes a breeze and the relief is absolutely lovely.  God's presence among His people after the Exodus from Egypt was in the form of a cloud.  The first mention is in Exodus 13:21: "By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night." Verse 22 says: "Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people."

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When Israel first left Egypt after the Passover, the angel of God traveled in front of Israel as well as the cloud.  When Pharaoh's army pursued them, the angel of God and the pillar of cloud moved behind the people to come between the armies of Egypt and Israel (Ex 14:19-20).  In the night, even early morning, "the Lord looked down from the pillar of cloud and fire at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion.  He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving" (Ex 14:24-25).  So the Lord was actually IN the pillar of cloud and fire!

In Exodus 24, God called Moses up to the top of Mount Sinai to meet with Him.  "When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai...Moses entered the cloud as he went up on the mountain" (v. 15-18).  Also, at then end of Exodus, in chapter 40, the Tabernacle God has designed and gifted people to create, following His every direction, is finally all assembled and ready for anointing and blessing.  The cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle, also "the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle" (Ex 40:34-35). So this cloud is the guidance of the Lord, the presence of God, the manifestation of God, the glory of God and He never leaves the Israelites, just as He still promises in His Word to never leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).

The book of Exodus ends by telling us: "In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out-until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during their travels." (Ex 40:36-38)

The Cloud as a Reprieve

So we can see where I get the idea that the cloud of the presence and glory of the Lord provided shade for these desert wanderers.  Whenever the Israelites were not on the move, the tabernacle was set up right in the middle of camp.  If the cloud was over the Tabernacle, it surely overshadowed a good portion of the camp, thereby providing relief from the desert heat.  The Tabernacle was a large tent enclosing gold furnishings created to worship God.  There were also tent walls, like a fence, surrounding the Tent of Meeting or Tabernacle to create a courtyard for the bronze altar where sacrifices were made to God.  The most important furnishing in the Tent of Meeting was in a curtained-off area where Moses met with God.  This furnishing was the Ark of the Covenant.  It contained the Tablets of the Testimony, or Ten Commandments and a jar of manna which miraculously never spoiled even though manna kept overnight any night other than the Sabbath spoiled (Exodus 16). Two large gold cherubs with huge wings shadowed the top of the Ark which represented the very presence of God.  Whenever Israel was on the move, the Ark traveled in the center of the group and the cloud would be over the ark, again providing shade to many.  God is such a loving, practical God, He certainly knows that we need relief in the desert.

Now that I have explained where I got the title of this blog/book, I am so anxious to start with Numbers Chapter 1.  The book begins with telling us that The Lord gave Moses a command to take a census of the whole Israelite community.  The listing will only include males 20 or older able to fight in the army.  These first verses also tell us this is the second month of the second year after the Israelites came out of Egypt.  We will later learn that Numbers is not in a strict chronological order.  One man was appointed from each tribe to take the census of his people.  The names of these men are very meaningful:

Elizur (“[My] God Is a Rock”) 

Shelumiel (“[My] Peace is God”) 

Nahshon (“Serpentine”) 

Nethanel (“God Has Given”) 

Eliab (“[My] God Is Father”) 

Elishama (“[My] God Has Heard”) 

Gamaliel (“Reward of God”) 

Abidan (“[My] Father [God] Is Judge”) 

Ahiezer (“[My] Brother [God] Is Help”)

Pagiel (“Encountered by God”) 

Eliasaph (“God Has Added”) 

Ahira (“My Brother Is Evil”)   
Source: The Expositor’s Bible Commentary - Frank E. Gaebelein

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There is much in a name.  These men were almost all named something to do with God.  I am not sure about Ahira but every once in a while we hear a "different" name, don't we?! Overall, however, we see something about God in these men's names. We will not see the names of the census takers again.  They were specifically gifted for this job.  Notice the Israelites obeyed the Lord and conducted this census in a very short period of time.  We will see much disobedience in this book so we should applaud their efforts when they follow God.

Notice the tribe of Levi is not represented here.  The Levites served at the Tabernacle and could not fight with the army of Israel.  They would be taking care of the Tabernacle, furnishings, curtains, frames, ropes and hardware. They would be counted later and given specific assignments. God made a provision back in Genesis at the beginning of the Israelites' time in Egypt 430 years earlier so that there would still be 12 tribes when Levi was not counted.  Jacob (Israel), near the end of his life after being reunited with his son Joseph, said that Joseph's two sons would be like his own (Genesis 48).  In this way, Joseph basically inherited the double portion Reuben forfeited back when he disrespected his father (see Genesis 35:22).  So we will see no listing of Joseph in the tribes but not only is he not there, he is there twice.  His sons were Ephraim and Manasseh.

When each tribal leader handed in their list of names, they were also counted.  The largest tribe was Judah, the second largest was Dan while the smallest was Manasseh and Benjamin was not much larger.  However, even the smallest tribe had over 32,000 men 20 years or older able to fight in the army.  These are very large tribes indeed!  These counts did not include female, youngsters, elderly, infirm or foreigners.  We are told that some Egyptians joined them as they left the country, probably because they saw the Lord was with them.  (see Exodus 12:38)

Family Army

Roy Gane's NIV Application commentary says, "Several advantages to fighting units also being family units: 1. Already have experience working together; no need to build new relationships with strangers; 2. Tribal social system already provides a structure for military leadership, saving time in devising one; 3. If your fellow soldier is your family member, you would have more incentive to protect them. Ephesians 6 describes a battle against spiritual forces.  We need each other’s support as a family of believers (Gal 6:10; 1 Peter 4:17).  We are stronger together than if we try to fight alone.  We must fight evil together as a family."

How does it look today to fight evil as a family? Praying together, studying the Word together, serving together, and certainly applying God's principles to your relationships in the home would all be part of fighting evil as a family.

God's Gifts

As I said earlier, the census takers were specifically gifted for this job.  What criteria do you think God would choose to select these census takers?

I was thinking they had to be detail-oriented and they had to be men of integrity.  Think of other wars when men under the draft age still tried to get in.  I am sure some zealous men under the age of counting tried to get their names on the list!

How are you gifted to work for God?

Our gifts are not for ourselves, but for serving the body of Christ and those in need.  Spend some time thinking about your special abilities and how God might want you to use them.

Dig Deeper:

As an extreme example of being gifted by God, see Exodus 31 and Exodus 35 and list the gifts God gave to Bezalel on a piece of paper.

Who was Oholiab?  How was he gifted to work for God?