Under the Cloud

The Second Census   The United States conducts a census every 10 years. I use this data to teach my upper elementary kids how to create formulas in Excel. Today we are going to look at a census of Israel conducted toward the end of the wilderness journey.  After the plague of chapter 25, the Lord called Moses to take a second census.     I like numbers, so I have always enjoyed comparing the two censuses in Numbers.  A comparison leads us to  investigating  why some tribes had much lower counts than others.   Laying chapter 26 alongside chapter 1 gives us some information.   The first thing I notice is that in chapter 1 ,  leaders were chosen to conduct the census. Numbers 26 does not mention having leaders take the census, but they probably  did  or it would have taken much longer to count.  Also, both censuses counted men age 20 or older, but chapter 26 adds that these men were able to  serve in the army. Israel is getting ready to take over the Promised Land.    L

Zeal is defined as “great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or objective.” (dictionary.com) We followers of Christ are to have zeal for the Lord. In Lancaster County, PA it is easy to say you are a Christian. The statement must be backed up with action, however. Anyone can have a bad day, but do I believe that a consistently unkind person is really a Christian? Is it hard to imagine that a person who doesn’t really care for children is a kingdom  dweller.   If a man  who claims to be a Christian  is driven to succeed and have more and more money to the detriment of his family, we might think he is not listening to the Lord  at the very least .    Not only are we to follow God, we are to be zealous for Him, protecting His name and bringing Him glory. Moses gave much detail of the prophet Balaam in  Numbers C hapters  22-24 .  He seemed  pretty harmless  and even spoke for the God of the Universe.  However, the New Testament speaks of Balaam in very negative terms.  Sc