Números 33

Números 33

Morris - Moses clearly states here that he was the one who wrote about the journey of Israel from Egypt to the promised land--Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The assertion by critics that Moses' generation did not know how to write is universally refuted by both internal and external evidences. Joe Sprinkle - God’s people should reflect on what God has seen them through on the path of life. Moses is asked by God to write down the starting places of Israel’s journey (Num. 33:1–2) and to record certain things that God has done at those places. What Moses does is a form of journaling. Though no Scripture mandates it, journaling is a good thing for us to do as well. Donald Whitney, in his book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, advocates journaling: “As a Christian, your journal is a place to record the works and ways of God in your life. Your journal can include an account of daily events, a diary of personal relationships, a notebook of insights into Scripture, and a list of prayer requests.....Each of us has a travelogue of places where God has worked in our lives. All of us can remember the bad things that God has seen us through and the good things that God has brought our way. God had Moses do that for Israel. But we can do it for ourselves, whether formally in a journal or informally through reflection.” It is important to remember the past - Poetry: Sonnet XXX, by William Shakespeare. This well-known sonnet begins, “When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past." Shakespeare expresses many regrets, but he also asserts, “But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, All losses are restor’d and sorrows end.” That can be true of remembering the good friends we have made throughout our lives. But it is especially true of our best friend of all, Yahweh, who has seen us through life’s journey. It is important to evaluate our present in light of the future Agriculture: One of the first lessons learned for driving a tractor is where to put your eyes. If one’s focus is too limited and narrow, the rows will be crooked. It is important to pick a spot in the distance and consistently check back again and again to be sure that one is headed there. The discipline of journaling gives us an opportunity to look forward and look back, to watch for trends and keep our eyes focused on the future that God calls us to pursue. (Teaching the Text - Nu) Henry Blackaby - A SPIRITUAL MARKER I have found it helpful to identify spiritual markers in my life. Each time I encounter God's call or directions, I mentally build a marker. A spiritual marker identifies a time of transition, decision, or direction when I clearly know that God has guided me. Over time, I can look back at these spiritual markers and see how God has faithfully directed my life according to His divine purpose. When I review my markers, I see more clearly the directions God has been moving my life and ministry. Sometimes, it is unclear as we look forward to where God is leading us. But when we look back, we can more readily discern the purposeful guidance of God at key times in our lives. At times, I may face several options by which I could serve God, and I need to know which of these good things is what God desires of me. When I face a decision about God's direction, I review my spiritual markers. I don't take the next step without the context of God's full activity in my life. This helps me see God's perspective for my past and present. Then I look at the options before me to see which one is most consistent with what God has been doing in my life up to that point. Often, one of the potential directions follows on what God has already been doing. If that is not the case, I continue to pray and wait for the Lord's guidance and timing. MY OWN SPIRITUAL MARKERS Several years ago, I was approached about taking on a new ministry with my denomination's home missions agency. The organization asked me to direct its emphasis on prayer and spiritual awakening, but I had never had such a job in my life. If I accepted, it meant leaving Vancouver, where we were settled and happy, and moving to Atlanta, Georgia. Only God could reveal whether this was part of His divine purpose, and the spiritual markers in my life helped me view this decision from God's perspective. My own spiritual markers start before I was born. My heritage goes back to England, where a number of my family members were graduates of Spurgeon's College when Charles Spurgeon was trying to win England for Christ. Revival and awakening were “in my blood,” you might say. I grew up in a Canadian town where there was no evangelical church. There, my father served as a lay pastor and helped start a mission church. Way back in my teen years, I sensed a deep burden for communities all across Canada that did not have an evangelical church. While I was in seminary, God assured me that He loved my nation enough to bring a great movement of His Spirit across the land. When I accepted God's call to Saskatoon, He used the prospect of a spiritual awakening there to affirm my call. A revival and spiritual awakening did occur and spread across many parts of Canada in the early 1970s. Now I was part of exciting events in British Columbia where God was obviously at work. Then one day someone from Atlanta, Georgia, called me. He said, “Henry, we have prayed much about filling a position in prayer for spiritual awakening. We have been seeking a person for over two years. Would you consider coming and directing our denomination in this emphasis?” The spiritual markers in my life showed that spiritual awakening was an important element throughout my ministry. Although I had assumed I would spend the rest of my life serving the Lord in Canada, when I heard this invitation was in the area of spiritual awakening, I sensed the Holy Spirit's involvement in the opportunity. After prayer and confirmation in the Word and by other believers, I accepted the position. God didn't lead me into something in which I had never been interested. Rather, this job brought together things God had been building into my life for decades. SUMMARY God used circumstances to reveal to Jesus what He was to do. Jesus paid attention to know where the Father wanted to involve Him in His work. God also will use circumstances to reveal His directions to you. However, you must check these against what God says through the Scriptures, prayer, and other Christians. Reviewing your spiritual markers is one way in which God may give you a sense of direction through your circumstances. When God is ready for you to take a new step or direction, it will be in agreement with what He has already been doing in your life. Sometimes, you may find yourself in difficult or confusing circumstances. To understand these events, God's perspective is vital. Never determine the truth of your situation by focusing on the circumstances. You cannot know the reality of any situation until you have heard from God. EXPERIENCING GOD TODAY == Ask God to help you identify your own spiritual markers. These may begin with your heritage, your salvation experience, times you made significant decisions regarding your future, and so forth. What are some of the times of transition, decision, or direction in your life when you knew for sure that God guided you? Start developing a list of your own spiritual markers, but don't feel like it has to be comprehensive. Add to it as you reflect and pray about God's activity in your life. (Experiencing God) Stage by Stage At the Lord's command Moses recorded the stages in their journey. Numbers 33:2 Today's Scripture & Insight: Numbers 33:1–15, 36–37 Numbers 33 is a chapter in the Bible we might pass by without reflection. It appears to be nothing more than a long list of places tracing Israel’s pilgrimage from Rameses in Egypt to their arrival in the plains of Moab. But it must be important because it’s the only section in Numbers that follows with the words: “At the Lord’s command Moses recorded . . .” (v. 2). Why keep a record of this? Could it be that this list provides a framework upon which the Israelites emerging from the wilderness could retrace that forty-year journey in their thoughts and recall God’s faithfulness at each location? I envision an Israelite father, sitting near a campfire, reminiscing with his son: “I will never forget Rephidim! I was dying of thirst, nothing but sand and sage for hundreds of miles. Then God directed Moses to take his staff and strike a rock—actually a hard slab of flint. I thought, What a futile gesture; he’ll never get anything out of that stone. But to my amazement water gushed out of that rock! A generous flow that satisfied the thirst of the thousands of Israelites. I’ll never forget that day!” (see Ps. 114:8; Ex. 17:1–7; Num. 33:14). Count your many blessings, name them one by one. Johnson Oatman Jr. For reflection on the faithfulness of God, listen to this Discover the Word program: discovertheword.org/faithfulness. God’s faithfulness extends to all generations. C H Mackintosh - Dt 2:7 “For the LORD your God has blessed you in all that you have done; He has known your wanderings through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing.”’ He went before them every step of the way; He traveled over every stage of the wilderness; in all their afflictions He was afflicted. He took care of them like a tender nurse. He suffered not their garments to wax old, or their feet to swell, for these forty years; and here He retraces the entire way by which His hand had led them, carefully noting down each successive stage of that marvelous pilgrimage, and every spot in the desert at which they had halted. What a journey! What a Traveling Companion! It is very consolatory to the heart of the poor weary pilgrim to be assured that every stage of his wilderness journey is marked out by the infinite love and unerring wisdom of God. He is leading His people by a right way, home to Himself; and there is not a single circumstance in their lot, or a single ingredient in their cup, which is not carefully ordered by Himself, with direct reference to their present profit and their everlasting felicity. Let it only be our care to walk with Him, day by day, in simple confidence, casting all our care upon Him, and leaving ourselves and all our belongings absolutely in His hands. This is the true source of peace and blessedness all the journey through; and then, when our desert wanderings are over—when the last stage of the wilderness has been trodden, He will take us home to be with Himself forever. There with what joy reviewing Past conflicts, dangers, fears— Thy hand our foes subduing, And drying all our tears— Our hearts with rapture burning, The path we shall retrace, Where now our souls are learning The riches of Thy grace. John Bennett - THESE ARE THEIR JOURNEYS Chapter 33 is one of those sections of the word of God which we are tempted to hurry by with only a passing interest when we reach it in our daily reading! Yet we will be the poorer in our appreciation of scripture, and of the character of our God, if we treat any part of the inspired word in this way. Not only do we accept that, ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable’, 2 Tim 3:16, but we note further that the details of today’s chapter are specifically attributed to ‘the commandment of the Lord’, v. 2. The journey from Egypt to Sinai took just two months, and is recorded in Exodus chapters 13–19. Israel remained at Sinai almost a whole year while the law was given and the tabernacle was constructed. No further movement is recorded until Numbers chapter 10, when ‘the cloud was taken up … and … Israel took their journeys’, vv. 11–12. From Sinai to Kadesh involved a number of movements, as seen in verses 16–36 of our chapter, yet only nine encampments are recorded during the forty years of wandering that followed, vv. 37–49. The history of those years is found in Numbers chapters 20–31. Why then is Moses instructed to keep this detailed log of the journey? Remember, it was the Lord who led them by an angel, Exod. 23:20 and fed them angels’ food, Ps. 78:25. For forty years neither clothes nor shoes wore out! Deut. 29:5. Each place recorded is a memorial to the gracious keeping and leading power of our God; in spite of their waywardness, their murmuring and their sin. It would be a challenging exercise for each one of us to think back to the time when He redeemed us ‘out of Egypt’, and to record the various staging posts on our journey through life. To acknowledge His faithfulness, His love, His mercy and His grace toward us. We would have to confess that at times we have been every bit as stubborn and self-willed as Israel. We have been unprofitable servants, not worthy of the least of His mercies. Yet at the end of the journey we will look back and say with gratitude, Jesus led me all the way’, F. J. CROSBY. Numbers 33:3 They journeyed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the next day after the Passover the sons of Israel started out boldly in the sight of all the Egyptians, They journeyed from Rameses Ge 47:11 Ex 1:11 12:37 in the first : Ex 12:2, 13:4 started out boldly Ex 14:8 Ps 105:38 Isa 52:12 Mic 2:13 Numbers 33 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Related Passage: Exodus 14:8 The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he chased after the sons of Israel as the sons of Israel were going out boldly. Rameses in land of GOSHEN They journeyed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the next day after the Passover the sons of Israel started out boldly in the sight of all the Egyptians - Beginning with Rameses there are 40 places listed in this journey of Israel from bondage to being on the verge of blessing (Nu 33:49). Allen points out on boldly - In contrast to Nu 15:30, the expression בְּיָד רָמָה (beyāḏ rāmāh, “with a high hand”) is used in a positive sense as a figure of triumph (NIV, “boldly”). With hand held high, the Israelites left in a deliberate and conscious sense of the presence of the grander, higher hand of the Lord over them in blessing. NET NOTE on boldly - Heb “with a high hand”; the expression means “defiantly; boldly” or “with confidence.” The phrase is usually used for arrogant sin and pride, the defiant fist, as it were. The image of the high hand can also mean the hand raised to deliver the blow (Job 38:15). Related Resources: American Tract Society Rameses Bridgeway Bible Dictionary Rameses (ra'amses) Easton's Bible Dictionary Rameses Fausset Bible Dictionary Rameses Holman Bible Dictionary Rameses Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible Raamses, Rameses Rameses Morrish Bible Dictionary Raamses, Rameses Rameses 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica Rameses International Standard Bible Encyclopedia Raamses; Rameses Rameses Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia Rameses McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia Rameses The Nuttall Encyclopedia Rameses The Jewish Encyclopedia Rameses Numbers 33:4 while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn whom the LORD had struck down among them. The LORD had also executed judgments on their gods. were burying all their firstborn: Ex 12:29,30 Ps 105:36 executed judgments on their gods: Ex 12:12 Ex 18:11 Isa 19:1 Zep 2:11 Rev 12:7-9 Numbers 33 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries JEHOVAH JUDGES EGYPT'S FIRSTBORN SON AND FALSE GODS while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn whom the LORD had struck down among them - The record begins with Israel's exodus from Egypt. Moses described this event in Ex 12:29-30+ "Now it came about at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle. Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead." The LORD had also executed judgments on their gods - Moses described this in Ex 12:12 "For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments–I am the LORD." Numbers 33:5 Then the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses and camped in Succoth. removed: Ex 12:37 Numbers 33 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Rameses to Succoth Journey from Egypt to the Red Sea - Nu 33:5-8 Then - Then is usually an expression of time and helps mark the order of events and means something, next in sequence or after the events just described. The sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses and camped in Succoth - Ex 12:37+ "Now the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children." Of course apparently at least two million people left Egypt under Moses at this time (cf Ex 1:7+). Related Resources: American Tract Society Succoth Easton's Bible Dictionary Succoth Fausset Bible Dictionary Succoth Holman Bible Dictionary Succoth Hitchcock Bible Names Succoth Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible Succoth Morrish Bible Dictionary Succoth International Standard Bible Encyclopedia Succoth-Benoth Succoth (2) Succoth (1) Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia Succoth McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia Succoth The Jewish Encyclopedia Succoth Numbers 33:6 They journeyed from Succoth and camped in Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness. They journeyed from: Ex 13:20 Numbers 33 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Succoth to Etham (see #3 above) Journey from Egypt to the Red Sea - Nu 33:5-8 They journeyed from Succoth and camped in Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness - Ex 13:20 - "Then they set out from Succoth and camped in Etham on the edge of the wilderness." Related Resources: American Tract Society Etham Easton's Bible Dictionary Etham Fausset Bible Dictionary Etham Holman Bible Dictionary Etham Hitchcock Bible Names Etham Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible Etham International Standard Bible Encyclopedia Etham Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia Etham McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia Etham Numbers 33:7 They journeyed from Etham and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, which faces Baal-zephon, and they camped before Migdol. Nu 33:8 Ex 14:2,9 Numbers 33 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Etham to Migdol (see #4 above) Journey from Egypt to the Red Sea - Nu 33:5-8 They journeyed from Etham and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, which faces Baal-zephon, and they camped before Migdol - Pi-hahiroth was the encampment where Israel was overtaken and threatened by Pharaoh's army as recorded in Exodus 14. Exodus 14:2-9+ “Tell the sons of Israel to turn back and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it, by the sea. 3 “For Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, ‘They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ 4 “Thus I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” And they did so. 5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” 6 So he made his chariot ready and took his people with him; 7 and he took six hundred select chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. 8 The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he chased after the sons of Israel as the sons of Israel were going out boldly. 9 Then the Egyptians chased after them with all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and they overtook them camping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon. Related Resources: Numbers 33:8 They journeyed from before Hahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness; and they went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham and camped at Marah. Ex 14:21-31 Ex 15:22-26 Numbers 33 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Migdol to Marah (see #5 above) THE CROSSING OF THE RED SEA Journey from Egypt to the Red Sea - Numbers 33:5-8 Journey from the Red Sea to Sinai - Numbers 33:8-15 They journeyed from before Hahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness - Read the commentary of the Crossing of the Red Sea described in Exodus 14:21-31. And they went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham and camped at Marah (bitter) - Marah was a bad stop for during the 3 days they found no water. The LORD was allowing their first "NO WATER" test which they would fail. Moses recording The Tree Sweetened the Bitter Water "Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah , for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah. 24 So the people grumbled at Moses (GRUMBLING AT MOSES ~ GRUMBLING AGAINST GOD), saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 Then he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet. There He made for them a statute and regulation, and there He tested them. 26 (HERE WAS THE CONDITIONAL PROMISE -- THE LORD'S POWER TO MAKE BITTER SWEET SHOULD HAVE BEEN THEIR "WAKE UP" CALL THAT THEY SHOULD HEED HIS WORD AND EXPERIENCE HIS PROTECTION AS HE PROMISED HERE.) And He said, “IF YOU WILL give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God (AKA "IF YOU OBEY"), and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, (JEHOVAH'S PROMISE) I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer.(JEHOVAH NAMED HIMSELF HERE - Jehovah Rapha: (Jehovah Rophe) The LORD the Healer) ” (Ex 15:22-26+) Numbers 33:9 They journeyed from Marah and came to Elim; and in Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there. Numbers 33 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Marah to Elim (see #6 above) WELCOME WATER RESPITE Numbers 33:8-15 chronicles from the Red Sea to Sinai. They journeyed from Marah and came to Elim; and in Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there - Parallel passage in Ex 15:27+ "Then they came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they camped there beside the waters." F B