Numbering the Soldiers (Num. 26:1-51)

2/10/2009 9:01 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  Numbering the soldiers

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Numbers 26:1-51

 

            Message of the verses:  Since this SD contains fifty-one verses I will not copy and paste all of these verses onto this SD.

            These fifty-one verses contain the second census of Israel’s fighting men who are the ages of twenty and above.  Now it must be remembered that the first census was taken before Israel sinned and God told them that no one who was the age of twenty or older would ever enter the Promised Land and so thirty-eight years later there was only three men left from that generation, Joshua, Caleb, and Moses who would soon die.  There is a only a difference of 1820 men less from the first census and the main reason for the drop is probably due to sin.  The three tribes which lost the most in population were Reuben, Simeon, and Gad, and these three tribes were all camped on the South side of the tabernacle.  The largest drop in population was Simeon which went from 59,300 to 22,000.  It can be stated that the reason for this loss to these three tribes was because the uprising of Korah where 15,000 people died in that rebellion against God.  Joseph’s two sons went in opposite directions in this census in that Manasseh went from 32,300 to 52,700 and Ephraim went from 40,500 to 32,500.  All in all this is a fulfilled promises from God that Israel could gain this much population in such a short amount of time, for God had promised Abraham that Israel would have many people.

            There is another difference in this census other than knowing how many men from each tribe would be able to fight, and that is that in this census the different clans were mentioned so that when the land would be given out after the fighting was done that they would know where each tribe would fit best in the Promised Land. 

            Dr. Wiersbe entitles “A New Beginning” as his title to this chapter in his book “Be Counted” and states that after the plague where Israel lost 24,000 people that God’s grace could be seen just as it was seen after Israel sinned at Kadesh-Barnea.  God is a merciful God and even after His people sin He grants mercy to them.  God could have used angels to destroy the Canaanites who lived in the land that would be given to Israel, but He used Israel a day at a time.  “God is certainly long-suffering toward His people, and we ought to count it a great privilege to know Him and be able to work with Him in doing His work.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  My prayer is that God would have mercy on my wife and I after entrusting an untrustable person with our funds to turn his heart into someone who would bring honor and glory to Him and so when he stood at the Judgment Seat of Christ that he would not have to explain how he stole 200 families out of millions of dollars. 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1. Learn to know God better each day through the reading of His Word.
2. Learn to be content in my life.
3. Trust the Lord to guide my path.
4. Trust that the Lord would give me the right words to say Sunday that would bring honor and glory to Him and that would be helpful to those who would be listening to those words.

 

2/10/2009 9:48 AM