The Loyalty of People to Each Other (Num. 32:1-15)

2/27/2009 8:05 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                    Focus:  The loyalty of people to each other

 

Bible Reading & Meditation     Reference:  Numbers 32:1-15

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 ¶ now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had an exceedingly large number of livestock. So when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, that it was indeed a place suitable for livestock, 2  the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben came and spoke to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the congregation, saying, 3  "Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo and Beon, 4  the land which the LORD conquered before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock." 5 They said, "If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession; do not take us across the Jordan." 6 But Moses said to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben, "Shall your brothers go to war while you yourselves sit here? 7 “Now why are you discouraging the sons of Israel from crossing over into the land which the LORD has given them? 8 “This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-Barnea to see the land. 9 “For when they went up to the valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the sons of Israel so that they did not go into the land which the LORD had given them. 10 “So the LORD’S anger burned in that day, and He swore, saying, 11 ‘None of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob; for they did not follow Me fully, 12 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have followed the LORD fully.’ 13  "So the LORD’S anger burned against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the entire generation of those who had done evil in the sight of the LORD was destroyed. 14 “Now behold, you have risen up in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinful men, to add still more to the burning anger of the LORD against Israel. 15  "For if you turn away from following Him, He will once more abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all these people."

            In Warren Wiersbe’s book on Numbers he divides this chapter into four parts with the title of the chapter “The loyalty of people to each other” and then has sub-titles to each of the four parts.  The first two sub-titles are “The request” and Moses’ reaction of which I will take on this morning in this SD.

            Chapter thirty-two of Numbers is a chapter in which two of the tribes of Israel, Ruben and Gad, and later on half of the tribe of Manasseh would come to Moses and ask if they could have land on the East side of the Jordan river as their inheritance instead of going over to the West side of the Jordan river where the other tribes were going.  When the ask Moses about this they may have may a mistake and mislead Moses when they said “and do not take us across the Jordan.”  Moses immediately thought that they did not want to help their brother tribes in ridding the land of their enemies and went into a long conversation about how the ten spies had cause Israel to sin and thus caused them to wander in the wilderness for forty years.  In the next SD the response will be given to by these tribes as to what they really meant and want to do.

            The question that I have in all of this is whether or not this was the correct thing in the eyes of God for these two and a half tribes to settle out of what is called The Promised Land?  One thing that I see missing here is that neither these tribes or Moses came to the Lord to seek His guidance or answer in all of this and that makes me wonder whether or not this was the right thing for them to do.  As I have read the chapters following Numbers I have found that this action by these tribes did cause some trouble latter on for Israel, but I must say that there was a lot of trouble for those tribes that did go into the Promised Land too, so maybe this was not a problem.  I will say this that at this time in my life I do believe that this was the wrong move for these two and a half tribes to make, but this is not written in stone.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Moses may have spoken to quickly to the request of these tribes and these people probably framed their question in a wrong way.  I can learn from both of these situations by thinking before I speak and whenever I ask a question do it in a clear manner so it is not misunderstood. 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1. Trust the Lord go guide my path today and to help things go smoothly with my work on the kitchen.
2. Learn contentment.
3. Give myself to the Lord for worship and service.
4. Seek the Lord to search my heart to see if there is any sin in it.

 

2/27/2009 8:37 AM