The God of Order and Organization.

Numbers 2:1-34 How God Wanted the Various Tribes to Camp Around the Tabernacle

Day 34 of our self-isolation. The world is slowing opening up. My daughter’s southern U.S. is opening its beaches today and some non-essential businesses as long as some precautions are taken to avoid the spread of the virus. The big issue these days seems to be those local government (municipal and state/provincial) that are encouraging “snitches” to report violations. I’m all for reporting crime. The so-called ‘crime’ these folks want reported is activity that has been banned in opposition to the Constitution in the U.S. and the Charter of Rights in Canada. At the very least they oppose our right to not be enslaved in our own homes. As I wrote on one of my social media walls, “Most Canadians know it is the foot in the door to further totalitarianism. My response and hopefully that of others will be NYET and NEIN.”

Still we press on. Today we look at Chapter 2 of Numbers which outlines for us that God cares about where we ‘stand’ and where we ‘camp’ to best perform the work and responsibilities He has for us.

The Passage

The 34 verses describe where each tribe was supposed to camp around the tent of meeting or tabernacle. They were to display their own specific banners and were to keep their distance from the tabernacle. The Levites would be in the midst of all the other camps.

Thoughts on the Passage

What was interesting to me here was that God wanted each family member to join their father’s household and then their broader family, and camp with them. There were no “sleepovers” elsewhere.  Everyone had to be in their place because everyone had to be accounted for when the time came to move camp.

Chuck Smith also points out how important it is for God to be in the center of our community. We in the western world, for the most part, have thrown God out of our communities – at least out of schools, governments, official public meetings, sports events, and to a certain extent out of our justice systems. Having “In God We Trust” or the equivalent on our coins as the U.S. still does, has almost become a hypocrisy on its own.

David Guzik tells us that the taking of Canaan, if God had His way (and He always does), would not be accomplished by a mob, but by an organized and orderly group. He tells us that God is a God of order and that there is a limit to what we can unorganized and none of nothing is done without order if it is of the Lord. (Oh, how we need to remember that at some of our church annual meetings.) Secondly, we are to accept the fact that God orders and organizes things in accordance to His wisdom, not ours.  We are to seek the wisdom of God and get on board. Guzik ends his comments on this chapter with this:

“The tribes of Israel camped around four banners, which were said to be a lion, a man, a calf, and an eagle. We find the same four creatures surrounding the throne of God in Revelation.”

Don’t know if we’ll ever get that far in our study but it is amazing to at least note that an early Old Testament book is linked to the promise of what is to come and what we are to enjoy as we’re told in the Bible’s very last book. What amazing “master writer” God is!

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.