A Closer Look at "Godly Guidance via a Cloud"

Numbers 9:15-23 The Guidance of the Cloud

Our province continues to be in a lockdown for the most part. Although people across the country and around the world are starting to retake their freedom. It’s just a matter of time before we get it all back. What is scarier is the thought of what happens with the next virus or pandemic now that they have got us used to living like prisoners in our own homes. But this morning I rejoice in the fact that “God’s got this!”.  A friend of mine sent me this short reminder from Romans 11:33-36:

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments, and His paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them? For from Him and through Him and for Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.

What a comfort that was and is to me this morning. So, we press on learning more about how we should live using the teachings of God to the Israelites in the desert. 

The Passage

¹⁵ Now on the day that the tabernacle was erected the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony, and in the evening, it was like the appearance of fire over the tabernacle, until morning. ¹⁶ So it was continuously; the cloud would cover it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. ¹⁷ Whenever the cloud was lifted from over the tent, afterward the sons of Israel would then set out; and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the sons of Israel would camp.¹⁸ At the ^[a]command of the Lord the sons of Israel would set out, and at the ^[b]command of the Lord they would camp; as long as the cloud settled over the tabernacle, they remained camped. ¹⁹ Even when the cloud lingered over the tabernacle for many days, ^[c]the sons of Israel would keep the Lord’s charge and not set out. ²⁰ If ^[d]sometimes the cloud remained a few days over the tabernacle, according to the ^[e]command of the Lord they remained camped. Then according to the ^[f]command of the Lord they set out. ²¹ If ^[g]sometimes the cloud ^[h]remained from evening until morning, when the cloud was lifted in the morning, they would move out; or if it remained in the daytime and at night, whenever the cloud was lifted, they would set out. ²² Whether it was two days or a month or a year that the cloud lingered over the tabernacle, staying above it, the sons of Israel remained camped and did not set out; but when it was lifted, they did set out. ²³ At the ^[i]command of the Lord they camped, and at the ^[j]command of the Lord they set out; they kept the Lord’s charge, according to the ^[k]command of the Lord through Moses.

Footnotes:

1. Numbers 9:18 Lit mouth
2. Numbers 9:18 Lit mouth
3. Numbers 9:19 Lit and the
4. Numbers 9:20 Lit it was that
5. Numbers 9:20 Lit mouth
6. Numbers 9:20 Lit mouth
7. Numbers 9:21 Lit it was that
8. Numbers 9:21 Lit was
9. Numbers 9:23 Lit mouth
10. Numbers 9:23 Lit mouth

k.     Numbers 9:23 Lit mouth

Thoughts on the Passage

God’s guidance of the children of Israel through the cloud started the day the tabernacle was first erected. I can imagine the beautiful sunset on that first evening that perhaps caused the cloud to have the appearance of fire over the tabernacle. But what was miraculous was that this effect stayed “until morning” the Scripture says. So that were God’s natural laws of sunlight causing such appearance ended, the cloud was indeed miraculously maintained by God’s very active control. Surely the Israelites noted that and thus had no trouble following that cloud. Cloud by day, cloud that appeared like fire by night.

What is also of interest here is that whereas with respect to what God wanted the Israelites to do, we almost always have the phrase, “And God spoke to Moses to speak to the Israelites . . .”. But with respect to the “cloud to be followed” there was no such spoken word by God. The people were so struck by the magnificence of that first night, that it was obvious to them that they had to move with the cloud. That God was indeed in that cloud and He was leading their path through the desert. You will also remember that they had just celebrated the Passover which brought memories of God passing over their dwellings when they were in Egypt so that their first-born would not be killed. They needed no other encouragement to follow the cloud. I would, however, point out that at the very end of verse 23, we are told that they did all this “according to the command of the Lord through Moses.” So, it is possible that this all came about the same way as other instructions, but not necessarily. [And that is what is amazing about Bible studies. We need to be able to identify what we know for sure and what we don’t know for sure. We need to be careful that we don’t assume certain things as fact to suit our own beliefs or preferences.]

So, when the cloud moved, they would follow it. When it settled down, they would set up camp again. One wonders whether the cloud just moved horizontally or actually climbed higher and then lowered itself so that there was no mistake about where to camp. Verse 17 seems to imply clearly the latter as it was in fact “lifted” from over the tent. This verse also reminds us that the cloud likely did not cover the entire camp, but was primarily over the tent of the tabernacle.

And the passage tells us that sometimes it stayed in one place for two days or a month or a year. And they stayed put until it moved. Two things come to mind here.  First, how and why did God determine the length of each stay? I guess we will never know that. Suffice it to say that the passage from Romans 11 shared in the introduction to this particular study is all that we have to go by.

Secondly, I wonder how many Israelites that were in a hurry to get to the promised land, would, especially when the cloud didn’t move for weeks, or months, would get very impatient with God. Try to put yourself in that situation. How would you react? How long would your trust and faith in the Almighty last? [Well, it seems that with this coronavirus experience we are all undergoing, we have a chance to test that.] Matthew Henry, commenting on this very thing says,

“He that believeth doth not make haste. There is no time lost while we are waiting God's time. It is as acceptable a piece of submission to the will of God to sit still contentedly when our lot requires it as to work for him when we are called to it.”

David Guzik’s commentary adds to the richness of this passage. He tells us the fire at night was “obviously a comfort to Israel in the midst of a dark wilderness, and the cloud by day would be a shade from the hot wilderness sun.”

He goes on to say, even though Israel had been organized, and cleansed or sanctified, they still had to be guided by God each step of the way to the Promised Land. That makes me think about our journey to heaven. It’s not just about becoming a Christian and taking communion, or even being baptized. It is about living each moment being led by God in all of our actions, totally depending on Him.

Matthew Henry’s points us to the fact that sometimes they had to move in the middle of the night (vs. 29). Can you imagine how much grumbling that may cause for some people?  I wonder how we would react to such guidance in the middle of the night. Henry says, 

“. . . probably there were some appointed to stand sentinel day and night within sight of it, to give timely notice to the camp of its beginning to stir, and this [is] called keeping the charge of the Lord. The people, being thus kept at a constant uncertainty, and having no time fixed for stopping or removing, were obliged to hold themselves in constant readiness to march upon very short warning.”

Are we keeping that charge of the Lord? Are we, as Henry puts it,

“kept at uncertainty concerning the time of our putting off the earthly house of this tabernacle, that we may be always ready to remove at the commandment of the Lord [for heaven].”

We should note as Henry did that it is uncomfortable to remain in place when God has departed, but very safe and pleasant going forward when we see God has gone before us and then to be resting when He commands us to rest. That is the life of action and peace that we should all seek. In this passage God clearly shows us once again that He cares for us. 

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

I Thought I Was Reading An Updated Version of a Saul Alinsky Manual

We Need A Movement: Four Problems To Solve To Restore Rational Government

Author: John Jensen

Publisher:Self-published, San Bernardino, California, 2017

Full disclosure – I am a “conservative”.  Now, read on.

The book’s title intrigued me enough to agree to read it and review it. Certainly, many would agree that the West has lost any vestige of rational government. We’d also agree we want to fix the problems that result from such a loss. And I thought Dr. John Jensen, a clinical psychologist, educational consultant, and a former Catholic priest, would lead us through the waters of social change to the promised land we crave.  He certainly made a valiant effort.

His book is broken down into four main sections (really, they’re chapters). These cover the four problems he believes need solving -- Meaning, Selfish Power, Mediocre Thinking, and Organization.

While he offers many gems of wisdom, the organization of his material leaves much to be desired. For starters his four chapters are each, on average, 70 pages long. He engages points and subpoints, and bullets and sub-bullets to the point that the material becomes tedious for the reader.

Nevertheless, he is bang on when it comes to describing why we’re in the societal mess we are in – and clearly, to Jensen, we are in a mess. Our economic and success models are geared to raise one up at the expense of many others – sometimes unintentionally, often while unaware of doing so, and regularly, quite intentionally.

Early in his book he lists many issues and then asks, “Is it right?” But he’s very careful to only include issues of the political left, not the political right. For example, he raises concern for global warming, high rates of teen death and child poverty, poor child care, high rate of incarceration, inequality in education, inequality in the justice system, an over-funded military, etc. But there’s no mention of issues like abortion, euthanasia, broken marriages, single parenting, etc.  So right away he alienates his conservative readers.

He also uses words that are polemic to some.  For example, on his dedication page he warns us of only using 300-word quotations from the book, but it appears that “activists’use of the text for promoting ideas outlined within” is totally okay, with no limit. 

Jensen does many things well. For example, he explains the necessity for great care when we seek freedom from government interference, pointing out that if the government is not in control, others rush in to fill that gap.  He warns that many democracies have been or are ruled by autocrats and that Hitler took over his homeland when German democracy was ineffective.

I must admit Dr. Jensen may think he is writing an apolitical book, but his examples seem quite one-sided for one who follows American politics these days.  In fact, he has a unique way of criticizing the Trump phenomenon on several occasions. He writes things like, “We must not design society to violate justice and respect.”  And yet, to a conservative reader who believes he is a proponent of the left, he seems to be totally missing the fact that this is exactly what the side he favors is doing.  He makes a discrete point for increasing or widening the voter base, but in so doing, he speaks directly against what most Americans want – voter identification. He writes, “Every attempt to exclude individuals, demographic groups, or regions from the electoral process by making their participation harder, longer, or more confusing degrades democracy and leaves a minority in control.”  He lost me ideologically after that.

Sticking with his desire, Jensen identifies the issue before us as simple: “The issue,” he says, “is basic. Can society grow efficiently and profitably and still account for everyone? The data do not say. It appears to be a matter of choice.”  But while he gives us lots of details on how to change that society step by step, person by person, it’s not clear as to how successful such a process would be.  After all, there were many community and societal organizers (Saul Alinsky being one) before Jensen came along and look where we are.  He himself writes, “A ten-foot ladder does not free us from a twenty-foot hole.”

The author wanders into the issue of refugees and ethnic groups and objects to our seeing them as being our enemies simply because of where they were born and where we were born. Unfortunately, while as a Christian like him, I can, and I must love individuals from any part of the world, I don’t believe I can realistically expect everyone not to see some groups as enemies when they want to kill us.

The book has many redeeming values.  For example, there is a myriad of great lines.  Here’s one with regard to expecting assistance from those who know a crime has been or is being committed: “To turn in a family member (terrorist, murderer, etc. to the authorities), people must commit to the values of a society that values them (the people doing the informing).” [Italics mine.]

He includes a great deal of detailed instruction for almost each step of a movement’s creation and implementation. Those are most helpful to anyone working on any cause.  His list of “analytic tools” and their use is top-notch. As an example, there is a list of 153 questions to use in having a discussion when challenging people with your ideas.

There are also some great and very useful insights into how to argue with extremists.  If you don’t mind the author’s slant, even though he tries to hide it well, this is a great book for how “to do” what needs to be done to start any kind of movement, let alone a social one.

Jensen also seems to miss the real purpose of the Church instructing his readers on how to infiltrate it for your cause. (He calls it ‘appealing to the churches’, I call it ‘manipulating the Church’ based on the social teachings of Christ.). In so doing, ex-Father Jensen misses the higher calling of the Church – the salvation of mankind.

Nevertheless, I intend to keep it on my shelf as a reference not only to use when running discussion groups or formal meetings, but also to remind me of how political and social activists operate.

  

Ken B. Godevenos, President, Accord Resolutions Services Inc., Toronto, Ontario, June 4, 2018

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