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.

Never thought an O.T. census would mean so much.

Numbers 1:1-54 The First Census

Day 33 of self-isolation. Protests to end the shutdowns are increasing as people realize they’ve been duped, and we have over-reacted to this particular virus, as serious as it is. Most of us see light at the end of the tunnel. Most important for the Christian right now is to discern what God is saying to the world and to each of individually. We press on. Thanks for joining me in the study of Numbers.

The Passage

Verse 1 provides the time in history that this census occurred.

Verses 2-5a provide a description of how the counting is to take place and who is to be counted.

Verses 5b-16 provide the names of those who would have stood with Moses, who are called from their congregations, as the heads of divisions of Israel.

Verses 17-19 describe how Moses worked with these men to register everyone that was to be counted.

Verses 20-43 give a listing of all those counted under each tribe.

Verses 44-46 remind us that those counted were only males who were 20 years old and up, and able to go to war.  Their number in total was 603,550.

Verses 47-49 describe how the Levites were not to be counted.

Now the rest of the chapter:

⁵⁰ But you shall appoint the Levites over the ^[a]tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its furnishings and over all that belongs to it. They shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall take care of it; they shall also camp around the ^[b]tabernacle. ⁵¹ So when the tabernacle is to set out, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle encamps, the Levites shall set it up. But the ^[c]layman who comes near shall be put to death. ⁵² The sons of Israel shall camp, each man by his own camp, and each man by his own standard, according to their armies. ⁵³ But the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that there will be no wrath on the congregation of the sons of Israel. So, the Levites shall keep charge of the tabernacle of the testimony.” ⁵⁴ Thus the sons of Israel did; according to all which the Lord had commanded Moses, so they did.

Footnotes:

1. Numbers 1:50 Lit dwelling place, and so throughout the ch
2. Numbers 1:50 Lit dwelling place, and so throughout the ch
3. Numbers 1:51 Lit stranger

Thoughts on the Passage

I find it interesting that these instructions from God came to Moses as he was in the “tent of meeting”. You can read more about that here: the tent of meeting.

Now it appears that the census was only of males twenty years of age and up and able to fight in an army. That no females were included may be a concern to many today, but that was not the case at the time. God wanted them to know (for He didn’t need a census to tell them) how many able-bodied men they had that could fight for Israel, preparing them perhaps for what was ahead. Matthew Henry points out that by virtue of counting all those “who were able to go out to war” (verse 3), the aged, those with bodily infirmities or chronic diseases, blind, or lame, were also excluded. God was interested in primary Israel for what was ahead.

And Moses was, of course, to have help in taking this census. Now when God says you need help, you need help. Don’t try to do it all by yourself. God will provide the help you need if you sincerely ask for it and are patient. In this case, God even names the individuals of each tribe that are supposed to help Moses. Chuck Smith says the names of those men chosen that day were very important and thus he writes:

So, let's take a look at the names of these men. In verse five Elizur is the first one and Elizur means, "my God is a rock." In verse six, Shelumiel; his name means "at peace with God." In verse seven, Nahshon means "a diviner." In verse eight, Nathaneel means "the gift of God." In verse nine, Eliab means, "my God is Father." In verse ten, Elishama means, "my God has heard" and then also in verse ten, Gamaliel means, "my God is a rewarder." And in verse eleven, Abidan means, "my Father is judge." In verse twelve, Ahiezer means "brother of health." In verse thirteen, Pagiel means "event of God." Verse fourteen, Eliasaph means "God addeth" and then the last guy, Ahira doesn't have too good a name. It is "brother, his brother is evil." So, he probably had an older brother that wasn't of too good a reputation, so he picked up the name "his brother is evil."

Imagine that, “God knew their names” and what they were like, just as He knows your name and my name, and He knows what we are like.

The text actually gives us the number of the men counted that day by tribe. Chuck Smith tells us that one needs to note how each tribe either grew or decreased in number throughout the forty years in the wilderness. We will be able to arrive at those numbers for comparison purposes when we get to the second census in the book. But for those that are impatient may I refer you to this link: men by tribe just before entering Canaan.

David Guzik speaks to this:

At the end of the Book of Numbers - 38 years later - this census is repeated. The total number of available soldiers will be almost the same - only a loss of some two thousand. But the numbers of each tribe change significantly, and there is meaning in what happened to each tribe over these critical 38 years.

David Guzik also makes some most interesting points about this census. He says it is the first step in “taking the promised land”. And when you are in the wilderness (your personal wilderness), you can come up with hundreds of schemes to get out of it – but only God’s way works. Guzik says God wanted them numbered by families because the strength of Israel was determined by looking at the strength of individual families. And that is true about the Church today – it is only as strong as we keep our individual families, in the faith. Some of us are not doing that well, are we?

Verse 46 tells us the number of able-bodied young men over 20 able to fight in an army for the Israelites was 603,550. And the Levites were excluded from that number. They had a different role to perform for God and the Israelites.

One may also ask why all the numbers of the tribes ended in 100’s or in the case of Gad’s tribe in the 50’s. There were no tribe numbers that went to units or tens. Matthew Henry suggests that earlier Moses had divided the people into 100’s and 50’s and appointed rulers over them as stated in Exodus 18:25. And thus when census time came, it was easier to count them by the number of rulers.  Makes sense to me.

Verses 50 and 51 tell us that the Levites had full charge and full responsibility for the tabernacle wherever it was moved to and wherever it was set down.  And they did the moving. They were to dismantle it and to put it together again.

Matthew Henry provides some reasons as to why God wanted the census taken. He suggests the following:
1. To prove the accomplishment of the promise He made to Abraham, that God would multiply his seed.
2. To put a difference between the true Israelites and the mixed born among them. (Only true Israelites were counted.)
3. To prepare the entire congregation for easier marching as well as to facilitate the administration of justice among them.

In verse 52, God instructs how the different tribes are to arrange themselves in the camp. They were to stick together by tribe. The Levites, however, were to be protected by these armies and in turn protect the tabernacle as they camped all around it.

Guzik reminds us that God counts things. He counts the stars and has a name for each one (Psalm 147:4; Isaiah 40:26). God even counts and knows the number of hairs on your head! (Matthew 10:30). “He who counts the stars and calls thenm all by their names, leaves nothing unarranged in his own service.” (Spurgeon)

And Moses got the sons of Israel to do all of this as God had commanded.  So, we have a good start. There was obedience to God and to the leader He had appointed, Moses.  Whatever could go wrong? Stay tuned.

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Jacob’s Prediction About Simeon and Levi and Their Tribes - Genesis 49:5-7

“Simeon and Levi are brothers; Their swords are implements of violence.  Let my soul not enter into their council; Let not my glory be united with their assembly; Because in their anger they slew men, And in their self-will they lamed oxen.  Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; And their wrath, for it is cruel.  I will disperse them in Jacob, And scatter them in Israel.”

It is interesting that Jacob takes his next two sons, Simeon and Levi, and deals with them as one unit.  Both are Jacob’s children through Leah, his first wife, which he was tricked into marrying.  Simeon’s name referred to his mother being ‘heard’ by God alluding to the fact that she was unloved by Jacob.  Levi’s name referred to his mother’s hope that she would now be more ‘attached’ to Jacob since she had borne him three sons.

Jacob now refers to the violence that these two sons had caused many years ago (Genesis 34) against Hamor and Shechem while trying to get revenge for their rape of their sister Dinah.  Jacob wanted no part of that any longer.  While he had kept silent when the atrocity occurred, he now could not contain his anger any longer.  The consequences of the sins that Simeon and Levi had committed, while forgiven, would now have to be paid.  We would do well to remember that.  While one can be forgiven for a sin, its consequences still have to be faced and accepted.

Simeon and Levi may have tended to hang out together due to the fact that they were partners in the same crime, and their personalities may have matched – both being rather aggressive and violent when they became angry.  Jacob was not willing to allow them to be advised by him or to benefit from his knowledge.  They would have to miss out on his wise and experienced counsel to them.  Nor did he want to be part of any evil plans they may have or groups they may be part of.  What a decision-point to come to for a parent.  How that must have hurt him.  Perhaps some of us have suffered in the same way.  We can take comfort in the fact that God does not hold us responsible for the actions of our adult children. We need to continue to love them and always leave the door open for their full regret and repentance.  Still, we must make it perfectly clear to others, as Jacob was doing here, that there should be no doubt we were neither part of, nor did we find any real pleasure in what our children did in their own sinning.  Sometimes, a parent’s humanity comes out and he/she secretly admires the evilness of his/her child, convincing themselves that it is all part of life and growing up to be wise.  But Jacob wanted to leave no doubt in anyone’s mind before he died.  We can learn from that.

Sometimes I wonder at my own thoughts with respect to war against the intolerant political ideology of Islam and its desire to eliminate both the United States (the Great Satan in its eyes) and Israel (the Little Satan).  Sometimes I wish that the west would apply all its power to put an end to this ongoing threat that is accompanied by so much pain and destruction and murder of innocent people around the world, especially Christians and Jews living in various Middle Eastern and African countries.  Yet this passage causes me to stop and reflect on my motives.  Are they driven by my own personal self-will, or are they driven by a godly anger?

The anger of Simeon and Levi was sin because it stemmed from their “self-will” as Jacob notes.  The Scriptures are not opposed to anger, especially godly anger but not anger due to selfishness.  In fact, that may indeed be the distinguishing feature between godly and ungodly anger – the latter being driven by one’s own will, not the care of others or the desire to see God being glorified.  We notice in the text that Jacob curses their anger and not them.  So when you and I go after those who we believe do wrong to mankind, we must be careful to speak out against the sin and not against the individual, leaving the latter to God at the appointed time.  For example, we must distinguish between the homosexual and homosexuality; the political leader and his/her decisions; or in other words, the sinner and the sin, respectively.

But Jacob does determine that because of their sin, Simeon and Levi were not to live together in the land.  He prophesized they would be both divided and scattered throughout Israel.  We see this to be factual later on in Scripture.  But was this to be a curse for both of them?  We’ll have to get into the Biblical books of Exodus, Numbers, and Joshua to get the answer.  Suffice it to say here that the Levites became known as the “priestly tribe of Israel”.

So once again, God uses the sin of individuals to work out His divine plan.  And while you and I (mere mortals) would think that He would, in the interest of fairness and equity, punish all involved equally, that is not always His way and He has His reasons.  Once again, our job is to accept Him as the One who judges, not us.

In my personal life, I have found that accepting this and believing in Him to the point where I no longer have to ask, “why?” makes life so much more livable and exciting, allowing me to be surprised by Him every day.


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