Year 1, Day 117: Numbers 1

Naming of the Book

Here’s an interesting tidbit of information.  We call this book “Numbers” because of the two fairly significant censuses recorded within its pages.  But the Hebrew people don’t call this book Numbers.  They call this book “In the Wilderness.”  No, not “En te Eremo” – for that is Greek, not Hebrew.  But it is exactly the same thought.  I have a new affinity for this book!

God’s Closeness

Okay, here in the first chapter we get a clear indication of the sheer power of God.  Think about it.  How many hundreds of thousands of people are encamped in the wilderness?  Yet, God knows them all so well that He can list names from each tribe to help Moses take the census.  I don’t know about you, but I doubt that if I was in charge of a nation of people that large that I could rattle of the names of people from among every subdivision – much less know them well enough to know that they would be good help in the process.  God doesn’t just know His people, He knows His people personally and individually.

Levites Excluded

Of course, reading through this list we can see a great discrepancy.  No, I’m not talking about the fact that it was only men who were counted.  I am talking about that the Levites were kept out of the list.  We shouldn’t miss this point.  The Hebrew people are already made separate (holy) from the world.  Now God is making the Levites separate (holy) from among the already separate (holy) Hebrew people.  God takes the holiness of His priests seriously.

Here’s what it says to me.  There are worldly people.  There are people who know God, but who are still pretty worldly.  And then there are His priests – people who are claimed for a different purpose than what the world thinks.  Of course, by now you know that I preach and teach the priesthood of all believers as spoken of in the book of Revelation and much of Paul’s writings.  How many of today’s Christians – lay and ordained alike – would really call themselves separate from the world?  How many of today’s Christians would really see themselves as having a separate identity than what the world expects from them?  Yet God clearly considers His priests to be a separate people.

To reach the entire world, God needs a host of people.  God doesn’t need just a few people to be separate.  God needs His host of believers to be separate unto God and live like it.  That’s really all it takes.  But when we do not live as separate people unto God, we tarnish the ministry that God has called us into doing.  This point is far more significant than just a change of mindset.  It is speaking about following Christ as true change in who you are as a person.  Not just belief, but true repentance!

Of course, blend this with the fact that twice in this chapter (Numbers 1:19, 54) that Moses did as the Lord commanded.  We get a pretty good understanding of holy and God’s desire for His priests.  God commands, we follow.  God commands, we act.  God commands, we live.  Nowhere in there is there anything about us second-guessing God, living to an alternate standard, or even not living up to God’s command.  God’s priests – God’s people – do as God commands!

In the Wilderness: En Te Eremo

One final note.  Let’s return back to the Hebrew title of this book: “In the Wilderness.”  Clearly I have used that description as the title of my blog to lift up the feeling that this world is a spiritual wilderness and we proclaim in the midst of it.  But there is another more personal application.

The Hebrew people lived and traveled in the midst of this wilderness.  They lived the wilderness, and most of this actual generation died in it.  The warning is clear.  Not only is the world a spiritual wilderness, but we must be careful that we ourselves are not a wilderness. 

Is God alive in us, or are we fooling ourselves?  Are we fertile ground for the Spirit or are we a dry and parched land?  In the end, will we pass through the wilderness into the Promised Land or will we find that we die in the wilderness having become a part of the wilderness ourselves?

We shall see, and I’ll likely talk about this again, but the Hebrew people waste almost 40 years in their wanderings through the wilderness.  We should not be so foolish as to follow their example.  If you are in the wilderness, get out!  If you are embodying the wilderness, seek the words of life – or as Jesus speaks in John 4, seek the water of life which after drinking nobody will thirst again.

God’s grace to you.

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