70 Palm Trees. Really?
Today I bring you a
small sampling of humor before a larger more in-depth look at the end of this
chapter. First, let me deal with
forty-some versus quickly. The list
given in Numbers 33 is fashioned to be 42 places, arranged in 6 groups of 7
places each. You no doubt see that the
inherent dynamic of 7 places within in each group reminds the people that God
was within the journey. However, as for
the humor – I couldn’t help but laugh at Elim in verse 9. It says here that there were 70 palm trees
and 12 springs of water. And I have to
ask, what are 70 palm trees to a multitude that the Bible reports as 600,000+
men, not counting the women and children?
In some respects,
though, that attempt at humor brings us back to the provision of God. It is nigh impossible for a single person to
survive in a desert-type wilderness. A
single person has trouble finding food, water, shade, etc. The fact that God can sustain any kind of
community for 40 years in the wilderness should cause us to pause and
contemplate God – even if we do snicker while asking what good 70 palm trees are
among a million or so people.
God’s Breadth and Depth
Moving past the list,
we come to a section at the end of the chapter that allows us to do some deep
contemplation about the Hebrew people and about us. The Hebrew people were told to drive out the
native inhabitants of the land. As a New
Testament Christian, this passage bothers me.
These kinds of
statements seem at odds with the God of Jesus who speaks of turning your check
and giving up your tunic. These kinds of
statements seem at odds with the God of Paul who walks into Athens and uses
their culture to bring them to God rather than using their culture to condemn
them – which, for the record, Paul could have easily done. I’m not saying that God is wrong here, but I am
lifting up the fact that these stories show the vastness of God. The same God who sent out Jesus to turn the
other cheek and who sent out Paul to evangelize to Athens also sent forth the
Hebrew people to drive out the Canaanites before them in mass genocide. It is the same God, as difficult as that
truth may be to grasp.
Love and Righteous Judgment
This brings me to a
place where I must accept both the love of God as well as His righteous
judgment. God is love, and God is
certainly willing to forgive all who repent.
However, God is also capable of judging when a person – or people – is
not going to repent and who therefore need some judgment thrown their way. In fact, I would argue that God is the only
one capable of bringing about such judgment.
Both aspects are
within God, and it is important for me to acknowledge this. As I reflect upon this, I believe it is also
worth saying that the Bible seems to push us forth into the direction to love
all people while only condemning and judging people at His direct
movement. I haven’t thought that last
sentence through, but initially I am fairly comfortable with it. We are to be a people of love all the time; a
people of judgment only at His direction.
An Ominous Ending
The other tidbit I
would like to bring out today is this last ominous verse. Boy is it ominous! “And I will do to you as I thought to do to
them.” Here’s the cold truth. The Hebrew people do not drive out all the
Canaanites as we will see in the readings over the next few months. The Hebrew people will allow the ungodly to
remain in their midst and it is the Hebrew people themselves who eventually
become corrupted. God brings up the
Babylonians and the Assyrians and does drive out the Hebrew people from the
land. This last verse in this chapter is
one that God fulfills in a very harsh manner.
Why is this important
to us? Well, we are a people called to
proclaim God’s grace, love, mercy, and judgment to the world. We are to be “in the world” but not “of the
world.” That puts us in the very same
precarious place that we find the Hebrew people as they go into the Promised
Land. Yes, we are to come in contact
with worldly people! We are to get to
know them, testify to them, proclaim love to them, and invite them to know
God. That is what we are commanded to
do. But we are also to do it all the
while reminding ourselves that if we go into the world and allow the world to
corrupt us as Canaan corrupted the Hebrew people, then God will do to us what
He thinks to do to the world. That, my
friends, should keep us all awake tonight.
Do you want God to do to you as He plans on doing to the world?
No, I’m not really trying
to scare anyone. Please know that I am
not trying to make anyone doubt their salvation. But I am trying to call us all to a serious note
about following God. It is so easy to
become corrupted in the world. It is
easy to find ourselves a mile away from God’ path simply and unknowingly by taking
multiple single steps to the side. So I
don’t call you to doubt, but I do call us all to evaluate. Right here, right now. Take an assessment of your walk with God. Do you walk more with God or with the world?
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