Numbers: Life as a Pilgrimage 2

Israel in the Wilderness
Chapters 10:11 - 21:35

As you read this story, bear in mind that, while the march through the wilderness was necessary, the wandering was not. Israel could have traveled from Mt. Sinai to Canaan in about two weeks. But, because of their disobedience, they wandered in the wilderness 40 years.

Murmuring broke out in the camp: "The people complained" (verse 1). The Israelites had welcomed the delicious manna at first, but now they were tired of the monotonous daily rations. They craved the delicacies of Egypt: fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic (verse 5).

God answered the people’s demand for meat by showering them with more quail than they could eat. The rebellious attitude that lay behind their discontent was punished with a plague.

Miriam and Aaron began to gossip about Moses. The Hebrew verb form here, wat^edabber, is feminine singular, implying that Miriam led in this criticism. The pretext used was Moses’ marriage to a foreign woman, but the real cause was envy of Moses’ position and authority. Envy is a damaging emotion (Proverbs 14:30), and Miriam’s action delayed the progress of Israel’s journey for seven days (Numbers 12:15).

"When they reached the Valley of Eshcol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them" (Numbers 13:23).

Deuteronomy 1:19-25 explains that at this point Moses wanted to go straight on into the Promised Land. In fact, he challenged Israel to take possession of it. But the people suggested that he send scouts ahead to check out the territory. Moses consented to the plan (verses 21-23).

The land was truly all God said it was (Numbers 13:26-27). Joshua and Caleb, two of the scouts, were eager for the Israelites to take possession of the land God had promised them. But the Israelites listened to the 10 faithless scouts with their tales about the great walled cities and the giants of Anak. God’s perspective, as reported by Joshua and Caleb, was forgotten. Within a few miles of their goal, Israel had again given up.

God’s anger was stirred once more, and only Moses’ intervention saved the nation from total destruction (Numbers 14:13-19). But Israel’s punishment for this act of rebellion was severe: "But you — your bodies will fall in this desert. Your children will be shepherds here for forty years...one year for each of the forty days you explored the land" (verses 32-34).

Although most of the people would eventually die in the wilderness, God would bring the next generation into the Promised Land. They were to make additional offerings once in the land (verses 1-31).

"Korah’s rebellion" (Jude 11) was a rejection of Moses’ authority as God’s chosen spokesman. Korah unfairly criticized Aaron’s leadership of the priesthood, while Dathan and Abiram blamed Moses for failing to bring Israel into the Promised Land. Their real rebellion, though, was against God (Numbers 16:11). God demonstrated that Moses and Aaron were his servants, and punished the rebels: "And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all Korah’s men and all their possessions. They went down alive into the grave, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community" (verses 32-33).

Korah had publicly ridiculed the priesthood. With the miracle of Aaron’s budding staff (verse 8), God once again confirmed through whom he was working. The staff was placed as a memorial inside the ark of the covenant (Hebrews 9:4).

The Levites and priests were not allowed to inherit rural land. This was to prevent the growth of a wealthy priestly class such as those in Egypt and other nations around Israel. God was the inheritance of the Levites and priests. He gave the Levites the tithes of the nation and they, in turn, gave one tenth to the priests (verses 24-28).

The detailed cleansing process described here should remind us of the need to lead a spiritually clean life. If one is to be a "vessel for honor," one must be purged from sin (2 Timothy 2:21, NKJV).

Death dominates this chapter. It opens with the death of Miriam and closes with the death of her brother Aaron. Miriam, Aaron and Moses all died in the same year (verses 25-26; 33:38; Deuteronomy 34:5-8).

Thirty-eight years had passed since Numbers 13:1. These long years of wandering were filled with failure and death (Amos 5:25-26; Acts 7:42-43; 1 Corinthians 10:1-10). Yet God remained loyal to this sinful nation: "The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast desert. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything" (Deuteronomy 2:7).

Moses’ sin (Numbers 20:2-13) shows how one of God’s greatest servants, even after a long life of obedience to God, stumbled. He disobeyed God. He should have spoken to the rock, not struck it. Though God called Moses the most humble man on earth (Numbers 12:3), in this instance Moses was guilty of self-exaltation, claiming credit and assuming authority that was not his. As a result of this sin of broken faith, God decreed that Moses would not enter the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 32:51-52).

God gave the Israelites a great victory over the Canaanite king of Arad (verses 1-3). But the celebration was short-lived and the people continued to complain. God punished this rebellion with a plague of poisonous snakes (1 Corinthians 10:9).

"The Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live’" (Numbers 21:8).

At God’s command, Moses constructed a bronze snake and hung it on a pole. Those bitten by poisonous snakes were told to look at the bronze snake in order to be healed. The bronze snake prefigured our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who was lifted up for us on the cross (John 3:14-15).

Satan had appeared as a serpent when he deceived Adam and Eve. Subsequently, the serpent became an illustration in nature of the effects of sin. The bronze snake on the pole foreshadowed sin judged on the cross of Christ. The Israelites, looking to the bronze snake for healing of their snake bites (Numbers 21:8-9), typified the Christian faith in the crucifixion of Christ for spiritual healing of the venom of sin (Romans 4:24-25). The bronze snake later became an object of idolatry in Israel until King Hezekiah destroyed it around 700 B.C. (2 Kings 18:4).

To article on Miriam

To commentary on chapters 22-36