1. Numbers - FNG - Friday, April 6, 2012
Tonight we get to look at the book of Numbers. If I had to summarize it in a sentence I
would say that it is intense, gripping action sandwiched between total and utter boredom.
Yet there are so many incidents in this book that can really leave you scratching your
head and asking serious questions about the traits of God‘s character revealed in the
book of Numbers. And so I am hoping that you will join us for the discussion tomorrow
afternoon, so we can maybe explore some of those.
Historically we have once again started to move, leaving the foot of Sinai where most of
Exodus and all of Leviticus took place and we cover about 40 years during which the
Israelites wondered through the wilderness. In this book we say ‘good bye’ to Miriam and
Aaron as well as the entire generation of the Israelites that walked out of Egypt. We are
also told that Moses will be following shortly with Joshua slated to replace him as the
leader of the nation. This book brings us to the threshold of the promised land twice,
finally depositing us on the eastern bank of river Jordan. I thought it may be helpful to
just quickly put up a map of their travels, just so you can get an idea of where all the
action took place.
Among the many, many things that deserve discussion in this book, there are a couple of
things that thread their way throughout this book that I would like to explore tonight. The
first one of these is God’s eye for organization. Have any of you ever moved your family
from one house to another? Was that fun? If you enjoyed it, try moving from one country
to another! I’ve done it twice - and I’m done!  But seriously though, how much work is
that? How much planning, work and logistics goes into that? Packing up the whole
house, finding and booking the moving company, making sure everything is labeled,
having the things you will need first closest to hand at offload, cancelling all the utilities in
the old place, turning them on in the new place, making sure you have your pet situated,
and of course making sure you didn’t forget to take the baby with you when you finally
roll out.
Now imagine doing that with a nation of approximately 2 million people! That is the
logistical challenge that confronted God in relocating the nation of Israel from Egypt to
Canaan. Compounding the challenge is the fact that they would be crossing hostile

2. terrain and encountering hostile nations along the way. So one of the things that God
does was to establish the order of camp and the order of march, and this we find in
chapters 2 and 10. The Tabernacle was set up in the middle of the camp with three tribes
camped on the north, south, east and west side of it respectively. Everyone had their
designated place and especially when it came to Levites - their designated duties. When
they moved out they had an exact marching order. There was no stampede and mass
confusion. They moved out in an orderly fashion. The tribe of Judah, which was the most
numerous tribe led the way. The tribe of Dan, the second most numerous tribe brought
up the rear. Surrounded by hostile nations this was a very natural military posture -
having your vanguard and your rear guard be comprised of the strongest units. After the
first three tribes moved out, the first group of Levites moved out carrying the Tabernacle.
After three more tribes, right in the middle of marching order was the second group of
Levites carrying the holy things from the Sanctuary. The plan being that the first group of
Levites would arrive and set up the Tabernacle by the time the second group arrived so
they could immediately carry in the holy articles and set them up. As someone who now
works in logistics, and has spent a good part of my life organizing trips and events, this
is very appealing to me. I see a God who plans the details and works in an orderly
fashion.
The second part of the logistics in moving 2 million people across the desert is even
more astounding. How do you provide food and water for 2 million people every single
day for over 40 years?! I don’t know if anyone here is in the catering business, so you
may have a deeper appreciation of what it would take to put on such a spread. Jesus
once fed 5000 men from five loaves of bread and two fishes. Now I did a bit of
homework on this. Assuming you could even find a caterer in Battle Creek who would be
up to the challenge of putting on a spread for 5000 people, this is what the figures would
look like. If each person get a couple of chicken salad sandwiches, coleslaw, a bit of fruit
and a cookie or brownie it would run at $8.50 per person. Add a soft drink or a bottle of
water for $1.50, and that would run you at $10 a head, for a total of $50,000 dollars, or
as the disciples pointed out – well over 8 months wages! That is a one time event for
5000 people. Now do that for 2 million people day in and day out for 40 years! A single
meal would cost you $20 million and over the course of the 40 years you will have spent
$876 billion to put on three square meals a day, and have a good chunk of your
population just making sandwiches around the clock! And so God makes an elegant

3. solution to this problem by raining manna onto the camp 6 mornings every week.
Perhaps not surprisingly people eventually got a bit bored with the menu, and started to
demand meat. Bearing in mind the logistical challenges we have talked about you can
sympathize with Moses as he finally snaps and tells God how it is: “Why have you
brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the
burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth?
Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land
you promised on oath to their ancestors? Where can I get meat for all these people?
They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ I cannot carry all these people by myself;
the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead
and kill me—if I have found favor in your eyes—and do not let me face my own ruin.”
(Numbers 11:11-15). Where am I supposed to find meat for all these people?! Relax
Moses, YOU are not supposed to find meat for all these people, God is and promises to
do so for an entire month. “But Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred thousand
men on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’ Would they
have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if
all the fish in the sea were caught for them?" The LORD answered Moses, “Is the
LORD’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for
you.” (Numbers 11:21-23).
Which brings me to my second point - God’s abundance. What happens next is that
flocks of quail come into the camp, and the Israelites gathered and ate so much it quite
literally made them sick. It wasn’t a case where each family got a little bird to share
between them, so each could have a little taste of meat. There was plenty - in fact too
much for them to handle!
And this is actually a bit of a theme in Numbers. In the very next chapter, Aaron and
Miriam grumble that they should be equals with Moses in leadership. Ironically, Moses
never coveted that leadership role. You may remember at the beginning of Exodus
Moses was more than happy that someone else, in fact, anyone else but him, take on
the role of the Israelite leader. I would imagine that the scene at the Tent of the Meeting
was quite a solemn one. God, as some kind of a stern school master calls 3 of His
children to His office. “Miriam, Aaron - front and center!” And they did get a bit of a
lecture from the eternal school master. As if that experience hadn’t produced a deep

4. enough impression, Miriam then becomes a leper.
There are, in fact, a number of challenges to Moses’ leadership within the book of
Numbers. And God deals with them quite sternly for a number of reasons. First of all,
Moses didn’t ask for the position, God chose him, and so in going against Moses who
was merely following orders from God, they were rebelling against God Himself.
Numbers 12:3 tells us that Moses was a very humble man. All the others wanted the
position because of the power and the glory. They wanted to rule. God wanted a man
who would be humble enough to seek and accept God’s guidance. And finally this all
falls into the category of keeping things orderly. All these people wanted to be chiefs and
you know what they say about having too many chiefs. There needed to be a clear chain
of command with God at the top if such a multitude was ever going to survive their
journey through the wilderness and enter the promised land.
And so God answers the rebellions by leaving no doubt about how things should be.
When Korah, Dathan and Abiram led 250 men in rebellion against Moses and Aaron,
they were not just told to stop. They were swallowed up by the earth, so that there was
no doubt that God wanted Aaron and Moses to lead the people. And yet, it seems this
did not sufficiently quell the challenge. The very next day people were at it again,
accusing Moses and Aaron for being responsible for the death of these men. What God
does next to me is one of the coolest things in the Bible. “The LORD said to Moses,
“Speak to the Israelites and get twelve staffs from them, one from the leader of each of
their ancestral tribes. Write the name of each man on his staff. On the staff of Levi write
Aaron’s name, for there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral tribe. Place
them in the tent of meeting in front of the ark of the covenant law, where I meet with you.
The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of this constant
grumbling against you by the Israelites." So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and their
leaders gave him twelve staffs, one for the leader of each of their ancestral tribes, and
Aaron’s staff was among them. Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the tent of
the covenant law. The next day Moses entered the tent and saw that Aaron’s staff, which
represented the tribe of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and
produced almonds. Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the LORD’s presence to
all the Israelites. They looked at them, and each of the leaders took his own staff. The
LORD said to Moses, “Put back Aaron’s staff in front of the ark of the covenant law, to be

5. kept as a sign to the rebellious. This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so
that they will not die.” Moses did just as the LORD commanded him. (Numbers 17:1-11).
Aaron’s staff did not just sprout. It sprouted, it budded, it blossomed and it grew
almonds! It wasn’t just a small proof - it was beyond any reasonable doubt. You can just
see God looking on as Moses brought out the staffs for inspection and saying to the
Israelites: “Was that clear enough for you?”
That is how God works. He is orderly and He provides in abundance. Whether it is food
or water, whether it is proof of His will, even the proof of His very existence. You may
remember a couple of months ago we talked about how God used the plagues to
convince Pharaoh beyond any reasonable doubt of His existence and power over any
other “gods”. And today, on Good Friday we remember a time when God, in the person
of Jesus, provided such ample evidence for His claims that He put them beyond any
reasonable doubt.
God created an orderly Universe - every action has an equal and opposite reaction. All
life comes from God. Rebelling and cutting ourselves off from God, the source of life,
results in death. When God said to Adam and Eve: “when you do this, you will die”, He
wasn’t making a threat - He was stating a fact of an orderly Universe. And on the cross,
Jesus took on our rebellious, sinful nature and provided evidence beyond any
reasonable doubt - sin does indeed pay its wages and the wages is death (Romans
6:23). In the garden of Eden, Satan said “you cannot trust God to do right by you”. And
while God spent the Old Testament wooing and calling His children back to Him, telling
them of His everlasting love for them, on the cross Jesus proved beyond any reasonable
doubt that there is nothing that we can do to God that would diminish His love for us. In
the Old Testament God invites His children to come to Him despite their sins. “Come
now“, He says in Isaiah 1:18, “let us reason together… Though your sins are like
scarlet , they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like
wool.” The empty grave is proof beyond any reasonable doubt that God has the power to
create all things new.

6. kept as a sign to the rebellious. This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so
that they will not die.” Moses did just as the LORD commanded him. (Numbers 17:1-11).
Aaron’s staff did not just sprout. It sprouted, it budded, it blossomed and it grew
almonds! It wasn’t just a small proof - it was beyond any reasonable doubt. You can just
see God looking on as Moses brought out the staffs for inspection and saying to the
Israelites: “Was that clear enough for you?”
That is how God works. He is orderly and He provides in abundance. Whether it is food
or water, whether it is proof of His will, even the proof of His very existence. You may
remember a couple of months ago we talked about how God used the plagues to
convince Pharaoh beyond any reasonable doubt of His existence and power over any
other “gods”. And today, on Good Friday we remember a time when God, in the person
of Jesus, provided such ample evidence for His claims that He put them beyond any
reasonable doubt.
God created an orderly Universe - every action has an equal and opposite reaction. All
life comes from God. Rebelling and cutting ourselves off from God, the source of life,
results in death. When God said to Adam and Eve: “when you do this, you will die”, He
wasn’t making a threat - He was stating a fact of an orderly Universe. And on the cross,
Jesus took on our rebellious, sinful nature and provided evidence beyond any
reasonable doubt - sin does indeed pay its wages and the wages is death (Romans
6:23). In the garden of Eden, Satan said “you cannot trust God to do right by you”. And
while God spent the Old Testament wooing and calling His children back to Him, telling
them of His everlasting love for them, on the cross Jesus proved beyond any reasonable
doubt that there is nothing that we can do to God that would diminish His love for us. In
the Old Testament God invites His children to come to Him despite their sins. “Come
now“, He says in Isaiah 1:18, “let us reason together… Though your sins are like
scarlet , they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like
wool.” The empty grave is proof beyond any reasonable doubt that God has the power to
create all things new.