Helpful Hints for the Journey. (Numbers 10: 11-36)
In the Old Testament, the journey of the children of Israel from Egypt to the promised land started out rather well. They left Egypt and camped at Sinai, where they stayed for about a year. During that time, God gave Moses the instructions for the Tabernacle, as recorded in the book of Exodus.
Then, in the book of Leviticus, He provided instructions on what to do with the Tabernacle and now, in the book of Numbers, He begins preparing them to pick up camp and start moving.
We've been going through the book of Numbers, and we've reached the point where they are about to start the journey.
Here In Numbers chapter 10, we actually begin the journey. So, what I want us to do is look at this first part of the journey. It's simple in a sense, but in another sense, there are some helpful hints here on how to travel not just down a motorway or a trip to another city, but through life.
The kinds of things that are going on in this passage are the kinds of helpful hints for traveling through life.
So that what we are going to consider today on TBPDP
Let me remind you that for 2 ½ chapters and almost a year, we have been camped at Mount Sinai with the children of Israel. As a matter of fact, Moses recorded the events of that year between Exodus 19:1 and Numbers 10:11.
Everything between those verses and where we have arrived at today occurs at Mount Sinai in the Sinai Peninsula.
Numbers chapter 10 beginning at verse 11 begins the journey toward the promised land.
So verse 11 says.
11 On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle of the covenant law. 12 Then the Israelites set out from the Desert of Sinai and travelled from place to place until the cloud came to rest in the Desert of Paran.
(Numbers 10: 11-12)
Let's pause here for a moment. All that's happening in these opening verses of this passage is an order to move on is given by God.
We're going to set off in a minute, but this is just the command. In verse 11, the Tabernacle begins to move. So, verse 11 gives the dates, but the bottom line is they about a year waiting. Then, all of a sudden, the children of Israel are to move; because they are to follow this cloud as they have been previously told to follow..
What begins now is the journey from Sinai to Kadesh Barnea, which is in the very southern part of the land of Israel. That journey would normally take 11 days. What we're going to see in this passage is the beginning of the journey, but between here and there, all kinds of interesting things happen. I
I've been promising you that the book of Numbers is going to get interesting and practical soon; well we're about to enter that part of Numbers.
Now, beginning in verse 13 and going down through verse 28, we have the order of the march. Let me explain. What we just looked at was the command about the cloud. Now, we're going to look at the order of the setting off itself.
13 They set out, this first time, at the Lord’s command through Moses. 14 The divisions of the camp of Judah went first, under their standard. Nahshon son of Amminadab was in command. 15 Nethanel son of Zuar was over the division of the tribe of Issachar, 16 and Eliab son of Helon was over the division of the tribe of Zebulun. 17 Then the tabernacle was taken down, and the Gershonites and Merarites, who carried it, set out. 18 The divisions of the camp of Reuben went next, under their standard. Elizur son of Shedeur was in command. 19 Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai was over the division of the tribe of Simeon, 20 and Eliasaph son of Deuel was over the division of the tribe of Gad. 21 Then the Kohathites set out, carrying the holy things. The tabernacle was to be set up before they arrived. 22 The divisions of the camp of Ephraim went next, under their standard. Elishama son of Ammihud was in command. 23 Gamaliel son of Pedahzur was over the division of the tribe of Manasseh, 24 and Abidan son of Gideoni was over the division of the tribe of Benjamin. 25 Finally, as the rear guard for all the units, the divisions of the camp of Dan set out under their standard. Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai was in command. 26 Pagiel son of Okran was over the division of the tribe of Asher, 27 and Ahira son of Enan was over the division of the tribe of Naphtali. 28 This was the order of march for the Israelite divisions as they set out.
(Numbers 10: 13-28)
So this is just saying this is the first leg of the journey. Then, what follows in all these verses is the order of the tribes as they marched. Now, the passage, as you heard was a bunch of names. So, what I'm going to do now is just sort of run through these verses because that's what's going on.
Verse 14 says the tribe and army of Judah.
Verse 15 says it was Issachar.
Verse 16, Zebulun.
Verse 17, the Tabernacle was taken down, and basically what this verse is talking about is the Levites.
Verse 18 is the camp of Reuben.
In verse 19, it's Simeon.
In verse 20, it's Gad.
In verse 21, it's more Levites again with the furniture of the Tabernacle. In verse 22, it is Ephraim.
In verse 23, it is Manasseh.
In verse 24, it is Benjamin.
In verse 25, it's Dan.
Verse 26, the children of Asher.
Verse 27, Naphtali.
And that's the 12 tribes. Now, I just gave you the names of the 12 tribes. All those verses list not only the tribes but the leader of the tribes and in some cases the father and then the son.
Verse 28 is a conclusion. He says, "This is the order of march." So, those opening verses were the order to march, and the rest of these verses, 13 to 28, is the order in which they left and marched.
So, we can take verse 28 as sort of a clue of what's going on in these verses. And if you've been listening to me as I've been teaching through the book of Numbers, this is not going to come as any surprise.
They marched in order and I have pointed out a couple of times how God does things in order?
You know, Paul says all things should be done decently and in order, and what he's talking about at that time is the way, a church service should happen.
He's talking about the fact that in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, he talks about the chaos that was occurring because everybody was speaking in tongues, and they were all doing it at the same time.
And he advises against that because he says an unsaved person came in, they think you are all nuts.
The point is that God always do things decently and in order.
The more order, the less chaos is a good principle, infacts it the basis of the creation we see described in the opening verses of our bible were God is seen to bring order out of chaos.
I heard a preacher once preach a sermon, and he talked about your closet at home reflects your life. Canadian psychologist Dr Jorden Peterson, has built a bit of an internet presence recently hasn’t he by telling young men to tidy their room as a metaphor for getting your life in order
But let me ask you this: is it true that the more order, the less chaos, and the less order, the more chaos? Is that true?
Well, I think there's something to be said for having some order in your life. Just imagine if when God said to the children of Israel were moving out, imagine the chaos if they'd just all up and jumped on the road.
God said, no, I’m going to give you the order in which you do this. This tribe first, this tribe second, this tribe third, this tribe last.
Now, something real interesting happens at this point. These kind of things happen in Numbers sometimes, just out of the blue. Uut of the blue, we're told in verse 29.
29 Now Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place about which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us and we will treat you well, for the Lord has promised good things to Israel.”
(Numbers 10: 29)
Now, there are a couple of names in this passage that we need to unscramble. Who was Moses' father-in-law? Remember Jethro? Very good, if you remembered that.
Alright, good, Jethro. Well, where is he in this? Well he's not called by Jethro here he is called Hobab.
So, Moses’ father has two names. By the way, that shouldn't surprise you. Jacob was also called Israel. So, he had two names. But the issue is this: we're not talking about Moses' father-in-law; we're talking about Moses' brother-in-law, Hobab.
So Hobab is invited to go with us. Moses said, "Come, go with us, and we will treat you well." So, this is really interesting. Now, Moses is telling them we're heading to the promised land, and we want you to accompany us.
And if you do, we're going to treat you well.
30 He answered, “No, I will not go; I am going back to my own land and my own people.” 31 But Moses said, “Please do not leave us. You know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes. 32 If you come with us, we will share with you whatever good things the Lord gives us.”
Hobeb replies, “No thanks, I will not go, instead I will go to my own land and to my own relatives." He declined the offer.
So what's going on in these verses is Moses has given the order of the march, and now he turns to his brother-in-law and makes him an offer and says, "Go with us." And notice what he says, "You can be our eyes." Ah, that's why he asked him to go. They needed him to help them through the journey. And he says, "You will be better off with us. We will treat you well if you will come with us."
Now, this little episode raises a couple of questions. First of all, should he have asked him to go anyway
It would seem this brother-in-law knew the territory so, he could advise Moses on the terrain, where the oasis’s were, and other features of this land. He knew the land; he knew the specifics. So, Moses is following the Lord, but he's looking for other people's advice. Very, very interesting.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, that famous preacher of the 19th century, said,
"We ought to learn from this that while we ever seek the guidance of God in Providence, yet we may frequently find direction and guidance in the use of our own common sense, our own discretion with which the Lord has endowed us. We don't lean on our understanding, neither do we ignore it. God wants us to act intelligently as well as believing."
(C H Spurgeon – Sermon on Numbers Ch 10)
So, I think that what Moses did was simply using good common sense whilst at the same time encouraging someone on the periphery of his family to follow the Lord.
The other question this event raises is: Did he go? The text doesn't say, but most commentators would say that he did. And that's based on the fact that later we will see that some of his family ends up in the promised land. So, it's probably more than likely that he went.
In a matter of fact, one commentator said, in a sense, this was an act of evangelism.
But this I do know, in the journey of life, maybe we should try and take some others with you, share the gospel with them, and minister to them on the journey of life.
Now, there's one more part of this message. Beginning at verse 33.
33 So they set out from the mountain of the Lord and travelled for three days. The ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them during those three days to find them a place to rest. 34 The cloud of the Lord was over them by day when they set out from the camp.
35 Whenever the ark set out, Moses said,
“Rise up, Lord!
May your enemies be scattered;
may your foes flee before you.”
36 Whenever it came to rest, he said,
“Return, Lord,
to the countless thousands of Israel.”
(Number 10: 33-36)
The only extra detail here is it says they departed from the mountain of the Lord. What is the mountain of the Lord? And the answer is that's another name for Sinai.
The Lord met Moses on that, and it's called the mountain of the Lord. And the other thing going on in these verses is the cloud led them.
So, as they started out in the morning, because the word says they were to “rRise up. Let Your enemies be scattered, and let those that hate You flee."
In other words, he's praying for protection. He's praying for the presence and conquering power of the Lord.
Then at night, he says, "And, they rested in the Lord.
So, in the morning, he prayed for victory, and in the evening, he prayed that the Lord would return and watch over His people. So, Moses prayed during this journey, every morning and evening.
Now, can you imagine what I'm going to say next? This is similar to what we ought to be doing.
Pray every morning. Pray every night. Pray often and pray regularly.
So, in the journey of life, like the journey of the children of Israel, pray every morning and pray every night for the Lord's protection and presence and blessing.
Okay let me try and sum this up.
So, may I suggest that this journey included three elements?
First of all they marched in order.
Secondly, it involved an invitation to others, in this case, Moses's brother-in-law
And thirdly, it involved the Lord every step of the way.
So, in our journey of life, we need to remember those three things:
Have plan and generally put things in order and follow it.
Include other people, listen to them, minister to them.
And finally, don't forget the Lord. Morning and evening, all day, everyday, in fact.
This is simple stuff. I think sometimes we get so wrapped up in life, we get so wrapped up running here and there, and to and fro we just get frazzled.
My generation crashed in the evening and watched television. The new generation goes through life with their thumbs working on their phone.
We forget sometimes that the most important thing in life are relationships. Relationships with other people and relationships with the Lord.
Did you know that's really the basic message of the whole New Testament? They asked Jesus, "What's the greatest commandment?" And he said, "To love the Lord your God."
And then he said let me give you some bonus advise and he sais, also, “You should love your neighbour as yourself”.
That’s also what is being said her. The most important thing? Not just in the word and in the law, in the Torah, what's the most important thing? Your relationships, try and include your family and friends.
Don't forget the Lord, but also don’t forget other people.
Every time we have a national tragedy." I'm struck by the fact that when there is a tragedy, somebody thinks, "You know what's really important? Not that house that got destroyed by the flood or the hurricane. (Phone calls from the tower) .
Relationships, it all about relationships." So, go home and hug your kids, tell them you love them, and I would simply add, don't wait for a tragedy to remind you that the journey of life consists of relationships, with God and with each other.