Bible In A Year: Numbers

The Book of Numbers shows God’s faithfulness to His covenant despite Israel’s repeated rebellion. When the first generation refused to trust the Lord at the edge of the Promised Land, they wandered in the wilderness for forty years, yet God preserved a second generation to fulfill His promise. Through Moses’ intercession and Balaam’s failed curses, Numbers reveals that God’s blessing rests on His people by His sovereign will. The discipline Israel faced was correction from a faithful God who continues to accomplish His redemptive purposes according to His Word.

Transcript

Setting The Stage: Into Numbers

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You're listening to Teach Me the Bible podcast. Our mission is to help the people of God understand the Word of God. Join us each Monday and Thursday for new episode releases. Listen to our full library of content at teachme the Bible.com or by downloading the Teach Me the Bible app from any app store. You're listening to Teach Me the Bible Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Hello, everyone. My name's Tim Webb, and I'm here with David Klingler, Dr. David Klingler for our Teach Me the Bible podcast. And today, David, we're continuing to walk through the story of God. And what do you have on the plate for us today? Well, today is the book of Numbers.

Promise, People, Law, And Missing Land

Dr. David Klingler 0:41

And so we're we're going through uh the book of Numbers. Um, you know, uh, so we have Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. So we're in the the fourth book. Usually when people start reading through the Old Testament, they've ditched this thing long before they get to Numbers, right? And so usually how it goes, they're reading through Genesis makes sense. They're going, this isn't bad, this is okay. And then they exodus, they can get through most of Exodus because they've, you know, at least the older folks have seen, you know, Yule Brenner and Ten Commandments and they're going, Oh, yeah, I remember this. I mean, the older folks can't now. Yeah, I remember this story. I remember this story. I got it. Uh but then towards the end of the book of Exodus, it starts to get pretty slow. They're building the the tabernacle, and and then you flip forward in Leviticus, you know, this is horrible, it's terrible. I'm I'm going back to Ephesians, or I'm going back to John. Let's go back to the Gospel of John, yeah. Um, you know, but but back in chapter 12 of Genesis, the Lord says to Israel, I'll make you a great nation, I'll bless you. And in you all the families of earth will be blessed. Right. And so uh at the end of the book of Genesis, uh, you're still carrying this promise, I'll make you a nation. It's been passed down from Abraham to Isaac, Isaac to Jacob. Jacob's name has been changed to Israel. Israel has 12 sons, those are gonna be the 12 tribes. Uh, but we don't have twelve tribes yet. We just have really 70 people down in Egypt. Uh, and you have chapter 15 of Genesis where the Lord says, 400 years, you're gonna be enslaved. At the end of 400 years, I will appear and I'll lead you out. And so he leads them out. That's the book of Exodus. They were book of Exodus, they were fruitful and multiplied, and so uh they're they're a multitude. And so the things you have to have to have a nation, well, you have to have land, uh, you have to have people, and you have to have a government. And so uh they have the people, the multitude, they've been fruitful and multiply. They're hauled out, they go to uh to Sinai where they get the law. That's the book of Leviticus. So now they've got the government and the people. Now all they need is the land.

SPEAKER_03 2:37

Right.

Preparing To March And First Complaints

Spies, Fear, And A Forty-Year Detour

Meat, Spirit, And Moses’ Wish

Dr. David Klingler 2:38

Uh, and so uh off they go to the land. They're the the book of Numbers begins. They're they're the really the first five chapter, ten chapters of the book of Numbers is it really covers about 19 days. So it's really slow, detailed instruction where they're preparing Israel. Okay, taking the land, taking the land, count them up. We all here, you know. So they they do the census, they count up, everybody's here. Yep, all right, here we go. Off we go, right? Off they go. Uh in chapters uh uh 10, 11, 12, they're heading towards the land. Uh they come to Kaddish Barnea, they send out the 12 spies, they spy out the land, and they come back and they say, Man, there's giants there. We, you know, let's go back to Egypt, right? We don't the Lord's brought us out to kill us, and and the the come the whining and complaining continues, it's been going on. And so uh really chapters one through fourteen covers about four and a half months. Okay. And so there's there's there's a lot of detail. Uh 15 to let's say 21 is 38 years. Whoa, that's a big switch. So now they're just you know, it's daily funerals, right? I mean, it's so so at Cadus Barnia. So what happened? So they send out the 12 spies, uh, 10 come back with a negative report. Uh Caleb and Joshua, hey, let's go take the land. We can do this. And they're they're the only two that are gonna make it through uh into the the land from this first generation. So because Israel has rejected the Lord and they've rejected his command to go take the land, uh, he's gonna wipe out that whole first generation. Uh and so that's that 38 years of getting wiped out. Uh at the back end of the book, you have another census. It started with a census, let's count them all up, we all hear. Uh, and then the Lord wipes out that first generation uh and raises up the second generation, and the numbers are basically the same, right? So he's replaced the first generation with the second generation, and right before they're going to take the the land, and this is what's next week, uh, he uh Moses gives the law to the second generation, Deuteros, second Namas law, second law gives the law to the second generation, and they're about to take the land, right? Yeah, and so there's some great, but there's some great stuff inside the book of uh of Numbers that's that I some of my favorite stories are are in this in this book. And we're not allowed to pick and choose, though, right? Well, well, we can pick and choose a little bit. Yeah, we can pick up. Because there's some really cool stories in here. Yeah, uh, but but basically what's happened is Israel's uh rejecting, complaining, and and uh and Moses is interceding. And um uh I I like this in chapter uh chapter 11. There's this um this story where where uh Israel's complaining that you know we don't have any meat, we want meat to eat. And uh you're a meat eater. I like yeah, you love meat. But I love the response, right? Uh and so they they're whining to Moses, they're complaining to Moses, you know. Uh and so uh uh and so Moses gathers up a group and they come into the tent of meeting and uh and um uh and then uh the the Lord says uh to them, or or Moses says to them, You you'll eat meat, all right. You want meat? I'm gonna give the Lord's gonna give you meat to eat. Um you won't eat it one day, you won't eat it two days, you won't eat it five days or ten or twenty. But the whole it's gonna be, he says, uh until it's coming out of your nostrils, until it is loathsome to you. It just makes me want to meat. I can eat it. Oh, you want meat? You know, you know, it's like when we were kids, right? If you're gonna cry, I'm gonna give you something to cry about, right? So that's where that came from. Yeah, yeah. You want meat? I'm gonna I'll give you meat. You'll be tired of meat. You know, it'll be it'll be loathsome to you, be coming out of your nostrils, and uh, you'll be sick of it, right? Um and uh and so and so you know this is of course what uh what comes to pass. And uh but then there's something really interesting at the end of this uh of this chapter. So the Lord came down, this is in chapter 11, verse 25, the Lord came down in a cloud and spoke to him, and he took the spirit that was upon him, and he placed it upon the seventy elders. The seventy elders are gathered a little earlier in the chapters, back in verse 16. Uh gathered uh the uh the the seventy elders were gathered, the spirit came down uh upon them, uh, and it was placed upon the seventy elders, and it came about when the spirit rested upon them that they prophesied, but they did not do it again. And two men remained in the camp and goes through this, and uh and uh then Joshua, the son of Nun, I'm skipping down to verse 28, the attendant of Moses, the servant of Moses, uh from his youth, answered and said, Moses, my Lord, restrain them. But Moses said, Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all of the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his spirit upon them? Right? Now, this is a bit of foreshadowing. Israel, you know, Israel was to be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, uh a nation of uh of prophets, right? Um in Joel uh chapter chapter two, uh we get uh this uh your sons and daughters will prophesy and dream dreams and see visions, and and so uh Israel was chosen to be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. Would that all of Israel would prophesy? And of course, uh Joel's gonna say they will, but not yet. So so there's just Moses, and Moses is kind of uh by uh himself, and and uh then in chapter twelve, Miriam and Aaron rebel as well. Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman that he had married, uh, and they said, Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not also spoken through us as well? And the Lord heard it like that. And the Lord heard, don't let your daddy hear you say and the Lord heard it. Um and uh it says now the Moses uh you know Moses was a humble man more than any man on the face of the earth. But the Lord had heard of this that they were that they were um rebelling against Moses, really. And and suddenly the Lord said to Moses and Aaron and Miriam, you three come out of the tent of you know, it's like at least in my house, we've all lived through this, right? But dad heard it and there's such a fatherly tone in this. Yeah, there there really is. In fact, this morning in our in our uh our Bible study, the the the men's study this morning, we were talking about this um uh and in the book of in the Deuteronomy study, which we'll we'll talk about this again probably um in weeks to come. But but the the word that for for discipline or uh it's translated all kinds of ways rebuke, punish, chasten, discipline, it it has this negative tone, uh, at least in the way we think about it in uh in our English translations, uh and how it's translated in our English translations. But uh, but uh but when they translated that this word, this Hebrew word into the Greek, uh it's uh it's it's the root the root word is uh is young child. It's the discipline of a young child. In fact, in in Deuteronomy chapter 8, Deuteronomy chapter 9, that the Lord disciplines Israel as he disciplines a child, right? And the the word that they're translating chasten or it it's it's to train as a child. The writer of Hebrews is going to return as it that just as your earthly father disciplines you because he loves you, so also the father the Lord disciplines you because he loves you. And so so this discipline of the Lord is always to train them, to teach them. It's not to chasten, to you know, discipline to it's part of fashioning of people. Yeah, it's it's a it's training a small child in the way that he should go. And of course, that that theme runs throughout all of Scripture, right? Uh and so the discipline of the Lord, uh and and we were saying this morning that that your view of God's love and discipline have to go together, right? Uh they're not different. Uh they're not two sides, they're the same thing. To love is to discipline. Uh, if you're without discipline, you're without love. Yeah. Right. And the right of Hebrews is going to be. Two sides of the same thing. Because we want what's best for you. The Father wants what's best for the Son, and the Lord wants what's best for them. Uh so anyway, so there's this scene where where Aaron and Miriam have re rebelled, and and so the Lord says, All right, y'all get out of here. You three come out of the tent of meeting, and the three came out, and the Lord came in a pillar and a cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent, uh, and he called Aaron and Miriam. And when they came forward, he said, All right, hear now my words. If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, shall make myself known to him in a vision, I will speak to him in a dream. But not so with Moses, my servant. He is faithful in all of my household. With him I speak mouth to mouth, face to face. Uh, you you'll hear this in different places. I speak to the Lord face to face as a man speaks to his companion or a man speaks to his friend. Uh sometimes this that passage gets turned into um Moses and the Lord were friends, they were buddies, right? Um no, I I speak it it's it's communicating how the Lord spoke to Moses uniquely, face to face as a man speaks to his friend, his companion. Um but not so with the prophet that comes after, right? And so uh and so Moses is unique. And and why are we pointing this out? Well, because so often in our teaching in the church, and uh we say, well, you know, let's learn leadership principles from Moses, or we think that that somehow um you can be Moses. Look, Miriam couldn't be Moses, Aaron couldn't be Moses, and the Lord's saying, Moses is unique. There's only one Moses, right? There's only going to be one Moses, there's only going to be one David, there's only one Joshua, there's only one Solomon, there's only all the way through this Old Testament, there's only one David, there's only one Moses, and it's not you. Uh there's only one Peter. Um, you know, and and upon the testimony, the preaching of Peter, I will build my church in the gates of, you know, uh, and so why are we pointing this out? Well, because we tend to want to go through here and make ourselves someone else in the story. And when we do that, we can really misapply. Um, we need to recognize that who we are individually in the story and who we are corporately in the story. Uh because uh we learn from what the Lord has said to Moses and what he's done through David and what he's done through all these Old Testament saints and what he's uh done through the apostles, but that doesn't make you an apostle. It doesn't make you Moses, and the way that the Lord is interacting with Moses is unique in the way that he interacted with uh, you know, we haven't seen Jesus, we never touched him, we never handled him, uh, you know, we we never heard his words. Um, the apostles did. And so uh they have the prophetic word made more sure, which we should be sure to pay attention to. So these are the words passed down. So so we point this out just to just to to to make the the you know what the text is making explicit to Miriam uh and to Aaron. You're not Moses. In fact, Miriam's gonna be, you know, judged here. They both are, and Moses has to intercede for them. Uh he's gonna uh to uh um you know to to to you know interact or intercede on behalf of Miriam and and then the Lord the Lord heals. So that's really important to recognize. Um I was teaching this one time and one of the students came up after and said that this is like the Dr. Seuss movie, all the play uh Dr. Seuss book, all the places you'll go, right? There's only one you.

SPEAKER_03 14:36

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 14:36

Um and you're not anyone else in the story, you're in the story. Uh but we need to recognize who we are individually in the story, and then who we are corporately as the body of Christ church in this story, so that we can understand what our job is. Because our job isn't to lead Israel out of the land. That's that was Moses' job. Our job's not to be a priest. Uh, that was you know, that that was the the Levites' job. So anyway, so so we when we learn the story, we learn what God has been doing, uh, and we learn uh what he's been doing all the way up to where we are in the story so that we can understand who we are. So always make the point the the Bible was not written to us, but it was written for our instruction, right? And so none of these books, New Testament or old, were written to David and Tim in Brenham, uh, Texas. They were written to the Romans, to the Colossians, and they were addressing specific issues in those churches and uh or or written to Theophilus. Luke writes to Theophilus or or whatever it is, they were right written to people in history, but because we can read those books, uh those things written to them in history, it informs us of who we are in Christ, in the church, individually, different gifts, skill sets, abilities, all for the building up of the body of Christ.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

You've said before, there are imperatives for us. Oh, nope, but within the context of our part in the story. Right. Right. Just want to keep that.

Miriam And Aaron Confront Moses

Dr. David Klingler 16:00

Well, the imperatives for the church. The the church, the Romans, you know, wait a second, we're in the same body of Christ as they are, different, you know, so that that comes across to us, right? But but uh anyway, so what we want to make uh make that point. So uh so then in uh the the you know Cadish Barnia, this rebellion, uh they send out the spies, huge uh, huge failure in the Old Testament. And this is where the first generation perishes. The the but what happened to Miriam and Aaron here? Uh well they're uh yeah, they're they're restored, so they're corrected.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

Right. But I don't know that we we we mentioned uh the anger of the Lord that came to the side.

Dr. David Klingler 16:41

So the anger is pretty yeah, the anger of the Lord uh burned against them, and he departed. But when the cloud was withdrawn over the tent, behold, Miriam uh was leprous, white as snow, and Arian tore Aaron turned towards Miriam, behold, she was white, she was leprous. Uh and Aaron said to Moses, Oh, my Lord, I beg you, um uh do not uh do not account this sin to us in which we've acted foolishly, uh in which uh we've sinned. Oh, uh, you know, uh don't let her be like uh one dead whose flesh is half eaten away and uh you know comes from her mother's womb. And Moses cried out to the Lord uh and said, Oh God, heal her, I pray. Um but the the Lord said uh to Moses, if the father has spit in her face or would bear seven days, it just continues on. But but Miriam, uh, she was shut out of the camp for seven days, uh, and then she was uh she was healed. And so so um uh you know, and of course, this also is going to give some instruction for Israel on how to do the but but so so Miriam is judged, Aaron cries out Moses. You know, notice he doesn't say Lord, you know, like the Lord God, he cries out to Moses. So the second order, yeah, the intercessor has been being uh being re re-established.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

I didn't want to make uh I didn't want us to just gloss over that. The Lord the there's consequences for his choices. Oh, sure, sure, sure. And you've said it, we've talked joked about this, you know, that we've removed the consequences for stupidity. Oh, yeah. People don't feel the pain of the choices today. Yeah, and it wasn't like, oh, okay, I changed my mind, you're good.

Dr. David Klingler 18:24

Yeah, and then and then discipline wasn't discipline in the intercession. Uh and so then uh so so the the uh this um uh the the solidification, I guess, and and there's gonna be other places where you know the sons of Kor come and they say, Hey, you know, what makes you think you're so great, Moses? Maybe we, you know, uh, you know, maybe we could be and and the Lord says, you know, get out here in the camp. You know, whenever the Lord said, All right, gather up, line up, you know, you're in trouble.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

Yeah, yeah. When you're reading this, get nervous. When you read this part, yeah, start to get nervous. Something's gonna happen. Yeah. The Lord says, come on out here.

Discipline As Love And Training

Korah’s Challenge And Moses’ Uniqueness

Balaam’s Oracles And Israel’s Calling

Dr. David Klingler 19:02

Yeah, get out here and front and center. Yeah, stand in the complaint circle and let's see how this goes. And of course, the ground sucks them up, and Moses says, Does anybody else have a problem? In other words, the reason this is here is because Israel was to recognize Moses is unique. Yeah, uh, and and we need to recognize Moses as unique. And we we've kind of been sold this, you know, um, egalitarian, everybody's equal. Uh, we all have equal, you know, roles. Uh uh, we all have equal worth and value in the Lord. Um, but the Lord chooses, he he chose Paul, he chose Peter, uh, he chose Moses. He uh he's the Lord, and he he he puts people in specific places for specific and we're not all interchangeable, right? Right. So each of us have our own function and role in the body. Anyway, so uh so um chapters uh up through chapter uh uh 12, you know, you're pretty quick. Chapter 13 and 14 is Kadesh Barnea. Uh this is where Israel sends out the spies. Uh Moses selects one spy for each uh each tribe of Israel. They go, they come back, they bring evil report, except for Caleb uh and Joshua. So keep your eyes on those because this that's the same Joshua that's gonna show up in the in the book of Joshua, and the same Caleb. Um and uh and so they're the only two that are gonna live through this generation, even Moses is gonna perish in the wilderness. And uh and and so um uh and so then coming out of that uh death of that uh that first generation, then chapters 22, uh, we get this story that's really an interesting one where there's this foreign king, his name is Balak, the king. He hires Balaam the prophet to curse Israel. Okay. And and what's interesting about this is uh is Israel is in the midst of harlotry. Uh uh it says this is in chapter so so this is chapters twenty-two through twenty-four. Um Balaam is hired, and Balach uh is hired Balaam to curse Israel. And the and through this, the repeated uh reality is that the Lord is not going to curse Israel, he's going to bless them. The Lord has determined to bless Israel. Through them, all the nations will be blessed, eternal life and all this. And the next scene, you you know, that then the camera, you know, so you get there in chapter 24. Uh, you know, uh it's this uh oracle, several oracles. Now this is into the third oracle and then the fourth oracle, but it's in this third oracle, which is at the beginning of chapter 24. Um you know, the the the Balaam sees this king uh that uh he's looking at Israel, he's looking down on the tents of Jacob, he's looking down on the dwelling places of Israel up on this hill, this mountain looking down. And And he sees the king. He says, Water shall flow from his buckets. His seed will be by many waters, and his king will be higher than Agag, and his kingdom will be exalted. This is in chapter 24, verse 7. His kingdom will be exalted. For the for God brings him out of Egypt. He is for him like the horns of a wild ox. For he shall devour the nations who are his adversaries. There's our you know, there's our Genesis uh three. He shall crush through their uh their bones to pieces, he shall shatter their arrows, he couches, he lays down like a lion, and as a lion, who dares to rouse him? That that's Genesis 49, 10. Uh the this Judah 49.10. Um blessed is everyone who blesses you, and cursed is everyone who curses you, and that's the reason. They're the carrier of the blessing, the carrier of uh of the promised seed and king who's going to come and bring blessing to the nations. And so that's why the Lord has determined to bless them, because they're the carrier of the seed. And uh, and so you get this reaffirmed through all four of these oracles of of Balaam, and then the you know, and then the director uh it's like the the um uh the narrator of the uh of the super friends in the hall of justice. Meanwhile, back in the camp of Israel, you know, yeah, and the and the camera kind of pans over there, you know, and and while Israel remained in Shitham, uh the people get began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. For they invited the people to sacrifice uh to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods, and they joined themselves to Baal of Pa'or, and the Lord became angry against them. And so uh they're playing the harlot. Uh the the word here, harlot, is the same word that you're going to see on the other side of this. So in between the book of Numbers, this scene, and uh some you know so sometimes the uh the the story moves quickly, sometimes it moves moves slowly. The the book of Deuteronomy is a sermon. So it doesn't, you know, it's if you can, you know, if you can read it, you know, it didn't take long for Moses to preach the uh to to preach the book of Deuteronomy. Uh the next book then uh is the book of Joshua. So now Joshua is going to uh lead Israel into the land. Um and uh and so uh again they're going to go and they're going to send out spies. Okay, so so Joshua's doing the same thing. So the first generation, they send out spies, they come back, evil report, wipe them all out. Then you get this Balaam and Balak story. The second generation is all counted up, that happens quickly. Moses preaches the sermon and off they go, right? Then Joshua, the son of Noon, sent two men as spies secretly from Shittim, from the same place. Right? The same place that they were in chapter 25. Now Joshua is sending them out from there. This is where Israel played the harlot back in chapter 25, and these spies go straight to the harlot's house. That's not that's to lie down there. Yeah. That's not accidental. That's not accidental. And they go, so and the harlot plays the harlot. We'll get to that here when we get to Joshua. Great story. So anyway, so all of these stories are connected, they're all tying together, right? And so so as you're reading, and you know, what flows us down and what uh causes us as you know, as church, you know, 21st, are we 21st century, whatever century you're in, uh, believers is we say, well, this doesn't matter, this doesn't apply to us. It doesn't matter. But what we forget is this is the instruction to them. The book of Leviticus is the instruction to them. Numbers is and so how you understand how they're doing is by knowing the law. And that law is going to carry all the way through the stories. That's how you're gonna evaluate the Pharisees, right? They're the Pharisees are still old covenant folks, they're they're still in the old covenant. So even in the New Testament books, the law is very much a playing. And so how you're to judge them, and and so just like any movie, if you skip scenes, you know, if you if you walk into the movie halfway through the movie, you're not gonna know what's going on, right? Uh, but if you watch this thing from the beginning, uh and you carry it through, it makes a whole lot more sense. So, so what's going on in the book of Numbers? Let's pull this thing back around. But so the book of Numbers, Israel is going to take the land, right? So, so they've got the people multiplied, book of Exodus, check. They got the law, Phabidicus, check. Let's go take the land, right? Because, you know, you're make you a great nation. And so they go, they send out the spies, and this should have taken, you know, 20 days. You know, send out the spies, go take the land. Send out spies, come back, and then uh for 38 years, uh they perish and they perish and they perish. And if the numbers are right, these are millions of people that are dying. It's all they did every day is funeral people. Yeah, for funeral services, you know. Uh, and so uh so then you say, Well, uh what's going on here? No, the Lord is determined to bless them. So he raises up a second generation. You learn the second generation no different than the first, right? So wipes them all out. Here's the second generation. They're doing the same thing, count them up, and we're gonna drag them into the land, right? But before they go, and this is next week, Moses says, All right, now you need to know what you know what's about to happen. Yeah, right. Let me remind you of the covenant, let me remind you of our history, let me remind you of how we got here. And uh, you're gonna go take the land, and it's not gonna go well for you. Yeah, right. So Moses is gonna tell them their whole so that's the book of Deuteronomy. In the book of Joshua, they go take the land. And and you begin to watch in Joshua, judges, and kings and all of these books that follow, exactly what Moses said is going to happen comes to pass. And that's all spelled out in the book of Deuteronomy. So that's what's uh that's what's coming. So the book of Numbers, uh, when you think of the book of Numbers, it's numbers because they count them up at the beginning and they count them up at the end, right? So it's numbers and numbers. And in the middle is this rejection, and the first generation perishes, second generation uh is raised up, and Moses is going to preach the the sermon to them before they take the land.

SPEAKER_01 28:37

It's a good sermon.

Dr. David Klingler 28:38

It's a good sermon.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

It's a good sermon next time. Okay. Well, David, thank you for today. I want to encourage our viewers to read through this story in numbers. It's very important, and if they they'll see some incredible parts that tie, as you said, double tie to the rest of the story. So thank you for today. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 28:57

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