Numbers 1-3

I had my office torn apart yesterday to do some reorganizing and never got the computer clear to make this post.

God’s message to me: My God is a God of numbers and exact timing. This book starts with a date.

Promises: God promised that the nation of Israel would be nurtured in Egypt. They went in a family under 100 and came out as a nation of around 1 million. That’s a promise fulfilled.

Commands: God commands a census and record keeping in these passages. He shows us that Dates, Numbers, timing, and precise records are all important to Him.

Timeless principles: God made you for a destiny. He knows where you belong and what you are meant to do. Within His perfect plan is the perfect duty for you and the perfect place for you to be. You are not lost in the crowd, He has recorded your name, your place and your destiny.

How can I apply what I’ve learned: God was quite specific that the Levites were not part of the census. Counting them with the census would have brought punishment. When your counting up over 90% of the population the temptation is to finish the job. Do as God says precisely. Over kill is just as bad as not finishing. (yes, I realize that the Levites were, eventually, counted. It was separate from the census and made a point dedicating the first born. This is only the first census and knowing who not to count in future census takings will be important. God will reiterate the point about not taking the census to far. Keep this in mind When King David takes a census in the future)

more to learn for in-depth study: Entering Egypt with 66 able bodied men and their wives and little children. Leaving Egypt the nation included 603,550 men of war over the age of 20 plus women children and those to old to fight. This didn’t even count the tribe of Levi since they were set apart for the Lord’s work. This is also after the loss of a number of people do to sin against God in worshiping the Golden Calf.

Keep in mind also, the number of times God has commanded records to be kept and things to be written down. In spite of the claims by those who try to prove inaccuracy in the Bible, this is not an oral tradition. This was a written record from the beginning. Even if we reject evidence that writing existed before the flood we cannot reject the plain evidence of writing in Sanskrit, Hieroglyphs and other forms after the flood. Joseph was prime minister of Egypt. His family lived as the family of visiting royalty in the land for generations until the last 2 pharaohs. Moses was a prince of Egypt. There is no way that writing was unavailable to these people and God’s specific command to write things down makes it clear that things were written.

The Levites became the replacement for the firstborn. The first born were to be dedicated to the Lord but the Levites were taken as payment for the firstborn of the children of Israel. Their entire tribe was dedicated to serving the Lord in and around the temple. Aaron was of the tribe of Levi and became the subdivision. It was His descendants who would serve as priests. A Levites served the temple but only the sons of Aaron served as priests. There were 22,000 males over the age of one month in the tribe of Levi who served the temple. There were 22,273 first born males over the age of 1 month in all the other tribes of Israel. The extra 273 were redeemed for 1,365 shekels which were given to Aaron and his sons.

tomorrow: Numbers 4-5