Num 26-27, We need to be careful of our company

Num 26:1-4, 63-65 (NIV) After the plague the Lord said to Moses and Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, 2 "Take a census of the whole Israelite community by families — all those twenty years old or more who are able to serve in the army of Israel." 3 So on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them and said, 4 "Take a census of the men twenty years old or more, as the Lord commanded Moses."


These were the Israelites who came out of Egypt:


63 These are the ones counted by Moses and Eleazar the priest when they counted the Israelites on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho. 64 Not one of them was among those counted by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Desert of Sinai. 65 For the Lord had told those Israelites they would surely die in the desert, and not one of them was left except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.


• Compare beginning and end



Tribe	Beginning (1:26-40)	End (26:5-62)	Change	Remark
Reuben	46,500	43,730	-6%	Part of Korah rebellion (Dathan and Abiram) where 15,000 die
Simeon	59,300	22,200	-63%	Balaam strategy (sexual immorality; worship of Baal of Peor)
Gad	45,650	40,500	-11%	Near Simeon
Judah	74,600	76,500	+3%
Issachar	54,400	64,300	+18%
Zebulun	57,400	60,500	+5%
Ephraim	40,500	32,500	-20%	? Not sure--possibly near south
Manasseh	32,200	52,700	+64%
Benjamin	35,400	45,600	+29%
Dan	62,700	64,400	+3%
Asher	41,500	53,400	+29%
Naphtali	53,400	45,400	-15%	? Not sure



• Why did every tribe in the South lose people?
• 1 Cor 15:33-34 (NIV) Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." 34 Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God — I say this to your shame.
• This particular quote is not a proverb but is taken from a Greek lost comedy by Menander (a pagan writer)
• Closest proverb: Prov 13:20 (NIV) He who walks with the wise grows wise, // but a companion of fools suffers harm.
• Another possibility: Heb 12:15 (NIV) See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
• Bitter people can spoil just about anything
• Why did every tribe in the East gain people?
• Possibly their proximity to the entrance to the temple
• Possibly their proximity to the priests and Moses who camped on the east side at the entrance
• APPLICATION:
• Where do you camp? Where do you hang out? Where do you spend your time?
• Does your lifestyle and choices help you to grow or do they cause you to lose your salt? (What did Jesus say about salt that had lost it saltiness?)
• Why the census?
• Makes a point, as we have discussed
• It is for the purpose of distributing the inheritance
• Num 26:52-56 (NIV) The Lord said to Moses, 53 "The land is to be allotted to them as an inheritance based on the number of names. 54 To a larger group give a larger inheritance, and to a smaller group a smaller one; each is to receive its inheritance according to the number of those listed. 55 Be sure that the land is distributed by lot. What each group inherits will be according to the names for its ancestral tribe. 56 Each inheritance is to be distributed by lot among the larger and smaller groups."
• This goes back to the original chapters where there is order and not chaos as God directs our plans


Num 27:12-23 (NIV) Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go up this mountain in the Abarim range and see the land I have given the Israelites. 13 After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, 14 for when the community rebelled at the waters in the Desert of Zin, both of you disobeyed my command to honor me as holy before their eyes." (These were the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Desert of Zin.)


15 Moses said to the Lord, 16 "May the Lord, the God of the spirits of all mankind, appoint a man over this community 17 to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the Lord's people will not be like sheep without a shepherd."


18 So the Lord said to Moses, "Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand on him. 19 Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence. 20 Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him. 21 He is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who will obtain decisions for him by inquiring of the Urim before the Lord. At his command he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out, and at his command they will come in."


22 Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole assembly. 23 Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the Lord instructed through Moses.


• What does God do differently in this section?
• He does not give Joshua all of Moses authority but splits it between Eleazar and Joshua
• Moses and Aaron shared authority together, with Moses the primary head, now rulership is separated from priestly functions
• Why does God change things, or what was so different about Moses that God allowed all the authority to rest in him?
• Power corrupts
• Moses was exceedingly humble and less susceptible to power
• Moses had grown up in power but shed his former life
• Heb 11:24-27 (NIV) By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
• Since humility is such a positive trait, how does one develop humility? (Read Andrew Murray quotes from Humility)
• humility is simply acknowledging the truth of his position as creature, and yielding to God His place
• And further, that this humility is not a thing that will come of itself, but that it must be made the object of special desire and prayer and faith and practice.
• Believer! study the humility of Jesus. This is the secret, the hidden root of thy redemption.
• This life of entire self-abnegation, of absolute submission and dependence upon the Father's will, Christ found to be one of perfect peace and joy. He lost nothing by giving all to God.
• Men sometimes speak as if humility and meekness would rob us of what is noble and bold and manlike. Oh that all would believe that this is the nobility of the kingdom of heaven, that this is the royal spirit that the King of heaven displayed, that this is Godlike, to humble oneself, to become the servant of all! This is the path to the gladness and the glory of Christ's presence ever in us, His power ever resting on us
• The lesson is one of deep import: the only humility that is really ours is not that which we try to show before God in prayer, but that which we carry with us, and carry out, in our ordinary conduct; the insignificance of daily life are the importance and the tests of eternity, because they prove what really is the spirit that possesses us. It is in our most unguarded moments that we really show and see what we are.
• The humble man feels no jealousy--or envy. He can praise God when others are preferred and blessed before him. He can bear to hear others praised and himself forgotten, because in God's presence he has learnt to say with Paul, "I am nothing."
• In striving after the higher experiences of the Christian life, the believer is often in danger of aiming at and rejoicing in what one might call the more human, the manly, virtues, such as boldness, joy, contempt of the world, zeal, self-sacrifice,--even the old Stoics taught and practiced these,--while the deeper and gentler, the diviner and more heavenly graces, those which Jesus first taught upon earth, because He brought them from heaven; those which are more distinctly connected with His cross and the death of self,--poverty of spirit, meekness, humility, lowliness,-are scarcely thought of or valued.
• The point which I wish to emphasize is this--that the very fact of the absence of such confession of sinning only gives the more force to the truth that it is . . . in the habitual, never for a moment to be forgotten position, which just the more abundant grace will keep more distinctly alive, that our only place,, the only place of blessing, our one abiding position before God, must be that of those whose highest joy it is to confess that they are sinners saved by grace.
• How can I die to self? The death to self is not your work, it is God's work. In Christ you are dead to sin. The life there is in you has gone through the process of death and resurrection; you may be sure you are indeed dead to sin. But the full manifestation of the power of this death in your disposition and conduct depends upon the measure in which the Holy Spirit imparts the power of the death of Christ And here it is that the teaching is needed: if you would enter into full fellowship with Christ in His death, and know the full deliverance from self, humble yourself. This is your one duty. Place yourself before God in your utter helplessness; consent heartily to the fact of your impotence to slay or make alive yourself; sink down into your own nothingness, in the spirit of meek and patient and trustful surrender to God. Accept every humiliation, look upon every fellow-man who tries or vexes you, as a means of grace to humble you. Use every opportunity of humbling yourself before your fellow-men as a help to abide humble before God.