Numbers 9
Our outline draws a line through the middle of this chapter, between verse 14 and 15. The first part still falls under the heading of Sanctification through Worship, which runs from 7:1-9:14; the second part comes under Sanctification through Divine Guidance, running from 9:15-10:10.
The worship in question is the celebration of the Passover. The time given for this celebration was "the first month of the second year after they came out of Egypt," which is exactly one year after the exodus. The tabernacle had just been erected. We read in the last chapter of Exodus: "So the tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year."[ 1 ] The Lord had already given to Moses the instruction to hold a census, according to ch. 1:1, and, probably, the offerings of the tribal leaders for the inauguration of the tabernacle, as described in ch. 7, had already been made. We are now in the second week of the New Year, since the Passover was to be celebrated on the fourteenth day of that month.
This was to be the first commemoration of the exodus from Egypt, one year after the original event took place. The Pulpit Commentary remarks that there may have been some doubts as to whether the people were to celebrate the feast at all during the desert crossing, and God's specific command answers their question. It seems, however, that the Passover was not celebrated after this until about forty years later, when Israel actually entered Canaan. Only after the younger generation had gone through the rite of circumcision at Gilgal, we read in the book of Joshua that they celebrated the Passover: "On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover."[ 2 ] It is true that, in the original instructions, there was only question of a commemoration after the people had entered the promised land. We read in the Exodus account: "When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony," and "When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites-- the land he swore to your forefathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey-- you are to observe this ceremony in this month."[ 3 ] But one gets the impression that the Passover was never commemorated consistently, even from the first time the Israelites did enter the promised land. When king Josiah reinstates the practice we read: "Not since the days of the judges who led Israel, nor throughout the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah, had any such Passover been observed."[ 4 ] Seeing the place of importance the Passover celebration takes in the Pentateuch, it is amazing that, of all feasts, this particular one was neglected to such a degree. Forty years of wandering through the desert and the lack of some kind of civilization, such as existed in Egypt and later in Canaan, which would be a necessary element in the celebration, would account for it. After all, one would need houses and doors in order to be able to apply the blood to the lintel and the side-posts of the doors. The practice to kill the lambs and apply the blood to the door-posts was later changed to a celebration which converged on the temple, which became the only place where the Passover lambs where killed.
One of the main reasons for the negligence in the observation of the feast, however, must have been the neglect of the written Word. It was not until Josiah's days, when the written Word of God was rediscovered that the Passover celebrations was given its rightful place in the life of the nation. It was not until the scroll of the Pentateuch was rediscovered and read, that the Passover was celebrated again. We read that, during the restoration of the temple a scroll was found. "Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, 'I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the LORD.' He gave it to Shaphan, who read it. Then Shaphan the secretary went to the king and reported to him: 'Your officials have paid out the money that was in the temple of the LORD and have entrusted it to the workers and supervisors at the temple.' Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, 'Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.' And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king. When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes. The king gave this order to all the people: 'Celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.' "[ 5 ]
The Pulpit Commentary enters rather deeply into the problem of this first celebration of the feast in the desert, suggesting that the number of one-year-old lambs available would not have been sufficient to provide for this celebration. The Commentary quotes Josephus who wrote, "that in that day 256,000 lambs were slain and their blood sprinkled upon the altar within the three hours 'between the evenings.' " This would seem to be a physical impossibility, and we can only remark that Josephus was certainly no eye-witness of the event. In the original instructions given there was no indication that the task of killing the Passover lambs or kids was reserved for any special group of people. The Passover was a family affair, where one family, or a combination of families, got together to celebrate. The only difference in the first anniversary celebration was the lack of door-posts and lintels.
It seems that the main reason for the insertion of the portion at this point in the account of the book of Numbers is that it deals with the provision for a deferred celebration of the feast, one month later. The case of some men who had touched a dead body, and who were thus ceremonially defiled, became the reason for the issue of a general rule. King Hezekiah used this provision in the law to postpone the Passover celebration. We read in II Chronicles: "The king and his officials and the whole assembly in Jerusalem decided to celebrate the Passover in the second month. They had not been able to celebrate it at the regular time because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not assembled in Jerusalem."[ 6 ]
The Pulpit Commentary suggests that Jesus may have acted according to this provision in the law by celebrating the Passover prematurely. The Commentary says: "And possibly it was in the spirit of this command that our Lord acted when he ate the passover by anticipation with his disciples twenty-four hours before the proper time-- at which he was himself the Lamb slain." This last point hinges on the interpretation of the term which is used to indicate the proper time, which is "between the evenings." The Hebrew words are bêyn 'ereb, which is generally taken to mean "at dusk." It could, however, be interpreted literally as between one evening and another; which would allow for a period of twenty-four hours. If taken in this way, Jesus was well within the prescribed time limits when He brought His disciples together and transformed the Passover celebration and the Feast of Unleavened bread into a celebration of the "Last Supper." Our Western mind would have a hard time understanding that time could be defined so loosely as to allow for anytime during a twenty-four hour period, but once we move out of the Western word, we observe that the rest of the world is not bound to the clock the same Westerners usually are.
A strange phenomenon is the use of the word "dead body" in this context. The Pulpit Commentary says about this: "Dead body. Hebrew, nephesh, as in ch. v. 2; vi. 11, and other places. It is inexplicable how this word, which properly means 'soul,' should have come to be used of a corpse; perhaps it is an additional testimony to the complete absence from Jewish teaching of any doctrine of an immortal spirit. The Septuagint uses psyche here." It seems, however, that use of this word, which is also used to indicate the creation of Adam in the Genesis account, ("And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul")[ 7 ], points to the meaning of mortality rather than the absence of a doctrine of immortality. The suggestion seems to be that the disintegration of what was created in God's image is foul to God and defiles the person who comes into close contact with it.
It is also important to note that it was especially this kind of defilement, the touching of a dead body, which is mentioned as preventing people to observe the Passover ritual, which was a commemoration of death by substitution. There were other things that could make people ritually unclean, but they are not mentioned here, although they would, probably, prevent participation in the Passover as well. There seems to be a rather profound lesson to be learned that some forms of death are an abhorrence to God and others are like a pleasing aroma. "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints."[ 8 ] There is a difference between dying because the lifeline with God is severed, or dying as an expression of love. The person who had been contaminated by the one could not participate in the commemoration of the other.
Another reason for a deferred celebration was if a person was away on a journey. This, of course, was no form of defilement, but it was a separation, which meant a severance of fellowship also; fellowship with the family, which was of fundamental importance in the Passover celebration, and fellowship with God, who had declared Himself present locally in the tabernacle, above the cherubs of the ark. Leaving is also a form of death, as the French proverb says.[ 9 ]
The Pulpit Commentary adds that "The Rabbins ruled that it meant a distance of fifteen miles or more from the temple at sunrise of the fourteenth of Abib."
There is something touching in the repetition of some of the elements which constitute the celebration of the Passover. The Lord says specifically: "They are to eat the lamb, together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They must not leave any of it till morning or break any of its bones." The Father wants the celebration to be a perfect picture of His Son's sacrifice. It is closely linked to the Feast of Unleavened bread; which is an expression of the consequences redemption has on daily life. The blood of the lamb gives to the partaker the right to live a life from which sin has been removed. The bitter herbs are a reminder of the essence of suffering, the price that was paid for the redemption, the fact that nothing of the lamb was to remain till the next day, was a reminder of the once-for-all character of the sacrifice, and, finally, the unbroken bones contained the promise of the resurrection. In giving the eyewitness account of Jesus' death, John says: "But when they [the Roman soldiers] came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.[ 10 ]
The verses 13 and 14 reveal two striking principles, which no only apply to the celebration of the Passover, but to the whole of man's relation with God. The first principle is the deviousness of the human heart and the second is the ministry-principle of God's covenant with Israel. God foresaw the possibility of a man using the clause for the deferred celebration as an excuse not to celebrate at all. The Pulpit Commentary remarks about the statement that, in the deferred celebration also, all the regulations had to be observed: "The later Jews held that this passover need only be kept for one day, and that leaven need not be put away from the house. But this was a clear departure from the original rule, for it was evidently intended that it should be in all respects a true passover, and in this case six clear days were allowed for the keeping of it." God ruled that the man who tried to avoid the commemoration of his deliverance forfeited his rights as an Israelite. The phrase, "That man will bear the consequences of his sin," does not spell out what those consequences would be, but we can take it to mean that the sin could not be expiated by any sacrifice, since he disdained the sacrifice God had ordained for his salvation. The author of the Hebrew epistle speaks in New Testament terms about this kind of person when he says: "If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?"[ 11 ] And at another place, the same writer says: "They are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace."[ 12 ] In the context of the Epistle to the Hebrews, this means that a Jew, who had discovered that Christ was reality portrayed in the Old Testament sacrifices, and who came to the point where he turned his back to the reality in order to revert to the Old Testament images of animal sacrifice, virtually cut himself off from the possibility of having his sins atoned for, since he rejected the means of atonement. As a Jew who had been included in the covenant God had made with His people, he withdrew himself from the protection of the blood of the covenant, and thus exposed himself to the full attack of the enemy.
We have to be very careful not to build a theology of eternal security, or of the possibility of falling away from God's grace, upon the above. The fact that a person was born a Jew meant that he was included in God's covenant with the people of Israel, which was a different position from a New Testament Christian who is "in Christ." Jesus calls the woman whose back was bent over "a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years", and when Zacheus confesses his sins before Christ, Jesus says: "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham."[ 13 ] Evidently, being a daughter and son of Abraham, put those people in a position in which they could claim salvation, but they were not saved before they met Christ. The man who refuses to observe the Passover ritual, reneges his status as "son of Abraham."
On the other hand, aliens were invited to the Passover celebration, if they observed the rules. These rules are spelled out in Exodus: "An alien living among you who wants to celebrate the LORD's Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcised male may eat of it. The same law applies to the native-born and to the alien living among you."[ 14 ] This is the ministry-principle, or missionary principle of the Passover celebration. It emphasized the fact that the people of Israel were to be a nation of priests. The God of Israel is the savior of the world, but man has to meet God on God's conditions.
In vs. 13 the Passover celebration is called "the LORD's offering." This term is rather unusual since "offerings" were, generally, sacrifices brought in connection with the Levitical priesthood. The Passover celebration and the killing of the lambs, however, was a family affair in which no priest was called in. The head of the household served as a priest. There is a hidden reference to the priesthood of Christ in this, since Christ Himself did not belong to the tribe from which priests came to serve. The writer to the Hebrew touches upon this when he says about Christ's priesthood: "He of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar. For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests."[ 15 ] It is also true that the Passover sacrifice predated all the other sacrifices. It formed the basis for all the other ones. It was not until after Israel had left Egypt, which was made possible by the killing of the Passover lamb, and arrived at Mount Sinai, that the instructions for the tabernacle service were given.D. Sanctification through Divine Guidance 9:15-10:10
Here we enter upon the last section of Part One of our outline of Numbers. The verses 15-23 describe, what the Pulpit Commentary calls: "The Signals of God."
This section takes us back to the last verses of the book of Exodus. After Moses had finished the work of assembling the tabernacle, we read: "Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle."[ 16 ] The accent in Exodus is upon the glory of God, which came down in the midst of the people. In our chapter in Numbers the stress seems to be upon the guidance which the cloud offered to the people and the people's obedience to God's directives. The keywords here are "They obeyed the LORD's order, in accordance with his command through Moses." The cloud was the physical evidence of God's presence and the moving of the cloud was the visible guidance during the crossing of the desert.
Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary says about the pillar of fire and cloud: "The phenomenon by which God guided the Israelites during their travels through the wilderness after leaving Egypt <Ex. 14:24>. The pillar of fire and cloud is first mentioned in <Exodus 13:21-22>, where some of its characteristics are described. In the form of cloud by day and fire by night, the pillar was constantly visible to the Israelites. By this phenomenon, God led the people on their journey from the border of Egypt as they marched toward the Promised Land. As a pillar of fire, it gave enough light for the people to travel by night.
The pillar of fire and cloud was also a visible sign or representation of God's presence with His people. In a sense God could be said to be "in" the pillar <Ex. 14:24>; in it He "came down" to the tabernacle of meeting <Num. 12:5>, and "appeared" at the tabernacle <Deut. 31:15>.
After the tabernacle was built in the wilderness, it was covered by a cloud which had the appearance of fire by night. Although this cloud was not described as a pillar, it must have been the same phenomenon. While the cloud remained over the tabernacle, the people did not break camp. But they set out when the cloud was taken up. Wherever it settled down again was to be the next stopping place."
The description of how God guided His people through the desert by means of the moving of the cloud is given before Israel arrived at the borders of Canaan. The Pulpit Commentary says: "This supernatural phenomenon was not transitory, like the glory-cloud within the tabernacle (Exod. xl. 35; cf. 1 Kings viii. 10), but permanent, as long at least as the Israelites were in the wilderness." We have no indication, however, that the cloud went ahead of them after the people refused to enter the promised land and were condemned to wander in the desert for forty years. The last mention of the cloud is when the people revolt against Moses and Aaron and hold them responsible for their own failure to enter the land. We read: "But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the Tent of Meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared."[ 17 ] There, the cloud suddenly appears, which would suggest that it had not been visible anymore previously. As long as Israel obeyed the Lord's guidance, guidance was given; but as soon as they refused to follow the cloud, the cloud withdrew and they were on their own. There is a strong suggestion that, during the forty years of disobedience, the people literally wandered aimlessly through the desert, without any other goal but to die there. There is no clearer picture of what it means to lead a life outside the presence of God; it is a life without a goal and without meaning. Paul describes it as "without hope and without God in the world."[ 18 ]
On the other hand there is the testimony of those who "follow the Lamb wherever he goes."[ 19 ] God does not ask us to find our own way through life. He is willing and eager to take us by the hand. The Psalmist says: "You hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory."[ 20 ] And the author of Hebrew presents the picture of Jesus as our guide through life, by saying: "In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering."
In the verses 17-23 we are given a rather detailed description of the pattern of the way in which the Lord guided the Israelites through the desert by means of the moving of the cloud. These verses elaborate what was said briefly in the book of Exodus.[ 21 ] God had, obviously, a well defined travel plan for His people, which included periods of prolonged rest and short interruptions of travel; sometimes no longer than one night at a place. We do not read what happened with the tabernacle during those overnight stops, but it seems hardly possible that the tabernacle could be assembled completely in such a short time, only to be taken down the next morning. On the other hand, we do not know how long it took to put everything together. With several thousand men involved, it may have been the work of a few hours only. Also, at the time of arrival at the place where the night was spent, it was not known when the cloud would move again, so the people would, probably, prepare themselves for an average stay of several days every time they pitched their tents somewhere. Vs. 21 suggests that the cloud could break up even in the middle of the night. It could be, though, that the verse only speaks about a hypothetical incident. The following verse mentions periods of "two days or a month or a year," which may be the actual duration of the various stops. The Pulpit Commentary says: "It is not know whether or on what occasion the Israelites actually remained in camp for a year." The Hebrew word translated "year" is yamin, which means "days" or an undefined period.
The point of these verses is that God's guidance is unpredictable. There was no set pattern which would allow people to get into a rut. The only routine consisted in obeying when the order was given. There were periods of waiting which were sometimes prolonged.
One of the hardest things in the life of a human being is waiting, and waiting for the Lord is the hardest of all. David knew that it takes more strength and courage to wait than to act, for he says: "Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD."[ 22 ]
Jesus introduces the concept of watchfulness in regard to God's guidance. Speaking about His return, He says: "Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. It's like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back-- whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: 'Watch!' "[ 23 ]
There are periods of prolonged waiting, but there are other moments at which God is so much in a hurry that we can hardly keep up. The cloud can move anytime and it can move fast. The Holy Spirit keeps us on our toes. As long as we are on earth, we are in God's boot camp. Some of the moves may seem purposeless, but the purpose of the exercises is to teach us to obey.
Finally, the Israelites "obeyed the LORD's order, in accordance with his command through Moses." The "through Moses" clause refers, both, to the Lord's command and to the people's obedience. The people did not just run and pack when the cloud moved. God communicated the command to Moses through the moving of the cloud and Moses passed on the marching order. This is a perfect image of our obedience to God's guidance in Jesus Christ. The writer to the Hebrews elaborates on this point. First of all, he says that: "Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses."[ 24 ] Then we read about Jesus' own obedience to God's commands, and the purpose of this in relation to the guidance we receive through Him. "In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. ....Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him."[ 25 ] It is through Christ's suffering and obedience that we receive God's marching orders and, at the same time, it is through Him that we are able to obey.
[ 1 ]
Ex. 40:17
[ 2 ]
Josh. 5:10
[ 3 ]
Ex. 12:25; 13:5
[ 4 ]
II Kings 23:22
[ 5 ]
II Kings 22:8-11; 23:21
[ 6 ]
II Chr. 30:2,3
[ 7 ]
(Gen. 2:7 - KJV)
[ 8 ]
Ps. 116:15
[ 9 ]
Partir c'est mourir un peu.
[ 10 ]
John 19:33
[ 11 ]
Heb. 10:26-29
[ 12 ]
Heb. 6:6
[ 13 ]
See Luke 13:16; 19:9
[ 14 ]
Ex. 12:48,49
[ 15 ]
Heb. 7:13,14
[ 16 ]
Ex. 40:34
[ 17 ]
Num. 16:42
[ 18 ]
Eph. 2:12
[ 19 ]
Rev. 14:4
[ 20 ]
Ps. 73:23,24
[ 21 ]
See Ex. 40:36-38
[ 22 ]
Ps. 27:14
[ 23 ]
Mark 13:33-37
[ 24 ]
Heb. 3:3
[ 25 ]
Heb. 2:10; 5:8,9
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