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If you have access to the book, you'll notice under the title, it says: Numbers 6:24-26, so let us expand that just a little as we continue our study in the book of Numbers.

 (Num 6:22-27 NKJV)  And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: {23} "Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, 'This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them:

{24} "The LORD bless you and keep you;

{25} The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;

{26} The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace."'

{27} "So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them."

 

You can’t get more scriptural than that can you?  This song has become a great favorite of many.  The Abilene Christian College/University, Acappella Chorus has used this as their closing hymn for many years.

 

Hobab:  “He could have, but he didn’t.”

 

The year was 1964.  I believe the preacher’s name of Hubert Plumley.  The title of his sermon was:  “He could have, but he didn’t.”  Did he go, or didn’t he?  I’ll let you decide.

 

Here is the story:  (Num 10:29-33 NKJV)  Now Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, [that makes him Moses’ brother-in-law.]  "We are setting out for the place of 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." {30} And he said to him, "I will not go, but I will depart to my own land and to my relatives." 

 

Family is a powerful influence in our lives.  We hope it is for good, but sometimes it may keep us from some special rewards.  On God’s part, Moses was right.  Because of Israel’s unfaithfulness he would have spent 40 years wandering in the desert with them.

(Num 10:31) So Moses said, "Please do not leave, inasmuch as you know how we are to camp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes.

{32} "And it shall be, if you go with us; indeed it shall be; that whatever good the LORD will do to us, the same we will do to you."

{33} So they departed from the mountain of the LORD on a journey of three days; and the ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them for the three days' journey, to search out a resting place for them.

 

 

There is one more mention of Hobab, and it is a little confusing: (Judg 4:11 NKJV)  Now Heber the Kenite, of the children of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, had separated himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent near the terebinth tree at Zaanaim, which is beside Kedesh.

 

 

(Num 12 NKJV)  Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman.

 

Why is this becoming an issue now, when he has been married many years?  Of course, there is more to it than that:

 

{2} So they said, "Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?" And the LORD heard it.

{3} (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.) {4} Suddenly the LORD said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, "Come out, you three, to the tabernacle of meeting!" So the three came out. {5} Then the LORD came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both went forward. {6}Then He said, "Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream.

{7} Not so with My servant Moses;

He is faithful in all My house.

{8} I speak with him face to face,

Even plainly, and not in dark sayings;

And he sees the form of the LORD.

Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant Moses?"

{9} So the anger of the LORD was aroused against them, and He departed.

{10} And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper.

{11} So Aaron said to Moses, "Oh, my lord! Please do not lay this sin on us, in which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned.”

 

Just a short time earlier they were challenging his authority.  {2} So they said, "Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?"

 

(Num 12:12) "Please do not let her be as one dead, whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother's womb!"

{13} So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, "Please heal her, O God, I pray!"

{14} Then the LORD said to Moses, "If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward she may be received again."

 

Spitting in someone’s face is recorded as a way of showing utter contempt for someone:

 

(Deu 25:8-9 NKJV)  "Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him. But if he stands firm and says, 'I do not want to take her,' {9} "then his brother's wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, spit in his face, and answer and say, 'So shall it be done to the man who will not build up his brother's house.'

 

 

(Num 12:15) So Miriam was shut out of the camp seven days, and the people did not journey till Miriam was brought in again. {16} And afterward the people moved from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.

 

 

§     It was questioning God’s authority, in that He had placed Moses in charge.

§     Moses was very special, and God meant it to stay that way.

§     (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.) Numbers 12:3

§     He was, if you will, a type of Christ Who was to come:  "The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, (Deu 18:15 NKJV) 

 

This is not the only case of challenging Moses’ authority, but such challenges were not taken lightly by God.

 

{16} And afterward the people moved from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.

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