In our lesson two weeks ago, we studied Leviticus 26, and talked about Obedience and how important it is.

 

Leviticus 27 deals with the dedication of certain persons to the Lord, and a monetary value of these dedications or consecrations.

 I don’t find too much to discuss in this section.  So we leave the book of Leviticus

 

 

The Book of Numbers gets its name from numbering, or counting the Children of Israel.  We might call it the Census book.  This is how the book begins:

 

(Num 1:1-3 NKJV)  Now the LORD spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying:

Dating is important; especially for a census because a census changes continuously.  The Bible is not a careless compilation of ideas, or facts for that matter, but things are carefully dated and documented.

Here is the purpose of the book:

 

{2} "Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of names, every male individually,

{3} "from twenty years old and above; all who are able to go to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall number them by their armies.

 

I guess if you want a “biblical” age for going to war, it is twenty:

Not eighteen as we have in our country.

 

(Num 1:20-23 NKJV)  Now the children of Reuben, Israel's oldest son, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers' house, according to the number of names, every male individually, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war:

(Num 1:21)  those who were numbered of the tribe of Reuben were forty-six thousand five hundred.

 

 

(Num 1:22) From the children of Simeon, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers' house, of those who were numbered, according to the number of names, every male individually, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war:

{23} those who were numbered of the tribe of Simeon were fifty-nine thousand three hundred.

 

I’ve just given a few verses to let you see that this is repeated over and over as the count goes on.  There are other things stated in the book, and at this point, I begin the screening of what might be of interest to you, and what is not.

 

 

While in Denver, Don referred to me as his little brother.

Sixty years ago, I was his little brother.  Now I am his younger brother.  He should have said that because he left one dear lady confused.

She asked me which one of us was the older.  Don’s wife overheard that and she laughed the hardest I saw her laugh on the entire trip.  I had to clarify that Don is nine years older than I am, so when does he retire?  The Bible does not say much about retirement, so we will look at what it does say.  The idea begins to creep in early in the book of Numbers.

 

 (Num 4:2-3 NKJV)  "Take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the children of Levi, by their families, by their fathers' house, {3} "from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the tabernacle of meeting.

 

Two interesting numbers:  The age of thirty being the age when Jesus began His ministry.

The age of fifty which would appear to be the age of retirement.  Note one other thing:  from among the children of Levi—The priestly tribe.

 

(Num 8:23-26 NKJV)  Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, {24} "This is what pertains to the Levites: From twenty-five years old and above one may enter to perform service in the work of the tabernacle of meeting; {25} "and at the age of fifty years they must cease performing this work, and shall work no more. {26} "They may minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of meeting, to attend to needs, but they themselves shall do no work. Thus you shall do to the Levites regarding their duties."

 

“and shall work no more.”  That’s what I would call mandatory retirement!  But to whom does this apply? ‘This is what pertains to the Levites’

Why the Levites?  They had to manage the animals that were being killed.  They needed a certain amount of physical strength to do their job.  I know of nothing else being said about retirement.

 

(Num 9:15-18 NKJV)  Now on the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the Testimony; from evening until morning it was above the tabernacle like the appearance of fire.

{16} So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. {17} Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, after that the children of Israel would journey; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel would pitch their tents. {18} At the command of the LORD the children of Israel would journey, and at the command of the LORD they would camp; as long as the cloud stayed above the tabernacle they remained encamped.

 

 

(Num 10:11-14 NKJV)  Now it came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, that the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle of the Testimony.

{12} And the children of Israel set out from the Wilderness of Sinai on their journeys; then the cloud settled down in the Wilderness of Paran.

 

 

(Num 10:13) So they started out for the first time according to the command of the LORD by the hand of Moses. {14} The standard of the camp of the children of Judah set out first according to their armies; over their army was Nahshon the son of Amminadab.

 

It is interesting that the first tribe named in this case is the tribe of Judah.

Of course, it is through Judah that Christ came.  Judah was the royal tribe—the kingly tribe.

 

 

(Num 11:1-3 NKJV)  Now when the people complained, it displeased the LORD; for the LORD heard it, and His anger was aroused.

So the fire of the LORD burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp. {2} Then the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to the LORD, the fire was quenched. {3} So he called the name of the place Taberah, because the fire of the LORD had burned among them.

 

 

(Num 11:4-6 NKJV)  Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: "Who will give us meat to eat?

 

 

(1 Cor 15:33-34 NASB)  Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals." {34} Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.

 

 

Num 11:5: "We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; {6} "but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!"

 

 

(Num 11:31-34 NKJV)  Now a wind went out from the LORD, and it brought quail from the sea and left them fluttering near the camp, about a day's journey on this side and about a day's journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the ground. {32} And the people stayed up all that day, all night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail (he who gathered least gathered ten homers); and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. {33} But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was aroused against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very great plague. {34} So he called the name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had yielded to craving.

 

 

1.  They were gluttons.  They went to excess!

“And the people stayed up all that day, all night, and all the next day,”

 

(Prov 23:20-21 NKJV)  Do not mix with winebibbers, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat; {21} For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.

 

Their problem:

 

Complaining -- which includes being unthankful for what they had.

 

Eating to excess—gluttony

 

Much of this was encouraged by the “Mixed multitude.”  Running with the wrong crowd.
 

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