Tag: enter the Promised Land

Numbers 33:1-56 – The Wilderness Journey

Read Numbers 33:1-56

Did your jaw drop when you saw how many stops the Israelites made along their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land? I’ve always been curious as to what forty years of wandering around a fairly small region looked like, and the answer was here in this reading all the time! Remember the instructions God had given Moses about setting up and taking down the Tabernacle, as well as moving it each time they broke camp? That message came while they were camping in Sinai (verse 15). This text gives us the route and puts all of that into perspective.

The wilderness journey is now nearly complete. The people can see across the Jordan River to the land of Canaan. This will be their new home, the Promised Land God vowed to give his people, Israel. No more nomadic life; the end of the journey is in sight. What do you think God’s people thought about that? What do you think Moses was thinking knowing he’d never cross the river with them? Continue reading “Numbers 33:1-56 – The Wilderness Journey”

Numbers 26:1-65 – What a Big Family!

Read Numbers 26:1-65

All the people camped near Moab ready to enter the Promised Land were related. Their patriarch was Jacob, and each of his twelve sons are represented by descendants recorded here. A census is the best way to keep track of this huge family. You may recall at the beginning of the book of Numbers a census was taken to register the people of Israel coming out of Egypt. Since that time, as God declared, all but two of those people on the original roster have died. Joshua and Caleb are the exceptions, and how they will be used by God is yet to be seen. We can follow his story as the successor to Moses in the book of Joshua. The circle of life can be a beautiful thing.

God was getting the people ready for the final leg of their pilgrimage through the wilderness. The number of people in this moment would be memorialized for all time. How many people survived the journey? That was the question being answered by this registration process. How many men would there be to fight the battles ahead? As it turns out, there were fewer than previously counted. Continue reading “Numbers 26:1-65 – What a Big Family!”

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