Bible in 365 Days

Numbers 33-34

Numbers 33

An account of the wanderings of the people in the wilderness was written by Moses at the express command of God. It appears as a bare and uninteresting list of names and yet it tells the story of a people guided by God through discipline. In the course of it there are occasional glimpses of light, revelations of varying experiences but of unvarying guidance. Through shadow and through sunshine, through trial and through triumph, by ways that were gracious, they were led with unceasing faithfulness by God.

Thus we are taught that even though He chastise, He continues to conduct and when through our own unbelief we have to pass through the paths of the wilderness He never forsakes us.

This account is followed by a record of the solemn charge to the people in view of their approaching possession of the land. They were to enter by divine appointment and the purpose of which was to be a manifestation of God and of the perfection of His government. Therefore, when they entered the land, every trace of false worship was to be swept away wherever it was found. Moreover, the land was to be divided equitably among them.

The charge was accompanied by warnings uttered in simple terms and yet most solemn and searching. To tolerate and allow to remain what God had ordered to be driven forth would be to retain that which in itself would be a source of continual difficulty and suffering. The most solemn word of all was the last uttered. "And it shall come to pass, that, as I thought to do unto them, so will I do unto YOU." In these words is revealed an abiding principle, that God's election to blessing is never of persons without reference to conduct, but rather of character which expresses itself in obedience to His will.

Numbers 34

One of the terms of the charge already considered, that the people should possess the land and that it should be divided equitably, was now enlarged upon. The division was to be according to divine arrangement and choice. It must be based as to amount on the comparative needs of the tribes. The divisions given were for those who would pass over into the land beyond Jordan according to the divine purpose. Reuben and Gad and the half- tribe of Manasseh were to have no part in that inheritance. Thrice over the words are repeated in reference to them, they have received." They had made their own choice and it was now ratified. Long after, they were the first to be captured and carried away in the breakup which ensued upon the sin of the whole of the people.

While the arrangements for division were divine, human instruments were appointed to see them carried out. These were the priest Eleazar and the princes of the tribes.

Among these one name arrests our attention. It is Caleb, the man who, with Joshua, forty years earlier had believed in the possibility of doing the; will of God in face of difficulties. Now, after the long period of disciplinary experiencing, he was appointed with Joshua again to take oversight of the partition of the land according to the divine plan.