Hello brothers and sisters;
Every year I read the Book of Numbers. Throughout this Book God is preparing Israel to enter the Promised Land. God's patience is tried by the people through their grumbling and rebellion toward Moses. Eventually they would end up at the east of the Jordan.
Here's my problem. I have always met the first part of this study in chapters 1 - 4 as dry reading. God commanded Moses to take a census in chapters 1 - 4.
Chapter 1, The census of Israel as a nation
Chapter 2, The arrangement of the tribal camps surrounding the Tabernacle
Chapter 3, The role of the Levites
Chapter 4, The role and census of the Levitical Kohathites, Gershonites, Merarites and the total census of the Levite clans.
For those who have studied the deeper background, theme and narrative of Numbers, you are blessed.
So I ask, why did God command Moses to take a census of His people, including the men who were 20 years or more and prepared for the army, count and make a list of the names of males who were 1 month or older in the Levite and Israelite clans? After all, wouldn't God already know the grand total, names and roles of each census?
Could it be that God was still building up Moses and testing his obedience and the ability to delegate a long, time consuming, tedious and cumbersome task? This is my question.
This is not a quiz but an invitation for a commentary from your study of what Numbers chapters 1 - 4 teaches.
Instead of a one word or sentence post, let's challenge and share our commentary. The more we can expound on chapters 1 - 4 or even further in Numbers, the more we can bless others in this topic.
God bless you, brothers and sisters.
Bob
Every year I read the Book of Numbers. Throughout this Book God is preparing Israel to enter the Promised Land. God's patience is tried by the people through their grumbling and rebellion toward Moses. Eventually they would end up at the east of the Jordan.
Here's my problem. I have always met the first part of this study in chapters 1 - 4 as dry reading. God commanded Moses to take a census in chapters 1 - 4.
Chapter 1, The census of Israel as a nation
Chapter 2, The arrangement of the tribal camps surrounding the Tabernacle
Chapter 3, The role of the Levites
Chapter 4, The role and census of the Levitical Kohathites, Gershonites, Merarites and the total census of the Levite clans.
For those who have studied the deeper background, theme and narrative of Numbers, you are blessed.
So I ask, why did God command Moses to take a census of His people, including the men who were 20 years or more and prepared for the army, count and make a list of the names of males who were 1 month or older in the Levite and Israelite clans? After all, wouldn't God already know the grand total, names and roles of each census?
Could it be that God was still building up Moses and testing his obedience and the ability to delegate a long, time consuming, tedious and cumbersome task? This is my question.
This is not a quiz but an invitation for a commentary from your study of what Numbers chapters 1 - 4 teaches.
Instead of a one word or sentence post, let's challenge and share our commentary. The more we can expound on chapters 1 - 4 or even further in Numbers, the more we can bless others in this topic.
God bless you, brothers and sisters.
Bob