All right, Numbers chapter 10. We're picking up here because we introduced the book last week, and because much of what happens in chapters 1, 1 to 10 basically recapitulates what we had already seen in the book of Leviticus, and we'll have cause to sort of reflect on some of that previous material tonight. So basically, the Book of Numbers is broken down into three main parts. It's their journey. We have their preparation for departure in chapter 1, verse 1, to chapter 10, verse 10. And then their journey from Sinai to Kadesh Barnea in chapter 10, verse 11, to chapter 12, verse 16. and then the journey to the plains of Moab. And that's when the book of Deuteronomy happens, and we see the natural flow from Numbers to Deuteronomy. As well, the two main sections, at least in terms of an outline, would be the numbering, or the censuses that are engaged at. You see that in chapter 1 and then you see it again repeated later on in the book, chapter 26 or 7. And basically what that second census is, is the numbering of the second generation. Remember that in this Wilderness Wandering the Children of Israel Invoke the Wrath and Judgment of God. He cuts off that first generation and then that next generation becomes the one in the spotlight. So those two censuses and basically the censuses were for the purpose of numbering abled bodied men for war. It wasn't an invasive census on the part of the federal government to know everything there was to know about every individual that made up the body politic, but with the specific intention to number the able-bodied men. Because as they move through the wilderness, there will be a few skirmishes along the way. But when they get to the land of promise, Canaan, there's going to be many skirmishes. There's going to be many battles. And they are going to need to be armed for war. And so that's basically an overview, so we'll pick up the reading tonight in chapter 10 at verse 11 when Israel departs from Sinai. Now it came to pass on the 20th day of the second month in the second year that the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle of the testimony. 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. So they started out for the first time according to the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses. The standard of the camp of the children of Judah set out first according to their armies. Over their army was Nashon, the son of Amminadab. Over the army of the tribe of the children of Issachar was Nathaniel, the son of Zuar. And over the army of the tribe of the children of Zebulon was Eliab the son of Helan. Then the tabernacle was taken down, and the sons of Gershom and the sons of Merari set out, carrying the tabernacle. And the standard of the camp of Reuben set out according to their armies. Over their army was Elijer, the son of Shedir. Over the army of the tribe of the children of Simeon was Shalemel, the son of Zereshaddai. And over the army of the tribe of the children of Gad was Eliasath, the son of Duel. Then the Kohathites set out carrying the holy things. The tabernacle would be prepared for their arrival. And the standard of the camp of the children of Ephraim set out according to their armies. Over their army was Elishamah, the son of Amahad. Over the army of the tribe of the children of Manasseh was Gamaliel, the son of Padazur. And over the army of the tribe of the children of Benjamin was Abidin, the son of Gideoni. Then the standard of the camp of the children of Dan, the rear guard of all the camps, set out according to their armies. Over their army was Ahasuer, the son of Amashadai. Over the army of the tribe of the children of Asher was Pajial, the son of Achran. And over the army of the tribe of the children of Naphtali was Ahira, the son of Enon. Thus was the order of march of the children of Israel, according to their armies, when they began their journey. Now Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel, the Midianite, Moses' father-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. And he said to him, I will not go out, but I will depart to my own land and to my relatives. So Moses said, please do not leave. In as much as you know how we are to camp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes. 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. 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. And the cloud of the Lord was above them by day when they went out from the camp. So it was whenever the ark set out that Moses said, rise up, O Lord, let your enemies be scattered and let those who hate you flee before you. And when it rested, he said, return, O Lord, to the many thousands of Israel. Amen. Well, there would obviously be, or at least I would suspect, there would obviously be a great excitement among the people. They had been gathered at the at the base of Mount Sinai for going on just about 14 months, having been delivered from the nation of Egypt, the bondage that they had found themselves in, and God does that in accordance with the promise that he had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he was giving them a great land, a very great land that flowed with milk and honey. So all of the preparations have been put in place, the legislation has been given, the obedience has been rendered, and so now they're ready finally to set out on their wilderness wanderings. It really is an exciting time in the history of Israel. And as I said, this marks the departure from Sinai. So I want to look first at the departure of the Israelites. We'll see that in verses 11 to 28. Secondly, the invitation to Hobab in verses 29 to 32. And then finally, the presence of God in verses 33 to 36. Now, in terms of the departure of the Israelites, just by way of reminder from last week, we need to establish a bit of background. The previous books in the Pentateuch, the promise of the land is given in the book of Genesis. God delivers the children of Israel, in the book of Exodus. God commands the children of Israel in Exodus and as well in Leviticus with specific emphasis at the end of Exodus and in Leviticus on building a sanctuary for God, that tabernacle, that sort of mobile temple that would accompany them into the wilderness during their wanderings to represent and manifest the presence of God amongst them, and they would use that until such time as Solomon would build that permanent place for God called the temple. Now tabernacle and temple were prefiguring or typical or foreshadowing of what we would find ultimately coming in our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you turn back for just a moment to the book of Exodus, to see in chapter 40 how the books of Exodus and Leviticus, I'm sorry, Leviticus and Numbers connect specifically to Exodus, it's important to look at chapter 40, specifically at verse 34. The tabernacle had been constructed. And we find then it becomes a dwelling place of God. Notice in chapter 40 at verse 34. And by the way, this kind of this motif or theme of God's dwelling place is rampant throughout the Bible. In fact, I would argue that the Garden of Eden itself was a sanctuary. It was a temple. It was a tabernacle. It was a place where God would commune with his people. Adam's primary orientation was not agrarian. Adam's primary orientation was not as a farmer. Adam's primary orientation was as a priest to mediate the blessings of God to the created order and to extend that garden sanctuary to encompass the entirety of the earth. He was to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with image bearers of the living God, and to shine and demonstrate that glory of God. Now obviously Adam forfeit that in the rebellion or transgression of our God, so the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, makes good on that reality. That's why in the book of Revelation, when we get to the latter chapters, in chapters 21 and 22, when John looks up and he sees New Jerusalem descending out of heaven, it comes in the form of temple. So this idea or theme of temple is very, very important throughout scripture. In fact, the land itself is somewhat suggestive of that. Israel has a land so that they will have a temple so that God will dwell in the midst of them. So back to Exodus 40 at verse 34, "...then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." So Moses, who was the godliest man in all of Israel, was not able to go in and enjoy a meeting place with God. So the tabernacle had become a dwelling place, but it had not yet become a meeting place because of the sinfulness of man. And that's representative here by Moses being unable to enter the tabernacle of meeting because the cloud rested above it. So the tension upon which the book of Exodus ends is resolved for us in the book of Leviticus. When you get to the book of Leviticus, the people are told through legislation how they are able to meet with God in his dwelling place. It comes through sacrifice, and it comes through priesthood. It comes through a bloody knife and a smoking altar. That's the way sinful man approaches into the presence of a holy God. So verse 35, the tension there is resolved in the book of Leviticus. And then verses 36 and following, we find fulfilled in the book of Numbers. Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go onward in all their journeys. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys." So we've got the tension resolved in Leviticus. How does the dwelling place become the meeting place? It's through sacrifice and priesthood. And how does Israel navigate their way through this wilderness into the promised land in order to conquer the land for the glory of God in fulfillment of His promise? Well, that's what the book of Numbers is all about. God's guidance through this glory cloud, through His divine leading, is what gives them the ability to navigate between the various foes and enemies to deal with the internal skirmishes that they will face. It is God's presence among them that gets them from point A to point Z. As Morales says, the wilderness sojourn was the context for Israel to learn to live as a covenant community. as the multitudes redeemed out of Egypt were organized into a four-square encampment embodying the polity, embodying the polity, structure, and nature of the Sinai covenant. Well, a community where Yahweh dwelled among his people is sovereign. And that's what the early chapters of Numbers picks up. It places the tribes in various places, north, south, east, and west, around the tabernacle itself. And we'll consider that in a bit more detail in a moment. Morales also says, while the covenant is ratified in Exodus, and the sacrificial system is legislated in Leviticus, it is not until Numbers where the covenant community is realized in its archetypal form. that the story of Israel's learning how to submit to Yahweh's leadership through his newly appointed offices and institutions is narrated. So basically, numbers furthers the story. It furthers the ball down the field. We've got to get from the promise made to Abraham that he's going to inherit a great land, And this is the story of how they got from Egypt into, or at the base of Sinai, now to the plains of Moab at the end of the book of Numbers, into the book of Deuteronomy, and then the conquest under Joshua, and then negatively reported in the book of Judges. So when we look at this particular book, we see God's presence amongst them in the midst of affliction and trial and hardship. God is with them in the good, and God is with them in the bad. Now in terms of the preparation of the people, so notice again in chapter 10 at verse 11, 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, and the children of Israel set out. Now prior to this we have the ordering and the organization of the tribes in chapters 1 to 4. We have cleansing and purification rites repeated in chapter 5. We see that Aaronic blessing in chapter 6 upon the people of Israel. We have the priesthood of God for the people in chapters 3 and chapters 7 and 8. Again, duplicating material that we'd already seen in Leviticus, but now given once again with this body politic in a formal and religious way. Also, the celebration of Passover is observed in chapter 9. Of course, that Passover celebration reminds them of the power of God in the exodus from Egypt. It shows his delivering power in their redemption. And then chapters 9 and 10, especially the latter half of chapter 9, and here into chapter 10, put the focus on the presence of God in their journey. So verse 11 gives us the time frame. So it's the second year. So it's 11 months after the arrival at Sinai, nearly 14 months after the departure from Egypt, and it's 19 days after the census in Numbers 1 and verse 1. So the people are numbered, the men are identified, leaders of those various tribes are set apart as well, and so they're mustering and preparing to go. In terms of the agenda, notice, and the children of Israel, verse 12, set out from the wilderness of Sinai on their journeys. Then the clouds settled down in the wilderness of Pera. So before they get to their destination specifically, there's going to be a few stops along the way in this journey. They'll stop at Tibera in 11, 1 to 3. and Kibroth Hadavah in chapter 11, verses 4 to 35, and then Hazeroth in chapter 12, verse 16a, and then they're at Kadesh Barnea in the wilderness of Paran, and it's from thence that they then go to the plains of Moab. So that's sort of the agenda. Now notice as well in verse 13, they are not operating in an autonomous fashion. They didn't just get around together and say, hey, it might be nice to go to the wilderness of Perun. It might be nice to go to the plains of Moab. It might be nice to amble our way over into the land of Canaan and try to dispossess the land of the Canaanites. This is the command of God. Notice again in verse 13, so they started out for the first time according to the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses. So that has punctuated the entirety of the Pentateuch. They are not operating on their own. They are operating in accordance with the command of God, and that mediated by Moses, or the instrumentality of Moses. In fact, in Psalm 77, verse 20, the psalmist reflects, you led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. And I think one of the things that we need to appreciate as we move our way through this book of Numbers concerning God's providence, concerning God's government, concerning His sovereignty, is that it doesn't mitigate secondary means or secondary causes. The fact that God is absolutely universally and comprehensively sovereign does not mean that everything happens by the direct contact of God upon that effect. Rather, there is instrumentality. It's not just Moses and Aaron, but as we read through this chapter, you'll notice that there are tribal leaders. You will notice that there is a Sanhedrin later on that reflects what we've already seen in the book of Exodus. You'll see that God uses means to orchestrate his plan, or rather to execute his plan. So God's comprehensive sovereignty does not mean that there is no use for means. God's comprehensive sovereignty is indicated by the Apostle Paul and the emphasis on the means when he says in 1 Corinthians, for since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. So the God who is comprehensively sovereign over all things has purposed and planned to save a great multitude that no man can number from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. But He doesn't just zap them. He uses the means. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. I think at times when you tell people you believe in a sovereign God, they think that you think that God is something like a genie. He's just there to grant you your wishes. You don't have to work. There'll be food in your refrigerator. There'll be money in your bank account. Well, we know that's not the way sovereignty and providence works. God uses means, and you see those means emphasized through the book of Numbers. As well, you see those means challenged, because you'll see that Moses' authority and leadership is going to be challenged throughout the book of Numbers. And so, when it comes to God's sovereignty, means are a part of it. Now, in terms of the order of the tribes in verses 14 to 28, we will not go through all of that again, but simply I want to say that this reflects what was commanded in Numbers chapter 2 in verses 3 to 31. You have the organization and the ordering of the tribes, so each four sets of three tribes, each took up positions around the tabernacle. On the east you had Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. In the south you had Reuben, Simeon, and Gad. In the west you had Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin. And then in the west, or north rather, you had Dan, Asher, and Naphtali. This was commanded by God in Numbers chapter 2. In Numbers chapter 7, the tribal leaders make offerings to God through the priesthood. Well, the same order is reflected. So that when they take up the tabernacle and all the other holy articles, which we see, notice in verse 17, then the tabernacle was taken down and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari set out carrying the tabernacle. These Gershonites and Merarites are mentioned in Numbers 3 and Numbers 4. They had specific responsibilities relative to the tabernacle itself. Drop down to verse 21. Then the Kohathites set out carrying the holy things. They had specific responsibility with reference to the utensils and the implements and the other articles that were used in the tabernacle. So if you were to look at it, you'd have the Eastern tribes, and then Gershonites and Mararites, the Southern tribes, then the Kohathites, the Western tribes, and the Northern tribes. So you have this orderly procession as they march through the wilderness to the promised land. Now, if you've ever been in the military or you've ever witnessed any military dealings, you will notice that there is order, organization, and structure that characterizes those things. In other words, you can't lead people effectively if people are wandering all over the place. This is a big project. This is a massive undertaking. This isn't this number of people walking down to downtown Chilliwack. This is a multitude of people under the leadership of Moses and Aaron, and then the tribal leaders, obviously following the Ark of the Covenant, which signifies or represents God's presence among them. But in order to keep it all together, there needed to be this order and this organization. You can't just let people wander around wherever it is they think they ought to go and think that you're going to accomplish the mission. I remember when I was in the military, it didn't work that way. You got yelled at, and even before my time, you'd get hit if you fell out of line. Now they praise you if you're the moron that wanders off into the woods. But at least discipline and orderliness, when you appreciate what the undertaking is involved in this particular journey, all of this order and organization should make crystal clear sense. This was a military operation. They were going into the land of Cainan. They were going to have to kill people and break things and take things. They were going to have to get their hands bloody and they were going to have to do all that God had commanded them. And if they weren't tightly organized, it wasn't going to happen. And so that's the rationale for these tribal leaders for the positions around the tabernacle and for the orderly way that they proceed out of the camp and then follow the presence of God into their next resting place. It took that kind of discipline. Now secondly, having seen the departure proper, well actually the departure proper doesn't happen until verse 28, I mean this is the summary statement, thus was the order of march of the children of Israel according to their armies when they began their journey. So that's a summary description of what had preceded. And again, it ties together all of the preceding chapters with its emphasis upon that order and organization, upon cleansing and purification, God's blessing upon them, the priesthood and the sacrifice, the tabernacle and the persons responsible for taking it down and putting it up. So everything is in place. They are now marching from Sinai on their particular journey. So note then the invitation to Hobab in verses 29 to 32. And again, this underscores instrumentality. It underscores the use of means by our God. Notice in verse 29, Now Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel, the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, We are setting out for the place of which the Lord said, I will give it to you. That's important that we remember that God had promised. So every time along the way, and there will be some, that the children of Israel doubt that, they doubt the very promise of God. That's what exacerbates the problem in Numbers chapters 13 and 14. When Moses sends the spies to recon the land, and the ten spies whine and grumble and complain, and say, oh, it's not a good land, and it's filled with bad people, and there's no way that we can ever receive it. They are absolutely positively not living in light of God's promise. God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God had promised through the means of Moses. Moses had reiterated that promise on several occasions. He does so here as well to Hoban. 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. Now, one could look at that and say, what's up with Moses? He's got the command of God. He's got the promise of God. All the things that you just said to us, Jim, it sounds like he's operating contrary to that. I mean, if he's got the visible presence of God in terms of the Ark of the Covenant, they've got that glory cloud that they are following. Why in the world would he need Hobab? Because again, God does not mitigate, or God's providence doesn't mitigate against means, but rather it uses means. This is an act of wisdom on the part of Moses. Think about the history of Israel up until this point. You don't learn a lot of skills when you're slaves in Egypt. You don't learn wilderness life. You don't learn how to pitch tents. You don't learn how to rub sticks together and make fire. You don't learn which flowers or plants you can eat for medicinal or nutritional purposes. You don't learn how you can kill animals and gut them and roast them and eat them. You don't have that skill set coming out of bondage. And then at the base of Sinai, they had received a lot of legislation to be sure, but I doubt that Moses and Aaron and the other leaders had workshops on how to build a fire, or had workshops on how to snare a rabbit. So these persons needed help. A hobab would be quite helpful in a situation like they faced, And so on the one hand, you could look at Moses and say, you unbelieving wretch, you know that God has given this promise. If God has given this promise, he's going to get you to point Z. Yeah, he's going to get you to point Z by you using your noggin, by you understanding that Hobab has a lot more skills in this particular region of the world and knows how to deal with the various issues that challenge persons trying to live in that part of the world. And so Moses makes him a good offer. Come with us. God's promised. He's going to give us this wonderful land. Now the following passages seem obscure. Hobab says, nah, I'm going to go back to my house. This seems like something I don't necessarily want a part of. And then Moses iterates and seeks to put pressure upon him. The text is a bit ambiguous. The they in verse 33 could just mean the tribes and the tribal leaders and Moses and Aaron, but it could as well include Hobab. But the reason why I think that Hobab did go is the Book of Judges. In Judges 1-16 and in Judges 4-16 we see that Hobab's presence had been known among the children of Israel. So Moses prevails upon Hobab and then Moses specifies particularly what that reason is as to why he wants him to join them. Verse 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, you can be our guide. Brethren, providence should not cause you to think that you can shimmy down a rock face without using some sort of tool. And so Moses demonstrates wisdom. Moses understood this lesson from his father-in-law. He's now dealing with his brother-in-law. But remember back in the book of Exodus, when Moses is basically killing himself, adjudicating the various issues troubling the children of Israel. What does Moses' father-in-law say? He says, you're going to kill yourself. Basically, he says you need to appoint heads, you need to appoint leaders, you need to be the Supreme Court only after all of these lesser courts hear their particular cases, and if they can't render a verdict, then that handful of cases makes it unto you, to Moses. God endorsed that. Some read that and they think that, again, Moses was compromised, he had God, he had the legislation, he had all that. I don't think that at all. And I actually think that Jethro entered in to the blessed covenant community of God's people. But that's another story. So here he asks Hobab to go, and then in verse 32, 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. Some see there a reminiscence of Abraham and his call by God out of Ur of the Chaldeans. Some hear as well something of what we hear in Ruth, when Ruth commends herself to Naomi and says that your God will be my God, your people will be my people. Moses couches it in this language that perhaps is suggestive of the call of Abram out of Ur of the Chaldeans. Morales says, in rehearsing the call of Abraham, that's how he reads verse 32, Israel's journeying out from Sinai to Canaan is brought full circle to the patriarchal promises, so that the wilderness trek is set within the context of Abraham's journey to the promised land, and of God's faithfulness to his promise. Throughout their journeys, Israel will need to demonstrate Abraham's own trust in God. So they are leaving at least the place of safety they'd known for 11 months and the comfort that they knew in bondage in Egypt. They're going to actually cry out for that. not going to enjoy free man status, they're going to want to go back to Egypt where everything was handed to them. And I think there's certainly a parallel to that in mankind throughout the ages. Some men would prefer slavery if they get three hots and a cot versus independents trying to go out and provide their own hots and their own cot. So we see something of that that necessary trust in God on the part of these free men and women. And then that brings us finally to the presence of God, underscored in verses 33 to 36. And I think this is reminiscent, if not textually or specifically thematically, to what Moses cried out in Exodus 33. Remember, Moses said to God, if you don't go with us, if your presence isn't with us, then we don't want to go. And so the Lord God, in His mercy and in His grace and in His kindness, commended Himself to His people for these wilderness wanderings and for their foray into the Promised Land. And with reference to their combat, He fought for them, as we saw a couple of weeks ago, or as we're seeing in our scripture reading through the book of Joshua, and we see that God wins for them. The psalmist said, through God we shall do valiantly, for He it is that shall tread down our enemies. Psalm 60 verse 12. The children of Israel had this consciousness, the believing ones, the remnant, the faithful, had this consciousness of the presence of God. And brethren, with the new covenant privileges that you and I possess, we should far surpass them in terms of that recognition. We have the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our righteousness. We have the forgiveness of sins by Him. We have the promised Spirit, the Pericle, the one that He gives to us to aid us. to advocate for us, to assist us. We should surpass Old Covenant Israel in that understanding of what we possess in our Lord Jesus Christ in terms of the nearness of God as our good. So the departure proper happens there in verse 33. We've got the tribes of Israel and I would say Hobab is included in that they and then the visible manifestation of God notice in 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 that for the three days journey to search out a resting place for them. Now the Ark of the Covenant again I mentioned this last week. The tabernacle, the temple, and the ark did not contain God. When Solomon in fact turned to 1 Kings 8, I think it's important that we get this, the heathen thought that their temples contained their God. That's why when they put the Ark of the Covenant in the temple of Dagon in 1 Samuel chapters 4 and 5, it's funny. It's hilarious that when they go to see Dagon, he had fallen over. And they have to pick up Dagon, and they have to set him upright again. So the next day, when they go back to check on Dagon and the Ark of the Covenant, Dagon had fallen over again. And I think it was his hand that broke off. So they had to glue him back together. Gorilla glue, super glue, whatever they were using, circa whatever the date. And it just shows the folly and the futility of the gods of the heathen, the nothingness of the gods of the heathen. So the heathen thought that their god was in that temple. But with Solomon, as he comes to dedicate the temple, He understands. He's a better theologian than that. He had a great theologian for his father, even David. Notice in chapter 8 verse 27, But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven of heavens cannot contain you, how much less this temple which I have built. So Solomon prays that or mentions that as something that God obviously knows. I think it's a statement designated or calculated to humble the people, but it's also a statement from Solomon in prayer to educate the people. if some of the hangers-on in Israel that weren't really paying a lot of attention as they're passing through various places in the wilderness and in the conquest thought that maybe this place did actually contain Yahweh. They would need to hear that, that the temple itself, the tabernacle before it, and the Ark of the Covenant do not contain God. They are a place where there is a visible representation or manifestation of God. So the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord represents several things. His presence among the people, as well as His rule, His dominion, His glory, His power. It also represents reconciliation. That Ark of the Covenant is that which the high priest poured the blood on in terms of the Day of Atonement. And as well, it was his revelation. The Ten Commandments were stored in the Ark of the Covenant. And so the Ark of the Covenant was not a box that contained God, but it was in fact a box that represented the presence of God with his covenant people. So it was the visible manifestation of God. So notice what we see the purpose is, to find a resting place for that. I don't think that's haphazard, and I don't think verse 36 is haphazard, and when it rested. Rest is an important theme in scripture as well. Now, not in the sense of, well, I'm not going to go to work today because the scripture says I should rest even though it's a Thursday. No, no, that's not what I mean. But rest is very important. You see it in Genesis chapter 2 at the end of the creation week in verses 1 to 3. What does God do? When God looks approvingly upon all that He had created, what does He do? He rests. Some see that as enthronement, some see that as Him taking that position of glory and authority over the created order, and He engages in rest. Such that when He makes man, man is to imitate that rest. You see it with Cain and Abel at the end of days. You see it in Exodus 16. You see it codified in Exodus 20 and then repeated in Deuteronomy 5. You see it all throughout the Psalms and the Prophets and into the New Covenant. In fact, in Hebrews 4.9, it tells us there is therefore a Sabbath rest that remains for the people of God. That ultimate or eternal Sabbath rest is typified or foreshadowed by the weekly Sabbath rest. So rest is very important. God, through the last Adam, is bringing his people into eternal rest. And so the Ark of the Covenant is finding a place of rest for, or God is finding a place of rest for them. And then verse 34 underscores that providential guidance by God. And the cloud of the Lord was above them by day when they went out from the camp. So God's nearness and presence, according to Exodus 40, verses 36 to 38. And then Numbers 9 summarizes, recapitulates, and tells us about that glory in verses 15 to 23. So it's somewhat programmatic. of what's going to happen when you start to gather around the ark and it's time to then pack up the camp, pack up the tabernacle, pack up the holy utensils, orderly and organized, go out and work your way through the wilderness into the promised land. And then notice, the chapter ends with petition. Petition by Moses, the man of God. Notice the prayer at departure when they tear down the camp and when they go from the camp and they enter into their journey. Notice in verse 35, So it was, whenever the ark set out, that Moses said, Rise up, O Lord, let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you. So Moses prays specifically understanding God's presence among them, that God's presence among them certainly should translate into victory over their enemies. This is a good prayer. This isn't simply an old covenant prayer. New covenant believers can pray this as well. Rise up, O Lord, let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you. Matthew Henry comments, the scattering and defeating of God's enemies is a thing to be earnestly desired and believingly expected by all the Lord's people. This prayer is a prophecy. Those that persist in rebellion against God are hasting towards their own ruin. Now, I know a lot of New Covenant believers would say, well, no, we can't pray such prayers. Well, turn to the book of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians. And we're bypassing here what have been rightly called the prayers and songs of Jesus, namely the Psalter. And if you go through the Psalter, you'll find a lot of these kinds of prayers. We call them imprecatory prayers. where the prayer calls upon God to render judgment against the enemies of God. As I've qualified this before, this doesn't mean that somebody who cuts you off on Wellington, you invoke God's wrath and fury and hellfire down upon that Toyota. That's not what it means. But abortionists and mutilators of children, the godless, the wretched, the enemies of the Lord Most High and of His people, you can pray these prayers. Notice in 1 Corinthians 16, verse 22. If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. O Lord, come. Now arguably, and the Psalms of David, the Psalms of Jesus, have some pretty significant imprecations. Smashing teeth, the righteous dancing in the blood of the enemies that have been slain, I mean, that's hardcore. In fact, when we sing the Psalms at times, I wonder if people are going, is it OK if we sing this? Jesus sang them. Jesus prayed them. But in some sense, what Paul is saying here ups the ante. The word accursed is the word anathema. You've probably heard that word before. The ecumenical creeds of Christianity have had anathemas. usually they set out the doctrine, you must believe this, in the essential unity of God most high, in the tri-unity, the three persons in that essence. So it goes through, you know, it indicates all the things, and then it says, if anyone does not believe this, let him be anathema. Now, anathema doesn't simply mean your teeth are broken or that your blood is shed such that the righteous can dance in it. Anathema, or accursed, means damned to hell, everlasting condemnation, the eternal judgment of God Most High upon those who do not love the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Galatians chapter 1. Same use of the word anathema here. This is what Paul thinks of a work's righteousness. This is what Paul thinks of a distorted doctrine of justification. This is what Paul thinks when you mingle your works with faith such that you can be accepted by God. Again, this is hardcore. Notice in Galatians 1.6, I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you. And before I even get to that, notice how brief the greeting is. Now, if I asked you, I think I might have mentioned this a couple of weeks ago in a sermon, if you had to pick the worst church in the New Testament, who would it be? Who would it be? Corinthians. I mean, they were just messed up, right? They had all kinds of issues and all kinds of challenges and things that, you know, we kind of, what? That happened in the early church? But the greeting and the love poured out upon the Corinthians in chapter one is, it's effusive. The apostle is just, you know, pouring out his love and affection upon them. I'm not suggesting he doesn't here, but it's brief. And then he gets right to the point. And I think that should underscore for us, sanctification problems, which 1 Corinthians definitely demonstrates, are bad. And they need to be addressed. They need to be dealt with. They need that pastoral or apostolic wisdom applied very surgically to the various issues, so that the people of God don't end up sinning against each other. But when the gospel is at stake, when justification by faith is about to be compromised, Paul's right out of the chute. As Machen says, the book of Galatians, the epistle to Galatians, is a fighting letter. It is polemic. From first to last, Paul is taking no prisoners. So notice in verse 6, I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed, or anathema." Paul includes himself in that lot. Paul says, if it's possible that I start to come back to the churches of southern Galatia, and I tell you to add works to faith in order that you may be accepted by God, then I put myself under that anathema. If an angel, if it could be the case that a holy angel could float down and come to the church and say, you know, it's good to believe on Jesus, but you've got to get circumcised in order to really be saved. Paul says, if that were to actually happen, let it be anathema. Again, eternally condemned to the fires of hell under the judgment, wrath, and fury of God. And in case you didn't get that, verse 9, as we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. Paul was not broad-minded when it came to justification by faith. Paul was not open to Neonomianism. Paul was not open to Romanism. Paul was not open to any other way but Christ alone, by God's grace alone, through faith alone, to the glory of God alone, and that grounded upon the scripture alone. And then notice in 2 Timothy chapter 4, Again, just a bit of a New Covenant rationale for why it's not always wrong to pray that God smashes the teeth of His enemies. Second Timothy chapter four, specifically at verse 14. Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. May the Lord repay him according to his works. You also must beware of him for he has greatly resisted our words. May the Lord repay him according to his works. And then turn to the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter six. Revelation chapter six. Certainly, if the concept of imprecation in and of itself is so abhorrent that we have to discount the Psalms of David that are imprecatory and say, oh, that is not consistent with New Covenant Christianity. We're far more holy and righteous than David. Could you imagine advancing that argument? We're far more holy and righteous than David. But at any rate, if it's simply inconsistent with the concept of New Covenant Christianity, why is it in the eternal state? Why is it in heaven? Notice in Revelation 6-9, when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Then a white robe was given to each of them, and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed." And then turn to Revelation 19. Revelation 19. What happens in Revelation 18? The judgment of Babylon. The fall of the harlot. the destruction of this one. So what's the response in heaven after that? According to chapter 19 verse 1, after these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, Alleluia, salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God. For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her. Again they said, Alleluia! Her smoke rises up forever and ever. And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God, who sat on the throne, saying, Amen, Alleluia! Then a voice came from the throne, saying, Praise our God, all you His servants, and those who fear Him, both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters, and as the sound of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad, and rejoice, and give Him glory. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. So when we go back to this scene with Moses, and we hear him say, Rise up, O Lord, let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you, that's consistent in Old Covenant religion. As the Psalms teach us, it's consistent with Jesus Christ. And as the New Covenant teaches, it's consistent with the New Covenant Church. Again, not your personal enemy. I really hate this guy at work, God, so, you know, cause the earth to open up and swallow him up because he's just a blight on society, or a blot on society. No, no, no, it's not like that. These would be the enemies of God, the enemies of the people of God, those who target for destruction, the church and image-bearer as image-bearer. That is consistent. So while the church may think, well that's not consistent with what we are in Christ. again brethren the Psalms reveal to us who Christ is and Christ called out for the judgment of God upon the enemies now certainly Christ called out for the forgiveness of God upon enemies as well I'm not saying this is easy I'm not suggesting that you know one size fits all just pray for the destruction of everybody no pray for salvation pray that God in his mercy and grace converts sinners pray that God restrains them if they're not going to be converted but it's perfectly legitimate to pray for their removal if they're going to continue to target the people of God, the church of God, and, you know, God himself in terms of their hatred and enmity. This is the prayer that the people of God should pray. Rise up, O Lord, let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you. But that's not it. The prayer at rest And when it rested, this is when the tabernacle is assembled, the people take their places in terms of order and organization. What does Moses want? Return, O Lord, to the many thousands of Israel. In other words, commune with us, dwell with us, meet with us, walk with us, keep us, protect us, and be our portion and our lot. Now the only thought I have in terms of conclusion or practical observation is that there is a tension in this book as well. You've got the idealized and you've got the realistic. The idealized is the Exodus 40, 36 to 38, and the numbers 9, 15 to 23. Ideally, you've got tabernacle, tribes, orderly, organized departure, Kohathites, Gershonites, Merarites, everybody just doing what they're supposed to be doing, enjoying the glory cloud of the Lord from place to place to place. That's the idealistic version. But what's the realistic version? We no sooner depart than we sin. We no sooner depart than in chapter 11 we whine. We no sooner depart than in chapter 12 we challenge. So the tension is that there is this ideal in the Christian life. I think John speaks to this. I'm going to make a parallel here. It's not strict. It's not absolutely the same. But I think it shows the tension. John says, my little children, I write these things so that you may not sin. That's the ideal. That's what we ought to be pursuing, not sinning. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. So that's the realized or realistic view of things. Well, the same thing in the book of Numbers. You've got this reality that even though God is present among his people, even though God is guiding his people, even though God directly intervenes in the affairs of his people, he fights for Israel. He scatters the foes and enemies. Israel nevertheless continues to sin. Israel nevertheless continues to need and depend on that priesthood and that sacrifice. Israel constantly stands in dependence upon the very grace of God for every jot and tittle of their lives. And the Book of Numbers in the wilderness illustrates that in a real world kind of a situation, again, not exactly parallel to what we find in the New Covenant, but a lot of similarities. You've got fickle people in the book of Numbers, and you've got a faithful God. In the church of our Lord Jesus Christ, we've got fickle people, but we've got a faithful God. We've got the ideal. My little children, I write these things so that you may not sin, but we have the faithfulness of God. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. So if we're paying attention as we wander through the wilderness with our brethren in Old Covenant Israel, hopefully we'll learn a few things along the way about what New Covenant Israel looks like and how we should function accordingly. Well, let us close in a word of prayer. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for both the Old and the New Testaments. We know that it's given by inspiration of God. It's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. I pray that you'd give us ears to hear and the Spirit always to lead us and to teach us and to guide us, and may we truly ponder what we have in this new covenant. We have access to the Father through the Son in the Spirit, and in this we greatly rejoice. We ask that you would go with us now, watch over us in the remainder of the week, bring us together on the Lord's Day, and again I pray for this young man. We just commend him to you and to the word of your grace. We pray that you would see him through this. We pray that you would increase his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray for his dear wife and his child, that you would bless and protect them. God, watch over this situation and may your will be done. And we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. Notice I didn't ask any questions or comments. Any questions or comments? Comments would be better than questions. As I said, not every jot and tittle through numbers. There's a lot of material there. Not enough material here. I just wanted to mention that Bob works through names and stuff. It's just regular everyday. and other denominations, but there's this sort of tendency to over-spiritualize things. Like, what should I do in my life? Want to make it this esoteric thing? Oh, yeah. If you can complicate it, you do. And I find that, yeah, when they sell the promised land, the manna stops. And then they plant seeds, and the food grows. God is as present in the planting of seed, in the growing of food, in the ordinary ebb and flow of harvest and seed time as he is in raining manna out of heaven. I agree 100%. This esoteric, super-spiritual, Gnostic-like approach to God is pretty obnoxious. God is the God of the ordinary, and ordinary people Yes, sir. Just another comment on relations. I think if people are not preaching the gospel properly and they've got hell to pay, essentially, is what it says. I just think churches who don't do that, that's very scary to me. Yeah, it is a very scary thing, for sure. I agree 100%.