Slices
Prepare
Several passages in Numbers portray God as harsh and uncompromising. As you come to read today, pray that God will open your eyes to see something new of his holiness and majesty.
Bible passage
26 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: 27 ‘How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. 28 So tell them, “As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say: 29 in this wilderness your bodies will fall – every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. 30 Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. 31 As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. 32 But you – your bodies will fall in this wilderness. 33 Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. 34 For forty years – one year for each of the forty days you explored the land – you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.” 35 I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this wilderness; here they will die.’
36 So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it – 37 these men who were responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the Lord. 38 Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.
39 When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly. 40 Early the next morning they set out for the highest point in the hill country, saying, ‘Now we are ready to go up to the land the Lord promised. Surely we have sinned!’
41 But Moses said, ‘Why are you disobeying the Lord’s command? This will not succeed! 42 Do not go up, because the Lord is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies, 43 for the Amalekites and the Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the Lord, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.’
44 Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up towards the highest point in the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the Lord’s covenant moved from the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah.
Explore
An extract from the memoirs of Pagiel, the eldest son of Okran, an Asherite: The consequences of rebellion continue to rumble on. Firstly, my young relative Sethur, the man I had chosen from our tribe to explore the land, fell ill and died.
Moses reported to us that God was not going to destroy us all immediately, but that we would stay wandering around the desert for 40 years. During that time all of us who are currently adults, except Joshua and Caleb, would die, and it would be a new generation of Israelites who would receive the benefit of God’s promise and enter the land (vs 29–31).
We realised we had sinned and decided that we would go into the land after all. We set off, but Moses refused to join us, and the ark of God’s promise did not come either (v 44).
We had reached the highest point of the land when we were attacked. The Amalekites and Canaanites beat us all the way down to a place called ‘Broken Rock’ – how appropriate. We should have been secure on the ‘Rock of Ages’ but here we are, broken at ‘Broken Rock’.
Respond
Take some time to examine yourself. Are there things you need to confess to God? Praise God that Jesus has taken the punishment for all our rebellion and wrongdoing.
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Job 7,8; Psalms 81,82
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for Mission Partner Regeneration’s It’s Your Move school transition workshops in July across Harrow, supporting pupils as they move to secondary school. Pray that the sessions will encourage and reassure the children and that God will grant them favour as they connect with schools.
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