The natural human philosophy is this: blessings must come to me immediately, and trials must be resolved instantly. We see little value in waiting and diligent preparation. This is why it is can be difficult to trust God during seasons when blessings are delayed and trials are prolonged. When we do have to wait, we demand answers. And when we don’t get those answers, we complain, grumble, and attempt to take matters into our own hands. This displeases the Lord.
Numbers is a book written to show us that God usually has a different route for his people. His providential map is filled with zig-zags rather than straight lines. Through these twists and turns, God accomplishes his wonderful work of preparing his people for the blessings to come and the blessing they will be to others.
Israel didn’t understand this aspect of God’s providence. Forty years of wandering in the desert was not what they envisioned for the journey from Egypt to Canaan. It didn’t once occur to them that the reason for the so-called “delay” was not because God was slacking. It was because Israel wasn’t ready.
The Israelite people, fresh from several centuries under Egyptian rule, didn’t realize how many vestiges of idolatry, paganism, and impurity remained among them from the previous culture from which they came (remember the incident with the golden calf?). As a nation, Israel was large in number, but the quality of their holiness was infinitesimal. And God would not establish the Messianic lineage from an idolatrous nation, but from a holy one whose people were wholly consecrated to him. The Israelites failed to see that their entrance into the Promised Land was not primarily for their own benefit, but to bless the rest of the world. In truth, what God had purposefully designed for their preparation, they viewed as aimless wandering.
Tragically, the older generation lost faith, and spiraled down towards incessant grumbling and complaining. With a loss of faith came a degradation of conduct. They grew rebellious and contended with their appointed leaders. God did not excuse such behavior, and his anger was provoked. For the sake of his own honor, he caused the older generation—the idolatrous, faithless, grumbling, and rebellious generation—to perish in the wilderness. Lack of faith resulting in grumbling and complaining is not something God takes lightly.
Thankfully, Numbers was written to display God’s faithfulness more than it was to expose Israel’s faithlessness. Despite their grumbling, God provided the manna, quail, and water in the wilderness. In spite of how his wrath was provoked numerous times, God never allowed his people to be cursed by Balaam. He defeated Israel’s enemies who refused to accommodate their passing through territories. After passing of the older generation, he raised up a new generation that was more prepared to live according to his ways than the first. Not once did God break his promise of building the nation from which the Messiah would come.
Studying Israel’s pattern of conduct in Numbers is equivalent to looking at a mirror. The book that so many claim to be “boring” or “lagging” or “repetitive” was written to protect us from idolatry, immorality, grumbling, and craving evil things. Numbers was designed to expose us to and protect us from our sinful instincts that usually emerge during periods of trial and waiting when blessings seem to be all but gone. This is what Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 10:6-12.
Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
Numbers encourages us to respond righteously—to worship God, stay morally pure, submit, and believe. It encourages us by reminding us that, despite our frustrations and limited vision, God is all-wise and ever-faithful in his preparing us for our particular functions in redemptive history and the global growth of the gospel as he has promised.
