Numbers 21 - The Life of Moses

Last week we learned the death of Miriam, Moses’ sister and the death of Aaron, Moses’ brother.  We saw how God made Aaron’s son, Eleazor the new high priest to take Aaron’s place.  There was to always be a high priest.  This was essential and anticipates the coming of the only true high priest, Jesus.

Numbers 21:1-3 – The Vow to God

The Israelites needed to conquer the country of Canaan before they could occupy it as their Promised Land.  This took them about 7 years.  There were several kings who ruled their territories within the country.   The Lord delivered these Canaanite territories into the hands of Israel.

The first victory was at Arad.  The king of Arad heard about the Israelites and attacked them as they traveled and captured some of the people.  The Israelites didn’t try to free the captives.  Instead they went to God.  Finally they took their concerns and problems to God.  They made a vow to God saying, “If you will deliver these people into our hands, we will totally destroy their cities.” - Num 21:2.  God listened and gave the Canaanites over to Israel.  So they completely destroyed them and their cities.

What promise have you made to God?

Do you depend on Him to keep His promises?

When should you have depended on God, but did not?

What were the results?

Principles: 

God is faithful and keeps His promises.

Trust and dependency on God results in victory.

Numbers 21:4-20 – The Bronze Snake

They continued to travel around Edom.  Remember in our last lesson Edom wouldn’t let them pass through their land.  The Israelites didn’t want to fight with them because they were relatives.  Also God had instructed them not to make war with them.  Now, Israel became impatient since their travels were taking longer than they expected so they began to complain again.  They complained against God and Moses about having no bread and no water.  (Num. 21:4-5)

Impatience usually brings trouble.  The fruit of the Spirit is patience.  God wants us to slow down and grow at His pace, not ours.  We are to “wait on the Lord”.  God provided daily manna and water for the Israelites.  Jesus gives us the water that gives life.  In the Bible water is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.  Everyone who believes in Jesus receives the Holy Spirit that guides us in the way we are to live.

God had provided all they needed, but they weren’t grateful for it.  They rejected God’s blessing of manna.  So God punished them by sending poisonous snakes.  The snakes bit some of the people and many died.  The people then came to Moses and confessed their sin and asked him to pray for God to take the snakes away.  Faithful Moses again interceded for the people.

When has your impatience and complaining led you to sin? 

Are you grateful for how God has provided for you?

How do you show that gratitude?

Principles: 

Impatience can lead to sin.

God provides all we need.

God did not remove the snakes.  Instead he told Moses to make a bronze snake and put it up on a pole so when those who were bitten looked on it, they would live.  In John 3:14 Jesus referred to this when talking about His death.  “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal.”   ”  

I am sure Moses didn’t understand why God told him to make a bronze snake.  God commanded the people not to make images.  Wasn’t a snake associated with Satan?  The snake was the cause of Adam and Eve’s fall in Genesis and sin entered the world.  A serpent is a symbol of sin and evil.  Moses was to lift the serpent or sin on a pole and all who had been bitten by sin would not die.  All the world has been bitten by sin and every person is dying.  “For the wages of sin is death ...” – Rom. 6:23.  God didn’t remove the snakes, and He doesn’t remove sin from the world.  Instead He provided a way to cure every person of sin.  All we have to do is to look at the cross and believe Jesus died on our behalf.  Sin is like a serpent’s bite.  It is deadly poison within us.  We can’t heal ourselves.  We can only be healed by the blood of Jesus.

Principle:  Look on Jesus to save you and give you eternal life.

Have you realized that you have been bitten by the deadly snake of sin?

When you look at the cross, what do you see?

What do you believe about Jesus?

Have you let Jesus heal you of your sin?

Do you believe he died for you?

Numbers 21:21-35 – The Victory Over Sihon and Og

The Israelites continued on their journey to the Promised Land and came to the territory of the Amorites.  They sent messages to Sihon, the king of the Amorites asking him if they could pass through the land.  Sihon would not let them and sent his entire army out into the desert against Israel.  They fought and Israel won.  They captured all the cities and the surrounding settlements.  Israel then settled their in the land.  They also defeated the Amorites in the city of Jazer.  This battle would be important.  God would use this victory to shake up Israel’s future enemies.

Then they traveled toward Bashan and king Og marched out to battle with them.  Og was a giant, but God was bigger.  God told Israel not to be afraid and that He had handed him over to them.  King Og and his army were defeated leaving no survivors.   They took possession of his land. 

What fear do you face?  We should not be afraid, because God loves us and in on our side.  He is much bigger than our enemies.  “… If God is for us, who can be against us?” – Rom 8:31

Principles: 

God uses victories in our past to build and prepare us for future battles.

You can rely on God for spiritual victories.

When have you ever been attacked for no reason?

How has God come to your rescue?

All this destroying and killing may sound harsh, but today we don’t think it’s wrong to kill innocent unborn babies.  Remember the Promised Land belonged to God before the Canaanites established residency there.  It was God’s plan to give this land to Abraham’s descendants. “In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here.” - Gen. 15:16.  The Canaanites were wicked and rebellious people.  They worship gods with crude sexual practices and human sacrifices.  So God used the Israelites to bring His judgment on them.  Also God didn’t want the Israelites to be influenced by this sinful Canaanite civilization.

Was it fair for the Canaanites to be destroyed?  If God were fair, none of us could see His perfect heaven someday.  We are all Canaanites in some way, but because of Jesus our sins have been forgiven.  Thank God that he is not fair.

Note:  The Book of the Wars of the Lord mentioned in verses 14-16 is a collection of odes of the time of Moses containing the early history of Israel’s battles.  It probably contained stories, songs, and poems about war.  We don’t have any copies of this book today.

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Numbers 20 - The Life of Moses

Last week we saw 12 spies sent to explore Canaan and how they brought back a divided report.  This chapter brings us to the last year of Israel’s journey.  It begins with the death of Miriam and ends with the death of Aaron.  In the middle of the chapter we see the failure of Moses and Aaron causing God to not allow them to enter the Promise Land.  Years have passed and now there is a new generation.  They are complaining and grumbling to Moses just like their fathers.

Numbers 20:1 – Miriam’s Death

The Israelites arrived at the Desert of Zin and stayed in Kadesh. There Moses’ sister Miriam died (Num. 20:1).  Only a few words are said of her here.  I am sure Moses and Aaron were very sad about her death.  We know some of her history from our past studies.  When Moses was a baby, she saved him from death (Ex. 2).  She led the women to thank God after they escaped Egypt and crossed the Red Sea (Ex. 15).  She helped Moses and Aaron lead the Israelites on their journey in the desert.  She spoke against Moses, but God forgave her.  However, she suffered punishment from God (Num. 12). 

Numbers 20:2-13 – Moses’ Sin

Again the Israelites had no water to drink and cried out to Moses and Aaron.  They wished they had died suddenly like the some of the others had done.  They had not learned anything from their fathers during their 38 years.  They still didn’t go to God with their concerns, but complained to Moses.  This was similar to Ex. 17:1-7 when they complained about no water and God told Moses to use his staff to strike the rock and water would come out of the rock.

How are you influencing your children and what sins are they picking up from you?

Where do you turn when you need help?

Do you simply complain or do you turn to God for help?

Again Moses didn’t argue with the people, but took Aaron and together they prayed to God.  As we would say, “take it to the Lord” and that’s just what they did.  

Do you take your problems and concerns to the Lord?

This time God didn’t tell Moses to strike the rock, but to speak to the rock and water would come out.  However, Moses said to the people, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” – Num. 20:10.  Then Moses struck the rock 2 times and water gushed out.  Then God said, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.” – Num. 20:12. 

Do you take credit for what God has done or do you give Him all the glory?

Do you trust God in a few things or in all things?

I feel sorry for Moses.  He had waited so long to enter the Promise Land and now he would not.  He had put up with all the peoples’ complaints and was probably frustrated with them.  His patience finally broke.  His response was only human.  It was still a failure and a sin.  It was unbelief.  Moses spoke to the people out of anger instead of the rock as God commanded.  He didn’t follow God’s instruction and he didn’t glorify God.  He said, “Must we bring you water out of this rock?”  He wasn’t giving God the credit.  He didn’t fully trust God.  Moses spoke rashly and thoughtlessly.  “By the waters of Meribah they angered the Lord, and trouble came to Moses because of them; for they rebelled against the Spirit of God and rash words came from Moses’ lips.” – Ps. 106:32-33.

Maybe you think Moses punishment was somewhat harsh, but remember the next generation was watching.  God wanted them to see how important it was to obey.  God didn’t kill Moses.  He took him home.

When has your failure to trust God harmed the faith of others?  They are harmed when others see us worry instead of trusting God, when we try to fix things on our own instead of taking it to God, and anytime the choices we make cause those of weaker faith to stumble.  Remember, others are watching and as Christians we need to set a good example.

Principle:  Trust and glorify God in all things.

Numbers 20:14-21 – Passage Denied

Moses sent a message from Kadesh to the king of Edom asking him if they could cut across his country on their way Moab.  If you remember, the people of Edom were descendants of Esau in Gen. 26.  The Israelites were descendants of Jacob, Esau’s brother.  In the message Moses reminded the king they were his relatives and not to consider them as enemies.  If the king would let them pass through, they would not disturb their fields or take any crops or water.  The king refused.  Moses asked him again, but he still refused and sent his large and powerful army to stop them.  The Israelites could have fought, because God and helped them fight their enemies before.  This was not God’s plan so Moses decided to go another way.

Numbers 20:22-29 - Aaron’s Death

The Israelites then traveled to Mount Hor.  God told Moses, Aaron and Aaron’s son Eleazar to go up on Hor, because it was time for Aaron to die.  God didn’t kill him.  He died of natural causes and was blessed with a long life.  He was 123 years old.  Even though Aaron wouldn’t enter the Promised Land because he and Moses didn’t follow God’s instruction, before he died God blessed him by letting him see his son be made high priest.  The high priest wore special garments.  God told Moses to remove these special garments from Aaron and put them on Eleazar showing he was now the new high priest.  This was an important act and is in anticipation of the coming of Jesus, our one and only High Priest.

Moses and Eleazar came down the mountain and the whole community learned of Aaron’s death and saw that Eleazar was now the new high priest.  This was probably an encouragement to the people that God was still with them and that He was faithful and would not leave them.  They mourned Aaron’s death for 30 days.

How has God blessed you throughout your life?

Has God blessed you when you were disobedient?

Principle:  God is faithful and will not leave us.

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Numbers 15-19 - the Life of Moses

Last week we saw 12 spies explore the land of Canaan and how they were divided in their report back to the people causing the people to not trust God.  Only Caleb and Joshua believed God’s promises.  God had prepared the Israelites to claim His promises and take Canaan, but they failed to believe and trust God so they suffered the consequences.

Numbers 15 - Sacrifices

This chapter reminded the Israelites that God had promised Canaan to their children so they had to be prepared to live there.  They had to know God’s rules so they could tell their children.  They had to know if they sinned, they were to offer sacrifices.  God would provide them food, but they needed to thank Him by offering some back.  There were a lot of rules to follow and they could sin by accident.  If they did, they were to offer a sacrifice for that unintentional sin. (Num. 15:1-29)

There were people who understood God’s rules, but refused to obey.  They did what they wanted.  God said these people were blaspheming the Lord and must be cut off from his people. (Num. 15:30-31)  An example of this kind of person is in Num.15:32-36.  A man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day and was taken to Moses and Aaron.  They asked the Lord what should be done with him and the Lord said he must die.  The Sabbath is one of the most important commands given by God.  It was to be a holy day and a day of rest.  The man knew this, but disobeyed and rebelled which a rebellion against God.  God wants to forgive us, but first we must repent and confess our sin.

(Num 15:37-41) -The people were to attach blue tassels to the corners of their clothes.  This was a sign they belonged to Him and it would remind them of all God’s commands.  “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God.  I am the Lord your God.” – Num. 15:41.

What reminds you of God and His commands?

How have you ignored them for your own desires?

When have you rebelled against God?

Have you asked Him for forgiveness?

Numbers 16 – Challenging the Priesthood

Korah, Danthan and Abirim rose up against Moses.  They persuaded 250 other leaders to rise up with them.  They told Moses that all the Israelites were holy and were as important as Moses.  Korah, who was from the same family as Moses and Aaron did not look at the tassels and think of God and His promises.  He thought only of his own desires.  He thought he had the right to make a claim to the priesthood.  Koran was jealous and wanted equal power.  Their rebellion was not actually against Moses and Aaron, but against God.

Moses didn’t argue with Korah, but fell face down before the Lord showing again that he was God’s humble servant.  Moses became very angry with these men.  Moses had always been a fair and responsible leader.  He wanted to prove who God had chosen as priests.  Since only priests were allowed to offer incense, Moses told them to offer incense in God’s Tent and they would see if God allowed them to do this.  Of course God did not allow this and He wanted to kill all the people.  But Moses and Aaron interceded for them and asked God not to punish everyone for the sins of a few.  (Num. 16:15-22)

God told Moses to have the people move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abriam.  Then God put His judgment on them.  The ground opened up and the wicked men went down alive into the hole in the ground.  Then God punished the 250 followers by sending fire to kill them.  (Num. 16:23-35)  God spared the people, but punished the rebels.

God then told Eleazar to collect the censers the men had used for the incense and to use the bronze from them to make a cover for the altar.  This would always remind the Israelites how God had punished Korah and his followers.  They would remember only priests could offer incense to God. (Num. 16:36-40)

You would think the people would have learned a lesson about rebelling against God, but they didn’t.  The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. (Num. 16:41-50)  Again God threatened to destroy them all, but again Moses and Aaron interceded.  Moses told Aaron to hurry and take his censer and make atonement for the people’s sin.  Aaron portrayed the work of Jesus as intercessor.  ”He stood between the living and the dead” - Num. 16:48.  This is exactly what Jesus did for us by His death on the cross.

Do you believed on Jesus as your Savior? 

Do you trust in His work on the cross on your behalf? 

The only way to God is through Jesus.  “There is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.” – John 3:16-18.  This is why God protected and defended the priesthood in the Old Testament.  If you reject Jesus, you will perish.

Numbers 17 – Aaron’s Priesthood

In this chapter we see how God showed Aaron was appointed High Priest.  Each leader of the 12 tribes was to bring his staff, marked with their name and place it before the presence of the Lord in the Most Holy Place.  The man whose staff sprouted or came alive would be God’s choice priest.  The next morning Aaron’s staff had sprouted, even blossomed and produced almonds.  This staff was place in front of the Testimony to be a sign of the rebellious. 

The people said, “We will die!  We are lost!  Anyone who even comes near the tabernacle of the Lord will die.  Are we all going to die?” – Num 17:12-13.  God didn’t want the people to rebel and He didn’t want them to die, but they were afraid seeing so many people die. 

Numbers 18-19 – Purpose of the Priesthood

In this chapter God spoke directly to Aaron.  He reminded him of the priestly duties and responsibilities. (Num. 18-19)     

Aaron’s priesthood was necessary and an important one, but it was not perfect.  Jesus Christ is our one and only perfect Priest.  He offered Himself as the one true one and only way of salvation.  “When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation.  He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.  The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.  How much more, then, will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” – Heb. 9:11 -14.

The Old Testament priests had to repeatedly offer sacrifices, but Jesus was sacrificed once and for all.  Thank you Jesus!

Is Jesus your High Priest?

Do you believe He is the only way to God?

What words could you use to thank Jesus for what He has done as your High Priest?  

Principles:

Complaining against God’s appointed leaders is a rebellion against God.

Jesus Christ is our High Priest, God’s appointed mediator.

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