Friday, July 11
Numbers 17: This short chapter covers the aftermath of the recent twofold revolt. The purpose of the ordeal and miracle of the twelve rods was to determine, in as clear a way as possible, exactly where the authority in Israel was to be recognized. In short there was to be No More Murmuring (verses 5,10)!
The “incense test” is followed by the “rod test.” Whereas the former vindication of Aaron’s priesthood began with rebellion on the part of its challengers, this one comes entirely from a divine initiative.
The Hebrew word for rod in this chapter is matteh, which in fact means both “staff” and “tribe.” On the rod of Aaron was to be inscribed the name of Aaron himself (verse 3).
Aaron’s rod had, of course, the advantage of experience, if the expression is allowed. That is to say, we readers already know the sorts of things that Aaron’s rod could do, such as turn into a snake and eat up the other rods (Exodus 7:9-15). We are not surprised by the outcome of the present ordeal. The other rods in this story never had a chance.
The overnight blossoming of an almond tree was not uncommon, and in fact Jeremiah (1:12) would later take it as symbolic of the swiftness of the divine judgment. The miracle in this chapter, of course, is that we are not talking about an almond tree, but a dead piece of wood.
Anyway, the miracle produced in the Israelites a sudden change of attitude (verses 12-13). Since the desert narrative records no further challenges to the Aaronic priesthood, we infer that the present vindication of it was completely effective. It was henceforth understood that God alone could choose who would approach Him (Hebrews 5:4).
All of the rods were symbols of authority, for such is a normal meaning of the rod in Holy Scripture. Only the priestly rod, however—the symbol of priestly authority—was the bearer of beauty and nourishment: “the rod of Aaron, of the house of Levi, had sprouted and put forth buds, had produced blossoms and yielded ripe almonds” (verse 8).
Unlike the other rods, which symbolized only authority, the rod of Aaron actually brought forth goodness and life. It was the work of the priesthood to conduct Israel in the pursuit of beauty and life; it was a budding rod, a fruitful and benevolent authority. Aaron’s rod was not intended to beat Israel into submission, but to beautify and to feed them.
Now that the primacy of Aaron’s household has been established so clearly, the next chapter will contain more rules for the Aaronic priesthood.
SATURDAY, JULY 12
Numbers 18: God does not often address Aaron directly—only here (verses 1,20) and in Leviticus 10:8. Two subjects are covered in this chapter: the task of standing guard over the holy place (verses 1-7) and the offerings particularly pertinent to the Levitical and priestly families (verses 8-32).
We recognize in the provisions of this chapter several important lessons for the people of God at all times:
First, the ministers of the Church are governed by the purpose given here in Numbers. Paul described them, when he wrote: “Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Corinthians 4:1). It is significant that he enunciated this thesis specifically to the Church at Corinth.
Second, Christians should be cautious about the dangers of assuming responsibilities for which they are not suited. Thus, they are told, “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment” (James 3:1). Teachers in the Church are also “stewards of the mysteries of God.” The teaching vocation in the Church is full of spiritual dangers for the teacher.
Third, Christians are summoned to regard highly the service of their teachers and other ministers especially appointed to serve them. In the New Testament it is not difficult to discern that certain Corinthians in particular were deficient in this respect. Indeed, the sins of the Corinthian Christians should be compared with the offenses of the Israelites recorded here in Numbers: jealousy, arrogance, and presumption. It is no wonder that Paul, when he reprimanded them for such attitudes, drew their attention to the sins of Israel in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10).
Fourth, the provisions in Numbers 18 were directed to the proper structure and order of Israel’s worship. In his exhortation to the Christians at Corinth, Paul reminds them of the need for such order: “Let all things be done decently and in order”—euschemonos kai kata taxsin (1 Corinthians 14:40).
Sunday, July 13
Numbers 19: Since Israel’s original adult population is condemned to die in the wilderness, deaths would be occurring pretty often over the forty years of the desert wandering. There would be deaths every day and a constant digging of graves. In chapter 17 alone, nearly 15,000 people died from earthquake and plague. Since ritual contamination ensued on any contact with a corpse, we realize that a large number of Israelites—on any given day—was ritually unclean (Leviticus 5:2; 11:8,24-25; 21:1-4; Numbers 5:2; 6:6-12; 9:6-7,10-11) and in need of purification.
The present chapter, which addresses the problem, provides a simple process for purification. The material falls into two parts: the rite of the red heifer (verses 1-10) and the application of the “water of impurity” (verse 11-22).
The heifer is slaughtered outside the camp (verse 3), like other offerings for purification (Leviticus 14:1-9,49-53). Also like other offerings for purification, the victim is entirely consumed by fire (verse 4; Exodus 29:14; Leviticus 4:11; 8:17; 16:27). To the fire is added a cedar stick, hyssop, and scarlet cloth (verse 6), the same elements associated with the cleansing of lepers (Leviticus 14:4,6,49,51-52).
As though to suggest that the ritual of the red heifer will serve for Israel’s future generations (verse 10), it is first assigned to Aaron’s successor, (verse 4). Aaron, in any case, must in no wise incur impurity.
In texts like the present chapter, death is understood to convey contamination, because of its close association with Adam’s rebellion against the Lord. It was through sin that death entered man’s experience.
It is not wrong, therefore, to inquire whether the final and definitive remedy for sin—the sacrificial death of Christ—may be adumbrated in the ritual of the red heifer. Initial points of comparison would include the killing of the heifer outside the camp. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, consequently, refers to the rite of the red heifer, comparing it to the sacrifice of Christ: “For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:13-14; cf. 13:11-13)
Monday, July 14
Numbers 20: This chapter divides into three recognizable parts. The first (verses 1-13) narrates the incident of the water at Meribah, prefaced by the people’s arrival at Kadesh-Barnea and the death of Miriam. The second tells of the confrontation with the Edomites (verses 14-21), and the third narrates the death of Aaron (verses 22-29).
As the first verse provides neither the year nor day of the story’s context, the chronology must be conjectural. It is reasonable to suppose the events in this chapter took place during the fortieth year of Israel’s desert wanderings. The deaths of Miriam and Aaron indicate that the original pilgrims of the Exodus are disappearing from the scene.
The people find themselves in the desert of Zin, a region sparsely inhabited by wandering nomadic tribes. It formed the southern border to the land of Edom, just south of Canaan (Numbers 34:3; Joshua 15:1), and included the Negev.
This new drought provokes more murmuring and a rebellious spirit (verses 2-5). If, as we have supposed, these events took place toward the end of Israel’s stay at Kadesh, the people have been gone from Egypt nearly forty years. Still, it is the same old complaint: Why did Moses insist on taking everybody out of that lovely, wonderful land, Egypt, and bringing them out here in the desert to die of thirst? The whole fault lies with Moses and his brother Aaron.
It is instructive to reflect that Israel, so severely punished for the rebellions recorded in chapters 16-18, has learned precious little of the perils of murmuring and rebellion. Indeed, the present uprising is described in terms identical to those describing the incidents of the Golden Calf (Exodus 32:1) and Korah (16:3,19,42). The people “contend,” exactly in the account of the water at Rephidim (Exodus 17:2; cf. Genesis 26:20).
Once again the prayer of these brothers (verse 6) is answered by God’s instruction for remedying the problem (verses 7-8). The “rod” is not identified, but the proximity of this story to that in chapter 17 prompts us to identify it as the miraculous rod of Aaron. The “his” describing it can refer to either man.
Ancient Hebrew legend identified the “rock” in this passage with the rock in Exodus 17, a stone that actually traveled along with the people through the desert. The Apostle Paul identified that rock for us, remarking that “all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4).
Tuesday, July 15
Numbers 21: The Israelites move further east and south to skirt the territory of the uncooperative Edomites. Their recent discouragement leads to the incident of the Brazen Serpent (verses 5-9). The “fiery” (saraph, the root of the word Seraphim, by the way) serpents are so called by the effects of their bite, whether a fever or a painful inflammation.
It is curious that this incident took place near Punon (33:42), where there were large copper mines at the time (Late Bronze Age), and it is certainly worth remarking that the excavations at Lachish, to the west, uncovered a bronze image of a snake dating from exactly this period!
In due course, King Hezekiah was obliged to destroy this copper image, because the Israelites of the 8th century had started to treat it like an idol (2 Kings 18:4).
The true significance of the Brazen Serpent is explained in two later biblical passages.
The first is Wisdom 16:5-7:
For when the fierce rage of beasts came upon these, they were destroyed with the biting of crooked serpents. But thy wrath endured not forever, but they were troubled for a short time for their correction, having a sign of salvation to put them in remembrance of the commandment of thy law. For he that turned to it, was not healed by that which he saw, but by thee the Savior of all.
The great irony of the serpent is this: The serpent was our tempter. The serpent, then, symbolizes man’s fall. God, as the “Savior of all,” assumes an image associated with sin itself. The brazen serpent, then, became a type or prophecy of the Incarnation, in which God’s Son assumed the likeness of our sinful flesh in order to redeem us.
The Jews, then, in looking at the serpent in faith, were in fact, looking forward to Christ, who was symbolized in that image.
The second text is John 3:14-16:
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
The expression “be lifted up,” used by our Lord in His discourse with Nicodemus, is repeated halfway through John’s Gospel, again with reference to the crucifixion: “‘And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.’ This He said, signifying by what death He would die” (12:32–33).
Wednesday, July 16
Numbers 22: The present chapter inaugurates a new section of Numbers, chapters 22-24. Israel’s hosts now encamp on “the plains of Moab,” that Moabite territory north of the Arnon (verse 1). This is the site for the rest of Numbers and all of Deuteronomy.
From this position, looking directly west, they have before them a wide and impressive vista. On their immediate right are the brown hills of Bashan, slightly to the left of which the viewers are able to trace the long, serpentine, green valley of the Jordan, on the opposite bank of which, but slightly to the right, stands the city of Jericho.
The same viewers, turning a bit to their left but still looking ahead, gaze on the northern fringe of the Dead Sea, the lowest geological point on the earth. It is at this point that the Jordan empties into the Dead Sea. A few degrees further right, on a clear day, they can behold outlines of Jerusalem. Humanly speaking, everything would seem ready for Israel’s crossing of the Jordan, but other trials and an entire book of the Bible—Deuteronomy—will still precede that great event.
The first of these trials comes from the Moabites, whose settled territory sits to Israel’s immediate south, exactly ninety degrees to the left of those gazing over the Jordan.
The Moabites, having recently been defeated by the Amorites, are rather impressed by Israel, the newcomer now victorious over those same Amorites (verses 2-3). Balak, the Moabite king, eager for a bit of help from on high, seeks the spiritual assistance of Balaam, evidently a well-known diviner, urging him to come and curse Israel (verse 6). Balaam will be the more notable character in chapters 22-24.
Although it was long supposed that the material in the Balaam stories came to the Bible from without, only since 1967 has this hypothesis been strengthened by concrete evidence. That was the year archeologists discovered a relevant text at Tell Deir ‘Alla (the biblical Sukkoth), on the Jordan’s east bank, near its confluence with the River Jabbok.
The Deir text, painted on (now fragmented) walls plastered with lime, appears to have been composed sometime during the 9th to 8th centuries B.C. It describes how Balaam, Son of Beor, received a nocturnal message from the gods, who expressed their displeasure. On the next morning he delivered that message to the people.
The Deir text demonstrates that: (1) Balaam was known as a prophet in exactly that locale where the Bible places him, and (2) he received a divine message at night and delivered it in the morning. These features bear a striking resemblance to the biblical picture of Balaam.
Thursday, July 17
Numbers 23: These next two chapters contain four oracles of Balaam relative to Israel, each of which is set in a liturgical context, complete with the offering of sacrifice. The words of the oracles come from the Lord Himself (verses 5,16).
The first oracle (verses 8-10), called a “parable” (mashal—-verse 7), testifies to the futility of defying God, even by religious means, such as blessing and cursing. In mystic vision Balaam see that there is more going on than meets the eye in Israel’s sudden appearance in this time and place. There is more happening than human force can control or explain. Even this pagan and unworthy prophet can discern that God’s secret purposes are at work, such as only a fool would undertake to resist. Israel, says Balaam, is not like other nations (verse 9).
Needless to say, this is not what Balak had in mind to hear (verse 11), and the Moabite king, evidently of the opinion that a change of view might be helpful to his cause, takes Balaam up to a higher place and asks him to give it a go from a new angle, as it were, a fresher approach to the situation (verse 14).
From Balak’s perspective, this new angle is no help at all. Indeed, it simply amplifies the former message, insisting that on the inevitability of God’s purpose respecting Israel (verses 18-24).
Completely frustrated, Balak wants to cancel the whole performance (verse 25), but the show must go on, says Balaam (verse 26). It is too late to stop. All right, answers Balak, let’s try to find a third angle from which to view the thing. So everyone prepared to go through the whole complicated process once again (verses 27-30).
We behold Balak’s bewilderment, as he continues to imagine that the gist of prophecy consists in changing one’s perspective and looking at things from a different angle. This frustrating exercise is also part of the Lord’s plan, so He permits the charade to continue. This next message will be of a piece with the other two.
Friday, July 18
Numbers 24: Unlike Balak, Balaam has the situation figured out. He knows that it is hopeless; Israel cannot be cursed. Balaam turns his back, therefore, and stares into the wilderness; he will not look at Israel (verse 1). Even there, however, and apparently in mystic trance (verse 4), he beholds the hosts of the Israelites, and the Holy Spirit of prophecy descends upon him.
This new “parable” (mashal—verse 3), the most solemn hitherto (verses 5-9), invokes the lion symbolism that Jacob had used of Judah (verse 9; Genesis 49:9) and the imagery of the water and trees of Paradise (verse 6; Genesis 2:9-10).
Barak, naturally quite exasperated by now (verse 10), orders Balaam to leave at once (verse 11). The latter, however, after defending himself (verses 12-14), has one more parable “for the road,” as it were, this one not sought by Balak. Indeed, this final prophecy is a multiple parable (mashal—verses 15,20,21,23), a prophecy in parts, in which Balaam announces what Moab and its neighbors may expect of the Israelites in the years to come.
The star rising from Jacob (verse 17) is, of course, the Star of David and refers to the Messianic line of David’s sons. Just as it was the pagan prophet Balaam who first saw this star in mystic vision, it was the pagan sages that beheld its coming with their own eyes (Matthew 2:2,7,9,10).
The Christian interpretation of this star was recognized early:
And that He should rise as a star from the see of Abraham, Moses demonstrated ahead of time when he said, ‘A star shall arise from Jacob, and a leader from Israel’; and another Scripture says, ‘Behold a Man, the East is His name.’ Accordingly, when a star arose in heaven at the time of His birth, as is recorded in the memoirs of the Apostles, the Magi from Arabia, recognizing the sign by this, came and adored Him (Justin Martyr, The Dialogue With Trypho 106).
And again:
Therefore there is one and the same God, who was proclaimed by the prophets and announced by the Gospel; and His Son, who was of the fruit of David’s body, that is, of the Virgin descended from David, and Emmanuel; whose star Balaam also prophesied, ‘A star shall arise out of Jacob, and a leader shall arise in Israel.’ But Matthew says that the Magi, coming from the east, exclaimed, ‘For we have seen His star in the east and are come to adore Him”; and having been led by the star into the house of Jacob, to Emmanuel, they showed by the gifts that they offered Him just whom they were adoring (Irenaeus of Lyons, Against the Heresies 3.9.2).