Past remembered and future foretold within Numbers 33 and 34
We get a look at the past and future of Israel in Numbers 33 and 34. The past 40 years of the Israelites journeying in the wilderness is chronicled by each spot where the people camped. It is amazing to think of a few million people moving from place to place. I am amazed by the thought of coordinating so many people. Why was it important for the people to remember where they had been? I can only think of my own life and walk with God. There are moments in my life when it is absolutely necessary for me to look back and remember the journey that God is leading me on. In the same way the Israelites needed to be able to look back upon their history to remember their past and the God that they served.
Moses was not entering the promised land and God has him remind the people to drive out all the inhabitants from the land and to destroy their idols. This was a crucial fact that will be forgotten as the the years pass in the promised land. Numbers 33:55 tells what will happen to the people if they do not drive everyone out, “but if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about that those whom you let remain of them will become as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in which you live.” Anyone who the Israelites did not drive out became a stumbling block to them. What things in my life are stumbling blocks? What areas have I compromised?
The glimpse into the future for the Israelites is laid out in Numbers chapter 34. God tells the people what will be the border of their land. It must have been a great encouragement as well as a tremendous hurdle in faith. The people are told that this land will be theirs but it required faith and dependance upon God. This land was inhabited by many people that would have to be driven out. Did the people believe that God was able to deliver the land to them? Throughout their journeying in the wilderness the people saw God work time and time again but their obstinate and headstrong natures caused them to constantly stray away from God. Were they aware of their nature to stray? The story of the people of Israel constantly falling away makes me thankful that Jesus Christ came to be the final and perfect sacrifice for sin. My actions are not the key to Jesus Christ’s faithfulness to me. I can rise in the morning and make it through any day because of what Jesus Christ has done. I am just as obstinate and headstrong as the children of Israel but I can find hope in the fact that God loved me enough while I was purely sinful to send Jesus Christ to die for me. My hope is built upon this singular fact and I am so very thankful.
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