My parents loved to travel. Before they died, they had been to all 48 of the lower states in our country. They had at least passed through all 48 states. I’m going to go one up on them; I want to spend the night in all 50 states, do something enjoyable, something unique in all 50 states. I’m going to take Rachel to an art museum or an art gallery in all 50 states. Rachel and I have done that in 21 states so we’re not quite halfway through.
Numbers 33 is the travel itinerary of the nation of Israel from the time they left Egypt until they arrived on the banks of the Jordan River forty years later. These sites and villages seem to be all the places where Israel passed through.
WE LIVE BY THE COMMAND (“MOUTH”) OF THE LORD – 33:2, 38:
Verse 2 informs us that God commanded Moses to write down this history. That written history fulfills several goals: it establishes the truth of the history; it preserves the memorial of God’s intervention on behalf of His people, it confirms their faith in the promises of God for a bountiful future in the promised land.
Actually, this word in Hebrew is not “command” but “mouth.” Moses will make a famous statement just a few pages over into Deuteronomy, in 8:3.
How could we emphasize any more strongly how important it is to make sure we have God’s authority for what we do in worship and in our lives, even in what we believe? If we want to please God, we need to ask, “Where am I authorized to do that in the Word of God?” Has the “mouth of the Lord” spoken about that? If so, that is the end of the matter. There is no debate if God has spoken.
GOD JUDGES THE “GODS” OF THE LAND – 33:4, 50-53:
Verse 4 – The exodus is defined as God’s judgment on the gods of the Egyptians. In verses 10-11, we have reference to the Red Sea which was another judgment on the Pharaoh and his armies as they all drowned in the Red Sea.
This view is consistent with what Moses and God had spoken earlier about the exodus and the plagues brought on Egypt: Exodus 12:12 and in 10:2, Moses writes that God was making a mockery of Egypt through the plagues. In Exodus 15:3, in the oldest song in the Bible, Moses identifies God as a “warrior.” But it was not just against the Egyptian army that God fought but against Egypt’s gods. Take the time to study how each plague was against one or more gods of the Egyptians.
Part of the reason why God, through Moses, reminds Israel that they had conquered the gods of Egypt is because they are on the verge of entering into Canaan and they will be confronted with even more gods: Baal, Chemosh, Milcom, and others. If God defeated the gods of the Egyptians, Israel should not be afraid of the gods of the Canaanites. Let us read 33:50-56.
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We are surrounded by lots of religions and lots of churches. Some of those churches seem to be on the cutting edge of technology and advancement, growing by leaps and bounds. In a society where it seems like few people are really interested in spiritual matters, there are churches who are breaking the mold and growing and reaching people with some kind of message. We even have some of our own brethren who say, “If the church of Christ doesn’t change, it will die.”
I know that is not true. I accept by faith that that is not true because passages like Numbers 33 tell me that I need to live by the mouth of God and God is going to judge the “gods” of the land, man-made religions in the land (cf. Matt. 15:13-14).
If we claim to be faithful to God, we need to stay faithful to God’s word and not trust that just because someone next door seems to be prospering in our eyes, it means they have God’s blessings. We need to stay faithful to His word because (and this is our third point…)
GOD PROVIDES FOR HIS FAITHFUL – 33:14:
There are several sites here that you and I are familiar with because we read their stories in Exodus and Numbers. For example, verse 14 mentions Rephidim. The story of Rephidim is told in Exodus 17 and two major events happen at Rephidim in which God provided for His people.
God still provides for His faithful. The teachings of Jesus emphasize over and over again and so do His apostles that God provides for His faithful children. The famous part of the sermon on the mount in Matthew 6 teaches us not to worry about the basic necessities of life. If we seek God first and His kingdom, all the necessities of life will be provided for us.
GOD JUDGES HIS OWN – 33:38, 54-56:
Finally, we have the occasion referenced here that God will judge His own. God treats everyone fairly but God does not treat everyone equally. There is one occasion where Aaron himself was not faithful either. So, God punished Aaron, but not like He punished the Egyptians. Aaron was a child of God and mostly tried to stay faithful to God. But there was one occasion where Aaron, and Moses himself, disobeyed God, took honor to themselves, and were punished by God by not being able to enter the Promised Land to which they had been hiking for 40 years (Num. 20:8-13, 23-29).
Let us live by the “mouth of the Lord,” not the “gods of the land,” staying faithful to God so we’ll be blessed by Him rather than judged.
Paul Holland
