“Take a census of the whole Israelite community by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one.”
~ Numbers 1:2
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you like facts? Do you like to be in the know? Do you like to read directions? Do you follow directions? Do you think that directions are good? Ask your ma and/or dad what will happen if directions are not followed? Do you think that having information is helpful to have? How detailed would you like information to be for you? Your grandpaa does not like it at all when a guy or gal tells him unsubstantiated information. Ask your ma and/or dad what unsubstantiated means. Unsubstantiated is a pretty big word. An example for your grandpaa of unsubstantiated information would be to have a guy or gal tell him that a specific number of guys, gals and kids have made decisions of faith in the evangelistic meeting that the guy or gal had just had attended. A short term youth ministry team from a church in the Minneapolis area was here in Guatemala about six weeks ago. There were a lot of young high school age kids on this short term ministry team. This short term ministry team traveled to a place here in Guatemala called San Marcos. The short term ministry team had open air meetings – using mimes, and played basketball against the local basketball teams. The leaders of this short term ministry team claimed that while this short term ministry team was in San Marcos that 800 guys, gals and kids made decisions of faith. This short term ministry team kept count of the number of guys, gals and kids who made decisions of faith. When your grandpaa says that a guy, gal or kid has made a decision of faith, your grandpaa is saying that the guy, gal or kid has invited Jesus into his or her life as his or her Lord and Savior. Your grandpaa would be very happy if over 800 guys, gals and kids had all made a decision of faith – of having invited Jesus into his or her lives as his or her Lord and Savior. Your grandpaa knows that there are times when a guy, gal or kid in Latin America may just say or may just show by raising his or her hand that he or she is agreeing with what he or she is hearing being said – especially when the guy, gal or kid wants to please a guy or gal who is there from the United States, and are not really making a decision of faith. Your grandpaa has seen all the kids in Bolivian and in Guatemalan churches raise their hands after a Bible story had been told to them to . . . the kids were all doing what they thought that they were expected to do or the kids were following what one of the other kids had done or the kids thought they just might get a piece of candy or something else if they raised their hand. When a guy or gal tells your grandpaa the number of decisions of faith that . . ., your grandpaa will ask that guy or gal for the name of each guy, gal and kid who made a decision of faith, where each guy, gal and kid lives and how old each guy, gal and kid is. Your grandpaa is not very happy at all with the churches that are in the United States. The United States churches only seem to want to know the number of guys, gals and kids who have made decisions of faith and the number new churches that have been planted. The churches in the United States do not seem to be interested in the names of the guys, gals and kids who have made decisions of faith and the names of the guys, gals and kids who are attending a new church that has been planted.
Do you think that God wants you to have knowledge? Do you think that God wants you to have information? God had Moses write down a lot of information in the five books that He impressed on Moses to scribe. God had Moses collect information. The fourth book in the Bible is called Numbers. Numbers is a book which is filled with data. Why do you think that a book became called Numbers? Numbers reports the number of able body guys who are in each Israelite tribal clan. Numbers 1 accounts the number of God’s specially chosen able bodied guys in each Israelite tribal clan after Pharaoh gave God’s special chosen guys, gals and kids permission to leave Egypt. About 400 years or so before Moses scribed his Numbers Book, there was a famine in the land which God had promised his specially chosen people that they would always have to live in as their very own land. This famine happened during the time when Abraham’s grandson Jacob was alive. Jacob ended up having to head for Egypt – where his second to last son, Joseph, had been taken after having been sold by his bros to guys in a traveling camel caravan. Seventy guys and gals from Jacob’s family ended up going with Jacob to Egypt. Jacob’s extended family over the next 400 years would really grow. Thirteen months after God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids left Egypt, God required Moses to do what verse 2 says to do ‘“Take a census of the whole Israelite community by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one.” God wanted Moses to have a list of every Israelite guy who could fight in a war. The guys who God wanted in the list had to be over twenty years old and the guy had to be able to fight. God wanted everything done in order. God wanted Moses to have guys named by name. The Levite tribal clan was the one tribal clan that did not have their guys counted to fight in wars. The Levite tribal clan had been selected by God to take care of the tabernacle – which God already had had His specially chosen guys construct, and to carry the tabernacle and the tabernacle’s furnishings each time that the Israelite people group’s guys, gals and kids moved.
So – how many guys were there in the Israelite tribal clans – except for the Levite tribal clan, who could fight in wars? There were 603,550 guys twenty years old and older. How many of these 603,550 guys would get to go into the Promised Land? Just two guys – Caleb and Joshua. Because the other guys had not trusted God to lead them into the Promised Land, these guys over the next forty years would die in the wilderness. 603,548 guys did not make it into the Promised Land because they were not willing to trust in God. So – trust in God and you will be blessed.
Numbers 1 (97)