Introduction and Recap

Today we look at Numbers 32 to 36 and it marks the end of a 40-year journey of Israel. So 40 years is four decades, four decades of journey that began after they have been brought out of Egypt in the Exodus. This 40-year journey, I hope, will be summarized in four minutes here. I'm going to do that as a recap of the book of Numbers.

In Numbers, Chapters 1 to 10, you would recognize this is God speaking to His people at Mount Sinai. He begins to arrange them, organize them in such a picture that the 12 tribes would encircle the tent of meeting where God dwells. So God in Numbers 1 to 10 first teaches them the lesson of centeredness, that the core and the heart and the center of Israel is none other than God himself. Then we looked at Chapters 5 and 6 that taught us lessons about cleanness. If God is to dwell with His people, His people must understand what it means to be spiritually clean. And then we learn lessons in Chapter 7 to 10 about closeness, what it means to consecrate to God, what it means to follow after God. These are the lessons that God taught Israel in Numbers 1 to 10.

So now they are ready to march off from Sinai towards the Promised Land. But Israel did not get off to a very good start, because right after Chapter 10 is Chapter 11, where we read of them, complain, complain, complain. Their wickedness is revealed when there is an apparent lack of food they like.. Their disobedience is contrasted in Chapter 12 with Moses and his faith and obedience. He was a man who was extremely meek in the midst of provocation. And the sinfulness of Israel is then further manifested in the incident of the spies. Moses sent spies to Canaan to look at the land and the enemies and the territory. And they came back with a report saying that land of promise, Canaan is indeed a land flowing with milk and honey, but, and that's a very big but, they have giants in the land, their fortresses are walled up. ‘We will never be able to conquer them’, they say. And so Israel believed the majority report and say, ‘We will not go into Canaan’. And that marks the 10th time Israel sinned against God since the Exodus. So God said, in his anger and wrath, this generation will wander in the wilderness and not enter the Promised Land, the second generation will enter the Promised Land. So Israel, again, is seen in their faithlessness and sinfulness before God.

That is further accentuated in Chapters 16 to 19, when Korah, Dathan and Abiram would confront Moses and say, Who do you think you are to lead us? In essence, they are challenging God's appointment. So all that is messy. And then we read in Chapter 20. That's actually a big leap, about 38 years down the line. So it's like ….., 38 years later, Aaron would die, Miriam would die, and even Moses would sin against God when he struck the rock twice. So the first generation will come to a close soon. Miriam has died, Aaron has died, Moses has sinned. It's kind of like a closure to say the first gen, they are not going to enter in. It's a chapter of gloom and doom, but it changes in Chapter 21 if you recall, because there were victories in Canaan. There were victories over King Sihon and King Og, and there were songs of praise about finding a well and celebrations, even though we are again reminded of the sinfulness of Israel, the second generation in particular, when they murmured against God and were bitten by serpents, until God would graciously save them through the bronze serpent. But things are going to change. Things are going to be a lot more positive for Israel, because now God is moving them, the second generation, into the Promised Land soon. So, we read of their blessings when Balaam and Balak in Numbers 22 and 24 try to curse Israel, but they couldn't do it, no matter how they tried. No matter how many times they tried, God would turn their intended cursings into blessings. Well, Israel, however, did trip themselves up when they succumbed to temptation from the Midianite or the Moabite women and yoked themselves or joined themselves with the gods of Peor and God was angry with Israel, and 24,000 people of the Israelites died in that incident. Then last week, we looked at Numbers 31, God commanding Israel now to exact vengeance on the Midianites. And we learn lessons there.

So it has been an action packed book, really, even though they are intervening long chapters of explanations. Well, that's my four-minute recap of four decades of journey, and let me give you a four second summary of the lessons we learned. The faithlessness of Israel, the faithfulness of God and the fulfillment in Christ. God's love for Israel is gracious and magnanimous, because Israel has proven themselves to be an unworthy people, like all of us. They sin and they sin and they sin, and yet God is gracious and steadfast and unrelenting in His love, just as we sang just now, ‘strong to save and faithful in love’, faithful even when man is unfaithful. And God's blessings on Israel is kind of pointing us to God's blessing for us in Jesus. So God blessed Israel because of Moses pleading for Israel. God blessed Israel because of Aaron being the priest to bear away the sins of Israel. God blessed Israel because of the bronze serpent that is hoisted up. God blessed Israel because Phinehas the priest, averted the disaster at Peor by spearing the two culprits. God is saying, I think, through the pages of Numbers, that there is a savior for you, pictured in Moses, in Aaron, in Phinehas, in the Great Shepherd King, in a bronze serpent and that person is Jesus.

God’s Promise to Bless

Well, that's all we learned in our past four months. Today we come to the finale in Numbers 32 to 36 and I think these chapters, five chapters really talk a lot about the land, the Promised Land, the land that Israel is supposed to inherit. So let's entitle this sermon: God's promise to bless. God is a blessing God, He wants to bless his people, and he has promised blessings to Israel, and is urging Israel, now preparing Israel now to soon enter this realm, this land, this life of blessing. If I were to write a book, I'm a lousy writer, but if I'm to write a book, a story, I would not have ended this way, because these five chapters seem a bit boring. It's about how the land is divided, about how they've come to this land. It's not the most exciting storyline, but Moses is not writing this like a story to excite us, but is writing this as an account of how God is faithful to bless us. So let's look at these five chapters, may not be so interesting in a sense, but I hope it is helpful and edifying for those who are spiritually minded.

1. The Compromise: To settle for less

So let's look at verse or Chapter 32. Chapter 32 teaches us about a compromise with regards to the land. Now so far I know it's early morning. You may not be so awake, so let me try to wake you up with a corny joke or a riddle. What is compromise? Well, compromise can be understood in this riddle. ‘Why can you never compromise with a veggie burger?’ The answer: Because they will never meet in the middle. Okay, I know it takes some time to warm up, but I hope you figure it out soon. Let me give you a second one all right. ‘What do you call it when two psychics reach a compromise?’ The answer: a happy medium. Let's go to the third one. Not quite a riddle already, just a statement. ‘A friend and I were talking about compromise in marriage, and my friend said, in my marriage, my wife makes all the small decisions, and I make all the big decisions, and we have yet to make any big decisions.’ That's what makes a family clique sometimes, all right.

What is compromise? Compromise means you are willing to settle for something less. And I think that's the story here in Numbers Chapter 32. There was a group of people who wanted to settle for something less. The two tribes of Reuben and Gad, there are 12 tribes of Israel, and two of them Reuben and Gad, together with a third one, but just half the tribe, the half tribe of Manasseh. So we have Reuben, Gad and half tribe of Manasseh. They came to Moses and said, Now we are going to enter the Promised Land, but Moses, we don't really want land in the Promised Land. Let us settle outside the Promised Land, let us settle right here where we are camped. So when Moses heard that, he was somewhat angry, because it reminds him of Numbers Chapters 13 and 14, how Israel got scared and would not enter the Promised Land.

So let me just give you a kind of a geography here. They have marched from all the way from Egypt, traveled around this kind of direction. Of course, I think this is not exact, and we don't really know what happened in the 40 years. This is just a glimpse of what they have traveled through in the first one or two years, and then the last one or two years. Intervening years of wilderness we don't have a lot of detail, but roughly they traveled from Egypt and are now at the Plains of Moab, which is on the east side of the river Jordan. So if I were to zoom in to this area, you would see that they are now encamped around Moab, and they are supposed to soon cross the river Jordan into the Promised Land, where ultimately Jerusalem will be. They are supposed to inherit land on this west side or your left side of the river Jordan. But Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh says it's okay, we don't want the land there, we just want to settle here.

And so when they approached Moses, there was a fear that this would be another betrayal, that this would be a case of cold feet. And so Moses was angry and said, ‘How can you do this? Don't you remember what happened to us?’ To which Reuben, Gad and Manasseh quickly clarify, ‘Oh, no, no, no. It's not that we have cold feet. It's not that we will not go for battle. Our men will all go for battle. It's just that after we won, or we win the battle at Canaan, let us just come back and stay here. The rest of the nine and a half tribes, you can have the Promised Land.’

So I think this marks a kind of settling for less. Somehow they don't feel that Canaan is good enough, or big enough or certain enough, whatever the case may be. And they say, we just want to settle here at Moab. God says that the Promised Land is the Promised Land for you, it's a place that flows with milk and honey, but they say, No, it's okay. We will stay outside.

And I think that's a picture, perhaps, that we can think about in our own lives. Could there be that realm of blessing symbolized in the Promised Land that God has for you, but you just say, It's okay, I'll stay close to it, but not quite enter it. I'll just stay outside. Could there be some of you who are quite contented to come to church, sit in a service, join us for meals, meet with Christian people, hear some teachings and say that's what I want, but don't ask me to become a Christian, don't ask me to trust Christ, don't ask me to personally believe. I just want to stay right outside.

I want to tell you that God's promise to bless is rich and worthy. I was just doing Bible study with my friend, and we were looking at Ephesians, and I'm reminded of this verse, ‘how God has blessed us, His people in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places’ (Ephesians 1:3). Now, when you read a verse like this, immediately you'll be asking, what do you mean when you say spiritual blessings? Well, Paul in Ephesians, I think, goes on to express or manifest what these blessings may be when he spoke later on in verse five about adoption.

Adoption means I bring you into family, you were previously not in my family, but now I bring you into my family and treat you and regard you as my son and as my daughter. There can be no greater privilege in life than for God to take me in as His son. Imagine today, Donald Trump said, I'll take you as my son. I say, jialat, no, no, no, no. Okay, well, you may not want him to be a father, I understand that. But if God says I want to be your father and he takes you in as his son, what a tremendous privilege. I mean, God is my Father. What is it that I need that this omnipotent, wise, loving, faithful God can't provide? What will I lack in life? Nothing. This is an amazing blessing that a former enemy of God is now a son and a daughter of God.

Paul goes on to say, not only do you get adoption, you get redemption. The idea here is to pay for someone to be set free, and we are set free from the bondage of sin. We are set free from the penalty of sin that's seen in the word forgiveness. It's the death of sin is sent away, and these are the real blessings the Bible promises. Oh, it's so sad when people today go to church and hear messages about how, oh, when you come to Christ, you get rich. God will give you money. God will save you from the sickness. I think, though, God can do those things, as we always say, they are nothing compared to these spiritual blessings that matter for all eternity. I give you a million bucks, it will last you only one lifetime maximum. But I give you adoption, redemption, forgiveness, that's an eternity, and not only that, he speaks about an inheritance. All these things are for now, and there is a future glory and riches that is to come, that's all found in that word, blessings.

All this is sealed with the promise of the Spirit. We receive the Spirit as a kind of guarantee. We now have the Spirit living in us, changing our lives, helping us fight sin, manifesting Jesus in the way we live, think, speak, that assures us that we will inherit all these things, because His spirit is already at work, and it is so sad when people today then come to church, but do not come to Christ. They come near the Promised Land, but do not enter the realm of blessing in Christ. So I am thankful that you come to church, to the services. It's great. It's great that you get to hear God's Word. It's great that you get to know people. I think that's wonderful, but I hope that is just something that you do so that one day you will cross into the Promised Land, because that's what really matters. So Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh, sad that they settle for less, so close yet so far away.

2. The Course

Now secondly, let's turn to Chapter 33, we are not going in depth into every chapter in detail, but let's go to Chapter 33, because this describes the course, the journey they take. Moses, now in Chapter 33 is going to list some 40 places. I am not going to read all 40, all will really sleep on me if I do so, you can go back and read. He mentions 40 locations between Ramesses in Egypt to the Promised Land. And these places are like super ulu to you, like unfamiliar if I say Choa Chu Kang, Bukit Timah, East Coast Park, you will know. But when I read these 40 places, I don't know, and I can totally understand why. But there is a reason why he wrote all these things in this final few chapters in Numbers.

These are some of my favorite things growing up. I think most of you won’t know, either you're too young or too old. Just a segment of people will know about this. You know, Kaka? Don't know ah, don't know what's Kaka? You guys need to be educated. It is these snacks, which will have toys inside, small, little toys. And I would love to buy Kaka, not because the snacks taste great, but because they are toys. And sometimes they have this system where you must collect 10 tickets, then you exchange for a toy. I go straight to the auntie and say, Auntie, I don't want the snacks. Can you just sell me the tickets? But I love Kaka. I love xiao ding dang (Doraemon in Chinese), because they always have little toys.

How about this? Erasers? I think it's still, I asked the kids, just now in first service, they still have erasers. I have bags of them. I would play eraser with my friends. I know how to cheat. And when you get your eraser on top of another, you win, right? You take the eraser. I have bags of it. I sell them for money, that funds all my toys.

And maybe some of you may not know this, these are? Aiya, let the kids answer. The kids have no idea what these are. These are cassette tapes where you listen to music. Okay, this one, adults, quiet. The kids only okay? What is this? Wah not bad, you know what is floppy disc? Yes, this is our actually, do you still use thumb drive? This is like a thumb drive equivalent, just that it's floppy and it gets spoilt very easily. This is our iPad. You can play this for a long, long time. And how about this antique? This is our phone, all right. This is, I'm not sure, even I don't have a phone at home actually now, but this is the only phone we have.

And in those days, we travel on busses, and the busses look like this, very different from what they look like now, power bus and so on. And on these busses, you don't have the ezlink, tap in, tap out, right? So you have the uncle coming on the bus, and they use this device to clip, clip and see whether you have paid your tickets. But, yeah, those are the memories we have. Do you know this place? Yeah, we live in Punggol, and this is Punggol, what it used to be. And I remember my dad, once in a while, would drive us to Punggol and have seafood. I think now don't have already, right? Yeah. I used to grow up in this place. This is Seletar air base. I live somewhat outside it, Jalan Kayu. It used to look like this, Jalan Kayu, so very simple, very humble, but I love the area. Once in a while I'll go out to the shops and look for things to buy. Happy memories. This is Perry primary school here, and Perry secondary school. And then this was converted to Rosyth primary school, which I studied, and I remember the field I would play there, soccer, fight, whatever. And I will remember in school, we would squat, squat along the drains, and we will brush our teeth. You all like that, jialat lei, but that's how Singapore was. That's how we grew up. We spit into the drain, and then there's a whole drain of your spit and whatever. But that's, that's life.

You know, as I mentioned these things and I mentioned these places, what happens, you're brought back memories lane, right? You kind of have a sense, okay, I know the kids have absolutely no idea, but for those who are a bit older, you have a sense of nostalgia, you have a sense of remembrance. And I think that's what Moses was trying to do when he marked out the course of their journey to remind them how life has been these 40 years. You must understand, everybody now standing there at Moab grew up in these 40 years of wilderness, every one of them, they were born there. They were taught there, they ate there, they go toilet there, they learn things there, they see their parents die there. That has been their life. And Moses here, in these seemingly boring words, is reminding, I think, Israel, of how faithless they were and how faithful God is, despite all the trials and tribulations they are now at the cusp of entering the Promised Land.

So maybe today, God has led you from Egypt to Moab. Because in the past, you will never get near the church. In the past, you will never want to hear anything from the Bible. In the past, you will not want to talk to any Christians at all. But today, you say, I'm open, I am willing to come to church to explore the faith, to find out more about Christianity. I hope you look back and say, Thank God for the journey from Egypt to Moab. But as I've said earlier, don't just stop at Moab. By God's grace, we pray that you would soon cross the river Jordan and believe God's blessings for you in the land of Canaan, or typologically, in the Lord Jesus Christ.

3. The Conquest

But let's move on, because in Chapter 33 not only do we see the course, we see a command for conquest. Here God says in 51 to 52, “when you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all” the Canaanites, “destroy all” the idols and “demolish all their high places”. So make sure the Canaanites and the Canaanite worship of their false gods is totally eliminated, because if you don't, they will become a “barb in your eyes and a thorn in your sides, and they will always trouble you” (Numbers 33:55), just like how perhaps the Midianites and the Midianite women were a thorn in your sight, they will always trouble you. So you've got to make sure you get rid of them.

Last week, we looked at a rather gross example, right? You remember the Chau Ka, the diabetic ulcer example, and how there must be a radical solution, there must be a BKA, a Below Knee Amputation to totally eradicate the disease. Well, this week, I won't be so cruel or so graphic, but I read something in our news portal, Channel News Asia, about Philippines and how this place in Manila had a very interesting solution to dealing with dengue fever. This is what it says, Manila neighborhood puts bounty on dengue-carrying mosquitoes. So apparently, they will pay you, the government will pay you five cents for every five mosquitoes you catch. Dead or alive? Doesn't matter, I think should be all dead lah, how to bring the alive one. But if you can bring five mosquitos, they give you five cents. I say, not bad. I mean, of course, our currency here is stronger, we may sniff at five cents, but it can be quite a sum. And if you are a child, better than catch spider, you catch mosquito, and you can bring in some income for your family. But that is the point, they want to eradicate the mosquitoes, because if you let them fly around, they will be a thorn in your side, and they will cause trouble and maybe even death.

I think that's the idea I think about when Moses was commanding Israel, make sure you drive them all out. Now this is what happens when you enter the Promised Land and I think there is a reminder for Christians that when we believe in Jesus, it's not just sit back, chill and relax, but when we believe in Christ, there is a responsibility to drive out the Canaanites of our lives, to drive out the sinful influences of our lives.

And again, I refer back to Ephesians, how Ephesians one to three speaks about the great blessings and riches in Christ, and chapters four onwards speaks about how we are to respond in the light of God's blessings and wealth given to us. And I think Paul says in Chapter four, make sure you drive out the Canaanites, “put off your old self”, your old sinful flesh, put that away which “is corrupt through deceitful desires” (Ephesians 4:22). And then He gives us very concretely, “put away falsehood” (Ephesians 4:25). Don't lie, speak the truth, drive out sinful anger (Ephesians 4:26). In fact, he goes on to say, because if you don't, it gives place to the devil, it just allows the devil to influence you and control you. So make sure you drive them out, drive out sinful anger. Drive out thievery, dishonest appropriation of people's things (Ephesians 4:28). Instead of stealing from people, your ethic should have 180-degree change. Instead of being lazy and steal, you should work hard. And instead of just saying, I want to get things from people, from people, I want to work hard so that I can give things to people. That's a radical perspective change. Goes on to say, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths” (Ephesians 4:29), but speak to build people up. Drive out “bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander” (Ephesians 4:31), but be tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. Drive out “sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness” (Ephesians 5:3). Drive out “filthiness, foolish talk, crude talking” (Ephesians 5:4). Drive out “unfruitful works of darkness” (Ephesians 5:11). Drive out “being drunk with wine, which is debauchery” (Ephesians 5:18). Drive them out.

And so today, if you are truly a child of God, perhaps the instruction to drive out the Canaanites should remind us that as Christians, we are to strive for holiness, to drive out sin and temptation, so that we may not be embroiled or entangled again in these sins. This, I think, is what Moses communicated in the conquest.

4. The Carving

The fourth thing, okay, I let you guess. You look at your Bible, and we have a few things mentioned, the compromise, secondly, the course, thirdly, the conquest. The fourth thing, Chapter 34, 35, what is it about? It's about the land and its division, right? The division of the land. So let's call this the carving out of the land to the various tribes. Now this, again, may not be so relevant for you, because I don't live in Israel, I don't live in the Middle East, I don't care about the land there

But in Singapore, you are interested about land or not? Very interested, especially now with elections coming up, our government very serious about this carving out of the land. In 2015, okay, this will rotate, 2015 the GRCs, SMCs are organized like this. 2020, there are some changes. And this year, 100% sure got changes, right? We always have to draw the electoral boundaries so that you know where to vote or who you vote for. So Singapore just announced, I think it was a couple of weeks ago that the electoral boundaries committee has been formed and our general elections will take place this year. It's just a matter of which month, that's all. But we're going to vote according to the carving of the land.

So this is how Israel was carved out, the allocation of the land to the various tribes. So you can see, again, this map we looked at just now, the Dead Sea and then this is the River Jordan. To the left side is the Promised Land, and it will be divided amongst the nine and a half tribes. To the right side is the two and a half tribes. You have Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh. Manasseh would straddle both, because half tribe, half tribe. Can? No need to memorize. I also don't know where, just aga aga can already okay? This is not Singapore elections, but aga aga all right, but Chapter 34 after giving us these tribal allocations, you would find that there is one tribe that is not mentioned with regards to land, like big pieces of land, the tribe is the tribe of Levi. Levi will not have their own land, because the Levites will be distributed amongst all the other tribes in these red dots. They are not measles, not infections, they are just the locations of the 48 cities of the Levites. The Levites are spread out amongst the tribes so that they may minister, they can teach God's word to the people there. They are like your church, if I may say, all right. People learn from the priests, from the Levites and so on. So these are the 48 cities of Levi and out of the 48 there are six special ones.

It's like your, if again, I may be crude, it's like your PO Box, letter boxes. A lot in Singapore, but only a few post offices so there are six post offices, six special cities, which are called the, these six cities are called the Cities of Refuge. These are the six cities, Kadesh, Golan, Ramoth Gilead, Bezer, Shechem, Hebron. You will see that they are divided quite equally, half in the Promised Land, half in Moab or previous Moab. So it means that any single one of them, any single Israelite, should have some accessible means to a city of refuge. It's not that far, it's spread out, and these Cities of Refuge are meant to provide refuge, that's why it's called Cities of Refuge. Provide refuge for the manslayer.

You say, what's a manslayer? A manslayer is someone who accidentally kills another person. Now, if you intentionally kill another person, you're caught a murderer. Very good. Your English is very good. So murderers cannot go to the city of refuge to seek refuge. Murderers, meaning people who intentionally kill another, hate another person, lie in wait, ambush, chop his head off. This kind of guy cannot go in, he will have to be killed. But someone who accidentally killed another, he was maybe chopping a tree, and then suddenly the axe not fixed properly, fly out, chop another person's head. He's a manslayer, not a murderer, but this manslayer did kill someone, so the person's relatives may come and look for him and kill him. So what does he do? No choice. He has to flee to a City of Refuge, stay there, and as long as he's in a city, he will not be killed. Get that? That's a City of Refuge, but if he comes out of the city, he may be killed.

And there's another provision given in Numbers 35 and that is, if the high priest should die, then all the manslayers can come out of the city and not be killed. It's a kind of like the year of Jubilee. Remember the year of Jubilee? Once in 50 years, all the land goes back to the original owners. So it's a kind of reset. All the manslayers, because the high priest has died, things go back to normal, you can come out and not be killed. So I think the Cities of Refuge are a picture of pardon as a result of the priesthood, because they are the Levites, because there is the Levitical priesthood, people who accidentally commit grievous sin can still be pardoned and not have to pay with their lives.

Perhaps this leads us to think about as Christians, we may sin against God, but because of the priestly ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have an advocate, we have forgiveness, we have pardon, we have protection because of Jesus, that I think may be the intent of why Moses and God wrote this, there is pardon by the priest for Israel, there is pardoned by the priest for Christians today. So that's the carving of the land.

5. The Confidence

The last one, Chapter 36, you want to have a guess? It will be another C, the five C's of Singapore, no five C's of Numbers 32 to 36. Well, that's not so easy, because I think you've got to get behind the intent of why Chapter 36 is given. And I tell you the answer, I think, it is the confidence with regards to the land. Why do I say this is a chapter about confidence? Because there were people fighting for how this land should be preserved within their tribe. They have not inherited the land, by the way, but they are speaking and preparing as if they will. They are demonstrating confidence that God will give them the land.

So we are brought back to this issue of Zelophehad’s daughters. Now this was given in Numbers 27, I know if you're not with us in church before this, this is so confusing, just bear with me. The daughters of Zelophehad, they have this issue where their father has died and they have no brothers. And according to the Jewish law, the land is to be given to the sons, not to the daughters. So the daughter say, Hey, cannot, like that lei, my father died already, and he has no other sons. If this is not given to us, the daughters, the land will go to someone else, and there will be no land given to my father's name. So they came to Moses saying, Give us this land. God said, the daughters of Zelophehad are right, because this man had no sons, the land will go to the daughters. Well and good. And that was settled in Numbers 27, but now in Numbers 36, the leaders of this clan and this tribe came to Moses and said, but we have a problem. If these lands are given to the daughters, and the daughters then marry someone from another tribe, then this land will go to the other tribes, then come back to square one, the land is going to be taken from our tribe to be given to another tribe. 头痛，伤脑筋 (A real headache in Chinese), this kind of problem. So what is the solution? The solution is actually very simple. God said, in such cases, the daughters can only marry within the clan. In that way, the land will always stay within the tribe. So the daughters of Zelophehad did exactly that. They married their cousins and the land stayed within the tribe. Now that's how it's resolved. The details are given in Numbers 36 but I think the point to this is that they are people laying claim to the inheritance in Canaan that demonstrates their confidence: God will give them the land.

We end off with the last verse. Well, the point, I think, is that faith in God's promises motivate Christians to obey Him, for example, in the conquest of the Promised Land and in our walk with God. So the last verse of Numbers 36 ends of here, “These are the commandments and the rules that the Lord commanded through Moses to the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho” (Numbers 36:13). Like I said, if I were to write the story, I wouldn't end this way. I would try to end off with a more exciting adventure. But I think Moses has a better idea. He is ending this way to invite the curious reader to read on, how will all these things pan out? So we're invited to look at Deuteronomy, the next time, and we will do so in, I think 2025 for sure, this year, because I'm going to do this right after the book of James. All right, so read up when we come to that.

But yeah, this is God's promise to bless. We are invited to read about it. But to cut the long story short, because not all of you may come back to church the next time, I want to say that Israel, throughout the history of the Bible, never really enjoyed completely the Promised Land. They never did. They never conquered all the territories. They never really drove out all the inhabitants. They were constantly being attacked. They were constantly tempted by sin. So Joshua couldn't lead them to this rest. David couldn't lead them to this rest. Hezekiah couldn't lead them to this rest. Josiah couldn't lead them to this rest. Nehemiah couldn't lead them to this rest. There has been no one who can lead Israel to this rest, not even today. Netanyahu cannot lead Israel to rest because there's only one ultimate Shepherd king who will lead His people to this rest, and He is Jesus.

He has already come the first time to die on the cross to pay for our sins. And those who believe in Him will one day enter into that rest, and that one day will come when Jesus returns a second time, and He will destroy His enemies, absolutely not like Israel, and He will lead His people into that promised rest. Will you be there? Will you be in that Promised Land where we can make that decision today, when at the cusp of Moab, you will repent and believe in Jesus and Jesus alone.

Prayer

Let's bow for a word of prayer. So Father, thank you again for this time we can study your Word. It's a difficult passage, but what a way to end off the Book of Numbers with a reminder of your amazing promise to bless so give your people wisdom today to enter into the Promised Land and to deal with the Canaanites and to rejoice in the pardon that the priesthood of Jesus provides. Thank You that You are such a generous God who always seeks to bless. May your people be led by your goodness to repentance and faith. Thank you. We pray all this in Jesus’s Name, Amen.