Book of Numbers is More than Just Numbering Israelites

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

I’ve begun reading through the book of Numbers as I follow my daily Bible reading plan. I will say at the outset that I’m getting a great deal more out of my daily readings than I did last year. It does amaze me as I watch facts jump out at me that I certainly read last year but didn’t really notice.

Numbers starts out with a call by God to Moses to number all men ages 20 and up so that there would be an accounting of how many men from each tribe could be called up for military service. Why? Plainly because it was God’s intent to use Israel as an arm of His judgment against many nations in the Land that God promised to give to Israel.

Isn’t that interesting? So, God actually supports the use of the “military” in specific conditions? Yes, He does and that much is very clear from Numbers alone. God’s use of the Israelite military is specifically righteous. It is not meant to be a “complex” or dynasty in and of itself. It was to be used solely as God’s mercenaries in ridding the Land of evil groups of people. This may sound really like demagoguery to people who don’t understand the purpose. In most cases, God had given the many cultures living in Canaan and throughout the Promised Land many warnings. God had rightly grown thoroughly tired of all the evil He saw.

We live in a society where millions of unborn babies are aborted yearly. Those on the Left firmly believe it is a woman’s right to choose. Of course the woman has a right to choose, but her right to choose should be responsible and it stops when another human life is involved. In fact, in today’s “scientific” age, there is really no excuse at all for so many abortions to be occurring except for the fact that both men and women are too lazy to use some form of protection. In fact, many abortions are repeats in that the same woman often heads to an abortion clinic to have yet another unborn baby aborted. This is tragic and it was just as prominent during the days when Israel began their move into the Promised Land.

Of course, even though we know that ancient civilizations like Egypt knew how to do abortions and even tried (to their credit) to come up with ways that kept women from becoming impregnated in the first place, we all too often forget about the fact that these ancient civilizations and cultures were extremely idolatrous and superstitious. Because of this, many live babies and young were often dedicated to “gods” like Moloch/Molech. As we’ve discussed before, this was done by placing the live infant or child in the arms of the statue representing the god over which a fire blazed. As a group of musicians played in front of the idol, the infant/baby would be lowered and dropped into the pit of fire. The musicians’ job was to play loud enough to cover the agonizing screams of the child.

This is the type of thing that Israel was raised up to do in the Land. They had numerous jobs and often failed to live up to their calling. Fortunately for the world, the one very important thing they managed to accomplished is the birth of Jesus, their Messiah and the Gentile’s Savior. God gets His work done.

So Numbers breaks it down for us letting us know that in total there were 603,550 men who were at least 20 years of age and up, ready for battle (Numbers 1:46). That’s a lot of military-ready men! Of course, God did not need that many at all. I’m sure that number was intended in part to make the Israelites feel better about their potential power and it would also send a message to those Israel came against that they were not messing around.

The military might of Israel was astounding and when things were going well (when the Israelites were in obedience to God), nothing could stand against them. However, when there was sin in the camp, everything stood against them. The Levites we are told were exempted from being called up for military service. God did not want them to have blood on their hands. They were “owned” by God Himself, but the military faction within Israel was absolutely needed.

This is what is interesting about many politicians today who seem not to care about America’s military at all. It is clear from the Bible and from history itself that a country or empire that fails to have a strong military is easily taken advantage of and defeated. Many on the Left would have us believe that America does not need a military. That it’s outmoded and not useful for the pursuit of peace. Yet, these same politicians and others often live behind walls, with many locks on their doors. When they drive, they are often escorted by armed security. The doors on their cars are locked. Why? Because they clearly know that there is a potential element of danger whenever they are in public. We lock our doors at night to keep criminals out of our homes.

God raised up a military in Israel for the purpose of using it as judgment against other nations which continued to disregard God. In a sense, having a strong military can be the greatest deterrent to the many dictators that come and go in the world. Consider the dictator of North Korea and how he likes to rattle sabers where America is concerned. Obama did nothing to address it and it appears with all the information coming out, including the Uranium 1 deal where Hillary sold 20% of America’s uranium to Russia, that the uranium in question ended up with either North Korea, Iran, or both. In essence then, past presidents have actually worked against the safety and autonomy of the United States. Certainly, this is seditious, if not outright treason. Let’s not even talk about how Obama did what he could to destroy America’s military might, even making it normal to have transgenders in the military. This would’ve served to simply make America a laughing-stock in the world.

Israel today has a very strong military as well. Can you imagine if they did not? They are surrounded by roughly 20 Arab countries and those countries want nothing more than to obliterate Israel. Israel is very strong against illegal aliens. They will imprison them and/or deport them. There are many strong checkpoints to enter Israel, with many safeguards so that Israeli personnel are not put in harm’s way with the many jihadists that attempt to do harm to them at these checkpoints. It would be national suicide for Israel not to have a strong military.

Starting with Numbers 2, we learn just exactly how God wanted the camp to be set up; which tribe should camp where, etc. All were to be someplace surrounding the tent of meeting and God determined where the tribes were to camp and which tribe was to be in the front of the pack as Israel moved through the wilderness. It’s really fascinating to learn just how much God dealt with the details, isn’t it? He had a very specific plan.

One of my favorite parts of the first few chapters of Numbers is when God tells Moses who will do what and God does so by name. This is clearly seen in the first four chapters of Numbers where God specifically appoints certain individuals for specific tasks. This is astounding to me. God knew these people intimately…by name. He didn’t just say “find a few people whom you believe will do this task well.” No, God often told Moses the names of certain individuals whom He had anointed for certain work. Isn’t that something?

What this tells me is that God knows my name. He understands me intimately, much better than I even understand myself. How could He not and still be God? Yet, is it something we think about? Is it something we contemplate with all of its ramifications?

God knows me. He knows you and I hope you are one of His, brought to Him through faith in the finished work of Jesus, God the Son. Are you? I pray that is the case.

Are you concerned about what is happening in the world today? Don’t be. God is sovereign. While it is extremely interesting to see for instance, how America is being brought back under the rule of law because we actually have a president who seems to care about that, ultimately, God’s plans are coming to fruition. We need to be in step with His plans.

We know at some point in the future, things will take a turn for the worse, though to most in the world, it will seem like true peace is right around the corner. Unfortunately, that peace they seek will be a mirage, promulgated by the final man of sin (2 Thessalonians 2), whose sole purpose is to elevate himself above God. All of this must come to pass at some point.

However, in the mean time, Christians should always be supporting the rule of law and if we live in the United States, that rule of law is guided by the Constitution, which often draws on wisdom from the Bible itself.

Today, we hear the shouts of DACA and the denigrating comments regarding America’s military as well as patriots and conservatives. Christians are often held aloft for special censure and ridicule. I think we have every right to stand against that with every legal option afforded by the Constitution. If we don’t, we will wind up being guilty of allowing the Left to win by default. Certainly, this was very difficult to do under presidents like Obama, Bush, Clinton, and Bush Sr., because it was a growing problem that these presidents all shared and pushed. I used to think the Bushes were fine until I began doing my own research and realized that they were simply the “conservative-appearing” side of the same elitist coin. Read the book, “The Bush Dynasty,” if you’d like more truth. It’s very well-researched and documented.

The truth appears to be that too many elected officials in USA are Marxist. They literally stand against the Constitution, the very document they swore to defend and uphold. Yet, once they get into office, they start doing all sorts of things that really conspire against the Constitution. Though Christians need to be careful about how much we get involved in politics, we should be willing to stand against the type of aberrant ideology being put in place by Leftists. Again, we need to be very careful because we are told in Scripture that our enemies are not flesh and blood, but powers and principalities in heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12). We cannot view other human beings are our enemies. They are blinded either willfully or ignorantly. The true powers are those beings behind these people. We must not forget that.

In the meantime, we can know that a strong defense against evil is exactly what God prescribes. He did so with Israel and it is good for every country or empire to have a strong military. Of course, those regimes that abuse their military by attacking innocent civilians are using their military for their own advancement. It is starting to appear that this is exactly what Mr. Obama and Hillary Clinton did during the Obama administration; weaponizing the alphabet agencies of the FBI, DOJ, and IRS against citizens of the United States.

I’m hopeful that the truth will continue to come out. I’m also hopeful that good people will not be so disgusted by it that they may want to act on their own for the sake of justice. We need to allow our government, which appears to be turning back toward the rule of law, do what it was designed to do and we need to support those efforts.

I’ll be back with another Q-related article hopefully later today. There was apparently, some interesting things happening in Shanghai yesterday. We’ll talk about that and the truth about what actually occurred in Hawaii with the incoming missile warning on January 13th.

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective