Numbers 1-4

After reading through the genealogy soaked, Old Testament law induced first four chapters of the book of Numbers, I was...well... I was less excited. Actually, if I'm honest with you, I was devastated. Here I am, supposed to write a devotional on this passage for relevant, for you my friends to be encouraged in your faith in the hopes that you grow closer to the only true God and I half slept through the reading my first time through myself. I definitely find myself qualified for this task as I reflect on my great start. I closed my eyes, let one of the largest groans in the history of human-caused-noises escape my mouth (disrupting the two retired High School teacher's conversation three tables down from me at Panera) and asked God what in the world He wanted me to learn from this. I decided to read it again.



What struck me through my second sailing of these words is that all of the genealogy, all of the lists of laws have a central theme: they all revolve around this thing called the "Tent of Meeting". Sometimes I like to check out the roots of the actual words used in the bible to make sure I get the right definitions in my mind before going on in my thought process:



"TENT" ohel OT:168, "tent; home; dwelling; habitation." Cognates of this word appear in Ugaritic, Phoenician, and Arabic. It appears about 343 times in biblical Hebrew and in all periods.



(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.)





Here's some background information about this "tent":


Before the construction of the tabernacle Moses pitched a "tent" outside the


Ex

33:7a. There he met with God. The "tent" outside the camp persisted as a living institution for only a short period after the construction of the tabernacle and before the departure from Sinai Num 11:16b ff.; 12:4c ff.. Eventually the ark of the covenant was moved into the tabernacle Ex 40:21d where the Lord met with Moses and spoke to Israel Ex 29:42e. This structure is called the tent of meeting inasmuch as it contained the ark of the covenant and the tables of testimony Num 9:15f. As the tent of meeting it was the place where God met with His people through Moses (or the high priest) and revealed His will to them 1 Sam 2:22g.




(from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright (c)1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers)



So in a nut shell, the "Tent of Meeting" is where Moses met face to face with the Creator of the universe to discuss life intimately and in great detail. He was given direction from God and was guided in leadership in this tent from God. This was the place, before Jesus' ultimate sacrifice on our behalf, where worship happened. Anyone who stepped foot in that tent entered the throne room of God. They experienced God in a real way that caused one of two reactions: 1. They fell to their face in total awe of what they saw or 2. Their sin blocked their acceptance into God's complete Holy presence and they were struck dead.



The previously viewed tedious chapters in Numbers now found purpose in my heart. These chapters are explaining how people prepared for worship and worshiped God in the Old Testament. They circled the tangible place where God was and lived there. They left everything they had just to be within miles of where God's Spirit was and met with Him in this tent.



I thought to myself about the sacrifice people made to be in the general vicinity of the tent. Leaving their families, leaving what was in order, leaving everything they had and not really knowing where their final destination was to be. They just went. I decided that I, being the extremely spiritual and God-fearing man that I am, would have no trouble making this decision and would pack up myself and my wife in a heartbeat to met with God, wherever He was.



As I type those words, I can almost hear God's smirking.



In today's context, Jesus' sacrifice has given us total access to God's presence. The sheet dividing people from God's presence in the tabernacle was torn and the barrier broken. I told myself I would travel the world for the opportunity I take advantage of everyday: The reality is that we are able to meet with God face to face everyday of our lives but we choose not to. We choose trash when offered treasure, we choose temporal when offered eternal, and we choose earth when offered heaven.



God forgive us of this travesty of Your grace. Show us when we are in these times of choices and give us the faith and the boldness to choose You in all times of life. Thank you for this chance to speak with You, let us understand what we are doing and never take it for granted again.



Aj Reynolds




camp

Comments

[Tim Buhler]

AJ,

I really appreciated your observation about the tent and especially the connection to Jesus death where the tent tore from top to bottom!

Isn't that crazy how we would travel the world to meet Jesus, and yet we won't take a 1/2 hour out of our day to even say hi? What is up with us today anyways? I take Him for granted all too often ... just as I do with other people...thanks for sharing your thoughts on Num. 1-4 :o)

Tim

ps. Love the new weblog!

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