These are the ones counted by Moses and Eleazar the priest when they counted the Israelites on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho. Not one of them was among those counted by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Desert of Sinai.
Numbers 26:63-64 (NIIV)
I am currently in a season of life in which I am experiencing some major transitions. There has been transition at work as my business partner of many years is retiring and a new team member has joined us. I am currently transitioning out of a year of leadership in our local community theatre and assisting the new, young elected leader of the organization in assuming her leadership. Over the past couple of years our local gathering of Jesus’ followers experienced the retirement of our leadership team and an entire new generation of leaders emerge. Even in our company’s customer research we’re finding that generational shifts and differences are having an unprecedented impact on business.
In every area of life, I am reminded that my life journey is moving into an entirely new stretch of road.
Our chapter-a-day journey continues through the book of Numbers, and like its title, the book is full of counting. As we near the end of the Hebrews road through the wilderness, The tribes are camped by the river Jordan across from Jericho. God tells Moses to take another census of the Hebrew tribes. The book began with the same census, but that was 38 years earlier when the tribes were about to set out from Mt. Sinai. Aaron is dead. Miriam is dead. Different names are at the heads of each tribe. It is a completely new generation preparing to enter the Promised Land than the one that set out from Sinai in chapter one.
In the quiet this morning, the chill of autumn air wafts into my open office window. Even nature is whispering to me the annual reminder that the old passes away into the death of winter so that in the spring new life may emerge.
Chapters like today’s are easy to ignore or overlook. What spiritual lesson can an ancient census possibly have? Yet there are spiritual lessons lurking beneath the numbering.
Jewish scholars have traditionally viewed the census metaphorically as a Shepherd numbering sheep after a storm or an attack. The wilderness journey has been difficult. The Great Shepherd lovingly and protectively is numbering the flock, and as Jesus pointed out, God’s Kingdom is about not leaving one lost sheep behind.
Throughout the Great Story there is a threaded theme of the Book of Life containing all of the names of those in God’s Kingdom. Paul hints in his letter to the Romans that the climactic final chapters of the Great Story will not begin until the “full number” of Gentiles is reached (Rom 11:25). It’s a reminder that the entire Great Story is one metaphorical life span from the birth of creation to the death of history and an entirely new beginning that is introduced in the final chapters of Revelation.
And so, even as I experience all of the transitions in life, family, work, and community, I am reminded by everything from today’s chapter to the cool autumn breeze that this is all part of the natural flow of this earthly journey as well as the larger Story that God is authoring across time and eternity. I suppose I can fight against it. I can bitch about it. I can sink into fear, anxiety, or despair. Or, I can flow with it with it in faith that God is faithful through the generations, and that His promises never fail. There are good things ahead. They may be different, but they are good.
Lace ‘em up. The journey continues.
NOTE: Wendy and I are heading out for a week of vacation wrapped around the Labor Day holiday. I plan to return to our chapter-a-day trek through Numbers on Thursday, September 4th. If you need a fix until then, please check out one or more of these links to my chapter-a-day posts by book that can fill you until I return! Have a great holiday weekend!
Ruth
Jonah
Malachi
1 Thessalonians
James
If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.
