Crunching Numbers
So we’re three weeks into the wild, and coming up this Sunday, we’ll be looking at Chapters 10–12.
As you’re aware, because Numbers is a narrative, we tend to cover larger chunks at a time. That’s good and bad.
It’s good because it helps us (hopefully) not miss the forest for the trees. The first ten chapters, for example, are really just preparation. Moses is getting all the ducks in a row (organizing Israel’s camp) before they actually starts moving toward Canaan.
Morales, L. M. , Numbers 1–19, (Apollos, 2024)
Large chunks can be bad, though, because sometimes there is a verse or two worthy of extended meditation, even if other story details surround it. The storyline’s pace picks up in Chapter 11, but it’s a lot all at once! We could do a whole sermon on the emergence of Judah as significant (10:14) or Hobab (10:29) or the riffraff (11:4) or the wonder of manna (11:7) or the 70 elders (11:16) or the opposition from Aaron and Miriam (12:1), not to mention what God says about Moses! (12:3-8
That could be seven sermons, but I will do one, and I’ll hardly scratch the surface. If anything, though, it forces us to find the biggest theme of each particular chunk, and I think it’ll be clear this week. We, alongside Moses, learn something new about the people and their journey, and it’s not pretty.
These chapters take us on an emotional roller-coaster, and when nearly all hope is lost, there’s a little glimmer we didn’t see coming. I can’t wait to show you.
And in case you’re wondering about the plan for the rest of this year:
