I've discovered about a dozen posts that I drafted but never posted online.
Bear with me as I unload a bit...
I'm reading Numbers in my devotions and have been impressed with some things I guess I already knew, but learned for the first time - know how that goes?
Judah led Israel whenever she moved anywhere.
Judah was the most numerous tribe, more so even than Joseph's 2 tribes combined.
I think there is a parallel between Numbers 1-10 and the pastoral epistles to Timothy, where Paul is setting in order and reconstituting the New Israel after her redemption from Pharoah/Satan.
Numbers 5:5-7 is a good OT principle that carries over directly to apply in NT today.
Interesting in chapter 10, how God leads Israel by pillar of cloud and fire, and then Moses asks his father-in-law to go with them, since HE knows where they should camp...
On Num 9:15-10:36, I've heard (2nd-hand) that Israel considered God their shepherd, who went before them and led them to green pasture and water. Poetically speaking, the cloud was one foot, and the fire was another foot, and God walked before them when moving them, and came back in their midst as the tabernacle was set back up.
Hey Steve,
ReplyDeleteTry this imaginative idea on for size and see what you think.
Add up the numbers for the tribes on the west, south, east, and north, then extend a bar out from the tabernacle in the center to the E/W/N/S relative to the numbers. You will find a long bar, a short bar, and two midsize bars.
So it could have been that Balaam, looking down on Israel from the heights, saw a cross...