Day 161:The Book of Numbers
The Book of Numbers is named for the census it starts with, and the census it ends with.
When the Israelites are freed from Egypt, they leave quickly. They are going to the Promised Land. It’s a bit of a distance, and they complain, as was typical of them to do. They are sick of manna, lack of water, and not enough meat. They lose faith, in Moses and in God. They have been camped for a year, at the foot of Mount Sinai…
They organize themselves into 12 extended families, called Tribes. They have their Ten Commandments, and all the other laws God placed on them. Along with their worshipping system, they also have a traveling tent, or worship center, call the Tabernacle.
It’s not an easy travel, though, blistering terrain, brown, and looking very foreign to life living there. They complain, incessantly. Their trek is about 200 miles. But, while Cannan is the land flowing with milk and honey, it also has armies, and giants.
God decides they aren’t ready for such a land, and holds them back for 40 years. This allows the old complaining generation, who recently witnessed the miracles of not being affected by the ten plagues, to die off. It didn’t stop the complaining. And, they complained that Moses was the chosen leader, and why couldn’t someone else do it?
Numbers 12:2 — “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?, they complain, hasn’t He spoken through us, too?”
Short version, an earthquake happened and swallowed up the entire rebel group and their families, then closes back up again. Mother Earth has a ravenous appetite, it would seem.
Moses brought them to the Promised Land, but he could not enter, himself.
